Trees covered with resurrection fernsare seen along BayouGrosse Tete. Thebayou was once able to support both game fish and steamboats. Iberville Parish wants to reviveitfor recreation, while maintaining itscriticaldrainage role.
‘A
love for thebayou’
IbervilleParishwants to revive BayouGrosseTetetopreserve itscriticaldrainagerole
Barges haultreesdowned in BayouGrosse Tete, some of the estimated 350clogging thewaterway.
Statejoins
BY AIDANMcCAHILL staff writer
For all but ahandful of her 84 years, Jeannie David has lived beside the bayou, theone locals say Louisiana’s founder,Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville, named for afriendly man they say had an unusually large head —or, as the French put it,a“Grosse Tete.”
David’sscreened porchoverlooks Bayou Grosse Tete, where she and her husband watch the constant hum of life. Theycount turtles sunning on logs, sometimes dozens at once. Fish jump, water snakes glide over the surface and herons wade. Alligator eyes crest then disappear “I just have alovefor thebayou.It’s so pretty when it’smuddy,whenit’s flowing,” saidDavid, aformer alderwoman for the village of Grosse Tete.
Butthe real origin of thebayou’s namecomes from its past as a“big shipping head,”she said. Steamboats once passed through, and merchants docked house to house,selling everythingfromproduce to furniture.On Sundays, she was told, achurch boat madeits rounds. Later,she remembers people using the bayoutowater ski. Now, in some stretches during summer, thewater dwindles to atrickle.
“It was alot better and cleaner at one time,” David said.
On abroiling dayshortly before Tropical Storm Arthur soaked parts of Louisiana, John Clarkpushed his flatboat off alaunchnear David’s home. As IbervilleParish’s director of environment andeconomic development, he has spent twodecades trying to restore
ä see BAYOU, page 5A
push to studypsychedelic treatments
Lawmakerssupport clinical trials forthe drugs
BY ALYSE PFEIL staff writer
For retiredMaj. Gen. Glenn Curtis, the former top official at the Louisiana National Guard, it was the headaches and cloudy thinking causedbyaneck injury, traumatic brain injuries and PTSD. And for his son Nicholas Curtis, itwas thevertigo, light sensitivity and memoryproblems stemming from twohead injuries. Thatsuffering —and theirhope for an elusive cure —spurred thefather andson to travel to Mexico together in early 2025
to take thepsychedelic drug ibogaineafter theyounger Curtis heard about it on apodcast with Joe Rogan. Bothmen said their symptoms disappeared after the treatment and haven’treturned since. Inspired by the transformation, the father-sonduo launched anonprofit to help military veterans access ibogaine, psilocybin and ayahuasca to treat mental health conditions. But the drugs are largely illegal, and opportunities for clinical trials usingthemhavebeen scarce. Now,asamovement to increase access to psychedelic-assisted therapy has gained steamacrossthe country, Loui-
siana is joining agrowing listofstates working to expand the use of thedrugs to treataddiction,PTSDand other conditions. Statelawmakers this spring unanimously approved ameasure to cultivate research into psychedelics andsupport clinical trials. Agrowing body of research shows that psychedelics can help address problems like trauma, addiction and depression, which can lead to suicide,and that’sespecially relevantfor struggling veterans, said Sen. Patrick McMath, R-Covington, who sponsored Senate Bill
ä see TREATMENTS, page 5A
Letlow, Davis dominate Senate runoffs
support, spending led to candidates’victories
BY TYLER BRIDGES staff writer
U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow rode President Donald Trump’sforcefulsupport andanavalanche of campaign spending in the finalweek to decisively win the Republican runoff Saturdayto be Louisiana’snext senator,after late polls had suggested the race might be neck-and-neck. Trump didn’tjust endorse Letlow, R-BatonRouge.He lavishedpraise on herintwo campaign videos and held a rally by phone with Letlow on Thursday that attracted 98,000 listeners, an official withher campaign saidon Sunday. Thatwas more than half the 179,000 votes she collected on Saturday Trump’ssuper PAC, Securing American Greatness, also contributed $1 million to an outside group, the Accountability Project, that battered state Treasurer JohnFleming, Letlow’s Republican opponent, with abarrage of negative ads.
“I can’t wait to work with him (Trump) over on the Senate side,” Letlow,45, told reporters at her Baton Rouge victory party after clinching the Republican victory
ä see RUNOFFS, page 4A
some parishes have put raises in placedespite uncertaintyofstipend plan
BY CHARLESLUSSIER staff writer
In the past few weeks, Ascension, Assumption, East Baton Rouge and West Feliciana parishes have approved or proposed substantial increases in teacher pay for the upcoming school year Ahandful of other public school districts outside the BatonRouge region—Bossier,Caddo DeSoto and Lafourche parishes —have done the same. Most school leaders, though, areholding off on major pay changes until it’sclear whether Gov.Jeff Landry’splan to cut nearly $170 million from school budgets to pay teacher stipends survives legal challenge. Judge Richard “Chip” Moore in Baton Rouge on June 18 issued atemporary restraining order to stopthe governorfromenacting his executive order.Ahearing in the case is scheduled for Monday
sTAFF PHoTos By JoHN BALLANCE
Letlow
Davis
McMath
BRIEFS FROM WIRE REPORTS
Officials: Israelistrikes in Gaza kill at least 4
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip on Sunday killed at least four Palestinians, including a13-year-old girl, local healthofficials said.
The first strike targeted a group of people in northern Gaza’sBeit Lahiya, killing two and wounding another,according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society
Another Israeli strike in southern Gaza killeda man, accordingtohealth officials at Nasser hospital.
Andthe 13-year-oldgirl,Eileen al-Farra, was killedby shrapnel from Israelitankshelling in southern Gaza,according to Nasser hospital.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to arequest for comment on the strikes but said one of them targeted a“Hamas terrorist,” without elaborating.
Palestinians on Sundayreported heavytank shelling across Gaza and quadcopters —atype of unmanned aerialvehicle— buzzing overhead.
Skydiving plane crashes in France, killing 11
TOMBLAINE, France Families watched in shock as askydiving plane carrying their loved ones on what was meant to be athrilling introductiontoparachuting crashed in northeastern France on Sunday,killing all 11 peopleon board, authorities said.
The dead included five parachuting instructors, five novice jumpers and the pilot, Interior Minister LaurentNunez said Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot said it was France’s biggest aviation accident involving skydiving in about 30 years.
“Some of the victims’ families witnessed the aircraft falling with their own eyes.Sothere is tremendous emotion and an even greater psychologicaltrauma,” Nunez said.
He refused to speculate on what caused the crash but said the plane dropped out of the sky suddenly.Hesaid it had just taken off from the Nancy-Essey airfield on theoutskirts of thecityof Nancy when it came downabout 300 yards from the runway Yves Séguy,prefect of the Meurthe-et-Moselle region,said theplane suffered amalfunction and “fell almost vertically,” narrowlymissing abuilt-up area.
“Haditoccurred just afew dozen meters away,the accident could have caused collateral casualties,” he said.
NASA races to save Swift telescope CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. NASA is racing to save an aging telescope from falling back to Earthwith a daringrescue mission.
The $30 million salvage operation gets underway as soon as this week with the planned launch of arobotic lifesaver.
NASA hired startup Katalyst Space Technologies to boostthe Swift Observatory to ahigher orbitwhere it can continue hunting for some of the universe’sbiggest explosions. Athree-armed spacecraft built by Katalyst will chase after Swift once it takes off from an atoll in the Pacific’s Marshall Islandsaboard an airplane-launched Pegasus rocket. Liftoff could occur as early as Tuesday Scanning the cosmos since its launch in 2004, Swift has been sinking faster and faster because of recentintense solar activity. It needs to get to ahigher,more stable orbit as soon as possible to survive.
NASA’s Hubble SpaceTelescope —also at risk —couldbe next. Like Swift, Hubble is losing altitude as the sun eruptswith one flare after another. Katalyst Space CEO Ghonhee Lee said his company’snext-generation robot, still in development, could save the day for the much bigger Hubble in acouple years
Iran strikesinBahrain andKuwait
Tehran threatens to halt talksafter U.s. attacks
BY JONGAMBRELL and MELANIE LIDMAN Associated Press
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates
Iranagain launched drone and missile attacks targeting Bahrainand Kuwait on Sunday following newU.S. airstrikesagainst the Islamic Republic, andthreateneda “complete halt” in negotiations to end the war if Washington continues its attacks.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Sunday reiterated the claim that Tehranmust govern the straittothe Persian Gulf that once carried afifth of theworld’s oiland natural gas.
Efforts to reopen the StraitofHormuzwithoutIran’s oversight has sparked days of crossfire.
Amultinationalmaritime body overseen by the U.S. Navy said Saturdayit wouldexpanda routenear Oman for inboundand outbound traffic.
“Any attempt to establish neworseparate arrangements from thosecurrently being carried out by theIslamic Republic of Iran will only lead to furthercomplications, delaythe reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and increase the leveloftension,” Araghchi said.
The straithas long been considered an internationalwaterway despite its locationinIran and Oman’sterritorial waters.Inrecentdays, Iran has twice attacked vessels going through aroute near theOmaniside.
Pakistan,akey mediator hassaidtalks wouldresumeTuesday between the U.S. and Iran on the terms
of their interim deal. The Trumpadministration on Sunday said nothing has been canceledand technical talks areontrack for thecoming days.
Talks include arrangements around thestrait, the removal of aU.S. blockade on Iranian ports and sanctions on Iran, and the future of Iran’sstockpile of highly enriched uranium.
The two sides have 60 days from their signing of the memorandum of understanding earlier this month to workout details.
ContinuedconflictinLebanon threatens the agreement, which says fighting must end on all frontsbefore certain issuescan be discussed.
StrikestargetGulfstates Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guardclaimed responsibility forthe attacks in Bahrain and Kuwait.
Kuwait,which hosts a majorU.S. military base,
said air defenses intercepted Iranian drones and twomissilesjustafter the U.S. strikesinIran. There were no reports of injuries or damage. Bahrain said theIranian strikes damaged aresidentialbuildingnear the international airport and no onewas killed. Bahrain is home to theU.S.Navy’s 5thFleet.The damaged building was notnear its headquarters.
Bahrain’sForeign Ministry denounced what it called“adangerous escalation that reveals that what Tehran is doing is not apassing act, nor an isolated incident, butrather adeliberate approach and asystematic pattern of repeated aggression.”
LateronSunday, Qatar said acivilian had been killed, andanother person washurt, by shrapnelrelated to “military operations in the area” after avessel didn’treturn at its scheduled timeonSaturday.It did not give details.
Trump’saccusations
The U.S. militarysaid it struck Iranian military “surveillanceinfrastructure,communicationsystems, air defense sites, drone storage facilities and minelayer capabilities” following an attack on aship on Saturday.The Panamanian-flaggedtankerKiku carried crude oil forthe state-run energy company of Qatar, another keymediator President Donald Trump on social media accused Iran of violating the deal andwarned of apoint wherethe U.S. may“be forced to militarily complete the job.” “If thathappens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!” Trump wrote. The exchangesoffire began when an Iranian drone struck amerchant vessel offOman on Thursdayand the U.S. military retaliated.
Teamsscrambletolocatequake survivors
BY REGINA GARCIACANO, JUAN PABLO ARRAEZ and MEGAN JANETSKY Associated Press
LA GUAIRA, Venezuela— Local and international rescueteamsraced against the clock to pullsurvivors fromthe rubble in VenezuelaonSunday,fourdays after two powerful earthquakes shook thenorthern state of La Guaira.
Thegovernment reported 1,450 dead fromthe quakes Sunday afternoon as it faced growing criticism fromVenezuelans that its response was inadequate and overshadowed by civilian-led efforts to rescue people buried under collapsed buildings.
Thousands have been reported missing,according to multiple databases used by families searching for loved ones.
Even as the likelihood of finding people alivediminished with each passing hour,rescuers continued to free some survivors from mountainsofdebris, offering anguished families asliver ofhope.
The first 48 to 72 hours after anatural disaster are
crucial to rescue efforts, though survival can be extendedifpeople have access to food and water
More than2,600 rescue workers from aroundthe world had arrived by Sunday, the government said, noting that crews were being supported in their effortsbynearly 140 specially trained dogs.
“It’sbeen incredibly hard work, but we’re going strong,”said Jason Mercano, acivilian who was able
3firefighterskilled,
to communicate with family buried under therubble via social media.
“We’venever given up hope,” he added.
Masses of people gathered to watch as rescue crews from the U.S. and France pulleda manand his son from the ruins Sunday morning and carried them carefully on a black tarp into an ambulance.
Still, many Venezuelans arestruggling to hold
2hurtbattling wildfire on Colorado-Utahborder
BY TY ONEIL, MICHAEL R. SISAK and JULIE CARR SMYTH Associated Press
BEAVER, Utah Three firefighters were killed and two sustained burn injuries when they were overcome by flames from fast-moving wildfires in hot, windy conditions nearthe Colorado-Utah border
The firefightersdeployedemergency shelters for themselves during the socalled burnover —which occurs when afire spreads and closes off all escape routes —onSaturday in Mesa County, Colorado, the U.S. Interior Department said
They worked forthe U.S. Wildland Fire Service and U.S. Forest Service and were part of an interagencyresponsetothe Knowles andGorefires, which merged with other fires to form the Snyder Fire. So far,about 44 square mileshaveburned.
The Wildland FireService, created earlier this year to streamline firefighting and firereductionacross public lands, said in astatement thatit“stands united” withthe ForestService in grief and“in ourunwavering support forthe loved ones left behind.”
“Theirbravery,dedication,and sacrificewillnever be forgotten,” the statement said.
The names of the firefighters who perished werebeing withheld pending notifications to their loved ones, the Interior Department said.
Temperatures in Grand Junction —east of the fire—hit ahigh of 93 degrees, with windsgusting to 44 mph, according to the NationalWeatherService.
TheMesaCounty Sheriff’sOffice was
AssoCIATED PREss PHoTo By NoAH BERGER smoke rises sunday from the snyderFire burning near Thompson springs,Utah.
asking people to evacuate the potential pathofthe fireand to turn on irrigation water to saturate the land. The federal Bureau of Land Management closed public access to lands it manages nearby “Firefighter and public safety are the highest priority,” the agency said in a statement. “The temporary closing of the lands is to reduce exposuretohazardous situationsdue to therapid rates of spread and firebehavior that the fire has exhibited. The public is to remain clear of these closed lands.”
Wildfire activity has intensified across thewestern United States, as consecutivedays of hot,dry and windy weather have fueled flames in Utah, Arizona and elsewhere as new fires popped up across the region. The largest blaze, theCottonwood Fire, was burning in ruggedterrain in southwestUtah. It ballooned Saturday to more than 144 square miles aftermarching through canyons and mountainsides, destroying part of aski resort andother summer cabins along theway
onto hope in an increasingly desperate situation. The one-two punch of 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes that hit last Wednesday have left atrail of devastation.
Alayer of dust coated coastal communities, and as the stench of decomposing bodies spread, morepeople began to wearmasks.
Authorities said Sunday that more than 770 buildings had totally or partially collapsed from the earthquakes, twiceasmany as were reported destroyed or damaged on Friday.The risk of further damage remains as aftershockscontinued to shake Venezuela; quakes measuring 4.2 and 4.5 hit Sunday morning. Many livingindisaster zones said they had seen little sign of their government sincethe quakes. But rescue efforts in La Guaira —the hardest-hitarea— appeared significantly more organized on Sunday as international rescuemissions arrived en masse. In previous days, residents there had expressed frustration and anger about the level of response.
The government reported on state television that more than 14,000 members of the military and police are now patrolling La Guaira state, where access is blocked and special permitsare required to enter
VENEZUELA
AssoCIATED PREss PHoToByMATIAs DELACRoIX
Rescue workers carry aman rescued sunday from the rubble of abuilding that collapsed in the earthquakes that struck La Guaira, Venezuela.
U.S. lags in social media restrictions for children
But reform push is growing
BY KAITLYN HUAMANI and BARBARA ORTUTAY AP technology writers
Amy Neville describes Kristin Bride as her “soulmate.” But the day that forged their bond — June 23, 2020 was the worst of each of their lives.
Both Bride and Neville lost their teen sons that day Their kids lived a thousand miles apart and never met, but they both died from harms related to their social media use.
When the two mothers met, early in their advocacy work to protect other kids, Bride said she had felt “totally alone.” But they have since seen the online child safety movement blossom, with scores of other parents who lost kids pursuing stronger social media safeguards and legislation to protect children online.
With that momentum, advocates say the tide seems to be turning. A pair of landmark jury verdicts this year showed a way forward for holding tech companies accountable. And while the U.S. is nowhere near embracing social media bans for children like those seen from Australia to Indonesia, a push for regulation is simmering again in Congress
“Moving forward for me, it’s this groundswell. We now have the court of public opinion on our side, and that is powerful. That has brought things to the next level,” Neville said in an interview Her son Alexander Neville
France
was brilliant and intense,” Neville said, with an entrepreneurial spirit and “the best laugh in the world.”
When he was 14, a drug dealer connected with him on Snapchat and sold him the pill that killed him. Carson Bride was the “bright light” of his family, a funny and caring kid who loved connecting with people, his mother said. He died by suicide at age 16 after severe cyberbullying.
The teenagers were honored in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday alongside 270 other children and young people who died because of online harms. It was the sixth anniversary of the boys’ deaths, a date their families have worked to establish as Social Media Victims Remembrance Day
Growing awareness of the dangers social media poses for young, developing brains has shown up in a wave of new restrictions globally Australia, the U.K. Turkey Indonesia and others have passed bans on kids under 16 or 15 from using platforms like TikTok, YouTube and Instagram.
In the U.S., the movement turned a corner with two jury verdicts against Meta and one against Google that galvanized proponents for kids’ online safety Evidence in the court cases revealed some of the tech companies’ inner workings, including communications of employees who likened their products to drugs and casinos.
That the Los Angeles trial accusing social media platforms of causing deliberate harm to children was allowed to move forward was itself a watershed movement, said
Kristin Bride, right, mother of 16-year-old Carson
who
by
after
cyberbullied on an anonymous app on snapchat, is joined by Amy Neville, mother of 14-year-old Alexander Neville, who died from fentanyl poisoning after being deceived by a drug dealer operating on snapchat, during a social Media Victims Remembrance Day memorial on Tuesday on Capitol Hill in Washington.
Matthew Bergman, head of the Social Media Victims Law Center, which represents more than 1,000 plaintiffs in lawsuits against social media companies.
Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act shields tech companies from legal responsibility for posted content. It has been a barrier to accountability but lawsuits are side-stepping its protections by focusing on the companies’ deliberate design choices rather than content.
“It is still a hurdle, but it is no longer a barrier,” Bergman said.
In the U.S., federal legislation of social media has moved at a glacial pace The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, which took effect in 2000, requires kidoriented apps and websites
to get parents’ consent before collecting personal information of children under 13.
This week, lawmakers in the House unveiled a bipartisan deal called the Kids Internet and Digital Safety Act. It includes portions of the the Kids Online Safety Act, or KOSA, which passed the Senate in 2024, but critics say it’s been stripped of its most important part a provision called “duty of care,” a legal term that requires companies to take reasonable steps to prevent harm.
“Without a duty of care, Big Tech companies will maintain the status quo of putting profit before the safety of our children,” Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., said in a statement Bride said advocates have to employ a three-prong ap-
proach, utilizing legislation, litigation and education. That way, “when one stalls, like legislation,” Bride said, “then we have the trials and we have litigation. So we keep pressing forward. We’re not going to give up.”
Representatives from Meta, YouTube and TikTok did not immediately respond to messages for comment. Snap said in a written statement that it works continuously to strengthen safety protections across its platform.
Over the years, social media platforms have introduced some safety features including separating minors into teen accounts and providing even tighter restrictions for younger teenagers. Instagram, for instance, now restricts teen accounts to viewing content that aligns
with “PG-13” ratings and accounts are set to private and can’t be messaged by strangers. YouTube has a separate kids app and parental controls on its regular platform that allow for “supervised kid accounts” for preteens who have aged out of YouTube kids.
But child advocates say there’s still a long way to go. “Their fundamental incentive to design products that maximize engagement has not changed,” Bergman said. “Yes, there have been some improvements. A 13-year-old child is not by default provided with an open account for adult predators to prey upon So, you know, there are baby steps, but there are steps in the right direction. We just need more of them.”
Since 2024 the Senate has passed a resolution annually to recognize June 23 as Social Media Harms Victim Remembrance Day, which honors the lives of those who died because of online harms including suicide, drug poisoning, cyberbullying and dangerous social media challenges.
Alongside several parents and advocates who spoke at the event Tuesday evening including Bride and Neville — senators called for urgent action. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, DMinn., advocated for the repeal of Section 230. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, DConn., said advocates and lawmakers need to “fight like hell for the living.” Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., assailed his fellow Congress members for not doing more, saying “we all know why” they haven’t acted.
sees 1,000 more deaths amid extreme heat in Europe
BY KIRSTEN GRIESHABER and JOHN LEICESTER
Associated Press
BERLIN France saw around 1,000 additional deaths last week at the height of its record-smashing heat wave, the country’s public health agency said Sunday, as the head of the World Health Organization warned that Europe is now the fastestwarming continent and needs to do more to protect its citizens. Temperature records were toppled in several countries on the weekend wildfires were sparked in Germany and Berlin police used water cannons to cool down the crowds.
Meanwhile, the heat wave slowly moved toward eastern parts of the continent.
Germany marked a record for the third day in a row with 107 degrees in Neißemünde, near the border with Poland, which baked under its new all-time high of 104.9. The Czech Republic also experienced its hottest day ever with 107.4, up from the previous record of 105.6 on Saturday
A new study from the World Weather Attribution, a Europe-based collaboration
lected, including for deaths at home.
The increase was sharpest in areas under red warn-
ings of extreme heat, it said. Those warnings blanketed about three-quarters of the country at the peak of the
heat wave. The agency said that 85% of the deaths involved people aged 65 and above.
of scientists, reported Friday that the record-breaking heat and humidity in Europe this past week would not have been possible without climate change. The rapid study found that the heat would have been virtually impossible just five decades ago, and is 200 times more likely today than it would have been 20 years ago
France reported a surge in deaths last week, including a sharp increase at private homes, especially in the Paris region, the national public health agency said Sunday.
There were more than 1,200 deaths on Wednesday, when France was sweltering under its hottest temperatures, increasing to more than 1,400 deaths on each of the two following days, Public Health France said. In April and May, before the heat wave, France’s rate of deaths was about 900 to 1,000 per day
The agency concluded that France experienced a total of at least 1,000 additional deaths during those three days alone, an estimate it cautioned is likely to increase as more data is col-
AssoCIATED PREss PHoTo By RoD LAMKEy
Bride,
died
suicide
being
“Great News!!!” Trump posted Saturday night on Truth Social. “Julia Letlow WON in Louisiana, beating conclusively a very strong and smart opponent.”
Her triumph sets up a Nov 3 general election against Jamie Davis, a farmer from northeast Louisiana, who overwhelmingly won the Democratic nomination over business owner Gary Crockett.
“We planted good seeds in fertile soils, and we started to harvest last night,” Davis said in an interview on Sunday Davis, 55, faces an uphill battle in a state where no Democrat has been elected to the Senate since 2008, and Republicans hold all of the statewide offices and two-thirds of the seats in the Legislature In the runoff, 316,538 people voted in the Republican runoff, while 196,190 voted in the Democratic one. Davis said he is undaunted by the naysayers and said he will broaden his focus to appeal to Republican voters who could not vote for him in the just-concluded closed primary elections.
dent of inciting the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters. The overall turnout of registered voters in the runoff was 17%, according to Ed Chervenak, a politicalscience professor at the University of New Orleans That was down from 28% in the May primary
According to unofficial returns from the Secretary of State’s Office, Davis defeated Crockett, 79.9% to 20.1%.
That result was not a surprise since Davis had much more money and important Democratic endorsements
“We’re talking grassroots, pure grassroots, different organizations coming together to say, ‘This man has it; this man has what we want to see in the person who represents us,’” said Bonnie Byland, an organizer with Indivisible Baton Rouge.
At Davis’ election night party in Baton Rouge, she added, “There was tremendous energy.”
“While you bust your butt paying taxes, John Fleming and his family were globetrotting the world on your dime, and lobbyist money.”
At 1:12 p.m. on Thursday: “Fleming is a fraud who can’t be trusted.”
At 3:06 p.m. on Friday: “John Fleming bragged about working side-byside with Dr Fauci on the COVID Task Force, even sharing with the media that they ‘very frequently’ met together as they pushed forced vaccines and forced masks on our kids, and shut down businesses.” The text ended with photos of Fleming and Fauci.
49 parishes, while Fleming won 14 Orleans Parish and 13 more in a corridor that stretched from northwest Louisiana to Allen and Beauregard parishes, the area he represented in the U.S. House from 2009 to 2017.
“Dr Fleming’s voters are out there,” he said. “So are Dr Cassidy’s voters and Mr Crockett’s voters.”
Sen. Bill Cassidy was eliminated in the May 16 primary when he finished third in the Republican primary Cassidy had angered Trump and MAGA voters when he voted to convict the presi-
James Carville, the famed Democratic political strategist, said of Davis, “He has some guts and moxie. He seems to be a successful farmer, which is a pretty good profile for a Democratic candidate. His challenge will be raising money Democrats have no power in Louisiana. In politics, you can have the best bio in the world but if you don’t have money, you can’t tell your story.”
Behind Letlow’s win Letlow defeated Fleming, 56.8% to 43.2%. That
Smaller paychecks?
from page 1A
If Landry prevails, teachers across Louisiana would continue receiving $2,000 stipends as they have since 2023. Support workers would likewise continue to receive $1,000 stipends for a fourth straight year
The $168 million price tag for Landry’s new set of stipends, however is smaller than in years past. Consequently, some employees who previously received stipends, such as principals and counselors would be ineligible for the new stipends.
If Landry’s plan is thrown out, then all public school employees in the state stand to lose money Indeed, teachers in 11 of the 14 school districts in the Baton Rouge region would see cuts of $2,000 or more in their annual paychecks unless those districts take further action to offset them.
Landry issued his executive order after voters rejected a ballot measure in May to finance permanent raises for school employees. School leaders across the state, however, have tried to block Landry’s plan, arguing that the roughly 5% reduction in state funding it would impose could force them to cut positions or programs.
West Feliciana Parish is one locale where all school employees can rest assured they will be making more money during the 2026-27 school year than they made last year no matter what happens.
The small suburban Baton Rouge district on June 16 agreed to give its employees an extra $7,000, half in October, the other in April. It will pay employees another $7,000 the following school year
West Feliciana is taking advantage of $5.3 million it is receiving Wednesday, an advance on an agreement reached with Hut 8 which is building a data center in St. Francisville. Anthropic, the AI firm that launched the Claude chatbot, will be Hut 8’s tenant.
Other recent local pay raises, however, won’t necessarily be enough to completely cover what the state has been paying.
Five days before West Feliciana acted, the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board approved a sweeping overall of its employee pay Teachers in Baton Rouge will receive an average pay raise of $8,500 with $6,000 more for starting teachers and up to $13,831 more for teachers with 20 years of experience.
A small number of veteran teachers, however, are already topped out under the
13.6-point margin was bigger than most political analysts predicted. The Letlow campaign, for example, expected she would win by six or seven points, the campaign official said.
New Orleans pollster Greg Rigamer who had conducted weekly surveys throughout the race, won public attention when he found in the final days of the election that Fleming had closed most or all of the 17-point margin that Letlow had coming out of the May 16 primary, 45% to 28%.
Rigamer released a poll showing that Fleming held a 1-point advantage among those who voted early in the Republican runoff but that Letlow held a 6-point advantage among those expected to vote on Saturday Rigamer expected Letlow to win the runoff — but in “a squeaker.”
Fleming’s pollster, John Couvillon, reported that his poll several days before the election showed Fleming up,
45% to 40%.
The Letlow campaign saved its heaviest advertising buys for the final three weeks of the campaign, when more voters would be tuning into the race.
Outside groups also stepped up their advertising. Two of them — American Mission and Save American Freedom — spent over $1 million total to promote Letlow
Another group, the Accountability Project — run by allies of Gov Jeff Landry — spent over $4 million on attack ads against Fleming — TV ads, radio spots, mailers and texts.
At 12:52 p.m. on Wednesday, voters received a text message from the group: “President Trump has sealed our border and is keeping illegal aliens out. But RINO John Fleming has found a workaround to bring more Mexicans into our country his taxpayer-funded immigrant bus system.”
At 10:43 a.m. on Thursday:
new scales and won’t be getting raises at all. Similarly, not all support workers are getting big enough raises or raises at all. For instance, many cafeteria workers are earning the same salaries this year as last year
In May, Assumption Parish approved changes to its salary schedules, increasing its salary for starting teachers from $43,700 to $48,900. It also increases pay for other employees, including bus drivers and custodians. The school district, however, has not yet released its full set of schedules for the new school
year, so it’s unclear who all is getting a pay raise and how much.
As it happens, the paychecks for starting teachers in Assumption Parish won’t jump that much. That’s because the district has paid generous one-time stipends over the past few years, stipends that have come and gone. Last year Assumption paid a local stipend worth $3,000 to teachers and $1,500 to support workers.
Similarly, Ascension Parish is proposing a $1,500 acrossthe-board salary increase It replaces a one-time stipend
Landry raised money for the Accountability Project and Hope in Action — which transferred big dollars to the Accountability Project.
“We ran a strong campaign,” said Jay Connaughton, a St. Tammany Parishbased media strategist who headed the Accountability Project. “It wasn’t just about the money It was about the effective message. John Fleming was a flawed candidate. It made our job a lot easier.”
Fleming repeatedly said the ads were dishonest.
He declined to be interviewed on Sunday Letlow did not respond to interview requests.
Letlow campaign volunteers made 100,000 calls to likely Letlow voters on the weekend before the election and 91,000 calls on election day said the Letlow campaign official.
Where Letlow won
According to a postelection analysis by Rigamer Letlow ended up carrying
of $1,500 for teachers; it was $750 for support workers. Consequently teacher paychecks won’t increase. Nevertheless, a salary increase, unlike a stipend, is permanent and is something employees can bank on in the future.
If the state stipend ends, Ascension employee paychecks will decrease accordingly.
The Ascension Parish School Board was planning to vote at its June 23 meeting on the $1,500 pay raise, but it opted to postpone that vote until July 14 to see what happens with the legal challenge against Landry’s stipend plan.
‘Double payout’ worries
Since Landry issued his executive order on June 2, one concern has been that the state will give local school districts little to no credit for locally funded pay raises and cut their funding anyway to pay for additional state stipends.
Thirteen days later, Landry took to social media to try to allay such concerns.
“There is no requirement in the (executive order) for a double payout,” Landry assured.
Rather, those districts instead can use the state “stipend allocation to backfill their budgets,” the governor said. State leaders, however, have yet to explain publicly how this would work.
Some school leaders want more detail before they’re
“She just dominated,” Rigamer said on Sunday Fleming and Letlow tied in Bossier Parish, each with 4,351 votes, according to the Secretary of State’s Office. Couvillon, who acknowledged on Sunday that he misfired on his final poll, said Fleming’s campaign aimed in the runoff to receive two-thirds of the Cassidy voters from the primary but collected only 45%.
“The Cassidy vote concluded there wasn’t a dime’s difference between the two runoff contenders, so they split their vote,” he said. Roy Fletcher, Fleming’s campaign strategist knew that his candidate had to take an early lead when the first batch of returns were released on Saturday night just after the polls closed at 8 p.m. Those figures tallied the early voters who, Rigamer’s poll showed, had given a slight advantage to Fleming. Instead, Letlow took an immediate lead.
Fletcher was sitting in Fleming’s suite at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Baton Rouge.
“I said to myself, ‘That ain’t what it’s supposed to be,’ ” Fletcher recalled on Sunday “I knew then that it wouldn’t go right. I walked to get two oatmeal cookies. I thought it was time for sugar.”
willing to bank on such promises.
“We want assurance. We don’t just want a social media post and we don’t want a phone call,” Caddo Parish Superintendent Keith Burton told his school board a day after Landry issued his statement. That night, the Caddo board approved a 6% across-theboard pay raise for its school employees. Burton, however, persuaded board members to postpone until July plans to go further and give employees an additional $1,000 onetime check
“Our argument has been that the stipend that we proposed in the budget meets the intent and exceeds what the governor was attempting to do in his order,” Burton said West Feliciana Parish Superintendent Hollis Milton, however, said he’s confident his district will get credit for its recent pay increase and not be forced to trim its budget.
“We intentionally structured the $7,000 stipend to include the governor’s executive order, regardless of how that ultimately plays out,” Milton said. “Because of that, we do not anticipate having to make any reductions or adjustments related to the executive order We wanted to ensure that our employees had certainty now rather than waiting for the state’s process to play out.”
both the bayou’s health and its recreational draw — often alongside David.
“What we have can be the backyard playground for the capital region,” he said. “We would like to see more recreation, more people getting out on the water, like they used to in the past.”
Clark is overseeing a nearly $1 million project to clear debris from the bayou.
According to Parish President Chris Daigle, the work is part of a never-ending effort to keep the region’s primary drainage artery functioning, while also improving access for recreation.
1927, Clark explained, Bayou Grosse Tete functioned as a distributary of the Mississippi River, fed by overflows that delivered fertile “commerce silt” to the region’s sugar cane fields. But as levees were built along the Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers, the bayou came to rely largely on rainfall and overflow from the False River As a result, its freshwater input dropped sharply
“You hear stories about how they used to catch so many fish,” Clark said, though catfish, gar and crappie still remain. “They still have some that run nets, but this was a big game fish deal a long time ago.”
“What we’re trying to do is maintain a long-term drainage plan,” he said. “In the past, they were very reactive.”
History and hydrology
As Clark idled upstream some of the largest oak trees in the state arched over the water. Cloaked in verdant resurrection ferns, their branches cast a dense, muchneeded shade. Though the 58-year-old Clark describes himself as more woodsman, the burly former Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality biologist is also a practiced naturalist. Along the banks, he pointed out bright pink hibiscus blooms standing beside buttonbush, whose white, pincushion-like flowers once drew abundant tiger swallowtails.
Before the Great Flood of
TREATMENTS
Continued from page 1A
43, now Act 956.
“I believe it will save lives,” McMath said of the new law “Shame on us as legislators in this state if we don’t do everything that we can to create the regulatory pathways to safely administer this type of therapy.”
Psychedelics in treatment
Psychedelics like ibogaine, psilocybin and MDMA are illegal under federal law, and are Schedule I drugs the Drug Enforcement Agency’s most restrictive classification.
While they can’t be prescribed in standard medical treatment, scientists with a special Schedule I license can study the drugs in research trials.
Some of those studies have produced “a really remarkable effect,” said Kevin Murnane a professor of pharmacology, toxicology and neuroscience and a professor of psychiatry and behavioral medicine at LSU Health-Shreveport.
“Many times the outcomes are really, really profound,” he said. For example, people with conditions like treatmentresistant depression, substance use disorder or PTSD experienced remission for months or in some cases years after taking psychedelics with the right preparation and in a monitored clinical setting, he said. At the same time, the field of psychedelic medicine is still in its early stages, he said, and most experts view the findings thus far as “promising but not definitive” due to the limited scientific research and clinical trial data that’s available.
“More research needs to happen,” he said, “but the potential is immense.”
Murnane cautioned that each psychedelic carries its own risks and potential harms. For example, MDMA could affect the supply of blood to the heart, while ibogaine can make patients extremely physically ill and impact the heart’s rhythms, and some drugs carry psychiatric risks like manic states or suicidality if used improperly, he said.
Psychedelics can also put people in a vulnerable, compromised mental state, he said, and he does not recommend taking them independently outside of a clinical setting.
Many residents, including David, also point to Babin Cut as a culprit. The channel diverts water into the Port Allen Lock, an alternate route to the Intracoastal Waterway constructed in the 1950s and ’60s. By diverting water away from the bayou, it is accelerating sediment buildup south of the channel, David said.
“Once they dug the Intracoastal Canal and cut Babin Cut, they literally ruined Bayou Grosse Tete,” she said. Even so, the bayou’s high banks remain critical. Today, it serves as a primary drainage route for Pointe Coupee, Iberville and West Baton Rouge parishes, eventually carrying water to the Terrebonne coast. It is still possible to paddle from the False River to the Gulf if you can navigate some lock systems and all the debris, Clark said. Much of that debris comes from Hurricane Francine and a series of tornadoes
Murnane is the principal investigator for two ongoing clinical trials with psychedelics, one studying psilocybin to reduce relapse in methamphetamine addiction and another studying a psilocybin-like compound to treat adjustment disorder triggered by a traumatic or major life change like a terminal diagnosis.
He said he hopes to expand the research to include ibogaine and MDMA at the clinical trials office at LSU Health-Shreveport, which built out a psychedelic dosing room with input from experts.
Murnane who gave advice on some aspects of Act 956, said the law will position Louisiana to be a national leader in psychedelic research.
What does legislation do?
A new Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy Initiative will be housed in the Office of Behavioral Health at the state Health Department and led by Dr Vanessa de la Cruz, the office’s chief medical officer.
The program is tasked with identifying academic health centers conducting clinical trials of psychedelic-assisted therapy, helping identify potential study participants, and securing funding for the studies, including from Louisiana’s $600 million pot of money from a 2021 settlement with pharmaceutical companies over the opioid epidemic.
Academic health centers in Louisiana can now partner with drug manufacturers to develop clinical trials for psychedelic medications like ibogaine, psilocybin and MDMA to treat addiction and mental health conditions.
The measure became law this month without a signature or veto from Gov Jeff Landry
A national movement
Louisiana’s effort is part of a broader movement across the country to expand access to psychedelic drugs and to medicalize ibogaine for mental health treatment.
Blue states like Oregon, Colorado and California have passed laws expanding access to psychedelics for healthcare, but several red states including Texas, Tennessee and others are also following suit, according to data on state-level legislation compiled by the UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics.
And in April, President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at speed-
that tore through bayou communities in 2024, toppling trees into the water. In the aftermath, Daigle secured about $700,000 in federal Emergency Watershed Protection funding, with the parish agreeing to match 25%, to address the buildup. The project spans 23 miles, from the Pointe Coupee-Iberville parish line south to where the bayou meets the Intracoastal.
Though the parishes aren’t formally coordinating, Clark said, the timing worked out Pointe Coupee recently wrapped up a multimilliondollar clearing project on its portion of the bayou.
“Now that they’ve done all of that, all that water that they got has to come to us. It’s coming on us quicker,” he said.
Contractors have cleared
roughly half the 354 targeted trees, Clark said, but new ones fall constantly, forcing parish crews to keep up.
“As soon as they get a mile down Grosse Tete Bayou moving south, there is a new tree that has already fallen,” Daigle said. “We’re going to do our best to remove it ourselves.”
The boat passed an abandoned flatboat, overgrown with shrubs; its deck looked more like a garden bed. Farther along, the channel narrowed into an impassable floating mat of limbs and trash: coolers, aluminum cans, old Jim Beam bottles.
Clark said most of it was decades-old trash that had accumulated in brush upriver then washed down to Iberville when Pointe Coupee
Parish cleared its banks. He also has found cow and hog carcasses, as well as an old bottle containing what looked like voodoo writings.
“Because this drains mostly rural areas, you see crazy things,” he said
Slow work
The concern isn’t that Bayou Grosse Tete will overflow (it has never flooded to Clark’s knowledge) but that blockages could prevent floodwaters in the north from draining into it. Daigle said the project is meant to prevent the kind of flooding seen in Avoyelles Parish after Tropical Storm Arthur, when intense rainfall overwhelmed local waterways.
“That could have very well been Iberville Parish,” Daigle said. “When those types of unannounced tropical storms come in and sit over an area, you never know what you’re gonna get.”
Recent heavy rains have complicated the work.
Downstream, Clark ducked beneath low bridges where sparrows had built hanging mud nests. He then cut the engine at another impasse, where a floating barge and excavator sat idle Beneath the surface lay trees slated for removal, he said. The project began in May and was expected to be completed by August, but high water has halted the progress twice, and Clark is now seeking a federal extension.
“They’re having to fish for the logs that would normally be across the channel,” he said. “It essentially shut down the work, so we’re in a holding position.”
The water was an opaque olive, clouded by nearby till-
age Agricultural runoff, including fertilizers and pesticides from sugar cane fields and bacteria from pastureland, reduces oxygen levels and is one of the bayou’s most persistent problems, Clark said. He added that farmers have been cooperative, adopting practices like conservation tillage and vegetative ditches to catch runoff. But at the end of the day, the region’s intensive agriculture will always affect water quality
“There is only so much you can do with that,” Clark said. “It’s part of the heritage.” Still, he believes a revival of the bayou is possible, if not due. The parish has added trails along the water and is investing in selfservice kayak launches. He envisions vendors setting up shop along routes stretching toward the Gulf for paddlers to stop and catch breaks. A broader ecotourism and drainage master plan is in development for Iberville, Clark and Daigle said.
David believes it is as simple as providing a source of fresh water Proposals once existed to divert water from the Mississippi and False rivers, but concerns about flooding have stalled them.
“All we need is a little fresh water flowing down it all the time,” she said. “And I think more people would use it for canoeing and stuff.” Near the launch, a group of teenagers stood neck-deep in the water, waving and hollering as the boat passed. Clark smiled at what seemed to be a rare sight.
“You seen any alligators?” he asked.
“I ain’t worried about that!” one shouted back.
ing up research and development for psychedelics.
“Psychedelic drugs, including ibogaine compounds, show potential in clinical studies to address serious mental illnesses for patients whose conditions persist after completing standard therapy,” the order says.
Murnane said both the Louisiana legislation and the president’s executive order provide a valuable counterweight to the “cultural baggage” psychedelics have.
“It’s helpful when you’re conducting research trials or trying to advance them as medicine to be able to say that very responsible, ethical and credible people believe this is worth researching and studying,” he said.
At a news conference last week celebrating the new law, McMath said he first heard about ibogaine a few years ago talking to military veterans about PTSD, and then he learned more about it from an interview on the Rogan podcast with W. Bryan Hubbard, an ibogaine treatment advocate who has been gaining a national profile in recent months.
“We should probably start a Joe Rogan caucus,” McMath said jokingly “There’s been a decent amount of legislation that has come from that show.”
Hubbard, a lawyer and former executive director of the Kentucky Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission, joined McMath at the news conference at a veterans wellness center in New Orleans.
“We are in an existential struggle for the survival of this country,” Hubbard said. He pointed to things like the opioid epidemic, ongoing military conflicts since Sept. 11 and the high suicide rate among veterans.
Hubbard works with former Texas Gov Rick Perry running Americans for Ibogaine, a national nonprofit group promoting medical and therapeutic use of the drug.
“Having recognized that the heart of trauma and addiction is profound spiritual affliction, mighty Texas has committed $100 million to achieve the moonshot of our time, the medicalization of ibogaine within the United States in order to serve and exalt the primacy of the human soul,” he said.
He said he is working to change state and national policy on ibogaine because “we have a profoundly broken mental, behavioral and addiction health treatment
system.”
Hubbard and Rogan were at the White House and stood together behind Trump the day he signed the recent executive order on psychedelic research.
Trump said he got on board with the idea after asking U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr and Dr Mehmet Oz, who runs the Medicare and Medicaid programs, about the psychedelic.
Rogan said he sent Trump a text message about ibogaine’s potential to treat opioid addiction, and the president responded that he would be supportive of FDA approval.
The next week, the FDA for the first time authorized a clinical study of an ibogaine derivative to treat alcohol use disorder
The FDA also said it was fast-tracking studies by three companies studying psilocybin and another MDMA-like drug to treat depression and PTSD.
sTAFF PHoTo By JoHN BALLANCE
A downed tree is seen in Bayou Grosse Tete.
Midday snack
St. Landry floodwaters continue to spread
BY STEPHEN MARCANTEL
staff writer
St. Landry Parish residents have been playing a waiting game for the better part of a week. Recently, Tropical Storm Arthur dumped 20 to 30 inches of rain within 12 hours across southern parts of the parish, a likely 1,000-year rainfall event that caught most residents off guard That water, which is not contained within rivers and canals, is now flooding parts of northern St. Landry Parish
For most of the past week, a flood warning has been in effect for the parishes of Avoyelles, St. Landry, Evangeline and Rapides, according to the National Weather Service.
St. Landry Parish President Jessie Bellard issued voluntary evacuation recommendations for most areas of the parish north of La. 190 early in the week, and on Tuesday, water flowed across La. 10 in Palmetto. On Wednesday, he warned residents of Lebeau along U.S. 71 from U.S. 190 north to La. 10 that it was time to leave if they planned to evacuate. Though a Red Cross shelter opened for several days in Opelousas, Bellard said most residents who evacuated were able to find family and friends to stay with, and the shelter was closed. On Friday, Bellard said about 100 homes in the Palmetto area had already flooded and more may flood as the water from Avoyelles continues to make its way south.
“It already flooded up in Morrow and Palmetto, up in those areas,” he said Friday morning. “Now it’s coming down Highway 71 and down to Bayou Courtableau.” Bellard said officials were hoping the flooding would peak by Sunday and then begin drying out within a week or 10 days.
Parish officials have been going house to house by boat, checking on residents and trying to get an assessment of damages to report to the Federal Emergency Management Agency Down Veazie Road in Palmetto, Sara and Benny Camp drove a four-wheeler down their flooded road before they hopped on a boat to make it to their front door
The couple left Saturday
when floodwater began creeping into their yard, Benny Camp said. On Friday night, the water level jumped about a foot, reaching at least 4 feet.
Of the 15 or so houses on the street, about three homes flooded, Sara Camp said. The Camps’ home was one of the lucky ones.
The same can’t be said for Sara Camp’s 72-year-old mother, who also lives along the street. Her home took on nearly 2 feet of water
“I didn’t tell her yet. I mean, she’s tough,” Sara Camp said.
The couple said they have never seen flooding like this in their lives.
“I was talking to the older folks it was like early ’70s, they had a flood down this road,”
Benny Camp said On Friday, KADN reported flood victims converged on a Louisiana Department of Insurance pop-up office in Leb-
eau seeking help.
Displaced residents spoke with representatives from the state Department of Insurance about federal, state and local resources available to them. Many were left with uninhabitable homes, with some forced to wade through knee-high water to reach higher ground. And many were facing the harsh reality of not having flood insurance. The Department of Insurance reported that only about 2,300 of around 19,000 homeowners in the area carry flood insurance.
“In this area, unfortunately, there’s not a high takeup, so that means they are not going to have flood coverage because flood is not covered under your homeowners policy,” Louisiana State Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple said. Temple urged flood victims without insurance to register their losses online, noting that
Commercial and residential building permits issued by East Baton Rouge Parish government for the week of June 22-25.
BUSINESS
8345 FLORIDA BLVD.: hookah lounge/cafe selling tobacco products, cold drinks and snacks, $80,000; applicant, Bilal Yousef; contractor, Dun-Lew Construction.
2310 SCENIC HIGHWAY: change from restaurant to a nightclub and make additions to patio, $2,500; applicant, Torrey Lewis.
4415 CHOCTAW DRIVE: auto sales and repairs in a 3,298-squarefoot building, $2,000; applicant and owner, Lawaun Riney
930 O’NEAL LANE: grocery store/meat market selling hot food; applicant, Erick Rodriguez Ponce.
14445 OLD HAMMOND HIGHWAY: convenience store with gas; applicant and owner, Garallah al Mashraki.
435 LOUISIANA AVE.: offices for Louisiana CASA; applicant, Kristine Offord.
437 LOUISIANA AVE.: offices for Louisiana CASA; applicant, Kristine Offord.
8145 PICARDY AVE.: new 15,144-squarefoot parking lot for Bascom Hunter, $227,160; applicant, Michael Wilson; owner, Andy McCandless; contractor, Wisham Industries.
2346 N. SHERWOOD FOREST DRIVE: change in occupancy to church, $1,250; applicant, Tia Williams.
2798 O’NEAL LANE: office providing pediatric occupational, speech and physical therapy; applicant, Danielle Mixon.
8431 AIRLINE HIGHWAY: commercial pylon sign, $10,000; applicant, Kevin Bordelon.
3444 S. SHERWOOD FOREST BLVD.: quick service restaurant; applicant, Budderfly Inc.
7570 JEFFERSON HIGHWAY: wall sign, $3,400; applicant, Genia Buras; contractor, Buras Signs.
6401 BLUEBONNET BLVD.: wall sign, $4,140, applicant, Deedee Ockman; owner, Ayesha Adtiyanawalla; contractor, TTA Services.
8482 PERKINS ROAD, SUITE C: retail hobby shop; applicant, Luke Fontenot.
777 L’AUBERGE AVE.: temporary portable stage setup for outdoor concert on July 4; applicant, Paul Perry 9564 FLORIDA BLVD.: men’s barbershop; applicant and owner, Michael Jones.
525 FLORIDA ST.: sign replacement, $2,205, applicant, Dee-dee Ockman; owner, Raj Subramaniam; contractor, TTA Services.
7570 JEFFERSON HIGHWAY: commercial wall sign, $10,000; applicant, Cody Jenkins; owner, Mead Silsbee; contractor, Brightbox Signs & Service.
2621 O’NEAL LANE: sno-ball stand; applicant, Debbie Nelson.
5201 NICHOLSON
DRIVE: bar; applicant, William Scott.
800 E. MCKINLEY ST.: renovation to automotive shop building at McKinley High School; $947,512; applicant, Michael Buturla; owner, Robert Theodore Ratcliff Jr.; contractor, Ratcliff Construction Company.
7984 COMMERCE AVE.: renovation of 45,716-square-foot building, $706,000; applicant, Shawn Fisher; owner, Regi Mullins; contractor, Natco Design Build. 3060 MONTERREY DRIVE: retail clothing store; applicant, Maria Bates.
7695 AIRLINE HIGHWAY: tire and automotive shop; applicant, Traci Fontenot. 12240 COURSEY BLVD.: office; applicant, Fares Alqdhi. NEW HOMES
the data collected could help Louisiana qualify for federal assistance.
“Go to damage.la.gov let the government know how many people don’t have coverage. All of that amount gets totaled up, and then, that helps Louisiana figure out if it can qualify for federal assistance. So, if you don’t have flood insurance, unfortunately, we are going to have to wait for local, state or federal assistance,” Temple said. Bellard said water levels were expected to peak by Monday in St Landry, but the storm’s effects were not expected to be limited to Avoyelles and St. Landry parishes. Doug Kramer a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said floodwaters from Avoyelles are expected to continue moving into St. Martin Parish and eventually into the Atchafalaya Basin.
11745 BRICKSOME AVE.: civil law legal services; applicant, Shashanneon Darensbourg.
275 S. RIVER ROAD: permit for outdoor festival for July 4; applicant, Chris Adams.
4415 AMERICAN WAY: office for engineering firm; applicant, Miriam Beasley
8968 BELLE DEMEUR DRIVE: $167,778, 2,151 square feet; applicant, Lacy Hebert; contractor, DSLD Homes. 606 TURNSTONE AVE.: $200,000, 2,260 square feet; applicant, Jacob Harelson; owner, Carlos Alvarez; contractor, Alvarez Construction Co. 15517 WORTHY WAY: $200,000, 2,072 square feet; applicant, Jacob Harelson; owner, Carlos Alvarez; contractor, Alvarez Construction Co. 8753 BELLE DEMEUR DRIVE: $187,044, 2,398 square feet; applicant, Lacy Hebert; contractor, DSLD Homes. 8923 ARBOR VIEW DRIVE: $175,890, 2,255 square feet; applicant, Lacy Hebert; contractor, DSLD Homes. 8932 ARBOR VIEW DRIVE: $185,796, 2,382 square feet; applicant, Lacy Hebert; contractor, DSLD Homes. 8953 ARBOR VIEW DRIVE: $187,044, 2,398 square feet; applicant, Lacy Hebert; contractor, DSLD Homes. 8952 ARBOR VIEW DRIVE: $167,778, 2,151 square feet; applicant, Lacy Hebert; contractor, DSLD Homes. 8942 ARBOR VIEW DRIVE: $157,872, 2,024 square feet; applicant, Lacy Hebert; contractor, DSLD Homes. 1323 MARSHALL JONES SR. AVE. ZACHARY: $274,170, 3,515 square feet; applicant, Lacy Hebert; contractor, DSLD Homes. 1303 MARSHALL JONES SR. AVE. ZACHARY: $217,152, 2,784 square feet; applicant, Lacy Hebert; contractor, DSLD Homes. 7651 JETER DRIVE: $261,144, applicant, Kristal Jarreau; owner, Level Construction; contractor, Level Construction and Development. 7663 JETER DRIVE: $214,500, 2,750 square feet, applicant, Kristal Jarreau; owner, Level Construction; contractor, Level Construction and Development. 7701 MANOR DRIVE: $203,580, 2,610 square feet, applicant, Amy Whitsell; owner, Level Construction; contractor, Level Construction and Development. 1002 RYAN AVE, BAKER: $172,500, 2,300 square feet; applicant, Starts Department; owner and contractor, D.R. Horton. 8933 ARBOR VIEW DRIVE: $194,454, 2,493 square feet; applicant, Lacy Hebert; contractor, DSLD Homes. 8962 ARBOR VIEW DRIVE: $162,396, 2,082 square feet; applicant, Lacy Hebert; contrac-
sTAFF PHoTo By MICHAEL JoHNsoN
A juvenile tricolored heron catches a fish from Bayou Fountain near the canoe and kayak launch at the Highland Road Community Park on sunday in Baton Rouge.
sTAFF PHoTo By LEsLIE WEsTBRooK A boat is parked near the front door of a home on Veazie Road surrounded by several inches of water on Friday in the village of Palmetto.
Ukrainiandronesattack anotherRussian refinery
Putinadmitsto fuel shortages
By The Associated Press
KYIV, Ukraine Ukraine kept up its heavy drone assault on Russia, setting fire to amajor oil refinery in the south, as President Vladimir Putin acknowledged for the first time on Sunday that the country was facing a “certain deficit” of fuel and vowed to strengthen protection of oilfacilitiesand boost fuel output.
Ukraine hasmarkedly steppedupits long-range attacks on Russian military industries and energy facilities in recent months,aiming to cut Moscow’srevenue for its invasion —now in its fifth year —and make Russians feelthe consequences.
“Our ‘long-range sanctions’ reached two oil refineries in Russia,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on the Telegram messagingapp on Sunday “Each(strike) means areduction in the resources that fuel the Russian war machine, and another step toward peace.”
The campaign has choked Russian fuel supplies, causingwidespread shortages and long lines at gas stations across the country and prompting authorities in many regions to introduce fuel rationing. Accordingto Western analysts, it has also slowed Moscow’sefforts on the battlefield, heaping pressure on the Kremlin to come to the negotiating table.
Speaking to aRussian state TV reporter,Putin described the Ukrainianattacks on oil refineries asan attempt to “cause asplit in Russian society andforce Russia to halt, even if only
Kyiv,Ukraine, after an air attack.
briefly,the advance ofour troops along the line of contact, andcreateconditions for launching anegotiation process on terms advantageous to our adversary ”
“Wewill notgive them that chance,” Putin said, adding that “strikes on our infrastructure, wherever they are directed, have absolutelyno effect on the situationatthe front,onthe line of contact.”
He saidfor the first time that Ukraine hasproposed a halt on deep strikes, arguing that Kyiv made the offerbecause Russian strikes deep into Ukrainianterritory are more powerfuland devastating.
The Russianleader added that Kyiv also offered to limit the fighting to the four regions that Russiaannexed but never fully captured— Donetsk,Luhansk,Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. He rejected the proposal, arguingitwould allowUkraine to relocate its forces that are fightingRussian troops in other areas to let them focusonfendingoff the Russian attacksin thefour southeasternregions.
Meanwhile, debris from downed Ukrainian drones
sparked ablaze at the refineryinSlavyansk-na-Kubani, atown in Russia’s Krasnodar region, east of occupied Crimea, according to regional Gov.Veniamin Kondratyev.The falling debris killed one person in Slavyansk andwoundedanother in anearby village, local authoritiessaid.
The facility is one of southern Russia’smajor refineries, processing close to 4million tons of crude peryear,accordingtoits operator’s website. It is also akey sourceofpetroleum products intendedfor export through Russia’sBlack Sea ports, including fuel oil, naphtha and marine fuel.
Zelenskyy also claimed that anotherRussian refinery, in theYaroslavl region around 435 miles from the Ukrainian border,was hit during the nighttime strikes.
There were no immediate reports from Russianauthorities about thestrike on theYaroslavlrefinery.Local Gov.Mikhail Evraev reported on Sunday morning that some roads between Moscow and the region’scapital, Yaroslavl, were temporarily closed due to “an enemy attack by Ukrainian drones.”
Meteorologists:Heatwave, high humidity to blasteastern U.S.
BY MARC LEVY Associated Press
Along and dangerous heat wave will blast alarge swath of the centraland eastern United States this week, the NationalWeather Service said, with temperatures rising ahead of the July Fourth holiday and feeling even hotter because of the high humidity that’s arriving withit. Already,parts of the U.S., especially Phoenix and central Texas, and much of the Southwest were experiencing temperatures around 100 on Sunday,while the weather service warned of severe wildfire conditions developing across much of the West as new fires popped up across the region. On Sunday,well over 130
million Americans across southern and Great Plains states were under moderatetosevere heat risk conditions, according to weather service maps, with thatareaforecast to expand and temperatures to intensify as theweek drags on.
Forecasters say several days of high temperatures —some above 100 degrees F—will settle in across thelower Great Lakes, the mid-Atlantic andthe Mississippiand Ohio River valleys. Some record highs could be set in areas from the lowerGreat Lakes to the mid-Atlantic andNew Englandlater in the week, saidweather service meteorologist Bryan Putnam. Anumber of big cities could see their highest temperatures of the year so far as they host World
Cup matches andcelebrationsfor America’s250th anniversary Feeling the heat will be the East Coast cities of New York, Philadelphia, Washington and Baltimore, and Midwestern and Great Lakes cities including Chicago, Indianapolis, St.Louis andDetroit. Southern citiesincluding Dallas, Little Rock, Arkansas, and Memphis,Tennessee, willalso see high temperatures.
High heat will last into next weekend across the Great Plains, theSoutheast andthe mid-Atlantic, the weather service said.
Temperatures will reach well into the90s andlow 100degrees, the weather service said. High humidity will lead to heat indexes of 100to110 degrees, and as high as 115.
Pakistan carriesout strikes, ground operationalong Afghan border
BYMUNIR AHMED and SUZAN FRASER
Associated Press
ISLAMABAD Pakistani security forces Sunday carried out aground operation along the Pakistan-Afghanistanborder, followed by “calibrated strikes” against militant hideouts and safe havens, killing 29 fighters, officials said.
In apost on X, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said the operation was launchedinresponse to multiple militant attacks across the country.There was no immediate responsefrom Afghanistan. Pakistan has witnessed asurge in militant attacks targeting police and security forces in recent years. Authorities have blamed the Pakistani Taliban, knownas Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP,and allied militant groups formostofthe violence.
It comesa dayafter militants armed with guns and explosives targeted theregional headquartersofthe paramilitary Rangers in the southern port city of Karachi, killing three soldiers. Security forces killedthree attackers and arrested another assailant, whom the military identified as an Afghan national in wounded condition. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar,a breakaway faction of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the Karachi attack in astatement Saturdaynight.
TararsaidPakistan’slatest operation along the Afghan border targeted hideoutsand safe havens ofthe Pakistani Taliban. The PakistaniTaliban area separate militant group from theAfghan Taliban, although the two areallies. The Afghan Taliban returned to power in neighboringAfghanistan in 2021
Funerals Today
Bennett, Pattye FirstBaptistChurch,Zacharyat 11:00am.
Dias,Bernadina Greenoaks FuneralHomeat2 p.m Fitzgerald,Rupert St.John theBaptistCatholic Church in Brusly at noon. Smith,Sheila WilbertFuneral Home in Plaquemine at 9:30 a.m.
Obituaries
Clark, Joan Cecile
She passedathome on June 17, 2026. Visitation will be heldfrom 9-11 AM on June 30, 2026 at St.Jude Catholic Church, 9150 Highland Rd.Baton Rouge, LA. Mass willfollow withburial at St.GeorgeChurch Mausoleum. www.dignity memorial.com/obituaries/ baton-rouge-la/joan-clark12933842
Henson, Samuel G. 'Goose'
SamuelG."Goose"Henson, 87 years old, was called to be withhis Lord and Savior,Jesus Christ,on June 12, 2026, surrounded by his loving family.Heentered this world on March 25, 1939, born to Vera and Joe Henson, in YazooCity, MS. Goose faithfully served his country in theUSNational Guard Goose is survivedbyhis loving wife of 38 years, Barbara R. Henson; daughter, PamHensonMosley (Pat); step children, Cheryl Babin (Todd), Terri Vicari (Larry), JefferyContine (Traci) and WilliamTad Contine (Angel); grandchildren,Brandon Mixon, Dannie Mixon, and Thomas Henson; Joshua, Jonathan, and Logan Babin; Chelsen, Lunden, Laryen, and MicaiahVicari;Paige, Chase, MasonContine;Peyton and Alexa Contine; 17 great-grandchildren; 2 brothers, Glen "Doy" Henson (Mary Lynn)and Joseph"Tippy" Henson (Dorothy); sisters, Letha Brignac (Percy), Linda Akins (Tommy),Carolyn Henson; and ahost of niecesand nephews. Goose is preceded in death by his father, Joesph Henson; mother, Vera ChesteenHenson; son, Dane Henson; grandchild, Emily Ann Henson; and his brother, MC Henson (Betty Jo). Relatives and friends are invitedtojointhe family forthe visitation at Baker FuneralHome, 6401 GroomRoad, Baker, LA on July3,2026, from 1:00 PM until theMemorial Service at 2:00 PM,officiated by PastorLynnRodrigue.
Knox, Carolyn S.
Carolyn S. Knox was born on June 10, 1951. Entered into eternal rest on June 24, 2026. Survivedby herlovinghusband,Joseph Knox; 1sister;nieces and 1 nephew;1 great niece. Precededindeathbyher parents, Lois B. Sams and Wilbert Sams. Visitation Tuesday, June 30, 2026, ImmaculateConception Catholic Church,1565 CurtisStreet, Baton Rouge LA., 10:00 am untilreligious service at 12:00 pm. Father Thomas Clark, SJ officiating. IntermentLouisiana NationalCemetery Zachary, LA. Service EntrustedtoHallDavis and SonFuneral Service www.halldavisandson.com
Thomas, JoAnn
JoAnnM.Thomas enteredintoeternal rest at
St.LukeHospital-Sugarland, Texas on June 21, 2026. Shewas anative of Escatawpa, Mississippi; a residentofBaker, Louisiana and retiredwith 32 years of employment from Sears.A Celebration of Life Service will be held at Miller& Daughter Mortuary on Tuesday, June 30, 2026 at 11:00 am conducted by Rev. Mark Thomas;interment will be at SouthernMemorialGardens. Survivors include herdevotedhusband, Donald R. Thomas;daughters, Tonya Morgan(Reginald)ofMissouri City, Texas and DemetriaThomas of Katy, Texas; grandchildren, Harleighand HunterMorgan,MissouriCity; brothers, Robert Moffett Jr.(Eunice), Gautier, Mississippi andDonald Edward Moffett (Willie M.),Moss Point, Mississippi; other relativesand friends.She wasprecededindeathby herparents,Robertand Myrtle Moffett and abrother,James FredrickMoffett, Jr.(Gloria). She washonored to have been baptized in 1968 by thelategreat ReverendsClayEvans and Jesse Jackson.After movingtoLouisiana, sheattended Greater King David Baptist Church for many years. Herfavorite pastime waslisteningtogospel music and variouspastors' inspiringsermons.
The latest operations are likely to further strainalready tense relations between Islamabad and Kabul. Sunday’s cross-border strikesand ground operation camelessthanthree weeks after Pakistan’smilitary launched airstrikes on what it said were militant hideouts in Afghanistan. Theyendedabout amonth of relative calm following what Islamabad had described as an “open war” between the neighboring countries, despite international efforts to broker a lasting peace.
The escalation follows monthsoftit-for-tat military action between the two countries. Hundreds of people have been killed in cross-border fighting since February, when Afghanistan launched retaliatory strikesafter Pakistan carried out airstrikesinside Afghan territory
PHoTo PRoVIDED By UKRAINIAN EMERGENCy sERVICE Asapper examines afragmentofthe Russian missile on sundayinaneighborhood in
YOUR VIEWS
AMERICA250
As we celebratethe 250thbirthdayofour country, we askedreaders to weighinonwhatare some of thequintessential
From Declaration’s promiseto MLK’sspeech, fightfor equality waslong
The Declarationof1776outlined the Founders’moral vision of afree society; its most important statement: “that all Men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.”
Although the word “slavery will not be found in the Declaration, it dominated much of the debate among our Founders, as slavery drove the economic engines of the Southern states and required several compromises in drafting the U.S. Constitution in 1788.
Article I, Section 2ofthe Constitution as originallydrafted stated that “Representatives and Direct Taxes shallbe apportioned among the states accordingtotheir respective numbers, which shall be determined by the number of free Persons.” The Southern states wanted toinclude slaves, whereas the Northern states wanted them excluded.The heated compromise was to count only 3/5ths of the slaves, butthey hadtobe called “other persons” as the North didn’twant to validate slavery nationally.
In 1807, President Thomas Jefferson called for alaw banning the importantion of slaves. Congress passed it, and it went into effect in 1808. However,slavery continued to grow in the South.
In 1857, the Supreme Court ruled in Dred Scott v. Sandford that Black people were notcitizens, but were inferior In 1861,the Civil Warerupted. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which stated that slaves in states in rebellion would be free. By 1865, the war was over and all slaveswerefree (but notyet equal).
The battles to make the new freemen equal would take place over the following 100-plus years, highlighted by Martin Luther King Jr.’s1963 address calling for anation in which his children would not “be judged by thecolor of theirskin, but by the contentof their character.”
STEVE GARDES Lafayette
LETTERSTOTHE EDITOR
AREWELCOME.HEREARE
we received severalletters aboutwhatthe commemorationmeans to you.
To honorU.S., work together to fulfill nation’s promise
We are one nation —although sometimes that may be in doubt
We will soon celebrate 250 years of freedom and prosperity.Itisimperative that we honor our past by renewing our commitment to our founding principles: “Wehold these truthstobeself-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, andthe pursuit of Happiness.”
My parentsimmigrated to this country to pursue thehope of abetter life for themselves andtheir children. This is adream that is shared by each of us today.Itisthe bond that holds us together
Division never makes us stronger.The chain is only as strong as the weakest link. Every opportunity that Ihave been blessed with has its roots in the kindness and support of others. It is adebt that Iowe and an obligation that Icarry to help thosearound me.
On thethreshold of this auspicious occasion, let us find common ground and a commitment to work together to moveeach and every one of us forward to reach new heightsand fulfill thepromise that lies within each of us.
If not, our wish for abetter future foryour children and mine will never come true. STEVENELSON, M.D Mandeville
Founders putour Constitution aboveanythingelse, so should we
that feel familiar?
America’s greatness is reborn in the dreams of newcomers
In light of the president signing the bill thatgivesanadditional $70 billiontosupport his immigration anddeportationagenda, it bears remembering words from one of President Ronald Reagan’slast speeches in January 1989:
“... Aman wrote me and said:
‘You can go to live in France, but youcannotbecome aFrenchman. Youcan go to live in Germany or TurkeyorJapan,but you cannot become aGerman, aTurk or a Japanese. But anyone, from any cornerofthe Earth, can cometo live in Americaand becomean American’. This, Ibelieve, is one of the most important sources of America’sgreatness. We lead the world because,unique among nations, we drawour people —our strength —fromevery country andevery cornerofthe world. And by doing so,wecontinuously renewand enrichour nation.
“While othercountriescling to the stale past, here in America we breathe life into dreams. We create the future, andthe world follows us into tomorrow.Thanks to each wave of newarrivals to this land of opportunity,we’re anationforever young, foreverbursting with energy andnew ideas, and always on the cutting edge,always leading the world to the next frontier
“This quality is vital to our future as anation. If we ever closed the door to newAmericans, our leadership in the world would soon be lost ”
To sEND Us ALETTER, sCAN HERE
OUR GUIDELINES: Letters are published identifying name and the writer’scity of residence.The Advocate |The Times-Picayune require astreet address and phone number for verification purposes, but that information is not published. Letters are not to exceed 300 words. Letters to the Editor,The Advocate, P.o. Box 588 Baton Rouge, LA 70821-0588, or email letters@theadvocate.com.
In 1964, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart coinedthe phrase “I know it when Isee it” to describe his threshold testfor obscenity.That phrase has populated my thoughtsfar too often lately as we jointly experience the effects of our current political environment. I’moccupied by thoughts of corruption, incompetence, criminalityand discrimination under the oversight of unprincipled,dishonorable“leaders.” The examples aretoo numerous to outline here, but in thewords of Stewart,Iknow it when Isee it. GeorgeWashington, in his farewell presidential address,offered his thoughtsonpolitical parties, stating that “. they arelikely, in the course of time and things, to become potentengines by which cunning, ambitious andunprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government .” Does
As we approach the250th anniversary of the founding of our nation, areading of George Washington’sfarewell address would help. In it, he expresses concerns that national divisions caused by political parties could lead todespotism.
He writes:
“The alternate domination of one faction [political party] over another,sharpened by the spirit of revenge natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horridenormities,isitselfafrightful despotism. But this leads at length to amore formal and
Washington recognized this 230 years ago! He understood the precious and fragile nature of our new republic. He fought forit. He bled for it.Hesacrificed for it in ways few can dare compare to. He,aswell as the other Founding Fathersand “the people,” put their lives on the line “to form amore perfect Union,” not for any political party
I, and all citizens, owe anever-ending debt to those who enabled our Union to exist. Iam aregistered Republican. Thatmeans nothing compared to my allegiance to the Constitution,toall of “the people” and to those who paid thedebt before me. Iowe no debt to any party.
Speak up against those damaging our democracy.Who are they? Stewart was correct —you will know it when you see it.
STEVE PEARCE Mandeville
permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek securityand repose in theabsolutepower of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevationonthe ruins of public liberty.…[T]he common and continual mischiefs of thespirit of party are sufficient to makeitthe interest and duty of awisepeople to discourage and restrain it.”
NORM STAFFORD Madisonville
SUE SABRIO Metairie
U.s. is notreally 250years old yet, butwho’s counting?
On July 4, we will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. But it will not be our nation’s250th birthday There was no American nation in 1776. The Declaration was an act of the Second Continental Congress, speaking on behalf of 13 independent British colonies in North America.
If we want to give adate forthe birth of the United States, 1788 would be abetter choice. That was when the Constitution wasratified, and the Constitution madethe United States. It is important to commemorate milestones in our nation’shistory,but we need to get our facts straight.
SANFORD W. WOOD Eunice
AssoCIATED PREss PHoTo By MARK sCHIEFELBEIN
U.s. flags areplanted in a field near the Washington Monument on June 22 in Washington.
Republicansaren’tdead yet
By
anumber of conventional measures,the Republican Partyshouldbe headed for ahuge lossinthisNovember’sHouse midterm elections. But some experts think the resultswill be much closerthan originally thought. The problem for Republicans is that those experts still think the GOP will lose, just not in an old-fashioned blowout The traditional factors seem to point in slightly different directions. Pointing toward ablowout is PresidentDonald Trump’sjob approval rating —long a predictor of aparty’sperformance in midterms. At the moment, Trump’sapproval is 40.4% in the RealClearPolitics average of polls. In 2018, Trump’sfirst midterm, his approval rating wasinthe low 40s, and the Republican Partylost 40 House seats. Moregenerally,defeat is usually in the cards when apresident’sjob approval dips below 50%
But what kind of defeat? In the 2022 midterms, President Joe Biden’sjob approval was in the low 40s, and DemocratslostjustnineHouse seats. To Biden’sdismay,that was enough to lose the House. Now,with today’ssuper-thin GOP margin in the House, even if Republicans were to lose, say,five seats, that would be enough to lose controlof the chamber Then there is the directionofthe country.Inthe RealClearPolitics average, 59.3% of respondents saythe country is going in the wrongdirection, while 34.6% say it is goinginthe right direction. That soundsbad, but remember that most people, most ofthe time, say the country is going in the wrong direction. The current numbers are ugly, but they’re not the worst —inJuly 2022, during aparticularlyawfulstretchof the Biden presidency,75.5% said the country was going in the wrong direction. That was terrible. And yetBiden still lost just those nine seats. Then there is the most potent issue: the economy.Inarecent CBS News poll, just 31% rated the condition of the economy as very good or fairly good, while 63% said it was very bador fairlybad.Thatnumberisquite close to the RealClearPolitics average for Trump’sapprovalrating on handling the economy: 35% approve, 61.3% disapprove. There’snointerpretation
of those numbers that is good for Republicans Then there is history.The president’s partyalmost always loses House seats in midterm elections. Since the 1930s, that has been thecase in every midterm excepttwo —the first time in 1998, duringBill Clinton’simpeachment,and thesecond in 2002, in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. If thepredictive value of that bit of history is fading,ithasn’tfaded much. There is one moretraditional measure that seems to point towardaRepublican loss but not ahuge one. The genericballot is thegeneral question, “If the election for Congress were heldtoday,would you vote for the Republican candidate or the Democratic candidate?” Today,Democrats lead Republicans by 4.8 points, 47.9% to43.1%, according to theRealClearPolitics average. That’sa solid but not overwhelming lead. Back in 2018, heading into the defeat that cost Republicans 40 seats, Democrats led the generic ballot by 7.3 points. In 2010, ahistoric blowout in which Republicans won 63 seats, theGOP lead was 9.4 points. Today, things seemmuch closer Puteverythingtogether,and it seems to mean anon-massive Democratic victoryisonthe way.Why not ablowout? There are plenty of reasons that some of the moreserious Republican
problemslisted above might not be devastating to the partythis year The biggest of those is thevoting public’slow regard for Democrats. In theRealClearPolitics average, the Democratic Party’sfavorability rating is just 36.5%, while its unfavorability rating is 56.1%. For Republicans, the numbers are 38.6% favorable and 55.3% unfavorable —not much better than Democrats, but better.Soeven if Republicans are headed for aloss, the public’sgreater dislike of Democrats could limit the margin.
Given all this, one can see 1) why thefinal result might be closer than somethink, and 2) why Republicans fought for every possible seat available through redistricting. It probably still won’tbeenough for theGOP to win, but it will make the election closer Right now,the indicators still seem to point towardaHouse controlled by Democrats, but by asmall margin say,10orfewer seats. Maybe the coming election will be aglimpse of the future, when thebig wipeout midterm is something that happens less and less often. Butfor Republicans and for President Trump, in particular,life will still be miserable with aDemocratic House, even if the margin is small.
Byron York is on X, @Bryon York.
Separation of powers mightbeworking
The journalistic adage “wedon’t report planes that land safely” means that what is deemed newsworthy often involves dysfunction and folly.Now, however,comes evidencethat“good news” is not always an oxymoron.A judicial ruling has prompted twosenators to prod the legislative branch to curtail certain executive branch mischief. Texas Republican TedCruz is, figuratively speaking, to the right of the soup spoon. Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden is to theleft of the salad fork Their bipartisan anxiety concerns First Amendment speech rights. Their proposed legislation would inhibit government“jawboning,” defined (byMerriamWebster) as “the use of public appeals (as by apresident) to influence the actions especially of business and labor leaders.” Theadjective “public” is underinclusive. One of the senators’ objectives is transparency about hitherto secret pressure During the pandemic, executive branch officials in the Biden White House, FBI and elsewhere frequently hectoredsocial media platforms (YouTube, Facebook, Twitter) to adopt particular policiesof“content moderation.” In plain language, censorship was the officials’ goal and, often, their achievement. (During the2020 presidential election, the platformsalso, absent government pressure, censored speechabout Hunter Biden’slaptop.) The Bidenadministration thought that content on the platformswas promoting “vaccine hesitancy” and doubts about “social distancing” andshutdowns generally.The officials wanted to suppress theories about COVID-19’s origin (the lab-leak theory,now widely considered plausible). Twostates and five individual socialmedia users sued dozens of executive branch officials and agencies, seeking an injunction against them for pressuringthe plat-
What Big Oilisnot telling students aboutCCS
Here’swhat Big Oil is not telling students about its CCS program.Itisn’tpretty
Like manyhere in Louisiana, Iwas not shocked to read that our state had invited the oil industry into our schools to “educate” young minds, teaching them that capturing carbon emissions at their refineries and storing them under our land is an example of their commitment to stop climate change.
forms to violatetheir speech rightsby removing, obscuring or otherwise discriminatingagainst their posts.
In 2024, the Supreme Court struck down (6-3) an appellate court’sruling that federal pressure caused the censorship andthereforetransformed it into governmentaction.
Writingwith characteristic precision and caution,Justice Amy Coney Barrett held that the court need not rule on themerits of the plaintiffs’ argument because theplaintiffs lacked standing to sue. They failed to establish acausal relation between what the government demanded and what the platforms did. The platforms,being private entities, can enforce whatever editorial policies they choose, and plaintiffs did not establish that governmentclearly coerced the platforms’choices.
Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., joined in dissent by Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil M. Gorsuch, said, correctly, that federal officials pursued a“covert scheme of censorship.” They “continuously harried,” “implicitly threatened” and “persistently hectored” the platforms with “virtual demands” backed by crediblethreats of punishment
Specifically,Alito wrote, internet platforms are “far morevulnerable to government pressure than other news sources.” Apresident cannot put a hostile newspaper out of business. But socialmedia companies “are critically dependentonthe protection” provided by Section 230 of a1996 statute that shields them from civil liability for contentthey disseminate. Government pressureincluded implicit but clear threats to repeal Section 230.
It is proper,indeed aduty, for the executivebranch to explain to the public its preferences.And explanation cannot bedisentangled from advocacy
But as Alito stressed, government officials who pressured Facebook were not speaking to thepublic. They were
advancing acovert scheme using surreptitious demands revealed only later by plaintiffs’ discovery and acongressional committee’ssubpoenas. Someexecutives of these platforms were ideologically disposed to obey the Biden administration. Others, when exposed to government pressure, had spines as limp as cooked linguine. Alito tartly writes that Facebook representatives “whimpered” their promise to be morecompliant.
The Cruz-Wyden bill is aresponse to executive misbehavior,and to judicial judiciousness, that requires Congress to legislate. Their bill affirms theprinciple that thegovernment may not do indirectly (e.g., censor speech) what it is forbidden to do directly.The bill: Would require government tomake public certain kinds of communicationswith social media companies, artificial intelligence companies and broadcasters. Andwould establish that plaintiffs must prove only that governmentattempted censorship, not that its pressurebyitself succeeded. And would provide for money damages, instead of mere injunctions, for plaintiffs when an offending official left office while acase wended its way through courts. So, crude and sneaky overreaching by theexecutive was followed by the SupremeCourt’saustere (andreasonable) refusal to overreach by ignoring principles of standing. This has prompted two lawmakers torespond. If Congress makes that response a law,there will have been aminuet of actions and reactions driven by each branch’sprerogatives, responsibilities and incentives. The separation of powers will have functioned as intended. The governmental plane will have landed safely.Given recent history, that is newsworthy Email George Will at georgewill@washpost.com.
But that had me wondering
Imagine we’re back in 1964 and the surgeon general just concluded that smoking cigarettes causes cancer.But the cigarette industry offers this solution: There’snoneed forthe governmenttoendorse reducing or banning smoking, we’ll just capture the secondhand smoke and bury it. Oh, and we’ll get the taxpayers to foot the bill —even those whodon’tsmoke.
That’swhat the fossil fuel industry is trying to pull off with its version of CCS. It’s one of the greatest shell games and grifts in polluting history
Because what they don’ttell students, or us, is this: While capturing emissions at their smokestacks, they will continue to makeand promote the use of their products, resulting in manytimes the volumeofemissions that they can ever capture, continuing to fuel the rapid increase in climate change impacts —including the drowning of the coastal homes of these students.
They are not really addressing their responsibilities forour climate crisis, simply extending the lifeoftheir industry at our expense.
Here’swhat else they don’tmention.
They are not doing this forfree. They are being paid billions of dollars in taxpayer grants and morebillions in tax credits to capture some of their own emissions. And they are making healthy profits. Imagine getting paid by those you harm to stop harming them —something the Mafia used to do.
They still spend hundreds of millions to electt friendly members of Congress —$219 million in 2024 cycle alone —who’ll stop regulations that could slow climate change and makethe air healthier forus. They do this to protect their profit margins.
They continue to support President Donald Trumpand his congressional acolytes in awar on clean energy,scaling back or killing grants and tax breaks that werehelping speed atransition from fossil fuels to clean energy
They support Trump’sattempt to repeal the 2007 SupremeCourt ruling that greenhouse gases are air pollutants, the legal unpinning for all climate regulations. If successful, it will end any hope of slowing climate change this century,and makeour air moredangerous forall of us and deadly forpeople with breathing issues and heart disease.
If fossil fuel makers were seriously concerned about the future of the planet instead of making those they injure protect their bottom lines, they would be using their billions to support the transition to clean energy.All they are doing now is looking forways to extend the future of fossil fuel consumption, which means the future of their high salaries, regardless of the crisis it will cause future generations.
It’s easy to equate today’sfossil fuel companies with the cigarette manufacturers of an earlier age. Our use of their products has caused this crisis, but their own research warned them of this decades ago, just as the tobacco industry knew about the deaths it was causing 40 years before admitting it.
But Big Oil is even worse.
In 1998, the tobacco industry settled with states forlegal immunity by pledging billions to address the damage it had done.
Big Oil is getting its immunity forfree.
Gov.Jeff Landry recently signed abill that prevents Louisiana residents from seeking compensation from the industry forthe damage it has done to their lives and futures.
Meanwhile, the state laid out the welcome mat for Big Oil to enter our schools and spread its misleading story to our children.
But is that really asurprise in the sad state of Louisiana?
BobMarshall, aPulitzerPrize-winning Louisiana environmentaljournalist,can be reached at bmarshallenviro@gmail.com, and followedonX,@BMarshallEnviro.
Bob Marshall
George Will
Byron York
AssoCIATED PREss PHoTo By MANUEL BALCECENETA
President Donald Trumpspeaks after touringthe newly designated AirForce one presidential aircraft at Joint Base Andrews, Md.,last week.
SPORT
Andthe winner is
TheRabbyschronicle
thegood, badand expensiveofLsU’s athletic year
The 2025-26 LSU athletic year is over Ithink everyone whois at LSUorfollows LSU can be very glad aboutthat. Now that thisyear has slipped thankfully into the history books, The Rabbys are hereto make sense of it all
Usually,this is atime and placetoreward and remember the great achievements of thepast 12 months.
This time, mostly what is needed and deserved are condolences and calls of “good riddance.” How bad was it? By at least acoupleofmeasuring sticks: historically bad.
This was the firsttime LSU ever fired its football coach, its athletic director and its men’sbasketball coach all in the same athletic year.That figures,becauseitwas also the first time in 50 years, since 1975-76, that LSU’s football, men’sbasketball and baseball teams all had losingSoutheastern Conference records in the same year About the only thingthat saved the Tigers, other than some deep pockets that supplied thebuyouts for Brian Kelly,MattMcMahon
and Scott Woodward (totaling close to $70 million), wereLSU’swomen’s sports teams. OK, someofthe men’steamslike golf, tennis, track andswimming and diving also had good to great seasons, but this was the women’syear to shine.
Not that it was much of ahorse race. There were no championships won, but teams likegymnastics, women’sbasketball, softball and tennis morethan held up their end as the most successful programs on campus in an otherwise dismal year.Collectively,those four programsdeserve The Golden Rabby —ifthere were such athing. We do have sometraditional awards to hand out, starting with: ä see RABALAIS, page 6B
Williams hadtotalkherself into playing at Wimbledon again
MAGUIRE
writer
Serena Williams had to talk o accepting Wimbledon’soffer gles. England club was holding one rdentry and the 23-time Grand eschampion —who had already edshe’d playdoubleswith her Venus —had adecision to ke. “I thought Ishould really take this opportunity.Who knows f I’ll ever make it here again. s could be it,”the 44-year-old mssaid Sunday at anews con-
World Cup knockout stageset
As matchesheatup, some teamsmight feel like they’vedrawn shortstraw
BY TIM REYNOLDS AP sportswriter
FIRSTIN: Co-host Canada stuns southAfrica to advanceto Roundof16 for firsttime, Page 4B
MIAMI GARDENS,Fla. If theWorldCup was theNCAAbasketball tournament, then teamslike Morocco andthe Netherlands would have some serious angertowardthe selection and seeding committee right now England, Mexico, Portugal and Spain might not be all that happy,either Lionel Messi and Argentina, on the other hand, probably wouldn’tcomplain muchabout their potential path to the World Cup final four The bracket is set for the knockoutstage of the World Cup. There was no selection committee; slots were predetermined— Group Awinneronthis line, Group Drunner-up on this line, etc. —soitwasn’t exactly like how the NCAA tournaments go. And FIFA doesn’treseed like some sports, so acouple of lower seedsare certaintoget into at least the Round of 16. So,whentaking the32 qualifiers for the knockout stage and ranking themlikeit’sanNCAA tournament —essentially seeding the field 1 to 32 basedonthe FIFA live rankings entering Sunday—it’seasy to see whysome “regions” might be tougher to navigate than others. Abreakdownofthe World Cup bracket:
Foxborough Region
Quarterfinal: July9 •Foxborough,Massachusetts. Round of 32 matchups: No.12Germany vs. No 27 Paraguay,No. 2France vs. No.26Sweden, No.29South Africa vs. No. 25 Canada, No.7Netherlands vs. No.6Morocco. Outlook: Netherlandsvs. Moroccointhe Round of 32 means that at least oneofthe seven highest-ranked teams left in the tournament won’teven gettothe Round of 16. France and Germany —perennial European powers —could meetinthe Round of 16. And Canada,who beat South Africa1-0 on Sunday, will have to changetime zones twiceonits way to the quarterfinals, while Germany,Paraguay,France and Sweden
ference. “I was like, ‘What’swrong with me, Serena? What are you thinking? Areyou nuts? Like youreally should do this,’” sheadded. “People live to be an athlete. Ihavethis great opportunity to showcase what Ido, what Idobest, Isuppose. Yeah, Ithink ultimately Iwas like that is pretty cool, so I should do it.” Williams’ first match at the grass-court Grand Slam since 2022 will takeplace on Centre Court on Tuesday evening when shefaces 20-year-old Maya Joint of Australia as part of her evolving tennis comeback. Williamshad been away from the sport since her farewell at the 2022 U.S. Open. Her mostrecent appearance at Wimbledon was in 2022, when shelost in the opening round toHarmony Tan, who was then-ranked115th. 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. After earlier accepting awild card in doubles, Williams describedthe process of making her decision forsingles. “So Ithink it was on, Ihad until Monday to decide. Ithink it was like Sunday.Ijust wasn’tsure up until then,” she said. “Honestly,I’m still not even sure, but we’ll see.” Williamsisaseven-time Wimbledon singles champion but said Sunday that “in general my expectations are definitely different forthe first timeinmycareer.” Reigning champion IgaSwiatek opens play on Centre Court on Tuesday,in keepingwithtradition,againstTaylor Townsend. That’stobefollowed by Taylor Fritz vs. home favoriteJack Draper —in what is oneofthe most intriguing men’s first-round matchups. And then Williams-Joint.
Scott Rabalais
AP PHoTo By MARK J. TERRILL south Africa midfielder sphephelo sithole, left,and Canadaforward Jonathan David go foraheader during aWorld Cup round of 32 match on sunday in Inglewood, Calif. Canadabeat south Africa 1-0.
Jannik sinner of Italy returns the ball during an exhibition match against Cameron Norrie of Great Britain on Wednesday at the Hurlingham Tennis Club in London. sinner changed his training regimen after he struggled in the heat at the French open. AssoCIATED
Reigning champ Sinner ramps up training
BY KEN MAGUIRE Associated Press
LONDON Jannik Sinner said he changed his physical workload after his French Open meltdown, when he felt ill and dizzy in a second-round loss.
So, he’s taking it a bit easier?
Wrong.
“Much longer sessions — both in the gym and on the court,” he said. “We did everything together but without any breaks. Now we’ll see how I react on the court.”
Sinner spoke Saturday in English and Italian — at Wimbledon as he prepares to defend his singles title. He opens against Miomir Kecmanovic on Centre Court on Monday, when the temperature is expected to be 77 degrees.
With Carlos Alcaraz sidelined by
a wrist injury, Sinner is the leading favorite — just like he was in Paris — to win at the grass-court major
Following his early exit at Roland Garros, Sinner did take a week off and did some testing.
“General tests to see healthwise how I was, to be sure that all is OK with the body, which is. All tests were really good,” he said. And then it was back to work.
Sinner, who has struggled with heat and cramps in the past, said, “We need to practice in hotter conditions. I feel like everywhere where we play is going to be very hot. Every year is getting warmer and warmer It is a very important topic.”
At the French Open, Sinner came within one game of concluding his second-round match in straight sets when he led 5-1 in
the third. But amid a Paris heat wave, he struggled with dizziness and was beaten by Juan Manuel Cerundolo 3-6, 2-6, 7-5, 6-1, 6-1.
There’s no quick fix, he added.
“We are happy at the moment with what we are doing. The result we’re not going to see here. It’s a long process. There’s no magic behind it.
“I’m very happy with the work we did in the last two and a half weeks,” Sinner added. “Very long days. I feel well prepared.”
He spoke in Italian about the longer training sessions but added: “I don’t like to talk too much about exactly what we changed, but we changed the physical workload a bit.”
No warmups needed
This week, Sinner said it was always his plan to not do warmup
tournaments ahead of Wimbledon.
“If you play a tournament before here, maybe it’s not going the way you would like to, you come here with some doubts,” he said.
“If you don’t play any tournament, you don’t have these doubts You just go and play
“Last year I lost second round in Halle. I came here and I played very well,” said Sinner, who beat two-time champion Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final.
Benefits of being a champion
A perk of being a Wimbledon champion is getting an All England Club membership.
“It’s a great honor for me. As I’ve always said, it’s the best tournament we have, the most prestigious, and so having this thing for my whole life is very, very nice,” Sinner said.
Ski star Vonn understanding of Serena’s comeback
BY ANDREW DAMPF Associated Press
LONDON When Serena Williams played her first professional tennis match in nearly four years recently, another elite female athlete in her 40s was on hand for the occasion.
Skier Lindsey Vonn has a special understanding of what Williams is going through as she prepares to play both singles and doubles at Wimbledon at age 44.
After making her own comeback, Vonn was the top World Cup downhiller last season at age 41 until her horrific crash at the Milan Cortina Olympics in February left her with a severely fractured left leg.
“There is an increasing shift in what women can accomplish at later stages in their careers or life,” Vonn told The Associated Press. “I feel like we are in the same boat, where we don’t need to prove anything to anyone but we still have the ability to compete at an elite level. She (Williams) also told me that I played a role in inspiring her to come back, so that of course was meaningful to me.”
Vonn talked with Williams after the tennis standout’s doubles victory with partner Victoria Mboko at Queen’s Club in London, having watched the match from one of the VIP balconies.
“She was in great spirits. She’s having fun which I loved seeing, even more than her tennis,” Vonn said in a written response. “If it’s bringing her joy to play, I say play as long as you want!”
Vonn has undergone eight surgeries following her Olympic crash which nearly led to a leg amputation — and needs at least one more to repair a torn ACL in that same knee. But she’s back in the gym and has resumed physical training, while still assessing whether she’ll compete again. After nearly six years away from skiing Vonn returned in December 2024 with a partial titanium replacement in her right knee. She had two victories and seven podium results last season. On Centre Court at Wimbledon on Tuesday, Williams will play
KIN
serena Williams arrives to practice on sunday, one day ahead of the start of the Wimbledon Championships in London.
her first singles match since 2022 against 20-year-old Maya Joint of Australia. Then she’ll play doubles with older sister Venus Williams later in the week.
So what does Vonn expect from Williams at Wimbledon?
“It’s her first major singles tournament since retiring so I would expect for her to play well but not show all her cards yet,” Vonn said. “I’m sure she can still win, but I wouldn’t put any expectations on her She’s the GOAT (greatest of all time) no matter what happens.”
Indeed, Williams is a 23-time Grand Slam champion in singles and has won 14 more Grand Slams in doubles all with Venus as her partner Vonn’s 45 World Cup downhill wins are the most by a male or female skier
“It was kind of like riding a bike,” Williams said Sunday of her first practice sessions back at the All England Club. “Obviously when I play I might have a lot of things come up.”
AssoCIATED PREss FILE PHoTo By MARCo TRoVATI
Lindsey Vonn concentrates ahead of an alpine ski downhill training on Feb 6 at the Winter olympics in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy
No matter the outcome, Williams shares Vonn’s credo of setting the bar high to create new standards.
“You have to believe in yourself and go for any dream,” Williams said, “no matter how wild it may be.”
Ryu wins her first major title at Women’s PGA CHASKA, Minn. — Haeran Ryu recovered from a rough start to secure her first career major title winning the Women’s PGA Championship by two strokes over Ina Yoon on a windy Sunday at Hazeltine National Golf Club. Ryu shot a 2-under 70 to finish at 13-under 275 and become the sixth South Korean to win the event over the past 12 editions, smiling as she holed her last putt and friends ran out to douse her in celebration. The 2023 LPGA Tour Rookie of the Year was also the first major champion in at least the past 60 years to rally from a 10-plus-shot deficit after the first round. Ryu opened Thursday with a 73 in a tie for 70th place, as Yoon shot a tournament-record 63. Brooke Henderson and Dewi Weber tied for third at 10 under
Hornets continue shakeup, send Bridges to Suns
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Charlotte Hornets are continuing their offseason overhaul.
The Hornets have agreed to trade forward Miles Bridges, a 2029 first-round draft pick and a 2027 second-round pick to the Phoenix Suns for guard Grayson Allen, forward Royce O’Neale and a 2033 first-round pick, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press.
The trade comes on the heels of the Hornets sending star point guard LaMelo Ball to Minnesota as part of a deal that brought them Naz Reid, draft picks and pick swaps.
The 6-foot-7 Bridges, 28, was the longest-tenured player on the Hornets roster, joining the team as a first-round draft pick in 2018 out of Michigan State.
Reeve ties coaching wins record as Lynx beat Wings ARLINGTON, Texas Cheryl Reeve tied the WNBA record for career coaching wins as the Minnesota Lynx beat the Dallas Wings 85-77 on Sunday Reeve, who already owns the WNBA’s record for playoff wins, tied Mike Thibault for the most regular-season wins in league history at 378. Reeve was inducted Saturday night into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tennessee. Natasha Howard had 21 points and 14 rebounds, and Olivia Miles added 21 points and eight assists for the Lynx. Howard went 9 for 17 from the field and added three steals for Minnesota (15-4), which improved to 9-1 on the road and 3-0 against Dallas this season.
Rangers put Langford on IL with strained hamstring TORONTO The Texas Rangers put outfielder Wyatt Langford on the 10-day injured list Sunday because of a strained left hamstring and activated outfielder Evan Carter off the IL.
Langford had homered seven times in 20 games since returning from the IL on June 5 after missing 39 games because of a strained right forearm.
Langford is batting .278 with eight homers and 20 RBIs.
Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said Langford will likely be out until after the All-Star break. Langford felt sore after beating out a double in Friday’s 5-4 win and was scratched from the lineup Saturday
S. Korea coach quits after criticism from president
South Korea coach Hong Myungbo resigned Sunday after the team’s quick elimination from the World Cup drew a harsh condemnation from the country’s president, who called the coach “incapable” and ordered a complete review of the national team program.
South Korea won its opening match against Czech Republic, then lost its next two Group A matches to South Africa and Mexico.
The quick exit for a team that expected to advance left the national team program in turmoil and drew a sharp rebuke from President Lee Jae Myung. He leveled pointed criticism at the coach.
“As a former honorary professional football club chairman and, at heart, a member of the Red Devils, I feel not just surprise but deep bewilderment at this unexpected result,” the president said.
AssoCIATED PREss PHoTo By
CHEUNG
Russell beats heat, Verstappen to win Austrian Grand Prix
By The Associated Press
SPIELBERG, Austria George Rus-
sell showed he can stand the heat in more ways than one as he won the Austrian Grand Prix to revive his Formula 1 title chances.
Racing in a heatwave with a broken drinks system, Russell held off Max Verstappen and his own teammate Kimi Antonelli to turn his controversial pole position into a dominant win.
It’s the first win for Russell, excluding sprint races, since the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. Russell said it was “incredible” to win again after struggling to compete with Antonelli when his teammate racked up five straight victories earlier in the season
“It’s been a tough couple of months with some really tricky races, with races that felt like everything was going against me, then some races with some tough performances,” he said.
Verstappen took the fight to Mercedes with his upgraded Red Bull car at the team’s home race but couldn’t get close enough for a shot at Russell and finished on the defensive against Antonelli The top three were separated by just two seconds at the finish.
Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari failed to build on his breakthrough win at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix last time out, fading badly in the race despite qualifying well, with the seven-time champion fifth and teammate Charles Leclerc eighth.
Russell takes back second in the standings from Hamilton with his seventh career win and cuts Antonelli’s lead to 40 points.
“I have a lot of confidence in myself, knowing I can do it. I have less confidence in being able to get everything aligned with the car, the setup and the tires, because it’s just been so up and down for me,” Russell said.
Antonelli was left to rue mistakes he said cost him valuable seconds early in the race.
“It was a shame that I joined the party a bit too late,” the 19-year-old driver said.
Russell’s smart win
Russell took pole Saturday with
a lap time set as a yellow flag was displayed for a crash by Verstappen. Russell argued he’d lifted off enough to be safe, and the stewards agreed Sunday’s win showed off Russell’s smart approach to racing in a different way as he managed his pace and stayed out of trouble, even as those behind him lost time battling each other for position.
Leclerc had started second, with Hamilton third, but they gradually dropped back through the field on a track where they lacked power compared to Mercedes and also had difficulties with tire wear
Hamilton didn’t give up without a fight, bringing back memories of his fierce battles with Verstappen in 2021. Hamilton and the Dutch driver fought side by side in the early part of the race and Verstappen complained Hamilton had forced him wide into a gravel trap.
Fourth place for Oscar Piastri was a positive sign for McLaren, with defending champion Lando Norris seventh but it came with a warning from team principal Andrea Stella.
It was an example of “excellent strategy” but “we are not in a position to fight for victories and podiums on pure pace at the moment,” Stella said.
Cadillac feels the heat
The heatwave sweeping Europe made this the first race of the year to be run under F1’s “heat hazard” rules, with drivers required to use cooling vests or carry an equivalent weight in ballast. They lined up for the pre-race Austrian anthem in cooling gear and carrying umbrellas.
Overheating brakes were a hot topic, with Antonelli among those struggling to stop the car Both Cadillac drivers retired early, with the team’s crew rushing to put out a small fire on Valtteri Bottas’ car before Sergio Perez reported smoke.
F1’s newest team is launching an investigation into the issues.
“We have made progress in terms of pace and the gap from the rear of the field is growing, but we need to ensure we have the reliability to demonstrate it,” team principal Graeme Lowdon said.
WILLIAMS
Continued from page 1B
“Yeah, actually, I know her. I’ve watched some of her videos,” said Williams, who paused for a moment before adding, “I’m sure she knows my game.” Michigan-born Joint slipped from No. 53 to No. 87 in the WTA rankings updated on Sunday Serena gets nervous?
Even GOATs get butterflies, apparently
“I expect to be nervous. I was also nervous every single match I ever played in my life,” Williams said. “I think that showed the passion and the love and the care, that I cared about my job, whether it was the first round or the second round or the finals. I’ve always had some nerves. But then I just dust ’em off, then I move on.”
Williams has a Wimbledon singles first-round record of 19-2 — the losses coming in her past two appearances: 2021 and 2022. The most recent of her seven singles titles at the All England Club was 2016. She reached the 2018 final — 10 months after giving birth and lost to Angelique Kerber A year later, she lost in the final to Simona Halep. Williams officially returned to tennis earlier this month in a doubles match with 19-year-old Canadian Victoria Mboko at the Queen’s
Scheffler’s clutch putt forces Monday playoff vs. Hovland
Travelers Championship delayed by storms
BY DOUG FERGUSON Associated Press
CROMWELL, Conn. — Scottie Scheffler made an 8-foot par putt on the 18th hole Sunday and pumped his fist with more emo-
tion than he showed all day, just for the right to return Monday at the rain-delayed Travelers Championship to face a suddendeath playoff against Viktor Hovland. The final round was stopped for 90 minutes as storms moved over the TPC River Highland, and officials deemed there was not enough daylight for them to play another hole. Scheffler and Hovland each
had birdie chances at the end. Scheffler rammed his 30-foot putt 8 feet by the hole. Hovland’s 25-foot attempt missed by inches and he tapped in for a 69.
Scheffler made his third big par putt for a 68 to match Hovland at 21-under 259.
That was one shot ahead of Collin Morikawa, who closed with a 61 and was briefly tied for the lead, though it never looked as though it would be enough.
Van Gisbergen fends off Briscoe to win at Sonoma
He becomes NAsCAR’s leading active winner on road, street courses
By The Associated Press
SONOMA, Calif. — Shane van Gisbergen continued his remarkable run on the twistiest tracks in NASCAR, but this was no easy Sunday drive.
The Trackhouse Racing driver became the winningest active Cup Series driver on road and street courses with his second consecutive victory at Sonoma Raceway Though he led 74 of the final 83 laps after starting sixth on the 1.99-mile road course north of San Francisco, van Gisbergen had to fend off a charge by runner-up Chase Briscoe with a No. 97 Chevrolet that hadn’t been entirely to his liking since practice a day earlier
“We were really bad yesterday, and these guys did an amazing job turning this car into a winner,” said van Gisbergen, who celebrated with a massive burnout for the grandstands. “(Briscoe) was coming. He was really, really good, and I ran out at the end. Yeah, a couple more laps, we would have had some problems.”
Finishing second to van Gisbergen at Sonoma for the second consecutive year, Briscoe came up 0.357 seconds short and was left lamenting a mistake in getting his No. 19 Toyota into Turn 1 with four laps remaining.
“Not very many people get that close to him at the end of one of these road course races,” Briscoe said. “Just frustrated with myself. I felt like I definitely had the better car I didn’t do as good of a job as he did driving. I was having to push so hard, and that was where I would make up my ground. It was just such a razor’s edge, and I about crashed. If I don’t make that mistake, I’m
probably ahead of him at the end.
“Just bummed that it was my fault we didn’t win with the best car Against that guy, you’ve got to be absolutely perfect.”
Van Gisbergen notched the eighth victory of his career on the tracks that require left and right turns, breaking a tie with 2020 Cup champion Chase Elliott.
With his second win this season, van Gisbergen improved three spots to 14th in the points standings, moving back into a provisional spot in the Chase.
But there are no road or street courses remaining over the final 18 races of the season, so the New Zealand native will need to diversify his skillset after entering NASCAR three years ago with no experience on ovals.
“I need to really step it up on the ovals,” he said. “This is an oval championship, and I need to keep getting better at them.”
Pole-sitter Ty Gibbs finished third, and Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell rounded out the top five.
AP PHoTo By JoHN WALToN serena Williams reacts during a practice session on Wednesday ahead of the Wimbledon Championships in London.
Club grass-court tournament. She then played doubles in Berlin with Karolina Muchova losing in the first round
What to expect
Newly crowned French Open champion Mirra Andreeva probably spoke for lots of top players when she mentioned on Saturday that she was relieved to see the draw didn’t match her up with Williams in the first round.
“Respectfully,” Williams said,
“it’s not surprising simply because I think anyone that’s done
— it’s like the big four coming back, I mean, Novak (Djokovic) is still here, but no one would want to play them in their first round. I can’t think of anyone that would want to do that.”
Gautreaux wins Baton Rouge Open
BY CHARLES SALZER Contributing writer
Jeremy Gautreaux was due Sunday afternoon at Beaver Creek golf course.
A local amateur golfer who has finished second to Greg Berthelot in a handful of BREC tournaments, Gautreaux put together a bogey-free round of 7-under 65 to pass up Berthelot and win his first Baton Rouge Open.
Gautreaux began the day tied for third place at 3-under, but his 65 was the best round of the twoday tournament. It was enough to propel him to a winning total of 10-under 134, two shots ahead of Berthelot.
“It feels great,” said Gautreaux, who tied for second behind Berthelot at last year’s tournament. “You have to keep putting yourself (in contention) and see what happens.”
Berthelot led for much of the day but bogeyed two of his final three holes to finish alone in second at 8-under He was one of a handful of golfers who shot 67 on Sunday
David Marsh, a sophomore on Southeastern’s golf team, was the first-round leader after a 67 on Saturday A string of three birdies in four holes on the back
side got him to 7-under, but that was as low as he would go. His two-day total of 137 was good for third place. Also shooting 67 on Sunday was 2024 Baton Rouge Open winner Carter Schmitt, who tied with Drew Silman for fourth at 6-under Silman, a senior on Covenant Christian’s golf team, worked his way to 7-under on the back side, but eventually shot 70 after bogeys at 12 and 18. A total of 13 golfers finished the tournament under par, including Phil Schmitt, father of Carter, at 1-under Playing in the second-to-last group of the day, one hole ahead of Berthelot’s group, Gautreaux chipped in for eagle at the par-5 11th to move to 8-under. Berthe-
lot then matched the score with a chip-in eagle that also moved him to 8-under Berthelot kept going and added birdies at 12 and 13 to get to 10-under He ran into trouble at 15, where he bogeyed the par-3 after a chunky tee shot left him short of the green. A birdie putt inside of 10 feet on 16 was no help when it slid by the hole, and Berthelot closed his round with a bogey on 18 after missing the green long.
“I had some missed opportunities, but I also stole a couple of shots with some chips,” Berthelot said. “Yesterday I didn’t make anything (putting), but today I putted well. Some of them went in, and some of them didn’t.” Gautreaux’s round got going with front-side birdies at 2, 6 and 7. After the eagle at 11, he made four pars before making birdies at 16 and 18. The closing flurry was needed, even though Gautreaux and Berthelot exchanged text messages to update scores during the round.
“There were a few text exchanges,” Gautreaux said. “I’ve learned my lesson about trying to coast in with pars. It doesn’t work with him. I knew I had to make a couple of birdies down the stretch.”
AssoCIATED PREss PHoTo By DENEs ERDos
Mercedes driver George Russell of Britain refreshes himself after winning the Austrian F1 Grand Prix on sunday in spielberg, Austria.
AssoCIATED PREss PHoTo By JEssICA HILL
scottie scheffler hits off the fifth hole during the final round of the Travelers Championship on sunday at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Conn.
WORLDCUP 2026
Canada beatsSouth Africa 1-0in firstknockoutmatch
With win, co-host advances to its first WC Roundof16
BY GREG BEACHAM AP sportswriter
INGLEWOOD,Calif. StephenEustáquio scored in the second minute of second-half stoppage time, andCanadabeat SouthAfrica1-0 on Sunday for its firstknockout match victory in aWorldCup.
Atense match at SoFi Stadium appeared to be headed for extra time until Eustáquio —who plays professionally for Los Angeles FC several milesaway—put astunning volley from outside the penalty area into the bottom corner of Ronwen Williams’ net.
Co-host Canada hung on with strong defensive play in the final minutes of the tournament’sfirst round of 32 match. Coach Jesse Marsch’steam advanced to face the Netherlands or Morocco in Houston on Saturday,July 4.
Marsch gathered hisplayers in a huddle after the whistle and gave aspirited speech, declaring, “You guysare Canadian heroes! Canadian heroes for the future children of this country who play this sport. This sport has abig futurebecause of you guys. Youshould be so proud of who you are. Youshould be so proud of this game.” Canada played its firstthree matches at home in Toronto and Vancouver while appearing in only its third World Cup, but was forced to become the first World Cup host to play on the road when it lost 2-1 to Switzerland last Wednesday
our team when Icompare that with our opponent,” South Africa coach Hugo Broos said. “Wehad a difficult game, certainly.But when we look back, we can be fairly satisfiedwith what we did. We are disappointed, and we wanted to win, but we don’thavetobetoo muchdisappointed. What we did was good, and I’m very happy and proud of my team.”
Canada finally broke through when Alistair Johnston’slong pass into thebox was cleared directly intothe pathofEustáquio, who chested it down, struck it purely andstarted to celebrate almost immediately
The Canadians werestill the clear crowd favorite in the Los Angeles area betweentheir traveling fans and thousands of supportive locals, including several in Eustáquio’sLAFC shirt whocouldn’t have imaginedthe daytheywere abouttoenjoy
“Wenever stopped believing,” Eustáquio said. “And Ithink the goal is really somethingthat we deserved.”
Williams made five saves for SouthAfrica, which played with remarkable heart while hanginginuntil the final momentsin search of another historicwin for the team known as BafanaBafana. Canada had the best chances all day,but underdog South Africa stayed firm defensively and created ahandful of excellent chances itself.
“Welost thegame because there was alack of power and speed in
After finishing second in their respective groups, both South Africa and Canada were playing for their nations’ firstknockout victories at aWorld Cup when they opened knockout play with the only match of the day
Canada gota boostinthe 75th minutewhen star defender Alphonso Davies came on for his first World Cupaction.The playmaking Bayern Munich defender missed group playafter injuring his hamstring last month for the thirdtimethisyear, but finally returned in thesame stadium where he tore akneeligament in March2025 in CONCACAF Nations League play.
Davies immediately madethe best pass of the day to setupPromise David foragoldenchance, but the forward hit it wide.
SouthAfrica reached the knockout rounds for thefirst time with a 1-0 victory over South Korea last Wednesday,arguably the highest moment in Bafana Bafana’scheckered international history
Iran narrowly knockedout of World CuponAustria’s last-secondgoal
BY JIM VERTUNO AP sportswriter
Iran has been eliminated from the World Cup, narrowly failingtoadvance past the group stage in apolitically charged tournament where the team played itsmatches amid tight restrictionsimposed by theUnited States. Iran missed the round of 32 by one spot in heartbreakingfashion It finished third in GroupGwith threepointsearnedwithdrawsagainst Belgium,NewZealandandEgypt.Iran appeared to have advanced via tiebreakers when Algeria scored astunning stoppage-time goaltogo ahead of Austria 3-2 Saturday night, but Austria tied it back up seconds later on the game’sfinal play.Their draw ensured Iran’selimination.
It was one last painful moment for Iran in aWorld Cup that’s been tumultuous, on and off thepitch.
The Iranians have been playing while Tehran negotiates with Washington on terms of adeal meant to permanently end the war
that began earlier this year.Tensions continued Saturday when Iran launched adrone assaulttargeting Bahrain, hometothe U.S. Navy’s5th Fleet, in alikely response to overnightairstrikesby the U.S. Hours later,the U.S. said it struck multiple Iranian military targets after it said Iranattacked a ship near the Straight of Hormuz.
Duringthe WorldCup,Iran coach AmirGhalenoei andplayers complained about numerous complications, including travel restrictions, visa denials for support staff and quick departures from theU.S. after matches
U.S. officials have saidall restrictions were known beforethe tournament.
The U.S.and Israel began the waronFeb. 28 by attackingIran, which retaliatedwith attacks in the region and by asserting control over theStrait of Hormuz.
In March, Iran sought to move its group-stage matches to Mexico, with whichithasdiplomaticties.Itsrequest to move itsbasecampfrom Tucson,
Arizona, to Tijuana was granted two weeks before the team’sarrival. AfterIranwas eliminatedSaturday night,the team sent astatementexpressing “heartfelt appreciation to thewonderful people of Mexico, especiallythe beautiful city of Tijuana.” “LeavingTijuana is truly difficult forall of us,”the statement said.
At its first match, several hundred Iranian Americans protested outsidethe stadium, calling for change in Tehran and waving the pre-revolutionary lion-and-sun flag. Thousands morepoured into the stadium to watch themplay,and the pre-game national anthem was met withamix of cheers and boos.
For thefirst twomatches,near Los Angeles, the team was not permitted to travel until the day before and had to return to Mexico immediately after each game. The U.S. theneased itsrestrictions, allowingthe squadto travel to Seattle two days before Friday’smatch againstEgypt.IfIran had advanced,itwouldhaveplayeditsnext matchinVancouver,BritishColumbia.
LATE SATURDAY
Reigning WorldCup champArgentina beats Jordan to sweepgroup
BY STEPHENHAWKINS AP sportswriter
ARLINGTON, Texas Giovani Lo Celso becamethe first Argentina player other than Lionel Messi to score in this World Cup as the defending champions finished the group stage with athree-game sweep after a3-1 victory over Jordan on Saturday night.
Lo Celso, in his first World Cup start, putArgentina ahead to stay when he scored on adirect free kick in the 19th minute.Messi added oneofhis own after entering thegame in the second half, and the topscorer in World Cup history extended his mark to 19 goals.
“I am very happy for him, for themoment he is having,” Lo Celso saidintranslated remarks about their captain.
Messi,the leader in this tournament with six goals, was among nine Argentina starterschanged fromthe previous game since Group Jwas already clinched before thematch. He entered in the 60th minute, threedays after his 39th birthday andinthe same stadium where he broke the scoring markMonday,and scored in the 80th minute. He scored all five of Argentina’sgoals in wins over Algeria andAustria, including his first World Cuphat trick and then two goalsinhis record-setting game Monday.Hehas scored in seven consecutive World Cup games, breaking atie with France’s Just Fontaine and Brazil great Jairzinho for the longest all-time streak.
Lautaro Martinez put Argentina up 2-0 whenhescored on a penalty kickinthe 31st minute, in thesamesequence when his close-range shot ricocheted off thecrossbar Martinez, who wassubbedout for Messi, and goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez were theonly playerstostart all threeofArgentina’sgroupmatches.
“I was able to include all the footballers forthem to play.This wasa goal that we have always set for ourselves,” coach Lionel Scalonisaidthrough an interpreter.“Ithink they played quite well in adifficult match. They showed today that we can count on them.” Argentina, whichhas seven wins and two draws in its last nine WorldCup games, plays in theround of 32 on Friday against CapeVerde,the smallest countrytoearn aspot in the knockout round. That game is in Miami, the home of Messi’sMajor League Soccer team This is the fifth time Argen-
tina haswon allofits matches in group stage, and first since backto-back tournaments in 2010 and 2014. Argentina has14wins, two lossesand threedraws in its last 19 group games.
Franceand Mexicowerethe only other squads in this expanded 48-team World Cup to get the maximum nine pointsinthe group stage.
Jordan, the world’s72nd-ranked team,was outscored 8-3 in losing allgames in its first appearance in the international tournament.
“As afirst participant in the World Cup, Ibelieve that the most importantthing that we can come out of in terms of lessons is for the players to have experienced firsthand what they weretrained on,” coach Jamal Sellami said through an interpreter.“Now they are moreaware of the requirements of such competition.”
Mousa Altamari, who entered the game at the start of the second half, scored in the 55th minute forJordan.
Lo Celso and Martinez both scored their first World Cup goals forArgentina.
“I didn’thave any doubts about them,” Scalonisaidthrough an interpreter.“Lautaro is doing amazing work. We are just so happy with him since he’s been on our squad. If you score agoal, all the better forthem and all the better for the squad. We’re very happy with them.”
Only acouple of minutes after Lo Celso was offside when he kicked theballinthe netbut notcountingfor agoal, he gota free kick after being tripped up just outside the penalty box by Mohannad Abutaha, whodrew a yellow card.
That was the first direct free kick for an Argentina goal in a WorldCup sinceMessi against Nigeria in 2014.
“I waited alot forthis moment, Idreamed it alot and Ithink that what Isaw today was much more thanwhatIhad imaginedor dreamed,” Lo Celso said.
After Martinez shot off the crossbar,JulianAlvarez followed withaheader that was deflected by keeper Yazeed Abulaila over the net. But aVAR replay showed that Alvarez took akick to the face on the play,setting up the penalty Nicolás Paz, who madehis WorldCup debut subbing in for Messi late in the 3-0 winover Algeria in the opener,made his first start in his spot this time. Paz and Lo Celsowerejoinedbyforwards Marcos Senesi and Giuliano Simeonemaking first WorldCup starts.
WORLDCUP GLANCE
AssoCIATED PREss PHoTo By ANDRE PENNER
Canada defender stephenEustaquiocelebrates scoringagoal against south Africa on sundayduring the WorldCup Round of 32 match in Inglewood, Calif.
AP PHoTo By MANU FERNANDEZ Canada coachJesse Marsch reacts after winning aWorld Cup Round of 32 matchagainst south Africa on sunday.
If youwere hoping for cooler weather today, youwon’t find it here.
cloudy, hot and
amostly
day. Temperaturesthisafternoon will be slightly aboveaverage, rising into the mid-90s. Humiditywillremainhigh, so temperatures will feel like106 or greater.Rain chances are at 10% or less so an isolated showerorstormispossible. TheUVindex thisafternoon will be in the extreme range, so be suretowear your hat, your shades and your sunscreen.
RABALAIS
Team of theyear LSU likes to call itself DBU, NILSU or the capital of strange things at tailgate parties that taste like chicken. In recent years, it really has become Gymnastics U.
In April, the gymnastics Tigers came within one of Mike VII’s whiskers of winning their second NCAA championship in the past three seasons,falling just shy of Oklahoma. Still, aNo. 2finish, matching LSU’s preseason ranking, is nothing to be despondent about. Not considering some of the performances we saw from Jay Clark’steam (more on that later) throughout the 2026 season. One of the best things for LSU is that the Tigers can be expected to be right up there again as anationalcontender in 2027.
Coachofthe year
Clark would be an easy choice but histrophy case is already full of Rabbys. This year,we’re going with adeserving new recipient: LSU women’stennis coach Taylor Fogleman In four years coaching the Tigers, Fogleman has led them to four NCAA tournament appearances, including consecutive appearances in the NCAA team championships. That’s the equivalent of making it tothe College World Series or gymnastics nationals or the Elite Eight Cadence Brace earned AllAmerican honors, becoming the first Tiger to do so in consecutive seasons since 2008.
Athleteofthe year
Is there any choice but Kailin Chio? The Tigers’ super sophomore gymnast got shaftedby not winning the Honda Award as the nation’sbest gymnast, but she most definitely deserves The Rabby here.
We start with her 13 perfect 10s, including three in one meet against Arkansas in the only three events she did that night, aperfect 30.0 score.
“If you’d put her in on bars,”
assistant coach Garrett Griffeth told Clark,“she’d have gotten a 40.” Her 13 10.0 marks were one off the all-time single-season NCAA record, and by far led the nation. She won 44 individual titlesinall, includingthe SEC all-around crown. AndChio was named SECgymnast of the year, beating out OU’sFaith Torrez, whobeat her out for the NCAA all-around title and, unjustly,the Honda Award.
LSU’sKaliyaLincoln also had aperfect 10 on floor in the NCAA Baton Rouge regional. There were 45 perfect scores across NCAA gymnastics this year, meaning 31% of them were by Tigers. That’sawow,for sure. Headliner moment of theyear
It could beChio’sthree 10s against Arkansas, but we’ll go off thefield for LSU’shiring of Lane
Kiffin in late November
It caused ahuge kerfufflenationally,and folks at Ole Miss have spent theentire offseason sticking pins in littleLane voodoodolls. Butwhatacoup by newLSU athleticdirector Verge Ausberry.Rarely doschools land their first choice for abig job like this —remember,Nick Saban
wasn’tAlabama’sfirst choice 20 years ago. ButLSU got itsman, shrugging off the slings and arrows of itscritics and clearly doing all it can to return to national contention.
Kiffin recently declared LSU would win anational championship on his watch. For certain, everyone is watching. Surprise of theyear
I’ll admit, I— like alot of folks —figuredevenwhen things gotrockyfor Kelly midseason, there was no way LSU was goingtohavethe means or the willtoponyup$54 million to buy himout. He would be back as coach in 2026. We were all provenwrong on Oct. 26, when Kelly was ousteda day after LSU’s49-25 blowoutloss to TexasA&M in Week 8. LSU ridiculouslytried to wiggle out of paying Kelly for a time, claiming it hadfired him for cause, but the Tigers are back on thehook for thefull amount. That was followed by Kiffin’s$91 million, seven-year deal andthe reported$40 million (reported by Kelly,ofall people) LSUspent to build this year’sroster Thereal biggest surprise of
all: WhenLSU wants to find the money,itfinds the money Surprise of theyear: silver medal That would be bringing back Will Wade as men’sbasketball coach. The same Will Wade LSU fired (for cause) four years earlier That is the most LSU thing ever invented. Newcomer of theyear Bronze medalist for surprise of the year was MiLaysia Fulwiley transferring from hometown SouthCarolina to LSU in women’sbasketball. She immediately paid dividends, starting only one game but coming off the bench to lead theTigers with 14.6 pointsper contest. Her gamereminds one of the Tasmanian Devil in the Bugs Bunny cartoons, awhirling dervishofpoints, stealsand turnovers. Butyou can’t look away Fulwiley put the capper on her first year as aTiger by teaming with LSU’sMikaylahWilliams and two other players to win
Trump: East PotomacGolf Linkscould host ‘major’ tournaments
BY JOSH BOAK Associated Press
WASHINGTON President Donald TrumponSundaysurveyedseveral of hisconstruction projects around thenation’scapital,suggesting afterward that his redevelopment of theEastPotomac Golf Links would enable it to host apremier tournament.
“When completed, this Course will have the ability to host Major Golf Tournaments, including The U.S. Open, The Ryder Cup, The PGAChampionship, and other top PGA Tour events,” Trump posted on social media.
Trumptoured the course with InteriorSecretaryDougBurgum, various aidesand the golf course architect TomFazio and his son, Gavin Fazio. The president’sredevelopment of the course is subject to alawsuit in U.S. District Court.
It’s unclear when thecourse could host any major tournaments, as locations are chosen several years ahead of the events. Locations for the U.S. Open are scheduled through 2051, while the PGA Championship is set through 2035, according to the tournaments’ websites.
Trump complainedinhis post aboutthe conditionofthe grass and the sprinkler system forthe public golf course, but debris from the demolition of the White House East Wing has also been dumped on the grounds. The National Park Servicesaidlastmonth thatthe debris tested positive for lead, chromium and other toxic metals.
Trump said in his post that work on the golf course would begin on Sept. 1. The president also toured updates toLafayetteParkonthenorthsideof the White House and had his motorcade drive around where he plans to build atriumphal arch.
The president also said in aseparate post that he would meet with Janeese Lewis George, who won the Democratic primary for Washington’smayor.Trump in his post called Lewis George a“Communist.”
TO OUR READERS: We have made a change to our comics pages after Big Nate’ cartoonist Lincoln Pierce decided to end his daily comic strip on short notice.We have replaced it with ‘Rosebuds.
Fit for the world stage
A look at the design of World Cup uniforms where national pride meets breathable mesh
BY CLAIRE RUSH Associated Press
BEAVERTON, Ore. — Heat Moisture. National pride.
These were top of mind as Nike designed its uniform kits for this year’s World Cup including for football powerhouses France and Brazil as well as the U.S and Canada in their role as host nations.
In a tournament that has seen storm delays and temperatures hovering around 90 degrees Fahrenheit in some locations, the first step was to ensure players’ performance and comfort.
Phil McCartney, chief innovation, design and product officer for Nike, said the company worked with athletes, coaches and football federations to understand how uniforms affect the game.
“We also talk to fans — so what does it mean to wear a Uruguay jersey, what does it mean to represent France, what does it mean to play for Canada?” McCartney told The
na, host nation Mexico and Colombia, also unveiled cooling gear for the tournament. Puma designed the kits for Portugal as well as Morocco and Senegal, the two finalists at the most recent African Cup of Nations.
While the three companies are behind most of this year’s kits, some teams are sporting uniforms designed by other apparel makers.
Thermal chambers and robots
On a recent morning, McCartney spoke from the sports research lab at Nike’s headquarters just outside Portland, Oregon, where experimentation helped the kits come to life.
Associated Press “We take that and we merge that with all the science and the innovation to make sure that we have beautiful designs.” Adidas, which designed jerseys for defending champion Argenti-
The indoor facility includes a 219-yard track, a small football pitch and a basketball court, with hundreds of motion-capture cameras placed throughout Thermal chambers replicate the effects of heat and humidity on apparel
ä see UNIFORMS, page 2C
BY TRACY BROWN
Los Angeles Times (TNs)
the curse,” which will put her on a dark path Along the way, the sisters encounter a mysterious “scholar of the craft” played by Lee Pace. The trailer also offers a glimpse into Sally and Gillian’s present lives — with the latter teasing the former’s The Owens family curse strikes next generation in
LOS ANGELES The Owens family curse strikes again and this time it’s here for the next generation. In the new trailer for “Practical Magic 2,” released June 24, Sally’s (Sandra Bullock) daughter Kylie (Joey King) learns about her family’s legacy and curse after her paramour is involved in an accident.
“It’s true, we’re witches and the curse is real,” Sally tells a tearful Kylie who along with her sister (Maisie Williams) grew up being told stories where everyone who fell in love died. But the siblings didn’t believe they were actually cursed.
“I will never trust
A month-old pony moves to a 4th-floor apartment in Croatia. Neighbors don’t mind
By The Associated Press
ROVINJ, Croatia A month-old pony named Mile is the newest resident of an apartment building in the northern Croatian coastal town of Rovinj. Mile has moved in temporarily to his owners’ fourth-floor flat because his mother rejected him at birth. He also needs round-the-clock care after undergoing an operation for a lifethreatening infection in neighboring Slovenia, where people donated to cover the costs of his treatment.
“Every two hours, we warm up his milk and feed him,” owner Andjelka Josipovic said. “If we forget to feed him, he wakes up, comes to us and rouses us up.”
Josipovic lives in a one-bedroom flat with her partner Kristijan Jelenic, her two sons, a dog and now Mile.
The unusual newcomer has drawn attention in the neighborhood, but no one has complained.
Josipovic is hopeful Mile will recover fully as he now eats well and has gained 2.2 pounds. He seems cheerful with a “strong desire to suckle, eat, and fight,” she said.
“The first night, the vet thought there was no hope and wanted to put him down,” she recalled. “I said, let’s try until the morning.”
The family runs a small ranch and a playroom for children in Bale, some 9 miles from Rovinj, with llamas, pigs, horses, and sheep.
Mile spends his days with the other animals at the ranch, but he returns to Rovinj — one of Croatia’s most popular tourist resorts in the evening. The pony rides in the back seat of the family car At the apartment, he sleeps on either a mattress or a sofa. The family lives in a residential part of Rovinj, away from the main tourist zone in the old town, which is famous for its ä see PONY, page 2C
ä see 'MAGIC', page 2C
AP PHoTo By CLAIRE RUsH
Phil McCartney, chief innovation, design and product officer for Nike, holds up the away jersey for France that the company designed for the World Cup.
AssoCIATED PREss PHoTo By LINDsEy WAssoN
United states’ Weston McKennie dribbles with the ball during a World Cup Group D soccer match between the U.s. and Australia in seattle on June 19.
AssoCIATED PREss PHoTo owner Andjelka Josipovic poses with a pony named Mile at a ranch in Bale, Croatia.
Cast members sandra Bullock, left, and Nicole Kidman of the upcoming film ‘Practical Magic 2’ speak during the film’s Warner Bros. presentation at CinemaCon on April 14 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
Seasonal affective disorder canhit in thesummer
Dear Doctors: WhenIhear about seasonal depression, it hasto do with winter.Supposedly it’s because of the shorter days and the lack of daylight. But Ifeel the start of depression whenever summer comes, which can’tbe about the light.Why would that happen? What can Ido?
Dr.Elizabeth Ko
Dr.Eve Glazier
AsK THE DoCToRs
Dear reader: It’strue that when people talk about adownward emotional shift tied to achange of seasons, winter is most often the culprit. As you point out, the shorter days and longer nights play abig role. The steady decrease of daylight hours is believedtoaffect levelsofmelatonin and serotonin. These are brain chemicals that affect mood and sleep. With colder weather, more time is spent indoors. This can lead to fewernatural social interactions andcontribute to feelings of isolation. Repetitive wintertasks, likeshovelingsnow or dressingand undressing just to step outside, can each add a measureofstress.Socan simply being cold. While notascommon as winterbased seasonal depression, the summertimeblues you are experiencing are indeed areal thing. It is part of acondition known as
TODAYINHISTORY
By The Associated Press
Today is Monday,June 29, the 180th day of 2026.There are 185 days left in the year
Today’shighlight in history:
On June 29, 2007, the first version of the iPhone went on sale to the public; over 2.3 billion iPhones have been sold to date.
Also on this date: In 1613, London’soriginal Globe Theatre, where many of William Shakespeare’s plays were performed, was destroyed by afire sparked by acannon shot during aperformance of “Henry VIII.” In 1767, Britain approved theTownshend Revenue Act, which imposed import duties on glass, paint, oil, lead, paper and tea shipped to the American colonies (Colonists bitterly protested, prompting Parliament to repeal the duties on each of the products —except for tea.) In 1776,the Virginia state constitution wasadopted, and PatrickHenry was made the state’sgovernor In 1967, Jerusalem was reunified as Israel removed barricadesseparating the Old City from the Israeli sector In 2006, theSupreme Court ruled,5-3, that President George W. Bush’s plan to try GuantanamoBay detainees in military tribunals violated U.S. andinternational law In 2009, disgraced financier Bernard Madoff received a150-year sentence for his multibillion-dollar fraud.(Madoff died in prison in April 2021.) In 2022, R. Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison forusing hisR&B superstardom to subject young fans to sexual abuse. The singer and songwriter was convicted of racketeer-
seasonal affective disorder,or SAD. As with its wintry cousin, summertime SADismarked by symptomsthat can include anxiety,irritability, low energy disrupted sleep and feelings of sadness or hopelessness. And because summer is supposed to represent acarefree and joyful stretch of time, people with summer SADare sometimes also weighed down by guilt.
As with winter SAD, summertime depression is believed to involve bothphysiological and lifestyle triggers. Longer days mean later twilights. For somepeople, this can affect sleep cycles and contribute to the onset of depression. Longer days often also disrupt theroutines that got us through thewinter.These changes can be stressful. So can heat
ing and sex trafficking the previous year
Today’sbirthdays: Songwriter L. Russell Brown is 86.
Singer-songwriter Garland Jeffreys is 83. Actor Gary Busey is 82. Former actor and politician Fred Grandy is 78. Rock musician Ian Paice (Deep Purple) is 78. Singer Don Dokken is 73. Rock singer Colin Hay (Men At Work) is 73. Actor Maria ConchitaAlonso is 71. Actor Sharon Lawrence (“NYPD Blue”) is 65. Actor Amanda Donohoe is 64. Violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter is 63. Producer-writer Matthew Weiner is 61.
Actor Melora Hardin is 59.
Actor Brian D’Arcy James is 58. Rap DJ and record producer DJ Shadow is 54.
Actor ZuleikhaRobinson is 49. Rock musician Sam Farrar (Maroon 5) is 48. Actor Luke Kirby is 48. Singer and TV personality Nicole Scherzinger is 48.
UNIFORMS
Continued from page1C
donnedbypeopleorrobot mannequins.
“Wetake motion-capture to see how they’re moving in the kit, how the kits are responding,” McCartney said.“We also usethe thermal chambers that we have to test the kit’sbreathability to test wicking and moisture management.” For the World Cup kits, Nike engineered anew fabric that it says is more breathable and made from fully recycled materials. Theway the jerseysare knit,withmeshstitching in certain areas allowing more air flow,helps “get that thermal regulation that all the players have been asking for,” McCartney said.
Despite all the testing, the rollout of the kit was still a bit bumpy During matches earlier this year,bulgescould be
‘MAGIC’
Continued from page1C
apparent lack of lovelife. It seems Sally is uninterested in tempting the fates since forgenerations those who have fallen in love with members of the
seen in the shoulder seams on jerseysfor teams including France and Uruguay,the Guardian reported. When asked by AP,Nike saidit wasabletoidentify the issue before the startof the World Cup, and worked with federations “to ensure kits show up as intended.”
Symbolsofnationalpride
While akit’sphysical attributesare important for athletes, its appearance isjust as significant for fans who sport thejerseys and want to feel connected to their team “Wetakeinspirationfrom lots of different places, from the past, from art, from music, from culture, so anythingthatgetsusconnected to the countrywereally want to harness,” McCartneysaid.
France’saway kit, for example, is alight green akin to the Statue of Liberty, which France gifted to the U.S.inthe late 19thcentury The interior tag features the word “Liberté” inside asil-
remains strong.While Sally seems worried about her daughters inheriting her powers, the clip also hints that theremight be some happier times ahead Also returningfor thesequel are Dianne Wiest and Stockard Channing,who play Sally and Gilly’saunts Jet and Franny Owens. In the original film, Jet and Fran are the witchy,eccentric aunts who took intheir nieces after their parents
houette of themonument’s crown.
On thefront of thejersey there’s arooster —anemblem of the national team and thecountry itself and twostars representing France’stwo previousWorld Cup victories.
France’shome kitfeatures acollar —asdoes Uruguay’s. The decision to use collars comes from the federations, Nike said, with France leaning intoits historyasa fashion capital and Uruguay looking to evokea more classicfootballlook.In previous decades, many uniforms included collars.
Key national symbols were also considered when designing kitsfor theU.S. and Canada. The home kit for the U.S.featureshorizontal red andwhite stripes reminiscentofa waving American flag, while Canada’sdisplays aprominentmaple leaf.
“Especially in an event like the World Cup, we really play intonational pride,” McCartney said.
died.The “PracticalMagic 2” cast also includesXolo Maridueña,who plays Kylie’sseemingly ill-fated love interest, and Solly McLeod. Written by Akiva Goldsman,Georgia Pritchett and Kelly Marcel, “Practical Magic 2” is based on the2021 novel “The Book of Magic,” the fourthand finalinstallment of authorAlice Hoffman’s “Practical Magic” series. “Practical Magic 2” will hit theaters Sept. 11.
and humidity.For somepeople, being included in —orleft out of —summertime group activities can trigger social anxiety.Genetics may also play arole. Studies of identical twins have found that siblings often shared similar patterns of seasonal changes in mood andbehavior.Newer research, still in theearliest stages, has identified gene variants that may alter how serotonin affects the brain. Auseful first step in steadying your summertimemood is to safeguard your daily routine. Trytosticktothe samesleep, meal andexercise schedule you follow therest of the year.With later sunsets and early sunrises, thesleep part of the equation can becomeachallenge. That makes blackout curtains forthe bedroom
aworthwhile investment. And try to steer clear of heat stress. Useair conditioning and fans as needed in the house. When you can, save exertion and outdoor activities forthe cooler parts of the day.There is also evidence that cognitive behavioral therapy can be effective in managing seasonal mood swings. It’s aform of talk therapy that helps people flag and change harmfulmental habits. The good newsisthat even small lifestyle adjustments can help ease the summertimeblues. Sendyour questions to askthedoctors@mednet.ucla edu, or write: Ask theDoctors, c/oUCLA HealthSciences Media Relations, 10880 Wilshire Blvd.,Suite1450, Los Angeles, CA, 90024.
So-calledfriends keep cancelingplans
Dear Miss Manners: What is the correct way to deal with being stood up for social plans?
Over the years, people have said thingstomesuch as, “I’mgoing to break off our lunch plans for today,OK? I’m going to lunch with someone else.” Or,“Ican’tmeet you for breakfast on Saturday like we’d planned; I’m going to go and play golf withDolores.” Or,atthe last minute, “I can’tgotosee the play with you this evening. My boyfriend says we’re going someplace else.”
wholeaned heavily on manners, social skills and all matters of social responsibility
After being treated like this, my tendency is to view the situation as the ball now being in their court. The only person whose behavior Ican control is my own. Isay and do nothing further and remain polite, but at arm’slength. Inolonger reach out to them with friendly gestures and efforts until they can prove that it is agenuine, mutual, courteous friendship.
ing up —ornot showing up, if one has declined. There is something you can say to those lastminute offenders: “I wish you had bailed out earlier; Iwould have madeplans of my own.”
Dear Miss Manners: Please explain how to administer aCut, aDead Cut, and a Cut Absolute.
Sometimes people simply fail to show up for plans madeinadvance, without aword of apology or explanation, ever.Upon next seeing them, they behave as though nothing had ever happened. If I gently inquire about what happened, they engage in defensive, manipulative behavior,gaslighting and offering non sequiturs.
At such moments,Ihave always said kind and polite thingstothese people, but Ihave difficulty in understanding them. Iwas brought up withparents
PONY
Continuedfrom page1C
winding, Mediterraneanstyle stone streetsdominated by achurch. Jelenic said having Mile at home at the moment is no different from having adog or anyother petbecause he is still relatively small, weighing just 35 pounds. “Inabout 20 days, this probably will no longer be possible,” Jelenic said. “I hope he will be strong enough by thentobeable to stay at the ranch.”
Perhaps this is agood waytoscreen forfriendships.
What are your thoughts on the subject? Any suggestions concerning what I could or should be doing?
Gentle reader: Socializing with people whorespect you?
They are increasingly hard to find, Miss Manners realizes. The idea has gotten around that it is charming to be spontaneous in one’ssocial life, unbound by the rigid code that required making or declining commitments, and then following through by show-
Gentle reader: ACut is pretending not to see someone who is obviously within sight. ADead Cut is staring right at the person without any acknowledgment. And aCut Absolute is whipping around upon seeing the person and walking away Miss Manners hopes that she is not fueling feuds by providing these definitions. She attaches to each of them alabel that says, “Caution! Highly dangerous socially,with difficult side effects. To be used only in extreme cases.”
Send questions to Miss Manners at herwebsite, www.missmanners com; to her email, dearmissmanners@gmail. com; or through postal mail to Miss Manners, Universal Uclick, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.
Judith Martin MIss MANNERs
AssoCIATEDPREss PHoTo
owner Andjelka Josipovic feedsaponynamed Mile at aranch in Bale, Croatia, on June 13.
AssoCIATEDPREss PHoTo By CLAIRE RUsH
WorldCup uniformkits designed by Nikeare displayedatits headquarters in Beaverton, ore., on June 22
YE ARS
cAncER (June 21-July 22) Take your time, getthe lowdown andhedge your bets before you make amove. It's up to you to ask questions and to barter on your behalf. An opportunitylooks goodifyou areopen-minded.
LEo (July 23-Aug. 22) Payattentiontohow you presentyourself and your ideas. Having confidence will encourage others to listen and contribute suggestions that are easy to implement. Show your leadership ability in order to highlight your profile.
VIRGo (Aug.23-Sept. 22) Refuse to letanyone push you to change something that isn't in your best interest. Collect your thoughts, talk to experts and offer a heartfelt reason why you prefer to take theroad that offers you something in return.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-oct. 23) If you areagood listener, you'll avoid interference. Knowingwhat's expected of you and delivering what's necessary will help ward offcriticism.
ScoRPIo (oct. 24-nov. 22) You're in abetterposition than you realize. Speak up. Refuse to let what others do deter you from following your heart and doing what works for you.
SAGIttARIuS (nov. 23-Dec. 21) Achange willdoyou good. Invest time and money in yourself. Refuse to spend what you don't have or be tempted by afast-talkingsalesperson trying to scam you or separate you from your cash.
cAPRIcoRn (Dec.22-Jan. 19) Keep what you cherish and get rid of what no lon-
germatters.Lettinggoisyour ticket to anew adventure. Shake off the old, revitalize what you plan to keep and head forward with arenewed faithin yourself.
AQuARIuS (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Keep your eyes wide open and your finger on the pulse of whatever you pursue. It's up to you to be the driver of your prospects. Stop waiting for someone to do things for you.
PIScES (Feb. 20-March20) Motivate yourself to get involved in acausethat concerns you, and someone you connect with will help you make adifference. Having discipline will encourage you to change your lifestyle.
ARIES (March 21-April 19) Be carefulnot to upstage someone who can influence your reputation or status. Getting along will be anecessity if you want to get ahead. Listen carefully.
tAuRuS (April 20-May 20) Devise aplan andbudgetthatadd to your convenience andcomfort. Stretchyourimagination, but don't let anyone tempt you to spend more thanyou can afford.
GEMInI (May 21-June 20) Put pressure where necessary, and positive change will evolve.Don't hesitate to do the work yourself. Youwill make adifferenceto the outcome of whatever you aretrying to achieve.
The horoscope, an entertainmentfeature, is not based on scientific fact. ©2026 by NEA,Inc dist.ByAndrews McMeel Syndication
Celebrity Cipher cryptogramsare created from quotations by famous people, past and present.Each letterinthe cipher stands for another.
toDAy'ScLuE: IEQuALS R
CeLebrItY CIpher
beetLe bAILeY Mother GooSe And GrIMM
nea CroSSwordS
Sudoku
InstructIons: Sudoku is anumber-placingpuzzle basedona9x9 grid with several given numbers The objectistoplace the numbers 1to9 in the empty squares so that each row, each column and each 3x3 boxcontains the same number only once. Thedifficulty level of the Sudoku increases from Monday to Sunday.
Saturday’s PuzzleAnswer
TimeS CroSSword
THewiZard oF id
BLondie
BaBY BLueS
Hi and LoiS
CurTiS
By PHILLIPALDER Bridge
Francis Bacon,anEnglishman who a few believe wrote Shakespeare’s plays, said, “Truth comes out of error more readily than outofconfusion.
After abridge deal in which your partner made amistake, you hope that he sees the reason forhis error; you do not want him confused.
In today’sdeal, South is in three notrump after West has overcalledin spades. West leads hisfourth-highest spade. How should South plan the play after taking this trick with dummy’s queen, the honor fromthe shorter side first?
North’s double wasnegative, promisingfourhearts(andmaybe five or six if tooweaktorespondtwo hearts). His three-spade cue-bid askedSouth to bid three no-trump witha spade stopper.
South has eight top tricks: one spade, onediamondandsixclubs.Hecangethis ninth winner from hearts or diamonds, butthere is arisk thatthe defenderswill run thespade suit first. Since trick one indicates that West has the spade ace, Southmustwork to keep East off the lead. At first glance, thismight suggest taking two diamond finesses. However, that is confusedthinking. If East has the heart ace, the defenders can always triumph. Afteradiamond finesse loses, West can shifttoaheart, andEastcan push through aspade, resulting in down two. If West has the heartace, though, the contract is safe regardless of the diamond position. The simplest approachis to cross to hand with aclub, then to lead the heart fourtoward dummy.
©2026 by NEA, Inc.,dist.
By Andrews McMeel Syndication
wuzzles
Each Wuzzle is aword riddle which creates adisguised word,phrase, name, place, saying, etc. For example: NOON GOOD =GOOD AFTERNOON
Previous answers:
word game
InStRuctIonS: 1. Words mustbeoffour or moreletters. 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,orvulgar or sexually explicit words are not allowed.
toDAy’S WoRD cAnoED: kuh-NOOD: Traveled in alight narrow boat propelled by paddling.
Averagemark 12 words
Time limit 20 minutes
Canyou find17ormorewords in CANOED?
SAtuRDAy’SWoRD—FRAGILIty
thought
acknowledge my sin to you, and my iniquity have Inot hid Isaid, Iwillconfess my transgressions to the Lord; and you forgave the iniquityofmysin.Selah.” Psalms32:5
marmaduKe
Bizarro
hagar the horriBle
Pearls Before swiNe
garfield
B.C.
PiCKles
