The Acadiana Advocate 06-28-2026 by The Advocate

Banon camping loomsin Lafayette

BY STEPHEN MARCANTEL Staff writer

LETLOW ADVANCES

Backed by Trump, sheedges Flemingtowin GOPSenateprimary

ShewillfaceDemocratJamie Davisinthe Nov. 3election

Lafayette police will begin enforcing Louisiana’snew anti-camping law Jan. 1, but local ofﬁcials and homeless service providers say key questions about where peoplewill go —and how thelaw will work —remain unanswered.

The law,signed by Gov.Jeff Landry, makes camping on public propertya misdemeanor punishable by uptosix months in jailand a$500ﬁne.Italsoallowscities to create diversion programs and homeless courts designed to connect offenders with housing, treatment and other services.

Homeless service providersquestion wherepeoplewillgo Trouard

“Yes, we will be enforcing that,” LafayettePolice DepartmentChief Paul Trouard said “No loitering” signs have already begun going up at bus stopsinthe city,said Christina Dayries,Lafayette Consolidated Government’schief of staff. And summonses are already being issued, with additional measurestomake sleeping at bus stops more difﬁcultunder consideration, Trouard said Penalties for camping on public property,which is defined as any property controlled by state or local governments, include up to a$500 ﬁne orsix months in jail. Violators would then be eligiblefor a “Homelessness Court” program, aminimum12-month probationary program aimed at connectingpeople with services such as physical and mental healthcare, job training and rehabilitative treatment.

The legislation, minus thehomeless court, is similar to an ordinance ﬂoated by the LafayetteCity Council thatwould have made camping on public property a punishable offense, but discussions stalled

ä See BAN, page 4A

School system land certified forfuture development

No formal leasing planspubliclydiscussed

BYJOEL THOMPSON Staff writer

Three properties owned by the Lafayette Parish school systemnear Southside High School wererecently certiﬁed for commercial or industrialdevelopment, positioningthe landfor potentialfuture development.

The three properties are situated along Chemin Metairie ParkwayinYoungsville on the opposite side of Almonaster Road across from Southside’scampus,and are approximately 20, 25 and 84 acres respectively For years, LPSS has earned asteady streamofrevenuefromleasingout the properties for sugar cane cultivation, totaling around $80,000 ayear,according to LPSS Superintendent Francis Touchet. The certifications represent afourwaypartnership between LPSS,the city of Youngsville, One Acadiana and the

ä See LAND, page 3A

BY TYLER BRIDGES Staff writer

U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow fended off a tough campaignfrom state Treasurer JohnFleming to win the Republican runoff for theU.S. Senate on Saturday and become the prohibitive favoriteto be Louisiana’snext senator

Letlow captured theRepublican Party nomination Saturday with the strong support of President Donald Trump his endorsement of her in Januarytodefeat Sen.Bill Cassidy prompted her entry into the race —and Gov.JeffLandry, who raised millions of dollarsfor asuper PACthat relentlessly attacked Fleming.

With thevictory over Fleming, Letlow advances to the Nov.3 general election ballot,where she will face Jamie Davis, afarmer from northeast Louisianawho overwhelmingly won the Democratic Party runoff Saturday over business owner Gary Crockett.

Thevictorinthatracewillreplace Cassidy, aRepublican from BatonRouge who ranafoul of Trumpand was eliminated in the May 16 Republican primary

while seeking athird term.

Letlow will be heavily favored in November because no Democrat has been elected to the Senate since 2008, and Republicans hold all statewide ofﬁces in Louisiana.

Dav is, however, vowed to run acompetitivecampaign.

Letlow took an early lead Saturday night when the first returns were posted —from early voters —and never relinquished her advantage.

The Associated Press called the race at 8:44 p.m., 44 minutesafter the polls closed. The AP called Davis’ victory at 8:09 p.m. Davis won 80%-20%.

Letlow spoke to ajubilant crowdatDuplantis Design Group in Baton Rouge at 9:15 p.m., surrounded by her parents, her twochildren, her ﬁance Kevin Ain-

BY MEGANWYATT Staff writer

Twopetrochemical giants will chipina tiny percentage toward the overall costof building the new Lake Charles Interstate 10 bridge after the state quietly settled a lawsuit earlierthisyear over adecadesold chemical spill at the foot of the current bridge. The conﬁdential settlement agreement, which TheAdvocate |The Times-Picayune received through apublic records request, calledfor Phillips 66 andSasol to pay $2 million to theLouisiana DepartmentofTransportation andDevelopment —roughly .06% of the price tagfor thenew bridge. The paymentended alawsuit thestateﬁled against

sworth and campaign aides. She thankedTrump, calling him “the greatest president thiscountry has ever had.” She said later that she had received congratulations calls from Trumpand Fleming.

Fleming gave aconcessionspeech surrounded by family shortly after 9p.m. to acrowd of supporterschantinghis nameafter the primary race was called forLetlow “I’m going to be just as happy tomorrow as if Ihad wonthe election because my happiness does notdepend on getting elected to ofﬁce,” Fleming said. “My happiness depends on serving you, the people of Louisianaand thepeople of the United States.”

Saturday’selections concluded anew closed primary system put in place by Landry andthe stateLegislature in 2024 thatcalls this year for aprimary arunoffand ageneral election —unlike the open primary system still in place for statewide and legislative races, where the top two ﬁnishers advance to

in an occasional series about the LakeCharles I-10bridge

the two companiesover an infamous 1994 spill of ethylene dichloride near the bridge. The companies spilled millions of pounds of ethylene dichloride, or EDC, during an underground transfer pipeline failure, they acknowledgedinlegal ﬁlings.Federal agencies intervenedwith cleanup orders, soil and water sampling and arestoration plan. But hundreds of workers whocleaned up the EDCsaid they becamesick and said they were notproperly informed of the hazards of working with the chemical, nor providedthe

See BRIDGE, page 4A

Fleming

Davis

STAFF PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK

EL EC TI ON 20 26

STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

U.S. Rep. Julia Letlowaddresses the crowd at awatch partyatDDG in Baton RougeonSaturday after winning the Republican primaryrunoff for U.S. Senate.

ä See LETLOW, page 5A

Israeli drone strike kills Palestinian siblings

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip An Israeli drone strike on Saturday killed two Palestinian siblings, including a 15-year-old girl in southern Gaza and wounded at least seven others, according to Nasser hospital, where the casualties were taken.

The strike targeted tents sheltering displaced Palestinians in the sprawling camp of Muwasi, killing 15-year-old Islam Moussa and her 30-year-old brother, Abdullah Moussa

The Israeli military acknowledged it had struck the area of Muwasi, saying it had targeted a Hamas militant but did not immediately provide more information.

In the hospital’s courtyard, relatives wept over the bodies covered in white burial shrouds. Also on Saturday, Palestinians reported hearing a loud boom in Gaza City

The Israeli military struck a tent sheltering displaced Palestinians in western Gaza City, wounding at least 12 people, according to Shifa hospital. The ambulance service of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said two people were critically wounded and the majority of those hurt were women.

The Israeli military said it struck a Hamas militant and that it was not aware of uninvolved civilians being harmed Strikes continued Saturday evening in central Gaza, with no immediate word of casualties. Israel’s military said it was checking on the reports.

2 tropical storms

pound Japan, killing 1

TOKYO Two major storm systems pounded Japan on Saturday, causing landslides and ﬂoods and leaving one dead and several injured, media and ofﬁcials said.

The storms, Mekkhala and Higos, have dumped heavy rain and damaged roads as Japan experiences its annual rainy season.

A man in his 70s died and three others were injured after a house collapsed in a landslide in Yamaguchi prefecture on Friday, Japan’s Kyodo News agency reported Footage from Kyoto showed the Kamo River swollen with churning, muddy water A ﬂooding alert was issued in parts of Kyoto, Osaka and other areas in western Japan.

The Fire and Disaster Management Agency said more than 30 homes were ﬂooded in Nara and Hiroshima on Friday. Heavy rain also disrupted some train operations and flights in the area.

Serbia’s president says he will resign BELGRADE,Serbia Serbia’s populist President Aleksandar Vucic said Saturday he will resign his post within weeks, paving the way for early elections following youth-led protests that shook his tight grip on power Vucic did not specify exactly when he would resign or when an election, either for Parliament or for a new president, could be held. He has said in the past that he could leave the post amid speculation that he would try to switch to the formally more powerful position of prime minister of the Balkan country Vucic, who is currently serving his second term, cannot run again for president, according to Serbia’s election law Both regular presidential and parliamentary elections are due next year

“I will be president for several weeks more and then I will submit my resignation,” Vucic told thousands of his supporters in downtown Belgrade. He said he will help his right-wing Serbian Progressive Party at upcoming elections.

“We will win more convincingly than ever before,” he said, telling the crowd that this was probably the last time he addresses them as Serbia’s president. University students behind more than a year of protests against Vucic’s increasingly autocratic rule in Serbia have been demanding early parliamentary elections for over a year but Vucic so far has refrained from setting the date.

Frustration grows after Venezuela quakes

Death toll reaches 1,430

BY REGINA GARCIA CANO, ANDRY RINCÓN and MEGAN JANETSKY Associated Press

LA GUAIRA, Venezuela Ten-

sions flared Saturday as desperation grew in Venezuela’s state of La Guaira as rescuers and civilians searched for earthquake survivors and the death toll rose sharply to 1,430.

Venezuela’s government said families reported at least 68,900 people missing, three days after the one-two punch of 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes devastated the South American nation.

Venezuelans looking for loved ones and neighbors used shovels, heavy equipment, ropes and bare hands atop mounds of toppled concrete throughout La Guaira, one of the hardest-hit states

Tensions peaked over what many Venezuelans viewed as an inadequate response by the government, whose soldiers, ﬁreﬁghters, police and military cadets were evidently underprepared to respond to the scope of the tragedy

Frustration was amplified by efforts to project the image of a robust state

response.

“There’s a pile of bodies over there from last night. Newborn babies,” said Mileidy Romero, who was among those searching in the seaside town of Caraballeada “At 8 p.m (yesterday) there were people alive down there, and they haven’t bothered to rescue them We’ve located several bodies, and they haven’t helped us recover them either What are they waiting for?”

Aid agencies consider the ﬁrst 48 to 72 hours as crucial for retrieving people

alive, though that can be extended if they have access to food and water A growing number of international rescue teams were joining the effort. Venezuelan ofﬁcials said 17 ﬂights carrying more than 1,600 rescue team members had touched down by Saturday Acting President Delcy Rodríguez said on state television that more than 14,000 members of the military and police are patrolling the area, where access is now blocked and special permits are required to enter Some people climbed the

remnants of buildings and cried out names, hoping for any proof of life. Dust coated coastal communities. In punishing heat, more people wore masks as the stench of decomposition spread.

With the absence of hard hats, rescuers and civilians used motorcycle helmets as they searched piles of debris that were once people’s belongings: Eddie Murphy and Nemo DVDs, a kitchen sink, mattresses and shoes. Some, frustrated by the government’s response, blocked an excavator from

leaving the site of a collapse and pulled the operator from its cabin shortly after state workers took selﬁes in front of ﬂattened buildings and left without helping. The ruling party’s officials often take selfies to show participation in government-related events

A few feet away, at least ﬁve bodies lay wrapped in blankets.

A member of the crowd, Yeison Marcano, said those searching had received some assistance from an investigations unit but neither police nor the National Guard helped.

“They came to eat arepas and take pictures to make it look like they were working,” Marcano said. “They didn’t even get their uniforms dirty like we have We’ve been here for three days.”

A minute later, a man tried to grab a firefighter shouting and cursing “Silence! Silence!” rescuers shouted as they tried to conﬁrm whether someone was trapped alive.

Meanwhile, an older man was pulled from the rubble of a public housing building. Visibly disoriented, he begged a nurse for water. He fought with personnel who put him into a pickup truck, screaming, “My family! My family!”

U.S. military says it struck multiple targets in Iran

Second day of attacks strains ceasefire

BY JON GAMBRELL and KONSTANTIN TOROPIN

Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates

The U.S military said Saturday it had struck multiple targets in Iran at President Donald Trump’s direction, continuing a string of attacks that have shaken the war’s uneasy ceaseﬁre.

U.S. Central Command, in a post to social media, said that U.S. military aircraft targeted Iranian military “surveillance infrastructure, communication systems, air defense sites, drone storage facilities, and minelayer capabilities” following an attack

on a merchant vessel early on Saturday morning.

The ongoing strikes in the Persian Gulf show the danger of the Iran war again spinning out of control, even after Iran and the U.S. reached an interim deal to try and agree on a ﬁnal accord to end the conﬂict.

The incident follows a similar back and forth that occurred just days prior when an Iranian drone struck a merchant vessel off the coast of Oman on Thursday and the U.S. military retaliated with strikes the next day

U.S. Central Command said that in this latest attack Iranian forces attacked the oil tanker Kiku with a oneway drone. The tanker was laden with more than two million barrels of crude oil and sailing through the Strait of Hormuz. According to ship track-

Hezbollah’s

ing websites, the Kiku left a Qatari oil ﬁeld in the middle of the Persian Gulf earlier in the week and was bound for a port in the United Arab Emirates that sits on the Gulf of Aman, just on the other side of the Strait of Hormuz.

It appeared to be attempting to use a route that was established near the coast of Oman that is serving as an alternative to the route sanctioned by Iran that runs through its own waters.

A multinational maritime body overseen by the U.S. Navy said Saturday that it would expand the Omani route to allow for both inbound and outbound trafﬁc, likely setting up a new flashpoint with Tehran, which sees the strait as a key source of leverage in ongoing talks with the U.S.

The U.S. military said

leader criticizes Lebanon’s deal with Israel

BY BASSEM MROUE and SHLOMO MOR Associated Press

BEIRUT Hezbollah’s leader on Saturday criticized a framework agreement that Israel and Lebanon signed a day earlier to end months of conﬂict between the Iran-backed militant group and Israel, raising concerns about its effectiveness.

The agreement signed Friday in Washington links Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon to Hezbollah’s disarmament, something the group rejects.

Several previous ceaseﬁre agreements that Lebanon has negotiated with Israel since the outbreak of the latest IsraelHezbollah war were never implemented on the ground. More than 4,000 people in Lebanon have been killed in Israeli strikes since March, when Hezbollah ﬁred at Israel two days after the Iran war began.

In a statement Saturday Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem said his group will keep fighting until Israel is forced to leave Lebanon. The group’s supporters protested in the streets of Beirut following the announcement of the agreement

Despite the deal, the Lebanese state news agency reported an Israeli drone strike near the southern city of Nabatiyeh. It also reported that Israel’s military released three Lebanese and three Syrian workers who were taken near the southern village of Ain Arab on Friday

The talks between Israel and Lebanon were separate from the interim deal signed earlier this month by the U.S. and Iran.

Details of the deal that the U.S. State Department released Saturday say Lebanon and Israel aim to eventually end the

Israeli military APCs are parked Saturday in northern Israel near the border with Lebanon.

state of war between them that began when Israel was created in 1948.

The deal says Israel will withdraw from Lebanon, provided Hezbollah disarms. It calls for Israel to initially withdraw from two small areas, called pilot zones. It did not say where they will be The Lebanese army will gradually assume full security responsibility over those areas. The countries will agree to future pilot zones for Israel’s withdrawal in the future, the agreement says.

The deal has a security annex that includes details of the deployment of the Lebanese army and redeployments of Israeli troops. The security annex was not made public.

As part of the deal, Israel stresses that Hezbollah’s disarmament throughout Lebanon and additional security measures to be agreed upon between the countries will eliminate any future need for the Israeli army’s military action or presence in Lebanon.

that “Iran had a chance to honor the ceasefire agreement” but “elected not to” when its forces attacked the Kiku. Iran state TV reported explosions in an area just north of the Strait of Hormuz. Bahrain has been one of the strongest critics of Iran and is home to the U.S Navy’s 5th Fleet. It just hosted U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio for a meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council’s foreign ministers, which ended with a call for an end to Iran’s attacks and for the strait to be completely open.

A statement from Bahrain’s Foreign Ministry said a “number of Iranian drones” targeted the country It called the attack “a ﬂagrant threat to the security of citizens and residents.” There were no im-

mediate reports of damage. Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard earlier on Saturday issued a statement carried by the state-run IRNA news agency saying it had targeted several locations “of the U.S. terrorist army in the region.” It did not name what areas were targeted.

The U.S. military’s Central Command said the military struck Iranian missile and drone locations and coastal radar sites in the overnight strikes. Vice President JD Vance, who has led the negotiations with Iran, said on social media Friday night that Iran should “pick up the phone” if there are disagreements about the ceasefire agreement, “but violence will be met with violence.”

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ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By FERNANDO VERGARA Rescue workers search through the rubble on Saturday, three days after earthquakes struck Catia la Mar, Venezuela.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ARIEL SCHALIT

Burnhamtakes over as U.K. primeminister

Economic challenges face newleader

BY BRIAN MELLEY and JILL LAWLESS Associated Press

LONDON Britain looks set to get a change of tone at the top, replacing stolid, unpopular Prime Minister

Keir Starmer with popular,affable Andy Burnham. But the charismatic Burnham mayhavedifﬁculty —atleast initially —distancing himself from policies set in motion by his predecessor Burnham, the former mayor of Greater Manchesterwho was sworn into Parliament hoursafter Starmer announced his resignation on Monday,will be constrained by the platform the center-left Labour Party was elected on thatdecisively ended 14 years of Conservative rule in 2024.

It’snot entirely clear howhe’ll

LAND

Continued from page1A

Lafayette EconomicDevelopment Authority and local utility provider SLEMCO.

Certiﬁcation doesnot require the district to lease or sell the property

“Today is about preparation, partnership and vision. Communities don’tattract transformational investment by simply hoping a company will choose them,” said Mandy Mitchell, who serves as the CEO of LEDA.

Theland’scertificationcame about in part through One Acadiana’ssite development program, which completesdue diligence with regard to zoning regulations, land titles, environmental studies, soil analysis and land surveying.

The certifications are issued through Louisiana Economic Development andallowfuturedevelopers to bypass much of the upfront due diligence becauseenvironmental, engineering and title work has already been completed

“It makesthem fastertomove to market with their new develop-

navigate thoselimits and bring his uniquebrand of politics to therevolving-door post that would make himthe seventh prime minister in adecade. He’ll lay out his economic vision in aspeechthisweek.

“At themoment, Andy Burnham is being almost hailed andheld upasa folk hero that will saveBritish politics,” saidMatthew Flinders,politicsprofessor at the University of Shefﬁeld. “The tide is changing and the big issue for Andy Burnham is that when the world suddenly moves against him and he becomesa folk devil, will he sustain the pressure?”

Boosting asluggisheconomy

Burnhamiscurrently theonly contestant for the job of leading the Labour Party and the country, andwill likely take over July 17 if no oneelse enters the race. Hisreturn to theHouse of Commons follows adecade leading the region

around the U.K.’sthird-largest city,birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, which has enjoyed an economic revivalduring his tenure.

His main challenge will be to overcome Starmer’s inability to deliverpromised economic growth, repair tattered public services and ease thecost of living.

Burnhamhighlighted those issues —along with housing and creating opportunities for young people —ina post on social media after Starmer said he was quitting.

“The country expects stability seriousness and acontinued focus on the issues that matter mostand thatiswhat it will get,”hesaid on X.

Burnham,who is widely regarded as sitting to theleft of Starmer in the party,has said he’ll revive asluggish economy without going beyond the current government’s

spending andborrowing plans.

That pledge has helped reassure markets traumatized in 2022 after Prime Minister Liz Truss announced unfunded tax cuts and thenwithdrew them, leading to her 49-day record as Britain’sshortestserving leader

“Ifyou are aLabour primeminister from thesoftleftofthe party, the markets don’tneed that much invitation to panic,” said Mark Goodwin, apoliticslecturerat Coventry University.“They will start from apositionofskepticism. So he’d have to be very,very careful.”

He saidBurnham will face a challenge “to convince people that this is something different, without the markets reading that as ‘This is too different.’”

Burnhamfaces bigquestions

Burnhampromoteswhathas been called“Manchesterism,” abusiness-friendly socialist approach that involvesharnessing

ment.Itcutsalot of the work out,” said Troy Wayman, CEO of One Acadiana.

LPSS is thelargest landholder by acreage inLafayette Parish, according to Touchet,and only recently has shown willingness to

consider outside commercial development on its properties.

“Because we’re thesinglelargestlandholder in Lafayette Parish, we have aresponsibilitytoutilize those resources in away that is ﬁscally responsible for taxpayers,”

Touchet said.

“For years this property was considered off the table for discussion,” said Youngsville Mayor Ken Ritter. “When Superintendent Touchet took over,the discussions about doingsomething aboutit

private investmentfor major projectsand decentralizinggovernment to give communities more controlofhousing, utilities, transportation and education.

In apossible previewofhow he would move power from the capital, he is reportedly planning to move some of the prime minister’s operation closer to home, about 200 miles north of 10 Downing St., the Londonofﬁce andhomeofthe U.K.’s leader

He has said he would not raise taxes on workers —sticking to a Starmerpledge —and suggested policies that include easing the tax burden on businesses, and possibly reversing an increase in atax employers pay to fund pensions, public health care and welfare.

The big question is how he will fund programs, if he’ll scrap existing priorities, and how he’ll meet demands for higherdefense spending, said Jill Rutter, senior fellow at the Institute forGovernmentthink tank.

started happening. He’sthinking ahead.”

LPSS’ decision to seek certification of the properties comes shortly after theclosure of Ovey Comeaux High School, which will increase the student body population of Southside High School. Southside alreadyoperates at about127% capacity according to data released in February,and the closure of Comeaux will likely bring around 200 morestudents to the already crowded school. No formal plans to lease the properties to developers have been publicly discussed.However, any commercial development on thelandwould likely limit future expansion opportunitiesfor Southside’scampus.

Touchet indicated that asimilararrangement between LPSS and the city of Carencro was also being discussed, with potential properties in the process of being identiﬁed. “This is going to be a model forcommunities across our parish,” said Touchet. “We’ll make sure we getlucrative contracts out of it, so that it beneﬁts the whole community.Itdrivessales tax. It drives property tax. It’s aboon for education.”

STAFF FILEPHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK

The Lafayette Parish school system has certified three properties near SouthsideHighSchool for commercial

Burnham

appropriate protection while working. The U.S.Environmental Protection Agency has classiﬁed EDC as a“probable human carcinogen,” and thechemical is usedto make plastics, pipes and PVC.

Dozensofclaims against the companies quicklyturned into a class-action lawsuit with hundreds of workersreceiving conﬁdential settlements.

State officials said the effects of the chemical spillwere even morewide-ranging than health and safety concerns, and that the contaminated ground around the bridge wouldmake it signiﬁcantly harder and more expensive to build anew one. When thestateﬁled suit against the companies in 2008,they argued that the EDC spillupped the new bridge’scost by $235 million.

The state wound up recouping a farsmaller sum.

In aJanuary jointmotion, the stateand petrochemical companies agreed to dismissthe lawsuitﬁled in CalcasieuParish’s14th Judicial District Court, with each party paying itsown legal and court fees. Chemical spillmigration

In additiontothe $2 million payment, thecompanies agreed to continue working with the DOTD on site access, right-of-waymatters andutilityrelocationfor the replacement bridge project,according to the settlement agreement. The settlement, which both sides signed last December,did not affect other aspects of cleanup ordersfor thetwo companies. Both have ongoing environmental remediation obligations under the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality and other agreementsrelated to theplugging and abandonment of wells.

The EDC spill happened so long ago that both companies involved have since changed names. At the time of the spill, the state argued that ConocoPhillips, now known as Phillips 66, and Vista Chemical, now Sasol, should have to pay for project costs. Hazardous waste from the chemical spill migrated into the subsurface soil at the planned project site, state ofﬁcials argued.

The migrationmeant the state’s old plan to use pilings to support theSampson Street interchange portion of the new bridge could not move forward because of therisk of spreading the chemical deeper into the soil. State officials also worried aboutEDC spreading into the Chicot Aquifer,which provides drinking watertoa largeportion of thestate, accordingtothe lawsuit

Taxpayers, meanwhile, helped foot the bill for ﬁguring out how to build the new bridge. State ofﬁcials argued that they spent 10 years designingthe new bridge beforethey realized theEDC had migrated to the siteonwhich they hoped to build it.

In legal filings, Phillips 66 acknowledged that the company accidentally released EDC from its pipeline. When thespill was discovered, Phillips66saiditstarted emergencyresponse and cleanup effortsthat were to continue until 2025, with DEQ overseeing them. Phillips 66 and Sasol argued the state didnot own or have aservitude interest in most of the property where they planned to build the new I-10 bridge. The companiessaidthe state did not have the right to take actionagainst them for contamination of the property or construction delays.

Atollonanew bridge

The$2millionsettlementwill go directlytowardthe replacement project, as outlined in a2019 statelaw meant to expeditethe bridge project. It’sa paltry sum for the $2.3 billion project, which is mostly being paid for through apublic-private partnershipand will includeatollfor driversupon itsestimated completion in 2031.

ADOTD spokespersondid not comment directly on the settlement,but acknowledged the construction delays were largely due to environmental, location and funding concerns.

“This project has been apriority for DOTD for several years, and there are several stepsinvolved,” said the agency’s JohnGuidroz. “The environmental process had to be completed, the necessary funding had to be obtained and then also navigating just thechallenges or complexities of the location of theproject —that all takes time.”

Attempts to reach attorneys who represented thestate agency and both companies during the litigation were largely unsuccessful.

Attorneys whofiled civillawsuits against the companies on behalf of workers affected by the

EDC saidtheycould not share the terms of their settlements. They noted, though, personalinjury settlements differfrom those impacting governmental plans, propertyand infrastructure.

Greg Marceaux, aLakeCharles lawyer who handled personal injury claims fordozens of workers involved in the EDC cleanup efforts, said he was surprisedto learn of the state’ssettlement when contactedbyareporter.

“Thatseems low,”Marceaux said. “I don’tknowthe facts of the case wellenough to be able to give areal opinion. It just seems low to me because it wassucha substantial amount that was leaked, and surely they hadtoredesign the bridge and change thedesignof the bridge because of that.”

Marceaux said the toll for the new bridge is unpopularinCalcasieu Parish, especially among those familiarwithhow the EDC spill delayed construction and increased costs.

“If it increased the cost by $200 million, then whydidn’tthe responsible party have to pay that money?” Marceaux said.

Former Lake Charles Mayor Randy Roach, aformer state representative, saidhewas recently remindedofthe lawsuitwiththe

groundbreaking this spring of the newI-10Calcasieu River Bridge.

“I was saying just the other day thatIwish Ihad more information about that,” Roach said. “I wondered what happened, how that worked out, what the termsand conditions were.”

Roach, who was mayor from 2000 to 2017, said he and the southwest Louisiana delegation encouraged both sidestoresolve the lawsuit andmoveforward with the bridge project during his tenure

“They had to wait until they really had ahandle on the extent of thecontaminationunderneath the bridge and how it would really affect theproposedroute for the bridge,” Roach said. “That was still in progress whenIleft ofﬁce because of the nature of it —It’s hard to clean up aspill underneath the ground.”

Sarah Hughes, spokesperson for Sasol, said the lawsuit has been dismissed when contacted for this story

“The parties have resolved the matter,” she wrote in an email to The Advocate. “And no further legalactionwill be pursued.”

Stef Adams,spokespersonfor Phillips 66, said the company would not comment on litigation.

Garrett told the council.

as the bill made its way to Landry’sdesk.

City Council member Kenneth Boudreauxcalled homelessness the“most challenging issue facing governments today,” but hopes that the implementation of the new law could avoid the spectacle of breaking up homeless encampments.

“It’ssocomplicated. People try to simplify it. When you start looking at substance abuse and mental health and family abandonment and alimited supply of housing inventory,itbecomes complicated,” he said at aJune 16 council meeting.

Although the overall number of people experiencing homelessness in Acadiana has declined slightly,more people are visibly living outdoorsbecause local shelters are consistently at capacity.Over the past year, that has been most visible at Lafayette busstops, where the homeless have been pictured sleeping and storing personal effects.

Concerns have made their way to city council members, who say they receive nearly daily calls on the issue. Yetthe council and police are left dealing with complex problems that don’t have asimple answer “Half the population called and wants us to enforceit.

es,” Dimitriadis said. “This can’tbeasituationwhere legislation is passed, and then it fallsinto the laps of homeless service providers to figure out how to solve this.“

Thereare currently around 400 people experiencing homelessness in Acadiana, or aroughly7% decrease since 2024,according to ARCH’sFebruary count. Most are located in Lafayette, acentral hub of services and shelter

Butdue to alack of shelter space, half of thatpopulation is livingonthe streets.

The legislation provides no state funding for the creation of ahomeless court or for subsidizing additional police enforcement resources.

“It’struly an unfunded mandate,“ Dayriestoldthe council.

It wasastatementthat caught the ire of the council, with Parish Council member John Guilbeau saying the

city andparish arealready saddledwith alitany of unfunded mandates.

“I’ve been screaming about this foryears. They pass bills, and it’szero funding. Zero,” Guilbeau said.

“The big ivory towerinBaton Rouge, they say this a good program. No doubt it is,but they don’tgive youa damn thing. Nota penny to implement the program.”

Theother half, when we enforce it,calls and asks us why we’re harassing the homeless people. It’sanowin situation. Thefact is that you have people that paytaxes thatwant to use the bus stop, but they can’t,” Trouard said What’s next?

LCG officials, council members, law enforcement,the court system and homeless service providers areexpectedtomeetnext Thursday to begin developing aplan. There are concernssurrounding the bill’simplementation, said ElsaDimitriadis, executive director of Acadiana Regional Coalition on Homelessness andHous-

ing.

Lafayette shelter space began to dwindle during COVID-19 andnever recovered, she said. Plans to createadditionalshelter space in the city have fallen by the wayside over the years, and Landry pulled funding from homeless shelter provider Catholic CharitiesofAcadiana. It’s led to an overburdened system,with Lafayette shelter space at capacityonany givennight,Dimitriadis said. With nowhere for those on the streets to go,where are they expected toturn,she questioned.

“People who are currently outside don’tjust stop existing because the law chang-

One option the lawgives localgovernmentsisto create designatedcampgrounds. But it is not as simple as placing acamping sign in afield somewhere. It wouldrequireaccessto restrooms andrunning water,likely round-the-clock law enforcementpresence andmaintaining access to behavioral health services, according to the law

“Thatwould be something that would have to go through thecouncil. The people aregoingtohaveto want it,” Trouard said.

Planstocreateahomeless court forLafayette Parish are still in early stages, with thematterbeing discussed between council members and 15thJudicial District Court Judge Valerie Gotch Garrett at the June 16 council meeting.

As it stands now,the 15th JDC is looking to rolla homeless court under its already existing drug court,

STAFFPHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK

TheI-10 Calcasieu River BridgeinLakeCharles is seen on May21.

STAFF

awinner-take-all runoff if no one wins at least 50%.

The new closed primary system allowed no-partyvoters to vote in either the Republican or Democratic primaries.

The overall electionturnout of registered voters was expected to be about 15%, down from 28% on May 16.

Fleming and Letlow spent far more time touting their pro-Trump andMAGAcredentialsthanoutliningtheir stance on the issues.

Letlow,ofcourse, had astrong card to play there because she had Trump’sendorsement.

Trump recorded at least two videos praising her that were the ﬁrst things displayed on her campaign webpage.

Trump also held atele-rally on Thursday where people whocalled atoll-free number heard thepresident say,“She’sbeen akey votein stopping the invasion of oursouthernborder.”

But Fleming had his own card to play: aphoto of him andTrump together,thumbs-up, that he splashed onto TV ads, mailers andonabillboard on I-110 in Baton Rouge. Fleming worked for Trump’sfirst administration, including the ﬁnal 10 months as the president’sdeputy chief of staff. Letlow,45, is serving her third term in the House representing the5th Congressional District, which stretches from Monroe to Baton Rouge, where she now lives, andincludes the Florida parishes.

Letlow risesinthe ranks

With aPh.D. from the University of South Florida, Letlow had been a senior administrator at the University of Louisiana at Monroe —and expected to remain in academia —until tragedy propelled herinto politics.

Her husband, Luke, won anopen seatfor the 5th CongressionalDistrict in December 2020, contracted COVID and died ﬁve days before he was to take ofﬁce.

Letlow ran for the seat, saying she wanted “to pick up the torch that my husband left behind.” She won the special election and then won reelectionin2022 and 2024. She gave up certain victory again thisyeartorun forthe Senate seat. “It was nip-and-tuck,” Jim Kep-

per,aretired mechanicalengineer,saidafter voting on Saturday at Hynes Charter School in New Orleans. “Butshe has aperspective on lifethat is differentfrom the rest of us and will beneﬁt her after recoveringfrom losing her

husband.”

Most political observers thought Letlowwould coast to victory in the runoff after capturing 44.8% in the Republican Party primary on May 16, compared to 28.3% for Fleming and 24.8% for Cassidy.She not only

held a17-point advantageoverthe treasurer,but she had the support of Trump andLandry In the aftermathofthe election, Flemingand his chief political strategist, Roy Fletcher,seemed unsure whetherFleming oughtto remain in therace.

Theythenhad theirpollster, John Couvillon, survey the race.

“Wehoped we were within 10 points,” Fleming tolda preelection gathering Thursday night in Metairie. “It was dead even.”

Still, most political players poohpoohed the ﬁnding. Couvillon, after all, worked for Fleming

Twodaysafterthe primary, Letlow revealed her strategy for the runoff whenshe held apress availability with U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, theRepublican majority leader:Heendorsedher,and she would roll out endorsements from amajorityofstate House andSenatelegislators, as well as other sitting U.S. senators.

Letlow was running as the safe pick of the Republican political establishment.

Abarrage of adsattackFleming

That strategy carried risks, as

James Carville, the famed Democratic political pundit, noted. If enough Republicanvotersin Louisiana were unhappy with the state’sdirection, they would vote forFleming as adisruptorofthe status quo, Carville said.

Aweek out from election day, independent surveys from New Orleans-based pollster Greg Rigamer clearly showed that Fleming hadclosed thegap with Letlow. He seemed to have momentum and morecommitted followers for his campaign, especially becauseofhis implacable opposition to carbon capture and sequestration, anew technology to take carbon dioxide from industrial plantsand send it via pipelines to other areas of the state where it would be injected deep underground.

Fleming also benefited from Cassidy’sincessant attacks on Letlowduring the primary that drove up her unfavorable rating with voters.

In the ﬁnalweek,with Fleming heavily outspent, Letlow ﬂooded the airwaves with positive ads, while The Accountability Project, asuper PACbacked by Landry, assaulted him withnegative TV ads, radiospots,textsand mailers aimed at pulling voters off of the treasurer

“It’slike whathappens forridersinthe last two blocksofa Mardi Gras parade,” Rigamer said. “You throw everything you still have from the ﬂoat.”

Davispromisescompetitive race Davis, 55,hails from tinyTensasParish. Afterdroppingout of LSU —hesaidinone interview that he majored in “partyology” —hereturnedtothe family farm and began to expand its operation. Today, he oversees a3,200-acre operation that grows cotton, soybeansand corn in four northeast Louisiana parishes.

Davis served oneterm on the TensasPoliceJury but lost his reelection campaign. He also lost a 2023 race to the state House Davis has been endorsedbythe Louisiana Democratic Party,New OrleansMayor Helena Moreno and various chapters of the grassrootsgroup Indivisible.

“Hehas agood business withhis farm, and he seems honest,” said Clair Tanguis, asoftware quality analyst, just aftervoting at aMidCity NewOrleansﬁrehouse. Staff writer Haley Miller contributed to this story.

STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

U.S. Rep. Julia Letlowaddresses the crowd at awatch partyatDDG in Baton RougeonSaturday after winning theRepublican primaryrunoff for U.S. Senate.

STAFF PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS

State Treasurer John Fleming gives his concession speech while joined onstagebyhis family at his election party at the Crowne Plazahotel in Baton RougeonSaturday.

Utah residentsonnoticeas fire blackens forestland

BY TY ONEIL and SUSAN MONTOYABRYAN Associated Press

MARYSVALE, Utah The larg-

est ﬁre in the United States is marching through deep canyonsand over steep mountainsides, blackening an already parched landscape in Utah as residents of sparselypopulated areas wait for word in case they have to evacuate.

The Cottonwood Fire already has severely damaged theEaglePoint ski resort in Beaver County and forced campground closures in Fishlake National Forest Other public lands in the area have been closed as a precaution.

Utah Gov.Spencer Cox, in asocial media post early Saturday,asked forprayers for firefighters and “the rains we desperately need.”

Utah is coming off arecord-lowsnowpack and the warmest winter on record, whichhelped to elevate the fire danger. Much of the West is grappling withsimilar conditions, accordingto theNational Interagency Fire Center,whichreported that thelack of snow over the winterresultedinunusual fireactivity early in theseason

“More property destroyed. It’sasbleak as it’sever been and yet there wereseveral miraculous stops and saves,” Cox said, referring to the work of the hundreds of firefighters assignedto theblaze. They are amongthe crews that have beenpouringinto Utah as morewildﬁres in the arid state gain steam thanks to consecutive days of what forecasters call critical ﬁre weather,ordangerously low humidity levels, warm temperaturesand gusty winds.

Nationally,nearly 3million acres have burnedsince the start of the year,pushingthe U.S. ahead of the 10year average. From Alaska to Florida, crews werebusy Saturday working to corral dozens of fires, including three dozen that wereclassified as large anduncontained.

Airtankers and helicopters took to the skies again Saturday,hoping to put a dent in the flames before afternoon winds kicked up again. On Friday, they were grounded because of weather conditions that prompted weather forecasters to issue

arare warning that highlighted a“particularlydangerous situation.”

“Weather conditions are slightly better for ﬁre behaviortoday,but extreme ﬁre behavior may occurinthe afternoon as temperatures andwindspeedsincrease,” the U.S. Forest Servicesaid

Saturday in astatementon

Facebook.

The ﬁre ballooned to more than144 square miles on Saturday

The blaze prompted Cox to declareanemergency, and the state on Friday restricted fireworks, saying Utah is experiencing one of

themost severe wildfireseasons in recent history and that the recent blazes are stretching the state’swildland firefighting capabilities. “These fires are starting closer to homes and communities,” said State Forester Jamie Barnes. “One humancaused fire is one too many.”

Thecause of the firehasn’t been determined,but state officials say the majority of those sparked so far this year have been humancaused. Forecasters also note that lightning strikes around theWesthaveresulted in fires. Elsewhere in Utah, evacuations were ordered Friday for several small communities southwest of SaltLake City, including in Eureka, with apopulation under 1,000, and the Vernon Reservoir area, officials said. Highways running through the area have been closed. Twowildfires in that area —the Iron andCherry fires —cover acombined 111 square miles, fire officials said.

CentralEuropesizzles as heat recordsare smashed

BY KIRSTEN GRIESHABER, SYLVIA HUI and JOHN LEICESTER Associated Press

BERLIN Temperatures

soared to record highs from Switzerland to the Czech Republic and Denmark on Saturday,asaheat wave that baked western European countries this week moved to central and eastern parts of the continent.

Unusually high temperatureswererecordedeven in the Nordic countries not known for sweltering summers. Denmark’sMeteorological Institute reported arecord 98.6 degrees in Ødum north of Aarhus —the warmest day since records therebegan in 1874.

In Switzerland, arecord 101.8 was set in the cityof Basel.

Germany’s famous Autobahn was overwhelmed, too, as temperatures were expected to hit 104. In two places outside Berlin, the concrete of the A2 burstdue to the high temperatures and the highway had to be closed. Other highway damage was reported acrossthe country,according to the German daily Bild.

Train operator Deutsche Bahn and other rail compa-

nies advisedagainst all nonessential train travel this weekend

“Germany’s transportation infrastructure is being severely affected by the record-breaking heat this weekend,”Deutsche Bahn said in astatement.

TheCzech Republicalso saw its hottest day on record, with 105.4 in the northern town of Doksany. Forecasters said it may still rise.

In the western German city of Dormagen,dozensof residents of anursing home were evacuated for medical care duetodangerousheat conditionsinthe building.

The local ﬁre department reported that temperatures

inside thehomehad reached 95. Air conditioning is not widespread in Germany and many countries in Europe because the continent is largely unused to such oppressive heat Aresident at the home died overnight, butitwas not yet clear whether the heat was the cause, acity spokesperson toldGerman news agency dpa.

In France, multiple towns in the east of thecountry saw their highest-ever temperatures Saturday,with some above 104 even though the worst of the heat wave was starting to pass in some regions.

Parisand 36 otherregions stretching from the center

Smallplane crashesintohigh-rise in Beijing, killingthe pilotand injuring 13

By The Associated Press

BEIJING Chinese authori-

ties on Saturday said asmall plane that crashed into a building in Beijing the day before had killed the pilot and injured 13 others. The authorities of the Chaoyang district, avibrant business area, said atwoseat lightsportaircraft collided with ahigh-rise building near the East Third Ring Road at 5:55 p.m. onFriday andcausedthe casualties The shortstatementon WeChatdid not identify the building orthe pilot, who the authorities saidwas theonly persononthe craft. The global ﬂight-tracking service provider Flightradar24 on Fridaysaid the

plane crashed intothe CITIC Tower,alsoknown as China Zun,which risesmore than 1,700 feet,just east of amajorring road in acluster of skyscrapers.

The 108-story CITICtower, shapedlike an ancient Chinese wine vessel, is one of the most recognizableskyscrapers in Beijing andis thetallest building in thecity.

to theeast and northeast, remained in theextremeheat red zone on Saturday, down from apeak on Thursdayof72regionsthatwere undersuchwarnings.The capital continued to see unrelenting pressure on itshospitals, with asecond consecutive day of nearly

3,000 people seeking carein publichospital emergency rooms, about athird more thannormal.

The Paris public hospital authority,AP-HP,said it activated its emergency response planacross all38 hospitals to cope. Phone calls to its medical dispatch centers wereupnearly 80% compared with the sameperiod in 2025, it said. Concerns that hospitals could be overwhelmed prompted the postponement of the Paris Pride march for LGBTQ+ rightsonSaturday, and athree-day music festival was canceled.

Therecenteffects of Tropical StormArthurhavebeenastark reminder thatany weathersystemcan causedamage. Arthur wasa weak tropical storm, butcausedsignificant flooding in severalLouisiana communitiesand tornadodamageinparts of NewOrleans andAvondale.

“Evenwithout hurricane-forcewinds,the combined impacts of heavyrainand flooding canbesignificant,requiring careful monitoring andaswift,coordinated response,” said Nyka Scott, EntergyLouisiana vice presidentofCustomerService,noting that floodwaterscan limitaccesstocrews navigating thearea.

Yet, as Entergycrews worked to ensure equipmentwas workingproperlyand restoringpower as needed,the companywas also usingArthurasalessononhow to continue itsyear-round preparationfor stronger storms

“Evensmaller or early-seasonsystems allow teamstotest forecastingtools,validateplanningassumptions andassesshow well logistics, staffing andcommunicationsprocesses perform underrealconditions,”Scott noted. “Byanalyzing howthe grid respondsand howcrews mobilize,wecan refine response strategies,enhance coordination andensureresources arein theright placeatthe righttimefor more significant storms.”

Building AStrongerGrid

In 2021,Hurricane Idacausedlengthy poweroutages for hundreds of customersonGrand Isle.Entergy soon began significant grid-hardening effortsonthe island.The resultswere evidentwhenHurricane Francine struck in 2024 –Grand Isle didnot lose asinglelight as aresultofthe storm. Thecompany’s new, hardened equipmentalsowithstood windsand flooding from Tropical StormArthur.

Now, Entergyisinthe midstofabroader, five-yeargrid resilience plan thatisexpected to result in about$1.2billion in avoidedrestoration costs andfasterpost-stormrecovery. Its investmentswillinclude upgrades to approximately3,240 miles of powerlines andnearly62,000structuresacrossLouisiana Additional Entergyprojectsinrecent yearshaveincluded elevatingor flood-proofing critical equipment, replacingolder infrastructure with more resilientmaterials andexpanding vegetation management to reduce tree-related outages.

Thehopeisthatthese improvements will help keep thepower on formoreEntergy customerseveninharsh weatherconditions, andthatrestoration timeswill be shorterifthere areoutages

“Our goal is to deliverthe same type of resilience thatwe sawinGrand Isle afterHurricane Francine to allcustomers across Louisiana,”Scott said.“Theupgradesare data-driven, includingstrongerpoles that aredesignedtowithstand up to 140miles perhourwinds or higher,smarter stormmodeling andtargetedimprovementsinhigh-risk areas. Thisworkwill save customersmillionsofdollars in avoidedstorm costsand meansfewer andshorter outageswheninterruptions do occur. Technology Changing RestorationWork Entergyisembracing newtools,enhancedcapabilitiesand refineddatatohelpitserve customersbefore, during andafter a storm. Anytimeasignificant weathersystemdevelops, Entergy monitors thesituation 24/7, usingthe latest predictive modeling software andforecasting toolstoanticipatepotential impacts andpositionresources aheadoftime. During theheart of asevereweather event, advanced sensors, smartmetersand automated switchingdevices help Entergy

teamsgatherreal-time informationabout whereoutages are happeningand what caused them

“Thismeans we canoften pinpoint problems instantly withoutwaiting for fieldinspections,” Scottsaid. “Thishelps crewsprioritizethe most urgent issues anddispatchthe right resourcesmorequickly.”

Once astorm haspassed, high-resolutiondronesand mobile assessmenttools help Entergyteams evaluate damage,especiallyin hard-to-reachareas,and developrestoration plansmorequickly “Combinedwithdataanalytics andimprovedcommunication platforms, we cancoordinatecrews more effectively andrestore powermorequickly andaccuratelythaneverbefore,”Scott said.“Theseimprovementsreflecta continuous commitment to learningfromeachevent andadaptingtothe increasingly complexchallengesofsevereweather.” Mutual Assistance NetworkProvidesAdded Support Entergy’sstandingasa Fortune500 energy companyhas positioned it to preparefor andrespond to majorweather events across theGulfSouth.The companyhas theability to coordinate complex, multi-statelogistics operations,including staging sites, supply chains,lodging,fuel, equipmentand restoration resources. It canalsodeploythousands of workers, equipment andmobilebasecamps within 24 hoursofastorm That meansEntergy is readytorespond if astorm directly impactsits customers, or if Entergyteams areneededtohelp those served by otherutilities in Louisiana andbeyond. Entergy’s work hasmadeitanindustryleader, earning51EEI Emergency Response Awards,including crew supportfollowing hurricanes Helene andMilton, andthe Recovery Assistance Awardfor powerrestoration work during andafter Hurricane Francine “Weparticipate in four majormutual assistance organizations, allowing thousandsofutility workersfromacrossthe countryto mobilize quicklywhenadditionalsupportisneeded,”Scott said “Large-scale stormresponserequiresmorethanlineworkers; it also dependsonlogistics,planning, supply management communications andcoordination, allofwhich arebuilt into ouryear-roundstorm response framework. HelpingCustomers Prepare Safety is oneofEntergy’s core values,and part of itsmission is to help Louisianafamiliesprepare theirpropertiesbeforesevere weatherstrikes.Asthe heartofhurricane season nears, there areseveral stepspeoplecan take nowthatmakea bigdifference if theweather turnssevere:

•Makeaplanfor your family before astorm hits.Discuss what youwill do during an evacuation or shelter-in-place

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOByNOAHBERGER

Ahelicopter drops water on the Cottonwood Fire, which is burning Saturdaynear Beaver, Utah.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By HEINZ-PETER BADER

People line up to refill their water bottles on ahot Saturday in the citycenter of Vienna, Austria.

LOUISIANAPOLITICS

Battle over SAVE ActstallsMikeJohnson’s agenda

WASHINGTON —This pastweek,

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson ran into stormier waters than usual and ended up sending the House home early Thursday,then visited President Donald Trump for help getting the legislative agenda back on track.

Johnson has afull slate of bills he needs to move relatively quickly, including funding for the military.But right-wing members of his caucus used procedural rules to block ﬂoor votesonany bill with close margins until the Senate takes up the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, which the House passed three times already The SAVE Act would require proof of citizenshiptoregister vote, picture IDs to cast ballots and asweeping rollbackofmail-in ballots.

“I don’twant to voteonanything else until this is passed and attached to the bills coming forward,” Rep. Ralph Norman, R-South Carolina, told reporters during aconservative House Freedom Caucus news conference Thursday Senate leaderssay the votes aren’tthere and senators should spend their remaining time focused on passing other bills before the Nov.3midtermelections that will decide which party controls Congress.

Trump argues the SAVE America Act would address undocumented immigrants casting illegal votes. Democrats,and some Republicans, say the problem of illegal immigrants votingisexaggerated. It’salready illegal to voteand, when it does happen, it’susually because of amisunderstanding, they say Denise Migliore,anAustralian

who lives in Franklinton and voted in 2022 and 2024, said shewas unaware of the law

TheLouisiana Secretary of State’sOfﬁce saida review of the state’svoter registration rolls found 403 noncitizens, 83 of whom have cast ballots in the past. Louisiana has 2.9 million registered voters.

In the House, where Republicans hold 218 seats to the Democrats’ 212, Johnson needs near-total GOP buy-in to passany legislation that Democrats oppose. Not easy Trump had refused to sign abill reauthorizing agencies to spyon foreigners, which intelligence

ofﬁcials say is critical in ﬁghting terrorism. He then canceled aWednesday morning signing ceremony for abipartisan housing bill that GOP candidates hoped to includeintheir campaigns to show they’re working on affordability issues.

Getting senators on board with theSAVEAct was the reason for aclosed-door meeting Wednesday with the53GOP senators. But it turned into ashouting match between Trump and Sen. Bill Cassidy,R-Baton Rouge, over the war in Iran. Sen. John Kennedy, R-Madisonville, likened thetenseness of the meeting to “Euphoria,” HBO’s

Cassidy changes Iran stance after Vance briefing Hours after an angry encounter with President Donald Trump over his vote directing an endto hostilities inIran, U.S. Sen.Bill Cassidy changed his position on the issue,voting against advancing anotherresolution urgingan end to the war Cassidy on Tuesday joined three other Republicansand Democratsin passing asymbolic resolution urging the president to withdraw troops. Then, on Wednesday,Cassidy had ashouting match with Trump about that vote during aclosed-door meeting at the Capitol.

The Baton Rouge Republican said he told the president that the U.S. bombed Iran to changethe theocracy running the country, eliminate the ability for Iran to acquire nuclear weapons, disable Iran’smilitary and end hostilities in about four weeks.Noneof those goals were accomplished and Trump had failed to explain clearly what was going to happen,

Cassidy said After the meeting, Cassidy met with Vice PresidentJDVance and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff on wherepeace talks stand, the senator said. Cassidy then ﬂipped hisvotelater in the evening on aseparate but similar resolution.

Capitol Buzz STAFF REPORTS

“I want to thank Vice President Vanceand Special Envoy Witkoff for the thorough briefingthis afternoon on Iran. Iappreciate thequickinvitation to the White House to address manyof my concerns,” Cassidy wrote on Xafter the vote.

Theresolution on Wednesday night was adifferent but nearly identical instrument to theone passed Tuesday that asks Trump to remove troops until Congress votes on whether to authorize military action. Cassidy voted in favor of Tuesday’s resolution, but on Wednesday voted against the similar measure.

Thelegislation failed 47-50-1 just before midnight on Wednesday,and theSenatethen left town for atwo-week recess.

Landry vetoes bills passed by Legislature

As of Friday,Gov.Jeff Landry had vetoed six bills passed by the LouisianaLegislature, in addition to line-item vetoes to three budget bills canceling statespending for individual local projects.

The budget vetoes mainly targeted projectsinDemocraticleaning areas, especially in New Orleans. Landry’sofﬁce said he was fulﬁlling apromisetorein in state spending on non-governmental agencies;Democrats accused him of retaliating against them for opposing him on congressional redistricting, budget cuts to New Orleanscourts and a plan to trim education spending to pay for teacher stipends, among other issues.

Landry also vetoed House Bill 688, by Rep.Joseph Orgeron, R-CutOff, which would classify Atlantic tarpon as asaltwater gameﬁsh. The governor said the designation was unnecessary and could lead to more regulations.

The governor also vetoed House Bill 950 by Rep.Delisha Boyd, DNew Orleans, which would have created aprogram in theOfﬁce of Elderly Affairstohelp protect retirees’ pensions and retirement

award-winning but hard-to-watch series about high schoolers dealing withaddictions and toxic relationships. Kennedy told Fox News Thursday that he’sunsure if any minds were changed about theSAVEAct at the meeting but noted that Trumpwas “pretty worked up about it.”

Both Kennedy and Cassidy support the SAVE Act, but not enough Republican senators do to get it passed with asimple majority —51votes —let alone avoid aﬁlibuster,which requires 60 votes.

Kennedy favors attaching the language to someother bill, such as an extension of the Foreign In-

funds. His veto message said lawmakers did not allocate any funding for the program,soits responsibilities could not actually be carried out.

He gave asimilarargument for vetoing House Bill 1194, by Rep.Terry Landry,Jr.,D-Baton Rouge, whichwould have created aﬁnancing program to help build grocery storesinfood deserts.

Landry also vetoed Senate Bill 125, by Rep. Gerald Boudreaux, D-Lafayette, that would have increased the cap on compensation for people whoare wrongfully convicted; Senate Bill 283 by Sen ReginaBarrow,D-Baton Rouge, that created new special taxing districtsinthe city; and Senate Bill 384 by Sen. Jimmy Harris, DNew Orleans, which would have created pilot innovation hubs with exceptions to government procurement rules.

Kennedy pushes for crackdown on tech exports

U.S. Sen. John Kennedy,R-Madisonville, is pushing forharsher penalties forpeople and companies that illegally export sensitive American technology to foreign adversaries.

telligence Surveillance Act, called FISA, which lapsedonJune 12, or to athird budget reconciliation package, as Johnson has suggested. That procedure would end-run the need for 60 votes and allow passage with a51-vote majority Reconciliation is time-consuming and complex. Just tacking on SAVE language to areconciliation bill doesn’tqualify

So, Johnson would attach the language as asort of incentive package for states that voluntarily address the procedures outlined in SAVE.

“Webelieve that if you create agrant program that ties it to reconciling the budget, and you allow blue states, if they cometo their senses and they want to avail themselves of election integrity proposals and ideas and policies, they can draw down from afederal fund and use those funds,” Johnson told reporters.

But not everyone is sold on that strategy

“My message is to the speaker, and generally: Don’tthink that we’re going to just add sometoken measures,” said Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas.

Johnson ended up sending the House homeThursday afternoon —the Senate had left Wednesday —then heading to the White House Thursday afternoon to persuade Trumptoback off a little bit.

Trumpdid, alittle, asking hardliners via social media to stop “grandstanding” by blocking votes on other bills, thereby giving control of the House agenda to the “Dumocrats.”

“We’ve got to be able to move forward on legislation,” Johnson told reporters after the visit. “This is the process in an era with small margins, but we’ll get the job done.”

Email Mark Ballardat mballard@theadvocate.com.

Kennedy has sponsored legislation with Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., that would increase the civil penalty forviolating the Export Control Reform Act from $300,000 to $1.2 million per violation. It would also double the penalty that is based on the value of the illegal transaction from twice the value to four times the value.

“America’s enemies are not stealing our technology so they can build better toasters. They want our chips, software and sensitive technology to strengthen their militaries, spy on Americans and undercut our national security,” Kennedy said in anews release.

“Ifa company or individual illegally hands over American technology to our adversaries, a slap on the wrist will not cut it. This bill ensures the punishment ﬁts the threat.”

Kennedy and other lawmakers have raised concerns about the Chinese government and other actors obtaining proprietary technologies like surveillance, drones and artiﬁcial intelligence.

Mark Ballard

Cassidy

Kennedy

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOByALEX BRANDON

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Benton, arrives at the White House ahead of theUFC Freedom 250 on the South Lawn on June 14 in Washington.

Ukrainestrikes industrial facility in Russia’s Volgograd

By The Associated Press

Ukraine struck amajor industrial facility in the Russian city of Volgograd, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday,while aRussian drone attack killed aman in Ukraine’snortheastern Sumy region overnight.

Ukraine has stepped up its long-range aerial attacks on Russian military industries and energy facilities, aiming to cut Moscow’s revenue for the war and make Russians feel the consequences of the invasion, now in its ﬁfth year

The campaign, which Zelenskyy has said aims to bring Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table, has choked Russian fuel supplies and military deliveries, stallingMoscow’sefforts on the battleﬁeld and heaping pres-

sure on Putin, Western ofﬁcials and analysts say Writing on X, Zelenskyy

said that FP-5 Flamingo missileshit theTitan-Barrikady facility in Volgograd

in southwesternRussia, describing it as a“major industrial complex”where Russia “produces artillery systems and specialized military equipment, including components for missile launch systems.”

AccordingtoUkraine’s General Staff, the facility manufactures equipment formissile systems, including self-propelled launchersand transport-loading vehiclesfor theIskander-M missile system, which it said is “the same system Russiaregularlyuses to strike Ukrainian cities.”

Volgograd Gov.AndreiBocharov conﬁrmed an attack on abusiness in the region’s Krasnooktyabrskydistrict, saying10people hadbeen wounded and taken to ahospital. He said production fa-

cilities at the site were damaged but did not identifythe company Ukraine’sstate security service said Saturday morning that Ukrainian forces also struck an oil pumping facility in Russia’sVladimir region that supplies fuel to Moscow,for thesecondtime this month.

The attacks came aday afterUkraine launchedwhat appeared to be one of Kyiv’s biggest drone assaults since the Kremlin’sfull-scale invasion morethan four years ago. The major nighttime attack targeted adozen Russian regions, Russian-held Crimeaand thesurrounding seas, Moscow’sDefense Ministry said Friday,noting that Russian air defenses intercepted660 Ukrainian drones.

Millions drop Obamacarecoverageafter subsidiesexpire, costsrise

BY ALI SWENSON Associated Press

NEW YORK

About 3million fewer people in the United States had Affordable Care Act health insurance plans in Februarycompared with the same time last year, according to new federal data.

In the report released Friday,the U.S. Departmentof Health and Human Services suggested the 13% drop in enrollment from 22.1 million

people in 2025 to 19.2 million this yearcouldbeattributed to afederal crackdown on fraudulentor“phantom” enrollment. But health analysts saiditwas more likely relatedtothe Jan. 1expiration of federal subsidies, which caused asurge in plan coststhat resulted in many people being unable to pay their premiums.

“Weknowthat real people lost their health insurance coverage,” said Cynthia Cox,avice president and di-

Presidenttotap ex-Oklahomastate trooperasICE chief

BY ALI SWENSON

Associated Press

NEW YORK President Donald Trump on Saturday said he is nominating Lance Schroyer,aformerOklahoma state trooper,asthe next director of Immigration and Customs and Enforcement. Trump said on his Truth Social platform that his new pick for the immigration enforcement agency is aformer U.S. Marine and a“PATRIOTwithrealoperational experience.” He called Schroyer a“proven leader with DECADES of experience lockingupthe worst of the worst.” The nomination comes after former ICE director Todd Lyons resigned at the end of May.David Venturella, aformer executive at a private prison operator,has been serving as the acting headofthe agency If confirmed, Schroyer will lead ICE at atime when the public mood has soured on Trump’simmigration crackdown, which sent surges of federal immigration ofﬁcersinto American cities to roundupimmigrants. Those raidssent tensions soaring and prompted clashes between protesters and law enforcement, lead-

ingtothe fatal shootings of two U.S.citizensin Minneapolis earlier this year Trump returned to the White House on apromise of mass deportations,and ICEhas been acentral executor of that vision. The agency is undergoing massive growth from aonetime injection of $75 billion last year,which has allowed for the hiringof12,000 ofﬁcers and increased detention capacity Department of Homeland Security Secretary MarkwayneMullin,also from Oklahoma and aformer congressman for thestate, is still settling into his role atop the Cabinetagency overseeingICE. Mullin has promisedtokeep hisdepartment outofthe headlinesand has indicated a softertone on immigration, although he is expectedto align with the president’s priorities on mass deportations.

Mullin quicklypraised Schroyer’snomination on X. “With over 29 years of law enforcementexperience, Lance willplay avital role in helping deliver on the President’smandatefrom theAmerican people to target, arrest, and deportillegalaliens,” he wrote.

rector of the ACAprogram at thehealthcare research nonproﬁt KFF, citing survey ﬁndings on people whohad left their plans. “This coverageloss happened at the same time millions of people faced doubleoreventriple digit increases in their premiumpayments.”

The new data, compiled in Aprilbut showing coverageinFebruary,represents the government’s firstofficial look at how people’s inabilitytopay their first

bills this year affected total enrollment. Thatisbecause theﬁgures capture the marketplace after anonpayment grace period expired.

Afederal estimatein January showed thatabout 800,000 fewer people had signed up forACA plans compared with thesame time last year,marking the first time in the past four yearsthat enrollment had been down from theprevious year at thatpoint in the shopping window

Cox said KFFexpects the total number of people in the government healthcare program to continue to decline throughout the year,potentially to alow of about17.5 million. That would be asigniﬁcant drop forthe government’sflagship subsidized health insurance program forworking-age people who do not qualifyfor Medicaid. In recentyears, ACA plans have become apopular choice for gigworkers, farmers, ranchers, hair-

stylists and others without health coverage through an employer

The ACA subsidiesthat expired thisyear wereat the center of abitter ﬁght in Congress last fall, with Democrats and some Republicans calling for their renewal.Sharp increases in health costs across ACA andother health insurance programs come as voters in the approaching November elections say affordability is among their top concerns.

BY STEVEN SLOAN Associated Press

WASHINGTON The Lincoln Memorial Reﬂecting Pool is manythings. Murky.Peaceful. Stinky Thebackdrop forprotests, vigils,celebrations andstunning sunrise photos. Beset by gnatsand algae. Scenery for arun. Akey part of the capital’scarefully designed monumentalcore. The location of an iconicscenein “Forrest Gump.”

One thing it’sgenerally not:astrictly enforced police zone.

Entering the pool hasalways been illegal, but, in general, themost someone wading into the water might expect is adirection from a police ofﬁcer toget out

But thathas changed since President Donald Trump insisted last weekend, without providing evidence, that vandals were responsible for damage to the pool’sliner,undermining his renovation efforts after he blamed previous presidents for ignoring deterioration. Court documents ﬁled this weekshow thatthe National Park Servicereported to theU.S. ParkPolice aJune 9incident in which asharp knife or razor cutthe pool’s new liner National Guardmembers andParkPolicehavepa-

trolled the deck around the pool.The AssociatedPress veriﬁedthatone man was arrested after touching the already-peeling paint.Hesaid he wanted to examinethe new coating, brieﬂy touchinga still-attachedchunk, then letting go shortly after apark worker toldhim to. At one point this week, crews were seen adding fencing near the area, which the administrationattributed to preparations forJuly Fourth celebrations.

The scrutiny belies the fact that the Reﬂecting Pool has alwaysbeen enticing to visitors.

During the Poor People’s Campaign in 1968, the pool offered relief from the summer heat. And during the bitter cold of winter, it has become an unlikely urban skating rink. Now,itishome to mobile surveillancetowersand increased law enforcement foot patrols, while the hum of nanobubblers punctuates the June air

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ANDRIIMARIENKO

AUkrainian serviceman of Khartia brigade controls an interceptor drone on Fridayina command center in Kharkiv region, Ukraine.

EDUCATION

LauraCassidy workstosupport La.’sdyslexickids

more Louisianachildren could be dyslexicwithout theirschools or families knowing.

BY ELYSE CARMOSINO Staff writer

Thousands of Louisianastudents who have troublereadingand writing might have dyslexia, butmany never get aformal diagnosis or the help they need. Laura Cassidy has made it herlife’s missiontochange that.

Atrained surgeon whose daughter was diagnosed with the disorderasafirst grader,Cassidy is the founder of LouisianaKey Academy,the state’sfirst charter networkexclusively for dyslexic students. Since opening itsfirst campus in Baton Rouge in 2013, the network has grown considerably: It now enrolls 440 students acrossthree campuses, with a fourth siteslated to open in Jefferson Parish in August.

Meanwhile, Cassidy has worked to raise public awareness about dyslexia and advocated for students to get the support they need. Children with the disability should “walk away from school knowing that they’re smart,” said Cassidy,who is the wife of U.S Sen. Bill Cassidy,R-BatonRouge. Dyslexia is aneurodevelopmentaldisorder that can make it more difﬁcult to read, spell and write.

About 13,800 Louisiana students —or2%ofthe public school population —were identiﬁed as dyslexic during the 2023-24school year, according to areport from the state education department. That number is considerably lower than some national estimates that suggest between 15% and 20% of students have thedisorder,leading Cassidy and other advocates to suspect that thousands

In 2023, Louisianapassed a law requiringschools to screen studentsingrades K-3 for signs of thelearningdisability.But the law doesnot require schools to actually test students for dyslexia, leaving it up to families to seek formal testing

Simply ﬂaggingstudentsas beingatriskof dyslexia isn’t enough,Cassidywarned. To reach their full potential, they also need proper testing and services.

Cassidy spokewithThe TimesPicayune |The Advocate about whysomedyslexicstudentsdon’t get thesupport they need, how to spot signsofthe disorder,and howcertain interventions can help dyslexicchildren thrive.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity

Who do you thinkonlyabout 2% of Louisiana children havebeendiagnosedwith dyslexia?

Ihopethe new screenershelp, but Ithink dyslexia is complicated for people to understand because there are alot of myths outthere. And it can be hard for teachers who have28other childreninthe classroom to spot it

Parents also often just don’t know.I’vetalked to parentswho were embarrassed they didn’t know their kidcouldn’tread, but it’sbecause they’d never heard their child read out loud, and that’swhere you’re going to see it

Whydodyslexic students tend to struggle in traditional classrooms?

If you have moderate to severe dyslexia, youlearn to read using what we call an “inefﬁcient system.”

Nondyslexic readers read from the left sideoftheir brain, while dyslexicreadersreadfrom the right.It’saslower system, and for information to be processed, you

must repeat lessons and go over thesame material several times to really get thememory down.

The gold standard for dyslexic children is 90 minutes of smallgroup instruction that emphasizes repetition every day.For atraditional school, that’shard to provide, and most don’thave teacherstrained to give that kind of instruction.

Do you think the new dyslexia screening has ledtomore students getting the resources they need? Idon’t. Ascreener just says whether you’re at risk or you’re not at risk. The screener shows

WE’RE ASKING EXPERTS ACROSS THESTATEHOW TO TACKLE THEBIGGEST CHALLENGES FACINGLOUISIANA

that ateacher is seeing things that are concerning regarding language acquisition skills fora child of that age. The law says schools have to give thescreener,and if achild is at risk, they have to send aletter to parents. But being aware of the problem andgetting help forit are two different things.

Idothink it’shelping parents and schools have awareness, but we’ve got along waytogo.

What are some signs of dyslexia?

Dyslexic children sometimes have aslight speech delay that can start around 2years of age.

They usually cannot rhymewords and have difﬁculty learning the alphabet, meaning they may know it one day and then forget it the next.

Whentheyget older, theymay read andknowa word or afew words in oneparagraph, but then in the next paragraph, they’ll struggle with the same words. They’re notslowthinkers, but they’re slowreaders. And their spelling is usually terrible. They typically spell things phonetically

Dyslexic people often have good reasoning. They’re big-picture thinkers, but they’re usually terrible with memorizing language details.

Howcan schools better supportdyslexic students?

Self-esteem is very important. At LKA, we really want to help kids with their strengths, so we give them opportunities to do what they’re good at, whether it be STEM or the arts or sports.

Ithink if ateacher suspects a child is dyslexic, the best thing forthem to do is makesure the parents know.That goes along way

And sometimes, teachers just don’tknow.I gave atalk recently, and at the end, a(special education) teacher said, “I think this child in my class probably had dyslexia and Inever realized.”

So Ithink awareness is abig part of it.

We’ve passed laws, which is great. But if people don’thave that understanding and knowledge, then lawsaren’tgoing to fully take care of the problem

That’swhy Ihelp people understand dyslexia. Then, when someone sees achild struggling in the classroom, instead of thinking, “Oh, this child’sjust not trying,” they’ll think, “Maybe this child has dyslexia.”

PHOTO

Laura Cassidy, wifeofU.S.Sen.BillCassidy, receives ahug froma student while visiting witha class eating lunch in the cafeteria at the Louisiana KeyAcademy

THE GULF COAST

BaySt. Louis restaurant to close afterstorm damage

6citiesrankedastop

BY MARTHA SANCHEZ Staff writer

Six Gulf Coast cities made aranking of best “bucket list” beach destinations compiled by Southern Living this month. The magazine ranked 30 cities in total and named Pensacola, Florida, secondon its list. Southern Living writerTaraMassouleh McCaypraised theU.S.Navy Blue Angels, which are based at Pensacola’s Naval Air Station and host two annual airshows on the coastline.

“When you don’t have your face turned toward thesky,you’ll have just as much to look at between the sugar-whitesands and turquoisewaters,” McCay wrote.

Grayton Beach andRosemary Beach, both quainttowns on Florida’sScenic Highway 30A, ranked sixth and 10th, respectively. Themagazine applauded both towns’ timeless vibe. Orange Beach andGulfShores, Alabama, ranked 12th. “Alabama’sbeaches oft get overshadowed by the Florida panhandle but these sister cities demand attention of their own,” McCay said.

The popular Mississippi beach cities of Ocean Springs and Bay St. Louis also ranked 20th and 25th, respectively Southern Living said its list is intended to help visitors who frequent the same beaches year after year ﬁnd new destinations to explore.

The full list includes vacationspots from North Carolina’sOuter Banks to the Florida Keys, and highlights several destinations that are popular with generations of visitors from Louisiana.

Summer mosquito infestationworse than usual

told WKRG-TV in Mobile.“Iwas just assaulted.”

and flower potswhere mosquitoes can breed.

BY POETWOLFE Staff writer

Thesummerrush at Field’s Crab Shack was interrupted after heavyrains ﬂooded the seafood restaurant in downtownBay St. Louis earlier this month.

The restaurant wasforced to close indefinitely on June 7afterrainbroke through the roof and several inches of water collected on the floors, according to co-owner Jourdan Nicaud. He called arestoration company and filed an insurance claim,but the reopening date remains uncertain.

“This is our busy time,”Nicaudsaid, “Which really sucks.”

The heavy rain flooded some streets in Bay St. Louis, but the damage at Field’s Crab Shack was unrelated to the remnants of Tropical Storm Arthur andtornadoes that hit the Gulf Coast over the weekend. Those stormsbrought heavy rains that raised rivers, flooded roads and dumped about afoot of water in someparts of south Mississippi. Nicaud said he did notknowifthe storms causedadditional floodingatField’s Crab Shack.

BY MARTHA SANCHEZ Staff writer

Neighbors across several Alabama Gulf Coastcities awoke thisweektoa new and troubling nuisance —mosquitoes. Andthe biting bugs were everywhere.

“I couldn’tstay out in the yard, evenwith insect repellent,” one frustrated resident

Thepopular vacation hotspotalong the eastern shore of Mobile Bayisconfrontingasurge of mosquitoes after heavy rain flooded parts of the region as theremnants of Tropical Storm Arthur thundered throughlast week.

Several cities—including Spanish Fort, Daphneand Fairhope —have issuedpublic service announcements promising to spray pest control more frequently.Local leadersare also pleading that residents help by emptying standingwaterfrom bird baths

“Weare upping our spraying forthe areas,”Daphne Mayor Robin LeJeune said in avideoposted to thecity’ssocial media pagesthis week.“We will getthroughthis.”

The city of SpanishFort saidthe pests are salt marsh mosquitoes —aspecies whose larvae develop rapidly in puddles produced during high tides and heavy rainfall.

Spanish Fort and other cities are also asking neighbors to clear gutters and keep grass andplants trimmedtoreduce the swarms.

The indeﬁnite closure also comes as local restaurants across the Coast face challenges beyond the region’sunpredictablesummer weather: rising food and labor costs. Earlier this year,Tripletails Restaurant closed after morethanadecade in downtown. Nearby,Murky Waters shut down after serving barbecue at its Bay St. Louis location forﬁve years. New businesses, however,continue to emerge, including Field’sCrab Shack, which opened in October 2025. The restaurant took over thesame building that housedToro Sushi, another restaurant owned by Nicaud andhis brother,Field. Thebrothers owna seriesofrestaurants, resorts and upcoming hotels across the Mississippi Coast.

True blue no more; La. officially a red state

Registered Republicans now outnumber Democrats

BY ALYSE PFEIL Staff writer

Louisiana has been a solidly red state for years, but you wouldn’t know it if you looked at voter registration numbers.

Even though Louisiana has voted for the Republican presidential candidate in every election since 2000, and even as the GOP has swept all the statewide ofﬁces and holds superma-

jorities in the Legislature, Democratic voters continued to outnumber Republicans on paper But that changed last month.

Voter registration data from June from the Secretary of State’s Ofﬁce shows there are now 1,062,897 registered Republicans and 1,062,861 registered Democrats.

“This is the ﬁrst time in the state’s modern history

Lafayette chef crowned seafood king

Crab-stuffed flounder tops cook-off

BY KRISTIN ASKELSON Staff writer

Lafayette chef Kris Allen has been crowned the 2026 King of Louisiana Seafood after winning the 19th annual Louisiana Seafood Cook-Off Allen, executive chef at Pamplona Tapas Bar and Restaurant, earned the title by preparing a crab-stuffed ﬂounder that bested dishes from 12 other chefs during the competition, presented by the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board.

The cook-off was held in Jefferson Parish for the ﬁrst time in conjunction with the Visit Jefferson Parish Foodie Feast Louisiana Seafood Cook-Off Edition Born and raised in southwest Louisiana, Allen said his passion

Football season events planned

BY KRISTIN ASKELSON Staff writer

Louisiana Athletics has announced its promotional schedule for the 2026 football season, featuring six themed home games at Our Lady of Lourdes Stadium. The home schedule opens Sept. 5 with the Herbert Heymann Classic against Lamar Louisiana will celebrate Gridiron Alumni Day on Sept. 19 against UAB, highlighted by the 50th anniversary of the 1976 team that ﬁnished 9-2 under coach Augie Tammariello.

The Ragin’ Cajuns will host Homecoming on Oct. 3 against Arkansas State and Family Weekend on Oct. 17 against Troy Louisiana Salutes, honoring military members, veterans and ﬁrst responders, is scheduled for Nov 7 against South Alabama. The home schedule concludes Nov 21 with Senior Day against Coastal Carolina 2026 Louisiana Football promotional schedule

Sept. 5 Herbert Heymann Classic vs. Lamar Sept. 19 Gridiron Alumni Day vs UAB Oct. 3 — Homecoming vs. Arkansas State Oct. 17 — Family Weekend vs Troy Nov 7 — Louisiana Salutes vs. South Alabama Nov 21 Senior Day vs. Coastal Carolina

that the Republican Party has the most registered voters,” said Secretary of State spokesperson Trey Williams.

The numbers have been trending that way for decades.

Monthly voter registration data going back at least 20 years has consistently shown Republicans gaining voters and Democrats losing them, said John Couvillon, a Louisiana pollster and

political consultant.

Couvillon said this year’s closed primary for U.S. Senate — a major Republican showdown that first saw the ouster of incumbent Sen. Bill Cassidy and now a ﬁerce runoff between U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow and Treasurer John Fleming — ﬁnally tilted the numbers in the GOP’s favor

Under the state’s new closed party primary system, people who are registered Democrats cannot vote in Republican primary elections.

“When you have party primaries for the Senate and other top-of-the-ballot races, I think that accelerated the ﬁnal shift to where Republicans got the plurality,” Couvillon said.

He said two big changes brought Louisiana to this point. The first “crack in the armor” was Louisiana’s switch in 1975 from closed primaries to open jungle primaries after a century of Democratic dominance.

“What happened is Republicans got to participate in the same primaries as

Democrats did, which basically put them on technically equal footing,” he said. And in recent years, as Louisianans began voting for Republicans in presidential elections, voting and running as a Republican became more culturally acceptable and politically viable, he said. Even before Bill Clinton, a former Arkansas governor with a Southern drawl, won Louisiana in the 1990s, Republican presidential

FOOD TRUCKS IN THE PARK

BY KRISTIN ASKELSON Staff writer

Two men who are Mexican citizens have been charged in federal court after authorities say they attempted to use a drone to smuggle methamphetamine into the Federal Correctional Complex in Pollock before leading deputies on a chase that ended in two crashes. Federal prosecutors charged 25-year-old Gustavo MendozaAlvarez and 28-year-old Osvaldo Lopez-Sanchez with conspiracy to

distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine If convicted, each faces up to life in prison.

said a search of the defendants’ cellphones uncovered images of a drone, THC wax and what appeared to be methamphetamine. A subsequent search of a nearby hotel room uncovered about 446 grams of methamphetamine, 114

grams of marijuana, THC vape products, 21 cellphones, assorted ammunition, spare drone propellers, a drone operator harness and a wallet containing MendozaAlvarez’s Mexican voter identiﬁcation card, according to court documents. The case was investigated by the FBI’s Alexandria Resident Agency, the Grant Parish Sheriff’s

STAFF PHOTOS By BRAD KEMP

TOP: Walker Ford, 2, laughs playing with his trucks while attending National Food Truck Day. TOP LEFT: The band Dwight James and The Royals entertains the crowd on Friday at Moncus Park Doerle Pavilion. ABOVE LEFT: Jamar Dupas serves a shrimp po-boy at the C’est Bon Manger Creole Soul Food conFusion food truck. ABOVE RIGHT: Visitors line up to get their food at The Smoking Pitt.

q mandatorypre-bid meet‐ing, whichwillbeheldon July 8, 2026 at 10:00 AM in EngineeringConference Room 2atLafayette Utili‐ties System building lo‐catedat1314 Walker Road,Lafayette,LA 70506. Biddersunableto attend thepre-bid in per‐soncan attend by joining throughZOOMusing the followinglink: https:// us02web.zoom.us/j/ 89397780044?pwd=DSw ZsfHhJT2UigmyKbxV4k4 UORooEh.1. Alternatively, ameetinginvitecan be forwardedtoyou via emailbycontacting DabneDover at

The successfulcontractor will be required to exe‐cute performanceand laborand material pay‐ment bondsinthe full amount of thecontract as more fullydeﬁnedin thebid documents. Bids will be evaluatedby thePurchaser basedon thelowestresponsible andresponsivebid sub‐mitted which is also in compliance with thebid documents. The Lafayette Consolidated Government reserves the righttorejectany andall bids forjustcause in ac‐cordance with LA R.S. 38§2214.B.

of approved bonding companieswhich is pub‐lished annually in the FederalRegister, or by a Louisianadomiciledin‐surancecompany with at leastanA-Ratinginthe latest printing of theA.M Best’s KeyRatingGuide to writeindividualbonds up to tenpercent (10%) of policyholders’ surplus as showninthe A.M. Best’s KeyRatingGuide or by an insurancecom‐pany in good standing li‐censed to writebid bondswhich is either domiciledinLouisiana or ownedbyLouisiana resi‐dents. Thebid bond shall be issued by acompany licensed to do business in Louisiana. Thecerti‐ﬁed check, cashier’s check, or bidbondshall be givenasa guarantee that thebiddershall exe‐cute thecontract, should it be awardedtohim,in conformity with thecon‐tractdocuments within ten(10)days.

andshowtheir license numberonthe frontof thesealedenvelopein whichtheir bidisen‐closed.Contractors shall be licensed forthe clas‐siﬁcation of “HEAVY CONSTRUCTION and/or ELECTRICAL and/or ELEC‐TRICAL TRANSMISSION LINES” Bids in the amountsspeciﬁed above whichhavenot bidinac‐cordance with there‐quirements,shall be re‐jected andshall notbe read.Additional informa‐tion relative to licensing maybeobtainedfrom theLouisiana StateLi‐censingBoard forCon‐tractors,Baton Rouge, Louisiana. TheLafayette Consoli‐datedGovernment strongly encourages the participationofDBEs (DisadvantagedBusiness Enterprises) in allcon‐tracts or procurements letbythe Lafayette Con‐solidatedGovernment forgoodsand services andlabor andmaterial. To that end, allcontrac‐tors andsuppliers are encouraged to utilize DBEs business enter‐prises in thepurchaseor sub-contractingofmate‐rials, supplies, services andlabor andmaterialin whichdisadvantaged businessesare available. Assistance in identifying said businessesmay be obtained by calling2918410. PURCHASING DIVISION Lafayette Consolidated Government PUBLISHDATES:6/17, 6/21, 6/28 DPR1006191 191037

bidelectroni‐callymust firstberegis‐teredwithinLCG Vendor Access at thewebsite listed above. Theregis‐trationprocess cantake some time;therefore LCGrecommendsregis‐tering days in advanceof thetimethatbidsare due. It is thesolerespon‐sibility of thebidderto ensure theirbid is deliv‐ered (whether electroni‐callyvia Vendor Access, in person,orvia mail) to thePurchasingDivision priortothe scheduled date andtimeofthe bid opening. Vendors may requestthe bidpackage electronically from DabneDover at dabne‐dover@lafayettela.gov Bidders submitting bids electronically arere‐quired to providethe same documentsasbid‐ders submitting through themailassoon as avail‐able.Onlya bidbond, certified checkor cashier’scheck shallbe submittedasthe bidse‐curity Electronic copies of both thefront and back of thecheck or bid bond shallbeincluded with theelectronicbid Bids must be signedin accordance with LRS Title38:2212(B)5. ACor‐porate Resolution or Cer‐tificate of Authorityau‐thorizingthe person signingthe bidisre‐quired to be submitted with bid. Failuretosub‐mita CorporateResolu‐tion or Certificate of Au‐thoritywiththe bidshall be causefor rejectionof bid. Copies of thebidding documentsare available upon requestbycontact‐ingthe Purchasing office locatedat705 West Uni‐versityAvenue, Lafayette,LA70506, tele‐phonenumber(337) 2918262 (Attn:Dabne Dover) Biddocuments shallbe availableuntil twentyfour hours before thebid openingdate. Questions relative to thebidding documentsshall be ad‐dressedtoDabne Dover at dabnedvoer@ lafayettela.gov Contractorsare re‐quested to attend anond bid

No contractor maywith‐draw itsbid priortothe deadline forsubmission of bids.Withdrawalof bids thereafter shallbe allowedonlypursuantto LA R.S. 38§2214.C. Other‐wise,nobiddermay withdraw hisbid forat leastforty-five (45) days afterthe time scheduled forthe bidopening of bids.Eachbid shallbe submittedonlyonthe bidformprovidedwithin thespecifications. The successful bidder will be required to executeper‐formance andlabor and material paymentbonds in thefullamount of the contract as more fully definedinthe biddocu‐ments. No contractors maywithdrawhis bidfor at leastforty-five (45) days afterthe time scheduledfor theopen‐ingofbids. Each bidshall be submittedonlyonthe bidformprovidedwith thespecifications. The successful contractor will be required to exe‐cute performanceand laborand material pay‐ment bondsinthe full amount of thecontract as more fully definedin thebid documents. Bids will be evaluatedby thePurchaser basedon thelowestresponsible andresponsivebid sub‐mitted whichisalsoin compliance with thebid documents. The Lafayette Consolidated Government reserves the righttorejectany andall bids forjustcause in ac‐cordance with LA R.S. 38§2214.B. Contractorsorcontract‐ing firmssubmittingbids in theamount of $50,000.00 or more shall certifythattheyare li‐censed contractors under Chapter24ofTitle 37 of theLouisiana Re‐visedStatutesof1950

PUBLIC NOTICE NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS Noticeisherebygiven that sealed bids will be received either electroni‐callyathttps://lafayet tecsdgovla.tylerportico. com/va/vendor-access/ registration or in theof‐fice of thePurchasingDi‐vision at theLafayette Consolidated Govern‐mentBuilding, locatedat 705 West University Av‐enue,Lafayette Louisiana,until 2:00 PM Central Time on the14th day of JULY,2026 forthe following: AS-NEEDED INSTALLA‐TIONOFBACKFLOWPRE‐VENTERS ANDHOSEBIBS ATWATER/WASTE‐WATER/ELECTRICFACILI‐TIES andwill, shortlythere‐after,beopenedand readaloud in aroom lo‐cated at 705 West Univer‐sityAvenue,Lafayette LA. Bids received after the abovespecified time for openingshall notbe consideredand shallbe returnedunopenedto the sender.Bidders are encouragedtovirtually jointhe bidopening via ZOOMusing thefollow‐ing link:https://us02web zoom.us/j/85391905067? pwd=mXa3PWx0TTcQ7TJ g56cMLdtXZW8Y6x.1 ScopeofServices: The scope of work shallcon‐sistof, butnot limitedto, the installation of back‐flow preventerassem‐blies,hosebib assem‐blies,customercutoff valves, and1-inchser‐vicelines on an asneeded basisatwaste‐water facilities, as di‐rectedbyLUS andidenti‐fied in individual Work Authorizations. In accordance with Louisiana RS 38:2212 vendors maysubmit their bidelectronicallyat the websitelistedabove Bidders wishingtosub‐mit theirbid electroni‐cally must firstberegis‐tered within LCGVendor Access at thewebsite listedabove.The regis‐tration process cantake i h f

Contractorsorcontract‐ing firmssubmittingbids in theamount of $50,000.00 or more shall certifythattheyare li‐censed contractors underChapter 24 of Title 37 of theLouisiana Re‐visedStatutesof1950 andshowtheir license number on thefront of thesealedenvelopein whichtheir bidisen‐closed.Contractors shall be licensed forthe clas‐sification of “PLUMBING” Bids in theamounts specified abovewhich have notbid in accor‐dancewiththe require‐ments, shallberejected andshall notberead. Additional information relative to licensingmay be obtained from the LouisianaState Licensing Boardfor Contractors, BatonRouge,Louisiana TheLafayette Consoli‐datedGovernment strongly encourages the participationofDBEs (Disadvantaged Business Enterprises) in allcon‐tracts or procurements letbythe Lafayette Con‐solidatedGovernment forgoodsand services andlabor andmaterial. To that end, allcontrac‐torsand suppliersare encouragedtoutilize DBEsbusinessenter‐prisesinthe purchase or sub-contracting of mate‐rials,supplies, services and laborand material in which disadvantaged businessesare available. Assistance in identifying saidbusinessesmay be obtainedbycalling 2918410.

PURCHASING DIVISION Lafayette Consolidated Government PUBLISHDATES:6/18, 6/21, 6/28 DPR1006870 191370 JUN18-21-28-3T $202

p sender.Sealed proposals maybehandcarried or mailed to theaddress listed above. Copies of theproposal specificationsare avail‐able to VIEW ONLY on the websiteathttps://laf ayettecsdgovla.tylerpo rtico.com/va/vendoraccess/registration.Ven‐dors mayrequest an electronic copy of the RFPbyemail to Dabne Doveratdabnedover@ lafayettela.gov Proposalsshall be either hand deliveredormailed in asealedenvelopeto theaddress listed above. Proposalsreceivedafter theappointed time will be determined non-re‐sponsive andwillnot be opened.Sealedpropos‐alsmustbesubmitted in one(1) marked ORIGI‐NAL, three(3) exact copies marked COPY,one (1)electroniccopyinPDF format on disc or USB drive. In theevent the Proposer hasincluded ProprietaryorConfiden‐tial informationinthe proposal,contractor shallsubmitone (1) redacted copy marked REDACTED,eliminating anyconfidentialorpro‐prietary information. Ta‐bles 1, 2, &3 in theSpeci‐ficationsmustbesentin aseparatesealedenve‐lope with thecontrac‐tor’slicense numberon theoutside of theenve‐lope.Proposals should be sent to 705 West Uni‐versityAvenue Lafayette,LA70506, at‐tention: DabneDover Proposalswillbeevalu‐ated by thePurchaser basedonthe evaluation criteria outlined in the Requestfor Proposers. TheLafayette Consoli‐datedGovernmentre‐serves theright to reject anyand allproposals or anyportionsthereof,to waiveinformalities and to select thematerial that best suitsits needs. LCGfurther reserves theright to make an awardwithout furtherdiscussionofthe proposal submitted. Therefore, the proposal should be sub‐mitted initially on the most favorableterms that theContractorcan offer. At its discretion,LCG reserves theright to requestbest and finaloffers from the RFP finalists. TheCon‐tractorshouldbepre‐paredtoacceptthisRFP forincorporation into a contract resultingfrom this RFP. Thecontract mayincorporate some or allofthe Contractor’s proposal.Itisunder‐stood

OPINION

OUR VIEWS

Themessof cleaning up orphan wells needsstricter scrutiny

The growing spotlight on theproblem posed by the thousands of orphan wells scattered acrossour state is no doubt agood thing.These wells, abandoned by companies and potentially leaking chemicals into our groundwater,are a serious environmental threat.Weurged greater efforts by the state to identify andcap these wells. It seemed even though millions have been dedicated to the cause over the years, little progresshas beenmade.

Nowwe are getting aclearer pictureofone reason why that might have been the case. The LouisianaLegislative Auditorrecently released a72-page report outlininghow an effortto plug the wells was rife withconﬂicts andselfdealing.

The Louisiana Oilfield Restoration Association and its affiliated companiesshutdownlast year amid scrutiny of the group’scontractwith the state to provide financial security to oil well operators, who paid them afee in exchange for taking responsibility for plugging wells. Johnny Adams, aformer deputy commissioner of the Office of Conservation, reportedly helped LORA getthe contract with the agency.Inreturn, auditors said, Adamslater received abelow-market loanonhis Baton Rouge home and his children were employed by associates of the company Adamsand attorneys forLORA havedenied wrongdoing

Auditors say Adams helped LORA owners VanMayhallIII, Chad Lottand Jacob Dickinson structure the company in away that would make it harder for regulators to trace transactions. Mayhall said the company has cooperated with the investigation and plugged 120 wells with privatemoney

The state last year ﬁled acivil suit to secure the funds that companiespaid to LORA.Now Attorney General Liz Murrill says shewill look at potential criminal charges. But whatever happens with this case, thelesson here is clear: Greater oversight is needed if the statehopes to tackle these tough problems. Toooften,wesee programs established withloose guidelinesand no internal mechanisms to thwart abuses. We were supportive of theLouisiana Natural ResourcesTrust Authority, created by a2024 law,asanattempt to be more aggressive in righting the ship. We again urge legislators and state ofﬁcialsto give it theresources and authorities it needs to takeonthischallenge We are glad the LegislativeAuditoristaking on the challenge of getting to thebottomofwhy we can’tseemtomake adent in our orphanwell problem despite decades and millionsofdollars poured into the effort.

We can no longer acceptthat programs like thiswill drag on for years withlittle to show for it. Louisianamustlearn how to quickly identify problems and change course when needed. Otherwise, the past will continue to hold ourstate back.

Deathcan be ashock,and clarifying

In thewee hours of the morning on April 24, Irealized Ihad missed the anniversary of the death of my dear friend KateO’Beirne.

I’ve been thinking about her alot lately,asItypically do, but Ididn’tdoanything special or different to markthe occasion. Andso, Ifelt like Idid somethingwrong. Kate died on a Sunday in 2017. Grief is amultifaceted mystery. It never fully disappears, but it will turn its own volumedown now and again, only tospring back onto theforefront of your life when it is mostunexpected. It seemstocome andgo, but it is truly omnipresent. It’sinescapable. Many of us fear it, deny it,reject it. If we face it, though, we may just come to learn something about the depths of our hearts and how they reﬂect and are healed by thecreator of the universe.

Death is likely still ashock, even if you knew it was coming. Iﬁrst met Kate at the HeritageFoundation; she wasvice president for government relations, and Iwas aCatholic University of America undergraduateinterning there when Ididn’thave classes. That eventually led to ajob at National Review and oneofthe mostimportant friendships of my life.

Kate loved Pope John Paul II. Inever told her this, but Kate reminded me abit of him. There was acoolness about them both—they madeCatholicism chic, but never in apretentious way Recently,I’ve become beleaguered by deathfatigue. Life feels like if one moreperson dies —and they will —I will break. Even with faith in Godand an eye on eternity daily,it’shard. It’s painful. It

can be agonizing.

Death, of course, is also clarifying. How manythings do we do throughout the day that don’tmatter in the end? What are we prioritizing that is distracting us from love and virtue, faith and family,service and mercy? We’ve gotresponsibilities —some of them arduous, someofthem mundane. We can choose to do them in aspirit of gratitude and glory to Godfor the opportunity to live. We can offer our crosses in the workplace and everywhere else to our God. Isay “our” because it is personal, our relationship with the divine. Next year will be 10 years since Kate died. I’mlooking forward to planning something big to introduce KateChic to anew generation.

Email Kathryn Jean Lopez at klopez@ nationalreview.com.

Straying offtopic allowed, within limits

While we hope ourreader forum on the letters pages prompts you to discussour original reporting and columns,weknow some readers also want to talk about issues they have seen on television or other media, or issues they have seen in theircommunities. We do allow some letters about these issues, especially if thereporting has been widely circulated.

laneous topics.Weare notsostrictas to requireeveryone stayontopic at all times.

Butpleasenote that we do not allow serious accusations of wrongdoing that are thesubject of investigative reporting elsewhere to be aired on our pages. Without veriﬁcation through our own reporting, we would not print such claims.

However,reports by established nonproﬁt research groups,government agencies and similar organizationsare often used to supportthe pointsthat writersare making. Reports from social media, independent websites or less established sources are less likely to pass our test.

We also know that some of you like to write to us about your life experiences, vacations and other miscel-

Some levity in the letters is always welcome. But we do want to emphasize that this is aforum for the community, and letters should have abroad audience.Ifthe topic pertains to only aniche group, letter writers should be clear about why others should care. If aletter doesn’tpertain to our state at all, it is less likely to get published.

Thereare so many sitesonthe internet wherepeople discuss very narrow topics in themost minute detail. We prefer letters that are accessible to everyone, whether you have cursory interestinatopic or aPh.D. in it. What mattersisthe ideas conveyed, not footnotes and citations.

Some writers link to sites where readers can go for more information, and online, we do include those links when possible. We also link to previous articles that writers mentionin theirletters. Putting URLs in print has proven to havelimited beneﬁt,

LETTERSTOTHE EDITOR AREWELCOME.HEREARE OURGUIDELINES:

though, as notmanypeople use the print publication in that way. Turning to ourletters inbox for June 4-11, we received 41 letters. That’s fewer thanusual, but it seems that aside fromthe party runoffs on June 27, it’sbeen pretty quiet on the political front. The topic that prompted the most letters was local —aproposed revamp of City-Brooks Park in Baton Rouge.Six of youwrote about that. Thenthe miscellaneous category accountedfor ﬁve letters. The TenCommandments in schools, which was the subject of two letters, rounded out the topthreetopics. We hope thatasAmericaprepares to celebrate its 250th birthday,we allappreciatethe freedoms we have to express ourviews thanks to our country’sfounding principles. That all Americanscan share their opinions on everything andnothing in so many forums is truly nottobetaken for granted.

Arnessa M. Garrett is Managing Editor |OpinionPageEditor.She canbereached at arnessa.garrett@ theadvocate.com

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

Arnessa Garrett

Kathryn Jean Lopez

STAFF FILEPHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD

Orphan wells rise above thegroundnear Lettsworth.

COMMENTARY

Americansdesperately need to capture‘Spirit of ‘76’

As early as February1765, John Adams had his eye on the ball. Complaining of British ofﬁcials who “treated us like servants” while insisting the colonists had no “rights” but instead owedthe mother country “a ﬁlial duty and submission,” Adams, in an essay,remindedhis readers of the hardships faced by early settlers

ideas of right and the sensations of freedom.”

Laterthat year, in his own diary, describing reactions to the Stamp Act tax imposed upon the colonies, Adams wrote that “the people, even to the lowest ranks,have become more attentive to their liberties …(and) more determined to defendthem.”

in that same 1765, was that “No laws bind the people but such as they consent to be governed by.”

words, anew,unique, and heroic “learning [and] spirit.”

Quin Hillyer

“Recollect …their bitter sufferings –the hunger, the nakedness, the cold… amidst dangersfrom wild beastsand savage men,”hewrote. “Letus recollect it was liberty,the hope of liberty for themselves and us and ours, which conquered all discouragements, dangers, andtrials.”

He insisted, 11 years before the Declaration of Independence, that “many of our rights are inherent and essential,agreed on as maxims,and established as preliminaries, even beforeaparliament existed.”

He then called on colleges and public discourse to “become the instruments of impressing upon the tender mind, and of spreading and distributing far and wide, the

Result: “Innumerable have been themonuments of wit, humor,sense, learning, spirit, patriotism, and heroism, erected in theseveral colonies and provinces.”

This this —was theessence of what became theUnited States of America.

All throughout the colonies, consistently through those 11 years, even themost loyal subjects of Great Britain —ofall walksoflife —insisted that they possessed certain“natural rights” that government must respect Crucially,the people themselves hadthe right tocontrol their own government,not the other way around.The central, unassailable principle, as expressed by Connecticutlawyer Roger Sherman

This is why Thomas Jefferson explained that the Declaration of Independence, which he drafted as amember of acommittee consisting of himself, Adams, Sherman, Benjamin Franklin, and Robert Livingston, was not original to him, but instead was “an expression of the American mind.”Jefferson crystallized the colonists’ understandings that had been developing for years.

The key clause of theDeclaration combined Adams’ idea of unassailable rights with Sherman’s declarative point:“To secure these rights, governments are instituted among men,deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

To all of which, far too many of today’sAmericans merely shrug. The indifference is both ignorant and maddening. Nowhere else in the world back then, not even in England itself, was there such asense (ifany sense at all) of humans as self-governing, rightsowning individuals, not mere subjects.This was, to apply Adams’

Fifty years ago, during a 15-month-long bicentennial commemoration, every schoolchild was led to understand the magic and miracle of how these seminal ideas actually wereeffectuated. Very few Americans took these achievements forgranted. And thenear universal belief,anentirely accurate belief,was that this nation’sadherence to these ideals —and indeed, its evergrowing manifestation of the ideals, slowly but steadily eradicating earlier ﬂaws—was astonishingly admirable and worth major celebration.

In 1975 and 1976, we got it right. We started in April 1775 by feeling the fear and commending thecourage of the militia who ﬁred the“shot(s) heard round the world” at Lexington and Concord. We relished thestory of how the “loss” of Bunker (and Breed’s) Hill was considered amoral victory. We learned of Washington’s remarkablevictory in the siege of Boston,and of his army’smiraculous escape from the loss on Long Island.

And ﬁnally,ofcourse, came the exuberance on the Bicentennial itself,anational joy-fest of epic proportions, proving the truth of Adams’ immediate predictions that forcenturies afterward, the Declaration would be celebrated with “pompand parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonﬁres, and illuminations.”

The exuberance and joy were neither fake nor misplaced. Despite what too manyschools teach too manychildren these days, the United States, over time, has come farcloser than not to living up to the Declaration’sideals. Plenty of other columns have and will makethat case, but for now,asweenter the week of our semiquincentennial, let us belatedly but enthusiastically rediscover the “sense, learning, spirit, patriotism,and heroism”ofwhich Adamswrote. Freedom is both our heritage and our gifttothe world. That heritage and giftare wondrous blessings. We must sustain them and consecrate them forever Email Quin Hillyer at quin hillyer@theadvocate.com

Bill Cassidyand theart of theflip-flop

My ﬁrst reaction —and that of many others, judging from the townsquare that is the modern internet —was that U.S. Sen Bill Cassidy’sheated Wednesday showdown with President Donald Trump must have felt cathartic. The outgoing two-term senator, ousted by his own party’s primary voters after Trump put agreat bigtarget on his back, ﬁnally let the president have it duringa testy closed-door lunch meeting,according to multiple sources, Cassidy included.

hostilities with Iran —reportedly called them “losers” who gave aid and comfort to theenemy Cassidypushedback, challengingTrumpfor thewar’sdisastrousoutcome

“I stood andsaid,‘Youhave not told the American people what’s goingon. It wassupposed to last four weeks; it’slasted four months. Ouroriginal objectives have notbeen achieved, and I want to know what’s going on, Cassidy told reporters.

Stephanie Grace

I’m not talking about the sort of indirect shaming that Cassidy served up in May when he failed to make this weekend’srunoff between Trump-endorsed U.S Rep. Julia Letlow and equally Trump-worshiping state Treasurer John Fleming. Back then,Cassidy took the high road andtalked of the importance of accepting an election loss with grace. He didn’tsay Trump’sname, but you couldn’tmiss the intended contrast with the man he had voted to convict ﬁve years earlier for incitinganattackonthe U.S.Capitol rather than accepting defeat. No, this time the confrontation was personal.

Trump made clear his displeasure with Cassidy and three other Republicans who, aday earlier, helped Democrats pass alargely symbolic measure calling on the administration to withdraw from

He said Trump interrupted him and “I didn’tcare to be interrupted.Ifelt likeIwas trying to get answers for theAmerican people andI’m not goingtobebullied when I’m tryingtoget answers for theAmericanpeople.”

Thingsescalated.Trumpreportedly called Cassidya“lunatic.”

Cassidyreferred to Trumpashis “brother,” prompting the president to denysuch arelationship. The senator eventually calmed down and said he shouldn’thave let his“Irish” get thebetter of him.

And then camethe headspinning part. Cassidy reversed himself

After beingsummoned to the White House to meet withVice PresidentJDVance and special envoySteveWitkoff, he said he now understands the strategy; never mindthat his initial complaint wasn’t aboutstrategy but aboutTrump’slack of communication with thepublic and the failure to landthe promised outcome. Andthen, whenthe Senate

brought up anearly identical measure to theone he’d opposed, he voted yes.

So what,exactly,are we supposed to makeofhow this story started, and where it ended?

You’dthink Cassidy would own his new freedom,after having done nearly everything Trump wanted since his return to ofﬁce, to no avail. Remember when he let political ambitions override his professional medical judgmentand helped give conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr thepower to undermine much of what he spent his prepolitics career ﬁghting for? Those hoping for better out of him do. Sure, he still sometimes pushes back against thepresident’s

countless transgressions. The sameeventful day all this happened, he joined with New Jersey Democrat Cory Booker to demand that acting Attorney General Todd Blanche explain the“extraordinary” immunity he granted the Trumpfamily from civil and criminal liability Butthen he turns around and falls in line, just as he did when he still hoped to stop Trumpfrom coming after him

Maybe hisabout-face Wednesday was asign he’d succumbed to theﬂattery of getting acoveted WhiteHouse invitation. Perhaps he was trying to smooththings over after the public outburst, hoping to win support forthe substantive

policy initiatives he still wants to achieve in his last months —even if it meanslying downwith those whoforced him into his impending unwanted retirement. It could be that he’ssimply exhausted from having to navigate the depressing environment that all responsible Republicans in Washington ﬁnd themselves in these days, caught between their own best judgment and a president whobrooks no dissent no matter how bad his ideas or behavior

It’s even possible that he was actually convinced that the rebuke from Congress hurts the country’sposition as it tries to negotiate details of the conﬂict from what he well knows—and basically came out and said —isa position of weakness.

He’snot the only one whoﬁnds himself veering between trying to be ateam player and going full resistance. John Cornyn of Texas, also taken out by aTrumpendorsed challenger in aGOP primary,and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, whoisnot seeking reelection, are also pretty much in the sameboat these days. But insisting he would not be bullied by the president and then turning around and giving him exactly what he wants?

That’ssome next-level flipflopping —the kind I, forone, had hoped Cassidy had finally put behind him

Email Stephanie Graceat sgrace@theadvocate.com.

We should vote on ideas, notphysicallikeness

MS NOW commentatorAli Velshi was not alone in complainingthat women are “underrepresented” in Congress. It is true that women account for 51% of the U.S. population but only 29% of the House members. To which Isay,“So what?”

Basing the notion of fair representation on racial, genderorethnic identity needs to be put in afolder —apaper folder stored in adusty steel file cabinet. Most of us have additional identities —aselectricians, teachers, environmentalists, grandparents, bus drivers, stock investors, union members. Who would represent me under this broader definition? Someone with brown hair who streams a lot of true crime, has too many opinionsand used to playthe flute. That perfect human being has yet to appear on my ballot If she did, Imight not vote for

her anyway if we disagreed on tariffs, green energy and immigration.

TheFounders designed arepublic in which representatives would debateideas, not their reﬂection in abathroom mirror.Besides, people of similar physical identities disagree on lots of things, including matters tied to identity This DNA-based notion of “fair representation” comes up in the thorny matter of redistricting, thatis, the redrawing of House districts in ways that would allegedly help one party.Donald Trump kicked off the latest round. Panicky that Democrats might swamp the midterms, he’s pushed Republican-controlled states to change thelines to remove “safe” Democratic districts, or so he thinks.Democratic-controlledstatescountered with their own gerrymandering.

Trump was responding to arecent Supreme Court ruling, Louisiana v. Callais, which weakened limits in theVoting Rights Act on race-based redistricting. He apparently believes thatdividing Black voters among majorityWhite districtswould leave them toosmall ashare of the vote to elect their preferred candidate. The assumption under thatassumptionisthat Black voters agree on who should represent them.

Consider the lively primary race in anewly redrawn South Florida district. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, aDemocrat,decided to run in alargely Black district after Gov.Ron DeSantis helped eraseher own district lines “A lot of people in thecommunityare angry,” saysDale Holness, aformer Broward County commissioner whoisAfrican American. By community,weassume he means the“Black community.”

Buthedoes notentirely speak for “thecommunity,” even by his deﬁnition. Many of these constituents have interests beyond therace of their representative. Issues like Social Security,medical coverage,abortion, the war with Iran, gasoline prices. John Beckford, aBroward businessleader originally from Jamaica, is Black.Hesaidthat Schultzhas “always been apart of the African American,Black community,the Caribbean community.It’snot like she’snow a stranger trying to make herself known.”

Business owners andother votersofall colorsmight want to retaina repwho is asenior member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, which sends federalmoney to thedistricts. That interest might double in the likely event that Democrats take control of the House in the midterms. Opponents of the current Re-

publican leadership tactics hold thatthe redistricting mania will lead to less “representation” of Black voters. But others argue the exact opposite,and they include Republicans. The partisans who think they arecleverly scattering Black voters into White-majority districts would also be increasing the Black voters’ clout in those same districts. Thatcan make adifference in closeraces,especially as political allegiances continue to splinter. History should also have its say. ABlack man waselected U.S. president twicebyamajority White electorate. There are reasonstosupport acandidate otherthanresemblance to self. And those tend to be the better reasons.

Froma Harrop is on X, @FromaHarrop. Email her at fharrop@ gmail.com.

Froma Harrop

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE

U.S. Sen.Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, headstoaclosed-door Republican policy meetingatthe CapitolinWashington on Tuesday

The heat and humidity is back once again today. Expect amostly sunnytopartlycloudy, hot and humid Sunday with alight breeze. Temperatures thisafternoon will be slightly aboveaverage, rising into the lowtomid 90s.Humidity remains high, so expect heat index values to be as high as 106 or greater.Rain chances will be right around 10%,soanisolated shower or stormlikeyesterdayis possible. TheUVindex is very high thisafternoon.

Testing found levels of 8.26 partsper billion

BY ADAM DUVERNAY Staff writer

Researchersrecently revealedthey’ve identified an alarming amount of methin Shreveport,but notwhere you may think. At arecent meeting of the Caddo Commission, LSU Health Shreveport officials said the local wastewater has some of the highest identified amounts of methamphetamine in theworld. The news was delivered in a presentation on how opioid

PARTY

Continued frompage1B

lawsuit settlement money is beingspent.

Billions in settlement fundsfrom pharmaceutical companiesdistributed to states are largely spent at thelocal levelinLouisiana. In CaddoParish,a portion of the money,$1.5 million over three years, was given to LSU HealthShreveport, whichused thefunds to support various projects.

Some of that moneyis being used for wastewater testingmeanttogauge drug use in the parish.

LSUHealth Shreveport Associate Professor of Pharmacology,Toxicologyand Neuroscience KevinMurnane told commissioners they’retestingfor 21 drugs,

candidates won Louisiana in the 1980s. And in 2000, George W. Bush captured 53% of the Republican vote to the Democratic ticket’s 45%. In 2008,Republicanpresidentialcandidate John McCain captured almost 60%ofthe vote,as didPresident Donald Trumpduring his presidential bids in 2016, 2020 and 2024.

This year,asofJune, Louisiana hasatotal of 2,969,683 registered voters, with Republicans having arazor-thin advantage.

There are 819,203 unafﬁliated no-party voters who are allowed to decide whether they want to cast aballot in either the closed Republican primary orDemocratic primary

There are also 14,567 members of the Libertarian Party,2,711 members of the Green Partyand 7,444 voters registered with a slew of other parties

Partymemberthoughts

Republican Party of Louisiana Chair DerekBabcocksaid the milestone is areflection of the

High levels of meth foundinShreveport’swastewater

including cocaine,fentanyl and methamphetamine. When it comes to methamphetamine, Murnane said thenews is not good.

“Sadly,Caddo Parish in Shreveport has someofthe highest methamphetamine levels of anywhere in the world,” Murnane said.

According to data Murnane presentedtothe commissioners, thecity’swastewater has methamphetaminelevels of 8.26 parts per billion, equivalent toone dropofimpurity in 500 barrels of water.That’s more than twice the levels in places like Montana,Oklahoma and South Carolina.

“Welooked at this internationally.Welooked all

GOP’s commitment to “conservative, common-sense values.”

“Wekind of expected this would comethis year,and so we’re happy thatishas,” he said. “A lot of people worked very hard to get to this.”

Babcock said the party has been anticipating the change, which he said is acause forboth celebration and continued efforts to growfurther

The Louisiana Democratic Party said thelatest shift in voter registration figures doesn’taccurately reﬂect the political moment

“I think that Republican support in Louisianaisdiminishing as aresult of thereckless and harmful Republican agenda, both stateand nationally,” said party Chair Randal Gaines. “I expect these numbers to be quite temporary due to thefact that theLouisiana Democratic Party hasinitiated avery effective and proactive statewide voter registration initiative.” Republicans have undertaken acoordinatedeffort to depress voterturnout anddisenfranchise voters, said Louisiana Democratic Party ExecutiveDirector Dadrius Lanus.

“PeopleinLouisiana arefed up,” Lanus said

around theUnitedStates, looked in Tennessee and West Virginia andall the places thatare typical hot spots for methamphetamine, and sadly,wehave higher levels thanany of those places,” Murnane said.

Murnane saidLSU Health Shreveport hopes to create a“Caddo Parish Mental Health Command Center,” going beyond just wastewater testing to helpalleviate police departments’ needs to respondtoincidentsfor which other services could be substituted or would be safer options.

He said wastewater data, along withinformation from places like theNorth LouisianaCriminalistics Labora-

tory,can be helpful forthat mission.

Askedwhy Shreveport has such high levels of methamphetamine in itswastewater, Murnane said the data itself doesn’tanswer the question. “Nobodyhas adeﬁnitive answer to that.Mybest educated guess is there’s just aconfluenceofalot of vulnerabilityfactors,” Murnane said. “Methamphetamine useisassociated withlack of economic opportunitiesand hope about your future. It’s also associated with interstate and international drug trafficking, and there’s manyinterstate corridors running through here. It’s associated with vulnerable communities.” Poverty in Shreveport, he said, likely is afactor for those reasons. “It’sjust sort of aperfect andveryunfortunate recipe fora high level of methamphetamine use.” He said dealing with those factors and using things like amental health command center to deploy parish resourcesmay helpthe problem Email Adam Duvernay at Adam.Duvernay@ TheAdvocate.com or followhim on Twitter,@ bylineDuvernay.Signup forthe daily ShreveportBossieremail newsletter or followusonFacebook andTwitter

fishermen and producers who makeour seafood second to none.”

for cooking beganwhile spending time on his father’s shrimp boat and learning in the kitchenwith his grandmother “Weput alot of work intothis dish, anda lotofwork into the components as well,” Allen said in astatement. “Louisiana seafood is simply the best seafood in the world to cook with. The freshness, quality andincredible variety inspire every dish, andit’sanhonor to showcase the hardworking

As the 2026 King of Louisiana Seafood, Allen will represent the stateatthe 22nd annual Great American SeafoodCook-Off on July 25 in New Orleans. He will also serve as aLouisianaseafood ambassador during the coming year ChefChris VazquezofRalph’son theParkinNew Orleans ﬁnished second, while ChefJared Heider of Juniors on Harrison in NewOrleans placed third. The competition featured chefs from across Louisiana representing restaurants in

2026 KingofLouisiana Seafood,beating 12 other chefs to winthe 19th Annual Louisiana Seafood Cook-Off.

Chef Kris Allen, of Pamplona Tapas Bar and Restaurant in Lafayette, was crowned the

PHOTO PROVIDED By LOUISIANA SEAFOOD PROMOTION & MARKETING BOARD

‘There’s no bad blood’

OleMissQBChambliss cool with Kiffin, despite onedifferenceof opinion

BY JON BLAU Staff writer

Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss prides himself on playing the game like a point guard, distributing the footballwith quick passes and, when necessary,usinghis legs to scramble and extendplays.

As the Rebels quarterback and Manning Passing Academy counselor sat foraninterview with reporters on Friday in Thibodaux, he stared down an expected onslaught of questions about former Rebels coach Lane Kifﬁn.

He barelysidestepped them, gracefully threading the needle with each answer

“There’snobad bloodbetween me and Kiff,” Chamblisssaidofhis former coach, who left for LSU prior to OleMiss’ playoff run. “Supergrateful forhim giving me the opportunityatOle Miss to play under his system. But yeah, me and Kiff, we’re still cool.”

Chambliss, the ex-Division II quarterback from Ferris State, owesmuch to Kifﬁnand offensive coordinatorCharlie Weis Jr.for where he sits now

Ayear ago, he wasn’tamong the echelon of quarterbacks invited to the Manning family’scamp. He couldn’tjoke about how he’s expecting to boost his 93 outof99rating in the EA Sports college football video game this fall.

The 6-foot, 205-pound quarterback wasn’t even expectedtobethe Ole Miss startergoingintolastseason butfound hisway onto the field and produced 3,937 yards passing, 22 touchdowns and just three interceptions on his way to aCollege Football Playoff semifinal game. Chambliss did that last part without Kiffin,but there continued to be loud chatter, tinged with hostility,aboutthe coach’s exit. Profanities were hurled at Kiffin as he boarded aplane for Baton Rouge,but he stoked thefires himselfinMay when he commentedinVanityFairthatitwas

gives instructions to campers at the Manning Passing Academy on Friday at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux.

R IT COURSE

Someonehas to sayit: It’s time forKamara, Saints to separate

Saints running back Alvin Kamaradrops apass during the second half of agame against the

on Nov. 10, 2024, at theCaesars Superdome. Kamara’sreturn for a10thseason

the

be determined. STAFF FILE PHOTO By BRETT DUKE

Theysay all goodthings mustcome to an end.

TheBeatles brokeup.

“Seinﬁeld”eventually became reruns.

Theonce-idyllic marriage of TomBradyand Gisele Bundchen ran its course.

Anditwould notbeshocking if somethingsimilar happened with Alvin Kamara and theNew Orleans Saints. In fact, youcould argue that parting waysmight be in thebestinterestsofthe star running back andthe team thatdrafted him nine yearsago.

Through areleaseortrade, Kamara would get achance to end his stellar career by chasing aring with aSuper Bowl contender and ﬁnding alarger roleonthe ﬁeld.

With Kamara out of thepicture, theSaints could hand thebackﬁeld keys to Travis Etienne and give more snaps to their stable of young reservebacks —Devin Neal, Kendre Miller and Audric Estimé.

It might not be theending either side envisioned two yearsago when Kamara signed atwo-year,$24.5 million contract extension, but there are certainly worse ways for arelationship to end.

Irealize this will not be apopular opinion. Kamara is the leading rusher in Saints history and one of themost popular players to wear theblack and gold. He’sbeen voted ateam captain twice by his peers andinspired ageneration of New Orleanskids.His No. 41 jersey is ubiquitous at home games.

Assessingwhere Pels standafter low-key df

The NBA draft has come and gone. While the New Orleans Pelicans provided afeel-good story in the second round, the remainder of the draft left theirfans craving somethingtofeelgood about heading into the season. One thing is clear: Joe Dumars andassistant Troy Weaver still haveplenty of work to do to improve aroster that failedto win 30 games in each of the past two years. Here are ﬁve things we learned about thePelicans at this year’sdraft. Thedraft pick

school ball at St.Augustine and became theﬁrst homegrown player ever drafted by the franchise, but don’tget it twisted: ThePelicans didn’t draft him becausehe’s from here. They selected him because he can ﬂat out play He averaged 17.7 pointslast season at SMU and 21.6pointsthe year before at Jacksonville State. He can shoot.Hecan jump out of the gym. He doesn’tmind defending. He has just the type of toughness Dumars covets

First-roundsilence

But as Demario Davis, another Saints legend, noted earlier this year, the good times roll for only so long and sometimes it’sbest to moveon. That timefeels like it’scome for Kamara and the Saints, just as it did for so manyother great NFL partnerships such as Brady and the Patriots, Aaron Rodgers and the Packers, and Peyton Manning and the Colts. The road to reach this point has been complicated. After signaling achanging of the guard by signing Etienne at the

ä See DUNCAN, page 4C

Rod Walker

This is the obvious place to start considering the Pelicans had just one pick in the draft. They hadto wait until almost the veryend, selecting SMU guard Jaron Pierre with the No. 58 overall pick. The New Orleans native played his high

His pathtothe NBAwasn’teasy, with him playing at four different colleges in six years. Butitshows just how determined he was to make it,and thePels may have found asecond-round gem who can stick around.Pierre will have his introductory newsconference with the local media on Monday morning, but he really needs no introduction around here.

The Pelicans didn’thave pick this year.There was p speculation that they may t make atrade to move into t ﬁrst round. Because of that Pelicans fans werefully tu into the ﬁrst round.

Everyﬁve minutes,NBA commissioner Adam Silve came out to the podium in Brooklyn and announced picks.And as those ﬁve minutes turned into three hours, realityset in that thePelicans weren’tmaking amove.

While manyfans were disappointed, they shouldn have been. Dumars listene

aﬁrst-round lenty of ry to he , ned r

STAFF PHOTO By BRETT DUKE

Ole Miss quarterback TrinidadChambliss

SMUguard

Jaron Pierre AP FILE PHOTO

ä See CHAMBLISS, page 4C

Jeff Duncan

Atlanta Falcons

with

Saints is still to

WORLD CUP ROUNDUP

England shuts out Panama

By The Associated Press

EAST RUTHERFORD N,.J Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane scored early in the second half, lifting England over Panama 2-0 Saturday and into what appears to be a more favorable bracket for the knockout phase of the World Cup. On a rainy afternoon before a vocal pro-England crowd that made MetLife Stadium seem like Wembley, Panama held the European power scoreless through a ﬁrst half in which Kane had 10 touches, the fewest of any player Bellingham put the Three Lions ahead in the 62nd minute from Bukayo Saka’s corner kick. Held in a bear hug by Jorge Gutiérrez at the top of the 6-yard box, Bellingham stuck out his left leg and stabbed the ball past goalkeeper Orlando Mosquera for his third World Cup goal, his second this year. Five minutes later, Bellingham crossed from the left flank and Kane outjumped Andrés Andrade to head the ball in for his 82nd international goal. Kane became England’s record World Cup scor-

Kane celebrates after

er with his 11th goal, one more than Gary Lineker “Our ﬁrst job achieved,” Bellingham said “Just a good combination of play To give it to Harry again, who just continues to raise his level, is incredible.”

CROATIA 2, GHANA 1: In Philadelphia, Croatia earned a spot in the knockout round, getting goals from Nikola Vlašic and Luka Sucic to beat Ghana. Ghana had already clinched a spot in the round of 32 for the ﬁrst

time since 2010.

Vlašic headed home Luka Modric’s corner in the 83rd minute to score the winner and put Croatia back in contention after it ﬁnished third in 2022. The win means Croatia ﬁnished second behind England in Group L, with Ghana third.

Sucic scored in the 31st minute for Croatia on an absolute rocket from outside the box for his second career international goal.

Derrick Luckassen scored the equalizer that after a brief review — sent thousands of fans wearing yellow into a frenzy Luckassen, brother of the Netherlands’ Brian Brobbey, found the bottom right corner in the 73rd minute to make it 1-1 and the ﬁrst of the ﬁve group stage games in Philadelphia where both teams scored.

Ghana goalie Benjamin Asare brieﬂy kept it a tie game on a diving stop off the top of his hand that sent the ball over the net but failed only a minute later to stop Vlašic.

Vlašic wagged his tongue and ran toward his teammates with outstretched arms in celebration.

Prize-money

BY KEN MAGUIRE Associated Press

LONDON Tennis star Jessica Pegula said a protest by top players over prize money at the French Open was “productive and worked well.” Seemed to be, because Wimbledon then increased its prize money by 20%.

But several players are continuing the protest — by limiting media appearances — this weekend and in the ﬁrst week of the grasscourt Grand Slam which starts Monday, arguing that they deserve a bigger share of revenue.

“We’re very grateful that Wimbledon has raised the prize money, but again it’s not really answering the questions that we’ve been asking,” Pegula said Saturday, when she limited her time with the press. “I don’t know if the point is just not getting across.”

And the No 4 player is already looking ahead to the last major on the calendar the U.S. Open.

protest could extend to U.S. Open

“We’ll see how it progresses after doing this today and over the next week and then going into obviously the next Slam, which is the U.S. Open,” the 32-year-old American said “I think we’ll kind of get a good grasp about where we’re really standing with the Slams and see what we can get out of that with talking to them.”

Wimbledon’s total prize money including player per diems will be $85 million, the biggest annual increase, by sum of money, in the tournament’s history The increase in 2013 represented a 40%

hike over the prior year

The singles champions at the All England Club will each get $4.75 million — which also represents a 20% hike.

The protest began at the French Open, where players complained the total prize money only made up 14.3% of the clay-court tournament’s revenue. Novak Djokovic has not been a part of it.

“I have no views on that, to be honest I’m not part of it Just I’ll stay neutral on that,” the seventime Wimbledon champion said Saturday

Jannik Sinner limited a media appearance and deflected questions about the protest.

“It’s getting better even though we are not at the point where we are 100% happy,” the Italian said.

Sinner said it’s “not only about the money,” citing the need for improvements in player welfare. But he declined to engage in a question about Wimbledon’s offer to work on creating a player council.

“I just think it’s better if we don’t discuss here, I don’t like to talk about this at the moment,” he said.

Serena in spotlight ahead of Wimbledon return

BY KEN MAGUIRE Associated Press

LONDON Iga Swiatek is the reigning champion. Aryna Sabalenka is the No. 1 women’s singles player Serena Williams is the star, though, at Wimbledon.

The 44-year-old Williams’ presence has been emanating throughout SW19 — the famous post code of Wimbledon as she prepares to play her ﬁrst singles match at the event in four years Tuesday when she faces No. 53 Maya Joint in the ﬁrst round.

Mirra Andreeva, who just won the French Open, was basically crossing her fingers when the Wimbledon draw was announced.

“I was watching like this because I don’t think anyone in the draw would have wanted to play against Serena,” the smiling Russian teenager said Saturday.

“I’m going to speak for myself.

I wouldn’t want to play against Serena. I would be just very nervous.” Williams had been away from the sport since her farewell at the 2022 U.S. Open, but she accepted a wild-card entry to play women’s doubles with her sister Venus,

who is 46. And then she accepted another to play singles.

Serena Williams’ most recent appearance at Wimbledon was in 2022 when she lost in the opening round to Harmony Tan, who was then ranked 115th The American great walked away from tennis — she described it as “evolving” away after losing in the third round to Ajla Tomljanovic at Flushing Meadows. Her second daughter was born in 2023. Williams, a seven-time Wimbledon singles title winner could meet Swiatek in the third round.

Sisterly motivation

Serena Williams officially returned to tennis earlier this month in a doubles match with 19-yearold Canadian Victoria Mboko at the Queen’s Club grass-court tournament.

“Unexpectedly, before her ﬁrst match she asked me did I have any motivational quotes I use for myself,” Venus Williams said Saturday “I told her what I was using at the time. I don’t know if that helped or not She did win the match.”

The Williams sisters will play their first-round doubles match

against Colombia’s Camila Osorio and Solana Sierra of Argentina.

Serena and Venus have won 14 Grand Slam titles together in doubles, including six at Wimbledon. Their first two doubles titles at the All England Club, in 2000 and 2002, came as wild cards.

“For us it was about the titles, we wanted the Grand Slam titles. We just wanted to bring them home,” Venus said. “We did pretty good.”

Djokovic inspired by Serena Novak Djokovic calls Serena Williams’ tennis comeback “inspirational” and “epic.”

“That’s what I told her,” Djokovic said Saturday

“I see her in the gym more than I have, I think, seen her when she was at her prime,” Djokovic, a 24-time major champion, said of Williams, a 23-time major winner in singles. “It tells me that she really wants this to work out the best way possible.”

Djokovic added: “I always admired her career, her journey, her story Of course, Venus’, as well.” Gauff and Sabalenka, too

Coco Gauff the No 7 seed at Wimbledon, said Serena and Ve-

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.

Ryu leads Women’s PGA by a shot; Korda is 4 back CHASKA, Minn. Haeran Ryu shot a 4-under 68 on Saturday to take a one-shot lead over Brooke Henderson after three rounds of the Women’s PGA Championship.

Ina Yoon, who entered the day with a five-shot lead, struggled early but settled down to finish with a 3-over 75 and is two shots off the pace.

Dewi Weber, the 210th-ranked player in the World Golf Rankings seeking her ﬁrst career LPGA win, birdied three of the ﬁnal four holes and is three shots back after a 4-under 68. A Lim Kim joins her there.

Nelly Korda, chasing a historic third straight major championship win, shot a 1-under 71 on a sunny windy day at Hazeltine National Golf Club outside Minneapolis. She and Alison Lee are four shots off the lead.

Hovland flips script on Scheffler for one-shot lead CROMWELL, Conn. — Viktor Hovland was trying to keep up with Scottie Scheffler until he flipped the script on the final hole Saturday with a 6-foot birdie for a 6-under 64 that gave him a one-shot lead going into the final round of the Travelers Championship. Scheffler from 25 feet on the fringe ran his putt some 8 feet past the cup and missed it coming back for a bogey and a 67, the first time he trailed all day It was the second straight year Scheffler fell from the top of the leaderboard going into the weekend at the TPC River Highlands. Hovland was at 20-under 190 and gets another afternoon with Scheffler on Sunday Patrick Cantlay (64) and Akshay Bhatia (67) were five shots behind.

Osaka retires in second set of Bad Homburg final BAD HOMBURG, Germany Naomi Osaka’s Wimbledon preparations received a setback when she retired at the start of the second set in Saturday’s Bad Homburg Open ﬁnal because of a foot injury

The fourth-seeded Japanese player, in her ﬁrst grass-court ﬁnal, was trailing 6-1, 1-0 to Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic when she pulled out.

Osaka had taken a medical timeout in the ﬁrst set. Then, after gesturing she could not continue, she walked over to shake hands with Muchova and the umpire.

nus were the “biggest” inspiration for her

“I played the sport because of them, believed that I could do things because of them. I look up to them a lot,” she said. Sabalenka added: “It’s amazing what she’s doing. Also it’s Serena Williams, everyone was talking about that. She’s bringing more eyes on tennis. It’s a good thing for tennis. I’m really excited to see her play.”

“I just want to say thank you to everyone who came to watch the match,” Osaka told the crowd during the trophy ceremony “I apologize for not being able to ﬁnish, but this atmosphere was incredible the whole week.”

OKC, Hartenstein agree to 3-year, $75M million deal

Isaiah Hartenstein has agreed to a three-year, $75 million contract to stay with the Oklahoma City Thunder, a person with knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press on Saturday

The 7-foot center has been a two-year starter for the Thunder, which has gone 88-16 in the past two regular seasons when he plays. He averaged 9.2 points and 9.4 rebounds per game this past season and started 20 of the 23 Thunder games in the 2025 playoff run that ended in an NBA championship.

Hartenstein has been well traveled in his career with stints in New

and the

Angeles Clippers before coming to

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By KIRSTy WIGGLESWORTH

Jannik Sinner smiles during a training session at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club ahead of the Wimbledon Championships on Thursday in London.

AP PHOTO By JOHN WALTON Serena Williams smiles during a practice session ahead of the Wimbledon Championships on Saturday in London.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By STEVE LUCIANO

Harry

scoring England’s second goal in a World Cup match against Panama on Saturday in East Rutherford N.J

TY LAMARTINA

Acadiana, Sr

Pitcher

CAYDEN DARTEZ

St.Thomas More, Sr Pitcher EVAN

VINCENT

Teurlings Catholic, Sr Pitcher

SEBASTIAN

RIDEAU

Acadiana Renaissance, Jr Pitcher

COHEN

EVANS

Catholic-New Iberia, Sr Catcher

LANDON

DEROUEN

Erath, Jr Infielder

ALL-METROBASEBALL

DREW LEJEUNE

Notre Dame,Sr. Infielder WILL POWER

TeurlingsCatholic, Sr Infielder

Acadiana Renaissance, Sr Infielder LANDON

Erath,Sr. Outfielder

St.Thomas More, Jr Outfielder KALEB SIMON

Lafayette Christian, Jr Outfielder

HONORABLE MENTION

MYLES

Opelousas Catholic, Jr

Ascension Episcopal, Jr

Rayne, Sr Utility

St. Edmund, Sr Utility

Lafayette Christian, Sr Utility

Pitchers: Sabe David, Kaplan; Kaylor Broussard, Iota; Carter Stelly,Opelousas Catholic; Aiden Lejeune, Eunice; Catchers: ChristopherHolmes, NotreDame; Infielders: Will Simon,Vermilion Catholic; Reece Dommert, Iota, Sr.; Eli Clark, St.Thomas More; BlazeDuhon, NorthVermilion; Outfielders: Myles Jones, NewIberia;CamdenGuidry,Acadiana High; Jakson yeager,Iota, Jr.; Utility players: Connor Poirrier,Southside; Benjamin Ellender, Breaux Bridge; Hunter Degeyter, Lafayette High; Lon Paul Moody, Rayne;Preston Peebles,Ascension Episcopal.

COACHOFTHE YEAR

RANDYJUDICE RAYNE

RandyJudice helped Rayne reach heightsit hasn’t seen in nearly twodecades.

Judice led the Wolves to an 18-8 record and to the state semifinals for the first time since theyaccomplished the feat in 2007.After sweeping No. 10 Belle Chasse in aregional playoff series, the No. 7-seeded Wolves swept

No. 2North DeSoto with wins of 9-7and 6-3, before falling at No. 3Lutcher 2-1 in Game 3 of their semifinalsseries.

For his efforts, Judice was named the Acadiana Advocate’sAll-Metro baseball coach of the year Eric Narcisse

PLAYER OF THEYEAR

EVAN VINCENT TEURLINGSCATHOLIC, SENIOR • PITCHER

Teurlings Catholic senior Evan Vincent showedearly in hiscareer that he wasn’t one to shyawayfrom big moments. Since becominga keycog on theRebels’ pitching staff as asophomore,Vincent has delivered time and time again.

“It’swhat youwouldexpect of Evan,”former Rebels coach BrooksBadeaux said.“He’s been contributing significantly since probably hissophomore year.Hepunches in and out every day.”

The left-hander enjoyedanother stellar season in 2026, going6-2 with a1.41 ERA.

The UL signee struck out 81in 592/3 innings, while opponents hitjust .182 againsthim. Offensively,the 6-foot-1 Vincent hit .309 with ahome run, sevendoubles and 26 RBIs before being named to the LSWA’sClass 4A all-state first team.

“What makes him tough, Ithink, is his arm

SCOREBOARD

slotand his ability to (throw) his different pitches with consistency,” Badeaux said.“Not to mention he’s not lacking in velocity.But he’s just atruecompetitor.Hecan go out there and compete without having his best stuff every day. Vincent’ssuccess on the mound resulted in the Rebelsgoing 19-13 and reaching the Division II select semifinals.

For his efforts,Vincent wasnamed the Acadiana Advocate’s All-Metro baseball player of the year

“He’s very deserving.Heworks hard and I’ve seen him grow overthe last couple of years,” Badeaux said.“I’veseen him pitch in many big games (whenhewas younger), when not many people really knewwhat to expect. Iwatched him stepup. Big-timeplayers have to rise up in big-time games and Evan consistentlydid that forTeurlings.

EricNarcisse

Chevrolet, 94.996.

(9)ChaseElliott, Chevrolet, 94.836.

(60) Ryan Preece, Ford,94.727.

(42) John H. Nemechek,Toyota, 94.712.

STAFFFILE PHOTOByBRAD BOWIE

Left-hander Evan Vincent has been aconsistent force at Teurlings Catholic forthreeyears. In his senior year,the UL signee went 6-2with a1.41ERA,and

difﬁcult to recruit Black athletes to Oxford, Mississippi.

“He said what he said,” Chambliss said “Me personally, I don’t agree with it. When I came down for my (recruiting) visit, (Kifﬁn) showed me nothing but love. The people in Mississippi, Oxford, showed me nothing but love.

“I asked my family what they thought about the visit, what they thought about the people, if they trusted what they were actually saying, if they were going to be true to their word. And they said, yeah they feel like this is the right place.” Chambliss, who is returning for a sixth college season thanks to a court order, said he’s a loyal person and had no thoughts of playing anywhere but Ole Miss for his ﬁnal season. Oxford, he said, is “home.”

His football household is now led by a defensive-minded head coach, Pete Golding, but new offensive play-caller John David Baker is running essentially the same system as Kifﬁn and Weis, just with slightly different terminology

Chambliss said he expects LSU’s Week 3 visit to Oxford to be a “chess match” between his former and current coaches

“They obviously run our offense that we did at Ole Miss and they got a great DC there as well,” Chambliss said of LSU defensive coordinator Blake Baker. “So I’m just super pumped up and excited to play them again. And I’ll give coach Weis a big hug when I see him.” Weis, the 33-year-old son of the former Notre Dame head coach and Patriots assistant of the same name, remained with Ole Miss during its playoff run but eventually accepted a three-year contract worth $2.5 million per year to join Kifﬁn at LSU. Chambliss said Weis is a “great guy.”

“On my visit, he was one of the reasons why I committed (to Ole Miss),” Chambliss said. “Just gotta give him so much thanks and just super grateful for him, for giving me the opportunity, for sticking with me through the ups and downs this last year.”

One of the biggest ups or downs of next season will undoubtedly be the LSU game. He’s been getting stopped in public, con-

stantly, by Ole Miss fans wanting to talk about Week 3.

Chambliss said he’s hoping to treat that game like any other, like a “regular” Saturday, but he expects it will be very different “Honestly, wilder and crazier than any game we had last year,” said Chambliss, who joked that Oxford’s S.W.A.T team might be in attendance to beef up security “Yeah, Oxford is going to be electric.”

It promises to be an unimaginable scene, a scenario Chambliss couldn’t have fathomed a year ago while fresh off a transfer from Ferris State.

Things have changed drastically, but the quarterback wasn’t shy about tossing his former coaches love. Nor was he ducking his excitement for Sept. 19.

He delivered his thoughts, decisively and comfortably, as a quarterback should.

“Super grateful for coach Weis and the staff that was at Ole Miss that’s now at LSU, Kiff,” Chambliss said. “They gave me an opportunity, they gave me a shot. Super excited to go against them.”

Email Jon Blau at jon.blau@theadvocate.com.

WALKER

Continued from page 1C

numerous phone calls for teams making trade offers. But he wasn’t going to make a trade just for the sake of making one. He went into any negotiations knowing what he wanted in return and if teams weren’t willing to give that, Dumars stood ﬁrm That’s a good thing.

Revisiting Queen trade

Some people won’t want to hear this one, but the trade Dumars made with the Atlanta Hawks on draft night of 2025 to get Derik Queen didn’t end up being quite as bad as it looked a year ago.

Yes, Dumars should have at least protected the 2026 pick. The Hawks ended up with the No. 8 pick and used it Tuesday night to draft Houston guard Kingston Flemings. So in summary the Pelicans got Queen and the Hawks got Flemings along with last year’s 2025 pick Asa Newell.

Queen played in 81 games, averaging 11.7 points and 7.1 rebounds with a pair of triple-doubles. He was also voted second team on the All-Rookie team, meaning he had somewhere between the sixth-to10th best season in the 2025 class. Newell played in 44 games for the Hawks, averaging just 5.2 points and 2.2 rebounds. How well Queen, Newell and Flemings do in the future will decide who won the trade, but the early returns favor Queen Especially if his defense improves. Now what?

The Pelicans still need to ﬁll that giant hole in the middle of their lineup. Priority No. 1 for Dumars should be ﬁnding a center to

outset of free agency, the Saints were careful to give Kamara his space and have since treated him with the respect due a player of his proﬁle and pedigree.

As of last week, they had yet to approach him about a pay cut, and it’s unclear whether they will do so before training camp starts next month.

The Saints always could do nothing and elect to live with Kamara’s deal, which makes him the ninth-highest-paid back in the league, above even Etienne, the man he is slotted to back up. Kamara’s $10.5 million salary-cap hit is the sixth-highest among backs in the league and has led multiple outlets to rank him as one of the most overpaid players in the league this offseason.

While the Saints never have cared about optics, they rarely overlook ﬁscal proﬂigacy That said, they might be willing to make an exception in the case of Kamara, who certainly outearned his contract in the early years of his career

So far, everyone has played nice publicly and maintained a respectful, professional approach to the situation. But there’s no denying the vibe between the sides has been off throughout the offseason. A quiet disconnect has brewed behind the scenes, creating an undercurrent of uncertainty

Kamara’s decision to — again — not participate in the offseason program only exacerbated things. He was largely out of communication with team ofﬁcials, unlike Nathan Shepherd, who kept in constant contact with the team after being excused from workouts because of a personal matter

While the conditioning program and organized team activities are technically “volunteer work,” Kamara’s absence was conspicuous on a team where 54 players had 100% participation in the offseason program and an “all-in” mindset has been adopted in Year 2 of the Kellen Moore era. It’s noteworthy that the other team captains Erik McCoy Justin Reid and Zach Wood — have all been active participants this offseason. (As an unrestricted free agent, Cam Jordan was not under contract with the Saints at the time.)

Kamara’s surprise one-day visit during the ﬁnal week of OTAs caught many in the building off-guard and was seen as a publicity stunt by some. To no one’s surprise, Kamara was gone the next day

This approach works ﬁne when you’re the lead back and making Pro Bowls, but not so much when you’re a backup and coming off the kind of injury-plagued, nonproductive campaign Kamara had in 2025.

Kamara told reporters he wants to play for the Saints this season and he has “no beef” with the team, but his actions have indicated something different.

It’s all led to the awkward song-anddance routine we’ve watched play out this offseason.

Nowhere was it more pronounced than at the team’s recent minicamp, where Kamara was held out of team drills as part of the team’s “ramp-up” process, a curious strategy given he’s presumably healthy and should be fresh from his offseason sabbatical. He watched team drills from the sideline while Etienne took the ﬁrstteam reps, and Estimé and Ty Chandler subbed with the reserve units.

Seeing Kamara excluded from the offensive rotation looked odd and felt strange. It brought to mind Charles Jefferson, the football star in “Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” whose classmates thought he didn’t attend school and “just ﬂew in for football games.”

In a way, Kamara’s career is already in the lagniappe stage. His nine-year tenure already has wildly exceeded expectations, especially when you consider his modest third-round draft status. He’s the only running back of the 27 selected in the 2017 NFL Draft still with his original team, and one of just ﬁve from the group still in the league. Former draft classmates Leonard Fournette and Dalvin Cook have been out of the league for years. It’ll be interesting to see how the Kamara situation plays out. It’s possible the sides get together and reach an amicable resolution, allowing Kamara the chance to ﬁnish his career in New Orleans. It’s also possible the Saints part ways before or during camp. As noted, that might not be the worst outcome in the world. Neither side is to blame. It just feels like it’s time. Everything has a shelf life. Ask Tom Brady

play alongside Zion Williamson and Queen.

Since the Pels didn’t address it in the draft, they’ll have to either trade for one or sign one in free agency A pair of guys with Louisiana ties (North Caddo alum Robert Williams and Chalmette High alum Mitchell Robinson) are among the guys out there in free agency Milwaukee Bucks center Myles Turner is also a name to watch if Dumars decides to take the trade route Who’s going? Who’s staying?

Unless Dumars thinks ﬁrst-year coach Jamahl Mosley can turn water into wine, the Pelicans can’t just run it back with the same team that won just 26 games last season. It would be ideal for Mosley to get the pieces he needs, especially the aforementioned big man.

Outside of Williamson, the players most wanted by other teams are Trey Murphy and Herb Jones. Expect their names to continue to come up in trade talks. Despite his lofty contract, Jordan Poole didn’t contribute much last year in his ﬁrst season in New Orleans. His name will be one to watch over the next few weeks

The Pelicans, according to a Friday report from NBATV, are expected to decline the $8 million team option on Kevon Looney The veteran center, who rarely played in his one season in New Orleans, is expected to become an unrestricted free agent. Free agency begins on Tuesday The decision on Looney is the ﬁrst move the Pels have made this season. More changes better be on the way if the Pelicans want to give their fans something to feel good about.

Email Rod Walker at rwalker@theadvocate.com.

STAFF FILE

PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD

Pelicans center Derik Queen is fouled by LA Clippers forward Isaiah Jackson during the ﬁrst half of a game on March 18 at the Smoothie King Center

STAFF PHOTO By BRETT DUKE

Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss, right, talks with campers before a drill at the Manning Passing Academy on Friday at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux.

STAFF PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER

TheNew York Knicks keep the ‘Cupid Shuffle’ stepping

On June 13, the New York Knicks won their first NBA championship in 53 years. What’s the first thing the team did to celebratethe historic moment? The“Cupid Shuffle.” Still in uniform or donning their new NBA Champions T-shirts, Knicks players sang and danced the shuffle in the locker room. A YouTube video of the celebration has more than 318,000 views. Most players were toddlers or in elementary school when the song andline dance broke out of Lafayette and became aworldwide phenomenon.But the Knicks’ celebration adds another step in the Shuffle’sstoried history

Knocking on the door of 20 yearssince its debut, the Shuffle remains acherished party song across the globe. It’sno exaggeration to say the songis played every day somewhere on the planet, whether it’sa birthday party,sports event, festival, bar mitzvah, cruise, family reunion, prom, teen dance, corporate conference, movie or TV show Numbers back that up.The first “Cupid Shuffle” video, which landed on YouTube 19 yearsago, has 106 million views. Fan and instructional videos add another 100 million, althoughIdon’tunderstandthe need forhow-tovideos.The “Tothe right, to the right …” directions are in the lyrics.

the‘Cupid Shuffle’ during theannual Algiers HolidayBonfire & ConcertinNew Orleans in 2024.

YouTube evenhas avideo of afamily shufﬂing after afuneraland apatient boppinghis head in ahospital bed. In 2007, agroup of 17,000 participants gatheredtoperform the dance. It made the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest assembled linedance.

“The largest Cupid Shuffle dance involved 17,000 participants who performed the dance for 8minutes at the Ebony Black FamilyReunion Tour organised by the Coca Cola Company in Atlanta, Georgia,” according to guinnessworldrecords.com Tiger Stadium roared in 2022 when the LSU and Southern University bands had ahistoric halftime shuffle togetherwhen the football teams played for the first time. Add another 130 million Spotify streams, and it’seasy to see that the shuffle is firmly entrenched in pop culture. Cupid, akaBryson Bernard of Lafayette, and DJ/producer Brandon “Mr. Phat” Neazy,first hoped their collaboration might get a few people on the dance floor at parties on the UL Lafayette campus. But the tune spread to local clubs and radio stations before catching fire across the South Cupid signed with Atlantic Records, which brought the single to No.21onBillboard’sHot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and No. 66 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Billed as the “Line Dance King” two decades later,Cupid has follow-up dances and songs that include “Flex” (with 22

ä See 'SHUFFLE', page 4D

PROVIDED PHOTO By USS KIDD

ABOVE: Augusto Ferrer-Dalmu’s2018 painting,‘La Marcha de Gálvez,’depicts Bernardo de Gálvez and his ragtag army marching through Louisiana’sswamp areas from NewOrleans to clear theBritish from Baton Rouge RIGHT: The map,‘Plan of Point Ibberville’ is a1760s finished, colored topographical copybyBritishLt.T. Pittman from William Brasier’smap. Fort Bute can be seeninthe southernmost point on the map.

PROVIDED IMAGE By UNIVERSITy OF MICHIGAN DIGITAL COLLECTIONS/WILLIAML.CLEMENTS LIBRARy IMAGE BANK

MARCH OF TIME

Nearly 250years in themaking, newRevolutionary War marker at thesiteofa Britishfortvanishedin3days

BY ROBIN MILLER Staff writer

Three years of planning andfundraising to commemorate an obscure but major piece in America’s 250th celebrationwas wipedout in just three days. The story starts beforethe American Revolution. The Britishbuilt Fort Bute at theconﬂuence of Bayou Manchac andthe Mississippi River in 1766, exactly 10 yearsbefore thesigning of the Declaration of Independence in the PennsylvaniaState House, nowknown as Independence Hall. Baton Rouge’sGeneral PhilemonThomas chaptersofthe Sons and Daughters of American

ShelbyBordelon, 24, of Sunshine, takesher first walk as Miss Louisiana during thepageant in Monroe.

Revolution spentthree yearsresearching and fundraising to installthe historical marker near thesiteofthe British’s FortBute in thesouthernmostcorner of East Baton Rouge Parish. The sign, erected on May 30, was settostand just in time for America’s250th celebration. And thetimingwas important, because the 1779 battle thatplayed outatFortButewas apivotal point in the American Revolution. ImportantBritish post FortButewas an important strategic post for theBritish, not only for defensebut shipping and trade, and with subsequent forts

ä See FORT BUTE, page 4D

PROVIDED PHOTOByTHE PHILEMON THOMAS CHAPTER OF THESONS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

The PhilemonThomas chapters of the Sons and Daughters of the AmericanRevolution erected a Louisiana State HistoricalMarker commemorating Fort Bute along River Road near the EastBaton Rouge-Iberville parish line in time for the America 250 celebration. Adriver plowed into the sign afew days later The sign has sincedisappeared.

BYJUDYBERGERON Staff writer

Iberville Parish native and SoutheasternLouisiana Universitygraduate student Shelby Renee Bordelonisthe newMiss Louisiana. Bordelon, 24, competed in the June 20 pageant in Monroe as Miss Port City.She was Miss Southeastern in 2024 andMiss Slidell in 2025. She bested 28 other contestants from around the state to earn her latest title. “Louisiana …wedid it. Iambeyond honored andoverwhelmed to say that IamyourMissLouisiana 2026,” Bordelon,

Herman Fuselier

VETERANS MUSEUM

STAFF PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER Families dance to

Xanadu announcesroyal courtfor upcoming season

The ladies of the Krewe of Xanadu gathered at afestive luncheon on Saturday,June 20, to reveal the new Queen of Xanadu and her court. Longtime member

Kris Wartelle

Judy Carbo was chosen to reign over the 2026/2027 season along with her large court that includes nine muses. The muses are Stacey Barton, Jodie Broussard, Desi Comeaux, Kimberly Horn, Tamnie Jackson, Charlene Murphy, Angie O’Bryan, Erin Spears and Kylie Stucker

The ladies all looked stunning. Many wore wonderfully stylish hats. They looked fresh and ready to begin the preparations for what is sure to be amagical year

The gathering took place at the Linden in Lafayette where the krewe also revealed thetheme for the royal ball, Pandora’sBox: Anight where myth walks. Let’sjust say,ladies, if you open that box, expect all sorts of things for which you mayormay not be ready.Pandora’scautionary mythology aside, it lookslike this year will be a busy one for thekrewe. With nine Muses and awonderfulnew queen, therewill be lots of activity and many more partiestocome. We cannot waittosee what you gals have in store. Congratulations to all of thisyear’sroyalty.May your time in the spotlight include plenty of excitingmoments to enjoy.

Erin Spears, Kerri Reynaud, Taylor Naquin, Kayla Gaudet

Johnson, Linda Larkin

Digitalcreatorsare remaking themovie business

Filmmakers already experts at going viral

By The Associated Press

NEW YORK Some of the most promising young filmmakers in the movie business are arriving in Hollywood already expertsat entertaining audiencesand going viral. The twin sensations of “Obsession”and “Backrooms” —both by 20-something YouTubers-turnedfilmmakers —has put anew spotlight on an increasingly well-trod path to the director’schair Hollywood executives are scouring platforms like YouTube, TikTok and Instagram to find the next Steven Spielberg. There, young aspiring filmmakers are not only working on their craft but building arelationship with audiencesthat can transfer to the box office.

“These ﬁlmmakers are in adialogue with their audience from theword‘Go’. Their subscribershave direct input in each iteration of these things,”Mike De Luca, Warner Bros.Motion Picture Group co-chair,said at aconference last month

“Bythe time you get to the movie, they’ve hada billion test screenings.” “Obsession” and“Backrooms” aren’tthe first of their kind. Issa Rae andBo Burnham are among those who began on YouTube.But more and more oftoday’s indie ﬁlmmakers began online. Here are some of the digital creators who have already broken through, and some who may soon.

Kane Parsons Known online as “Kane Pixels,” the 20-year-old Parsons is thedirector of the A24horror hit“Backrooms.” The Petaluma, California, native began publishingvideos onlineatthe age of 9. His videoseries based

on the creepypasta Backroomsmeme led to his feature film debut, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsv e. It’smade $250 million worldwide at the box ofﬁce. Asequel is already in development.

CurryBarker

turesacquired it for $15 million. It’sexpected to soon pass $300 million worldwide in ticket sales. Barker has already made his next ﬁlm, “Anything But Ghosts,” for Blumhouse Productions, and A24has enlisted him for areboot of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.”

Markiplier

The 26-year-old Barker, who grew up in Mobile, Alabama, attended ﬁlm school in Los Angeles for ayear beforehebegan making videos for aYouTube sketch series andeventually the horror short“TheChair”and a found-footage horror film madefor $800, “Milk &Serial.” After TeaShopProductions saw “The Chair,” the company ﬁnanced Barker’s $750,000 production of “Obsession.” After apremiere at theToronto International FilmFestival, FocusFea-

The 36-year-old Markiplier,orMark Fischbach, becamepopular on YouTube for hisplaythrough videos of indievideo games. With more than 38 million subscribers, he created series and podcasts before making hisdirectorialdebut earlier this year with “Iron Lung.” He also wrote and edited thesci-ﬁ horror ﬁlm based on a2022 video game. Made for less than $5 million and self-distributed, “IronLung” grossed more than $50 million.

Jordan Firstman

The 34-year-old Firstman who grew up in New Jersey,

first brokethrough with a series of short skits on Instagram Live posted during the pandemic. Ac om edian, writer and actor Fi rstma n carvedout amore traditional path to filmmaking. He notably co-starred in the 2025 HBO series“ILoveLA” and was aconsulting producer on the animated series “Big Mouth.” But in May this year,Firstman made his directorialdebut with “Club Kid” at the Cannes Film Festival. Theﬁlm,starring Firstman as agay nightclub promoterwho discovers he has ason, was abreakout hit at the festival.After abidding war,A24 acquired it for $17 million.

shorts on YouTube forthe last eight years. Now,he’s turning the most popular of those, “PortraitofGod,” into afeature, with Jordan Peele and Sam Raimi producing. Clark hasalsobeen tapped by Lionsgate andBlumhousetodirect anew “The Blair Witch Project.”

SamEvenson

In April, Neon announced that Evenson will direct a feature adaptation of his viral 2014 12-minute short “Mora.”

DylanClark Clark, anorth Virginia native, has been posting horror

The short, which has been watchedbynearly 5milliononEvenson’sYouTube channel, GrimoireHorror, is about astruggling artist’s searchfor abloody, malformed woman who appears in AI-generated images. Roy Lee, producer of “Weapons,” is producing. It will mark Evenson’s directorialdebut, though he has many visual effects credits, including “Dune: Part Two” and“The Last of Us.”

PHOTOSByKRISWARTELLE

XXXVII JudyCarboand Queen XanaduXXXVIKimi Hargrave

JudyCarbo, Lori Landry, Leslie Carbo

KathyPiccione, Susie Brunet, Brenda Dudley

StephanieMcDaniel, DebbieMills, Chandra Trahan

Lisa

Susan Kerry, Tamie Jackson

Annette Lasseigne, Roxie Fontenot, Julie Herring

Alisha Babin, Amanda Chappell

Laura LeBeouf,ChristieHargrave

Firstman Parsons

BY CHERÉ COEN

Contributing writer

What do lower stresslevels, Vitamin Dand abetter mood have in common? The great outdoors. Research from the American Psychological Associationshows that spending time in nature has cognitive beneﬁtsand improvementsinmood, mental health and emotional well-being. In turn, green spaces can have beneﬁts, such as public parks,community gardens and naturereserves.

This year,the mental health organization AMission for Michael conductedastudy to ﬁnd the best “green getaways” in the UnitedStates. They surveyed 3,006 adults of various ages, genders and geographiclocationsto ﬁnd the best publiclocations that allowed visitors to “feel calm, grounded, and able to switch off” —whether it’sawalking path shaded urban space or larger park.

Hawaii had three locations in the top 10, along with California, Virginia, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Washington andNew Jersey.Louisiana made the list with three greenways, withNew Orleans’ Audubon Park clocking in at No. 16.

AudubonPark, NewOrleans

Noted American landscapearchitect Frederick Law Olmsted created many of the nation’s city parks, including Central Park in New York City and the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina.His nephew,John Charles Olmsted, took on Audubon Park of New Orleans as his ﬁrst solo project of the family’sﬁrm,trans-

TRAVEL TROUBLESHOOTER

By ChristopherElliott

TRAVEL

forming aswamp environment into 340 landscaped acres available to thepublic for recreation.

Today, this sprawling property that stretches from St. Charles Avenuetothe Mississippi River still contains those ancient live oak trees in addition to open lawns, riding stables and a1.8mile paved loop known to locals as “TheFly.” Interspersed throughout the park are lagoons, quiet picnicareas, tennis courts and agolfcourse.

On the river sidelies the awardwinningAudubon Zoo, which nabs its own place on competitions, such as being No. 8inthe 2025 USAToday 10 BestReader’s Choice Awards, theninthconsecutive year that AudubonZoo has landed atop 10 spot in the voting.

What’sNew: The zoo’sJaguar Jungle River’sEdge showcases the animals and life in Mesoamerica, such as capybara, guanaco, cavies and Baird’stapirs, plus arope skyway for spider monkeysto scamper over visitors’ heads.

Don’tMiss: In themiddle of theAudubon ParkLagoon is a birder’sparadise. Known as Bird Island, look for egrets, herons, double-crested cormorantsand anhingas.

BettyVirginiaPark, Shreveport

Shreveport’s Betty Virginia Park, a23-acre public park where visitors may enjoy strolls or jogs along the paved and shaded walking trail, lands at No. 120 on the list.

Betty Goldstein and Virginia

What’sNew: Theplayground separated by small and very small tykes recently received amakeover

Don’tMiss: Leased pooches are welcome.

Moncus Park,Lafayette

The award-winning Moncus Park in the heart of Lafayette was years in the making, mostly pushed by the community in 2005 —bythose whowere eager to save the once working “Horse Farm”ofthe University of Louisiana at Lafayette. The city purchased the property and developed the land into a100-acre multi-use park with walking paths beneath live oak trees, open green spaces and avariety of outdoor attractions. The organization named it No.132 on the list.

“Residents often comehere to decompress after work, stretch out awalk, or spend time outdoors without distraction —amodern urban park that prioritizes ease and breathing room,” the organization said in its determination.

Moncus Park includes alake, an amphitheater,playgrounds, splash pads, native gardens and spots to rest, relax or have a picnic. The park hosts events weekly,including the Lafayette Artisans &Farmers Market held every Saturday,which supports morethan 120 local vendors and small businesses annually

What’sNew: The3,000-squarefoot Paul A. Doerle Sr.Farmers Market Pavilion opened in April, allowing farmers market vendors aprotected space from the elements.

Don’tMiss: Free events forseniors, children and music lovers are offered throughout the summer.For acalendar of events, visit moncuspark.org.

Steere were thedaughters of Albert Colwell(A.C.) Steere and his partner,Elias Goldstein. When A.C. Steere donated the property to thecity,henamed the park in his daughters’ honor.Steere’s homewas located in the South HighlandsAnnex area at 910 Ockley,overlooking the park. Although Betty Virginia is located inside the city’sSouth Highlandsneighborhood, the public park invites all to share in its wooded areas, playground, picnic gazebos, pavilions and open spaces. Themostpopular aspect of the park is the paved walking and jogging trail that winds over theproperty,crossing adrainage canal on little bridges and weaving over slight elevations. It’s just less than amile, and visitors usually complete the loop in about 15 minutes.

United Airlines changedflightbut neverinformedpassenger

Irecently experienced what canonlybe described as atravel nightmare with United Airlines.

disconnected,leaving me stranded.

things right? —Krupa Singampalli, Union City,Calif.

Christopher Elliott

Ihad booked flights from SanFrancisco to Auckland, New Zealand, and back through Cairns,Australia, formyfamily of four.Wepurchased business class upgrades using 30,000 miles and a$600 copay per passenger.The outbound trip went smoothly, but our returnbecame adisaster At 1a.m. in Cairns,I checked theUnited app and discovered my 74-year-oldmother’s statusonthe Cairns-Brisbane flight had changed to “wait-listed.”I immediately called United customer service.Arepresentative told me the flight was “not operating” and rerouted all four of us through Sydney instead. When we arrived at Cairns Airport,Virgin Australia, whichoperated the first legofour return flight, told us that only my mother had aconfirmed ticket.The rest of us had nothing.I called United again.An agent said Qantas had my ticket but couldn’t explain what that meant. Qantas couldn’t find anyreservation without aconfirmation number,which Ididn’thave. Unitedthen offered athree-way call with Qantas but

While Iwas on the phone trying to sort this out,the flight departed without us.The next Unitedagent claimedwehad seats on a flight fromSydney,but couldn’texplain howweweresupposedtoget there from Cairns. Qantas staff at the airportwere dismissive and refused to help.

Feeling unwell and desperate to get home, Ipurchased four one-way tickets on Virgin Australia from Cairns to Sydney for nearly $890, plus $60 in baggagefees. When we reachedSydney, Ilearned United had canceled our tickets because we didn’t boardthe assignedQantas flight —which never appeared in my app, email or texts.

The Sydney United staff were helpful and rebooked us,but our business class upgrades were gone.

United claims theysent aschedule changenotification weeks before to the emailaddresses on file.I never received it.When Icontacted United’scustomer service, arepresentative offered $100 travel certificates andsaid the matter was closed. United refuses to refund the $1,800 in upgrade fees or reimburse the tickets I had to buy I’ve been aloyal Unitedcustomer for years. How canthey change my itinerary, fail to properly communicate it, forceme to buy new tickets and then refuse to make

Youpaid United for aservice it didn’tdeliver.That’s thebottom line here. When an airline makes aschedule change, it has alegal obligation to notify passengers. United claims it sent an email before your ﬂight

Butasingle email sent six weeks before departure —especially for acomplex international itinerary involving partner airlines —isn’tenough. Airlines should send multiple notiﬁcations as the departure date approaches, and they should require you to acknowledge them.

According to theDepartment of Transportation, when aflight is significantly changed and a passenger doesn’taccept the new itinerary, theairline must provide arefund. United rerouted you through Sydney on partner airlines without ensuring you actually had confirmed seats. That’sa massive breakdown in coordination between United and its partners.

The situation at Cairns Airport was absurd. Youbought aUnited ticket. Unitedshould have been responsible for getting you home —not Qantas, not Virgin Australia. Instead, yougot caught in ablame game between three airlines, with United pointing to Qantas, Qantas asking for information you didn’t have and Virgin Australia washing its hands of the situation.

Could you have been moreproactive in monitoring your reservation? Maybe.

On acomplicated itinerary like this,you’ll wanttocheck your itineraryfrequently in the weeks before departure. Sign up for textmessage alerts in addition to email notiﬁcations. Save screenshotsofyour original booking and anychanges.

Youcould have escalated this to aUnited supervisor when the ﬁrst agentcouldn’thelp. Ipublish executive contact information for United on my consumer advocacy site, Elliott.org.These contacts often have moreauthority to resolve complex issues than frontline agents. Youdid an excellent job docu-

menting your case with confirmation numbers, timestamps and the names of agents you spoke with. That paper trail is so important when you’re fighting fora refund. After my advocacy team got involved, United refunded the $600 copays —astart, but farfrom what you deserve. The airline still refuses to reimburse your Virgin Australia tickets. United maintains that because it had rebooked you on aQantas flight you knew nothing about, the case is closed. This is exactly the kind of runaround that drives travelers crazy.Airlines hide behind their contracts of carriage and partner agreements while passengers get stuck with the bill. Youpaid United foracomplete journey.United didn’tdeliver.I recommendyou contact your credit card company to see if you can recover the rest of your expenses.

Christopher Elliott is the founder of Elliott Advocacy,anonproﬁt organization that helps consumers solve their problems. Email him at chris@elliott.org.

Thebeloved $100 basset houndwewon’t ever forget

BY GUY C. WOOD Contributing writer

Human Condition

Stump was abasset hound the saddest, droopiest-eyed, longest-eared, shortest-legged dog in the animal kingdom. (The breed is also supposedly the dumbest breed in the dog family.) Ihad acrazy beagle once, but she still wasn’tas great-looking as Stump. We had to drive across Lake Pontchartraintoget him. He was therunt of the litter,and there was some problem with his American Kennel Club status, so the owners sold him for $100! This was still alot of money to me, but Iwas told that if he had papers, his cost would have been more like $300. We brought an empty shoebox with us and Stump rode home in that, with my 10-year-old son holding the box the entire trip. Stump became housebroken pretty quickly,but he did have some trouble walking —hekept stepping on his ears!Whenmy wife brought him to his ﬁrst doctor visit, the veterinariansaid, “Well, we know who wins the ‘cute award’ for this week!”

As he got alittle older,Stump’s

hormoneskicked in anditwas time for him“to getﬁxed.”

My wife willingly took him to the vet while Istayed homewith thekids. Istill regret that decision. When he gotout of the car,he gave me asorrowfullook that said,“Why did youlet them do this to me?” Ifeltsosorry for the dog. It wasa “For Whom theBell Tolls” moment for me.Mywife saw nothing wrong with it,but then again, shehad nothing to relate to Time passed, however,and he grewtobealarge adultbasset hound with agreat nose. On walks, we’d havetostop while he sniffed the various patches of grass,usuallyleaving his mark

Steppingbackwithout endingfriendships

Dear Harriette: Do youthink it’s possible to outgrow certain people and friendships? Recently,I’ve been feeling like I could move on from some childhoodfriendships. Imoved away for college, and Ican’t relate to some old friends who stayed in our small hometown. I’m growing at arapid pace, living on my own in New York and navigating problems on my own; people from my hometown can’teven believe it. Some of the conversations Ihave with people Ionce felt so close to now lack nuance, leaving me uninterested in talking. It’s almost as if I’ve grown up while at college, and they’ve stayed in their same high school mindset Ifeel like it’ll be cruel if Icompletely stop talking to them,but Ialso have no desire to make an effort to reach out. Do you have any advice on how to navigate this? —Evolution of Friendship Dear Evolution of Friendship: Not everybody stays close forlife. It is natural that as you have new experiences and your world expands, your interests may change. That doesn’t mean you have to let your childhood friends go, but you will likely talk with them less. The best thing you can do is accept them for who they are. Don’tjudge them —oryourself. Just bewith them when the moment calls for it. Listen to learn what they are interested in discussing, andbe fully presentin thoseconversations. When you are around others who want to explore other topics, engage them in that way. Go withthe ﬂow Dear Harriette: One of my closest friends is currently dealingwith

BORDELON

Continued from page1D

the topstep, Iwould pick him up by his butt and lift him the rest of the way.Hewould always try to save face by giving ahalf-hearted growl, as if to say,“I’ll let you lift me up, but Idon’treally need it.”

The last timehetried to go down thesteps to the backyard, he actually fell downall four of them. God bless him,hestill tried, but thepoor thing just couldn’tdo it anymore. When he grew cancerous tumorsonhis body,weknew,sadly that his timehad come.

on top before we started walking again. Since he was ahound, he also had this wonderful howl he used when we ignored him or when he wanted to go outside. Stumpwas agreat dog for the kids, and he would roughhouse with them without biting or hurting them. The kids grew up while Stumpgrew older

When he was 15 years old, the end was obviously near.Hewas starting to go blind and his hind legs were giving out.Hecould still go down theback steps to do his business, but couldn’tmake the tall last step intothe house. He could still lifthis front legs but not his back ones. When he was at

On his ﬁnal day,mywifeand I put him into ourvan without any argument from him.I wonder now if he knew where he wasgoing or if he thought he wasjust going for aride. Like all dogs, he loved to stick his head out of the window,and in his case, those long ears would really ﬂap in the wind. Butonthis trip, he could only lie down on the back seat.

The veterinarian’splace had stables on-site, as she took care of horses as well as the other animals. After discussing his situation, the vet agreed that his quality of life had sunk to alevel that madehim miserable. My wife and Icried likebabies when we gave theOKtoput him to sleep. She took him from us, leash and all,

and told us to go home. She would take care of him With tears in our eyes, we left Stumpsmelling all the great scents from the horses. His nose wasasgood as ever,and he was so engrossed in the smells that he didn’teven notice us leave. By this time, he was almost completely blind. Afew days later,wereceived several things from the vet. She ﬁrst sent anote assuring us that Stump didn’tfeel any pain. She gave him the injection as he was snifﬁng up astorm and he eventually just laid down and passed away.Besides his collar and leash, she sent his ashes in acontainer and aplaster of paris mold of one of his huge paws. We still have those more than 20 years later He wasthe best dog we ever had, and Istill miss him —Wood lives in Jefferson.

Advocate readers may submit stories of about 500 words to TheHuman Condition at features@theadvocate.com or The Advocate, Features, 10705 Rieger Road, Baton Rouge, LA 70809. There is no payment, and stories will be edited.Authors shouldinclude theircityof residence.

Harriette Cole SENSE AND SENSITIVITy

so many family issues it’s hard to count. At thebeginning of thesemester,her parents separated andﬁled for divorce due to her fatherhavinganaffair that spanned herparents’entire marriage. After ﬁnding outaboutthe affair,her mother,arecovering alcoholic, relapsed and had to be hospitalized. My friend keeps blaming herself for everything going wrong in her family,and she won’tlisten to herfriends when we try to console herand let her know herfamily drama isn’ther fault. Recently,she’s begun to feel physically sick due to everythinggoing on in her life andissharing with us that she’s beenstruggling withgetting up, eatingand other simple, everydaythings.I’m starting to get concerned for her and her wellbeing. Do youhaveany advice for me on how to let her know that Iamhere for her if she needs anything? —Friend in Need

Dear Friend in Need: It probably seems like the world is crashing all aroundyourfriend, and it’s naturalthat itisdifﬁcult for her to manage. Youcan be agood friend to her in two ways: Make yourself as available as is comfortable for you by checking in on her regularly and spending time together when you can; andbystrongly encouraging hertosee atherapist. Amental health professionalcan help her navigatethischallenging time andhelp her access the tools she needs to surviveand perhaps even thrive.

Send questions to askharriette@harriettecole. com.

Claire’sPromise Inc. aims to raise awareness of the impact of impaired driving, advocate for victims and their familiesand support survivors, according to the nonproﬁt’swebsite.

FORT BUTE

Continuedfrom page1D

along the Mississippi RiverinBaton Rouge and Natchez, they were well entrenched. That is,until Spain’scolonial governor for the Louisiana territory BernardodeGálvez, and his mixed ethnic collection of 1,400 Spanish, Acadianand German troopsmarched from NewOrleans to stage an attack on Sept.7,1779, andsent the Britisharmy running to Baton Rouge.

Today,most drivers along River Road would never know thata fort filledwith red-coated Britishsoldiers once stood at the East BatonRouge-Iberville parish line. Which is why the local chapters of Sons and Daughters of theRevolutionspent three years raising more than $4,000 for the historical marker’screation andinstallation.

The sign notonly concisely told the story of what happened at the site but alsoincluded the “America 250” logo.

PROVIDED IMAGE FROM THE LOUISIANA STATEMUSEUM

‘Bernardo de Gálvez’ by an unidentified artist ca.1900, based on an earlierpainting by José de Alfaro

“Engineer Archibald Robertson supervised the planning and construction of Fort Bute, whichconsistedofa ‘blockhouse with asmall stockaded fort,’”Meyers writes. “It housed50men andone ofﬁcer, but,inanemergency, it couldbe madetoaccommodate 200.”

Namedfor Britishearl

The fort was named for John Stuart,3rd Earl of Bute, whoserved as primeminister of Great Britain under King George III from 176263,and whilethe British were establishing trade dominance, theAmericans triedbut failedto persuadeWest Florida to jointheir cause.

fulﬁllment of adream. It is the beginning of amission.”

With the title comes a$15,000 scholarship. Bordelon is pursuing amaster’sdegree in strategic communication and received the $1,000 Women in Mass Communication scholarship at the pageant. Before being crowned winner Bordelon wonthe healthand ﬁtness and evening-wear preliminaries Bordelon founded Claire’s Promise in honor of her lifelong friend, ClaireZeller,who died in 2024 after getting into acar with an impaired driver.Zeller was24.

‘SHUFFLE’

Continued from page1D

million YouTube views), “Cornbread and Greens” and “Love Slide.” Upcoming gigs stretch from Opelousas to Oslo, Norway Cupid hosts an all-white attire, Rock the Boat cruiseaboard the Creole Queen on July 3during Essence Fest in New Orleans.

“It was born out of unimaginable heartbreak,” Bordelon explained in asocial media post.“Ipromised myself that if Iwas ever given this opportunity,I would use it to serve with my whole heart, and that is exactly what Iplantodo.”

Bordelon will vie for thetitle of Miss America 2027 on Sept. 6in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Other Miss Louisianafinalists were Katherine McCullars, ﬁrst runner-up; LaurynVernon, secondrunner-up; De’Ahmya Whaley,third runner-up and Anna Claire Lemoine, fourth runner-up.

“Now kick, now kick, now kick, now kick, nowwalkitbyyourself.”

Shufﬂe on, Cupid.

Herman Fuselier is executive director ofthe St. LandryParish Tourist Commission. Alongtime journalistcovering Louisiana music and culture, he lives in Opelousas. His “Zydeco Stomp” show airs at noonSaturdays on KRVS 88.7 FM.

“BetweenMay 30 andJune 2, a careless driverplowed straight into themarker and destroyed it,” said Paul Bledsoe, secretaryfor the Sons of the American Revolution chapter The marker has since disappeared. Bledsoe said thetwo chapters aren’toffering areward for its return.

“Rightnow,we’re working on getting thedriver’sinsurance company to compensate the cost of the sign,”hesaid. “And we’re working withthe stateand theCityofSt. George on getting it replaced.”

The chapters receivedthe sign last September, but there was some confusion as to who would be responsible for installing it —the Louisiana Department of Transportationand Developmentorthe City of St. George.

“The stretch of the River Road fromGardere Lane to theIberville Parishline, which is about 21/2 miles, changed from state ownership to ownership by theCity of St George,”Bledsoe said.

Butthe chapters’ initial agreement forthe installation process was made with the state, which eventually placed themarker

“I believe thatthrough working

with the state, the marker will be replaced,” Bledsoe said. Importance remains Still, thesign’sabsence devalues neitherthe organizations’effort commemorating the site northe story of what happened there.

Bledsoe said people have been talking about putting amarker there for years.

“But untilrecently,the evidence that is necessary to prove the fort’s location wasn’teasily available,” he said.

RoseMeyers’ 1976 book, “A History of Baton Rouge, 1699-1812,” is an often citedsource forthe Fort Bute story.Meyerswas the head librarian for the East Baton Rouge Parish Library’sDowntown Branch, now called the River Center Branch.

Herbook was published by LSUPress for the Baton Rouge Bicentennial Corp. and includes chapters chroniclingLouisiana’s capital city under both British and Spanish rule, beginning with King GeorgeIII’sproclamationofGreat Britain’s 1763 takeover of West Florida following the French and Indian War.

Meyerswritesthatthe British anchored their frigates there until theycould build a“strong new fort in West Florida.”

Fort Bute also became important in Britain’sdefensive strategy

The British sent more troops to Fort Bute and theirother fortiﬁed posts at Baton Rouge and Natchez, establishing ablockade on the river In 1779, Meyers points out, though Gálvez was young, he proved to be acompetent governor for Spain, having anticipated impending warand striking ﬁrst by marching his troops from New Orleans up the Mississippi River in August, with relentless sun, thick humidity and merciless insects. Frenchartist Augusto FerrerDalmau offers what is considered oneofthe most realisticdepictions of Galvez and his troops tromping through aswamp in his 2018 painting, “La Marcha de Gálvez.” Closertohome, late BatonRouge sculptor Frank Hayden created a more impressionistic viewofthe samescene in his bronze “Marcha de Gálvez,”fountaininGálvez Plaza at North Boulevard Town Square.

Both artworks tell the story of the troops who arrived at Fort Bute on Sept. 6, then attackedatdawnon Sept.7,forcing theBritish’s retreat to BatonRouge.The BritishsurrenderedtoGálvez on Sept.21, 1779, at the Baton Rouge fort.

The markerstood forthreedays. The site of Fort Bute is unmarked again.

To contact the General Philemon Thomas Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution with any information about the missing marker,visit lassar.org/generalphilemon-thomas/ or email info@ gbrsar.org.

Email RobinMilleratromiller@ theadvocate.com.

PROVIDED PHOTO

Late Baton Rougesculptor Frank Hayden’sfountain, ‘Marcha de Gálvez,’ in GalvezPlaza,commemorates BernardodeGálvez’smarch from NewOrleans to Baton Rougetoexpel

AT THE TABLE

Corn andshrimpchowder asummertimetable treat

Bounty of fresh, seasonal ingredients makes foraneasydish

BY DEBRA TAGHEHCHIAN Contributing writer

Iwas asked to select acouple of recipes from the cookbook, “Cooking Up AStorm: Recipes Lost and Found from TheTimes Picayune of New Orleans,” to cook and writeabout As Iglanced over the recipes, Ikept in mind the seasons and what Icould make that represented summertime. Ithought back to childhood summers when my father would bring home apickup truck loadoffresh-pickedcorn and we would workall daytoprocess that corn to make corn macque choux forfreezing. It was alot of labor involvingthe wholefamily but it did guarantee that we would havecorn on the Sunday dinner table. (Thatmeal was eaten at noon, and yes, we called it dinner.) Ialsorecalledsummervisitstoour camp on Pecan Island. Those involved cleaningshrimp and crabbing. As Ihave written before,cleaning shrimp meant cleaningand freezing a whole ice chest of the crustaceans. Nothing was really done on asmall scale with us, but this was true for many families. Having food reserves in thefreezer was common,especially locallysourced food So, with that in mind, Iselected Mrs. Francis Toomy’sFresh Corn and Shrimp Chowder. It’sarecipe that includes items that arein season and easily found fresh in my area. In fact, as Ilook over the recipeand think back to my youth, all that Iwould have needed to buyatthe store was acan of cream-style corn. Iwould have had the rest of theingredients on hand, fresh from the garden or fromthe freezer Icould have even used ourfrozen corn macque choux in place of the fresh cornand cream style corn, as macque chouxhas a creamy andchunky consistency

Idid buy fresh cornand acan of cream-style corn for the recipe today.Friendsgaveme wonderful shrimp that they had cleaned and frozen. If Iwere having guestsover,I would serve this as astarter and then fried catﬁsh, smothered potatoes and coleslaw

Givethisrecipe atry while these ingredients are at their peak of ﬂavor.Also,always remember that arecipe is justa guide.Makeit your own by adding or subtracting ingredients to suit you andyourfamily’s taste. Happy cooking!

By The Associated Press

Today is Sunday,June 28, the179thday of 2026. There are 186 days left in the year

Todayinhistory:

On June 28, 1914, in an act that helpedtrigger World WarI,Archduke FranzFerdinand of Austria and his wife, Sophie, were shot to death in Sarajevo by Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip. Alsoonthis date:

In 1863, during the Civil War, U.S.President AbrahamLincoln appointed Maj. Gen.George G. Meade as the new commander of the Army of the Potomac, following the resignationofMaj. Gen. Joseph Hooker

In 1919, the Treaty of Versailles was signedin France, formally ending the First World War.

In 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed theAlien Registration Act, alsoknown as the Smith Act, which required all noncitizens ages 14 and older residinginthe U.S. to be registeredand ﬁngerprinted

In 1969,riots broke out followinga policeraid at the StonewallInn, an LGBTQ+ bar in New York’sGreenwichVillageneighborhood,leading to six days of violent proteststhat servedasa watershed moment in theLGBTQ+ rights movement.

In 1997, boxerMike Tyson was disqualifiedin his rematch with WBA heavyweight titleholder Evander Holyfield after Tyson bit Holyfield twiceinthe third round, including biting offa portion of Holyfield’sright ear

In 2000, sevenmonths after hewas found adrift in the Straits of Florida, ElianGonzalez was returned to his native Cuba.

In 2017, aman armed with ashotgun attacked the ofﬁces of The Capital newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland, killing four journalists and a staffer before police stormed thebuilding and arrested him; authoritiessaid JarrodRamos had along-running grudge against thenewspaper for its reporting of aharassmentcaseagainst him. (Ramos wouldbeconvicted and sentenced to six life sentences plus 345years in prison.)

In 2019, avowed White supremacistJames Alex Fields, who deliberately drovehis car into acrowd of counterprotesters during a“Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia,killing ayoung woman and injuringdozens, apologized for his actions before being sentenced to life in prison on federal hate crime charges

In 2022, British socialite GhislaineMaxwell was sentenced to 20years in prison forhelping lure teenage girls to be sexually abusedbythe late American ﬁnancier Jeffrey Epstein.

Today’sBirthdays: Filmmaker-comedian Mel Brooks is 100. Diplomat and politicianHansBlix is 98. Actor Bruce Davison is 80. Actor Kathy Batesis78. Football HallofFamer JohnElway is 66. Actor John Cusack is 60. Actor Mary StuartMasterson is 60. Actor Tichina Arnoldis57. Filmmaker-actorMike Whiteis56. Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Muskis55. Actor Alessandro Nivola is 54. Country singer-TV personality KelliePickler is 39. Olympic track gold medalist Elaine Thompson-Herah is 34.

Dear Miss Manners: My dear mother told me that oneshould never clap for the speakers at Memorial Day observances, and that one should depart in silence to mark the solemnityof the occasion. At aMemorial Day event, Inoticed that everyone clapped for the speakersand chatted casually at the end of the event.

Wasmydear mother mistaken?

GentleReader: No. Well, she is mistaken only in thinking that other people know thedifference between respect and approval.

supposed to be serious (althoughthis did not apply tothe reception). Music performed in houses of worship was thought to be intended forthe glory of God, not forthe pleasure of the congregation —now often actually referred to as the audience.

It hastodowith theshow-business mentalitythat has prevailed for some time. Everyone is either aperformer —preferably astar —oranaudience member.And audiences clap toshow their appreciation for the effort made to entertain, educate or enlighten us.

But as your mother remembers, not everything is done “for” us. Sometimes we are present at solemn or ceremonial occasions, which are not subject to our approval.

Clapping was not done at funerals and memorial services,nor even at weddings, where theceremony was

Miss Manners is not surprised that the previous attitudes have all but disappeared. People are used to stamping “like” on pretty much everything,and clapping is thein-person version

Dear Miss Manners: What should be done when someonewho works foryou, such as ahouse cleaner,gives your child an exceedingly generous cash graduation gift?

It was not solicited in any way,not even implicitly by sending an announcement. Ithanked her before the card was even opened, telling her she shouldn’t have; after it was opened,I sent atext thanking her and telling her it wastoo generous.

My child is, of course, sending ahandwritten thank-you as well. But it feels really inappropriatefor us to accept such agenerous gift.

GentleReader: Returningpresents to

their donors is an insult, however kind your motives are. But Miss Manners would think that such avaluable and devoted employee deserves abonus. To makeitclear that the twotransactions are unrelated, you should waita short time, makethe amount different (preferably larger) and accompany it with astatement of appreciation.

Dear Miss Manners: Ihave inherited about twodozen tiny cotton napkins, about 12 inches square. They have lovely embroidery in one corner and scalloped hems, making them meditative to iron. Ihave occasionally used them under alamp on aside table as they are so pretty Since they are so small, Ican’timagine how they are used at the table. I have plenty of linen dinner napkins.

Gentle Reader: And now you have luncheon napkins —or, if you don’tgive dainty luncheons, large cocktail napkins. The advantage of the latter is that you do not have to keep ironing them because, Miss Manners notices, everyone gives them back unused.

Sendquestions to Miss Manners at her website, www.missmanners.com or to her email, dearmissmanners@gmail. com.

Dear Heloise: Reneerecently commented about tryingtoread impossibly small print against similar colored backgrounds. This has been athorn in my side for years! Additionally, the location, color and font size of aproduct’sexpirationdate is aproblem. Expiration dates should be clearly stamped in contrasting ink on the topof the product, whether it’s a jarlid or abox top. Idon’tknow about anyone else, but Iselect products by looking at thefront of the label because this is what’s visible on the shelf. The presentation of the topofthe package doesn’t matter. Idon’tknow why manufacturers won’tmake this simple change. Like Renee, I’ve stopped using some products because of this.Ihad apositive outcomebycalling acustomer service department about their impossible-toﬁnd and read date. It was amajor brand of spaghetti sauce thatcomes in aglass jar.The sauce is dark red, and theyused atiny dark blue print on the shoulder of thejar.Until the jarwas empty, I couldn’tsee the date. Icalled and politely

explained the issue,and Isaid that I wouldn’tbuy it again. Maybe mine wasn’tthe only complaint because theystartedputting the date on the lid afew months later, and Istarted buying the sauce again. —Linda D.,via email

Shortermattresses

Dear Heloise: When Ipurchased anew bed, the mattresswas 16 inches, and the box platform was 11 inches. I’m 60 inches tall, so I’d have to climb into my bed. The salesperson then notiﬁed me that theyhad a“half box size” (5-6 inches). This worked perfectly for me and was alittle less expensive. So,ask the salesperson if they carry shorter (half-box) platforms when buying your next bed.

Nancy McF., via email

Leavinga burner on

Dear Heloise: This idea cametomeas away to help me from unintentionally leaving aburner on. Whenusing aburner,position the knob slightly off the vertical or horizontal line at whatever setting you’re using it.This way,after you are done using therange, all you’ll need to do is quickly scan thestove to check that all the burners are off.

Iwas prompted to do this after my spouse unintentionally left burners on, and Icould smell that something wasn’t correct. —Jim, via email Jim,thank you for this hint. It’ssoeasy to forget to turn the burners off, but it’s very dangerous to leave them on and unattended after we use the stove. —Heloise Broken spaghettistraps

Dear Heloise: Ihave two dresses with spaghetti straps that Ilove wearing during along, hot summer day.I hung up both dresses on hangers over the winter,but when Iremoved them from the garment bag, Isaw that the straps werebroken. How should Ihang these twodresses when Iget done repairing them? —Brianna, in NiagaraFalls, New York Brianna, if the dress manufacturer didn’tsupply the dresses with side loops so that you could hang up your dresses, then either hang them over apants hanger (usually at the waist), or clip the bodice to askirt hanger.Ifyou clip these dresses, be sure to use foam under the clips to avoid crushing or marring velvet, silk or satin. —Heloise

Sendahinttoheloise@heloise.com.

PHOTO By DEBRA TAGHEHCHIAN

Mrs. Francis Toomy’sFresh Corn and Shrimp Chowder

PROVIDED PHOTOS

FARLEFT: TheBilleaudSugar Factory in the late 1960s; ABOVE: Theiconicgears in front of the Billeaud Companies Office in Broussard; LEFT: Martial F. Billeaud Sr immigrated to the Broussard area with hisparents when he was 3in1840.

SWEETHISTORY

BY JOANNA BROWN Staff writer

Today,Broussard is thebustling crossroad of Lafayette Parish, transporting people and goods along the U.S. 90 corridor amid wavesofneighborhoods,shops, industrial sites and farm land

But 100 years ago, it was all sugar cane. Martial Billeaud planted his ﬁrst cropin1866, 25 years after his family immigrated to Louisiana from France. He worked as ablacksmith beforeenlisting in the Louisiana 26th Infantry during the Civil Warand turned his attention to agricultural concerns after the war —beginningwith cotton and corn before transitioning to sugar cane and building a sugar mill

The enterprise proved proﬁtable, helpedbythe arrival of the railroad, and by 1893, Billeaud SugarFactoryhad grown to a large, modern concernthat would shape the areafor generationsto come.

“We’re all sixth generation,” said Paul Eason, who serves as chairman of the board of directors for Billeaud Companies. “We knew it, we remember it. We went to the sugar factory as kids, seeing it operating, and Ihopeour next generation can enjoyour storiesaboutit. That’swhy we chose to do abook, because it has changed aroundhere.”

In order to preserve their history, membersofthe Billeaud family whosit on theboard of directors commissioned abook that spansoveracentury of the company, including amajor shift in 1979. Stockholders(members of thegrowingBilleaud clan) votedtoclose the factory and go into commercial real estate, seeinganopportunity to moveout of the struggling agricultural sector

and into land development.

Lafayette writer and editor LanaHenry documented the story of how BilleaudSugar Factorybecame BilleaudCompanies

in “From Sweetening the Table to Sweetening the Deal: AHistory of BilleaudCompanies,” released by theUniversityofLouisiana at Lafayette Pressthis year

The book is afascinating read for Lafayette Parish residents who interact daily with places like

Martial F. Billeaud Sr.ElementarySchool, shop at businesses in developments like Sweetland Centre in Broussard, or handle business at thePinhook Ofﬁce Courts —amongother developments that Billeaud Companies has handled over thedecades.

“Chuck Billeaud (former board chairman) was my right-hand man,” saidHenry.“He wasa walking encyclopedia of knowledge about the industry,this company,the family,the community—and introduced me to so manypeople whoall had some sort of lived experience with the company.Itgave me such adepth and richness, and that’swhat I’m mostinterested in. Ilove oral historyand being able to write about something that has several generations to it.”

BilleaudCompanies held a book signing at their Broussard

headquarters last month, in the historic homeat106 St. Nazaire Road that has housed generations of family members and workers at the company,asthe community around it grew and changed.

District Attorney DonLandry attended the signing, both to show support forahomegrown business and foramore personal reason —getting to see the house where he grew up.

“I have manymemories here,” he said, pointing out where his bedroom was.

Landry’sfather managed the surrounding sugar cane operations —asea of ﬁelds that are now hometoacres of commerce. The Walmart and HomeDepot across the street from Billeaud Companies on St. Nazaire Road were built on Billeaud land, pointing the way for population growth in south Lafayette Parish. The topic of legacy is afrequent one at board meetings, Eason said.

“At our meeting, we werejust saying how much we all treasure this,” he said. “Wehope the next generation thinks as much of it as we do. We’re sure trying to instill it in them.We’ve been blessed.”

Learnmore about “From Sweetening the Table to Sweetening the Deal: AHistoryofthe Billeaud Companies” on the UL Press website.

VisittoJackson’s LemuriaBooks ‘a sweetdevouring’

In acolumn acoupleof weeks ago, Iwrote about my recent road trip to Jackson, Mississippi, whereIvisited the home of the late novelist and short story writer Eudora Welty,which is now open as amuseum. There are books everywhere in Welty’shouse, atestament to her passion for reading.

Jackson offers visitors another monument to Welty’s reading life at Banner Hall, a shopping venue that includes a huge sign bearing Welty’s love letter to the written word. It’s aquote from “One Writer’sBeginnings,” the Welty memoir in which she celebrates reading as afeast for the senses. Here’swhat Welty saidabout her passion for books:“Icannot remember atime when Iwas not Ilove with them —with the books themselves,cover and binding and the paper they were printed on, with their

DannyHeitman

smell andtheir weight and with their possessioninmyarms, captured and carried off to myself.”

The sign hangsoutside LemuriaBooks, which just marked its 50th anniversary as an independent bookstore in Jackson.

“WeatLemuria believe in the valueofthe physical book,”the management proclaims on its website. “With ﬂoor-to-ceiling shelves, that quintessential book smell, and alittle bit of Southern hospitality, you’ll feel right at home.”

An extensivecollection of ﬁrst-edition collectible volumes underscoresLemuria’senthu-

siasm for books as physical objects. New books are part of the mix,too, with an emphasis on regional authors. Portraits of Southern writers hang among theshelves, areminder that authors suchasRoy Blount, Lewis Grizzard and Rick Bragg have madeLemuria adestination. Louisianaisrepresented well in theinventory,which includes arange of titles about New Orleanshistory and avariety of photography books by C.C. Lockwood Ibought acopy of “The Complete Stories of Truman Capote,” amasterwork by the gadﬂy author who was born in New Orleans. Lastyear,toﬁll agap in my reading life, I’d picked up Capote’s“Breakfast at Tiffany’s” at Baton Rouge’s TBR Books& Tea. I’d somehow never gotten around to tackling that popular novel, and thanks to thegood folks at TBR, it’s

HARDCOVERNONFICTION

1. “CourageCan Save Us”byRye

now off myto-be-read list. Reconnecting with Capote through theshort stories Itook homefrom Lemuria has been a highlight of mysummer reading so far.I’d made ahead start on that reading project while sittingonasofa at Lemuria, where ample seating encourages customers to stay awhile, indulging books as an immersive pleasure. Lemuria takes its namefrom amythical lost continent where, as the story goes, the locals gave birthtobooks as away to connect with each other.At their best, summer books are their own continent, aseparate world where we can get lost for aspell.

Welty called it aform of possession, and in this, as in so manyother things, she was surely right

Email Danny Heitman at danny@dannyheitman.com

LemuriaBooksinJackson, Miss.,features alargecollectionofworksbyregional authors. The store recentlymarked its 50th anniversary.

4. “Atmosphere” by Taylor Jenkins Reid

5. “Dolly All theTime”byAnnabel Monaghan

6. “Jujutsu Kaisen,Vol. 30” by Gege Akutami

7. “Want to KnowaSecret?”byFreida McFadden

PHOTO By DANNy HEITMAN

STAFF PHOTO By BRADBOWIE

AuthorLana Henryvisits withGeorgeBilleaud while signing acopyofher book that profiles the Billeaud Companies.

REALITYCHECK

Virtual film production technology hasmade it to Louisiana

BY RICH COLLINS Staff writer

Fans of the Disney+ TV series “TheMandalorian,” whichdebuted in 2019,appreciateits family-friendly take on thespace Westerngenre.

Film production nerds hail the show for an entirely differentreason: its groundbreaking “virtual production” process.

Most scenes for shows andmoviesare either ﬁlmed in real-life locations or in climate-controlled soundstages, wherecrews construct elaborate physical sets to replicate the realworld.Filmmakers also shoot in frontofgiantpaintedorfabric “green screens” thatcan bereplaced with other images duringthe post-production process.

But“The Mandalorian” producerstriedsomething new,shooting themajorityof the show’s scenes inside agiant, wraparound LED screen

ä See VIRTUAL, page 2E

What’s

Inc

speaksduring the 2025 Jefferson Chamber of Commerce legislativebreakfast. Hechtisstepping down at the end of the year and will assumethe newly created position of CEO emeritus.

BY STEPHANIE RIEGEL Staff writer

As thepresident and CEO of GNOInc., Michael Hecht averages about six media interviews and two groundbreakings or ribbon cuttings aweek, plus ahandful of keynote speeches and panel discussions. And that’snot including the actual work of doing economic development—pitching site selectors on the advantages of southLouisiana, lining up incentive packages for potential companies and closing big deals.

“I actuallydid apie chart of my current job, anditcame outto 115%,”Hecht said. Now,after 18 years as themetro

area’sdefacto ambassador, chief salesperson andtop economicdevelopment leader,Hecht, 55, announced last week that he is stepping down at the end of the year andwill assume thenewly created position of CEO emeritus —arole designedtoensure asmooth transitionwith his successor,while enabling himtocontinueworking on “big picture” projects that have deﬁned his tenure at GNO,Inc. of late. Hechtsaidthe decision to step back from the day-to-daygrind of TV morningshow interviewsand late-night strategy sessions was his alone, at atime in his life in career when he is seeking more “personal ﬂexibility.”

It also will free him up to launch his own governmental relationsand consulting business, which he said will not present aconﬂict of interest with his new emeritus roleatGNO, Inc.

“Wewill be carefulhow we struc-

ture it,” Hechtsaid. “But Ithinkthe realityofitisIwillbeina position to drive alot of business to the city, regionand thestate.”

Hecht insists he is not leaving his native NewOrleans, at least notimmediately. As CEO emeritus, he will be apaidemployee of GNO,Inc. for up to three years. Still, it will be asigniﬁcant change foranorganizationthatisnow on the fast-track to ﬁll his position by theend of theyear,when hisnew rolebecomes effective.

Twosources familiar with the search committeeprocesssaid the names of apotential replacementare already floating around andthatthe organization is seeking in its next leader someone who is from the city or theregion, or at least, very familiarwithits quirks, strengths, weaknesses andthe key people whomake things happen.

STAFF FILE PHOTO By BRETTDUKE

Michael Hecht, president and CEO of GNO

Asia Gagnon, left, and KennyMorrison work behindan‘extended reality’ screen in the studio at WyES The technologycan displayeverything from theexterior of an exotic planet to the inside of aspaceship, allowingactors to inhabit virtual worlds.

STAFFPHOTOSByENAN CHEDIAK

Kenny Morrison demonstrates howthe ‘extended reality’screen works at WyES in NewOrleans.

that can display everything from the exterior of an exotic planet to the inside of a spaceship, allowing actors to inhabit virtual worlds during their performance and saving producers time and money by not having to create digital backgrounds during postproduction

Seven years ago, that process was revolutionary Today, it has become another money-saving tool for producers of movies, TV shows, commercials and all forms of ﬁlmed media.

In Louisiana, a state once dubbed “Hollywood South” because of generous tax incentives that spawned a bustling ﬁlm and TV industry at least two companies and one university have invested in high-definition LED screens, special camera-tracking hardware, powerful computers and software to support “Mandalorian”-style virtual production on a smaller scale.

They’re hoping that the new technology will help rekindle interest in the state’s digital entertainment sector, which has dwindled due to increased competition worldwide and a slowdown in TV and movie production overall.

LSU’s XR Studio (the XR is short for “extended reality”) functions as a classroom while also serving paying clients. A facility in New Orleans operated by a startup called LucyXR helps make TV shows, commercials, music videos, movies and other content. And FoxDog Studios, a year-old Baton Rouge venture, just assembled its own XR system and is putting it to use this summer Jason Jamerson, an associate professor who runs LSU’s facility, said the high-tech screens give producers another reason to work in the state.

“In the past, you would come to Louisiana to film bayous or live oaks,” he said. “But when we come out of the global slowdown, we will be more well-rounded and attractive because we’ll be able to reproduce any location through virtual production.”

Building digital sets

It was a busy scene on a Wednesday in mid-June at the WYES TV headquarters as New Orleans-based visual effects expert Kenny Morrison and several crew members were building sets for an indie feature ﬁlm called “Exalted.”

But there were no saws, hammers, two-by-fours or paint cans in sight.

Instead, Morrison and his team tapped on computer keyboards, set up lights, and calibrated a billboardsized curved LED wall that, at 13 feet high and 38 feet wide, dominated the room. The sets they were building were virtual, existing only on screen but capable of mimicking real places when combined with actors, props and furniture and then ﬁlmed using special equipment.

Crew members arranged booths, tables and other props on the soundstage’s concrete ﬂoor in front of the screen, which displayed a photorealistic image of a diner interior

Morrison was overseeing the work on behalf of his clients, the producers of a $5 million psychological thriller targeting a 2027 release. The movie started ﬁlming last fall in St. Francisville and came to New Orleans to ﬁnish up.

For Morrison, a New Orleansbased director and cinematographer who has made more than 2,000 commercials over a multidecade ca-

Continued from page 1E

“We are starting the selection process almost immediately, and we want it to be as efﬁcient of a process as possible so I will have time to work with the new person,” Hecht said.

Models for transition

As envisioned, the CEO emeritus role will be modeled after the monthslong transition that occurred between the tenure of longtime New Orleans & Co. CEO Stephen Perry and his successor Walt Leger, according to one board source. The existing model at the Audubon Nature Institute is another example. After longtime CEO Ron Forman retired in 2025, he moved into a role as CEO of the Audubon Foundation, leveraging his relationships in the community to focus on fundraising while his successor Michael Sawaya took over day-to-day operations.

Hecht said as an emeritus, fundraising will be a key priority as will be supporting the new CEO with introductions and knowledge transfer

He’ll also be working on a new “5x5” initiative focused on growing the region’s stagnant population. Its goal is to increase the region’s population 5% a year over a

reer, the “Exalted” gig is a chance to show off the power of the extendedreality production technology he has assembled in the three years since he formed his tech-focused company

LucyXR closed a $500,000 fundraising round last year, and Morrison spent about twice that on the modular LED wall and related equipment, which now stays in use at WYES, a public television station that rents Morrison space and uses his gear for several of its shows.

Before the indie movie, the XR studio hosted three other projects over the last two months.

In May, New Orleans musician

Jon Batiste shot a music video in the space, and New Orleans Saints quarterback Tyler Shough appeared in TV commercials for a Louisiana law ﬁrm. Morrison himself ﬁlmed several commercials for a credit union in one day by using the extended reality screen to simulate multiple locations.

“That kind of efficiency would have been impossible five years ago,” he said.

More high-tech studios

Louisiana’s ﬁrst virtual production studio debuted in 2021 in the College of Art + Design building on LSU’s Baton Rouge campus.

The school secured a $1.25 million state grant to build the facility, which has been used for hundreds of projects, including music videos, interviews, classes and sports marketing videos. Clients include NBC News and Fender the musical instrument manufacturer

Jamerson, the associate professor who runs the space, said the key to making the virtual sets seem real to viewers is software and hardware — originally developed by video

ﬁve-year period.

And he’ll continue to focus on the large, special projects that became his signature during the previous mayoral administration, when GNO Inc. stepped up to ﬁll what many in the business community felt was a political leadership void.

Looking back on it, Hecht says those projects — spearheading efforts to ready the city for the Super Bowl in 2025, trying to unite competing ports in support of the Louisiana International Terminal Project, helping form the NOLA Coalition to lower the city’s crime rate in 2022 and seeking solutions to catastrophic insurance rates — have been the highlights of his tenure as CEO Baton Rouge also searching

The changes at GNO Inc. come as the Greater Baton Rouge Economic Partnership, formerly the Baton Rouge Area Chamber, is also looking for a new leader

In May, GBREP President and CEO Lori Melancon was removed after a short and rocky tenure at the agency Since then, Trey Godfrey and Jayson Newell have been sharing duties as interim co-CEOs.

The changes also come as Gov. Jeff Landry’s administration is playing a more active and aggressive role in economic development than the state did under Gov John Bel Edwards. Under Landry’s Louisiana Eco-

game makers — that work together to change the image on the screen to reﬂect different points of view

“The camera is a window into a fake world that might have nearby trees and distant mountains, so if the camera moves across the room, those background elements should move at different speeds,” he said.

“It’s called parallax.”

Jamerson estimates that more than half of all TV shows use some form virtual production now — and, starting this summer, content creators will have another option in Baton Rouge, where the year-old startup FoxDog Studios is applying ﬁnishing touches to its own setup.

“We received the delivery on Mardi Gras Day and have been poking everything with a stick ever since, getting things calibrated and ready to go,” said Doug Dominguez, a Lafayette native and one of the studio’s three co-owners.

The business opened last fall in a retail space near the Mall of Louisiana to provide production services for small- to medium-sized projects that don’t necessarily need a huge soundstage like Celtic Studios, the nearly 30-acre facility in Baton Rouge that recently hosted a $50 million Amazon feature ﬁlm.

“Branded content,” a form of marketing common in the era of social media, is one of the studio’s areas of focus.

Dominguez and his partners converted their 10,000-square-foot space into three separate production studios for use by clients like Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss, the Louisiana-based beach volleyball superstars. The athletes will soon break in the new video wall, shooting a promotional video set on a California beach.

“The technology gives us access

nomic Development, the state has landed mega deals that include AI data centers in north Louisiana, Hyundai’s planned steel mill near Donaldsonville, and more LNG export facilities in southwest Louisiana.

LED Secretary Susan Bourgeois said bringing in two new leaders at the same time at the state’s two largest economic development organizations opens for the groups to reestablish a close working relationship that had ﬂourished for several years before cooling more recently

“This really presents an incredible opportunity to focus on the super region again,” Bourgeois said. A little over a decade ago, GNO Inc. and the Baton Rouge Area Chamber the former name of the economic development agency, began jointly marketing themselves as a “super region.” With just 80 miles between them, their relative proximity made them natural partners. Besides, even with nearly two dozen parishes and a couple of million people between them, they were still much smaller together than mega-metro areas like Houston, Dallas and Atlanta, with which they were competing.

Together, they took canvass trips to Tampa-Orlando in 2013, and Tucson-Phoenix in 2015, both of which offered practical lessons on how to collaborate in order to improve economic competitiveness.

First National Bank expands to Broussard

to places we couldn’t normally be,”

said Dominguez, who emphasized the best way to use the screens is to make them invisible.

“If you notice it, it’s bad VFX and somebody messed up,” he said Dominguez said the price of the extended reality screens and other hardware has dropped dramatically over the past four years, so more people will likely invest.

Waiting for ‘action’

Investments in virtual production from LSU, Lucy XR and FoxDog come as the Louisiana ﬁlm industry has slowed down after a post-pandemic boom in 2021 and 2022, when at one point there were 28 TV shows or features shooting simultaneously according to Simonette Berry, business agent for the IATSE Local 478, a union representing 1,400 ﬁlm industry workers in the region

A decade earlier Louisiana’s film production activity briefly topped California’s, but times have changed.

A generous two-decade-old film production tax credit still offers producers rebates up to 40% on qualiﬁed expenses, but competing incentives from other states have leveled the playing ﬁeld while the entire country has ceded ground to global locations.

“We’re not just competing with Georgia or California anymore,” Berry said. “We’re competing with the UK, Ireland, Saudi Arabia and, of course, Canada. The U.S. used to have 60% roughly of production globally and now we have more like 40%.

Another factor leading to the nationwide slowdown is Hollywood is simply making less content.

Evidence of the slump can be seen at the state’s big soundstages, where an encouraging start to the year was followed by quieter months headlined by “Ally Clark,” the Amazon movie that shot at Celtic in Baton Rouge and other locations.

Investments in XR technology from LSU, LucyXR and FoxDog represent a fraction of that one film’s budget, but Berry said infrastructure improvements at any scale could help bring more work to the state, where experienced crews are hungry for work

“As the industry changes, people will continue to need stage space, skilled workers and vendors whether they’re ﬁlming for Netﬂix or YouTube,” she said.

Email Rich Collins at rich. collins@theadvocate.com.

They also jointly traveled to Panama in 2016, after Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport landed direct air service to Panama City, where they focused on opportunities in shipping and logistics. Looking back on it a decade later, it’s not clear what, if any concrete business deals resulted from the trips. But Hecht said they were opportunities to build relationships across the region and to broaden the way locals think about south Louisiana.

Those ties also helped forge the collaboration that came a few years later, when the two organizations teamed up to seek federal and state funding for passenger rail service between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Though the goal has yet to be realized, both organizations learned what can be done when they work together, Hecht said.

Under the organization’s new leadership, he hopes to reafﬁrm those ties.

“We had an amazing relationship with BRAC under Adam Knapp (the longtime head of BRAC who stepped down in 2023),” said Hecht. “I would hope and expect in the next iteration of GNO and BRAC that this tight relationship will continue.”

Email Stephanie Riegel at stephanie.riegel@theadvocate. com.

The First National Bank of Jeanerette will open an office in Broussard, city officials announced Tuesday The bank will open at 751 N. Morgan Ave in what is its latest move into the Lafayette market. Bank officials bought the 1.25-acre lot from the Smith family last year First National Bank of Jeanerette officials earlier this month purchased an office building at 309 Rue La France and the adjoining 3.7 acres for a total price of just under $4 million, land records show A bank spokesman declined to discuss the matter The bank opened a Youngsville branch earlier this month at 1930 Chemin Metairie Parkway It has locations along Camellia Boulevard in Lafayette and on Apollo Road in Scott along with seven other branches in Iberia and St. Mary parishes.

Carencro pizza eatery closes after 3 years

A Carencro pizza restaurant that opened about three years ago has closed. Pizza Amore by Pizza Artista, 3730 NE Evangeline Thruway, Suite F, said its last day of business was June 21.

“After much consideration, we have made the difﬁcult decision to close,” the post read. “Serving this community has been an incredible privilege. From family dinners and celebrations to quick lunches and Friday night pizza cravings, you’ve allowed us to be part of your lives, and for that, we are deeply grateful.”

Pizza Amore opened in that space after La Pizzeria closed following a four-year stay there.

Pizza Artista has locations in Lafayette, Baton Rouge and Lake Charles. It closed a Broussard location last year 60-year-old grocery to close this week

The Corner Pantry, a longtime grocery store known for its plate lunches and fresh meat, will close at the end of the month.

The 60-year-old store at 801 Foreman Drive will close its doors for good on Tuesday, according to a recent post on the store’s Facebook page. The store is owned by Connie Dubose.

“For 60 incredible years, we have had the honor of being a staple in this wonderful community,” the post read.

“We’ve watched generations grow up, shared countless memories and built relationships that we will carry with us forever While we are sad to say goodbye, our family thanks you for your loyalty, trust and support over the past six decades.”

The move comes months after the Lafayette City Council voted in favor of a conditional use permit to allow a Grab-N-Geaux convenience store to open on the site.

Council members put restrictions on the development, including allowing only right-in and right-out movements onto Dulles Drive to minimize traffic congestion.

Grab-N-Geaux will have six fuel pumps along Dulles Drive, renderings show Steakhouse closes to evaluate next steps

A Japanese steakhouse that opened in Carencro in 2019 announced it is closed at least temporarily to “evaluate our next steps.” Tokyo Japan Sushi & Hibachi Steakhouse, 107 Hector Connoly Road, Suite 200, announced June 18 on Facebook it has paused operations.

No other details were given.

“It has been our privilege to serve the Carencro community over the years,” the post read. “We are truly grateful for your support, trust and loyalty Because of you, we have created countless wonderful memories that we will always cherish.” Tokyo Japan also has locations in Abbeville and Lake Charles.

STAFF PHOTOS By ENAN CHEDIAK

Filmmakers build an ‘extended reality’ set in LucyXR’s studio at WyES TV in New Orleans.

Samuel Macaluso, from left, Asia Gagnon and Dan Jones look at the computer

Meet the ‘Queen of Magazine’

BY JONAH MEADOWS Staff writer

Behind the growing cluster of national retailers hanging their shingles at the center of Magazine Street’s Uptown commercial corridor is a Tennessee native who fell in love with New Orleans while attending grad school and who has continued to market the city after moving to New York.

Retail adviser Carly Ibach started her career in Dallas at the corporate buying ofﬁce for Neiman Marcus after majoring in public relations. Seeing the writing on the wall for the department store business, she pivoted to pursue an MBA from Tulane’s Freeman School of Business That led to an internship at the local ﬁrm SVN Urban Properties, bolstering her understanding of the nexus between brand identity and store location.

In 2024, Ibach moved to New York to join Capricorn Retail Advisors as a director, but she’s remained involved in the New Orleans retail scene — where her focus has been on pitching locations on Magazine Street to national brands, earning her the nickname “Queen of Magazine” from the founder of her new ﬁrm Ibach has closed about 16 deals on the street, both before and after her move, including Reformation, Le Labo and Tecovas, where she also brokered the sale of the buildings. Most recently, she leased the same storefront for the second time, bringing Hill House Home to the former location of Stoney Clover Lane. The following interview has

been edited for length and clarity

What’re currently the big trends in the retail market?

A lot of the direct-to-consumer brands are really hot. You’re seeing the stuff that emerged on Instagram now ﬁnding physical spaces, and they’re usually starting in neighborhoods like Bleecker Street and Nolita in New York, Abbot Kinney in L.A., then becoming more mainstream and coming to smaller markets. It’s a buzzword that’s used a lot, but the ‘experiential’ part of shopping really is a thing. If they’re going

to spend money people want to feel like it was a special experience, and that can be achieved in a multitude of ways. Reformation is really cool because in the ﬁtting room, they have a screen, and you can tap a shirt that you want and they’ll bring it to you, so it combines the online shopping that a lot of people love to do with going into a physical store.

How does that trend affect store designs and which locations are most appealing?

From one point of view if you’re going to offer that much more inventory, you need to have

larger stock rooms. Every brand kind of has its own ideal footprint, and that’s a sliding scale depending on the market and how much rents are. New Orleans rents are a lot less than they are in New York or Dallas, so a lot of brands can afford a larger space, even if they don’t necessarily need it. But pretty much every brand kind of has it down, like ‘We operate best out of 1,000 to 1,250 square feet.’ So when I’m working with a brand I go into it having a number in mind.

Is New Orleans already on the radar of brands thinking about choosing their next spot to expand?

I’m deﬁnitely putting it on their radar I’m getting in a lot of brands’ ears that probably weren’t necessarily thinking about New Orleans. The deal that I’m working on right now, that I’m down here for, they have stores in Nashville and Charleston and New York. To me, it seemed like they understood the southeastern consumer, so why not ask them? People also have an emotional attachment to the city, and if they’ve had good times here, when I pitch them on the city, they’re like, ‘I love New Orleans.’ It pulls at the heartstrings for so many people. A lot of brands wouldn’t look at it otherwise, but if they relate it to a fun time they had, they’re like, ‘Yeah, actually, let me look at it.’ I don’t think the same thing happens in Cincinnati. Is there anything about pitching sites here that makes it especially challenging or appealing? Weather is something for a lot of people, especially people from far away looking in. They hear

about these hurricanes and they hear that Louisiana is sinking and these alarmist kind of things. And then people do hear about crime. People also hear that it’s a party city Maybe some of it’s accurate, but for someone who doesn’t live it it might be a harder sell. On the ﬂip side, the tourism is so strong here. The culture is amazing. Architecturally, it’s unique. A lot of the stores that I’m working on, people see them and they think, ‘Wow, I’d love to activate my brand in a unique shell like this’ — a double shotgun, it’s such a cool thing and so unique to the city So I think you can set your store apart here versus just something more sterile in another city Does it ever take convincing? How do you convince them?

I have a lot of hard data related to the deals that I’ve done. Take Reformation, for instance. That store on Magazine Street performs so well compared to other cities you would be absolutely

Mailinga papercheck hasbecomerisky

inside

bank discovers the scam

We’ve become so used to hightech cybercrime that we may sometimes forget about the vulnerability of our mailboxes.

“We’ve entered an era of organized postal crime.”

harder

Michelle Singletary

THE COLOR OF MONEy

But an old-school, low-tech scam is surging and is morethan enough reason to avoid or limit writing paper checks altogether And the recent predicament faced by aCalifornia couple who reached out to me shows how challenging it can be to retrieve money after acheck’sbeen altered

According to ajoint warning from the FBI and the U.S. Postal Service, check fraud is skyrocketing.Federal data shows that reports of check fraud nearly doubledfrom 350,000 in 2021 to 680,000 in 2022.

It’sgotten so bad that the agencies recommend considering echecks, ACH automatic payments and other electronic or mobile payments.

In 2010, there were just over 2,200 high-volume mail theftattacks, and by 2023, that number had skyrocketed to over 49,000, a“2,000% explosion,” Frank Albergo, president of the Postal Police Ofﬁcers Association, said last summer during testimony before a House subcommittee.

“This is not about lost birthday cardsanymore,”Albergo said.

Issued June 17-23

Commercial alterations

FIRE: 6507 JohnstonSt., description, work to Lafayette FireStation 13; applicant and contractor, Coleman Rooﬁng &Construction; $438,000.

BAR: 4607 JohnstonSt., Suite C description, new location for Sticks Billiards; applicant, Sticks Billiards; $20,000.

RETAIL: 3142 Ambassador Caffery Parkway,description, unspeciﬁed work for Walmart Supercenter; applicant and contractor, Ravenvolt; $80,000.

APARTMENTS: 2509Johnston St., description, none listed for RiverOaks apartments; applicantand contractor, Apex Construction &Rooﬁng;

Criminals useeveryday householdchemicalslike acetone or bleach to “wash” away the payee’s name and dollar amount, allowing them to rewrite the check to themselves.

The California couple recently learned this the hardway after gettinga notice from the Internal Revenue Service that they had missed their quarterly tax payment and now owed $12,000 plus interest and penalties. The couple, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, were shocked and puzzled. They knew they had paid on time.

“Welooked at our online Chase statement, and the check had cleared,” the wife said in an email.

Butwhen they pulled up the scanned image of thecleared check, they saw someone had changed the “pay to the order line,” erasing the IRS as the recipient and replacing it with aname.

This isn’t limitedtopersonal checkbooks. Fraudsters are going after business payments, tax refunds and checks related to government assistance programs, such as Social Security and unemployment beneﬁts, according to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.

If your taxrefund from the government is stolen and cashed, there’saprocess to report the theft.However,recovering from a stolen personal check can be much

$51,471.

RESIDENTIAL: 200 EasyRock Landing Drive,Broussard; description, commercial restrooms and storage; applicant, Cypress Meadows Subdivision; contractor, CTL Pro Construction;$74,203 INDUSTRIAL: 131 Ida Road, Broussard; description, roof work;applicant,4-K Properties; contractor, Bergeron’s Metal Buildings; $18,000.

MEDICAL: 306 Church St., Youngsville; description,none listed; applicant, Christopher Hargrave; contractor, HargraveChiropractic; $500,000

Commercial demolition OFFICE: 309 RueLaFrance, description, work for FirstNational Bank of

Oncethey realized what had happened, the couple contacted Chase. But theywere told theyhad missed the deadline to report the fraud. The check had been stolen and deposited ayear earlier

Still, theypersisted and found thatthe check had been deposited by another Chase customer “Wefeel the bank was negligent in this transaction and owes us reimbursement,” the wife said. “I feel we could make agood argument, 60 days or not.”

They reached out to ask if Icould help. Chase’sinitial refusal was technically legal. The deadlines for reporting and recovering funds are primarily governed by your bank’sdeposit agreement and the Uniform Commercial Code. If you miss the window,the liability usually falls on you. However,given how pervasive fraud is, ﬁnancial institutions should do whatever theycan to do the right thing, even when they aren’tinthe wrong.

AfterIinquired about the case, Chase reinvestigated the situation. The bank was able to trace the fraudulent account to which the stolen money had been routed. It turnedout there was still about $11,000 sitting in that account enough to almost entirely reimburse the victimized couple.

This couple was incredibly fortunate. Most of the time, the money is long gone before acustomer or

BUILDINGPERMITS

Jeanerette; applicant and contractor, The Patch Group; $91,000.

Newcommercial BANK: 751 Albertson Parkway, Broussard; description,branch ofﬁce for The First National Bank of Jeanerette; applicant, The First National Bank of Jeanerette; contractor, Triad ConstructionServices; $1.5million.

Newresidential

104 LISBURN DRIVE: LevelConstruction &Development, $361,500.

206 SUMMER MORNING COURT: owner builder, $491,375.

225 CATHOLIQUE ROAD,CARENCRO: Oakside Builders, $629,000. 401 RUEGAMBETTA: ManuelBuild-

“We’re pleased we wereableto resolve this matter,” Chase spokesmanJerry Dubrowskisaidinan email.

It was awin forthis couple,but a warning forthe rest of us.

“Weencouragecustomers to avoid mailing checksand to use safer paymentmethods, such as electronic transactions,” Dubrowski said. “If acustomer mustuse acheck, they shouldreviewtheir monthly statements to ensure payments are properlyrecorded.”

The primary reason washed checks clear successfully is that modern bank processing relies heavily on automation and speed

Unless acheck is manually inspected for evidenceoftampering —such as chemical staining, discoloration or amismatch between the signature’shandwriting andthe payee line —a fraudulent check can clear,and thefunds will be transferred directlytothe thief.

If you still choose to writea check, the FBI and thePostal Service offer these tips.

Protectyourmail

n Get mail as soon as youcan Don’tlet it sitinyour mailbox overnight. And avoid leaving outgoing mail in unattended home mailboxes withthe red ﬂagup.

n Use the Postal Servicetohold mail if you are heading outoftown

n Buy securityenvelopesso thieves can’tsee there’sacheck

ers, $317,500.

117 HAMILTONPARC WAY: Manuel Builders, $299,500.

114 LAKEOAK DRIVE: DR Horton, $295,250.

114 BEXLEY COURT: DSLD,$311,625.

111 BLUSHINGGROOM DRIVE, CARENCRO: ManuelBuilders, $291,125.

610 LAFITTESLANDING PASS: ManuelBuilders, $348,125.

201 CAMERONS COVE DRIVE: Carencro: $227,250.

724 LAFITTESLANDING PASS: ManuelBuilders, $334,875.

311 HIDDENMEADOWSDRIVE: DSLD, $436,625.

105 YORKTOWNCOURT: DSLD, $168,500.

n Go inside thepost ofﬁce to drop off outgoing mail. If youabsolutely mustuse an outdoor blue box, don’t depositacheck after theday’s ﬁnal pickup time.

Protectyourcheck

n Writecheckswithpermanent, indelible black gelink.Standard ballpoint penink washesoff easily; gelink trapsitselfinthe paper ﬁbers.

n Don’tleaveblanks on thepayee or dollaramount lineswhere athief can sneak in wordsornumbers.

n Don’tjustcheck your bank balanceonline.Look at theactual digital image of cleared checksto conﬁrmitwasn’t altered n Check online banking activity frequently.Verify everything.

n If acheck youwrote is taking longerthanusual to clear,orifyou spot anymissing funds,contact your bank immediately.

n Order checksthathavesecurity features, such as microprinting, watermarksorchemically reactive paperthat bleeds when touched by bleach or acetone.

It’s unfortunate we have to become forensicinvestigators just to payour bills.But as criminalscontinue to exploitold-school vulnerabilities, we must be overzealous in protecting ourselves.

Email Michelle Singletary at michelle.singletary@washpost. com.

201 BRATTLE COURT: DSLD,$281,875.

406 LOST BRIDGE DRIVE: Broussard, Goulas Homes, $400,000.

106 SPRINGMEADOWSDRIVE: Broussard, AM Design, $228,000.

302 SWEET HARVEST ROAD, YOUNGSVILLE: LevelHomesand Construction, $265,278.

302 CAPE TOWNAVE., YOUNGSVILLE: E.J. Rock Construction, $300,000.

105 MAROON ST., YOUNGSVILLE: DSLD,$124,320.

302 CLIFFSIDE DRIVE,YOUNGSVILLE: Jeff Brown, $650,000.

510 BROYLES ST., YOUNGSVILLE: RLS Properties, $430,400.

126 RIO DRIVE,YOUNGSVILLE: ManuelBuilders, $249,200. 104 STONE BROOK DRIVE: Youngsville,TommyPullig, $398,570.

PLANOFSTEEL

SouthKorea-basedHyundaiSteelisbuildingitsfirstU.S.steelmill, a$5.8Bfacilityon1,700acresinDonaldsonville.Whencomplete, thefacilitywillcreateadomesticsupplychainforHyundaiand Kiaautoplantsnationwideandresultinmorethan5,400newjob opportunitiesintheCapitalRegion.

HyundaiSteelchoseLouisiana becauseweofferthe certainty, partnership, andexecutionglobalcompanies need.Thatinvestmentiscreatinglastingopportunities forLouisiana businesses,workers, andcommunities.

AROUND THE REGION

50 Cent’s plans for Shreveport taking shape

Work to begin soon on planned entertainment venue

BY LIZ SWAINE Staff writer

Rapper Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson’s plans to turn downtown

Shreveport into an entertainment district that will serve as the headquarters of his ﬁlm and television production empire are beginning to take shape.

Earlier this month, Jackson was in Shreveport for a ceremonial shoveling of dirt at the site of the G-Dome, a planned 14-story, entertainment venue that will take up a city block downtown.

Activity there will start happening soon, said Jackson attorney Steven Savva at a meeting of the Shreveport Film & Entertainment Economic Development Corporation a week earlier

The ﬁrst order of business will be to create a public park with kiosks, concession stands and bathrooms. The full plans for the G-Dome are expected to be sent to the State Fire Marshal for approval in late fall.

It’s the latest of several pieces of Jackson’s ambitious plans that recently have fallen into place, according to Savva, who is responsible for the legal, business and ﬁnancial side of Jackson’s businesses.

Those pieces include an incentive deal from the state that was approved in January and repairs to ﬂood damage and drainage at Millennium Studios, which were completed in May Jackson’s G-Unit Film & Television company and its afﬁliates have purchased a number of buildings in downtown Shreveport, and have already spent “approximately $10 million as a capital investment in the project,” Louisiana Economic Development said in the agreement.

“My vision for Shreveport is that success for Shreveport is aligned with my success as a producer.”

CURTIS ‘50 CENT’ JACKSON

Since announcing his plans in 2023-24 for the revival of Millennium Studios as G-Unit Studios, Jackson has been adding to his portfolio of downtown properties.

The cumulative total of the 13 purchases is more than $4.6 million.

To date, G-Unit has purchased 13 individual properties downtown. In addition to the purchased

properties, Jackson and G-Unit have entered into long-term leases with the city of Shreveport for Millennium Studios and the former Stageworks studio.

In the signed cooperative endeavor agreement with LED, promises were made on when production and events at G-Unit Studios, the G-Dome and G-Stage would need to start. Productions must begin this year “Our goal for Stageworks is to have production up and running by the end of November of this year,” Savva said Over a ﬁve-year period, G-Unit has agreed to at least 24 productions that will carry a cumulative production budget of $420 million

Beyond Prepared

Disasters come in many forms. Butstories of preparation, response,and recovery arecountless,and Jones Walker LLP is here to help at everystep. From awidespreadevent such as ahurricane,a cyberattackordatabreachtoaworkplace accident or adeveloping health threat,businessesrelyon Jones Walker forguidance.

Ourcross-disciplinarydisasterpreparedness&recoveryclient team advisescompanies,not-for-proﬁt organizations, and individualsastheyprepare for, respond to,and recoverfrom crises.Withdeepexperience in preparing forand responding to majorevents, ourattorneys help clientsimplementeffective plansand move quicklytowardrecovery.

Ourgoalistoget clientsbackinbusinessassoon as possible

and 26 live performances at the G-Dome.

At the recent groundbreaking, Jackson said he wants to move quickly on both the state-incentivized projects and his personal properties. Savva said that at the same time work will be happening on Jackson’s ﬁlm and TV properties downtown, people will see Jackson’s private buildings take shape. It’s one thing to open ﬁlm and television studios, but in order to bring in actors and producers to work on Jackson’s movie and TV projects, more work needs to be done Savva said He noted that “you can’t buy a toothbrush in downtown Shreveport.”

That, said Savva, prompted the purchase of multiple properties in really bad shape. “(Jackson) knows if he takes those on, it’s going to be easier for people to come after him to go into the spaces that are a lot easier to open new businesses moving forward,” he said. Varied business background

Jackson, 50, burst onto the rap scene in the early 2000s, when he was discovered by Eminem and Dr Dre. His debut album, “Get Rich or Die Trying,” established him as one of the industry’s biggest stars.

He co-founded the rap group “GUnit” short for Guerrilla Unit — starred in movies, produced video games and netted a reported $100 million from the sale of Vitaminwater to Coca-Cola.

Along the way he ﬁled for bankruptcy in 2015, emerging two years later to ink a $150 million deal with premium cable network Starz, for which he produced the popular “Power” franchise. He has since gone on to own his own streaming television channel, premium liquor brand and clothing label.

At the groundbreaking, Jackson surprised the audience with some announcements. He said he wants to bring boxing to Shreveport, as well as a pro gym. He also said he is talking to WWE wrestling, Dana White with Ultimate Fighting Championship, and Scott Coker with Mixed Martial Arts about potential deals.

And he told a comedian in the audience that he is opening a comedy club in Red River District, and that “there may be a pathway” for Jackson to run or own the entertainment district, which is close to his downtown holdings.

“My vision for Shreveport is that success for Shreveport is aligned with my success as a producer,” said Jackson.

Email Liz Swaine at liz.swaine@ theadvocate.com.

Proactivedisasterplanninghelps workplaces protectemployees,ensurecontinuity

Naturaldisasters such as hurricanes,ﬂoods andwildﬁrescan haltoperationsand disrupt employees’lives.Employers must protect people,maintainproductivity, andensure compliancewhile navigatinguncertainty

To ensureaneffective disaster response, employers should:

•Determinecrisismanagement responsibilities Identify essentialemployees, plan foron-site needs,and communicate rolesand accountability

•Prepare forremote work Revisitpolicies, enable rapidtransitions,and ensure employees have thenecessary tools.

•Communicatewithemployees Shareplansbefore, during, andafter events andclarifycommunicationchannels

•Train managers Help them recognizeemployeestressand refertosupport resources.

•Knowapplicable laws andaddress hazards. Implement safety measures andtrainingwhile supporting employees with ﬂexibility

Thebottomline is to plan ahead.Clear policies reduce confusionand supportafasterrecovery.

William H. Hines Managing

Partner

bhines@joneswalker.com 504.582.8000

201St. CharlesAvenue NewOrleans, LA 70170-5100 joneswalker.com

Attorney Advertising. No representation is made that thequality of legal services to be performedisgreater than thequality of legalservices performedbyother attorneys.

LA-26-20650

PHOTO By JONATHAN PLAZA

Curtis ‘50 Cent’ Jackson and elected officials celebrate the ceremonial start of work at the site of his new G-Dome entertainment complex in Shreveport on June 17.

JacobPritt

Jane Heidingsfelder

BY JONAH MEADOWS and GRACE MAYER Staff writers

The midpoint of the year is upon us. The days are at their longest, the heat index is rising and thunderstorms are falling.

For some, the start of the third quarter marksthe beginning ofa newﬁscal year.For others,itsignals the season for summer vacations. And for many, it’sanopportunity to reassess NewYear’s resolutions, take stock of what the previous six months have brought and make plans to ﬁnish the year strong.

So for this month’sOne Big Question feature, we asked business and nonproﬁt leaders from acrosssouth Louisiana: What’s at thetop priority of your to-do list forthe rest of 2026?

TREY GODFREY

Actingco-CEO,Baton RougeEconomic Partnership

The biggest priority Ihaveis ﬁnishing the year with real momentum at the partnership. We’re navigating animportant leadership transition. It’s incumbent upon our board to put togethera process that netsusa leader—and that could take two months, or it could be nine months. So with Jason Newell, the other co-CEO, the top focus is keeping our team aligned andvery disciplined on executing our plan for the year,strengthening investorconﬁdence and ensuring that our core work continues with excellence so that we’re in a great position for ahandoff tothe permanent CEO, whenever that might be.

ANNEDELMAN

Vice president, Zehnder Communications, Baton Rouge

The No. 1goal is getting all of my clients straight on artificial intelligence. What are the new emergingrisks? What are the

ONEBIG QUESTION

advantages andall themineﬁelds that go alongwith it?What is our policy on HR usage? Do we use it for fact-checking, social media, marketing, all internal andexternal comms? How do we balance transparency abouthow we’re using it? Priority one for my clients is to have thosequestions answered and added to their process and messaging playbooks,which will help save time as acrisis hits or apotential crisisemerges.What we may have done afew years ago to increase mentions or increase reach for earned media has changed because of GEO —generative engine optimization.Companies need to understand what that means and how to amplify their message throughAI. Youneed to communicatewith the different platforms,

just like what we usedtolook at SEO, search engine optimization, theevolution is GEO

LAUREN GIBBS

CEO and owner of Gibbs Construction, New Orleans Lately,we’ve added alargerthan-normal pool of outside hires Many of ouremployees stay with us forover10 years —somethingI’m very proudof—but a fewretirements created opportunitiesfor ourteam to bring on new hireswho are onetofive years into their construction careers. So with these changes, forthe second half of 2026, I’m focused on investingmoreinour employee trainings,especially around AI use,and mentoring ournewest hires. I’m spending alot of time

thinking about how we can continue to developour 65-personteam andfoster thenextgeneration of leaders, especially since we’re currently celebrating 50 years in business. I’m excited about what thenext generation is shaping up to look like because, as abusiness owner,I’m always lookingatsuccessionplanning: Who is going to be the next president? Who’sgoing to be the next vicepresident?

WALT LEGERIII

President and CEO of New Orleans &Company, New Orleans We have areally strong meeting calendar in the fourth quarter. Now it’stimefor us to execute. In December,we’ll host an international meeting for theAmerican SocietyofHematology,the largest

of the events we’re hosting during the second half of this year The eventissobig andinfluential in the medical field thatitbrings in twoAir France charterflights filledwithhematologists andexhibitors. In the fall, we’re also hosting FICP,anannual financial and insurance professionals conference that will draw around 1,500 attendees to the city —all of whom representcorporations that could bring future meetings to our city.Our teamisalways focused on what’snext, booking meetings into the 2030s and 2040s, andhow do we continuetobuild this meeting calendartoprovide opportunityfor thebroader community for yearstocome?

JAREDQUOYESER

Co-founder and managing partner,Louisiana Impact Fund, Lafayette Our toppriority is the launch of thecXo Leadership Program. It’s the Louisiana Impact Fund’snew business leader initiative and it’s designed to identify and develop the next generation of executives across thestate. The inaugural cohort kicks off at aface-to-face retreat in September in Lafayette and there’safollow-up session in Shreveport in December We’re also focused on facilitating the second close of the Louisiana Impact Fund, targeted for the fourth quarter,which will expand our pool of in-state capital and strengthen our ability to back Louisiana-based businesses through growth, recapitalization andsuccession.And ourthird focusisexecuting on that strategy by activelyclosing new deals in thesecondhalfofthisyear, deploying capital into established Louisiana companies so ownership, jobs and long-term economic value stay rooted in communities across the state. Email JonahMeadowsatjonah. meadows@theadvocate.com.

TNS PHOTO By ANDREyPOPOV

The midpoint of the year is upon us, withonly sixmonths left to achieve goals for 2026.

Godfrey

Edelman

Leger

Quoyeser

LOUISIANA

SUN SUN

Only good vibrations

La.doctorsays vibrationplatesand trampolines aregood forexercise

BY SHANTELL GOMEZ

Contributing writer

Mini trampolines and vibration plates are back withavengeance, as inﬂuencers andwellness gurus alike hopontothe devices at home foraworkout. But do they really work?

Standing (or sitting or lying) on a vibration plate stimulates “wholebody vibration,” which studies have showncan offer somehealth beneﬁts, butit’snot clear if it’s as good forhealth as regular exercise, according to the Mayo Clinic

As themachinevibrates, it transmitsenergy to the body,forcing muscles to contract and relax dozensoftimeseach second.

Mini-trampolining, or “rebounding,”was coined in 1969 to introducelow-impact andminimal-risk exercise that can improvebalance, neurological rehab,musculoskeletal rehab andcardiovascularconditioning, according to a2024 study publishedinthe NationalLibrary of Medicine

Dr.Brian Broussard,a therapy andwellness coach from Lafayette, answered common questionsabout vibration plates andmini trampolines.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What do mini trampolines and vibration platforms claim to do for the body —and what does the science actually support?

Mini trampolinesand vibration platformsofferalternative options to neural andphysical stimulation during exercise. The main focus of exercise is to give thebodya stimulus in whichyour body’snatural adaptation increases the ﬁtness levelofthe body Example: If youwalkorrun a mile, then your body will adapt both physically andneurologically andasyou continue to walk amile, it should becomeeasier.When focusing on musclestrength or size, exercise through thefull range of motionand resistance givesthe best results.

BY MARGARET DeLANEY | Staff writer

As

a2-year-old, Pierre Mouledoux could not make it through boat trip with his fatherorhis brothers. His skin couldn’ttakethe sun. He could last three hours before his skin would pucker,turnred and burn.

As he grewup, he coveredupfrom necktoankle. Covered his hands Wore scarvesand wide-brimmed hats. Highsocks, no flip-flops. When he turned10, Mouledoux andhis family finally got their answers from ageneticist.Hewas allergic to thesun.

Therare condition, affecting two to ﬁve people per 1million, called erythropoietic protoporphyria, causes severe and painful photosensitivity

The severity of theconditionvaries.For Mouledoux, too long in the sun andhis skin begins to shiver, tingle and turn red. Then the inﬂammationhits. “God-awful miserable,”

Mouledoux sits on the deckof hisDulac camp ‘I was missing alot,’he said. ‘But I’m not missing out anymore.

Mouledoux said.“It feels like my nerves are radiating.” Since his diagnosis,Mouledoux had to change his life. He puts atimer on if he needstomow thelawn. He schedules drives from Mississippi to drive away from the sun. Instead of ﬁshing, he pickedupduckhunting —a much more sun-averse activity

Mini trampolinesofferalowimpact option.Ontrampolinesyou can simply start bouncing; thiswill be easier on thejointsthan hopping on solid ground. In addition, users may enjoy or have morefun bouncing on themini trampoline, and enjoymentwill increase auser’s adherence to aconsistent program Vibration platformscreate the simulationofa vibrating surface. This is considered alow-impact option forﬁtness training. Youcan

Mini trampolines offer alternatives forneural and physicalstimulation during exercise.

PROVIDED PHOTO

STAFF PHOTOSByBRETT DUKE

PierreMouledoux reactstoanareaofsunlight as rain showers surround him near Dulac. Mouledoux wasbornwith Erythropoietic Protoporphyria, adisorder that causes sensitivity to sunlight.

HEALTH MAKER

Miss. doctor develops new class of imaging dyes

Development could let surgeons see tumors in real time

BY MARGARET DeLANEY Staff writer

Dr Colleen Scott, of Mississippi State University is developing a new class of imaging dyes that could transform cancer surgery by helping doctors see tumors in real time, enabling more precise removal while preserving healthy tissue.

A native of Kingston, Jamaica, Scott earned her bachelor’s degree from Auburn University and her doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh. Since joining Mississippi State in 2015, she has mentored students, integrated hands-on learning for K-12 students through her “Science with Dr Scott” outreach program and contributed to research that enhances both technology and education in Mississippi and beyond.

The Bayh-Dole Coalition’s American Innovator Award recipients are proﬁled in the coalition’s annual Faces of American Innovation report and recognized at a congressional brieﬁng and advocacy conference in Washington, D.C., in June.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity

What brought you to cancer research?

I was always a curious child. I didn’t know I was curious. I thought everybody was. I didn’t realize I was probably different from other children, because you don’t normally realize that when you’re a kid.

SUN

Continued from page 1X

He has tinted windows on all sides of his car, including the front windshield, which still gets him an odd look from trafﬁc ofﬁcers who think his car isn’t street legal. Now 42, he has new hope as a participant in a clinical trial.

A rare disease

Erythropoietic porphyria, first deﬁned in 1961, is a rare genetic metabolic disorders caused by enzyme deﬁciencies in red blood cell development, leading to the toxic buildup of porphyrins Porphyrins are organic compounds essential for cellular respiration.

Mouledoux has erythropoietic protoporphyria, also called EPP This subset of the condition is caused by a deﬁciency the mitochondrial enzyme ferrochelatase due to a genetic mutation. With EPP exposure to sunlight triggers immediate, severe skin burning, tingling and redness that can last for days.

“The burning pain sensation may be severe and cause children to lose sleep for nights,” said Dr Carl Anderson, a translational scientist at the Porphyria Laboratory and Center, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, and Mouledoux’s doctor “It’s a difﬁcult nature of diagnosis Changes can be subtle and easily missed.”

Porphyria conditions affect males and females in equal numbers with the disorder occurring in about 1 in about 74,300 individuals, according to the American Porphyria Foundation The onset of symptoms affecting the skin usually occurs in infancy However, in some cases, onset may not occur until adolescence or adulthood

The American Porphyria Foundation says there is considerable confusion about which test to order to diagnose the condition Sometimes laboratories measure only zinc protoporphyrin and report results incorrectly Like Mouledoux, cases of EPP have been known to evade or at least delay diagnosis, leading to unnecessary suffering by the patient, according to a 2010 study published in the Journal of Clinical and Aesthetic Dermatology.

Since finding Anderson, Mouledoux has made over 40 trips to Texas to be treated for his condition. In 2023, he started his third clinical trial — Phase 2 of a clinical trial from Disc Medicine called Aurora. Patients received a once-daily oral pill, bitopertin, for 17 weeks, either 60 milligrams, 20 milligrams or a placebo. Results of the trial, published in December, said bitopertin showed

I was always interested in science, and I excelled at science. It just made sense. I didn’t get into this research until after I was working. I was at Southern Illinois University doing a part-time postdoc and part-time teaching position. I was in the lab of another professor His name was Daniel Dyer

He was working on these ﬂuorescent dyes Unfortunately, he got sick with brain cancer It was during that time that I decided to carry it forward. He was always interested in using the dyes as a way of cellular imaging, more speciﬁcally, for imaging cancer cells.

The dyes were passed on to me. I would say I inherited them

How do the imaging dyes work?

We can do deep-tissue imaging.

We ultimately want to be able to put a patient in a machine where we can shine a light on a cancerous area. Noninvasively, we will be able to image organs or tissues — to do that we need the light to be able to get in deep into the tissue.

We started developing short wave infrared dyes, or swear dyes, that allow low energy light to penetrate tissues easier

Now the challenge is how we use those dyes to be able to detect selective cancer cells over healthy cells

Our goal is to help surgeons during surgery to identify the margin of tumors

Currently, there’s no good way to do that. Typically surgeons will estimate where the cancer ends and begins, and they will cut away a little extra, healthy tissue around the margins.

They don’t know if they get all of the cancer until biopsies, chemotherapies and radiation. Hopefully,

using the imaging dyes during surgery will help identify the margins of tumors clearer Then, if there’s any “escapees,” or cells that have started to metathesize away from the tumor, hopefully we’ll be able to see those with the imaging dyes as well.

We’re just getting it done in test tubes, and then we have test the dyes in animal models. We’re not even at the ﬁnished product, but we’re on our way

What are some of the challenges in your

research?

I’ve never done surgery or been a doctor for people, so there could be obstacles and challenges that I’m not aware of. We are aware of some of the challenges that we’re currently addressing. For example, we’re looking at the stability of the dyes: When they go in the body, could they expand in different areas of cells? Could they ﬂow improperly between cells? How well is the dye absorbed by tis-

sues?

There are a lot of little details that we want to make sure we address at the same time in order to get to our big picture. There are a lot of little problems that we have to solve along the way but we’re super excited about doing this. I really believe we can do it — it’s just a matter of time.

Email Margaret DeLaney at margaret.delaney@theadvocate. com.

causes

improved measures of sunlight tolerance and “had a favorable safety proﬁle in patients with erythropoietic protoporphyria.”

After Phase 2 results were favorable, Disc Medicine submitted its new drug application to the Food and Drug Administration, where it is under review Phase 3 of the trial, named Apollo, enrolled 183 patients to determine whether bitopertin increases pain-free sunlight exposure after six months of treatment in participants 12 years or older The trial is available in 27 locations in 12 countries and nine states.

FDA approval, or rejection, could be delivered as soon as 2027, Mouledoux said: “I don’t know what I’m going to do if they take it away It’s the only thing that’s worked, that’s made my life better.” Life in and out of the sun

Even though he missed out on painless ﬁshing trips with his father, he’s learning to fish again. Although he’s not quite as good at catching bass as his sons.

“They’ve had more practice out on the bayou in the sun,” he said.

He’s been to the beach. Twice. He got his ﬁrst tan line ever

Mouledoux is no longer an active participant in the clinical trial, but can continue using biopertin as an “open-label” user The FDA allows patients to continue to use certain drugs still being researched until they make their decision.

For now Mouledoux rarely keeps his boat docked. He takes his wife, Alyse, and his four sons from their home in Metairie on boating and fishing trips at Four Point Bayou in Dulac in shorts and flip-flops, no less.

“I was missing a lot,” he said. “But I’m not missing out anymore.”

Email Margaret DeLaney at margaret.delaney@theadvocate. com.

PROVIDED PHOTO

Dr Colleen Scott, at Mississippi State University, is developing a new class of imaging dyes that could transform cancer surgery by helping doctors see tumors in real time, enabling more precise removal while preserving healthy tissue.

STAFF PHOTOS By BRETT DUKE

Pierre Mouledoux stands recently at his camp in Dulac. Mouledoux was born with Erythropoietic Protoporphyria, a disorder that

sensitivity to sunlight

Mouledoux fishes from his boat, which he rarely keeps docked now after a lifetime of avoiding the sun.

Mouledoux walks down the stairs of his camp

Eat FitLiveFit

Whensummertemperatures climb,fewingredientsare asrefreshingassweet,juicy melon.InthissaladfromYeOldeCollege Inn,sweetcantaloupeandwatermelon providetheperfectbackdropfordelicate lumpcrabmeat,tangygoatcheeseand asimplebalsamicdressing.Everybite deliversacontrastofﬂavorsandtextures thatfeelsdistinctlyGulfCoast-inspired.

Whetherservedasastarterforadinner partyorenjoyedasalightlunchona warmafternoon,thiscolorfulsaladcomes togetherinminutesandshowcasessome ofsummer’sfreshestingredients.Bestof all,it’sanutritiousoptionpackedwith proteinandnaturallysweetfruit.

SummerMelonSalad Makes4servings

½cantaloupe,cutinto4slices 2cupswatermelon,cutinto2-inchcubes Pinchofseasalt Pinchoffreshlygroundblackpepper 8ounceslumpcrabmeat 4tablespoonsgoatcheese,crumbled 2tablespoonsbalsamicvinegar 4teaspoonsextravirginoliveoil

Onservingplates,dividecantaloupe slicesandcubedwatermelon.Sprinkle withsaltandpepper.Topeachserving with2ouncesofcrabmeatand1 tablespoonofgoatcheese.Drizzlewith balsamicvinegarandoil.Servechilled.

PERSERVING:160calories,7gramsfat, 2gramssaturatedfat,260mgsodium,13 gramscarbohydrate(12gramsnetcarbs), 1gramﬁber,11gramssugar(0added sugar),12gramsprotein.Gluten-free.

EatFit and eatfresh: Summer Melon Salad

SimpleSubstitutions

Thisrecipehighlights howsmalltweakscan haveabignutritional impact.ToalignwithEat Fitnutritionalstandards, YeOldeCollegeInn swappedthefetacheese initsoriginalrecipefor goatcheese,reducingthe sodiumcontentbyabout 75%ounceforounce.

It’sasimplereminder thathealthyeating doesn’thavetomean majorchanges.Thoughtful substitutionsgiveusa biggerpunchofnutrition whilealsopreserving theﬂavorsthatmakea dishmemorable.

Findthisrecipeandmore in“TheEatFitCookbook,” availableforpurchaseat localretailersoronlineat EatFitCookbook.com.Be suretousepromocode ADVOCATEatcheckout for10%off

MollyKimball,RD,CSSD,isaregistereddietitian withOchsnerHealthandfounderofOchsner’sEatFit nonproﬁtinitiative.Formorewellnesscontent,tuneinto Molly’spodcast,FUELEDWellness+Nutrition,andfollow @MollykimballRDand@EatFitOchsneronsocialmedia Emailnutrition@ochsner.orgtoconnectwithMollyor scheduleaconsultwithherteam.

BY THENUMBERS

AMERICAN FERTILITyRATES DECLINEAMONG WOMENINTHEIR 30S

Since the 1980s, fertility rates in the UnitedStatesamong women over30, particularly those 35 andolder,havegenerallyincreased. However, the fertilityrate for women ages 30 to 34 decreased 8% from2015 to 2024, from 101.4birthsper 1,000 women to 93.7,according to data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

During the same period,fertility rates forwomen youngerthan 30, whostill account formost births, decreased.As aresult, the overall number of U.S. births has declined, according to data analyzed by the CDC.

The fertility rate for women in their early 30s decreased in 37 states from 2015 to 2024; 13 of those states and theDistrict of Columbia sawdecreases between at least 10% and as much as 21%.Inanother24states, decreases ranged from 2% to 9%

Louisiana’sfertility rate decreased 4% between 2015 to 2024, from 89.1births per 1,000 women to 85.7

These states had the largest decreases in fertility rates among women ages 30 to 34 from 2015 to 2024:

n D.C. with a 21% decrease;

n Oregon with a 17% decrease; n Utah and Washingtonwith a 16% decrease; n California and Nevada with a 15% decrease; n Alaska with a 14% decrease;

n Delaware and Montana with a 13% decrease;

n Hawaii, Illinois, Rhode Island and Vermont with a 12% decrease.

These states hadnosignificant changeor increasesinfertilityrates among women ages 30 to 34 from 2015 to 2024:

n Nebraska and Mississippi with a 3% increase;

n Alabama, Connecticut, Iowa, Kentucky,Tennessee and West Virginia with a 1% increase;

n and Indiana, South Dakotaand Wisconsin had no change

Additional CDC data reported that the U.S. fertility rate for women ages 35 to 39 increased 5% to 54.3 birthsper 1,000 women in 2024 from 51.6in2015.The

VIBRATIONS

Continued from page1X BROUGHT

after the initial sessions. However,the best use of vibration systems is to complete an exercise routine while on avibration plate. You’re not making the best use of avibration plate by simply standing on it. Are there real benefits for circulation,lymphatic drainage,balance or bone health? Completing exercises on both

devices will increase circulation while toningmuscles. This increase in blood ﬂow is similar to exercise on solid ground. The biggest difference is that individuals who are overweight or have back or hip problems will be able to moveeasier on trampolines, allowing them to move more. An exercise program on the vibration plate will stimulate the bodymore than the sameexercise on the ground, which can help users who are overweight get more results withoutdoing moresets. However,exercise sessions on either of these devices must still

Thepercent changefor fertility rate forwomenages30to34ineachstate from

Source:Centers forDisease Controland Prevention

fertilityrate for women 40 and older increased 24% from 5.8 births per 1,000 women in 2015 to 7.2 in 2024.

Provisional birth datafor 2025, according to the CDC, suggest that declines in births to women younger than 35 and increases in births to women 35 and older continue.

This reportuses data from the 2015 and 2024 natality file of the National Vital Statistics System.The vital statistics natality file is based on information from U.S. birthcertificates and includes information for all births occurring in the United States.

be challenging enough to stimulate the body Who stands to benefitmost from these tools—and who should avoid them? Beforestartinganexercise program, it is important totalk to your doctor.Individuals who beneﬁt the most are those who need lowimpact exercise, which can include those who are overweight or have injuries or conditions thatcause pain during exercise.

People withback issues should be apprehensive and consult with their doctor before starting exercise routines withmini trampolines

or vibration plates. How muchtime and frequency are needed to seemeaningfulresults?

Forsomeone to see results from using these devices, aconsistent schedule of three to four days per week of exercising 45 minutes per day is suggested.Ifyou are a beginner,both your time and intensity should be lessened forthe ﬁrst twotothree weeks

Forbest results, afull-body exercise program is suggested Additionally,apersonal traineror coach can help withlong-term success. Acommitment of 90 days of

consistentexercise can result in a transformation

Can these tools realistically replace traditional exercise,or are theybest usedasa supplement? It is importanttoremember that these exercise toolsare agood way to elevate your exercise routine, but they shouldnot replace traditional exercise. To getthe full effect of mini trampolinesand vibration plates, they mustbecombined withatraditional exercise routine. Margaret DeLaney contributed to this story.

Molly Kimball RD,CSSD

EmilyEickhoff,forTheEatFitCookbook

Whyeat junk on acamping trip?

Tips andrecipes fornutritiousfood on thetrail

BY ALBERT STUMM Associated Press

Few things feelbetterthan along hike in the woods, exhausting yourself as you soak in the fresh air and tranquility

Then, back to camp, where you chip away at those health benefits with packaged hot dogs slapped into awhite-bread bun with aslice of plastickyprocessed cheese food. It doesn’thave to be that way, said Aaron Owens Mayhew, a dietitian and long-haul trekker in Orcutt, California.

“It always made me sadthat people who train so hard, they exercise, they eat well at home, and then they go backpacking and pick up honey buns,”Owens Mayhew said.

Getting outside generally improves mental and physical health.But toooften,campers and hikers resort to the convenience of processed foodshigh in saturated fat, salt and sugar

Here’show to rethink campsite cooking to eat healthy while acting healthy

Eatwhatyou eatathome

Many people rightly assume that alittle processed food is ﬁne, especially when you’re exerting outsize energy that can help counter excess calories.

The problem lies in theway the body processes it, said Owens Mayhew,who founded Backcountry Foodie, awebsite dedicated to bringing nutrition to the trail

Simple carbohydrates like sugary baked goods and candy bars can cause rapid blood glucose spikes followed by asharp drop, leaving hikers more fatigued than before. Meanwhile, heavily processed foods tend to be dense in caloriesbut lacking the vitamins, minerals and protein the body needs to perform well.

Ahealthy diet can provide consistent energy throughout the day and improvedrecovery

“I liketothinkoffoodasone variable that can be controlled, unlike asprained ankle or bad weather,” Owens Mayhew said. She said the best way to eat in the wilderness is to ﬁndways to continue eating the food you normally do at home. Instead of frying bacon and eggsonthe ﬁre because that’swhat you did at camp as akid, have that bran cereal you eat every morning,

this time with powdered milk (ﬁnd it in the bakingaisle).

Many of therecipes on Owens Mayhew’s websiteare healthier versions ofher family’s classic recipes,including tuna casserole, garlic-Parmesan noodles and sweet potato casserole.As asupplement to grilled meat or fish, she suggested packing instant brown rice, quinoa and couscous, which arelightweight, healthy and require only boiled water To boost flavor,add fresh ginger, herbs or garlic or onion powder. Adding nuts, dried mushrooms,grated Parmesan, sun-dried tomatoes or dried fruit turnsthe starch intoa meal of its own.

Prep mealsathome

Cookingatcampismuch harder than when you’re comfortably home in your kitchen, so winging it is usually abad idea, said Rashad Frazier, founder of CampYoshi, agourmet adventure outﬁtter

Well before atrip, take time to planmeals and prep as many ingredients as will stayfresh in zip-top bags or containers.

Chopping onions or grating fresh ginger at home frees time to enjoythe sunset andspend time with familywhenyou’re outdoors.

“There’snoextra bonus pointsfor cutting onions and making mango chutney at camp,”hesaid.

Frazier’s cookbook, “Cook Out,”devotes asection to pantry ingredientsthatcan be preppedathome.His universal spice mix, salsa verde, chutneys, curry paste, pickled onions and other ﬂavor boosterspack apunch without adding many calories. They can be mixedand matched,hesaid, with whatever meat, vegetables or grains you have.

Also, alwayshaveanemergencybackup meal forwhen bad weather or other factors ruinyourplans, Frazier said. His is aBolognese sauce that he keeps in thefreezer until leaving.

But ahomemade pureed soup or even peanut butter andjelly can be alifesaver

“Have that one dish that’salways like, in the event of emergency,break glass, eat this,” he said.

HEALTH

NOTES

Rashad Frazier’sUniversal Camping Spice Mix

From the cookbook “Cook Out”

1tablespoonkosher salt

1teaspoon fresh crackedblack pepper

1teaspoon smoked paprika

1teaspoon thyme

2 teaspoongarlic powder

teaspoononion powder

⁄2 teaspooncayenne (adjust to spice preference)

1. Mix at home and put into asealed container.Rub onto any meat, ﬁshorvegetable before cooking on awell-oiled grill.

Backcountry Foodie’sParmesan Pesto Ramen

One serving 1package ramennoodles

2tablespoons pine nutsoralmonds

1tablespoon dried basil (or2tablespoons fresh,if available)

1⁄8 teaspoongarlic powder

1⁄8 teaspoontable salt

2tablespoons grated Parmesancheese

3tablespoons olive oil

6ounces water

1. At home,discard theramen’s high-salt seasoning packet. Create apestopacket by putting thenuts, herbs,garlic andcheeseintoa small baggie. At camp, boil water to cook thepasta, discardthe waterwhen tender,and stirinthe pesto packet andoil. Tear fresh basil if you have it and stir it in.

Swimming lessons?

Doctor says: Designatea ‘kid-watcher,’ invest in floats

BY MARGARETDeLANEY

Staff writer

Health Notes is an occasional listing of health happenings around Louisiana. Have something you’d like to share? Contact usat margaret.delaney@theadvocate.com

Hospital graduates first one-year residency class

The North Oaks Health System in Hammond graduated seven students recently in its ﬁrst class of the TransitionalYear Residency Program, an expansion of the hospital system’sgraduate medical education initiative to strengthen the northshore’shealthcare workforce

The one-year program is designedtoprovide broad clinical training beforeadvancing into specialty residencies and other areas of advanced medical education.

The students began their residencies in July 2025 and received clinical training at NorthOaks Medical Center and other facilities across the North Oaks Health organization By 2030, the North Oaks Health GME program is expected to train up to 80 physicians at any given time, with additional residency programs in emergency medicine and family medicine planned in the coming years.

LakeviewHospital names newchief medical officer

Dr.Dewitt Bateman, a25-year hospitalleaderand anesthesiologist by trade,isthe new chief medical ofﬁceratLakeview Hospital in Covington. Bateman was formerly the AssociateChief Medical Ofﬁcer and MedicalDirector of Perioperative Services at Woman’sHospital inBaton Rouge.

lowing surgery

The workisanchored by a$3.5 millionNational Institutes of Health grant supporting research on spinalcordregeneration led by Dr.Sina Pourtaheri.

The project builds on earlier studies showing that aproteinbased“nanocapsuletherapy” can restore movement in paralyzed mice. Current effortsaim to improve thattechnology to enhance nerve regeneration andfunctional recovery

complex conditions.

Ochsnertoopen behavioral hospital in Acadiana

Ochsner Lafayette General and OceansHealthcarewill open Ochsner Behavioral Health AcadianaLafayette, anew behavioral health hospital in July.The 62-bed facility,at310 Youngsville Highway, will have inpatient and outpatient behavioral health services.

Oceans Behavioral Health Acadiana is apartnership between Ochsner Lafayette General and Oceans Healthcare to bring behavioralhealth services for adolescent, adult and geriatric patients, addressing acritical and growing need in the community

Coinciding with theLafayette facility opening, Oceans Behavioral Hospital Broussard will become Ochsner BehavioralHealth Acadiana-Broussard, expanding the totalinpatient capacity of OchsnerBehavioral Health Acadiana to 100.

Email Margaret DeLaney at margaret.delaney@theadvocate. com.

In hisnew role at Lakeview, Batemanwill“further strengthen our medical staff partnerships, support our care teams andcontinue advancing the high-quality careour community expects and deserves,” saidBen Richaud, CEO of Lakeview Hospital in ahospital news release.Batemanbegan as CMOonJune 1. Tulane researchers advance therapies

ATulane University researcher is developing therapies to restore function after spinal cord injuries and prevent serious infections fol-

The research was recentlypublishedinthe International Journal of Pharmaceutics, and for this project,Pourtaheri was chosen as one of three recipientsofTulane’s Provost Proof of Concept Fund, acompetitive grant programto help turn early-stageresearch into market-ready,impactful and commercialized discoveries.

The lab is continuing to expand, with plans to pursue additional federal funding and explore future clinical and commercial applications.

The work is part of agrowing effort to translate advances in biomaterials and drug delivery into new treatmentoptions for patients with spinal cord injuries and other

TheLouisiana Health section is focused on providing in-depth, personal accounts of health in the state.This section looks at medical innovations, health discoveries, state and national health statistics and re-examining tried and true methods on ways to livewell.

This is acolumn in aseries from Dr.Scott Hamilton, director of the Pediatric Emergency Department at Ochsner Lafayette General Medical Center, offering practical guidanceon preventing and treating illnessesand injuriessokids canstay healthy and out of the emergency department. Walt is afellowemergency room doctor who had been an Air Forcepararescue jumper, or PJ.This elite team rescues downedpilots, particularly in water.Thus, Walt’sa strong swimmer One dayatthe beach,heand his 8-year-old sonwereswept outtosea by a riptide.Hundreds of yards out, Walt spottedacurrent thatcould carry them back to shore,but the stream he wasin preventedhim fromswimming to it. Afterhours of trying to break through while holding up his son, exhausted, he resignedhimself to throwing his sontothe beachbound current before he himself would drown. Just thenarogue wave slappedtheminto thatgood current andtheymadeitback Walt neverwenttothe beach againwithout numerous flotationdevices Louisiana ranks third in the nationfor child drownings. It’s no wonder: We have beaches, bayous, lakes, pools and the heat to drive us into those waters. Acommonscenario involvespool parties. The adults arechatting, drinking andpaying little attention. As things wind down, someone realizesa child is missing andfinds them at the bottomofthe pool.No onewas watching carefully enough, andkids don’tmake a fuss when theydrown. Instead of splashing andhollering, theysink quietly Avoidthis tragedy by designating akid watcher.That personwearsa lanyard to remind themand others of their duty: Remain soberand avoid distractions like conversation or phones. Also,nonswimming childrenshould wearlife jacketsfrombeforethe first guests arrive until the last one leaves Poolsshould be fenced on all four sidessothattoddlers don’tsneak into the water party or not. Preventing teen drownings is athornierissue.Not all teens aregreat decisionmakers. To illustrate,about 10 years agoIbehaved like ateenager andalmost drowned at Grand Isle. My kids andsome friends were on alarge raft about 40 yards offthe beach.After finishing abeer,I decidedto join them. However,the waves were rough, andthe wind and current were driving into the beach.Istartedswimming and made little headway. Stretching my feetdown,Ifound I was toofar outtostand. Like Walt, Iwas running out of gas. Unlike Walt, Iwas notastrong swimmer.Iyelledfor help, and fortunately,myfriend Dayle was on the raft. Aformer lifeguard andcollegiate swimmer, he wasatmyside in seconds, buoying me up. The lessonfor teens is clear: No drinking, swim in guarded waters in good conditions, have throwable flotation devices or life jacketsavailable for weaker swimmers. And as for me, Itook swimming lessons to become safer in the water

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU

Health editions will also profile people whoare advancing health forthe state of Louisiana. Do youhavea health story? We want to hear fromyou. Email margaret.delaney@ theadvocate.com to submit health questions, stories and more.

PHOTO PROVIDED By NORTHOAKS HEALTH SySTEM

TheNorth OaksHealth System in Hammond graduated sevenstudents recently in its firstclass of the Transitional year Residency Program.

PROVIDED PHOTO By JIMMAHJOUBIAN ResearchersinDr. Sina Pourtaheri’slab aredeveloping and testingnew therapies to support spinal cord regeneration.

PROVIDED PHOTOByALEX FORESTIER

Rashad Frazier prepares food on abeach on Manatí, Puerto Rico

Scott Hamilton GUEST COLUMNIST

By Amanda McElfresh amcelfresh@theadvocate.com

Thisstory is brought to you by

OchsnerHealth.

Long days at the pool, ball games in the heat, andweekends on the waterare staples of summerinsouth Louisiana,but Ochsner Health experts saythe season alsobringsa spikeinpreventableinjuries,dehydration, skin damageand medical emergencies

According to Benjamin G. Guevara, MD, sports medicine and orthopedic surgeon, Ochsner Therapy&Wellness-Slidell Memorial Hospital East,summer injuries typically fall into twobroad categories

“One category includes critical emergencies such as boating accidents,waterskiinginjuriesorpeople slipping on wetsurfaces and either breaking abone or hitting their head,”Dr. Guevara said. “The other category includes muscle strains or tears. Often, theseare overuseinjuries.Weprobably seea fewmoreissues with teens and young adults but we certainly seeproblems in people of all ages.”

cine physician, Ochsner Lafayette General AndrewsOrthopedics and Sports Medicine Institute, said manypeople jump tooquickly into intenseexerciseroutines or recreational leagues after weeksofloweractivity.

“Some of the most common injuries include sprains,muscle strains,tendonitis,shin splints,fractures,jointpain and swelling, heatexhaustion, dehydration and concussions.The knees shoulders, hips and lower legsare among the most commonly affected areas,” Dr.Tosino shared.

BenjaminG.Guevara,MD

One of the best ways to preventinjuries and burnout is to start slowly in termsofintensity,duration and frequency

betterfor peoplewith sensitiveskin, babies andchildren,but theyhavelesslong-term absorption than chemical versions.”

Dr.Guevara advises seekingimmediate medical attention forserious injuries or symptoms likehead trauma,breathing difﬁculties,severepain or swelling, confusion or disorientation, or signs of dehydration.If mild injuries persist forseveral days,they should be evaluatedbya physiciantoprevent long-term complications

While sports injuries arecommon during the summer months,water-relatedaccidents alsoremain atop concernfor physicians.Drowning incidents canhappen quickly and quietly,often withoutsplashing or yelling forhelp.Children canbeespecially susceptible to waterdangers, and Dr.Guevara recommends thatadults supervisekids at all times,install barriersand alarms around pools andensurechildren wear properly ﬁtting lifejackets,especially on open bodies of water.

“It’ssoimportanttobeaware of your environment. The waterconditions will not be the same every time, even if you’re in a lakeorariver thatyou’vebeeninbefore,”Dr. Guevaraexplained. “Manyinjuries happen becausepeople overestimate their swimming ability, underestimate waterconditions or aredistracted around the water.

Away from the water, longer daylight hoursand warmer weather often encourage people to become more active, but suddenly increasing activitylevels can put extrastrain on the body

Christopher Tosino,DO, primary care sports medi-

“You want to pair that with agood warmup and cooldown each time you exercise. The activities youdobeforeand after aworkout arejust as importantasthe workout itself,” Dr.Tosino said. “Your activityshouldn’tsuddenly stop as soon as you areoff thetrack or outofthe weight room. Gradually ramping up and cooling down each time is akey part of taking care of your body.”

Proper hydration is alsocrucial to staying healthy. Dehydration canhappen quickly and lead to fatigue, muscle cramps,dizziness, poor reaction time,and in the worst cases, heatexhaustionorheatstroke. As Dr Tosino said, manypeople underestimate howmuch ﬂuid theyloseduring outdoor activities, especially when spending time in the water, since theymay not feel sweaty

“If youwait until youfeel thirsty, youare already mildly dehydrated,”heexplained.

“You want to drink adequate ﬂuids before an activityand replenish afterwards with ﬂuids,electrolytes and food.

Aside from high temperatures and humidity, the summer sunalsocreatesdangersfor the skin without proper precautions

Christina K. Rowley, PA-C,dermatology, Ochsner Medical Complex–The Grove,said most peopleunderestimate thedamagethat sun exposurecan cause.

“UVdamagecan occur in as little as 15 minutes, even on cloudy days,” she said. “It cancertainly happen if youare outside forseveral hours, but it canalsooccur as aresult of cumulativesun exposureeach dayasyou go about your normalroutine.Thatexposureadds up and cancauseskin

Movementismedicine.But restandrecoveryarealso criticalbecausefatigue anddelayedreactiontimes canincreaseinjuryrisk Listentoyourbodyand recognizewhenit’ssaying youneedtotakeiteasy foradayortwo.

ChristopherTosino,DO

damage, prematureaging and an increased risk forskin cancer.”

Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the United States, but Rowleyshares howitisalsopreventable and easier to detect early becauseofits visibility. The three main types of skin cancer arebasal cell carcinoma (often appearing as askin-colored bump or pink patch), squamous cell carcinoma (usually ared bump scaly patchorsorethat heals and reopens) and melanoma (the most severe form because it can spread quicklytoother parts of the body).

The sun canalso causeother problems Rowleysaid.

“Any changefrom your baseline skin color is considered damagetothe skin. There’snosuch thing as a healthytan,”she explains.“Thosechanges in the structureofthe skin canincreasea person’srisk forpre-cancer,skin cancer and prematuresigns of aging. We alsoencourage people to monitor forage spots and lesionsespecially if theyappear in clusters-textural changes,dilatedbloodvessels and redness.

Rowleyrecommends everyone usea broad-spectrum, water-resistantsunscreen with SPF 30 or higher,and reapply it every twohours, or after swimming or sweating.

“Mineral sunscreens work by deflecting sun rays,and chemical ones work as a sponge,”Rowleysaid. “Mineral sunscreens aremoresheer and cosmetic.Theytend to be

The most importantstepistoﬁnd asunscreen that worksfor youand apply it repeatedly and generously, making suretocover easy-to-skip areas likethe ears, neck, knees and feet,Rowleyshares.Adults should use about 1.5ounces per application, or about the sizeofa shot glass, whileanickel-sized dollop is the ideal amountfor the face.

In additiontosunscreen,people can reduce UV exposurebywearing widebrimmed hats,large sunglassesand sun-protectiveclothing with an SPF of at least 55

“Wewantpeople to do thethingsthey enjoy, but be smart about it.Thereare alot of optionsfor sunscreens,clothingand accessories to accommodate differenttypes of activities.When youare outside, ﬁnd some shade andtakebreaksfromthe sun when youcan. With the rightprecautions,you can enjoybeing outside as partofahealthylifestyle,”Rowleysaid.

Dr.Guevara and Dr.Tosino agreed that the same balanced approach applies to nearly every aspect of summer activity. Dr Guevara encourages people to moderate their alcohol intake, since excessivedrinking is often acontributing factor in summer accidents and canlead to an increased dehydration risk.

Anychangefromyour baselineskincoloris considereddamageto theskin.There’snosuch thingasahealthytan

ChristinaK.Rowley,PA-C

Dr.Tosino added thatgetting moreactivityinthe summer canhelp people improve their endurance, strength, cardiovascular health and abilitytotackle daily tasks. Allowing the body time to rest,hesaid, canhelp reduce fatigue and lowerthe risk of injury

“Movement is medicine.But,restand recovery arealsocritical becausefatigue and delayedreaction times canincreaseinjury risk,” he said. “Listen to your body and recognize when it’s saying youneedtotakeit easyfor aday or two.”

Theteambehind your triumph

Cassandrabringsanathlete’smindsettoeverythingshedoes—focused, determined,andalwayspushingforward.WithshouldersurgerybyDr.Otis Drewandsports-drivenphysicaltherapy,shehasthesupportneededto keepthatmomentum.Now,she’srebuildingherstrengthandpushing forwardwiththesamedeterminationshestartedwith.

Learnmoreorscheduleanappointmentatochsner.org/lafayetteortho

CassandraM. | ShoulderSurgeryPatient

OtisDrew,MD | SportsMedicine

SECRET RECIPE

BY JOYHOLDEN Staff writer

On arecent Wednesday,20children between the agesof9 and 12 bustled around the Southern Universitykitchen laboratory, chopping vegetables and ﬁlling canning jars with spices and apple cider vinegar

It was Day 3ofthe Southern UniversityNourishEDKIDS(Knowledgeof Ingredients forDaily Success) Youth Summer CookingCamp—anannual hands-on, skills-building experience designed to introducestudents to the fundamentals of preparing simple, nutritious meals and learning kitchens essentials, such as safe food handling, measuring, following recipes and basic techniques.

Evan Egana,aSouthern University outreach extension agent, stood at the front of the kitchen and explained to the campers how to go about measuring their ingredients for pickling. About four or ﬁvecampersapproached her for closer attention

“You use the big glass measuring cups for the water and the vinegar,and then you’re goingtouse the measuring spoons for theother ingredients,” Egana said.

She picked up vegetables— fresh from gardensand CapitalCityProduce —toshowthe kids,explaining that they could choose whichever combination for their pickles.

“Y’all are more than welcome to come getthe cucumbers up here,” Egana instructed, “but be mindful everybody needs cucumbers, so only one for your station.Wehavebellpeppers, red onions, carrots, so youare more than welcometouse whatever you want.”

The campers rushed to grab their vegetables and askquestions about how to make their pickles spicier or withmore dill ﬂavor Egana, whoholds aBachelor of Sci-

ence and aMaster of Public Administration from Southern,teaches cooking classes to the BatonRouge communityasher day job

“I love doing food demonstrations,” Egana said. “I usually do foods or recipes that are accustomed to Louisiana, and Imake them more healthy.”

Shepaused to help acamper tell the difference between ateaspoon anda tablespoon. She said look for the letter “p” or the “b” in theabbreviation.

“It’smore science-based instead of just cooking,”Egana said. “We’redoing the science of fermenting today So they’regonna learn how acids help preserve thefoods.”

Thescience behind cooking Each day of the NourishED KIDS camp focused on speciﬁc ingredients and their scientiﬁc reactions. Egana used the Edible Education curriculum, which focuses on real food and

JanRisher

Becoming shepherd foraweek

In Kristyn Carver’sphone, he is saved as “Tim the shepherd.” When she and Imet in mid-June, she had yet to meet him in person. But on her 50th birthday afew days later,she flew across the country to help him moveaflock of sheep up amountain in Navajoland in Arizona. Details were sparse. As best she could figure, part of the climb would be by truck, but the last 9 miles would be on foot.

This Mandeville mother wasgoing to be ashepherd foraweek. Herhusband andthree daughters, ages 13, 15 and16, would make it aweek without her. Carverisa counselor and professor at NewOrleans Baptist Theological Seminary.She does notcamp.She does not hike. She hadnever moved sheep. Forweeksbeforeher grand adventure, she gotready the way apersonprepares for something she cannotpicture:Six miles a daythrough herneighborhood in aweightedvestand acute hat. She hasbeen drawn to the shepherd of the Bible for decades —the gentle shepherd of Isaiah, the Lord of the 23rd Psalm, the oneinthe Gospel of Johnwho calls himself the good shepherd andlaysdownhis life for the sheep

“FromwhatI’ve learned about sheep andtheir connection with the shepherd, it’sthat being in the presence of the shepherd is whatsettlesthem,” she said.

“The presenceofthe shepherd is whatbrings calmand peace andthat’swhatIthink prayer is for me, intentionally being aware of God’spresence around me.” She hasread aboutsheep the way travelers study countries before they visit. She knowsa sheep flipped onto its back cannot always right itself.She knows shepherds oil their flock’sheads to keep flies away.She knows sheep are not fast, cannot defend themselves and will not find water on their own.

She said she sees herself in sheep.

“Prone to wander,” she said.

“Prone to get myself into big messes Ican’tget out of.”

The ﬂock she was going to help movewas smaller than expected. Aram brought in to build the herd produced no lambs this year

The family was downtoaround 25 animals from the 50 it should have had.

The bad year was theirs to absorb, but they welcomed her anyway

TimBenally grew up between worlds —now working in Washington, D.C., while staying

STAFF PHOTO By JANRISHER

Kristyn Carversitsinher home in Mandeville on June 12 before she left forher shepherd adventure in Arizona.

CoreyHoskins, center,and other campers enjoytheir chocolate chip cookies

STAFF PHOTOSByJAVIER GALLEGOS

Syncere McKee,second from left, reaches over Colin Northern, center,tograb brown sugarfromGekoryWickerduring the NourishED KIDS youth Summer Cooking CampatSouthernUniversity

STAFF PHOTO By JOyHOLDEN Camper Ry’Lee Johnson holds her jar of pickles.

Jibber-Jabber Night prohibits jibber jabber

BY LAUREN CHERAMIE

Staff writer

Nancy Nicholson is the founder of Acadiana Talent, a platform that serves performers of all ages in Acadiana. A Recording Academy member, Nicholson collaborates with local music professionals to cultivate and elevate talent in the area, offering artist development and management, booking services and artist consultations.

Acadiana Talent emphasizes networking, collaboration, mutual support and continuous learning with the mission to offer opportunities for artists to grow, perform, learn, connect and create Since its 2017 debut at Warehouse 535, Acadiana Talent has hosted showcases featuring hundreds of young artists, including some who have pursued professional paths. Youth showcases are currently held periodically, and performers under the age of 30 can share original music or covers. The organization runs an annual High School Battle of the Bands, with winners earning a slot at Festival International. In June 2020, Nicholson began hosting Storytellers, a songwriter open mic at the Blue Moon Saloon in Lafayette that’s held on the ﬁrst and third Tuesdays of the month For more information, visit www.acadianatalent.

com. This interview was edited for length and clarity How did Acadiana Talent get its start?

My son was writing music, and

CAMP

Continued from page 1y

the science behind the cooking

Over the week, campers learned how to make pancakes from scratch, pickle vegetables, bake cookies and observe how different amounts of butter affected the fluffiness of foods They cooked omelets, melted chocolate and whipped up a chocolate mousse.

“All of the recipes that we’ve done this week have the science behind them. The campers know exactly why things happen — like, if you add yeast to bread and what it does,” Egana said.

Later that day when the campers made cookies, she said they learned that if you add more sugar, the cookies will be more dense, but if you add more butter, they will be ﬂufﬁer

Another part of the camp included the children going out to the Southern AgCenter demonstration garden to learn how to grow their own food.

Ry’Lee Johnson, a rising fifthgrader, said she chose to do the camp because she wanted to help her mom in the kitchen, “so she won’t be the only one cooking.”

Johnson said that making pancakes was her favorite activity, and she was pretty proud of how her ﬂuffy pancakes turned out.

Passion for nutrition

Joshua McDonald, program leader for the Family and Human Sciences Cooperative Extension Program of the Ag Center and program director for Southern’s nutrition education program, circulated from group to group, offering a hand or guidance.

“As the program director for the last seven years,” McDonald said, “I truly understand the impact that we have on young minds, especially as it comes to the kitchen It helps them be a little bit more independent in the kitchen with small skills like the utilization of knives or small quick recipes, whether it be healthy snacks or healthy meals. It’s just a passion of mine, as well as my team.”

Nutrition is not McDonald’s background, but as a political scientist who is currently a Ph.D. student for public policy at Southern, he understands the value of a healthy food culture in a community He said that because many of the youth who come to the camp live around Southern University, which is in a food desert — a geographical area that lacks sufﬁcient supply of fresh vegetables, fruits and affordable whole foods the camp helps show them healthy options and inspiration.

“Our program is very big on creating community in school gardens

Q&A WITH NANCy NICHOLSON FOUNDER OF ACADIANA TALENT

you’re going to participate in this creative endeavor Acadiana Talent lets you do your thing and is supported by a community of like-minded individuals.

Why is it important for a community to have spaces where musicians can perform, experiment and grow?

My kids did some work with Simone Foreman, owner of Images Model & Talent Agency She does Expo twice a year and she takes a small group of kids to Dallas, where they meet with 50-60 agents who are looking for new talent.

My son and daughter went, and I could see how all of these kids had so much fun sharing their gifts with each other and celebrating it with like-minded individuals. I thought, “Wow We could really use that back home, because we have a lot of talent here.”

he was in a band. They couldn’t ﬁnd a place to play When I saw that, that’s when I started Acadiana Talent. I saw there was a need for them to have the opportunity, if they were in formal lessons, to do something different. And if they weren’t in any program, they could participate in this one for free.

There are programs in schools, private lessons and great places like School of Rock and CYT, but all of those things dictate how

I got involved with the South Louisiana Songwriters Festival at Blue Moon Saloon, and then I started a songwriters night.

For kids, it supports the fact that they’re good. It also helps to let their parents know that they’re good, too — and they’re not wasting their time. Because other parents come up, saying, “Oh, your kid is so awesome.” It’s a little validation time, too.

For the adults at songwriter night, it’s a validation time too. They get to try out new music, see how the crowd responds, and

they get to meet each other

Then I started Jibber-Jabber Night, where you’re not allowed to talk during open mic nights. It’s original music, so it’s like a listening room. We live in a world where people so often feel like they have to fill the silence.We’re constantly worrying about ourselves, and rarely do we stop to sit down with our own thoughts in silence but especially in the company of others in silence.What impact do you think those silent open mic nights have?

It’s true. We think we have to ﬁll the silence, and we don’t. Music is a healer Music is a connection. When you hear the lyrics of someone’s song, you might connect with it — even though you didn’t have the same experience, you feel like you did because of what they just expressed.

I really think that, in the silence, you’re able to connect even deeper because it’s not interrupted by words. It’s all thoughts. It’s amazing, that space, and it’s become very open, welcoming and nonjudgmental. It comes down to connecting — the connection that people want to make with others.

When a musician does step on the stage for the first time, no matter how old they are, what do you hope they feel?

That adrenaline. I hope they feel like they got bit by the bug. I hope they feel like the audience received what they were trying to share.

I hope they have a feeling of

for the

outreach agent

and creating a farm-to-table experience with students and adults in several different settings,” McDonald said “So, at this camp, to show them how you can use those fresh ingredients and make multiple meals in a short amount of time brings everything full circle.”

Although the youth summer cooking camp has been operating for 10 years, McDonald and his team had to rebrand the name this year because of cuts to Southern’s SNAP-Ed program, which used to be called CHEF Camp for “Creating Healthy Enjoyable Foods,” to NourishED KIDS Camp.

The kitchen changes things Over the week, children change from being hesitant to engaged,

McDonald said While they have kids who are passionate from the beginning, some are forced to go by their parents, and they have mixed emotions.

“As they get into the kitchen, and as they’re actually able to touch, measure, scale things themselves,” McDonald said, “you really start to see a build of passion, or even excitement. We get to see the transformation from ‘I gotta be here’ to ‘What are we cooking today?’”

The cooking camp also helps the campers build on communication, coordination, teamwork and conﬁdence, McDonald says.

“My favorite thing,” Egana said, “is just seeing them actually enjoy cooking, and their parents come in

accomplishing, because it is a big accomplishment to get on that stage and perform.

In a place like Lafayette, how does music contribute to the city’s identity?

Mostly, we’re identiﬁed by having Cajun, zydeco and Creole music. That’s wonderful, because it is a huge part of our identify and a lot of music stems from those genres, but we aren’t just that.

We have so much music here.

We have metal bands, indie bands, rap. It’s amazing, the different genres of music that we have. In fact, we have a supply and demand problem here in Lafayette. We’ve got more supply than we have demand, and that’s why some of our musicians leave.

Is there a solution to that?

The city has done a study the Lafayette Music Census Report, on the music economy here. That was led by Sami Parbhoo, project lead for the Lafayette Consolidated Government.

What came out of it was a couple of things. The music business structure, as far as recording studios and management, we have all of those elements. But it’s not as marketed.

The other point they made was our youth programs. We do have a lot of youth programs, but they noted that the youth could be more supportive. We have great programs here, and Acadiana Center for the Arts does a lot in the school system to bring the arts out.

Email Lauren Cheramie at lauren.cheramie@theadvocate. com.

RISHER

Continued from page 1y

Gekory Wicker carefully pulls melted butter out of the microwave as Shariah Washington closely watches.

Program director Joshua McDonald pats Corey Hoskins on the shoulder and praises him for taking initiative on washing the dishes.

telling me, ‘Oh, they’re so excited about camp.’ I try to make it interactive for all of the ages, so they’re not getting bored They were just so excited on Monday that they could make their own applesauce and eat if for a snack.”

The NourishED KIDS Youth Summer Cooking Camp was also held in Avoyelles, Union and West Carroll parishes in June.

Email Joy Holden at joy.holden@ theadvocate.com.

connected to his family’s sheep and land. The other shepherd is his uncle, a man in his 70s, who tends the ﬂock day after day Before she left, Carver didn’t know his name, but she was looking forward to seeing how a shepherd moves among his sheep. She packed a journal and her best friend met her there. Some of her “sheep talk” was familiar My husband, who is not a religious man, is fascinated by a nomadic shepherd in Iran, who moves his ﬂock through one season into the next. My husband watches the shepherd daily on YouTube and talks about that man with something close to reverence. He is enthralled with the way the nomad in Iran cares for those sheep, more than he cares for himself. While my husband has not reached for a Bible verse to explain it, I believe he understands the thing Carver is reaching for Carver who is the wife of state Rep. Kim Carver, R-Mandeville, did not arrange this grand adventure so much as receive it. A student of hers met Benally at an event in Washington. When she learned he is a shepherd, she mentioned that a professor wanted to know what shepherding was really like. Benally said to put them in touch.

With that, a stranger opened his family’s mountain to two people he had never met. When Carver asked him why, he told her he likes to show people the land, that it’s healing, that he and his wife had prayed over whether to do this kind of thing at all.

Carver did not know how the week would go. She did not know how she would sleep at night under the stars on the side of a mountain. She did not know whether the uncle would do the hard climbing or whether Benally would take the worst of it. She did not know what she would ﬁnd — or whether the presence of God she hoped for would meet her there. She booked the ticket anyway She trained anyway She went. For one week, a woman who has spent 25 years studying sheep and shepherds left home to stand beside them. She did what we do when we are seeking something bigger than ourselves. She went on faith.

Email Jan Risher at jan. risher@theadvocate.com.

STAFF PHOTOS By JAVIER GALLEGOS

Danae Franklin, from left, Sharon Washington and Nathan Howard sit down while waiting

oven to preheat before baking their cookies during the NourishED KIDS youth Summer Cooking Camp at Southern University.

Extension

Evan Egana hands vanilla extract to Shariah Washington.

THERE’S GOOD NEWS,TOO

HEALTHCARE SPENDING SLOWSINU.S

The United States appears to have significantly slowed the growth of healthcare spending,accordingto a new Brookings analysis, part of the spring 2026 edition of the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity.While healthcare costs continue to rise, they have grownmuch more slowly than experts predicted adecade ago.

In 2024, the U.S. spent more than $5 trillion on healthcare, representing 18% of its gross domestic product well belowthe 21.2% shareprojected in 2010.

“The slowdown in medical spending growth is not only largesubstantively, it is unprecedented historically,” write the authors, David M. Cutlerand Lev Klarnet of Harvard University.“Since …1960, no 14-year period has seen as slowgrowth of medical spending relativetoGDP as was realizedover the 2010-2024 timeperiod.”

Several factors have contributed to this trend, likethe shift to generic drugs and price declines in medical imaging.Brookings also highlights cost-saving technological change, such as ashift to outpatientsurgery and the wider diffusion of drugs that “prevent costly illnesses, such as statins to reduce cholesterol.”

While the healthcare cost curve has bent,additional reforms are needed to makethe system more efficient andaffordable.

NEWREPORTREVEALS

DRAMATIC EXPANSIONIN

GLOBAL EDUCATION

The Global Education Monitoring Report, hosted and published by United Nations Educational, Scientificand Cultural Organization, tracks the world’sprogress toward Sustainable Development Goals. It’s 2026 Global Education Monitoring Reportfound thateducational access has expanded dramatically

since2000,with 327 million studentsinprimaryand secondary enrollment between 2000 and 2024. However, 273million children were outofschoolin2024.

While progresshas stalled on that front,thereisgoodnews. School completionisrising,and higher education participation has more than doubled in ageneration. Primary school completionrose from77% to 88% since 2000, while upper secondary educationincreased from 37% to 61%.

“Lookingathistoricalratesof progress, the worldwouldachieve 95%uppersecondary completion by 2105 in the averagescenario, by 2081inthe fastexpansion scenario

STEAM

(atthe 75th percentile), and by 2062 in the fastest expansion scenario (averageoftop 25%),”according to the report.

Ultimately,UNESCO reports that progress doesn’t comefrom asingle measure but from “coordinated action across sectors, sustained political commitment, implementation capacity and adaptation to local contexts.

INDIAGOING GREEN FASTER THAN CHINA

Cheap solar,wind and batteries are enabling India to bypass a fossil-heavy growthphase that was previously taken by China and the West. Data fromthe WorldBank for GDP,Ember forelectricity and the IEA

forenergybalancesreveals that India is fueling economic growth by using cheapsolar power, batteriesand electric vehiclesinstead of relying heavily on coal and oil.

Ember reports that India is reaching milestoneswith lowerfossil fuel consumption than China did at a similar incomelevel.The data shows that solar poweraccounted for9% of India’s electricity in 2025, and electric vehicle use is expanding “In 2012, China had almost no electric vehiclesonthe road. By mid2025, EVs accounted foraround 5% of car salesinIndia and the country is theglobal leaderinelectric threewheeler sales,”Emberreported. Thecostofelectrotech likeEVs,

solar panels and batteries has decreased, so theyare able to build newinfrastructure at afaster rate.In contrast, in 2004, coal wascheaper than nascent solar photovoltaics (PV), so coal “made up nearly 70% of the growth of China’selectricity generation.

This means India could possibly avoid a“detour” into deep dependency on fossil fuels.

Fixthenews.com is asolutions journalism newsletter that ﬁnds stories of progressand shares them withreaders from across theworld. Acclaimed author Steven Pinkercalls Fix theNews“thebestsource forpositivenewsonthe internet.”

STEAM

HarryHurst’s Advanced STEAMLab PreparesStudentsfor Real WorldCareers

At HarryHurst Middle School,students aregaininghands-on experience in engineering, broadcasting,journalism, and technology throughthe school’sAdvanced STEAMLab.Theydesignprojects likecircuitboards and mechanicaldeviceswhilealsoproducing news broadcasts,podcasts,videos,and theschool newspaper

Principal Sean Dwyercredits thelab’ssuccess to communitysupport, includingfunding from Shell. “Whatour students do is amazing,” Dwyersaid. “Shell askedhow it could help,encouraged us to think bigger when we answered, and that support transformed ourSTEAMclassroomintoaninnovative Advanced STEAMLab.”

Throughthese uniquelearningopportunities, studentsare discoveringnew passions and preparing forfuturesuccess.Shell’sinvestment is helping open doorsfor thenextgenerationofengineers, creators,and innovators

“I see studentsproblem solvingand accepting taskstheynever thought they could do.Theyare growingasleadersand taking riskslikespeaking in frontofthe entire school or interviewing our principal.”

LINDSAY MAXIE STEAMCoordinator

HarryHurst Middle School

GETTy IMAGESPHOTO

While U.S. healthcare costs continue to rise, theyhavegrown much more slowly than experts predicted adecadeago,a recent studyfound

LAB

ADVA NCED

Don’t forget pets when preparing for natural disaster

By The American Kennel Club (TNS)

walk

stickers.

up-to-date to ensure that their contents (especially food and medicines) are fresh. Other items to be included might be an image of you and your dog, a crate and leashes, ﬁrst aid, sanitation needs, and a familiar item such as their favorite toy n Evacuation training skills. Training your dog to be comfortable around people outside of their immediate family can be a lifesaving skill when in an emergency Practicing this skill will help your dog be less stressed if a stranger needs to care for them. Crate training and teaching your dog to settle are also important tools for your pup to know in case of an emergency They will help prepare your dog for stressful situations and know how to relax at your feet while your attention is elsewhere.

n Contact your local emergency management ofﬁce, animal shelter or animal control ofﬁce to get additional information if you’re unsure how to care for your pet in case of an emergency For more tips on responsible dog ownership, visit the AKC at www akc.org.

BY KAREL JANICEK Associated Press

PRAGUE Prague’s St. Vitus Cathedral had its new organ inaugurated this month, giving the 700-year-old building, the largest in the Czech Republic, a proper instrument to accompany religious services and concerts.

Prague archbishop Stanislav Pribyl was set to bless the organ at a ceremony as part of a mass, with music played by the Czech Philharmonic and featuring “The Lužany Mass” by Antonín Dvorák and works by Georg Friedrich Händel, Camille Saint-Saëns and Joseph Haydn.

“St. Vitus Cathedral has gained a new voice,” Pribyl said in a statement. “A voice that will not speak with words but will still speak to the heart.”

The instrument with four keyboards was build in the workshop of Gerhard Grenzing in El Papiol near the Spanish city of Barcelona.

The renowned German organ builder has constructed almost 140 organs and reconstructed more than 90 historical instruments in many countries.

Once completed in Spain, the new

organ was disassembled and its parts were gradually transported to Prague on trucks.

It was reassembled at the cathedral a year ago, followed by the monthslong voicing and tuning of the pipes.

The organ contains some 6,000 pipes, ranging in length from 0.28 inches to over 23 feet.

The previous organ was completed in the early 1930s, but turned out to be too small for its monumental space and frequently broke down. There was no interest in ﬁxing the organ during World War II and more than 40 years of communist rule.

Efforts to build a new organ started some 14 years ago. A crowdfunding campaign launched in 2017 collected more than $6.5 million from thousands of donors.

The cathedral, a major tourist attraction, is linked to Czech statehood. It’s a place where the Czech kings were coronated and buried, and the Czech crown jewels are stored inside. The funeral Mass for Václav Havel, the Czech Republic’s

president, was celebrated in the ca-

on Dec. 23, 2011.

STAFF FILE PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD

Dogs

down a cold, rainy New Orleans street. Every household should include pets when planning for a natural diaster

first

thedral

A worker adjusts cables during the installation of a new organ at Prague’s St. Vitus Cathedral.

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTOS By PETR DAVID JOSEK

A worker adjusts scaffolding during the installation of a new organ at Prague’s St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague, Czech Republic.

SUNDAY, JUNe 28, 2026

CURTIS / by Ray Billingsley

SLYLOCK FOX / by Bob Weber Jr

GET FUZZY / by Darby Conley

HAGAR THE HORRIBLE / by Chris Browne

MOTHER GOOSE AND GRIMM / by Mike Peters

ZIGGY / by Tom Wilson

ROSEBUDS / by Supr Dee

ZITS / by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman

SALLY FORTH / by Francesco Marciuliano & Jim Keefe

PEARLS BEFORE SWINE /byStephan Pastis

grams

directions: Make a 2- to 7-letter word from the letters in each row Add points of each word, using scoring directions at right. Finally, 7-letter words get 50-point bonus. “Blanks” used as any letter have no point value All the words are in the Official SCRABBLE® Players Dictionary, 5th Edition.

word game

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

todAY's Word — AMortiZe: AM-ortize: To gradually reduce the cost or value of.

Average mark 49 words Time limit 60 minutes

Can you find 60 or more words in AMORTIZE?

ken ken

instructions: 1 -Each rowand each column must contain thenumbers 1through4 (easy) or 1through6 (challenging) without repeating 2 -The numbers within the heavily outlinedboxes, called cages, must combine using thegiven operation (inany order)toproduce the target numbersinthe top-left corners. 3 -Freebies: Fillinthe single-boxcages withthe numberinthe top-left corner

instructions: Sudoku is anumber-placing puzzle based on a 9x9 gridwith several given numbers. The object is to placethe numbers 1to 9in theempty squares so that each row,each column and each 3x3 boxcontains the same number only once. The difficultylevel of the Conceptis Sudoku increases from Monday to Sunday

directions: Complete thegridso that numbers 1–132 connect horizontally, vertically or diagonally

Sudoku

Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

super Quiz

Bright Norwegian lights

Good young players have been coming from Norway for several decades. Norway has become one of the world’s leading bridgeplaying nations. East and West in today’s deal were young ladies from Norway’s current junior ranks. West was Erleta Plana and East was Sofie Sjodal.

Plana led the ace of hearts, saw the encouraging nine from partner and shifted to the four of diamonds. South had to decide what to play from dummy It is safer for a defender to lead from the ace in this situation as that is not likely to give away a trick. Leading from the queen will cost a trick when South has the 10, but it is the right play when partner has the ace and the 10. South, an experienced male player, played low from dummy and came to regret it. Sjodal took her queen and returned the two of hearts to the 10 and jack. Plana cashed the ace of diamonds and led a third roundofhearts.Southruffedwith dummy’s jack, but Sjodal over-

ruffed with the queen and led a diamond to give Plana a ruff. The defense had taken the first six tricks for a great result and the declarer had a headache Very well done!

Tannah Hirsch welcomes readers’ responses sent in care of this newspaper or to Tribune Content Agency inc., 2225 Kenmore Ave., Suite 114, Buffalo, Ny 14207. E-mail responses may be sent to gorenbridge@ aol.com. © 2026 Tribune Content Agency

CANCER (June 21-July 22) Stick to facts, and push forward with plans that don’t rely on outside influences or input. Look at the big picture and decide what’s best for you. Put your energy into presentation

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) Participate in events or activities that challenge you. A unique approach to life, love and learning will open doors that lead to greater opportunities. Positive change is within reach

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) Pay attention to what’s happening around you. Don’t be oblivious to someone’s interest in what you do or in spending more time with you. Partnerships will deepen.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 22) Be forward with your rhetoric and spell out what’s important to you. Set high standards and boundaries, make clear what your intentions are and what you are willing to contribute, and find out where you stand.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23-Dec. 21) Indulge in personal upgrades, home

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Reach out and lend a helping hand, but don’t let anyone take advantage of you Emotional issues will surface, and discipline, paying attention to detail and setting boundaries will be in your best interests.

improvements and using your creative talents to bring about positive changes to your daily routine. Consider how you can turn something you enjoy doing into additional income.

CAPRICORN (Dec 22-Jan. 19) You’ll face opposition or limitations if you try to sneak something past someone today Keep your conversations light but factual, encouraging and meaningful, not negative or critical.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Put your energy into home projects, domestic relationships and putting a little pizzazz back into your love life. Par-

ticipate in events or activities that allow you to show off your talents.

PISCES (Feb. 20-March 20) Spend more time socializing or participating in activities that offer mental or physical challenges. Stretch your imagination and embrace new adventures.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) Put yourself and your ideas out into the universe, and the feedback you receive will be revealing. The confidence you gain from what you hear will make it easy to elaborate and collaborate.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) Don’t nix something you want to pursue to

please someone else Follow your heart, negotiate on your behalf, socialize and network with people who are as helpful as you are.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) Pick up the pace, and rely on your curiosity and intelligence to lead you down the right path. Those you connect with will offer a different perspective, but before you take their word as gospel, validate the information.

goren Bridge

1. Russia-Ukraine war.2.Artificialintelligence. 3. California. 4. Texas. 5.Israel. 6.Canada. 7. Pope (Pope LEO XIV).8.Iran.9.Philadelphia Eagles. 10. Los Angeles Dodgers. 11. Venezuela. 12.Brazil,Russia,India, China,SouthAfrica. 13. "Anora." 14. Archbishop of Canterbury 15. Taylor Swift

SCORING: 24 to 30 points —congratulations, doctor; 18 to 23 points—honorsgraduate; 13 to 17 points —you’replenty smart, but no grind; 5to12points —you really shouldhit the booksharder;1point to 4points —enroll in remedial courses immediately; 0points who reads thequestions to you?

Saturday's Cryptoquote: There are two kinds of music. Good music,and the otherkind. —Duke Ellington