new primary elections Saturday by choosing between two Republicansand two Democrats in the U.S. Senate party runoff elections.
U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow has been the heavy favorite to win the Republican Senate nomination,but treasurer JohnFleming has closed most, if not all, of the gap
St. Bernard, St. Helena, St. Tammany,Tangipahoaand Washington parishes.
Farmer Jamie Davis and business owner Gary Crockett are vying in a separateprimary forthe Democratic PartySenatenomination.
The winners of each runoff on Saturday will advance to ageneral election on Nov.3.Whoever emerges victorious in that election will replace U.S.Sen. Bill Cassidy, who was ousted in the May16Republican primary.
Pollingstations on Saturday will be open from7 a.m. to 8p.m.
Also on theballot are races for open seats on the Public Service Commission and theBoard of Elementary and Secondary Education —and 115 localmeasures, most involving taxes.
StateRep.Stephanie Hilferty,RNew Orleans, andformer JeffersonParishPresident John Young, aRepublican, are facing off for thePSC seat that Eric Skrmetta is vacating becauseoftermlimits. The Legislaturedrew boundaries
designed to elect aRepublican. The PSC regulates the power grid and other utilities. The district includes portions of Jefferson, Livingston, Orleansand St.Charles parishes and all of Plaquemines,
Water covers the roads and farmareainDupont on thursday.tropical Stormarthur dumped 20 to 30 inches of rain within12 hoursacross southern parts ofavoyelles Parish, catching many residents off guard
AvoyellesParishbegins
at least1,500 householdshave reported flooddamage
BY AIDAN McCAHILL Staff writer
Soon after crossing the Simmesport Bridge over the Atchafalaya River into Avoyelles Parish, the shoulders of La.1 give way to piles of drywall, furniture, refrigerators, mattresses, stuffed animals and family photos. Inside homes smell of bleach; dehumidifiers and fans hum.
“It’sgoing to take acouple of months before it can completely dry,” Ellen Thibodeaux, a 71-year-old widow,said as she stood inside her gutted home near Plaucheville. Nearby,agroup of eight
men leaned against the back of apickup, taking abreak fromcleaning herhomeand rippingSheetrock from the walls.The scene wassimilar in many driveways acrossthe parish Thursday, as neighbors, family members and aid groups tried to save homes from mold androt following thehistoric flooding. Last week, Tropical Storm Arthur dumped20to30inches of rain within 12 hours across southern parts of the parish, a likely 1,000-year rainfall event that caughtmost residents off guard. Flood insurance is rare
Because of expected
Sunday’s deliverymay be delayed.
Thewinner of theGOP primary runoff will advance to the Nov.3 election and face Democrat Connie Norris of Slidell and Chris Justin, a no-party candidate.
Joseph Caoand EllieSchroder are competing for the BESE seat that Cao holds, having been appointed to the position by Gov.Jeff Landry BESE sets policy for K-12 education in Louisiana.
to pinpoint search area at landfi
BY OLIVIA TEES Staff writer
Eventhough policehavestrongevidence that points to Ja’Derrius Minnieweather’sbody being in aparish landfill, authorities said they can’tbegin recovery efforts formore than two weeks. Minnieweather,15, hasbeen missing for22days.
On June 20, MauriceParms, 51, was arrested on acount of first-degree murderafter he allegedlybeatthe teen to death and wenttogreat lengths to hide the evidence from the police.
Baton Rouge police
ChiefT.J. Morse said investigators believe Minnieweather’sbody wound up in acollection truck and was transported to theEast Baton RougeParishNorth LandfillinZachary Policesaidtheybelieve theteen’s body liessomewhere in the400 acres of garbage, but FBI-level imaging technology will be required to determine the search radius.Combinedwithrerouting trash collection andsurveying the area, Mayor-President Sid Edwards estimates that recovery efforts will start on July 13.
“Wehave been trying to isolate and reduce our search area, and believe thatthe cellwehavetosearch makes up nearly ahalf-acre,” Morse said.
Once authorities have pinpointed the most promising search area, lawenforcementwill have to go through the debris by hand to preserve any evidence or bodily remains that maybefound. On average, the North Landfill receives morethan 1,600 tons of solid waste from roughly 325 collection vehiclesper day, Morsesaid. SinceJune5, when Minnieweather wentmissing, the landfill has received over 35,000 tons of refuse.
Special Agent Charles Kruger of the New OrleansFBI office said recovery in alandfill is alabor-intensive process that requires extensive planning, specialized expertise and significant personneland resources.Time and
BRIEFS FROM WIRE REPORTS
Missing giraffe found in Texas after two weeks
Gracie the Giraffe, who went missing for about two weeks in Texas after wandering off a remote private ranch, was finally found Friday — and the open range appeared to have agreed with her The giraffe was spotted about 4 miles south of her enclosure during an aerial search in the Texas Hill Country, according to Real County Sheriff Nathan Johnson. He said Gracie’s owner, Vick Jones, contacted a veterinarian and began putting together a team to bring the giraffe safely back to the ranch
“She’s in good shape,” Jones said “She’s standing there, swishing her tail.”
Gracie, who is about 3 years old and weighs at least 1,200 pounds, was found within a halfmile of a pond and creek and had plenty of vegetation to feed on, said Jones, adding that she appeared to have been in that area for about a week
Getting the 10-foot-tall giraffe home to the Cedar Hollow Ranch, about 100 miles west of San Antonio, was taking some work.
Veterinarians needed time to sedate Gracie and put a hood over her eyes, Jones said From there, Gracie will be moved with an open-pasture trailer to a taller, enclosed trailer made for giraffes for the trip back to the ranch.
Lawmakers subpoena billionaire over Epstein
WASHINGTON The House Oversight Committee served subpoenas to billionaire investor Leon Black on Friday after lawmakers say he refused to answer some questions about his yearslong relationship with Jeffrey Epstein a time in which he paid the disgraced financier at least $158 million.
Black is the co-founder and former chief executive of the private equity firm Apollo Global Management who stepped down in 2021 amid fallout over his ties to Epstein. He became the 16th person to appear before the committee as part of their broader investigation into the web of wealth and influence around Epstein Lawmakers emerged from the closed-door voluntary interview with Black saying he refused to answer questions about nondisclosure agreements prompting the committee to issue a subpoena about the NDAs. A second subpoena was issued for Black to testify under oath on July 16.
“This is a result of refusing to answer specific questions,” Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., the committee chairman, told reporters after Black’s interview Susan Estrich, the lawyer representing Black, said the decision to serve the subpoenas was a “premeditated political decision.” She called it a “planned political stunt.” Democrats emerged from their hour of questioning Black saying he had not answered questions, and they praised Comer’s decision to subpoena him.
Rep. Robert Garcia the top ranking Democrat on the committee, told reporters that “it was clear from the moment this interview started that Leon Black was not going was not going to answer critical questions.
Large, harmless asteroid will zip past Earth
NEW YORK A large asteroid will zip past Earth this weekend, but don’t worry: It poses no danger
The space rock — 1997 NC1 — makes its closest approach Saturday morning, coming within 1.6 million miles, according to the European Space Agency.
Discovered nearly three decades ago by an asteroid-tracking system in Hawaii, the asteroid is between 2,461 feet to 5,413 feet wide roughly the size of two to four Empire State Buildings.
Skygazers with binoculars and small telescopes may be able to spot the asteroid as a small point of light passing harmlessly through the sky It won’t greet Earth from such a distance again until 2133, according to NASA. The last time an asteroid similar in size passed safely by Earth from an even closer distance was in 2022, when a space rock called 1994 PC1 made its approach.
ISNa FILe
U.S. strikes Iran after drone attack
BY COLLIN BINKLEY and JON GAMBRELL associated Press
WASHINGTON The U.S struck Iran on Friday in response to a drone attack a day earlier on a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz. It’s the most significant test yet to an interim understanding reached a week ago by the two countries to begin working to end their monthslong war and reopen the pivotal waterway President Donald Trump said the drone attack violated the ceasefire. The strikes came shortly after Trump told reporters, “You’ll find out,” whether the U.S. would respond.
U.S. Central Command said the military struck missile and drone locations and coastal radar sites in Iran.
“I don’t like the fact that they took a shot yesterday, actually four of them,” Trump said at the White House shortly before the U.S. struck back. When asked why there would be strikes when Trump has insisted talks with Tehran are going well, Trump said of Iran: “They’re a little bit different.”
He then abruptly cut off questions and reporters were ushered out of his office.
Ebrahim Azizi, who heads the Iranian parliament’s national security commission, responded to Trump on social media earlier Friday saying, “the Strait of Hormuz is governed by Iran, so: Respect the rules” and to “not mistake control for escalation.”
“This is not a violation of the ceasefire; it is ceasefire management,” Azizi wrote Strikes conclude
The U.S. strikes on Iran concluded about an hour after U.S. Central Command announced the military action on social media, a U.S. official with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing military operation.
The British military said on Thursday that a container ship was hit by a projectile off the coast of Oman, coming hours after Iran threatened vessels to stop using the route. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said no injuries were reported.
The development came during a fragile time for the U.S. and Iran as they work to negotiate a permanent end to the war Iran has increasingly challenged the region
and the U.S. over its control of the Strait of Hormuz, even with the current interim deal it reached with the U.S. last week.
The attack on the cargo ship happened while a United Nations maritime agency was beginning an operation to move stranded ships out of the strait this week, using an alternative route, hugging the shores of Oman rather than sailing through the central part of the strait.
The International Maritime Organization halted the evacuations after the attack and said on Friday they won’t resume until there are guarantees that the other ships won’t be attacked.
About 115 ships were able to move out of the strait in recent days, leaving about 500 still in the area, said Arsenio Dominguez, the agency’s secretary-general.
The opening of the alternative passage through the strait was expected to relieve pressure on the world economy and remove Iran’s main source of leverage in ongoing peace talks with the U.S.
The U.S. and Iran are still negotiating terms of the deal, including issues such as getting ships through the key strait and addressing the future of Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium. Under the interim deal, the two sides have 60 days to work out the details.
Cargo ship attack
Shipping analysts said the drone strike cast a shadow over what had been a growing stream of trapped vessels finally leaving the Gulf and an increasing flow of tankers carrying crude oil.
“A week of widening commercial confidence in the Strait of Hormuz has hit its first significant test,” said marine data company Windward on X. It said that while the strait remains operationally open with 43 transits recorded after the incident, “the pace of normalization has slowed.”
On Wednesday before Thursday’s drone strike, 78 vessels transited the strait, the highest since the war began, although below the prewar averages of 130 or more per day
At least two tankers reversed course while attempting to transit the strait on the U.N.-backed route near Oman after Iran insisted vessels use only the Teheran-approved routes, according to marine data and analytic firm Lloyd’s List Intelligence.
Ex-national security adviser John Bolton pleads guilty
BY MICHAEL KUNZELMAN associated Press
GREENBELT, Md.
— Former Trump administration national security adviser John Bolton pleaded guilty on Friday to illegally retaining classified information, sealing a deal with federal prosecutors that could allow him to avoid a prison term.
Bolton, who became an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump after serving in the Republican’s first administration, is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 28 by U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang in Greenbelt, Maryland
Israel, Lebanon signframework deal with U.S.
rubio calls agreement ‘first step’ toward peace
BY BEN FINLEY, ABBY SEWELL and MELANIE LIDMAN associated Press
WASHINGTON Secretary of State Marco Rubio joined Israel and Lebanon’s ambassadors to the U.S. Friday to announce a framework agreement that was described as a first step toward peace following months of conflict between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
The agreement does not include Hezbollah and prompted one of the group’s officials in Lebanon to warn of civil war The U.S. State Department said the framework establishes a process for dismantling Hezbollah and for Lebanon to regain territory that was taken by Israeli forces as they battled the militant group.
The U.S. will facilitate a newly created “Military Coordination Group for Lebanon” to implement the framework, the State Department said, while committing $100 million in humanitarian assistance.
“For Lebanon, this Framework provides a genuine pathway out of a long crisis,” the State Department said. “For Israel, it creates a verifiable path to removing the persistent threat on its northern border.”
Friday’s agreement was
signed in front of
Moawad, the Lebanese ambassador to the United States. Leiter said the final destination of the framework is peace between the two countries.
“Our language is we want to embrace Lebanon,” he said. “Our language is we want to get in our car in Tel Aviv and take a drive up to Beirut, and we want Beirut to come down and take a drive to Tel Aviv That’s where we’re going. That’s where we want to go.” Leiter said that will depend on Hezbollah being disarmed and dismantled, which will allow Israel to withdraw and Lebanon to “regain its full sovereignty.”
“So it really depends on the Lebanese army,” Leiter said “It depends on the support the Lebanese army gets from the U.S. And we think it’s going to be solid.” Moawad said the framework “is a first step on the road to restoring Lebanese sovereignty and territorial integrity, securing a permanent and final cessation of hostilities, enabling our people to go back to their land and allowing all Lebanese to live in peace, security and prosperity.”
The latest conflict began when Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel days after Israel and the U.S. launched their war on Iran on Feb. 28. Israel invaded Lebanon and has expanded its control.
Secretary of State Marco rubio shakes hands with Lebanon’s ambassador to the U.S. Nada Hamadeh Friday at the State Department in Washington after signing an agreement described as a first step toward peace between Israel and Hezbollah.
Obituaries: 225-388-0289 • Mon-Fri9-5;Sat 10-5;Closed Sun
Bolton must pay half of the fine within five days of his plea and the balance within 90 days. He agreed to forfeit his retirement pay for his federal service. The plea deal also requires him to submit to a debriefing with federal intelligence officials and perform up to 100 hours of community service.
Bolton, 77, of Bethesda, Maryland, pleaded guilty to a single count of illegally retaining national defense information which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years. His plea agreement with the Justice Department may enable him to avoid time behind bars, but the judge ultimately will decide his punishment
The plea agreement recommends capping any prison sentence at five years, but the judge isn’t bound by that part of the deal Bolton, who also agreed to pay a fine of $2.25 million, can withdraw his guilty plea if the judge imposes a longer prison sentence or a larger fine.
After a prosecutor read aloud a summary of his offenses, Bolton agreed that it was accurate.
“I’m sorry for it,” he told the judge.
Defense attorney Abbe Lowell said Bolton “did what real leaders do” by pleading guilty
“He took responsibility for a mistake he made, thereby saving the government resources to pursue a case that could expose additional sensitive information,” Lowell said in a statement after the hearing.
U.S. Attorney Kelly O. Hayes, the top federal prosecutor for Maryland, said Bolton knew how to properly handle and store classified information.
“He also knew the damage to national security that could be caused by mishandling that sensitive information Nevertheless, as Mr Bolton just admitted, he put our national security at grave risk in violation of the law,” Hayes told reporters.
aSSoCIateD PreSS PHoto
Rubio in Washington by Yechiel Leiter, the Israeli ambassador to the United States, and Nada Hamadeh
PHoto By aMIrHoSeIN KHorGooI residents swim in the waters of the Strait of Hormuz as a small motorboat passes cargo ships and other commercial vessels offshore near Bandar abbas, Iran, on June 17.
Venezuelans search for the missing after quakes
Death toll continues to climb Friday
BY REGINA GARCIA CANO, JUAN PABLO ARRAEZ and MEGAN JANETSKY associated Press
LA GUAIRA, Venezuela Venezuelans took the search for missing loved ones into their own hands Friday in the aftermath of back-to-back earthquakes citing the scarcity of government rescuers, as the human toll of the disaster climbed to at least 920 dead and more than 51,000 missing.
Citizens digging through the rubble of their homes said they have seen few state rescue teams in the areas hit hardest by the devastating 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude quakes that struck late Wednesday, despite authorities projecting an image of a robust government response
The lack of help compounded families’ desperation as the pressure to find buried survivors increased with each passing hour
The South American nation on Friday marked nearly two days since
the disaster Aid agencies consider the first 48 to 72 hours to be a crucial time frame to retrieve people alive, though that period can be extended if they have access to food and water
Meanwhile, a broad international aid effort accelerated, with dozens of rescue teams from around the globe arriving in Venezuela or due to arrive there soon.
“Each person saved is a miracle,” said Jorge Rodríguez, the president of the country’s National Assembly “We are not going to hide absolutely anything about the magnitude of this tragedy.”
Families across northern Venezuela searched in the ruins of buildings for relatives and whatever
Disagreements between Supreme Court justices bubble into view
BY LINDSAY WHITEHURST and FATIMA HUSSEIN associated Press
WASHINGTON The Supreme Court is handing down major opinions at a rapid clip, but even with some of the biggest decisions yet to come, there are signs of tension as the justices near the end of the term.
A misunderstanding led to a highly unusual exchange for the restrained and traditional atmosphere after the nation’s highest court took the bench Thursday to hand down their decisions. Those rulings included two major immigration wins for President Donald Trump.
After conservative Justice Samuel Alito finished his reading of the majority’s ruling limiting how people can seek asylum at the southern border, liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor spoke up to read from her biting dissent.
She traced the difficult journey many asylum seekers face and outlined a pain-
ful chapter in the country’s history: When the U.S. and other countries turned back a ship full of Jewish refugees attempting to flee persecution in Nazi Germany in 1939. About 250 of those passengers later died in the Holocaust.
Sotomayor, the first Latina justice, said the majority’s opinion would allow the Trump administration to block people from applying for asylum at the border, which would result in more deaths The decision “regrettably and tragically extinguishes the light of the torch of the Statue of Liberty.”
Justice Brett Kavanaugh watched her intently as she spoke, while Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson looked straight ahead.
Majority opinions are always read from the bench and dissenters can speak up as well to underscore their objections, which typically happens in few cases every term. Additional rulings are
expected on Monday Sotomayor’s spoken dissent, however, appeared to be a surprise for Alito. In a very rare move, he spoke off the cuff. He sounded surprised and frustrated, saying he would have added more detail to his summary if he’d known about plans to speak.
The confusion turned out to be a misunderstanding on Alito’s part; Sotomayor’s chambers had passed along word of her plan. For the conservative majority, the case was about whether the law allows border officials can delay asylum seekers’ entry into the U.S. “until they can be processed in a safe and orderly way,” not about the wisdom of the policy itself.
Out loud, Alito defended his opinion by noting that the policy at the center of the case had been used under both the Obama and Trump administrations. “I won’t add anything more to that,” he said.
Texas board OKs Bible stories as required reading in public schools
BY JAMIE STENGLE and JIM VERTUNO associated Press
AUSTIN, Texas The Texas education board on Friday approved a required reading list for more than 5 million public school students that includes Bible passages, widening conservative efforts to push Christian teachings in U.S. classrooms The Texas State Board of Education, which is controlled by Republicans, approved the list over critics who argued the titles lack
diversity and blur the separation of church and state enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. Supporters say Judeo-Christian traditions were fundamental to the nation’s founding and that should be reflected in the public school curriculum.
The proposal, which mandates literary works such as Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations” alongside passages from the New Testament, has been closely followed by education observers who say it appears to be the first of its kind in the nation. It is a departure from
letting schools or teachers decide what students read.
The rollout will be staggered, starting with elementary school students in 2030.
Texas, which educates roughly 1 in 10 of the nation’s public school students, has been at the forefront of a charge by conservatives to incorporate more religion into classrooms. The state also allows public schools to hire chaplains to counsel students, mandates the display of the Ten Commandments in classrooms and has approved an optional Bibleinfused curriculum.
remained of their lives.
Nazareth Jimenez sobbed into the shoulder of a loved one as she watched neighbors try to cut through slabs of concrete with hammers and power tools in a building reduced to a mountain of debris. “My God, how are we going to get them out of there?” she murmured.
She was in the northern state of La Guaira, just north of the capital of Caracas, where some of the worst destruction unfolded. Jimenez was wracked with anxiety as she waited to see if her siblings, nephews, nieces and friends would emerge from the debris alive.
“We’re making a call for help to the government and countries across the world,” she said, pleading for machines that would be capable of moving collapsed structures. “There are still people alive in there.”
Government forces distributed food and water to survivors in La Guaira as acting President Delcy Rodríguez said her government was mounting a full response during these “critical hours for rescuing people alive.” She welcomed the
arrival of rescuers and humanitarian aid from all over the world. She said La Guaira had been militarized and that more help was on the way, even as residents said it was just a fraction of the aid they needed.
The disaster poses a huge challenge for Rodríguez, the former vice president who took office in January after the capture and removal of then-President Nicolás Maduro by the United States. Venezuela has been facing economic disarray for more than a decade and many people reject the legitimacy of the political movement Rodríguez represents.
The number of dead was expected to climb, and civilians reported tens of thousands of people missing on independent digital databases. The number of missing likely includes those who have been incommunicado due to the lack of cellphone signals in disaster zones. Some reports may be duplicates created when multiple loved ones are searching for the same person.
The number of injured climbed to more than 3,300 as of midday Friday, and authorities said they had rescued 243 people.
Judge holds prosecutors in Charlie Kirk murder case in contempt
BY MATTHEW BROWN associated Press
The Utah judge in the murder case over Charlie Kirk’s killing held prosecutors in contempt of court on Friday over comments they made to media organizations about defendant Tyler Robinson.
Judge Tony Graf said the comments violated his restrictions on what the two sides can say about the case outside of court
But Graf denied a defense request to take the death penalty off the table as a sanction for the violation. He said the problem could instead be resolved through the screening and questioning process for potential jurors, which is intended to
weed out people who could be biased about the case. Robinson has not yet entered a plea. The 23-yearold from southwestern Utah is charged with aggravated murder in the Sept 10 assassination of Kirk, an ally of President Donald Trump who was shot in the neck while addressing a crowd of thousands at Utah Valley University Defense attorneys had accused Deputy Utah County Attorney Christopher Ballard of trying to influence potential jurors by going on a “media tour” to talk about ballistics evidence in the case. Ballard also said prosecutors had enough evidence to show Robinson murdered Kirk. Legal experts had said
blocking the death penalty would have been an extreme remedy Graf said it would have been “grossly disproportionate” to the misconduct. Ballard argued that he had a right to speak to the press to correct misinformation about a preliminary finding by ballistics experts. Those experts’ initial tests did not match the bullet fragment with a gun that investigators believe was used to kill Kirk. That spurred stories by some publications raising questions about the prosecution’s case: A March 30 headline in the U.K.-based Daily Mail reported that the bullet that killed Kirk “did NOT match” the rifle investigators say was used to kill Kirk.
non-surgical spinal decompression care.
Gentle,non-surgical state-of-the-art procedure provideslower back and neck pain relief, sciatica pain relief, and relieffor bulging,herniated, or degenerative discdisease in theneckand lumbar regions. The gentle distractive forces of theSpinal Decompression create adecompression of the spine improves blood flow andnutrient exchange to theinjured area
aSSoCIateD PreSS PHoto By FerNaNDo VerGara rescue workers place Daniel Cordero on a stretcher on Friday after pulling him from the rubble two days after an earthquake struck Catia la Mar, Venezuela.
from page 1a
patience are needed from all parties involved. To safely search the area, agents from the FBI evidence response team and the technical hazards response team from Quantico, Virginia, will be deployed to assist authorities in conducting the search, Kruger said “While this operation is focused on the recovery of evidence, it is ultimately about something much more important. It is about ensuring that Ja’Derrius is treated with the dignity and respect that every child deserves, and doing everything within our power to help bring accountability to those responsible,” Kruger said.
Baton Rouge Fire Chief Michael Kimble said officials are working closely with Waste Management and the landfill operators to ensure that the search team is sent to the proper location. He said they are not sure how deep into the piles crews will have to go, but vowed to “flip every coin in a pile before they move to the next one.”
Kimball said the individu-
FLOOD
Continued from page 1a
als who will search will be outfitted in insulated suits with respiratory protection to protect them from hazardous waste and the possibility of hazardous gases.
East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore said an official indictment has been filed against Parms for first-degree murder, which he said is difficult to do without a body However the amount of evidence the police have recovered in the investigation has given the state enough to go forward with the charge.
“The message is to the
in the mostly flat region, and so far, more than 1,500 households in the parish have reported flood damage inside their homes, according to the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.
As people like Thibodeaux return home, they are relying on community support it remains unclear whether the damage will meet the threshold for a federal disaster declaration that would unlock recovery funding Thibodeaux said she has no choice but to stay hopeful for federal assistance.
“I have to be,” she said. “I don’t have the money.” Meanwhile, others have yet to return to anything resembling normalcy Parish officials have relocated more than 50 people to a hotel in Marksville and are processing another 100 applications for temporary stays at the Paragon Casino, says Parish President Darrell Wiley Still others are staying with family or living in borrowed recreational vehicles.
“We’re just burnt out. We’re tired,” said Moreauville Fire Chief Robert Lemoine.
Counting the losses
At the Plaucheville Community Center — where days earlier the street was filled with airboats and kayaks Aimee Hayes and Ward Bordelon, two public schoolteachers, help run one of the area’s main distribution sites.
They say demand has shifted from food and bottled water to cleaning supplies, dehumidifiers, insulation and plywood.
“I think today is the first day people are able to just work,” Bordelon said Thursday “The first day people are really able to get into their homes.”
They are proud of the community’s response and said the center would remain open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. indefinitely. But they also hope more professional aid groups will take over soon.
perpetrators out there, to the people that do this deal, we will scorch the earth and turn over everything we can to find you and to find out what happened to our fine citizens, in particular our babies in Baton Rouge,” Mayor-President Sid Edwards said.
Evidence uncovered
Based on their investigation, detectives believe Minnieweather was involved in an altercation with Parms and was killed in the struggle, according to a warrant for Parms’ arrest. It is be-
Mayor-President Sid edwards hugs the mother of Ja’Derrius Minnieweather alongside his grandmother during Friday’s news conference.
StaFF PHoto By JaVIer GaLLeGoS
lieved he stashed the body threw away evidence and attempted to cover up the crime scene.
While investigating the teen’s disappearance, police discovered a 16-year-old girl who had been in an illicit relationship with Parms. He was arrested on June 10 for counts of indecent behavior with juveniles and computer-aided solicitation of a minor but was released on bail a short time later
During an interview when Parms was arrested the second time, he admitted to police that he had met Min-
“We can only run volunteer work and have our own lives and jobs for so long,” said Ward.
Down the street, a man loaded ruined refrigerators he’d scrapped onto a trailer In nearby Bodoc, standing water still makes streets impassable for smaller vehicles, including Guillory Road, where 8 inches of water stayed in Rick Guillory’s home for nearly three days.
“We’ve been living back there for 44 years and it’s never flooded,” he said.
As he waited for his home to dry, Guillory hadn’t attempted to drive his car through the water With his wife’s car already totaled, he figured it wasn’t worth the risk.
At the Bodoc Fire Department, where volunteers fired up a smoker to cook an afternoon meal, FEMA and GOHSEP officials conducting on-the-ground damage assessments stopped in to greet residents.
Allison Saari, recovery operations director for GOHSEP, said the state must reach a $9 million damage threshold to unlock public assistance funding for the parish and aid groups. She added individual assistance — which helps homeowners and renters with
repairs and temporary housing does not have a fixed dollar threshold but depends on factors such as the number of damaged homes and the scale of the local and state response.
“This was a flood that affected many people but was at different levels in different areas,” she said “We haven’t collected enough data to receive anything yet.”
In addition to homes, Saari said the flooding damaged 27 bridges in Avoyelles Parish and caused at least $17 million in agricultural losses. Now, she said, officials are migrating to St. Landry Parish to assess damage as floodwater from Avoyelles moves south.
Along country highways, soybean fields stood withered and brown. Others remained fully underwater One family of deer ranchers was still looking for half their herd.
“We’re still waiting to see how bad it’s going to be,” said Billy Crawford, who estimates about 900 of the 1,500 acres of soybeans and corn he farms are now unharvestable. “The soybean crop is pretty much finished. Corn, we’re not sure. In a lot of places, the water didn’t reach the ear.”
Michelle Deshotel, whose hus-
nieweather on June 4 at a residence on Bradley Street. In their investigation, detectives learned that Minnieweather had ridden a small children’s bike to the residence to meet the 16-year-old girl, a longtime friend. Parms and the girl later arrived in a white 2014 GMC Sierra 1500, and Minnieweather and Parms apparently got into an argument over how the older man was acting toward the girl, according to a warrant for Parms’ arrest. Parms then left and returned to his residence.
Parms said he met Minnieweather only briefly and left soon after the encounter However police said security footage contradicted Parms’ account.
Detectives were able to narrow down the location where they believe Minnieweather was possibly attacked.
Detectives obtained video of a tall Black man dragging a garbage can to a spot in the 3200 block of Conrad Street. They also found video from a minute later of a man matching Parms’ body type riding a small kid’s bike away from Conrad toward Charles Street. A tall male was also seen getting
band farms 6,000 acres of crawfish, rice and soybeans, said most of their land remains covered with water
“Maybe about 200 acres are harvestable,” she said “It’s a total loss for the year.”
Like most farmers in the area, the Deshotels and Crawford carry crop insurance, but they are unsure how much it will cover Like homeowners, they are waiting to see whether they will qualify for federal assistance.
“Everybody is in the same boat in this area,” Crawford added.
Coordinated response
Late Thursday afternoon, Avoyelles Parish Sheriff David Dauzat and Chief Deputy Ryan Quebedeaux set out in a high-water Humvee to deliver medicine to a home in Bordelonville, one of the more remote parts of the flooded region.
It was their eighth straight day in the vehicle. With a mix of pride and exhaustion, they described a week of 12-hour days delivering food, water, soap, toilet paper and other essentials to residents still unable to leave their homes. Eventually, Dauzat said, they began bringing soft drinks.
“A couple of people almost cried when they saw that Coke,” Dauzat said. “They needed that caffeine after days of bottled water.”
In the days immediately after the storm, sheriff’s deputies, local police and fire departments, the National Guard, Fish and Wildlife agents and good Samaritans worked around the clock in highwater vehicles, boats and ATVs to rescue hundreds of people from homes flooded with as much as 6 feet of water No injuries or fatalities have been reported.
“We did so good for the amount of rain we got,” Dauzat said. “We’re very fortunate.”
At the height of the flooding, water reached Dauzat’s armpits as he drove the Humvee, with deputies walking ahead as spotters. He and Quebedeaux alone rescued more than 40 people, Dauzat said. Detectives, forensics specialists and civil deputies all joined the effort. Sheriff’s offices from Pointe Coupee, Rapides and Catahoula
off the bike and throwing it into some bushes. He is then seen taking off a black mask, gloves and a T-shirt, which he threw into several garbage cans. Additional video showed Parms in his truck as he returned to the garbage cans to retrieve the shirt, gloves and mask, police said. He then returned to his residence and was seen wiping down areas of his truck with a rag. After witnesses described observing a tall man beating a smaller person while a kid’s bike was in the middle of the roadway, detectives were able to locate blood that had soaked into the ground. Detectives obtained a search warrant for Parms’ truck, which tested positive for the presence of blood. Morse said Parms has made no statement or offered any help to authorities on locating Minnieweather’s body. He remains in East Baton Rouge Parish Prison and is held without bail. His next court date will be on Oct. 15 for a bail review hearing In Louisiana, Parms faces the possibility of the death penalty if he is convicted of first-degree murder Staff writer Charles Lussier also contributed to this report.
parishes sent additional manpower Quebedeaux said part of their success came from pairing local deputies with outside responders for guidance.
“Our supervisors made good decisions,” he said. “We put people where they needed to be.”
Eight days after the storm, Dauzat’s Humvee still struggled to navigate flooded dirt roads to reach the Bordelonville home. The family’s car was flooded, leaving them unable to leave.
Dauzat said the Sheriff’s Office will continue to try to balance flood response with day-to-day activities.
“This is not going to go away next week or the week after,” he said. “This is going to be a process for probably months.”
Starting over At Scallan’s Pharmacy near the center of Plaucheville, Patty Andrus rang up prescriptions in a store with no floors and ripped-out Sheetrock as three dehumidifiers strained to dry the space.
She greeted her friend Vicki Dufur, a local elementary school teacher who was rescued by fourwheeler after her home took on about a foot and a half of water Dufur said she lost nearly everything, including a small collection of livestock and an album of photos and artwork documenting her children from pre-K through high school. She hoped to one day share them with her grandchildren.
“I never thought I’d have to start over at 58, but here I am,” she said Despite the losses, she said she feels “blessed.” About 15 friends have helped gut her home in recent days, a neighbor repaired her driveway and a grandparent of a former student dropped off a much-needed rotisserie chicken.
Dufur, who has lived in Plaucheville her entire life, said the rural community she grew up in had felt less tight-knit in recent years. The past week has changed her mind.
“I felt like in the last seven days I was a little girl again, just seeing everybody help each other,” she said. “I think it is the Lord telling us that we all need to shape up and get back together as a community.”
StaFF PHoto By MICHaeL JoHNSoN
3 EBR tax renewals up for vote
BY CLAIRE GRUNEWALD Staff writer
East Baton Rouge Parish has three parishwide tax votes on the ballot Saturday where voters will decide on funding for the library system, Council on Aging, and parks and recreation agency
Parish voters will be asked to individually approve or reject a library property tax continuation of 9.5 mills, a BREC property tax renewal of 3.96 mills, and a Council on Aging property renewal of 2 mills. Each measure would last 10 years
Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. Saturday Here is the breakdown of each tax proposition:
Library tax continuation
For the East Baton Rouge Parish Library voters will be asked to approve or reject a property tax continuation of 9.5 mills for the next 10 years, estimated to raise around $59.6 million annually to fund all library operations.
Continued from page 1a
Cao, an attorney in Metairie, served a term in the U.S. House from New Orleans, while Schroder spent years as a teacher and administrator before pivoting to become a real estate developer She lives in St. Tammany Parish. The district includes St. Tammany Parish and parts of Orleans, Jefferson and Tangipahoa parishes.
The elections for the Senate, the PSC and BESE will settle party contests first held on May 16 under a new election schedule, for certain offices, that the Legislature adopted in 2024 at Landry’s behest.
The library system’s previous tax millage, which expired at the end of 2025, was set at a higher rate of 9.89 mills.
The balloting comes after voters last fall rejected Proposition 1, which would have funded the system through an 11.1-mill annual tax, with 2.8 of those mills going to the parish’s general fund as a part of Mayor-President Sid Edwards’ “Thrive” plan to rededicate taxes to fix a hole in the general fund.
The current tax vote has garnered strong support from librarygoers, but it also has faced opposition that has significant funding Parks and recreation
For BREC, voters will be asked to approve or reject a property tax renewal of 3.96 mills set for 10 years. If approved, the tax will collect about $24.8 million annually beginning in 2027. This property tax was first approved in 1987. This property tax funds the park agency’s operations
Under the new system, no-party voters can vote in either party’s primary — unless they voted in the May 16 primary. Then they have to vote on Saturday in the same primary as last month
Many voters and polling commissioners reported on May 16 that the new election system caused confusion
Voters appear to be either skeptical or apathetic Analysts are projecting a 15% overall turnout, down from a 28% turnout on May 16
That day, voters rejected all five constitutional amendments put on the ballot by the Legislature Landry supported three of them, including a complicated financial maneuver to give teachers a pay raise.
Voters also rejected 68%
and maintenance, which can range from staffing lifeguards to installing park security measures.
Money collected from the tax makes up 20% of the agency’s annual budget.
Council on Aging
For the East Baton Rouge Council on Aging, voters will be asked to approve or reject a renewal of its property tax at a millage rate of 2 mills. If approved, the tax would collect around $12.5 million annually for 10 years, beginning in 2027.
A majority of voters approved this property tax for 2.25 mills in 2016. For the past two years, the millage has collected 2 mills after it was rolled back following a tax assessment year showing rising property values.
The balloting comes after voters in November shot down the “Thrive” initiative. The tax revenue funds Council on Aging services like meals and transportation for seniors.
of the 97 tax measures on the ballot among the 64 parishes. Voters had never opposed more than 50% of the tax measures during an election, said Guy Cormier, state director of the Police Jury Association of Louisiana.
Cormier said an analysis by the association indicated that the rejection of the constitutional amendments carried over to the local tax measures.
To find your polling place on Saturday, what is on your specific ballot and other information, go to the secretary of state’s voter portal at geauxvote.com and enter your name, ZIP code and birthday Anyone with questions on election day can call (800) 883-2805.
WHAT’S ON THE JUNE 27 BATON ROUGE AREA BALLOT
parish public library system and its branches.
PARISHWIDE COUNCIL ON AGING TAX RENEWAL
To continue to levy the 10-year, 2-mill property tax, generating an estimated $12,541,000 a year to be used exclusively by the East Baton Rouge Council on the Aging Inc., or any successor, to provide programs, services and activities for elderly residents of the parish, including Meals on Wheels, senior centers, respite services, housing, transportation, nutrition, wellness, and recreational programs.
PARISHWIDE RECREATION AND PARK COMMISSION TAX RENEWAL
To continue to levy the 10year, 3.96-mill property tax, generating an estimated $24,800,000 a year, for BREC’s public parks, recreational properties and facilities, and for the agency’s operating budget.
ZACHARY COMMUNITY SCHOOL SYSTEM PROPERTY TAX
To continue to levy the 10year, 9.5-mill property tax, generating $59,573,265 a year, to maintain and operate the
To levy a 20-year, 24-mill property tax, estimated to generate $8.4 million a year, to provide additional support to the system’s public elementary and secondary schools and for any lawful school purposes, including salaries and benefits of school system personnel. In no event shall
the tax, together with any other property tax levied for debt service, exceed 24 mills in any tax collection year.
CITY OF BAKER PROPERTY TAX PROPOSITION
To levy a 10-year, 10-mill property tax, generating an estimated $937,180 a year, to be used exclusively for salaries for third engine personnel and increasing salaries and benefits for all Fire Department employees who are members of the Municipal Fire and Police Civil Service System.
LIVINGSTON PARISH
TOWN OF KILLIAN SALES
TAX
To levy a 10-year, 1-cent sales tax, estimated to generate $38,400 a year to be allocated as follows: 50% for public safety and disaster management; 25% for maintenance and improvement of infrastructure, roads and drainage; 10% for beautification and parks; and 15% for other legal purposes of the town.
FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT NO. 4 SERVICE CHARGE RENEWAL
To renew for 10 years the $32 a year service charge, generating an estimated $800,000 a year, on each residential or commercial structure, whether occupied or not, for fire protection services.
Utah restricts fireworks, declares state of emergency
BY KATHY MCCORMACK and SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN associated Press
Utah restricted fireworks and declared a state of emergency Friday ahead of July Fourth celebrations as the United States’ largest wildfire mushroomed in size. The National Weather Service issued a rare “Particularly Dangerous Situation” warning as dry, windy conditions provided fuel for more fires across the western U.S.
The Cottonwood Fire in a sparsely populated area of southern Utah started Monday. It reached more than 112 square miles Friday and was uncontained, forestry officials said. One of six large wildfires burning in Utah, it severely damaged the Eagle Point ski resort in Beaver County, forcing mandatory evacuations.
Smoke from the fire has been pushing to the east and northeast, meaning the air quality at popular vacation spots like Zion and Bryce Canyon national parks — located far south of the flames — hasn’t been significantly
affected beyond some haze in the Bryce area. Still, visitors to Bryce have posted videos on social media showing the giant plume in the distance.
The smoke could further be seen for hundreds of miles, all the way to Colorado, as authorities put roughly 1,300 residents in the towns of Marysvale, Junction and Circleville on notice that they should be prepared to leave if conditions worsen and the fire pushes further
“This is unlike anything we’ve seen in recent memory,” state forester Jamie Barnes said in a statement Thursday “We’re seeing fires spread farther and faster under conditions that defy historical expectations. Some of the fires we’ve responded to this year are behaving in ways veteran firefighters simply haven’t seen before.”
Bruce Brown, 76, accompanied the sheriff on Thursday to find that his cabin and others in the area were gone.
“It looks a lot like the moon,” Brown said. “Just
burned out. Power poles tipped over all up the canyon.”
Alyssa Olsen, 27, said her family’s cabin also burned, including memorabilia from her grandfather’s time in the ski patrol. It was the last place they gathered for family photos with her grandmother before she died of cancer Her brother was to get married there in two months.
“That stuff you can’t just build back,” Olsen said. Gov Spencer Cox set the temporary fireworks restrictions through July 5 as the nation prepares to celebrate its 250th anniversary saying “this year is different.” The weather service in Salt Lake City, for the first time in the office’s history, issued a “Particularly Dangerous Situation” warning for five Utah counties including the area of the Cottonwood Fire. The rare alert was first used to warn of tornado conditions. A red flag warning also was issued for most of the state.
“Prepare now for rapid fire growth,” it said.
PHoto ProVIDeD By tHe U.S ForeSt SerVICe
Firefighters respond Wednesday to the Cottonwood Fire above Birch Lake near Beaver, Utah. Gov. Spencer Cox set temporary fireworks restrictions through July 5 due to dry, windy conditions providing fuel to six large wildfires burning across the state.
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Previous church attack reported
Feud between Br pastor, neighbors was ongoing
BY OLIVIA TEES
Tuesday morning was not the first time that the man beaten by the Rev Tony Spell was attacked in front of the Life Tabernacle Church in Central.
The victim of Tuesday’s attack, 20-year-old Toby Sherwin, told de-
tectives that while he was driving home on July 20, 2025, he passed the church and saw a dark truck in the parking lot. He said the truck pulled out and drove alongside him until he stopped in front of his home on Hooper Road, across the street from the church, according to arrest documents in the incident.
Citing home surveillance footage from Sherwin’s home, deputies said 38-year-old Vance Gossett got out of the passenger seat of the truck. He approached Sherwin’s vehicle and hit him several times through the open window before getting back into his truck, which left, a warrant for Gossett’s arrest said.
Sherwin told deputies that he would often stop his car to wait for vehicles to pass so he could back into his driveway Gossett was booked with simple battery, and his case remains pending. The Advocate was unable to reach Gossett for comment. Earlier this week, Spell was booked with second-degree battery for attacking Sherwin. Home surveillance video shows Spell crossing the four-lane Hooper
WET AND WILD
Road and punching him at least 35 times mostly while the victim was on the ground. Spell said that just before the incident, Sherwin yelled that he would rape and murder his family Sherwin’s father, Scott Sherwin, claims his son was checking the grass to see if it was dry enough to mow and said nothing to provoke the attack.
LEFT: Landon Oliver goes down a water slide during the Southern University AgCenter’s JAGcation summer camp at Edmond Livestock Arena summer camp on Thursday.
BELOW: Sadie Bonton, left, and Amara Mannadi leap toward a volleyball while playing in a shallow pool on Thursday.
StaFF PHotoS By JaVIer GaLLeGoS
Man arrested in connection with fatal shooting
CRIME BLOTTER staff reports
degree murder and counts of illegal use of weapons and possession of a firearm by a felon for his alleged involvement in the death of 48-year-old Shandolan Carey.
As heat dome bears down, BR temps may hit upper 90s
BY ANNAKATE FREELAND Staff writer
One of the hottest weekends of the year so far is expected across the Baton Rouge area as a heat dome pushes temperatures well above normal and limits rain chances.
The daily temperatures will be in the mid- to upper 90s, according to the National Weather Service. Heat index values, or what the temperature feels like, could climb into the mid100s through the weekend, with readings in some areas expected to reach as high as 107 degrees, according to the weather service.
Brigette Lim, a meteorologist with the weather service office in New Orleans/Baton Rouge, said the extreme heat is being caused by a heat dome stretch-
ing across much of the eastern United States.
“It’s really just the current weather pattern we are in,” she said. “We have a ridge that is building up way into the north so even places further up north, like Chicago, are going to be quite hot because there is this big heat dome over the eastern half of the United States.”
She said that the heat dome also suppresses the chance of rain. She said the temperature will drop back into the lower 90s on Tuesday, with storms expected to bring temperatures down.
Going into the Fourth of July weekend, although it falls outside the seven-day forecast, Lim said temperatures are expected to remain above the 30-year average high of 91 degrees for early July
Schools,
Suit says driver failed to protect victim
BY QUINN COFFMAN Staff
Police chief of N.O. flood authority terminated
rondeno had been
BY ALEX LUBBEN Staff writer
Joshua Rondeno, the superintendent of police for New Orleans’ east bank flood control agency, lost his job Friday after being placed on leave, capping more than a year of turmoil at the agency tasked with maintaining the region’s $14.5 billion levee system.
Board President Peter Vicari confirmed that Rondeno, who had worked at the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East since July 2024, was terminated Friday morning, effective immediately During Rondeno’s tenure as the top cop at the agency, numerous board members resigned in protest over changes he led. His pay increased substantially — to $208,000 a year, more than most other police chiefs in the region and about twice what his predecessor made — and he oversaw an overall increase in focus on policing at the flood agency
performed his job well and argued for expanding the police force.
ing people who violate policies and procedures.”
But his leadership drew scrutiny from former board members and lawmakers in Baton Rouge who questioned why a police chief with no flood control experience had so much influence at the agency, which oversees much of the region’s flood control system of levees and pumps. They also called attention to his employment contract, which Rondeno drafted himself and provided him with protections that no other employee at the agency had. In the end, that contract was not enough to keep him from losing his job Rondeno was also the subject of an investigation into his actions at the agency According to two sources familiar with the matter, that investigation was related to allegations of inappropriate communications with a female police officer at the agency
Guidry did not elaborate on the policies or procedures Rondeno may have violated. Rondeno did not respond to a request for comment
president. A proposed change to the bylaws, which has not been approved, would have formalized Rondeno’s contract protections, requiring a vote of the board to terminate him.
governed by a different agency He has discussed the possibility of introducing legislation to place the levee cops under the purview of the Louisiana State Police.
Residents in areas overseen by the force supported him at public meetings, where some said he had
The termination was not for cause, according to the agency’s regional director Jeff Williams. “I like the guy I think he did some good things,” said Shane Guidry, Gov Jeff Landry’s informal adviser in New Orleans who holds no position in government but has been overseeing changes at the levee agency “There’s no protect-
SHREVEPORT
Expanding police budget
Under Rondeno’s watch, the agency increased its budget on policing by about 45%, planned to hire additional officers, and bought new equipment including assault rifles, vehicles and tasers for the agency’s 50-officer force.
His role expanded as the board prioritized police spending. Rondeno took on a second role as chief compliance officer, acting as a kind of internal auditor with the aim of ferreting out waste and fraud.
As his role grew, so did his salary But after lawmakers noted that he could not by law earn more than the superintendent of the Louisiana State Police, who earns about $198,000, the board reduced his pay last month to $197,000.
Rondeno’s employment contract states that he can only be fired for cause which the contract defines as willful misconduct, gross negligence, insubordination, or a breach of his contract — by a majority vote of the board at a public meeting.
But per the agency’s current bylaws, the police superintendent serves at the pleasure of the board
Rondeno was facing mounting pressure from lawmakers, who questioned his pay, his influence at the agency, and his contract.
A previous version of that contract, which Vicari told lawmakers that Rondeno drafted himself, would have granted Rondeno four years’ of severance — potentially up to $910,000 — if he had been fired without cause.
“I’ve never seen that. Lane Kiffin would love to have that contract,”
Sen. Kirk Talbot, R-River Ridge, quipped during a legislative hearing in May “Don’t tell him about it, he might jump all over it.”
In a prepared statement, the agency said that the police captains who lead the agency’s twin police forces — one that operates in Jefferson Parish, the other in Orleans — will oversee policing while the agency conducts a search for a new police superintendent.
‘Need to separate it’
Sen. Patrick Connick, R-Marrero, who has been vocal about recent issues at the agency said Friday he believes the levee police need to be spun off from the flood board and
High levels of meth found in wastewater
BY ADAM DUVERNAY
Staff writer
Researchers recently revealed they’ve identified an alarming amount of meth in Shreveport, but not where you may think.
At a recent meeting of the Caddo Commission, LSU Health Shreveport officials said the local wastewater has some of the highest identified amounts of methamphetamine in the world. The news was delivered in a presentation on how opioid lawsuit settlement money is being spent
Billions in settlement funds from pharmaceutical companies distributed to states are largely spent at the local level in Louisiana. In Caddo Parish, a portion of the money, $1.5 million over three years, was given to LSU Health Shreveport, which used the funds to support various projects. Some of that money is be-
SUIT
Continued from page 1B
to the girl and her family, and whether exceptions in their existing contract allow the bus operator to exclude itself from paying damages.
ing used for wastewater testing meant to gauge drug use in the parish. LSU Health Shreveport Associate Professor of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Neuroscience Kevin Murnane told commissioners they’re testing for 21 drugs, including cocaine, fentanyl and methamphetamine. When it comes to methamphetamine, Murnane said the news is not good. “Sadly, Caddo Parish in Shreveport has some of the highest methamphetamine levels of anywhere in the world,” Murnane said. According to data Murnane presented to the commissioners, the city’s wastewater has methamphetamine levels of 8.26 parts per billion, equivalent to one drop of impurity in 500 barrels of water That’s more than twice the levels in places like Montana, Oklahoma and South Carolina.
In recent filings, First Student has sought to push responsibility fully onto the school district, using a provision in their transportation contract that absolves the bus company from liability if the lawsuit is over “student-on-student violence.”
ATTACK
Continued from page 1B
The neighbors and the pastor have been in an ongoing
BLOTTER
Continued from page 1B
The charges stem from a homicide investigation that began Saturday, when deputies responded around 3 p.m. to a residence on Kerry Road in reference to a shooting.
On Monday, 19th Judicial Judge Beau Higginbotham rejected a motion from First Student attorneys to have him rule on their request for exemption ahead of the rest of the case. In their opposition, the school district argued that the students on the bus were under the company’s custody at the time of the assault Attorneys also argued that liability has yet to be determined by the court and the motion for an early summary judgment by Higginbotham is premature.
feud since 2020. Spell sued Scott Sherwin over the installation of surveillance cameras at his home across the street from Life Tabernacle Church. Spell claimed that the neighbor installed them
“We looked at this internationally We looked all around the United States, looked in Tennessee and West Virginia and all the places that are typical hot spots for methamphetamine, and sadly, we have higher levels than any of those places,” Murnane said.
Murnane said LSU Health Shreveport hopes to create a “Caddo Parish Mental Health Command Center,” going beyond just wastewater testing to help alleviate police departments’ needs to respond to incidents for which other services could be substituted or would be safer options.
He said wastewater data, along with information from places like the North Louisiana Criminalistics Laboratory, can be helpful for that mission.
Asked why Shreveport has such high levels of methamphetamine in its wastewater,
In ‘plain sight’
The victim’s parents claim their daughter’s abuse started in the fall of 2023, with a male student in one of her classes beginning a pattern of “repeated and persistent bullying, intimidation and threatening.”
The victim reportedly was in fear of retribution from her bully and believed she would be physically harmed if she reported the abuse to her parents or teachers.
“At no time did any teacher or administrator of Zachary Community School District
to keep tabs on the pastor
At a news conference after he was released from jail, Spell said the Sherwins have been terrorizing him and his congregation for months.
Murnane said the data itself doesn’t answer the question.
“Nobody has a definitive answer to that My best educated guess is there’s just a confluence of a lot of vulnerability factors,” Murnane said. “Methamphetamine use is associated with lack of economic opportunities and hope about your future. It’s also associated with interstate and international drug trafficking, and there’s many interstate corridors running through here It’s associated with vulnerable communities.”
Poverty in Shreveport, he said, likely is a factor for those reasons. “It’s just sort of a perfect and very unfortunate recipe for a high level of methamphetamine use.”
He said dealing with those factors and using things like a mental health command center to deploy parish resources may help the problem.
take any steps to put an end to the bullying,” according to the suit.
The suit claims the school district failed to notice this bullying and did not step in to keep the girl separated from her bully, allowing the two to regularly board the same afternoon bus leading up to the date of the attack.
This abuse culminated in November with an attack on the bus in which the girl said she was assaulted “by two or more students.”
One of the assailants was allegedly the student who had been bullying the girl.
“We need to separate it,” Connick said. “Once that’s done, if we can get it done, a lot of this dysfunction will go away.”
Blair duQuesnay, the chair of Citizens for One Greater New Orleans, a group that advocated for levee board reforms in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, said that her group would be advocating for those reforms to be put forward in the Legislature.
“Everything that transpired under Rondeno’s time at the authority makes it clear that we should be advocating for the removal of the police function from flood protection,” she said.
Among the controversies swirling around Rondeno was an instance where he claimed he was hit by a board member Rondeno alleged that a former board member, Deborah Settoon, struck him while attempting to get into a closed-door meeting that other board members had barred her from.
“I’m glad they solved this problem,” Settoon said of Rondeno’s termination “It’ll help the board focus on technical issues. It shows that they may be moving in the right direction.”
La. Supreme Court won’t revisit N.O. court clerk law
BY MATT BRUCE Staff writer
The Louisiana Supreme Court won’t grant New Orleans city leaders a review hearing to argue against a controversial new law that merged the city’s clerk of court offices last month, declining to reconsider its decision this month upholding the new law
The decision appears to end state challenges to Act 15, which Gov Jeff Landry signed into law days after the Legislature passed a bill that melded the city’s independent civil and criminal clerk’s offices into one. In doing so, lawmakers abolished the criminal clerk position that former life prisoner Calvin Duncan won overwhelmingly last fall at the polls.
The city entered the fray when the City Council called for a special election and appointed an interim to the unified clerk’s post. The city urged the Supreme Court to reconsider its June 1 ruling, which came in a 4-3 vote. The same narrow split rendered Friday’s decision denying a rehearing.
“I appreciate the three Louisiana Supreme Court justices who recognized the profound constitutional questions this case presents,” Mayor Helena Moreno said in a response to Friday’s ruling. “Their opinions underscore that this was never simply about reorganizing government; it was about protecting the right of the people to have their votes
counted and given effect.” Moreno said the city plans to seek review from the U.S. Supreme Court “to ensure these important constitutional questions receive full consideration.” Supreme Court Justices William Burris, Cade Cole, Jay McCallum and Jefferson Hughes voted to deny the city’s application for a rehearing, giving no reason. In dissent, Justices John Michael Guidry, Piper Griffin and Chief Justice John Weimer each issued opinions denouncing Act 15 as an affront to New Orleans voters.
“This whole saga is about how the arrogance of governmental power, left unchecked, can cause incalculable injury to the citizens who instituted the government for their protection,” Guidry wrote in a five-page dissent.
“Political actors maneuvered the creation of the office of Clerk of Court of Orleans Parish, and in an act of paternalism, substituted their will for that of the overwhelming majority of voters of Orleans Parish,” he later added.
School reaches out after fatal shooting
As Baton Rouge police investigate the shooting death of 15-year-old Liberty High School student Suhib Yousef this week, the school said in a statement Friday that counselors and support personnel would be available on campus next week to provide assistance to students and staff.
“Our thoughts are with Suhib’s family, friends, classmates, teachers, and everyone who knew and cared about him, during this incred-
Upon arrival, deputies found Carey suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. She was pronounced dead at the scene. During the investigation detectives with the Sheriff’s Office Violent Crimes Unit identified Green as the suspect and obtained an arrest warrant. Investigators said Green and Carey knew each other, though the circumstances leading up to the shooting remain under investigation.
ibly difficult time,” the school said.
“During times like these, we are reminded of the importance of caring for one another with compassion, kindness, and respect. We will continue to support our students, families and staff as we navigate this loss together,” the statement said. Yousef was found fatally shot about 11:20 p.m Wednesday in the 4400 block of Poplar Street, Baton Rouge police said.
The shooting happened just weeks after another 15-yearold, Ja’ Derrius Minnieweather, a student at Istrouma High, was apparently beaten to death. The search for Minneweather’s body continues.
Rondeno
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Obituaries
Cleveland, AnnJean
Ann Jean Hayes Cleveland passedaway peacefully on June 22, 2026 In Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Jean was born July 20, 1930 in Manchester ,England. Her journey in life took her from London, England to Crowley Louisiana when she married William JCleveland Jr Herwit andbeauty took the South by storm. They moved to Baton Rougein 1968 and she lived on Shawn Dr until February 2026. Jean was avoracious reader and alover of all forms of art and artistic expression. She loved to travel and garden. She was an excellent card player and much sought after bridgepartner. Puzzles and mystery's were her forte. Second to her family was her love for animals She allowedand encouraged her children to bring home any strays. Our home was amenagerie of cats, dogs, bunnies, gerbils, fish, etc. Shedid put her foot down at snakes! Jean is preceded in death by her parents, Joseph and Annie Hayes of England. Her husband, William JCleveland Jr. Her son, William JCleveland III. Her granddaughter, ChristineCleveland.Her sister, Margaret Lemmon and her brothers Harold and Joseph Hayes. She is survived by her children Steven (Stacy)Cleveland of Walker, Louisiana, Mark (Cindy) Cleveland of Slidell, Louisiana, Margaret (Luis) deAlcuaz of Modesto, California, 11 grandchildren, 24 great grandchildren and 4great, great grandchildren. Ourfamily is extremely grateful to Shun Marshall (our Angel on Earth), Nautyca Clark, the staff at Garden View assisted living and Hospice of Baton Rouge. We cannot thank Shunand Nautyca enough for their dedication and kindness to help mom transition with dignity and grace. The family will holda private burial at the Cleveland cemetery in Lena, Louisiana In lieu of flowers please send donations to CAWS of Baton Rouge, EBR libraryPatrons of the publiclibrary or Louisiana Public Broadcasting "Perhaps they are not stars in the sky, but rather openings where our loved ones shine down to let us
Daughtry, Jacqueline Fournet'Jackie'
Jacqueline "Jackie" FournetDaughtry peacefully passed awayand entered Heaven on Monday, June 15, 2026, at the ageof 88. Shewas bornonJuly 29, 1937, in St. Martinville, Louisiana.She attended St. AnthonyCatholicSchool and graduated from Baton Rouge High School.After marrying herhigh-school sweetheart,Jimmy Daughtry, she devoted her life to creatinga warmand welcoming home wherethey raised their five daughters, centeredonfaithand strong family values. She was afaithfulmember of St. Patrick Catholic Church. Jackie wasknown for her colorfulhats, flashyoutfits, and carefullychosen accessories. She wasneverafraidtostandout in a crowd. She loved alittle sparkle, alittleflair, and wasn't shy about making an entrance.Never meeting astranger, Jackie filled every room with personality, spunk, and lively conversation. Friends and neighborswerealways welcome for ahomecookedmeal.Her love extended beyond her family toher belovedCedarcrest family, whereshe built lasting friendships and touchedcountless lives Shewillberemembered for herlove of dance,vibrant spirit, devotion to her grandchildrenand great-grandchildren, and for always reminding everyone that she was the "glue" of the family. Adevoted fan of LSU sports, the Chicago Cubs, and the NewYorkYankees, Jackie was awalkingencyclopedia of sports statistics, trivia, and random facts. Whetheritwas agameof TrivialPursuit or settling a friendly debate, she was everyone'sfirst call. Jackie is survivedbyher daughters, Dale Oufnac(Mike), Teddy Brumfield(Joey), Marcia Blanchard (Chuck), Beth Ellis (Chuck), and Tootie Lee (Ricky); sisters, Kathy Hains (Johnny) and Suzanne Sexton (Gray); brother, MarcFournet (Karen); grandchildren, Chris Oufnac (Sheila), Amanda Thrasher(Zeb), Jennifer Oufnac, Victor Brumfield (Holly), Kendra Leger(Ryan), Madeline Gugich (George), Charles Blanchard(Hillary), Brooke Sabadie (Chad), ChaseEllis, Hunter Lee (Garret), and Hanna Naquin(Tyler); and great-grandchildren: Amalee, Lucy, Leela and Jenny Thrasher,Britton andBrady Brumfield, Ainsleyand Clay Gugich,Grace Blanchard, Ellis,Brynnand Carsyn Sabadie,Christian, Anna-Kate, Emery and LaylaEllis,Harris Lee, Hayes and Kiki Naquin. Sheispreceded in death by her cherishedhusband of 46 years, Jimmy RoyDaughtry; parents, Pearland WalterFournet, Jr.; brother, WalterFournet, III; nephew,Michael Fournet; niece, Eileen Hains Lonergan; father-in-law and mother-in-law, James Daughtryand Rosalie Daughtry;and sister-inlaw, Mary Whittle.The family wouldliketoextend specialthanks to Lake Sherwood Village Community and Audubon Home Health, especiallyJennifer, Jade, Gerri, and Ebony. Relatives and friends areinvited to celebrateJackie's life onSaturday, July 25, 2026, at St. Patrick Catholic Church. Visitation will begin at 9:00 AM, followed by aFuneral Mass at 10:00 AM, officiatedby Father Eddie Martin, acherished member of the Cedarcrest family. Following the Mass, family and friends are invited to gather at the Church Activity Center. The family requests that attendees honorJackie by wearing brightand uplifting colors. Aprivatefamily burial willtakeplace at Resthaven Gardens of Memory
RupertBarry Fitzgerald, abeloved husband,father, grandfather, brother, and friend, passed on Wednesday, June 24, 2026 at the ageof68. Rupert was alife -longresident of Addis,LA. He met theloveofhis life Paige, at BruslyHigh School, where they both graduated in 1976. He workedatDow Chemical forover 40 years. Visitation willbeatSt. John the Baptist CatholicChurch in BruslyonMonday,June 29th, from9 a.m. until eulogy at 11:45 a.m. AMass of Christian Burialwillbecelebrated at 12 p.m. by Rev. Arun John. Burial of ashes will follow in the church cemetery. Pallbearers will be his grandsons. To view fullobit visit www.wilbertservices.com.
Gail Genevieve Hansen McClure, age 69, of AscensionParish, Louisiana passed away on June 23, 2026. She was proceeded in death by her parents; Kjell and Edna Hansen;her son Lloyd Cernich Jr;and her sisters Susan Gautreaux and Karen Cernich. Gail is survivedbyher adoring husband Michael McClure; her brotherKnuteHansen (Claudette); their children Timmy Cernich (Holly), Jimmy Cernich (Rebecca), Joey Cernich Sr (Stephanie), Jamie Cernich (Shannon),AmandaPowell (John Ballard),and Jenifer McClure (Jacob Milkoski) GrandchildrenChristina Riggins (Zackary), Madeline Blount (Caleb), Allison Cernich, SidneyBordelon, Brennan Cernich, Raymi Garcia (Skyler), Joey Cernich Jr, Becca Cernich, Jenna Cernich, Lyla Cernich, HunterWright, Zoey Ballard, LillianMcClure, Rosalie Milkoski,Juliet Milkoski,and Lincoln Milkoski. Great-grandchildren Emery Blount and Ridge Riggins. Gail was adevoted wife, loving mother and cherishedgrandmother and great-grandmother whose family was thecenter of her life.She found great joyinbringing her family togetherand creating memories that will be cherished for generations. An avid fisherman, Gail was thehappiestnear water, rodinhand,and enjoying thepeace and beauty of theoutdoors. Her love of fishing reflected her patience,her appreciation for life's simplepleasures, and her quiet sense of adventure.Throughout heryears working in retail services, Gailwas known for her kindness and genuine care for others. She had anaturalway of making people feelwelcome and valued, leaving alasting impression on everyone she met Affectionately known as "Memaw," Gail willberemembered forher strength,warmth, and the deep love she shared with her family.She tookgreat pride in her childrenand their accomplishments and found endless joy in her grandchildrenand great-grandchildren. Those who knew her willfondly remember theway she
would lovingly call out "Honey"toher husband Mike, asimple moment that reflected the deep bond and affectionthey shared.Gailwillbedeeply missed and forever loved. Aservicewillbeheldin Mrs. Gail's honoronTuesday, June 30thatthe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints,502 E. HWY 30, Gonzales, LA 70737, withburialtofollow at HopeHavenCemetery. Visitationwillbefrom10 AM to 11AM, with theservice to follow.
Kirkland Sr., AubreyLloyd
July 6, 1945-June 24, 2026
AubreyLloyd Kirkland, Sr., 80, of Centreville,Mississippi,passedaway peacefullyonJune24, 2026, at theLouisiana WarVeterans Home
Born on July 6, 1945, in Centreville, Lloydwas the son of Aubrey and Myona Kirkland, who preceded himindeath. He proudly served hiscountry in the UnitedStates Armyduring the Vietnam era Lloyd worked formany years as amachinist; a professionwellsuited to his mechanical mind and ability to work with his hands.Hehad agiftfor solving problems and finding practical solutions, and he took pride in doinga job right.
Away fromwork, Lloyd enjoyed playing pool and spentmanyyears competing in the localAPA league. He appreciated thecompetition,the friendships, and the conversations that camewith the game.Healso valued time spentwith familyand lifelong friends.
Lloyd is survived by his sons, Al Kirkland and his wife,Crystal,and Scott Kirkland and his wife, Tiffany; his daughter,Holly Brumfield and herhusband,Victor; and Nancy Jordan, the mother of his threechildren. He wasa grandfather to Alexis Kirkland,Connor Kirkland, CalebPassman BeauPassman, and Jay Kirkland, and agreatgrandfather to Collins Michaels, Roy Michaels, and Ellie Johnson.
The familyextends its sincere appreciation to the physicians,nurses, and caregivers who caredfor Lloyd during his final months, especially the staffofField HealthSystem and the LouisianaWar Veterans Home, for the compassion, dignity,and kindness they showedhim Agraveside servicecelebrating Lloyd'slifewill be held on Sunday, June 28, 2026, at 2:00 p.m.atOaklawn Cemetery in Centreville, Mississippi,under the directionofNewman Funeral Home.
Lois Solar Raffray Clementpassedaway peacefully with family by her sideonSunday, June 21, 2026, at theage of 93. She was aretired employee of Winn-Dixie; aresident of Plaquemine and a nativeofDonaldsonville, LA.Visitation willbeheld at Wilbert Funeral Home, Plaquemine on Friday, June 26, 2026, from 5to9pm and also at St.Clementof Rome Catholic Church, Plaquemine on Saturday, June 27, 2026, from 8am untilMass of Christian Burial at 10am, celebratedbyFather Martin Lawrence.Interment willfollow at Grace MemorialPark, Plaquemine. Lois is survivedbyher children, Gail Molliere, WandaGeorges (Sam), SharonDupont (Michael), Jerry"Jay" Raffray (Tracy), and Joni Tullier (Tim); former daughterin-law,LisaDoucet(Mark); grandchildren, Ashley Salvadras, Carly Daigle (Shane), Samantha Gore (Austin), EricGeorges (Kel-
ly), Renee LeBlanc(Rhyan), Michelle Alleman (Jonathon), RachelleSt. Angelo (Aubrey), Justin Raffray (Morgan), Jessie Raffray, Jensen Raffray (Renee), Zane Hebert (Samantha), Jaci Tullier Breaynn Hayden (Bryce), and TiffanyShores (Chris); great grandchildren, Maddie, Kennedy, Brady, and Beau Salvadras, Christian Boudreaux, Cash Smith, Dani Daigle,Meadow, Noa andJack Gore, Bailey and Kaden LeBlanc, Peyton and BrantAlleman,Aubrey Katherine,and KollinsSt. Angelo,Izzi W., Scarlett, Vivien, andEleanorRaffray, Baby girlRaffray on theway,Andie, Sawyer andFinnHebert, Kameron, Keyleigh and Remi Albert, andTeddi Hayden; greatgreat granddaughter,Adalyn Spencer; brothers, C.J. Solar(Ginny), and Dickie Solar; sister-in-law,Rosemary Solar; numerous nieces andnephews. Precededindeathbyher husband, Frank Clement; lovinggrandson, Joshua Raffray; son-in-law, Glenn Molliere;father, Spaulding Solar; mother, VioletPetty; andsiblings, Rita Zeringue, Betty Murphy, twin brother Lloyd Solar, Evelyn McIntyre, Spaulding"Neg" Solar,Jr., Robert "Bobby" Solar,James "Jimmy"Solar, andJerri Ann"Sue"Lofton Pallbearers will be herson, sons-in-law, andgrandsons. Special thanks to her special caregiverand card player,Eva Dupontand Clarity Hospice fortheir care.Lois spent herlife putting theneeds of others before herown.She hada kind andgiving spirit,always therewhensomeone needed her. Herlove was unconditional,and her home wasalways aplace wherefamilygathered, shared meals and everyonefeltwelcome. Even in her93rd year, Mom'ssharp mind andvibrantspirit neverleft her. Shecontinuedtoenjoy hercard games with herfriends andfamily. The legacyshe leaves behind is notmeasured by possessions, but by thecountless lives she touchedwithher love,generosity, and devotion to family. OurMom was the heartofour family. She lovedfamilymorethan anythinginthisworld; they were hergreatest joy. We will forever cherish the memories, lessons, laughter, andlove she gave us Though ourhearts are broken by herpassing,wefind comfortknowingthather legacywill live on through herchildren, grandchildren,great-grandchildren, andall whowereblessed to know her. Mom, you were truly oneofa kind. Youwill be deeply missed, forever loved, andnever forgotten. Please share memories online at www.wilbertservices.com.
JanRay recently died in BatonRouge.She was95. ShegrewupinGeorge‐town, Texasand livedin BatonRouge formany years. Sheretired from
LouisianaState University after workingasanAdmin‐istrativeAssistantfor the School of Social Work.Jan is preceded in deathbyher mother Mabel, herfather George,her husband Richard, andher sonKent. Sheissurvivedbyher sons Carl andAlan, her three daughters-in-law Mary Annand Pam, alongwith hersix grandchildrenand twogreat-grandchildren Services will be held July 11 at St.Luke'sEpiscopal Church on Goodwood Blvd in BatonRouge.Visitation will beginat9 a.m.,fol‐lowedbya funeralservice at 10 a.m. Shewillbein‐terred in thenew St.Luke’s EpiscopalChurch whenit is completedlater this year.
Sheila Smith passed away peacefullysurrounded by herfamilyatThe Crossing at Clarity Hospice on Tuesday, June 23, 2026, at the age of 68. Shewas a retiredcashier,resident andnative of Bayou Sorrel, LA.Visitationwillbeheld at Wilbert Funeral Home, PlaquemineonMonday, June 29, 2026, from 9:30am untilreligiousservices conductedbyPastor Mitch Collier. Interment will followatGraceMemorial Park, Plaquemine.Sheila is survived by herhusbandof 53 years, Steve Smith; daughters, Shawana Rodriguez, andStaceyMedine and husband Carey; grandchildren, StevenRodriguez, KaciRodriguezde Jimenez andhusbandPaolo, Zoe Medine Ramerand husband Jayce, Carey Medine,Jr., andCam Medine; great-grandchildren,Waylon andClayton Rodriguez; numerousnieces and nephews. Preceded in death by hergrandson, Samuel Rodriguez; son-inlaw,Kerry Rodriguez; parents, Samuel andZora Crouch;sister,Roberta "Katie" Asberry; and brothers, Tommy and WindellCrouch. Pallbearerswill be Stevenand Waylon Rodriguez, Carey Carey,Jr., andCam Medine,Jayce Ramerand Paolo de Jimenez.Please share memoriesonline at www.wilbertservices.com.
Smith, Sheila
Raffray Clement, Lois Solar
Ray, Jan
BRIEFS FROM WIRE REPORTS Appeals courtrejects
Trump EPAbid
WASHINGTON Afederalappeals court on Friday rejected the Environmental Protection Agency’s attempt to abandon aBiden-era rule that sets tough standards for deadly soot pollution.
The unanimous ruling by a three-judgepanelisasetbackfor the Trumpadministration’sderegulatory agenda and itsrepeated efforts to boost coal, areliable but polluting energy source.
The decisionbythe U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit leaves intact, for now,atighter standard set in 2024 on pollution from coal-fired power plants, factories and other industrialsources.
The EPAunder President Donald Trump askedthe appeals court last year to invalidate the Biden-era rule, arguing that the agency under previousleaders hadexceeded itsstatutory authority and actedunreasonably by failing to consider costs to businesses affected by the rule
The court denied the Trump administration’srequest, saying in adecision written by Senior Judge Douglas Ginsburg that the agency’sarguments “lack merit.” Toyota threatens GM’s crown as hybrids surge
General Motors is facing an uncomfortable reality: Toyota has a shot at taking the U.S. sales crown once againthanks to growing demand forits gasoline-electrichybrids.
The Japanese automaker is expected to increaseits market share to 15.8% in the first half of this year,while GM’ssharemay tumble by almost 1percentage point to 16.8%, according to a forecast from researcher Cox Automotive. If consumers continue to flock toward fuel sippers, Toyota has ashot becomingthe No. 1 auto seller in the U.S.this year Toyota overtaking GM in the Detroit automaker’s home market would mark ahistoric shift. GM has held the top spot since passing Ford Motor Co. in 1931, losing to Toyota only once —in 2021 —amid aglobalsemiconductor shortage. Ashake-up also would underscore the ill effects of GM Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra’sriskybet on EVs over hybrids, as most American buyershave been reluctant to go all-electric.
Australia to change children’ssocial media
MELBOURNE, Australia The Australiangovernmentplans to strengthen laws that ban children younger than 16 fromsocialmedia platforms, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said. Observers said on Friday the government was respondingto evidence that the banonyoung children holding accounts on platforms including Facebook, Instagramand YouTubehad failed since it came into forceonDec. 10 last year.Australia was the first country in the world to pass legislation keeping youth off social media, but others have since followed.
Albanese told Parliament on Thursday this government was considering options to strengthen the ban.
“We’re working on that as aprioritybecausethisissomething that other generations didn’thave to deal with,which is whyit’scomplex,” Albanese told Parliament. Canada, Brazil and Indonesia have introduced legislationor announced age-based restrictions or requirements for children’s access to social media. France, Spain, Denmark, Thailand and South Korea are amongothers studying or developingsimilar approaches.
eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant, Australia’s online safety watchdog, said in April she was considering court action against Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok andYouTube, alleging they were not doing enough to keep young Australian children off their platforms
These platforms, as well as X, Kick, Reddit, Threads andTwitch, face fines of up to $34 millionif they fail to take reasonable steps to remove the accounts of young children.
Trumpthreatens taxonimports
european countries mayimposelevyon digitalservices
BY COLLIN BINKLEY associated Press
WASHINGTON— President Donald Trumpon Friday threatened a100% tax on importsfromany country that imposes atax on digital services fromUnited States companies.
In apost on social media,Trump took aim at European countries that he said arediscussing “imminent” implementation of taxesonAmerican companies.The U.S.president has repeatedly sought to use tariffs as waytodeter such taxes, but many countries arelooking forrevenues as their economies increasingly operateindigital realms that are dominated by American companies.
“Pleaselet thisstatement serve to represent that any Country that imposes such aTax will immediately be met with a100% TARIFF on any and all Goods sent to the United States of America,” Trump wrote.
He added that the new tax would supersede any previously negotiated trade deals. Trumpsaid the penalty would apply to any country that moves forward with such atax, but he singled out European nations in his post.
Themove could lead to alarger showdownthat could increase prices and hinder economicgrowth, possibly setting off alarger trade war if the27-member EuropeanUnion was compelled to retaliate.
“Unilateral measures targeting such legitimate policies are unjustified. If pursued, the EU will respond swiftly and decisively to defend its rights andregulatory autonomy,” said OlofGill, aspokesperson for
the European Commission on Friday
He defended taxation on technology companies as “nondiscriminatory” and applied equally to “all large companies,regardless of their origin.”
Trump has repeatedlypushed against foreign effortstotax or regulate American tech giants.Last year,hethreatened newtariffs on anycountry thatmoved to do so. Apostfrom last August saidthat digital taxes and regulation “are all designedtoharm, or discriminate against, American Technology.”
The threat comes ahead of Trump’sJuly 4deadline for the European Union andthe United States to start implementing atariffdeal thatcapstariffs on most EU exports at 15%
The European Union in May finalizedatrade deal with the United Statesthatcapsmosttariffs on EU
exports at 15%. The dealfollowed months of debate within the EU after European Commission chief Ursula vonder Leyententatively struck thedeal last year while visitingTrump’sgolf course in Scotland. Digitaltaxes were not part of the agreement and have remained a sticking point between the U.S. and theEuropean bloc.
TheU.S. government haspreviously conducted tariffinvestigations intodigitalservices taxesunderSection301 of the TradeAct of 1974. Butitwas unclear how Trump wouldcarry outhis threat and whether he would apply the tariffs broadly or initially target certain nations.
Britain, whichisnolonger part of the EU, has since 2020 levied a 2% digital services taxonrevenues earned by search engines,social media sites andonline marketplaces that “derive value”fromU.K.users
ChatGPT maker OpenAI said Friday it is restrictingthe release of its new artificial intelligence model at the request of President Donald Trump’sadministration, thelatest in an unprecedented government vetting of AI products that could pose cybersecurity risks.
OpenAI said itsnew AI product, called GPT-5.6 Sol, would only be available for now to a“small group of trusted partners” approvedbythe Trumpadministration.
“Wedon’tbelieve this kind of government access process should becomethe long-term default,”OpenAI said in astatement. The company saiditviewed the testing period as atemporary step on the “path to broader availability in the coming weeks.”
OpenAI’sstaggered releaseofa powerful new AI system followsactions the governmenttook earlier this month against OpenAI rival Anthropic, maker of the Claude chatbot. Anthropic took offline twonew AI models, known as Fable 5and Mythos 5, just days after publiclyreleasing them to comply with aTrumpdirective blocking their use by foreignnationals.
TheWhite House said Friday it continues to collaboratewith frontier AI labs on addressing the challenges of scaling the fastgrowing technology
Officials have grown increasingly concerned since Anthropic warned earlierthis year thatits Mythos modelwas adept at finding software flaws in away thatcould be weaponized by malicioushackers and threaten critical computer networks around theworld
Models draw scrutiny
Trump earlier in June signedanexecutive order onAIoversight that established aframework for thefederal governmentto vet thenational security risks of themost advanced AI systems for up to 30 daysbefore their public release. Theorder described participation by AI developers as voluntary but the framework has not yet been fully developed. Some ofTrump’sallies have laid blame on Anthropic and its CEO Dario Amodei for the need for heightened government scrutiny
“Dario came to Washingtona few months ago, back in April, andbasically said that he
had created acyber weapon called Mythos,” said investor David Sacks, who co-leads Trump’scouncil of technology and science advisers, on arecent podcast.“And he spikedthe cortisollevel, got everyone really worried. Andthere wassometruth to it in termsofthe sensethat this modelhad advanced cyber capabilities.”
San Francisco-based OpenAI said its new Sol model“is better at helping people find and fix vulnerabilities” than it is at carrying outcyberattacksand does not crossthe company’sown risk threshold. But it acknowledged there could be unforeseen risks especially if itsmodel is combined with other tools
“That uncertainty,along with the model’s broader step change in capabilities, is why we arepairing the model’sincreased capabilities with stronger safeguards and a phased release,”the company said Friday OpenAI hasn’tnamed anyofthe roughly 20 customers that have been approved to use thenew model so far Government intervention
Abroad group of cybersecurity experts has criticized the government’s actions that led Anthropic to shut down Fable, which the company hadpitched as asafer versionof Mythos. It’snow been unavailablefor two weeks.
“I just want to say that pretty much nobody
Most of Wall Street rises,
BY STAN CHOE associated Press
NEW YORK Most of the U.S.stock marketroseFridayafter oilprices eased back towhere they were before the war with Iran, but drops for stocks swept up in the mania around artificial-intelligence technology kept themarket in check. The S&P 500finished nearlyflat and slippedlessthan 0.1% to close out justits second losing week in the last 13. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 44 points, or 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.2%.
Stocks got aboost as the price of Brent crudeoil, the international standard, dropped 3.8% to $72.60.
That’slower than it was the day before the United States and Israel attacked Iran, which eventually led to theclosure of the Strait of Hormuz
and thecurtailment of oil shipments worldwide Theeasier oilprices helped stocks of companies with big fuel bills, and American Airlines Group climbed 1.7% Health care stocks,meanwhile, were some of thestrongest forces pushing upward on the market after acommittee of the European Medicines Agency recommended several medicines for approval and theextension foranother dozen of theirtherapeuticindications. That included one forEli Lilly,whose stock jumped 7.1%. Besides Lilly,nearly two out of every three stocks withinthe S&P500 rose. But more drops forAIstocks helped to overshadow them. After soaring to tremendous heights and leadingthe market for years, AI stocks have been under
in the cybersecurity industry believesthat there’sany factual basisfor thisaction,” Stanford University cybersecurity expert Alex Stamos said on acall with reporters earlier this week.
Stamos, the chief product officer at AI security company Corridor and aformer chief security officer at Facebook parent Meta, said he reviewed an analysis of research on Fable by Anthropic’sprimary cloud computing backer,Amazon, and didn’tfind any risks that aren’tpresent with other publicly available AI models, including those made in China.
“Ifthe administration is honest about wanting the UnitedStates to beat China in this race, then this is about the dumbest thing they could possibly do,” Stamos said. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman spoke with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick about the model release Wednesday,part of aseries of negotiationsinrecentweeksbetween AI industry executives and Trumpofficials. Anthropic has also been part of those talks but Amodei has had amore contentious relationship with the Trump administration. The Pentagon designated Anthropic as anational security risk for raising ethical andsafety concernsabout AI usage in war, andTrump himself ordered federal agencies to stop using Claude.Anthropic responded witha lawsuit that is still working its way through federal courts.
pressure recently because of worries their profits can’t possibly keep pacewiththe tremendousrallies for theirstock prices.And thosedrops have an outsized effect becauseAI stocks have become Wall Street’s largest and most influential, giving movements for their stock prices more weight on indexes than others.
Micron Technology’sdropof 6.7% was the heaviest weight on the market, for example. The maker of memory forcomputers hasbeen a big winner this year,with its stock roughly quadrupling, because the AI boom hascreateda surgeofdemand for itsproducts.
Butinvestors saw the downside of that surge Thursday,when Apple said it had to raise prices on laptops and other products by significant percentages to make up for the increases in memory prices. Thewor-
ry is thatsuchhigher prices could ultimately lead to lower demand. Highlighting the roller-coaster ride that AI stockshavebeenon, SpaceX brieflydropped 2.9% in the morningand fell below $149. It then erased theloss to swing to again of 3.5% before finishing with amodest rise of 0.2%.
Afterinitiallyselling itsstock at $135 apiece in itsballyhooed initial public offering earlierthis month, SpaceX’sprice briefly soared above $225 within its first few days of trading. Besides rockets, Elon Musk’scompany also owns the xAI artificial-intelligence business.
Theday’s largest loss in the S&P 500 wasa23.7% drop for ON Semiconductor, which saiditagreed to buySynapticsinanall-stock deal valued at roughly$7billion
aSSoCIateDPreSS PHotoByJULIaDeMaree NIKHINSoN
CeoofopenaI Samaltman talks to Ceo of GoogleDeepMind Demis Hassabis, not seen, on the sidelines of the G7 summit,onJune 17 in evian-les-Bains, France.
OPINION
Take theJuly4 American historyquiz
Tonight Show hostJay Leno oftendid bitscalled“Jaywalking,” quizzing average citizens about U.S. historyand civics. Answers could be right, wrong— or sometimesuproariously wrong. Year of American independence? 1492. Emancipation Proclamation?Ended Prohibition. U.S. general in World WarI?George Washington. First president? Abraham Lincoln. AFirst Amendment right? To remain silent. Funny —until youremember those folks vote Anyway,not all Americanslack basic knowledge of our nation’searly history.Some are really good at it. The 250thanniversaryofthe Declaration of Independence is coming up nextSaturday,July 4. It’sa perfect time to find out how much you knowabout the founding of our country.It’spossible you’re an undiscovered master of historical trivia and don’trealize it
The following questions— someeasy,some hard—offera chance to test your knowledge. Or,insome cases,your facilitywithGoogle and AI.
Ready?
Questions
1. The final text of the Declaration of Independencewas adoptedbythe Continental Congress on what dayin1776 —July 2, July 4or July 6?
2. When did most of thesignersofthe Declaration add their names—July6,July 20 or Aug.2?
3. How many total signers were there?
4. Which state had the most signers?
5. Who was the youngest signer?
6. Who was the oldest signer?
7. ACommittee of Five drafted the Declaration, but who was itsprincipalauthor?
8. Did Benjamin Franklin sign the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution or both?
9. Twoformer U.S. presidents, both signers of the Declaration,diedonthe sameday,July4,1826. Name them.
10.WhatotherU.S. presidentdied on July 4?
11. Which president was born on July 4?
12. What year did the American Revolution begin?
13.“We the People of the United States” arethe opening words of the major text of the DeclarationofIndependence or the U.S. Constitution?
14. “When in thecourseofhumanevents” arethe opening words of the major text of the DeclarationofIndependence or the U.S. Constitution?
15. Starting in Boston, whose midnight ridewarned that the “British arecoming”?
16. Which American navalcommanderin theRevolutionary Warsaid, “I have not yet beguntofight”?
17. Where were the first military engagements of theAmerican Revolution and where was the firstmajor battle?
18. What was the last major battle of the Revolution? 19.Namethe treaty that endedthe Revolutionand recognizedU.S.independence
20. Where was the signed original parchmentofthe Declaration of Independencestored during World WarII? Answers
1. July 4
2. Aug. 2
3. 56 4. Pennsylvania (9 signers)
5. Edward Rutledge, 26
6. Benjamin Franklin, 70
7. Thomas Jefferson
8. Both
9. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams
10. James Monroe (1831)
SCORING
11. CalvinCoolidge (1872) 12. 1775
13. U.S.Constitution 14. Declaration of Independence 15. PaulRevere 16. JohnPaul Jones 17. Lexington andConcord (April 19, 1775); Bunker Hill (June17, 1775) 18. Yorktown (1781) 19. Treaty of Paris (1783) 20. Fort Knox
•0-5: Enroll in ahigh school civics course,ifyou can find one
No matter your score, justtaking this quizmeansyou’rea proud lover of American history.Italso givesyou thechance to look really smart at next week’sholidaycookout.
RonFaucheux is anonpartisan political analyst, pollster andwriter based in Louisiana. As you prepare forthe 250thanniversary of America’sbirthasa nation, read hiscolumns on milestone birthdaysthroughout history, the 50th, 100th, 150th and200th at https://www.nola.com/ opinions/ron_faucheux/.
Patchy land bridgesare not aserious replacement fordiversions Black communitiesdeserve transparency before
Artificial intelligence may be the newest gold rush, but thecosts are being quietly shifted onto thesame communities that have carried the burdens of industry for generations.
Across the country,AIdatacentersand thepower plants required to run them are being placed in majority-Black, rural and politically underserved neighborhoods. These facilities consume enormousamountsofelectricity and water,raise utility bills and bring almost no permanent jobs. Yetthe communities expected to absorb theimpacts arerarely informed until thedeals are already done. Louisianaisnow on that list. Developers and utilities have been scouting locations in New OrleansEast, theRiver Parishes and the I-20 corridor.These are areas with large Black populations, long histories of environmental exposure and limited political protection They are also communities where residentshave repeatedly been excluded from decisions that affect their health, their land and their economic future.
The pattern is the predictable result of weakened voting power and aregulatory system that prioritizes corporate convenience.
When astate government reduces representation, closes primaries and sidelines local voices, it creates theperfect conditions forindustries to move quietly into neighborhoods that have the least ability to resist AI datacenters are not harmless warehouses. They require new gas-fired power plants, high-voltage transmission lines and millions of gallons of water.They drive up electricity demand, which utilities thenuse to justifyrate increases on residents. Anddespite the promises, these facilities typically create fewer than 30 permanent jobs.
Louisianadeserves better.Black communities deserve early disclosure, public hearings and areal seat at the table before any commitments are made.
We cannot allow another generation of environmental decisions to be madewithout the people most affected.
JERLEAN MARIE CHATARD McCARTHY Neworleans
In response to Gordy Dove’s recent comments in Delacroix, reported in Mike Smith’s article, “Louisiana wants to build a94-mile ‘landbridge’ to protect the coast. Is that even possible?”:
The idea that the state of Louisiana no longer needs to study the potential impacts of coastal projects is absurd and laughable. Iwonder if this sentiment is shared by the engineers and coastal scientists at the state’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority,which, before this disastrous administration’s choice of leadership, was anational model for integrating science, adaptive management and project implementation. Now it’senshrouded in political muck, incapable, through the knee-capping of the planned large diversions, of matching projects to the scale of our shared crisis.
Instead, we have land bridges —alosing tactic.
Many years have passed since I practiced law,but thearrest by an alligator raises legal questions that Isuggest thebar association (I’m still amember) include on the annual bar examination next month
Since an alligator cannot swear an oath, can the beast be amember of the posse comitatus, the assembly of citizens who help thesheriff catch the bad guy?
If thealligator,not being acitizen, cannot make acitizen’sarrest, is the arrest nevertheless legal?
Arethe bites on the defendant’s arms evidence of excessive force?
Can thealligator be called as a witness,atleast to bare his apprehending teeth?
Areintoxication and intense stupiditydefenses that preclude criminal intent that counsel can raise to counter the prosecutor’s
evidence?
Can anyone, besides the alligator, be civilly liablefor the defendant’s injuries?
As thedeputies chased the perpetrator alongAirline Highway, they saw the yellow sign “Pass with Care.” Excited and exuberant from the adrenaline of the chase and remembering old cowboy movies, one deputy yelled out, “Head ‘em off at the pass!” (Barump!)Hearing that entreaty, thedefendant swerved into the swampand encountered said alligator Another exciting day in the heat and stickiness of south Louisiana. Youknow what they say: It ain’t theheat that gets you; it’sthe stupidity. Yeah, you right. EARL HIGGINS river ridge
While there are many issues with the patchy,over-hyped levees the agency’sleadership is pushing, the most obvious is lack of sediment input. To build these land bridges, the earth must comefrom somewhere, and without fresh river water supplying sediment, all we are doing is moving the existing and already very limited and unreplenished sediment supply Without meaningful river reintroductions bringing fresh flows full of new sediment behind these projects and allowing them to build, they are largely ineffective —soon to be eroded and overcomebythe ever-rising seas. Additionally,these projects are nowhere near ready.They are not fully planned, nor funded. Most importantly,they are not aserious replacement for whatwas lost in the cancellation of the diversions. But maybe that’stobeexpected when you have an unserious person at the helm.
DONALD DAVIDSON
Neworleans
Ron Faucheux
VIEW FROM ARCH
The first thing you notice about Arch Manning is his frame.
He’sbigger,slightly thicker in the upper body
U.S. coachdismisses any disappointment talk afterloss
BY GREG BEACHAM aP sportswriter
INGLEWOOD,Calif. The United States only wanted to getthrough itsfinalWorld Cup group stage match Thursday night without an injury or ared card, while Turkey was playing foraface-saving victory to enda dismal tournament.
Both teams gotwhattheywantedmost out of their meaningless meeting before the Americanshead on to the knockout stage and coach Mauricio Pochettino was annoyed by any suggestion that the Americans’ last-gasp, 3-2 defeat said anything negative aboutthe state of his team Kaan Ayhan scored on the final kick of the match to send Turkey pastthe U.S. in theeighth minute of stoppage time forits only win of the World Cup.
The result was meaningless to the Americans, whowill meet Bosnia-Herzegovina in theround of 32 on Wednesday. Pochettino sent out nine new starters, including eight who were starting aWorld Cup match for the first time.
The U.S. tied it early in the second half on agoal by SebastianBerhalter, andthe Americans got within afew seconds of an unbeaten run through the group stage. But in his postgame news conference, Pochettino expressed his annoyance with what he perceived as disappointment in the result.
“For you not say congratulationsthat we wonthe group, that is alittlebit sad,” Pochettino toldreporters.
Feelinggood now.”
He’slooking good, too.
texas LonghornsquarterbackarchManning gives instructions to participants at the ManningPassing academy on FridayatNichollsState University in thibodaux Minnesota Vikings nose tackle Pat Williams tries to make atackle during the first half of agame against the Cincinnati Bengals on Dec. 13, 2009, in Minneapolis. aP FILe PHoto By HaNNaH FoSLIeN
“What we need to remember is we won first place in this group,” Pochettino added while speaking in Spanish and English. “We endedupbeing No.1,and we managed all the pressure and the expectations quite well. We had other priorities. We wanted to
Jeff Duncan
After an offseason of pushing weights around the gym, Manninghas added afew extra pounds of muscle tohis 6-foot-4frame
The beefed-up physiquewas partly abyproduct of the downtime he endured after undergoing foot surgery inJanuary
But there was also an elementofintent. Manning wanted to getbigger and stronger to meet the physical demands of starting in the Southeastern Conference. Ayear ago, he battled through multiple injuries during an up-and-down sophomore campaign.
“I got up to, like, 235 (pounds),”Manning said while visiting with reporters at the Manning Passing Academy on Friday in Thibodaux. “I wantedtosee what it felt like, but Iwas alittle toobig.SoI lostit.
The former Newman standout will enter his second season as the Texas starter as abigger, stronger and mentally tougher version of the guywho led theLonghorns to a10-3 finish and No. 12 national ranking last season. “Yeah, obviously there was someupand downs, alittle bit of arocky start there, but Ifeel like Ilearned alot, learned alot about myself and trying tokeep getting better,move forward,”hesaid. “(It was) a good year.”
Manning and theLonghorns will once again enter the season with great expectations. Texas is expected to be apreseason top-five team when the initial AP Top25 poll is released in August.
Those closest to Manning believe he’ll be ready for whatever comes his way.A
ä See DUNCAN, page 3C
Yeah, obviously there wassome up and downs, a little bitofarocky startthere, but I feel like Ilearned alot, learned a lot about myself and trying to keep getting better, move forward. (It was) agood year.”
arCH MaNNING, texas quarterback
ä See COACH, page 3C
Editor’snote: Thisisone among 12 profiles of inductees forthe Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2026. Festivities will take place through Saturday in Natchitoches.
BY JAKE MARTIN Contributing writer
A14-year NFL career that began in Buffalo withPro Football Hall of Famer Bruce Smith saw Pat Williams makeaname forhimself as onepart of “The Package” alongside Ted Washington. In the late 1990s, the Wossman High graduate squared offagainstHallof Famers Dan Marino, Brett Favre andWarren Moon on the biggest stage football has to offer It can be argued the 6-foot-3, 315-pound nose tackle figuratively and literally left a massive gapinthe Buffalo defense when he pursued anew team in 2004. After Williams ledthe frontline of Buffalo’srushdefense thatallowed 100.3yards rushing per game in 2004,which wassixth-bestinthe NFL, the Bills allowed 137.8 yards rushing per game (31st) the next year when Williams exited
forMinnesota. The Buffalo rush defense worsened, while Minnesota’srosetothe best in the league In fact, Williams’tenurewiththe Vikings featured three consecutive seasons where they had the best rush defense in the NFL. Minnesota allowed just 61.6 yards rushing pergame in 2006, 74.1 in 2007 and 76.9 in 2008 before “dipping” to 87.1 in 2009 when the Vikings reached the NFC Championship Game againstthe Saints. Overfive years and 60 gamesplayed,Williamshelped solidifyadefense that allowed just 80.4 yards rushing per game. Youdon’t spend14years in theNFL and garner three Pro Bowl nods while earning the distinction of All-Pro without commanding respect acrossthe NFL. Williams earned every bit of that with acareer that featured 672 total tackles, 20.5 sacks, andnine forced fumbles and fumble recoveries. Count Kevin Williams,who represented another piece of Minnesota’sdominant defensive front, as one of manyhappy people
ä See WILLIAMS, page 3C
StaFF PHoto By BrettDUKe
2
LSU softball 1B Edwards transferring to Florida
LSU softball’s former SEC Freshman of the Year Tori Edwards committed to conference rival Florida on Thursday, according to a report by Sports Illustrated. Edwards, a rising junior with two years of eligibility, is one of eight Tigers who entered the NCAA transfer portal following the 2026 season. She was SEC Freshman of the Year in 2025, with a .383 batting average, 18 homers and 73 RBIs. Her numbers dropped to .284, 12 and 45 last season. LSU is scheduled to play at Florida in the third week next season. Edwards is one of three Tigers committed to different schools. Pitcher Jayden Heavener chose Texas Tech, and utility player Maddox McKee is headed for Texas A&M.
Prairieville eyes breakout campaign
Football program is in its third year
BY JACKSON REYES Staff writer
In the first year of Prairieville’s existence, the Hurricanes took their lumps and finished with a 2-8 record. They took a leap in their second season in 2025 after finishing 5-6 and making the Division I nonselect playoffs.
Now, entering year three, coach Mike Schmitt looks to add the finishing touches to his young program with one focus this offseason: developing depth.
He’s got an experienced quarterback and talent on both sides of the ball. Next, he hopes to have a squad that can compete for four quarters throughout a long football season.
“I see a continuation of last year,” he said. “I felt like last year we got better and better, but we still struggled in the latter parts of games because of depth.”
Experience under center
While he’s still waiting to see which guys can step up and fill those roles, Schmitt will have the benefit of an experienced squad.
The Hurricanes lose just five starters off their playoff team from last year
One of those returners is quarterback Skyler Kelly He enters his senior season coming off his first full season starting at quarterback
Last year, he completed 97 of his 183 passes for 1,082 yards He threw 11 touchdown passes and four interceptions. Kelly did most of the damage in the ground game, running for 1,381 yards and 11 touchdowns on 157 attempts.
“His legs are what make him dynamic, so we’ve been trying to develop his arm and reads,” Schmitt said. “When you have good legs,
you don’t have to read necessarily to the third and fourth read. You’ve just got to be able to hit those open receivers.”
Schmitt is excited for what Kelly can accomplish in his final high school season.
“He has a good grasp of the offense, he knows what he’s doing,” Schmitt said. “The ball is in his hands every play, and he can do what he wants with it when he’s on the field, and he’s the kind of kid that we trust with that.”
He knows Kelly can help Prairieville have a big season, but he knows he’ll need to continue developing his passing game if the Hurricanes want to build off last year
Kelly is up to that challenge, and the experience of the postseason last year adds to that motivation.
“We know where we need to be and how we need to improve,”
Kelly said “Hopefully this year,
we do what we need to do and hopefully make it again and make a deeper run.”
He’s already seen improvements in his passing game during the offseason.
“We’re a lot better at the deep balls, having more chemistry,” Kelly said “I know where to put the ball, know when to throw the ball and how to read the safeties when they’re going to bite on it.”
He hopes to continue tuning his passing game to keep Prairieville’s positive momentum going.
Players stepping up
Schmitt has made a goal of developing more offensive weapons for Kelly to throw to.
“We throw a lot of deep balls, and so we’re trying to find more than just a couple of good receivers,” Schmitt said. “We’ve found some good young receivers, and
just guys that go out there and go fast.”
This offseason has seen the emergence of receivers Caleb Chauvin and Wayne Nicholas. Schmitt hopes they can complement their starting receivers, Nayden Paul and Chance Jackson.
“It’s a lot of running,” Schmitt said. “Those other two guys have got to be able to come in and be able to spell them and still have those abilities, and they are.”
Paul and Jackson offer size and athleticism, while Chauvin and Nicholas are more compact but still offer explosiveness off the line.
Defensively, the goal has been to expand their coverages and look for guys who can give the secondary more variety in what it can do defending the pass.
The team returns defensive anchors like linebacker Stantyn Delapasse and safety Cade Hebert. The team has also seen younger players begin to step up into bigger roles.
“Richie Bickham, who was a sophomore last year, will be a junior, has stepped up and played a little bit better,” Schmitt said.
“The kids that were good for us and starters last year are still there.”
Schmitt sees the talent and experience beginning to take shape in his program, but he knows the process is far from finished.
“I think the players understand that we’re stronger than we were last year,” he said. “We feel like we have that experience, but again, it’s for me right now, it’s the end of the games.”
He knows his team can compete with the best of opponents. The next step is to finish and ensure his side is still firing on all cylinders by the time games reach the fourth quarter
“Every game we played pretty well in the first half and then lost it as we got further along,” Scmitt said, “so we’re just trying to be a more complete football team.”
Serena to face 20-year-old Joint at Wimbledon
Williams will play first singles match in nearly four years
BY KEN MAGUIRE associated Press
LONDON Serena Williams will face an opponent less than half her age when she plays 20-yearold Maya Joint in the first round at Wimbledon for her first singles match in nearly four years.
The seven-time Wimbledon singles champion, who is 44, accepted a wild-card entry to the grass-court Grand Slam, where she’ll also compete in doubles with her older sister Venus, who turned 46 last week.
It’s all part of a tennis comeback that started with two doubles warmup matches but kicked into high gear Sunday when the All England Club announced Serena would play singles. Brackets were set in Friday’s draw Joint was born in Michigan as was Williams — but represents Australia through her father She is ranked No 53 and made her Wimbledon debut last year, losing in the first round to Liudmila Samsonova 6-3, 6-2. “It’s an honor I always dreamed about playing Serena Williams,” Joint said. “If you told me 10 years ago that I’d be playing her first round at Wimbledon, that’s just crazy “I hope it’s on Centre Court, that would be pretty cool. You just
have to play the ball. You can’t really think about who you are playing because I’ll just get too nervous. I’ll just take it one ball at a time.”
Joint won the grass-court Eastbourne Open last year for one of her two WTA tour-level singles titles, but she was slowed by a back injury earlier in 2026. Williams hasn’t played a singles match since a third-round loss to Ajla Tomljanovic at the 2022 U.S. Open. At the time, she said she didn’t want to use the word “retiring” and instead declared she was “evolving” away from tennis. Her second daughter was born in 2023. Tomljanovic said she hopes
Joint “enjoys the moment.”
“Especially after (Serena) officially retired four years ago, no one thought that they’d get another chance to play her,” Tomljanovic, an Australian, said Friday Williams is “here to win,” Tomljanovic added. “You never lose that champion mentality. Her coming into the draw means that she thinks she can win,” she said.
Williams’ most-recent appearance at Wimbledon was in 2022 when she lost in the opening round to then-115th-ranked Harmony Tan.
If Williams beats Joint on Tuesday, she may face rising Filipino
star Alexandra Eala, who is seeded 29th, in the second round. She could meet defending champion Iga Swiatek in the third round.
Swiatek opens against Taylor Townsend of the U.S. on Centre Court on Tuesday
In a projected quarterfinals by seedings, No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka would meet French Open champion Mirra Andreeva; No. 2 Elena Rybakina, the 2022 champion, would face 2025 runner-up Amanda Anisimova; Swiatek, the No 3 seed, would play Elina Svitolina; and No. 4 Jessica Pegula would meet Coco Gauff.
Sinner could meet Djokovic On the men’s side, No. 1 Jannik Sinner will begin his Wimbledon title defense against Miomir Kecmanovic on Centre Court on Monday
Sinner and Novak Djokovic, the No. 7 seed, are in the same half of the draw and could meet in the semifinals.
Sinner underwent checks following his French Open meltdown losing in the second round amid a heat wave in Paris and said he felt physically good after an exhibition match this week in London.
Djokovic, a seven-time champion at the All England Club, will play Wu Yibing of China Djokovic could meet third-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime in the quarterfinals. Wimbledon starts on Monday
LSU freshman RHP Paz decides to enter portal
LSU freshman right-handed pitcher Marcos Paz has entered the transfer portal, a source confirmed to The Advocate on Friday Paz posted a 9.20 ERA in 29 1⁄3 innings in his only season with the Tigers. He started six games, including four contests in Southeastern Conference play toward the end of the year
He struggled for much of the season, but it was his first campaign coming off Tommy John surgery and he entered the season as one of the top pitchers in the 2025 class to make it to school. Paz was the No. 3 right-handed pitcher in Texas, according to Perfect Game. Paz was unlikely to start in the rotation for LSU in 2027 with William Schmidt, Cooper Moore and Casan Evans all likely returning.
Mendoza fired as manager of underperforming Mets
NEW YORK From the front office to the field, just about everything has gone wrong for the New York Mets over the past year And on Friday, manager Carlos Mendoza took the fall.
Halfway through a wretched season, Mendoza was fired as skipper of the underperforming Mets and was replaced by Andy Green.
Last-place New York (34-47) opened the season with baseball’s highest payroll at $358 million and was projected to pay an additional $124 million in luxury tax.
“Our commitment to bringing our fans a championship-caliber team has not changed,” Mets owner Steve Cohen said in a statement. “There is no sugar-coating it: This season has been a disappointment and our fans deserve better than what we’ve delivered.”
Last-place Angels oust general manager
Minasian
ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Los Angeles Angels have fired general manager Perry Minasian midway through their sixth consecutive disappointing season under his leadership.
The last-place Angels appointed former Cardinals GM John Mozeliak to be their interim general manager and baseball operations consultant on Friday Minasian took over the Angels’ front office in November 2020, but the franchise has made no discernible progress during his tenure. Los Angeles’ streaks of 10 straight losing seasons and 11 straight non-playoff seasons are both the longest in the majors. The biggest transaction of his tenure occurred when Shohei Ohtani left after six seasons for the Los Angeles Dodgers in late 2023.
CFL bars QB Sorsby from signing, negotiation lists
TORONTO Quarterback Brendan Sorsby, permanently ruled ineligible by the NCAA for sports betting, won’t be kick-starting his pro football career in Canada.
The CFL said Friday it won’t allow the 22-year-old to sign with any of its teams or be placed on their negotiation lists.
Sorsby admitted to placing thousands of bets totaling nearly $90,000 over his collegiate career, including at least 40 on Indiana football while he was a freshman there in 2022, although none was on games in which he played for the Hoosiers that year
“At this time, the CFL will not register a contract for (Sorsby), and no team will be permitted to add him to its negotiation list,” the CFL said in a statement.
aSSoCIateD PreSS PHoto By KIrSty WIGGLeSWortH Serena Williams smiles after a training session on thursday at
FILe PHoto By Lee BaLL
Skyler Kelly of Prairieville runs against Southside in a playoff game Nov. 14 at Southside High School. Kelly, a quarterback, is a senior
to see Williams finally get his day in the sun at the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.
“What made him so good was he could do stuff a normal person couldn’t. It was hard to duplicate,” Kevin Williams said “He had the experience, where he could read the guy was about to overreach for him and shove him by and go behind him It was a lot of things like that.
“When I tried to do some of those things, I was like, ‘Pat, how are you doing that?’ He was wrong sometimes, but he was right more than he was wrong. It’s the little things that he brought to the game. I think we bonded because were were both hungry and desperate to succeed.”
But before the NFL glory, Williams got tough love under former Wossman football coach Lonnie Calahan to prepare him for life, and that’s something he grew to appreciate later on. After playing under Calahan at Wossman, Williams made his way to Navarro College in 1992. That’s where he became a two-time juco AllAmerican before landing at Texas A&M.
After signing with the Bills as an undrafted free agent in 1997, Williams asked the front office about why he wasn’t drafted.
“They told me they thought I had a bad attitude and that I was uncoachable,” Williams said. “I’m always going to learn.”
Williams had his chance to prove that as a rookie behind legendary defensive players such as Smith.
“I was sitting in the same meeting room as Bruce, and I’m just like, ‘Bruce is sitting right there,’ ” Williams said, recalling his time as a rookie. “I was calling my wife every week because it was different back then. We had 100-something guys before they started making cuts. In the middle of the
summer, I was like eighth string, and there were no rookies ahead of me. Ted Washington and I had the same agent, so Ted pulled me to the side and said, ‘I don’t know what you’re thinking, but you got a family You need to do what you’ve got to do.’ Once we talked, I slowly started picking it up and rising on the depth chart.”
Marveling at Smith’s iconic performances was part of that process, too. “I was asking Bruce questions all the time. It was amazing watching him play,” Williams said. “He would take two snaps at practice, pull his hat off and go, ‘Alright young pups, y’all got it.’ Then I would watch him on Sunday’s and be like, ‘How do you play like this?’ ”
His production for the Bills picked up every year before becoming a full-time starter in 2001.
Pro Bowls and other illustrious honors were nice, but there’s one accolade that eluded Williams during his playing days. The offseason before the New York Giants won the Super Bowl, the team inquired about signing
Williams and getting him to play 20 snaps a game. Fourteen years was a long time of playing in the NFL, though, and Williams was ready to hang up his cleats.
“My son still reminds me of that. ‘If you would have signed with them, you would have gotten a ring,’ ” Williams said. “People don’t understand you have to work out to play And I was done with that. At the end of the day, I was proud of the longevity of my career because I enjoyed playing. I played out all my contracts. And had an opportunity to sign with the Giants after that, so I’m proud of that.”
He also is proud of his Wossman roots. From donating and upgrading facilities to helping out with the football team, Williams is still an integral part of Wossman High School
“It’s all about the kids,” Williams said. “That’s how I got to where I am. Through the ups and downs, the teachers and coaches helped me with everything I did in life. If I could do it all over, I’d do it all the same.”
StaFF PHoto By Brett DUKe texas Longhorns quarterback arch Manning gives instructions to participants during the Manning Passing academy on Friday at Nicholls State University in thibodaux
Continued from page 1C
season of growth and hard lessons has steeled him for the challenge ahead.
“There’s nothing better than experience,” said Arch’s father, Cooper Manning. “You got to go through the bumps and bruises and dealing with all the things — the media, the teammates, the coaches, looking in the mirror and saying, ‘What do I do to get better? I keep improving.’ So he’s excited about this opportunity
“I thought he handled everything like a tough guy. I think a lot of people at Texas learned a lot about who their leader is. That’s why a lot of people want to be on his team. He’s the leader of the Texas Longhorns.”
Manning has a chance to do something his famous uncles, Peyton and Eli, and grandfather, Archie, never did win a national title and a Heisman Trophy Vegas oddsmakers have installed Manning, along with Notre Dame quarterback CJ Carr as one of the early Heisman favorites. Of
course, at this time a year ago, he was also one of the favorites, while Fernando Mendoza was the longest of long shots. So we know how much that matters. When I mentioned the Heisman to him Friday, his response was as predictable as the Thibodaux summer heat.
“I’m just worried about the team,” he said, switching deftly to default mode. “I’m just worried about getting through this afternoon workout here in the heat.” Still, the storyline is out there. And he knows it’s not going away Such is the blessing and curse of the Manning name. The spotlight never turns off.
To that end, Manning was mic’d up during workouts at the camp Friday ESPN was in town to record a feature story on him and his famous family that will air during Week 2 of the season when Ohio State visits Texas in Austin. That’s just one of many marquee games on the Longhorns’ schedule, a gauntlet that includes home games against Ohio State, Florida and Ole Miss, and road trips to Tennessee,
Argentina won’t start star Messi vs. Jordan
BY STEPHEN HAWKINS aP sportswriter
ARLINGTON, Texas Lionel
Messi, the top scorer in World Cup history, will not start when reigning tournament champion and Group J winner Argentina plays Jordan on Saturday night in its last match before the knockout stage.
Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said Friday two days after Messi’s 39th birthday, that the team captain will begin the match on the bench, but also indicated through an interpreter that he “will come in a little bit later.” Scaloni didn’t say when Messi might substitute in to the game, or what his lineup would be against first-time World Cup participant Jordan, which lost its first two matches.
Messi scored all five goals for Argentina in the first two group matches, and he now has 18 goals overall in his six World Cups.
He had his first-ever hat trick in the tournament in a 3-0 win over Algeria to tie the career scoring record at 16 goals that had been held by Miroslav Klose of Germany He broke that mark with the goals in a 2-0 win over Austria on Monday at the home of the Dallas Cowboys — where the group finale will be played.
Klose played in 24 World Cup matches for Germa-
COACH
Continued from page 1C
win. We did want the victory, but there are other things we needed to balance out, and that’s how I made the decisions.
“Making history is winning the World Cup, not just winning the group. It’s a little bit petty, if you will. You’re thinking just a little bit too small.”
Auston Trusty scored in the third minute for the Americans, who beat Paraguay and Australia by a combined 6-1 to book their place in the knockouts.
Pochettino fielded nearly an entirely new lineup for thislow-stakesgame,notably resting all four key players who picked up yellow cards earlier in the tournament.
Christian Pulisic entered in the 58th minute, however The AC Milan midfielder hadn’t played since the first half of the Americans’ opener due to a calf injury and he was involved in a couple of early scoring chances before getting beaten on the wing on Turkey’s winning goal.
“We could have done better on some defensive plays, but it happens,” said Brenden Aaronson, one of nine new starters chosen by Pochettino for the group finale.
ny, which wrapped up his fourth tournament by winning the 2014 final 1-0 in extra time over Messi and Argentina. Kylian Mbappé matched Klose at 16 with two goals in France’s 3-0 win over Iraq later Monday Mbappé, who has four goals in the tournament, didn’t score in a 4-1 win over Norway on Friday in his final group match.
Considered by many to be the greatest player of all time, Messi has made 201 appearances for Argentina, including a FIFA-record 28 World Cup matches. He has scored in six consecutive World Cup appearances, joining France striker Just
used to as the guys that have been playing.
“It showed the hustle, the aggressiveness of the team. I think it’s a positive, because Turkey is a top team. They might have not performed their best throughout this tournament, but their quality is on the pitch and you can see it.”
Berhalter said he doesn’t believe the Americans lost any momentum from the close defeat.
“You saw the second half, how we came out,” said Berhalter, who tied it in the 49th minute by running on to a loose ball about 20 yards out for a vicious strike. “I think we deserved more out of that game We slipped in the last second of the game. We gave everything we had, and we’ll be ready for the knockouts.
“The guys did well. We fought Unfortunate not to get a result, but we’ll be ready for sure.”
Fontaine and Brazil great Jairzinho as the only players to do that. Messi had been dealing with a minor hamstring injury with Inter Miami of Major League Soccer that slowed him in the lead-up to the World Cup. While there have been no indications of any issues since, Argentina has a lot of games left if it is going to get to another World Cup final. The knockout round for La Albiceleste begins Friday in South Florida, and in this expanded 48-team tournament that would be the first of five matches in 17 days if they make it to the final on July 19.
“I’m super-happy with how my players played tonight,” Turkey coach Vincenzo Montella said through an interpreter
“They showcased all of their skills, all of their abilities, all of their character Playing the way they played tonight in an away match, against a very loud crowd, if they weren’t as strong as they are, they wouldn’t have made it tonight.
Oklahoma, Texas A&M and LSU.
The Nov 14 game at LSU will mark the first time Manning has played in an official game of any kind in Tiger Stadium. It figures to be one of the most anticipated games of the college season, epic theater as the native son returns to his home state to compete for the first time in his career as a starter
“It’s going to be fun,” he said. “I’m excited for the challenge. They’re a great team, great coach and a great crowd. So we’re fired up.”
Cooper said he is also eagerly anticipating the Week 11 showdown.
“Those are big (games),” he said. “That’s why you joined the SEC. That’s why you go to Texas and play on the big stage.”
Asked what kind of reaction he expects LSU fans to give Texas and Arch, Cooper smiled and planted his tongue firmly in his cheek
“Oh, I think the LSU fans will be really kind and nice,” he quipped. “They’ve always been so hospitable to other teams. I think they’ll be just lovely.”
“You make (nine) changes, and the team might not be
Arda Güler and Orkun Kökçü scored in the first half of a resilient performance by Turkey which had already been eliminated after losing its first two matches despite largely dominating both statistically Turkey improbably won in the eighth minute of stoppage time when Can Uzun got the ball in space on the back post and pushed it past sprawling goalkeeper Matt Turner to Ayhan, who slid to knock it home.
“I’m really happy for the Turkish people. I can say that we can go back home with our chin up.” The game’s meaninglessness didn’t matter to the raucous sellout crowd that packed SoFi Stadium. The American team’s fan base has been energized by its strong start to this home World Cup and this Los Angeles-area crowd was still chanting and standing when Berhalter airmailed a long corner to Trusty, who made the stadium shake when he banged it home inside the back post. Trusty’s goal was the Americans’ seventh of the tournament, tying their scoring record for any World Cup before knockout play even begins. It was also the 173rd goal of this tournament, breaking the record for the most combined goals scored in a World Cup set in Qatar four years ago — and doing it in four fewer matches.
ProVIDeD PHoto By KeVIN C. CoX
Minnesota Vikings tackle Pat Williams waits for play to resume in a game against the Carolina Panthers on Dec. 20, 2009, at Bank of america Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.
WORLDCUP 2026
Dembélé’s first-half hattrick liftsFrance
By the associated Press
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. Not so fast, Lionel Messiand Kylian Mbappé Ousmane Dembélé has just entered the Golden Bootrace.
Dembélé scored afirst-half hat trick, including one off afeed from Mbappé, to help France beatNorway 4-1 at the World Cup on Friday.
Dembélé’sgoals came in the seventh, 20th and 32nd minutes.Itwas the first first-half hat trick at the World Cup since Russia forward Oleg Salenko scored three of his five goals in the opening 45 minutes against Cameroon at the 1994 World Cup in the United States.
“It is aunique moment,” Dembélé said. “But the most important was to finish first of the group in the group stage, and we are focused on the round of 32, which is the most important.” France, which won theWorld Cup in 2018 and lost in the final four years ago, had already secured its place in the knockout round before Friday’s match. Norway wasalso assured of aspot in the round of 32 and ended up in second place in the group.
Désiré Doué scored France’sfinal goal in second-half injury time.
Dembélé said changing the approachinthe final group match was never aconsideration.France has 10 goals through three games.
“Wewant to win all ourmatches, but we remain focused,” Dembélé said.
Dembélé increased his international goal total to eight while Mbappe now has 16 goals andfour assists in 17 World Cup matches. He scored two goals in eachofthe
wins over Senegal and Iraq.
SENEGAL 5, IRAQ0: In Toronto, Senegal notched amuch-needed high-scoring win, racking up goals on 10-man Iraq in avictory that boosted its chances of reaching the World Cup knockout stages.
“The jobisdone, but fate is no longer in our hands,” Senegalcoach Pape Thiaw said. “We have to wait until the othermatches areover.”
Pape Gueye scored twice in a second-half flurry as theSenegalese— vying to advance from third
place in Group I—took advantage of afirst-half red card on Iraq defenderRebin Sulaka, whoprevented Sadio Mane from going in on goal alone by yanking his shirt.
HabibDiarrascoredinthe fourth minuteand even though Sulaka was sent off in the 13th, Senegal didn’t find thenet againuntil Ismaila Sarr’sgoal in the 56th minute. Gueyethenadded histwo goals, bothhard blasts from around the edge of the penalty area, and Iliman Ndiaye netted Senegal’sfifth.
Senegal nowhas threepoints anda plus-two goal differential.
The eight best third-place teams advance to the round of 32.
“Wehad to score as many goals as possible,” Gueye said. “So there you go.” Diarra also seemed confident Senegalwill be among the teams that move on.
“They gave us problems, but we solvedthem,” he said. “Weplayed agreat match, both collectively andindividually.Now,here we are.
Ican say we’re focused on our next match.”
Iraq was eliminated without a point in its first World Cup appearance since 1986.
“I wanttoapologize forour fans, for our (country), these three games,” Iraq defender Merchas Doski said.
Iraq coach Graham Arnold said just qualifying forthe tournament wasamiracle.
“Hopefully the players will go away from this enjoying theexperienceofbeing in the World Cup for the first time in 40 years,” he said, “but also learning from mistakes.”
CAPEVERDE 0, SAUDIARABIA0: In Houston, Cape Verdecompleted an improbable run through the group stage with athird straight World Cup draw to becomethe smallest country to earna spotinthe knockout round.
The small island nation offthe western coast of Africa is makingits debut on soccer’s grandest stage.Italreadyheld2010 champion Spain to a0-0 draw and then camefrom behind to get a2-2 result against Uruguay Cape Verde will play reigning World Cup champion Argentina in MiamionJuly 3.
SPAIN1,URUGUAY 0: In Guadalajara, Mexico, Spain defeated Uruguay after another goalkeeping mistake by Fernando Muslera to advance to the knockout stage and eliminate the South American powerhouse. Uruguay,a two-time champion, will go home without any victories. Spain, the European champion, won the group with seven points and will face the second-place teamfromGroup J— eitherAustria or Algeria —onThursdayin Inglewood, California.
BY STEVE REED associated Press
The World Cup knockout rounds are almost here
The field for the Round of 32 will be finalizedonSaturday following more than two weeks of competition across three countries.
While the majority of the field is set, there are still some spots up for grabs with six group-stage matches remaining, leaving some teams jockeying for position and others fighting to advance.
Still others find themselves on the bubble, relying on other teams to determine their World Cup fate.
The knockout rounds begin Sunday The expansion to 48 teams in the World Cup has added intrigue and in some cases, the confusion —over which 32 teams advance, with tiebreakers coming into play The top two finishing teams from each of the 12 groups andeight third-place finishers move on
Themostintriguingmatch on Saturday might be Cristiano Ronaldo’sPortugal against Colombia. Colombia has already secured a spot in the Round of 32 andcan win
Group Kwitha winordraw. Portugal needs awin to take the group, butcan alsoadvance with adraw or possibly even aloss.
Portugal coach Roberto Martinez said winning the group would be nice, but it doesn’tmatter as long as theteam advances.
“Itdoesn’t.Itdoesn’t,” he said “My experience, probably in my first WorldCup,I wouldhavesaid yes. Yousit down and you aresoinexperienced, you wanttoplan everything andthen yourealizethat doesn’t happen in competitions.”
Martinez said,inthe end, “you have to be abletobeat everybody and anybody.”
The match in Miami Gardens, Florida, will be played in typical June conditions, withtemperatures around 87degrees with high humiditywhenthe match kicks off.
England’sJames outwithinjury
Right back Reece James will miss England’s group-stage finale against Panama because of ahamstring injury,midfielders Declan Rice andElliott Anderson may play and winger Bukayo Saka couldmake hisfirst start of the tournament.
James was hurt during Tuesday’s 0-0 draw against Ghana, and coach ThomasTuchel described the inju-
ry as minor.James didnot travel to New Jersey,the site of Saturday’s match, from England’straining camp in Kansas City,Missouri.
England beat Croatia 4-2 andtied Ghana, putting itself in position to reach the knockout rounds for the sixth time in seven World Cups. Congolooks to join Africanteams
Congo pulled off one of thesurprising resultsofthe WorldCup by holding Portugal to a1-1 draw in its opener,earning apoint in thetournament for the first time. Now it hopestoearn its first win andjointhe waveofAfrican teams advancing to the knockout rounds.
“Weare very, very happytohave gotthis first point andfirst goal for Congo, but we have afinal to play tomorrow,”coach Sébastien Desabre said aheadofSaturday’s game against Uzbekistan. “I hope that I’llget theCongolesepeople to dream tomorrow alittle bit.” Congo’sone previous appearance at the WorldCup was under its former name, Zaire, in 1974, when it lost all three games.
Awin givesCongo achanceto advance.
Is Austriabetteroff losing?
By thetime Austriaand Algeria begin their GroupJfinale, both will
know how theknockout bracket looks andwhat theconsequences will be for finishing secondorthird behind groupwinner Argentina.
Butitmight actually behoove Austria to lose.
The way the bracketisset up,the Group Jrunner-up faces the Group Hwinner,which could be reigning European champion Spain. But the third-placefinisher would face the GroupB winner, which means a potentially easier matchupagainst Switzerland.
Asked if he wanted to avoid winning, Austria coach Ralf Rangnick replied: “No, definitely not.” “Once we start, we will know,” RangnicksaidFriday, “but it will not influence our match. If we have adraw tomorrow,wecan go on, but we cannotgointoamatch and just say,‘We’ll playfor a draw.’”
teammates ousmane Dembélé, left,and Kylian Mbappé
in Foxborough, Mass.
Scheffler takescontrol aftershootinga60
the associated Press
CROMWELL, Conn. Scottie Scheffler could not convert a25-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole Friday at the Travelers Championship,narrowly missing out on achancetojoin Jim Furyk as the only players in PGA Tour history with two sub-60 rounds.
Schefflerhad to settle fora10-under60onthe soft TPCRiver Highlands course,setting an early target atop the scoreboard on aday of extremelow scoring at the final signature event of the regular season.
“Going out yesterday in the afternoon, when the greens getfirm out here and thewindstarts to blow,itcan gettrickyprettyquickly,” Scheffler said. “Going outthis morning, you definitely had afeeling the conditions weregoingtobe easier,soyou need to go out there and try and take advantageofit.”
Scheffler was at 16-under 124, two shots ahead of Viktor Hovland.
“At the end of the day,Iwas very focused on just my execution out there,” Scheffler said. “Who knows what the lead is going to be after today.I’ve put myself in position now this week. Go home, get some
at tPC river Highlands on Friday in Cromwell, Conn. He missed a birdie putt onNo. 18 that would have given him a59.
rest, andget readyfor tomorrow.”
Playing three groups in front of Scheffler,Hovlandneeded to birdie the final two holes for a59. He settled for apair of pars anda 61, matching hiscareer best on tour
“Certainly it was moregettable today than it was even yesterday,” Hovland said.
Akshay Bhatia had a62tomatch first-round leader Eric Cole at 12 under.
“I know how this golf course can play,” Bhatia said. “You got to kind of keep making birdies and try and limit mistakes.”
Cole parred the final eight holes for a65.
“Maybe just beingtired or something and making some tired swings,” Cole said.
Matt Fitzpatrick, Bud Cauley and Ben Griffin were tied for fifth at 10 under,each shooting 66.
Scheffler shot 59 in hisrookie seasonin2020 in thesecond roundof The NorthernTrust at the TPC Boston, anotherrain-softened course that featuredlow scoring. DustinJohnson was11under through 11 holes that dayand hadtosettlefor a60.
“Some days they’re kind of hanging on the edge and not quitegoing in, and then other days they’re finding the bottom of the cup,”Scheffler said. “Today was aday definitely in which most of them were finding thebottom of the cup.”
Pelicans bringing Matkovic back
BY RODWALKER Staff writer
Karlo Matkovic‘s key minutes off the bench this past season have paid off.
Notebook
The New OrleansPelicans areexercising a third-year option on Matkovi ,who plays power forward and center Matkovic became akey role player in his second season. He averaged 5.7 pointsand 3.7 rebounds while shooting 60.4% from thefloor this past season. One of his biggest strengths is his abilitytostepoutside and knock down 3-pointers. Matkovic shot 42.2% on 3-pointers this season. That wasmore than a10 percentage point increase from hisrookie season when he shot 31.8%.
Matkovic played in 62 games this season.Hewouldoften go stretches without playing, but he always wasready when his name was called.
“I try to be ready always,” Matkovic said during the season. “I talk to players and talk to coaches about how to stay ready always.I think I’m doing agood job at it. Juststayinghealthy and available. When thetime comes, trying to be ready.”
(July 15).
BY DAVE CAMPBELL
sportswriter
CHASKA, Minn. Ina Yoon stretched her lead at the Women’sPGA Championshipwith a3-under 69 that put her five strokes up on the second-place pack Friday Yoon,who shot arecord 63 in the first roundat Hazeltine National Golf Club, had two bogeys with one birdie on the back nine to nudge to 12 under.The 23-year-oldis seeking her first LPGA
Tour victory. Nasa Hataoka, Brooke Henderson, ALin Kim and Hae RanRyu were tied for second.Ryu shot a64, andHenderson birdied her last three holes for a68. Hataokashot67, and Kim had a70. LPGATour leader Nelly Korda, whoopenedher bidfor athird straight majortitle this yearwith aquiet 70,had a68to climb intoatie for sixth place with Dongeun Lee at 6under. Yoon,Kim, Ryu and
Lee gave SouthKorean fourofthe top seven at themidpoint of atournament thathas so far enjoyed calm, dry and comfortable conditionswith high temperatures in the mid-70s Yoon became thefourth player in the history of theWomen’sPGA Championship, whichdates to 1955, to lead by five or more strokes through 36 holes, following Mickey Wright (eight, 1958), In GeeChun (six, 2022) and Cristie Kerr (five, 2010)
Kordaagain hadhundreds of fans following herevery shot, streaming from hole to hole as she traversed thelengthy 6,700-yard course in suburban Minneapolis. After birdies on four of her first nine holes,Korda faded abit down the stretch andfinishedwith six straight pars as she fought ahook with her tee shots. She hit intothe rough along the treeline to begin her back nine before two-putting for bogey on the first hole.
Matkovic was drafted by the Pelicans in the second round of the 2022 draft. He played overseasfor two seasons before joining the then-Birmingham Squadron, the Pelicans’ G League team in 2024. Later that year,hesigned with the Pels. Summer League schedule set
The NBA has announced the schedulefor Summer League play.SummerLeaguetakes place from July 9-19 in Las Vegas. The PelicansopenonJuly 9 against the Minnesota Timberwolves. After that, they will play the Charlotte Hornets (July 11), Phoenix Suns (July 12) and Cleveland Cavaliers
Thefifthgamewillbedeterminedbased on how the Pels fareintheir firstfour games. ThePelicans have lost 11 consecutive SummerLeague games. Their last win came in 2023. The Pel icans Summer League team will be coached by new assistant coach God Shammgod Ex-Pel stayingput
Jose Alvarado spent his first 41/2 NBA seasons with the Pelicans beforebeing traded to the New York Knicks in February.Alvarado averaged 6.6 points and 3.8 assistsasareserve forthe Knicks as they won their first championship in 53 years. Alvarado will be back with the Knicks again next season. According to aFridayESPN report, Alvarado is declining his $4.5 million player option and intends to sign anew threeyear,$14 million-plus deal with the Knicks.
aP PHoto By JeSSICa HILL
Scottie Scheffler reacts after finishing the second round of thetravelersChampionship
StaFF PHoto By DaVID GrUNFeLD Neworleans Pelicans forward KarloMatkovic dunksthe ball against the Golden State Warriors during the first half of agame on Feb.24atthe Smoothie King Center
TerryRobinson
FaItH MatterS
Newpastor wants Istrouma to be ‘heartbeat’ of thecity
The pastoral position at Istrouma Baptist Church in Baton Rouge didn’tinitiallyinterest the Rev.Merrick Nunn. ALouisiana native,Nunn was content serving his church in Kentucky,even as several trusted mentors encouraged him to consider applying at Istrouma, one of the state’srespected congregations, which dates back to its beginnings in North Baton Rouge in 1920.
“I wasn’t looking for achange in churches, so I didn’t(apply),” he said.
All that changed when a friend then referred Nunnto the Istrouma pastoral search committee.
“After the search committee reachedout, my wife and I prayedabout it and decided to trust the Lord by submitting my résumé,” he said. Nunn, 36, made the cut for the top 10 candidates, then the final four.Now,he’ll deliver his first message at 10:30 a.m. Sunday,July 5, as the senior pastor at Istrouma, 10500 Sam Rushing Drive. Awelcome reception will follow at 11 a.m. in thecafe.
“From the very beginning, something just felt right about it.The search team was incredible, and the more we learned, the more excited we became,” he said. “Our requestofthe Lord was for him to makeit abundantly clear by havingthe search team discern his will.” Nunn is excited about the opportunity to support Istrouma and the greater Baton Rouge area.
“Tothe Istrouma family,Iam honored and blessed to have the opportunity to serve you. Idesire to faithfully know, feed, love and lead this congregation,” Nunn said. “My prayerisn’tjust for us to grow numerically,orinour budgets and buildings. My prayerisfor us to see awork of God, for us to be apart of something that only he can do. Ican’twait to see what the Lord has in store.” God hadsomething in store for Nunn as achildraised in Quitman in Jackson Parish, near Ruston.
“I grew up in church and sought to be a‘good kid’ from an early age. Imade aprofession of faith and was baptized at 8years old,” he said. But through God’sgrace, as ayoung adult, Nunn had alifechanging spiritual awakening “I cametorealize that I hadn’ttruly graspedthe depth of my sin and my need for Christ’sforgiveness,” he said “I knew alot about Jesus, but Ididn’tknow him. When Iwas 22 years old, Irepented and placedmyfaithinJesus. He changedme, and he is still changingme.”
Churches and ministries heard about his change and soon began inviting Nunn to share his testimony
“During this time, Ifound I wanted to share the truths I’d learned from God’swordthat changed my life. Iwas more interested in sharingGod’sstory than my own. It was during this time that the Lord called me into ministry,” he said Nunn earned his bachelor’s degreeinchemistry education from Louisiana Tech and
From seatoshining sea, fewagree,but local
musicianspicktheir favorite American song
Staff report
We put aquestion out tolocal musicians: Nameyour favorite “America” or patriotic song.
For some, thetask was easy.For others, not so much
Patriotic can be abig word to hang on amelody,but somehow it often works. Some people hear it and stand up straight. Some people hear it and brace. Two people can sing thesameanthem and mean opposite things. Theanswers cameback in every shape and genre —from “America the Beautiful” to asong with deep historical roots the restofushave never heard. Oneperson picked something tender.Another picked something with teeth.
Americanshave been singing about this experiment in democracy for 250 years. Yes, the national anthem can still evoke deep feelings,but we’ve never settled on asingle tune to sum up this broad, beautiful and complicated country Andweprobably never will. What follows is not adefinitive anything. It is local musicians telling thetruth about songs that move them.
Therange is thepoint. Acountry this vast was never going to agree
aSSoCIateDPreSS FILePHoto By JoHN
on asingle verse —and maybe it was never supposed to.
—Jan Risher
An immigrant’ssong EastBaton Rouge Parish Talented Music teacher andsinger/ songwriter Peter Simon chose two American songs. He saidthe first songthat came to mind about Americais“Going to aTown”byRufus Wainwright, which he said is honest.
“More than that, Ithink PaulSimon’s‘American Tune’ would be themostAmerican songIknow. It’sanimmigrant’ssong, and it just happens to be the last song Allen Toussaint recorded before his death,” Peter Simon said.
StaFFFILe PHotoByJaVIer GaLLeGoS
Peter Simonand collaborator raudol Palacios play together at Simon’sstudio in Baton rougelast year
HayeS
Nunn
St. Margaret’s
holds Pride Mass
St. Margaret’sEpiscopal Church, 12663 Perkins Road, Baton Rouge, will host aspecial Pride Mass at 10 a.m. Sunday in connection with Baton Rouge Pride weekend. The service willcelebrate God’sloveand the dignity of every person, with aspecial welcome to members of the LGBTQ+ community,their families, friends and allies.
Special music willinclude “Our Wildest Imagining,” awork honoring Bishop Gene Robinson, the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church.
All are welcome. For more information, visit www.saintmargarets.com Vacation Bible School on the calendar Freeman Baptist Church, 4628 La. 955, Ethel, will conduct VacationBible School Tuesday-Thursday, beginning at 6:30 p.m. each evening. This year’stheme is “Hooked and Reeled In to Serve God.” Age-appropriate classes will be offered for all participants, and refreshments will be served
STORY
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screening event at the Louisiana Old State Capitol in Baton Rouge. Highsmith and her husband and travel partner TedLandphairwill be on hand to meet attendees. The screening is free, but registration is required as seating is limited. Visit lpb.org/capturingamerica to sign up.
Independent filmmaker Kristen Akers Gozdecki and Director of Photography Paul Jacobson will participate in apost-screening Q&Adiscussion. There is also aplanned musical performance by New Orleans jazz artist John Boutté, who is featuredinthe film.
The network first worked with Highsmith, now 80, in 2023 when she collaborated with LPB on the photography companion book to its documentary,“Why Louisiana Ain’tMississippi …or Any Place Else!”.
“Her photographs captured the truth and beauty of our state. Now,LPB is pleased to share her story with audiences acrossthe country,with some Louisiana flavor thrown in, of course,”LPB Presidentand CEO Clarence “C.C” Copelandsaysina newsrelease. Highsmith’slove for America began at ayoung age while traveling across the country by car. “I was anomad from the moment go,” she says. Her love of photography led herona lifelongmission to document America by photographing people and places in all 50 states, as well as the District of Columbiaand Puerto Rico.
More than 40 years later, after countless miles traveled, Highsmith has built acollection expected to surpass 100,000 images. Her remarkable archive is housed at the Library of
All are invited Deacon, deaconess worship service
Nathaniel Bapti st Church, 5032 Highway 33 South, Centreville, Mississippi, will hold itsdeacon and deaconess worship service at 11 a.m. Sunday
The guest minister will be the Rev.Percel Perkins, pastor of Mt. Olive Baptist Church, Centreville, Mississippi.
All are welcome. Free gospel concert on July 3in Tickfaw
The Rev.MikeVaughn will lead a“Southern and Country Gospel Fest” at 5:30 p.m.Friday, July 3, at Good News Fellowship Church, 13101 La. 442 West, Tickfaw
Doors will open at 5:30 p.m., and singing will start at 6:30 p.m. with Vaughn, followed by The Barbers Brothers Quartet at 7:30 p.m.
This is afree concert,but alove offeringwill be received. Aconcession stand will servedesserts. For further information, contact Barbara Vaughn at (985) 974-0507 or mvmgoodnews.com
ProVIDeD PHoto FroM LPB
Carol Highsmith’slove of photographyled her on alifelong mission to document america
Congress and made available copyright-free and royalty-free to thepublic
“By documentingthe present, she’smaking sure that people can know the past in away that only photography can communicate because it freezes time,” Helena Zinkham, chief of the prints and photographs division, Library of Congress,says inthe release.
The documentary slowly reveals Highsmith’spersonal story as audiences come to understand themotivation behind her generousgiftand shareher love for America.
“Seeing the beauty and diversityofAmerica through Carol’s eyes will renew viewers’ love for our country,especially as we approachthe nation’s250th anniversary ”adds LPB Executive Producer Linda Midgett. “It’sa special honor to share Carol’sfascinating lifestory and the magnitude of herwork to anationwide audience through PBS.” Formore, visitwww.lpb org/capturingamerica. Majorsupport forthe screening event is provided by St. JamesPlace, withadditional supportfromAARP Louisiana and DEMCO.
“Capturing America:The Carol Highsmith Story” was made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting with additional funding providedbyGeorge Landeggerand Diane Wallach.
‘ThisLandisYourLand’
Jodi James, one half of the acousticduo Clay Parker and Jodi James,said Bruce Springsteen’s versionof “This Land is Your Land” is her favorite.
She particularly prefers the “Live at Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, NY December 1980” version where Springsteen breaks outthe acoustic guitar and harmonica.
The song was originally writtenbyWoody Guthrie in 1940.
LSU Libraries’ Lois Kuyper-Rushing said this song is her favorite too.
“The message of the song says what Ibelieve —thatAmericais/ should be aland for everyone,” Rushing said.
Agiftfor humor
StaFFFILe PHotoBySoPHIaGerMer
trombone Shorty and Lauren Daigle perform‘americathe Beautiful’ before the Super Bowl LIXgame between the Philadelphia eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs at Caesars Superdome in Neworleans in 2025.
Stevens, anearlyseven-minutecomposition released in 2005 that references the strong influence of theWorld’sFair of 1893 in Chicago.
Musician, composer,recording artist and producer Kasey Ball saidhis favorite song aboutthe UnitedStatesis “YourFlagDecal Won’tGet YouInto Heaven Anymore” by John Prine.
“Music canbeprovocative without being hurtful or incendiary. Nobody wants brutal honestyall the time, either in apersonalorparasocial relationship,” Ball said. “Prine hada gift for humor which allowed delivery of toughcommentary. Iam working to developa similarly steady hand at penning lyrics.Listening to Prine gets me in themood to write music which addresses society thesame way listening to MartyRobbins gets me ready to brave adesertride.” Ball noted that he’sworking to write asong that “celebrates all of the Americas.” ‘Comeon!’
LSU musicinstructor WarrenKimball’sfavorite song about America is ”Come on! Feel The Illinoise” by Sufjan
MATTERS
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amaster of divinity and adoctorate of ministry in expository preaching from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in North Carolina.
He has served churches in Ruston; Jackson, Mississippi; and most recently as lead pastor at Westside BaptistChurch in Murray, Kentucky
Several factors attracted Nunn to Istrouma.
“The church itself has a great reputation in the state, and Iwanted to be faithful to use the giftsGod has given me for his name and renown if he so chose to place me in this role,” he said.
The opportunity to minister to college studentsat the area universities and the proximitytoNew Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary to help future pastors wereabig draw for Nunn.
“Ultimately,Iwas attracted to the role because I genuinely believe theLord has positioned Istrouma and equipped the church to be aheartbeat for the city, thestate, our country and around the world,” he said. “God has blessed Istrouma immensely,and Iamex-
“Sufjan is my favorite artist, and this song is about American history and references alot of musical sounds that people associate withthe U.S., like the banjo and marching band music,” Kimball said.
‘Fromsea to shiningsea’ RayCharles’ theclassic“Ameri The Beautiful” is favorite of Louis singer Chase Ty Katharine Bates origina wrotethe song 1893 as apoem tit “PikesPeak.” of the nation’sm popular patriotic tunes, it’s been performed by many, from Bing Crosby to heavy metal band Black Label Society.Charles’ soulful version reached No. 98 on the US R&B chart,appropriately in 1976.
Tyler and his bandplay across the Gulf Coast, mixing Southern rock,country, swamppop anddance favorites.
‘Touches my heart’
Baton Rouge native Noah James created amusic career for himself at 19 years old. The country musician often writes about themes of patriotism, and he draws inspiration from “American Soldier” by Toby Keith, his favorite American song. James said his grandpa, uncleand several friends erved in the mili,soheholds the song close.
“Every time Ihear hink about them dthe sacrifices made,” James “It also reminds of allthe menand men whohave served in the military to protect ourfreedom. Their courage, dedication and service mean agreat deal to me,which is why this song touches my heart.”
Deservingofrespect
“The song makes me think of ‘a country unitedduring simplertimes,’ kind of a stop-you-in-your-tracks tune that makes you feel proud to be an American,” said Tyler “Atleast it does for me.”
If she’s notpicking from herown repertoire of music, Baton Rouge-based singer Quiana Lynell picks James Brown’s“ThePayback.” She said Brown’smusic has an influence on her own.
“I’m aBlack American
ProVIDeD PHoto
the rev. Merrick Nunn, back, senior pastor at Istrouma Baptist Church in Baton rouge, smiles with hisfamily.His wifeemily,from left, holds son Wyatt, 3months old, next to children ellis, 10; Nora, 8; and abram, 7.
cited about the opportunity to be apart of helping her reach her full potential in thedays ahead. The opportunityfor impact is immense.”
He wants Istroumato continue to reach beyond the walls of the church.
“I’m grateful forthe opportunity to serve in this wonderful city and sur-
woman,somyfavorite song is ‘The Payback’when James Brown wassaying whohewas: ‘I’m Black, and I’m proud, and my accomplishments deservethe samerespect as everyone else,’”Lynell said. Shewrote herlatest album “Black Magic” after visiting the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis. One of the songs on the album, “American Dream,”quotes “America the Beautiful.”
“Everyone understands whatitmeans to be American and have the audacity to fight for something,” Lynell said. “It maybeuncomfortable sometimes, but we’re right there.”
‘Chester’
Griffin Campbell, who served for 40 years as professor of saxophone in the School of Music at LSU, picked “Chester” by William Billings, an 18th-century tunesmith and patriot.
“I’m familiar with it from singing it in choir in 1976 and playing it in aconcert band arrangement by William Schuman,” Campbell said. “I was told it was considered as our national anthem in the early years of the republic.”
Atoss-up
Baton Rouge-basedDJ
Richard Haydel says his favorite is atoss-up between twosongs: “One Nation Under aGroove,” by Funkadelic,or“Rockin’ in theFree World,” by NeilYoung (even though he’saCanadian).
“The former is just ajoy to dance to, and an homage to thenotion that dance itself is aunifying force for us in this country,” Haydel wrote. “The second is interesting because,although it sounds like atypical stadium rock song, it hidesa lotofimportant critique about America. Andit’sstill relevant some decades later. So yes, ‘One NationUnder aGroove’is the joyous party starter the Neil Youngtrack, albeit still funtosing, is morecontemplative.”
rounding communities. Ipray the city increasingly feels the positive impact of Istroumafor decades to come,” he said.
Nunn’sministry philosophy is rooted in Ezra 7:10: “For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.” Nunn said, “This is what Idesire to do —toknow God’sword, apply it personally and then teach it corporately.”
His lifemotto, “treasure Jesus,” comes from Matthew 13:44-46: “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in afield, which aman found and covered up. Then in his joy,hegoes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”
Nunn added, “I want to treasure him with all my heart, soul, mind and strength, and Idesire to help others see the immense worth of knowing, loving and living forJesus.”
Contact Terry Robinsonat terryrobinson622@gmail. com.
Kimball
Husbandpusheswife to have fourth child
Dear Harriette: My husband and Iare in astandoff right now regarding children. We already have three kids, but he wants one more. I told him that Idon’t have the physical or mental capacity to take care of another child. My body has already gone through so much from my first three births; Ican’timagine having another child, especially now that I’m almostinmy 40s. Not only that, but alot of the care of the children falls on me, even with me working full time. My husband does help, but he doesn’tshoulder the same responsibilities as me when it comes to our children. I am the one scheduling doctor appointments, keeping track of school events, arranging childcare, buying clothes when the kids outgrow them and making sure everyone’sneeds are met When one of the children is sick, Iamusually the one taking time off work.
Schoolsfailtoteach needed skill
feel likemyanswer should be enough when Iamthe one whose bodywould have to go throughanotherpregnancy.How can Iget my husband to stop askingme to have another baby? —No More Kids Dear No More Kids: Make alistof the responsibilities involvedinchildcare, similar to what you listed here. Write them down and present to your husband. Ask him what, among them, he is willing to take on fulltime. Point out that your hands are full already,and you don’thave thecapacity to take care of another child. If he has not been willing to step up to help more with thekids you have, why would you think he’d start with the fourth?
Iamgetting frustrated because he won’tstop pushing me to have another kid even though Ialready set the boundary.Hesays Iam shutting down the discussion before he has achance to make his case,while I
Dear Harriette: My husband and Ihave been together forfive years and married for one. After dating for about eight months, I moved in with him because my lease was up and Iwas spending most of my time there anyway.Things felt comfortable, and we never addressed moving out Now that we are planning our 30s, we are realizing we may outgrow atwo-bed-
room apartment. However thequestion of what comes next is thechallenge. I’m more interested in acondo with more rooms and space for an office. My partner prefersatraditional house with abackyard. Finding away to compromise is difficult becauseour ideas are so different.What are some places you think we should start to findmiddle ground? —Where To Go From Here? Dear Where To Go From Here?: Engage aRealtor who can show you arange of properties across your interests. There may be atraditional house withabackyard and an extra bedroom for an office, for example. Or there may be acondo apartment building in amore suburban settingthat has access to apark or playground. A townhouse may be agood compromise for you two. Start exploring options in different neighborhoods so that you can discover what you like. There are so many choices. Get excited about seeing them.
Send questions to askharriette@ harriettecole.com or c/o Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City,MO 64106.
Full-figureddiner’s dilemma
Dear Miss Manners: Whatis the proper way to protect one’sbosom while eating?
To put it in perspective, Iamquite short. When at arestaurant,the table often hits at my bust line When Ieat, Iamsitting away from the table, and am not tall enough to lean over slightly.Anything that falls, from soup to nuts, so to speak, lands on my “shelf” and the napkin placed on my lap is useless
Dear Heloise: Iread the letter about counting change and thought I’d give you my experience. Formany years, Irequested thatteachers in our district teach students two things: how to count change back and how to measure items with atape measure. In 40 years, I’ve had to teach every employee both, regardless of their ages, which range from 15-60. My grandchild, whom Iraised, was the only student in her school who knew how to make change. Sadly,itjust isn’ttaught It’s averysimple but necessary thing to learn. Cash registersand calculators can make mistakes —and often do. —Pat W.G., viaemail Pat, there are some subjects that have been dropped from our schools, and Iwould like to seethem
By the associated Press
Hints from Heloise
reinstituted. However school boardsfeel that these subjects aren’tneeded, so they’re gone from the curriculum. Idon’tknowwhen or why geography was removed, but I knowfrom talking to teachers that many students can’tidentify where theMiddle East is located,or wherethe state of Kansas is located on ablank map.
Iwas very lucky that my mother taught me to make change before the first grade, and geography was one of my favorite classes in middle school. Teachers and parents, please write to Heloise@Heloise.com as to what you’d like to see schools do to improve the education system in America. —Heloise
Back in my day…
Dear Heloise: Back in the
TODAYINHISTORY
Today is Saturday, June 27, the 178th day of 2026. There are 187 days left in the year Todayinhistory: On June 27, 1957, Hurricane Audrey slammed into coastal Louisiana and Texas as aCategory 4 storm,causing as many as 600 deaths.
Also on this date:
In 1844, Mormon leader Joseph Smith and his brother,Hyrum,were killed by amob in Carthage, Illinois.
In 2005, BTK serial killer Dennis Rader pleaded guilty to 10 murders that had spread fear across Wichita, Kansas, beginning in the 1970s. (Rader was sentenced to 10 consecutive lifeterms in prison.)
In 2006, aconstitutional amendment to ban desecration of the American flag died in aU.S. Senate cliff-hanger,falling one vote short of the 67 needed to send it to states forratification.
1960s and early ’70s, I worked formydad in his family-owned grocery business. There wereno electronic scanners or machines to crank out the change. Everything was done by hand, including punching in the prices on acash register,counting the change, and counting back the change to the customer.Westarted with pennies, then nickels, and so on, counting out loud to the customer It isn’tdifficult, but these days, Iimagine that it’d take some training and practice to learn the “art” of counting back change. We also had to memorize all the sale prices, as they weren’t“computerized.” I loved working for my dad. Thanks for stirring up the memories! —Nancy B.,via email Sendahinttoheloise@ heloise.com.
decided cases on abortion, gay rights and other contentious issues, announced his retirement.
In 2022, in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, the SupremeCourt ruled that ahigh school football coach whosought to kneel and pray on the field after games wasprotected by the First Amendment.
Judith Martin MISS MaNNerS
Isuppose Icould tuck the napkin in my collar,but that seems like I am wearing abib, which I equate with babies. Sometimes Ihold the soup bowl with one hand and the spoon in the other,but that seems to border on barbaric. Other times, Itry to hold the napkin in one hand to catch any dribbles.
Iknow Icannot be the only person who is constantly trying to hide the drips on her clothing. Please help all of us short, full-figured ladies
Gentle reader: The napkinholding method sounds good. Or trywearing atop
that matches your soup. Butfor foodsthat aremore crumbly andless stain-y Miss Mannersfinds leather (orastain-resistant slippery equivalent)ahelpful material for gettingthings to slideright to the floor.Just do not wear leather on the bottom half, lest your napkinslide off, too. Or you might just bring alongaseat cushion.
Dear Miss Manners: Most mornings, Istop at adeli to get abagel for breakfast Sometimes as Iapproach the door,aman is also approaching alittle ahead of me,and will stop andopen it for me If Ienterthe delifirst, should Icontinuetothe counter andorder,or should Istopand allow him to order first?
Gentle reader: Sincethis gentleman hasbeen considerate, you should be, too. Once you are both inside, a hand gesture to the counter that indicates “after you” would begracious. And then he can chooseto acquiesce or continuetolet
you go first.Fortunately,if this is thesame man each time, or asmall rotation of them, you will only have to do it once before establishing aroutine.
Send questions to Miss Manners at her website, www.missmanners. com; to her email, dearmissmanners@gmail com; or through postal mailtoMiss Manners, Universal Uclick,1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.
In 1950, theU.N. SecurityCouncil passed aresolution calling on member nations to help SouthKorea repel an invasion from theNorth.
In 1967, Barclays Bank unveiled thefirst automated teller machine (ATM) in thetown of Enfield, north London.
In 1991, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, thefirst Black jurist to sit on the nation’s highest court,announced his retirement
In 2011, former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was convicted by afederal jury in Chicago of awide range of corruption charges, including the allegation that he’d tried to sell or trade President Barack Obama’s U.S. Senate seat. (Blagojevich was later sentenced to 14 years in prison; his sentence was commuted by President Donald TrumpinFebruary 2020, and he received afull and unconditional pardon from TrumpinFebruary 2025.)
In 2018, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy,whose vote often
Today’sBirthdays: Musician Bruce Johnston (The Beach Boys) is 84. Fashion designer Norma Kamali is 81. Fashion designer Vera Wang is 77. Actor Julia Duffy is 75. Actor Isabelle Adjani is 71. Cinematographer Janusz Kaminski is 67. Country singer Lorrie Morgan is 67. Actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai is 64. Writer-producer-director J.J. Abramsis60. Actor Tobey Maguire is 51. Actor Sam Claflin is 40. Actor Ed Westwick is 39. NFLlinebacker Bobby Wagner is 36. Actor Madylin Sweeten (“Everybody Loves Raymond”) is 35. Singer-songwriter H.E.R. is 29. Actor Chandler Riggs (“The Walking Dead”) is 27.
cAncER (June 21-July 22) Size up your situation, consider the possibilities and put a schedule in place that is sufficient to meet your demands. Don't let negativity drain the energy from you.
LEo (July 23-Aug. 22) Silence is golden. Wait, watch and start to plan what's in your best interest. Work quietly behind the scenes until you feel excited about what you develop. Your power comes from thoroughness.
VIRGo (Aug. 23-sept 22) Opportunity is within reach. Recognize what's available and go for it. Detail is important, but so aredeadlines.Doyourbestintheallotted amount of time. You will fulfill others' expectations.
LIBRA (sept. 23-oct. 23) What you do will have a bigger impact than what you say. Focus on physical progress and sticking to the facts. If you color a situation, it will come back to haunt you.
scoRPIo (oct. 24-nov. 22) Creativity is on the rise, and how you express your intentions, desires and expectations will make a difference when trying to generate interest. Listen carefully and be sure to get any offers you receive in writing.
sAGITTARIus (nov. 23-Dec. 21) Taking on projects that improve your health, lifestyle or home will have a positive impact onyourlife,relationshipsandconfidence if you don't surpass your budget.
cAPRIcoRn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Take note of what everyone around you is doing to avoid getting caught in someone else's drama Truth matters, and knowing
when to back away or say nothing will help you avoid any setback that comes with unsavory situations.
AQuARIus (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) A change at home will be rejuvenating. Personal gain and enjoying the company of someone who brings out the best in you will have a positive impact on how you look and feel.
PIscEs (Feb. 20-March 20) Being brave, bold and boisterous will grab attention and help you get things done. Venture out, socialize and connect with people who have similar interests and something to offer in return.
ARIEs (March 21-April 19) Doubling down, pushing yourself to the limit and taking care of unfinished business will help you enjoy your downtime and think more about commitment and what you want to pursue next.
TAuRus (April 20-May 20) Put your energy where it counts. Focusing on personal growth, making investments and taking better care of your emotional well-being will come with rewards. It's time to venture into new genres.
GEMInI (May 21-June 20) Change begins with you Put your heart into what moves you, then see what happens. Learning from experience and discussions you get into will help you find greater stability and personal and financial security.
InstructIons: Sudoku is anumber-placing puzzle based on a9x9 grid with several given numbers. Theobject is to place the numbers 1to9 in the empty squares so that each row, each column and each 3x3 box contains the same number only once. Thedifficulty level of theSudoku increases from Monday to Sunday.
Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer
THewiZard oF id
BLondie
BaBY BLueS
Hi and LoiS CurTiS
By PHILLIP ALDER Bridge
Stacy Keach said, “I can’t think of anything that requires more finesse than comedy, both from averbal and visual point of view.”
Thereishardly abridge deal without at leastone finesse. How many potential finesses can you see in thisdeal?
South is in six hearts. What should he do afterWest leads the diamond queen?
North took aslight gamble in wheeling outBlackwoodimmediately.Heplanned, of course, to bidsix hearts even if partner denied an ace.
Butitwas just possible that hisside was off thetwo top spades. South could have held 14 high-card points without holding the spade ace or king. But the odds were in North’s favor.
There are two possible finesses, one in each black suit. Which one should be tried?
Afinessing fan would take both, go down with this distribution and then complain about his bad luck. With the right line of play, though, the contract is guaranteed —how?
Afterdeclarer wins thefirst trick with dummy’s diamond king and draws trumps, he shouldcash dummy’s diamond ace, play atrump to hishand, ruff his lastdiamond in thedummy, and play
Each Wuzzle is awordriddlewhich creates adisguised word, phrase, name, place, saying, etc. For example: NOON GOOD =GOOD AFTERNOON
Previous answers:
word game
InsTRucTIons: 1. Words must be of fourormore letters. 2. Words that acquire fourletters by the
of “s,”such as “bats” or “dies,” are not allowed.3 Additional
or
by adding a“d” or an “s” may not be used. 4. Proper
or sexually explicit wordsare not allowed
ToDAy’s WoRD FRAGILITy: fruh-JIL-ih-tee: The state of being easily broken.
today’s thought
Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and Iamhelped: therefore my heart greatly rejoices;and with my song will Ipraise him.” Psalms 28:7
marmaduKe
Bizarro
hagar the horriBle
Pearls Before swiNe
garfield
B.C.
PiCKles hidato
CITY OF ST.GEORGE BY COUNCIL MEMBER COOK:
ORDINANCE NO. 2026-015
AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND TITLE 4, CHAPTER 1
RELATIVE TO THE SERVICE OF NOTICE IN ADVANCE OF AN ADMINISTRATIVE HEARING WITHIN THE DIVISION OF ADMINISTRATIVE ADJUDICATION
WHEREAS,the Council for the City of St. Georgehas established the Division of Administrative Adjudication within the City to adjudicate alleged violations of any City of St. George ordinance; WHEREAS,the Council for the City of St. George finds that afair andefficient process for the service of notice of an administrative hearing is in the best interest of the City while providing due process to alleged violators; and
WHEREAS,the Council for the CityofSt. George desires to clarify the service protocols surrounding administrative adjudications involving alleged violations of City ordinances, NOW,THEREFORE,BEITORDAINED by the St. GeorgeCity Council, State of Louisiana, that Title 4ofthe Ordinances of the Cityof St. George, “Administrative Adjudication,” and moreparticularly Chapter 1, “Administrative Adjudication Procedure,” be, and it is hereby,amended as follows:
SECTION 1. AMENDMENTS
Title 4, Chapter 1, Section 4:106 of the ordinances of the City of St. George is amended as indicated. Wordsin struck through type aredeletions from existing law and words underscoredinbold areadditions to existing law
Title 4. ADMINISTRATIVE ADJUDICATION Chapter 1. ADMINISTRATIVE ADJUDICATION PROCEDURE *** Sec. 4:106. Hearing procedure
(a) Notice. At least 15 days in advance of an administrative hearing, the Cityshall send notice by certified or registered United States mail to the violator or through personal service on the violator at the address listed in the assessor’soffice for East Baton Rouge Parish. The date of the postmark shall be deemed to be the date of delivery.Any notification so sent and returned by the United States Postal Service,whether returned as delivered, refused, unclaimed, or undeliverable, shall be considered as having fulfilled the notification requirement. Proof of notificationand attempts at service shall be entered in the record for each case prior to the hearing. The notice shall include:
SECTION 2. SEVERABILITY
If any provision or section of this Ordinance is held to be invalid or unconstitutional by acourt of competent jurisdiction, such adecision shall notaffect the validity of the remaining provisions.
SECTION 3. EFFECTIVEDATE
This Ordinance shall be effective upon publication. This ordinance having been submitted to avote; thevote thereon was: For: Cook, Dellucci, Edmonds, Himmel, Monachello, Murrell, Talbot Against: Absent /Abstaining /Recused:
Introduced on May 26, 2026 and adopted on June 09, 2026.
Lorraine Beaman, City Clerk
Delivered to Mayor on June 10, 2026.
Lorraine Beaman, City Clerk
Approved:
Dustin Yates, Mayor
Received from Mayor on __________, 2026
Ordinance published in The Advocate on the ____day of 2026. CITY OF ST.GEORGE ORDINANCE NO. 2026-016
TO AMEND 2025-2026 FISCAL YEAR GENERAL FUND AND SPECIAL REVENUE FUND BUDGETS AND TO PROVIDE FORRELATED MATTERS
WHEREAS, the St. George Council adopted Ordinance 2025-025 on June 3, 2025 approving the General Fund budget for the fiscal year beginning on July 1, 2025 and ending on June 30, 2026; and
WHEREAS, the St. George Council adopted Ordinance 2025-027 on June 10, 2025 approving the special revenue fund budget for the fiscal year beginning on July 1, 2025 and ending on June 30, 2026; and
WHEREAS,the St. George Council adopted Ordinance 2025-034 on July 22, 2025 amending the General Fund budget for the fiscal year beginning on July 1, 2025 and ending on June 30, 2026; BE IT ORDAINED by the St. GeorgeCouncil, State of Louisiana
Section 1. 2025-2026 Fiscal Year General Fund BudgetAmendment No. 02. The General Fund budget for the fiscal year beginning on July 1, 2025and ending on June 30, 2026 is amended as follows:
A. Reduce General Sales and Use Taxrevenues by $4 million, from $54 million to $50 million, to reflect actual amountsreceived and amounts projected through the end of the fiscal year; and B. Increase expenditures for Sales TaxCollection Feesby$288,600, from $96,400 to $385,000, to reflect currentprojections; and C. Add TrafficLight Signal Monitoring expenditureof$620,000.
Section 2. 2025-2026 Fiscal Year Special Revenue BudgetAmendment No. 01. The Special Revenue budget for the fiscal year beginning on July 1, 2025and ending on June 30, 2026 is amended as follows:
A. Reduce TrafficImpact Fees revenue from$1million to $150,000, refining the preliminary estimate to actual collections; and B. Reduce Traffic-Related Infrastructureexpendituresfrom$500,000 to zero, since no projects wereidentified in the current fiscal year beforethe capital improvement plan is completed.
Section 3: Conflicts. General Fund Budget Amendment 02 shall be incorporated into the 2025-2026 Fiscal Year General Fund Budget enacted by Ordinance No. 2025-25 and amended by Ordinance 2025034,and Special Revenue Amendment 01 shall be incorporated into the 2025-2026 Fiscal Year Special Revenue Fund Budget enacted by Ordinance No. 2025-27.
Section 4: Severability If any section, subsection, sentence, clause or provision of this Ordinance is declared by acourt of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such declaration of invalidity shall not affect the validity of the Ordinance as awhole, or parts thereof, other than the part declared invalid. The remainder of the Ordinance shall not be affected by the declaration of invalidity and shall remain in forceand effect.
Section 5. Effective Date. This Ordinance shall be effective upon approval.
This ordinance having been submitted to avote;the vote thereon was: For: Cook, Dellucci, Edmonds, Himmel, Monachello, Murrell, Talbot Against: Absent /Abstaining /Recused: Introduced on May 26, 2026 and adopted on June 09, 2026.
Lorraine Beaman, City Clerk
Delivered to Mayor on June 10, 2026.
Lorraine Beaman, City Clerk
Approved:
Dustin Yates, Mayor
Received from Mayor on 2026
Ordinance published in The Advocateonthe ____day of 2026.
anyreallocation of funds affecting in excessof five percent(5%)
Section
CITY OF ST.GEORGE
ORDINANCE NO. 2026-017
AN ORDINANCE TO ADOPT,FINALIZEAND IMPLEMENT THE 20262027 GENERAL FUND ANDSPECIAL REVENUE FUND BUDGETS
WHEREAS, the Louisiana Local Government Budget Act,Louisiana Revised Statutes 39:1301-1315 requires the Mayorofthe City of St Georgetopresent acomprehensive budget to the St.George City Council (the “City Council”), representing acomplete financial plan for each fiscal year for the general fund and each special revenue fund and other items as required by the Act;
WHEREAS, Mayor Dustin Yates prepared, with the assistance of Brandon Boylan, Finance Director,proposed general fund and special revenue fund budgets for the fiscal year beginning on July 1, 2026 and ending on June 30, 2027 (“proposed”); and
WHEREAS, the proposed budget must be accompanied by abudget adoption instrument (“Budget Ordinance”); and
WHEREAS, at the regular meeting of the City Council held on May26, 2026, this Budget Ordinance was introduced; and
WHEREAS, notice of apublic hearing on the proposed general fund and special revenue fund budgets and notice of the availability of the proposed budgets forreview have been timely published in The Advocate; and WHEREAS, apublic hearing on the proposed general fund and special revenue fund budgets was conducted on June 9, 2026; now THEREFORE BE IT ORDAINEDbythe St.George City Council, State of Louisiana as follows:
Section 1. Proposed Budgets. The proposed budgets for the general fund and special revenue fund for the fiscal year beginning on July 1, 2026 and ending on June 30, 2027 arehereby approved, adopted, and finalized.
DeliveredtoMayoronJune
period of operations (2025-2026), its first full twelve months, includesbudgeted revenues andothersources of $55.9million. This budget, for the period beginning July 1, 2026 andending June 30, 2027, is for the City’sthird year of operations andincludesrevenuesand othersources of $57.1 million, an increase of $1.2million (2%) from the prior year (2025-2026 projected).
In Year 1(period ending June 30, 2025) we sprang into action, just beginning operations andadopting various ordinances andpolicies. In Year 2(July 2025 –June 2026) we •Awarded contracts, afteracompetitive bid process, for the provision of City operationsand services andpublic works; •Applied for over$120 million in federal grants; •Started developing acomprehensive capitalimprovement plan, whichwill address,among otherthings, streetsand drainage; •Started developingthe St. George 2050 Comprehensive Plan; •Wereintentionalabout working through the backlog of infrastructure work orders; and •Purchased abuilding to house City Hall.
2026-2027 is St. George’s thirdyear of operations, andwehave great plans, including: •Roadpreservation andsafetyprojectstotaling $7.8million; •Street anddrainageinfrastructureimprovements totaling $2.2 million; •$294,000 in newpublic safety expenditures; •Implement strategies includedinthe City’seconomic development plan to diversify revenues, identify newrevenue streamsand opportunities for growth; and •Publication of the St. George 2050 Comprehensive Planand Capital Improvement Planwhichwill address,among othertopics, streetsand drainage.
City leaders quickly solicited input from St. George’sresidents about their priorities for their community.InDecember 2025, February 2026 and May 2026 City leaders held stakeholder dialogue workshops, during which the public provided valuable input regarding their concerns, priorities, and solutions. Much of the information received is being incorporatedinto the Capital Improvement Planand 2050 Comprehensive Plan. Asuggestion wasmade at the first stakeholder dialogue workshop thatroadstriping andsignage should be agoal; in February 2026 the City undertook this project as adirect result from this stakeholder input.
One of the challengeswithin the City of St. George is mobility.Tocite one example, SiegenLaneserves as avitaltransportation corridor in St. Georgeand drivers andpedestriansface lack of speed control, stressful lane changes, andfrequent crossings, in part because there areover 70 accesspoints in its 6,211 feet of roadway.A significant numberofnew andimprovedtravel lanesand enhancements areplannedorconstructed as apart of the MOVEBR program, a2018 transportation infrastructure project in East Baton Rouge Parish fundedbya 30-year half-centsales tax. Twenty-one
Commission Action (April 23, 2026): Mr.Freneaux moved to outlaw at‐tacheddwelling units; Mr.Sheridanseconded. Publiccomment:Gerard Duplantis.Vote: 4yeas (Firmin,Freneaux, Pino Johnson),2 nays (Harper, Sheridan),1 absent (Sharafkhani). Motion passed, andT-26-0001 wasrecommended for approvalwithanamend‐ment.
b) CU-26-0001: ConditionalUse Permit at 14362Greenwell Springs Road An Ordinanceto approvea conditional use permit to construct a new self-service storage facilityona portionof LotG,E.BuhlerProperty. Comprising2.007 acresin the B-4(GeneralCom‐mercial/Business)/Corri‐dorOverlay zoning dis‐trict.(Applicant: Annie Borill,onbehalfofGer‐ard Duplantis) CommissionAction(April 23, 2026): Mr.Firmin moved to approvewith the stipulationthatall architecturalstandards are metwithout vari‐ance; Mr.Harpersec‐onded.Publiccomment: None.Vote: 6yeas (Firmin,Freneaux, Harper, Pino,Sheridan, Johnson), 0nays, 1ab‐sent (Sharafkhani). Mo‐tionpassed, andCU-260001 wasrecommended for approval with astipu‐lation
y (Freneaux,Harper, John‐son), 1absent (Sharafkhani). Motion failed. d) Z-26-0001: Rezoning at 7510 and7520 Droze Road. An Ordinanceto approve therezoningof Tract1,BeatriceWright Tract,fromR-1 (SingleFamilyResidence)toR/A (Rural/Agricultural)zon‐ingdistrict. Comprising 3.5 acres. (Appli‐cant/Owner: StoneFarms LLC) Commission Action (April 23, 2026): Mr.Freneaux moved to approve; Mr Firminseconded. Public comment:DebbieDroze MonicaPresley,Beatric Fabre,O’DellWilmerJr, IraDroze-Wilmer. Vote: 6 yeas (Firmin, Freneaux Harper, Pino,Sheridan, Johnson), 0nays, 1ab‐sent(Sharafkhani). Mo‐tion passed,and Z-260001was recommended for approval III. OldBusiness(Public Hearingand Action re‐gardingthe followingin‐strument(s)): None IV.New Business (Public Hearingand
c) CU-26-0003:
ConditionalUse Permit at 17585Greenwell Springs Road An Ordinanceto approve aconditional use permit fora newbor‐rowpit (excavationre‐sulting in permanent pond) on TractC-1-A-4 (proposed C-1-A-4-A; S26-0007),Cliff dL.M
road re‐pairsand to providefor related matters (By Council Members Lazaroe andMcKinney) VI.Reports and Presentations: 1) Mayor’sReports and Presentations\ -Mayor Evansthanked the FLECCCommittee for theirhardworkand dedi‐
