The Acadiana Advocate 07-07-2026

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T u e s d ay, J u ly 7, 2026

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2026 LEAP TESTING

Lafayette scores show little progress

Overall growth measures 1%, with 43% subject mastery

BY CLAIRE TAYLOR Staff writer

STAFF FILE PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

State students in grades 3-8 grew in math, science and social studies, while achievement was flat in English, according to 2026 LEAP results released Monday.

Louisiana student test scores see improvement English achievement remains flat across all grades

BY PATRICK WALL Staff writer

Louisiana students made gains or held steady on most state LEAP tests this year, a sign that Louisiana has sustained its nation-leading recovery from pandemic learning loss.

Students in grades 3-8 grew in math, science and social studies, while achievement was flat in English, according to LEAP results released Monday. High schoolers improved or held their ground in every subject except English I, where

the share of students hitting the state target dipped slightly.

The annual tests, which are required by federal law, measure students’ grasp of content the state expects them to learn by the end of each grade. The scores weigh heavily in school ratings, teacher evaluations and high school graduation requirements.

Across all tested grades and subjects, 36% of students met or exceeded state expectations in 2026, the highest rate on record, according to the state Department of Education. The latest scores follow a recent study that found Louisiana students have outpaced their peers in most states in reading and math growth since the COVID-19 pandemic shut down schools and disrupted learning, causing test scores nationwide to plummet.

ä See LEAP, page 4A

Subject growth Across all tested grades and subjects, 36% of students met or exceeded state expectations in 2026.

Math: 1% increase in scoring mastery or above in grades 3-8.

Science: 2% increase in grades 3-8 Social studies: 2% increase in grades 3-8.

LEAP scores for Lafayette Parish public school students for the 2025-26 school year increased 1% overall, with a 43% mastery of all subjects.

The Louisiana Department of Education on Monday released Louisiana Educational Assessment Program test results for grades 3-12. The tests measure a student’s readiness to move up to the next grade level or college.

Lafayette Parish school system students scored higher overall than the state average of 36%, although state scores rose 2% over the previous year, compared with 1% for Lafayette Parish.

Superintendent Francis Touchet Jr. said he’s proud of the 1% growth reflected in the scores, “looking at all the diversity we have to deal with.”

Some school districts’ students perform better than Lafayette Parish, Touchet said, in part because they lack diversity, have highly affluent populations and are smaller than Lafayette’s school system.

There was no change in the overall 49% mastery of Lafayette Parish students in grades 3-8 in English/language arts. Student proficiency in both science and social studies improved by 2% each, with mastery levels of 38% in science and 40% in social studies. Proficiency in math increased 1% to 45%.

Of the 33 elementary and middle schools in Lafayette Parish, fewer than half — 45% — scored 50 or higher in English. In math, 41% scored 50% or higher.

Only nine schools (27%) scored 50% or higher in social studies while 8 (24%) scored 50% or higher in science.

Paul Breaux Middle School saw some recovery from 2024-25 when its LEAP scores plummeted 26 percentage points, the largest decline of all schools in the state.

Overall proficiency at Paul Breaux Middle increased this year by 3% to 11%. Math scores this year rose 6%, science rose 2% and English and social studies rose 1% each.

ä See SCORES, page 4A

Data: Obamacare enrollments Judge upholds denial shrank dramatically in many states of daiquiri bar permit Affordable Care Act subsidies expired in January

clines following the January expiration of enhanced subsidies.

The data, posted in late June by the Trump administration and first reported on by The Associated Press, reveals how changes in each state’s insured population

BY ALI SWENSON led to around 2.6 million fewer Associated Press Americans having Obamacare NEWYORK — States across the coun- plans in February compared with try saw steep drops in the number the same time last year.

It captures not only how many of people covered by the Affordable Care Act over the past year, people signed up for or were auwith Ohio and Oklahoma each los- tomatically reenrolled in plans ing nearly one-third of enrollees, in 2026, but how many paid their according to new federal data that first monthly premiums to keep provides the first complete 50-state coverage, according to Cynthia breakdown of sharp enrollment de- Cox, a vice president and direc-

WEATHER HIGH 90 LOW 76 PAGE 6A

tor of the health law program at the healthcare research nonprofit KFF, who reviewed the dataset.

She said it accounts for people who were retroactively removed from coverage after a nonpayment grace period ended.

“This is the first time we’ve seen state-level data that shows how much ACA marketplace enrollment truly fell,” Cox said. “It’s in line with our expectations, but it does show a very steep drop in the number of people with ACA coverage.”

Health analysts have kept a

ä See ENROLLMENT, page 4A

City Council turned down its Business owners vow the application for a conditional use permit necessary to open. to appeal ruling An attorney representing

BY STEPHEN MARCANTEL Staff writer

A Lafayette judge denied an appeal from the owners of a planned daiquiri bar in downtown Lafayette after the City Council voted to prevent it from opening.

Judge Cynthia Spadoni sided with the city of Lafayette in denying Marlon Haynes’ group’s appeal to open at 522 Jefferson St. after

Business ...................10C Commentary ................3B Nation-World................2A Classified .....................4B Deaths .........................4B Opinion ........................2B Comics-Puzzles .....7C-9C Living............................5C Sports ..........................1C

Haynes, the operator of the proposed bar and owner of Rooftop 116, said they plan to file an appeal.

Council members voted down the request in March in a 3-2 vote split with three White council members supporting a motion to deny the permit and two Black members voting against the motion.

Haynes and co-applicant Jeremy Figaro had received approval from

ä See DAIQUIRI, page 4A

102ND yEAR, NO. 7

2A ● Tuesday, July 7, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

BRIEFS

FROM WIRE REPORTS

Trump says he’s building a White House helipad

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Monday that he’s building a granite helipad on the White House lawn, insisting that the landing area is needed to accommodate new, more powerful presidential choppers.

Confirmation of the project came as construction crews had already begun working on the helipad on the South Lawn, where the president had UFC build a temporary arena for a cage fight celebrating his 80th birthday. He said the project would be privately funded and estimated its cost at up to $6 million.

“It’s got the seal of the White House on it in granite, in carved granite,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “It’s really a beautiful thing.”

McConnell ‘continuing his recovery’ in hospital WASHINGTON — Staff for Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell said last week that the senator is “continuing his recovery” in a hospital while the Senate is out of session. But his office has released no details about the former Republican leader’s condition during his weekslong hospitalization or whether he will be at the Capitol when the Senate returns next week.

McConnell was admitted to the hospital on June 14, according to a statement from his office that only said he was “receiving excellent care.” McConnell, 84, was the longest serving Senate leader in history before stepping aside from that role. He is serving out his final term, which ends in January.

Russia’s missile, drone attacks kill at least 22 KYIV, Ukraine — Russia unleashed waves of missiles and drones at Ukraine early Monday, killing at least 22 people in attacks that exposed widening gaps in the country’s air defenses more than four years into Moscow’s full-scale invasion, authorities said.

All of the ballistic missiles launched by Russia struck their targets, underscoring Kyiv’s need for more U.S.-made Patriot interceptor missiles — a point Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will likely reiterate at a NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, this week.

Fifteen people were killed in the capital of Kyiv, which was Russia’s main target, and 56 were injured, according to administrative head Tymur Tkachenko. Another seven people were killed in the wider Kyiv region and 29 were injured, according to Ukraine’s emergency service.

French President Macron visits war-torn Syria DAMASCUS, Syria — French President Emmanuel Macron arrived Monday in Syria, making him the first major western leader to visit the war-torn country since the ouster of Bashar al-Assad in 2024.

The French president’s visit comes during a period of relative calm in the Middle East after the monthlong war in Iran and Lebanon. He will travel next to Ankara, Turkey, for the NATO summit, where Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa is also expected to attend and hold a high-profile meeting with President Donald Trump.

Syria’s state-run SANA news agency said Macron would visit with a business delegation to discuss regional security as well as business and investment opportunities.

CORRECTION An article Sunday on the Living front about the Amistad Research Center at Tulane University contained incorrect details.

The Conversations in Color event is with former Chief Justice Bernette Joshua Johnson and Amistad Board Chair Kim Boyle. The collections include the Congress of Radical Equality newsletters, accounts of the American Committee on Africa, and John O’Neal’s records of the Free Southern Theater. The Summer Teacher Institute is Aug. 7. The Vinyl Record Listening Party is July 16.

The Times-Picayune | The Advocate regrets the error.

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Ex-officer describes ‘sniper pad’ Prosecutors begin laying out case in Kirk assassination trial

BY HANNAH SCHOENBAUM and MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press

PROVO, Utah — A former campus police officer testified Monday that he found an apparent “sniper pad” on a rooftop near where Charlie Kirk was assassinated, as prosecutors sought to convince a state judge they have enough evidence to put a Utah man on trial for murder.

Former Utah Valley University Officer Christopher Bagley said he witnessed Kirk’s shooting while the conservative activist was speaking on Sept. 10 to a crowd of thousands. Soon after, Bagley went to a nearby gravel rooftop, where it appeared someone had been lying prone with a clear sightline to Kirk’s location, he said.

“It looks like a sniper pad,” Bagley said, adding, “you’ve got markings of elbows, knees and feet.”

The testimony came as Kirk’s parents, Kathryn and Robert, and widow, Erika, were in the courtroom for the first time since the case began, along with Donald Trump Jr., President Donald Trump’s son.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for defendant Tyler

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHTOO By MARIELLE SCOTT

Charlie Kirk’s parents, Robert and Kathryn Kirk, arrive at the Fourth District Courthouse for a hearing for Tyler Robinson, who is accused in the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk, on Monday in Provo, Utah.

Robinson. The five-day preliminary hearing that began Monday marked the most significant presentation of evidence to date in the case.

There were no major revelations on the first day, although prosecutors aired new video that investigators believe showed Robinson getting in and out of his vehicle on Sept. 10 and 11.

Robinson’s parents also were present, sitting a few rows behind the Kirks. The 23-year-old defendant is charged with aggravated murder in the assassination of Kirk, an ally of the president. Robinson turned himself in the day after the shooting.

Robinson has not yet entered a

plea, and his attorneys have not commented on his guilt or innocence. They have, however, sought to get the death penalty taken off the table, so far unsuccessfully.

Prosecutors showed several videos of Kirk’s shooting as they made their case to state District Judge Tony Graf.

Attorneys from both sides tried to shield their monitors from courtroom spectators, after Graf said the assassination videos couldn’t be publicized because of their graphic nature.

Utah State Bureau of Investigations Agent David Hull described the videos during questioning by prosecutors: They showed the crowd milling around at the event,

Kirk interacting with some of the spectators, the harrowing moment when he was shot and, finally, an anxious scene as Kirk’s security detail picked him up and took him away while administering first aid.

The proceeding resembles a minitrial, but prosecutors need only demonstrate that there are reasonable grounds to believe Robinson killed Kirk and should stand trial. The standard is lower than for a trial, where prosecutors must prove guilt “beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Prosecutors, as a result, should have little trouble advancing their case, said Mark Kouris, a former prosecutor and state judge in Salt Lake City.

“This standard is extremely low and the chances of them not getting through it are, quite frankly, almost nothing,” said Kouris, now an adjunct professor at the University of Utah’s S.J. Quinney College of Law. Bagley, the prosecution’s first witness, said he could see the right side of Charlie Kirk’s body as Kirk spoke on campus. Kirk was answering a question when Bagley heard a gunshot.

“I saw him go to the left ... I could no longer see the right side of his body,” Bagley said. “Then everybody started getting up and started to run, more of a chaos situation.”

Defense attorney Kathryn Nester asked Bagley about finding an empty pistol holster on the ground after the crowd fled. Bagley acknowledged he never took custody of the holster and didn’t know whether it had been fingerprinted.

NATO chief demands credible plans for defense spending

BY LORNE COOK and SUZAN FRASER Associated Press

ANKARA, Turkey — NATO SecretaryGeneral Mark Rutte on Monday demanded that members put forward “clear, concrete and credible plans” to reach the organization’s defense spending targets at its annual summit in Ankara.

Rutte spoke in the Turkish capital ahead of the two-day summit starting on Tuesday at a crucial time for the alliance, with the United States scaling down its security role in Europe. Washington has been pressing allies to shoulder more of the spending burden.

The 32 nations agreed last year to invest 5% of their gross domestic product on defense — 3.5% on their defense budgets and 1.5% on roads, bridges and ports so troops and equipment can move faster in

times of conflict.

Spain endorsed the goal but said it could fulfill NATO’s security requirements without spending so much. Some countries are still struggling to meet the alliance’s old target of 2% of GDP. Asked what would happen to members that don’t have a clear plan, Rutte said: “If one or two of them still have to be convinced, we have ways to do that.” He did not elaborate.

U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker suggested last week that the U.S. has something in store for those who do not step up, but declined to say more.

“President (Donald) Trump fully expects that all allies will step up immediately and get on the path to 5% and do it with urgency,” Whitaker said.

On spending among European allies and Canada, Rutte said that “the

evidence we see so far is impressive.” He said NATO estimates that they will invest a combined $258 billion more in defense in 2025 and this year than they have in previous years.

But the numbers might not be enough to satisfy the Trump administration. Trump has repeatedly lashed U.S. allies over defense spending, and in the past threatened not to come to the defense of any member not doing enough — challenging NATO’s key reason for existence.

Trump also has called for “loyalty” from NATO allies, after some of them declined to allow the use of their military bases in the U.S.Israeli war on Iran. As well as airing grievances about how much the U.S. spends on defense compared with other countries, Trump has sparred with allies over the war, his comments about annexing Green-

Islandwide blackout hits Cuba Fuel reserve dwindling, aging grid crumbling

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BY MILEXSY DURÁN Associated Press

HAVANA — An islandwide blackout hit Cuba on Monday as the country’s fuel reserves dwindle and its electric grid continues to crumble.

The blackout in the country of nearly 10 million people was reported by the state-run Electric Union, which said on X that the cause is under investigation. The Ministry of Energy and Mines wrote on X that it has activated protocols to restore electricity.

Fuel has been running out across Cuba since January, when President Donald Trump threatened tariffs on any country that sells or provides oil to the island, deepening the island’s ongoing economic and financial crisis. Public transportation has largely been halted, and officials have canceled tens of thousands of surgeries.

Energy Minister Vicente de la O Levy said microsystems were already operating throughout Cuba a couple of hours after the outage: “Vital services continue to be protected, amidst this complex situation exac-

land and other tiffs.

The Trump administration is promoting what it calls “NATO 3.0,” a vision in which Europe assumes greater responsibility for its own defense, freeing the U.S. to concentrate on other priorities. The approach was laid out earlier this year

by Elbridge Colby, a U.S. undersecretary of defense, during a meeting of NATO defense ministers.

“We need our allies in NATO to step up and assume leadership roles, and I mean that not only in sort of loud cheerleading but also the moral authority and the moral compass of the alliance,” Whitaker said last week.

NATO on Tuesday is due to make announcements showcasing the military equipment being bought with billions of dollars more being spent on defense and security. The event has been dubbed the “big reveal.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By RAMON ESPINOSA

A child walks with a bottle of oil past a solar panel set up on the street to charge batteries during a blackout Monday in Havana. erbated by the energy blockade we face.”

Meanwhile, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel accused the U.S. of trying to “incite social unrest by strangling Cuba’s fuel supply.”

“The actions of electrical workers in the midst of a genocidal energy blockade are heroic,” he wrote on X. Cuba produces only 40% of the fuel it needs, while the 730,000 barrels of oil delivered by a Russian tanker in late March ran out by the end of April.

The government also

has been rationing power with intentional outages that can stretch to more than 24 consecutive hours.

A blackout in mid-May affected the island’s eastern provinces, while a blackout in mid-March struck the entire island.

Like many Cubans, Mario Pedroso, a 33-year-old Havana resident, was resigned about Monday’s total blackout.

“Oil hasn’t come in here for a while, and we have no way to solve the problem,” he said. “We have to resist, as we Cubans say.

That’s all.”

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New La. ICE facility could speed up deportations

BY JACK BROOK

Associated Press/Report for America The Trump administration plans to open a 528-bed holding facility in Louisiana for migrant families and unaccompanied children next to an airport hub, positioning itself to speed up deportations.

The location in Alexandria would remove logistical headaches caused by wrangling children from foster homes and shelters across the country and not having anywhere to put them during final preparations for flight. Those obstacles were apparent last year when Guatemalan children were awoken at night and given almost no time to get to Harlingen, Texas, where they waited on an airport tarmac for hours.

A federal judge prevented their deportation, but the chaotic episode illustrated the challenges authorities face because they don’t have anywhere to put families and children near the airport. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is calling the Alexandria facility a “staging area,” not a detention center, and says people would only be there a few days at most.

However, several immigration advocates expressed concern that children could be held at the new facility for weeks or months, which happened at other federal immigration holding sites. These advocates are also concerned about oversight, and say the facility represents a departure from how the government manages those children.

“It’s an expansion of the deportation system in ways we haven’t seen before,” said Leecia Welch, chief legal counsel at the nonprofit Children’s Rights. “There’s just so much that could go wrong with this facility.”

Unaccompanied children who are in the U.S. without parents or close relatives are not taken to facilities overseen by ICE. Instead, the law says they must be swiftly placed in the care of state-licensed shelters and foster care programs.

Those are run by the Office of Refugee Resettlement in the Department of Health and Human Services. However, that agency isn’t involved in the Alexandria facility’s operation, according to a spokesperson at the airfield where

it’s being built.

Instead, the facility would be run by a nonprofit arm of LaSalle Corrections, a private prison contractor, according to Ralph Hennessy, executive director of the England Airpark Authority. He said it could be operational as early as August.

ICE officials signed a contract late last month to build the facility at the former military base near Alexandria International Airport, roughly 175 miles northwest of New Orleans, Hennessy said.

It would operate as a 72-hour holding center for migrants awaiting deportation, according to records obtained by The Associated Press.

Compass Connections, a Texasbased nonprofit that runs shelters for unaccompanied immigrant chil-

dren, had originally been tapped to help operate the facility and laid out plans during a public presentation in February.

But the company’s president, Sonya Thompson, told the AP last week that it was no longer involved.

She did not elaborate.

In public board meetings, airpark officials said the facility is a “humanitarian effort” for families that are “self-deporting.” Immigration advocates say families and unaccompanied children sometimes make that decision under pressure or because they don’t understand their options.

“These are people that are volunteering to go back home and they’re going back home as a family unit,” Hennessy told the AP.

R. Gray Sexton, 84, Democrats pulling support for Platner Maine Senate enforcer of state candidate accused of ethics rules, dies sexual assault

BY TYLER BRIDGES Staff writer

N.J. store roof collapses amid rain, heat wave

BY JEFFREY COLLINS Associated Press

Heat wave-breaking rain caused part of the roof of a New Jersey warehouse store to collapse Monday, sending a shopper, a cart and tables of baked goods skidding through rushing water.

Two people were briefly trapped in debris at the BJ’s Wholesale Club in Ocean Township but managed to escape, and no injuries were reported, according to the Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office.

Flooding rains were reported in parts of New York City, Philadelphia and New Jersey as rounds of storms moved through the area Monday, breaking a heat wave that gripped much of the area last week.

On Sunday, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani warned about heatstroke and shared locations of pools and cooling centers. By Monday, he was urging people to leave basement apartments immediately if they saw water rising in their homes.

Heavy rain stranded cars on flooded highways across northern New Jersey and sloshed water into businesses and at least one hospital.

“Nothing too serious. They have us running from call to call,” said Lakewood Police Capt. Leroy Marshall.

The rain and storms broke the heat dome that settled over much of the Northeast last week.

LaGuardia Airport in New York set a record high Thursday of 104 degrees.

Low temperatures in many places barely made it below 80 degrees, preventing people from cooling off even at night.

The temperature at LaGuardia hovered just below 70 degrees Monday with the rain.

Officials in New Jersey were investigating at least 29 deaths last week that were possibly heat-related. The people were found dead on the street or in homes without air conditioning. They ranged in ages from their 30s to their 80s, New Jersey Department of Health Commissioner Raynard Washington said.

Autopsies and other investigations will be needed before the deaths are officially blamed on the heat, Washington said.

Other states have not announced possible deaths from the heat.

BY KIMBERLEE KRUESI and NICHOLAS RICCARDI Associated Press

A woman who previously dated Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner said he drunkenly forced her to have sex after she told him to stop, according to a Politico report released Monday, leading prominent supporters to pull their endorsements and throwing a must-win race for the party into turmoil.

Platner denied the allegation, but said he would be considering next steps for his campaign.

“Regardless of the inaccuracy of the reporting but mindful of the political reality it will inflict, we’re taking the time to reflect on the best path forward,” he said in a video released on social media.

Jenny Racicot, who lives in Maine, told Politico that Platner entered her home in 2021 while drunk and assaulted her. Racicot said she had been in an on-andoff relationship with Platner, but she cut off contact with him after that night and told him the incident wasn’t consensual. A voicemail left at a number listed for Racicot seeking comment did not receive an immediate response.

Platner’s campaign did not immediately respond to an email and phone message from The Associated Press seeking comment.

“Any accusation of nonconsensual behavior is categorically false,” Platner said in his video.

Still, the allegation sparked a flight away from a candidate who has long been controversial.

Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat who’d stood

by Platner even as the insurgent candidate was hit with prior allegations, said Monday’s was enough.

“I’ve been very clear that sexual assault or violence against women is a red line,” Khanna said. “These allegations are very serious and credible. Graham Platner should drop out from the race. I am withdrawing my endorsement.”

Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego also announced he was pulling his endorsement, as did the Democratic-leaning political group End Citizens United.

The Democratic leaders of Maine’s legislature called for Platner to withdraw, as did top officials at the state Democratic Party.

“Over the past several weeks, multiple women have made serious, credible allegations against Graham Platner. Today’s statements take those allegations even further,” party chair Charlie Dingman, vice chair Imke Schessler and executive director Devon Murphy-Anderson said in a joint statement.

“This Senate race comes at a pivotal moment in the struggle against a government, supported by Senator Collins, that serves the interests of the wealthy

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO

U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner speaks during a primary election night watch party after winning the Democratic nomination June 9 in Blue Hill, Maine.

and powerful at the expense of ordinary Maine people. It is essential that we refocus this campaign on that struggle,” the statement continued.

Platner commandingly won Maine’s Democratic primary in April, but state law allows him to be replaced on the ballot if he withdraws by July 13. The replacement candidate must be named by July 27.

As of Monday, Platner had canceled a handful of cam-

lowing the Politico report.

“If new evidence presents itself, I’m going to change my perspective — it’s that simple,” Piker said during a livestream on Twitch, adding: “This is a clear-cut instance of verifiable sexual assault allegations. It’s completely irredeemable.”

Maine’s Democrats have long sought to oust Republican Sen. Susan Collins, who’s held on despite representing a state that reliably votes for the other party at the presidential level. After Collins’ solid 2020 win, several Maine Democrats passed on the opportunity to challenge her this time and instead looked at other offices. That left the state’s 78-year-old governor, Janet Mills, as the Democratic establishment’s best hope.

Platner rode into the political void and pitched himself as a blue-collar oysterman and veteran who could reach disaffected voters who had supported President Donald Trump. But as allegations began mounting against him, some state Democrats had heartburn, embodied by Mills’ refusal to endorse Platner after she dropped out of the primary.

r y ou da tY o ar T St ove M

R. Gray Sexton, who spent four decades helping keep Louisiana elected officials on the straight and narrow as the top staffer for the board that enforces Sexton ethics rules, died Thursday in Baton Rouge following a brief illness. He was 84.

Sexton left the ethics board in 2007 and, after a two-year cooling off period, spent the final stretch of his career as a private attorney representing public officials facing ethics complaints.

Before then, though, Sexton did it all for the Board of Ethics for Elected Officials and the Commission on Ethics for Public Employees — as the staff director and general counsel of both. The board policed public officials and campaign finance laws, while the commission regulated the actions of public employees.

The ethics board had a higher profile. The two entities were merged in 1997, and Sexton continued to oversee both.

Sexton issued recommendations to the board on how to rule when public officials asked whether they could do something, such as hire a nephew to work in their office.

He oversaw staffers while they investigated public officials to determine whether they might have violated state ethics rules.

He acted as the prosecu-

tor when the board decided that enough evidence existed to pursue an ethics case against a public official, with the board serving as the jury.

“Gray was a very smart person. He was a good lawyer. He’d always give a straight answer, even if he disagreed with you,” said Emile “Peppi” Bruneau Jr., a former state legislator from New Orleans who oversaw the House committee that handled ethics laws. “I wish we had more Gray Sextons in the world.”

But over time, Sexton faced complaints that he was wearing too many hats for the board and that representing clients as a private attorney at the same time presented a conflict of interest.

In 2007, the Legislature passed a law that prohibited his position from having outside employment.

“He was the executive director, and he had clients come before the board. We wanted to make sure that that situation wouldn’t present itself anymore,” said William Daniel IV, a top administrator under East Baton Rouge Parish Mayor-President Sid Edwards now who sponsored the 2007 legislation as a state House member.

Sexton responded to the legislation by resigning to begin representing clients facing issues before the ethics board.

“He went from prosecutor to defense,” Bruneau said.

Sexton’s law firm also handled licensing cases and disputes involving construction law.

Sexton, who was from Pineville, came to Baton Rouge to study at LSU’s law school and never left.

paign town halls planned in Maine.

Platner was a first-time candidate who won the primary with backing of the party’s left wing. While some Democrats came around to support him after his commanding primary win, Platner’s controversial history had already left others openly despairing of their chances of winning the race.

A Marine veteran who also worked for a private security contractor, Platner has a chest tattoo recognized as a Nazi symbol, had a history of controversial statements on social media and reportedly sexted with other women shortly after getting married.

In 2013, Platner posted on Reddit that people shouldn’t get so drunk “they wind up having sex with someone they don’t mean to” and that sexual assault victims should “just take some responsibility for themselves.” He’s since apologized for the post and says he no longer holds those beliefs.

Hasan Piker, a leftist commentator and streamer who’s backed Platner, seemed to reverse himself Monday fol-

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4A ● Tuesday, July 7, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

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David Thibodaux STEM Magnet Academy scored 50% or more in every LEAP testing subject.

STAFF FILE PHOTO By BRAD BOWIE

SCORES

Continued from page 1A

STAFF FILE PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

French Settlement fourth graders raise their hands in October as state Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley asks a question about math.

LEAP

Continued from page 1A “I’m proud of our progress,” said state Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley. “For us to be a state that is looked at across the country for making gains is just so positive.”

Among the state’s largest school systems, New Orleans led the pack.

Making the state’s list of top-growing districts for the third straight year, NOLA Public Schools saw 31% of tested students hit the state target across all subjects — 1 percentage point higher than Jefferson Parish and East Baton Rouge.

Still, the tests students took this spring raise some concerns.

Statewide English scores have stayed the same for the past three years, suggesting that students’ rapid recovery from pandemic learning declines has leveled out.

Math scores continue to grow, yet about two-thirds of students still fall short of state expectations.

And the score gaps between students of different racial and socioeconomic backgrounds remain about as wide now as they were before the pandemic.

“While we’re pleased that the net results are positive and trending upward, I think we should be expecting more,” said Erin Bendily, senior vice president at the Pelican Institute for Public Policy, a conservative Louisiana think tank, and a former state education official.

What the scores show In English language arts, 43% of students in grades 3-8 scored at the “mastery” level or above, indicating they are ready to move to the next grade level. The rate was the same in 2025 and 2024.

In math, 34% hit that mark, as did 31% in science and 33% in social studies. In math, this year’s mastery or above rate was 1 percentage point higher than last year’s, and in the other subjects it was 2 points higher.

In high school, most students must pass at least one English, math and biology or civics test pass to graduate. In all subjects combined, 36% achieved mastery or above — 2 percentage points above last year.

Louisiana students’ rebound from COVID-era learning disruptions has been the envy of the nation. It’s the only state where students now are reading above 2019 levels, and one of only two where math scores have surpassed preCOVID levels, according to a recent analysis of state test scores by researchers at Harvard, Stanford and Dartmouth.

But while math scores continue

ENROLLMENT Continued from page 1A

close eye on changes in marketplace enrollment since the expiration of so-called enhanced premium tax credits caused many Americans’ monthly health insurance fees to double or triple, forcing some to forgo coverage entirely. The subsidies had been at the center of a bitter fight in Congress last fall, with Democrats and some Republicans calling for their renewal.

Central voting issue Health insurance costs have been rising across the marketplace and other health insurance programs at a time when voters in the approaching November elections say affordability is among their top concerns.

In a report released last week, the U.S. Department of Health

Students grew in most subjects The share of Louisiana students reaching state benchmarks in 2026 increased in most subjects. English was flat.

Grades 3-8 3-8

Subject English Math

Scoring mastery or above 43% 34%

Change since 2025 No change +1

31% 33% 35% 36%

+2 +2 +1 +2

3-8 Science 3-8 Social Studies 3-8 All Subjects High School All Subjects Source: Louisiana Department of Education

Staff graphic

to climb, they have plateaued in reading, according to the latest LEAP scores.

Brumley noted that only third graders saw a decline in English mastery this year; the other grades were flat or grew slightly.

He said that third graders’ scores could reflect the shift from an intense focus in the early grades on learning to sound out words, a phonics-based approach known as the “science of reading,” to an emphasis in the later grades on reading comprehension.

The LEAP English test “doesn’t perfectly align with our focus around teaching kids to read in those early grades,” Brumley said, adding that the test eventually will be updated to incorporate more phonics.

He pointed out that on a different test called DIBELS, which assesses students’ basic reading skills, 64% of third graders met or exceeded the benchmark this year — 2 percentage points higher than in 2025.

Student groups who have traditionally scored below their peers grew or held steady this year, including Black and Hispanic students, students with disabilities, those still learning English and students from low-income families.

However, the gaps between those groups and other students remain stubbornly large. For example, 22% of Black students and 29% of Hispanic students met state expectations on the grades 3-8 tests this year, compared with 49% of White students — a chasm that was similarly wide in 2019.

“The gaps still remain,” Bendily said. “So obviously, there’s work still left to do.”

by extensive research, and schools began assessing young students’ reading skills. Schools also were required to provide tutoring to struggling students, and a revamped rating system rewards schools that help students improve their scores.

Other states have adopted similar policies, including phonicsbased reading instruction, yet they have not made similar academic gains.

“What we’ve done differently here in Louisiana that we’ve seen drive the results is the mixture of accountability and support,” said Jenna Chiasson, the Louisiana Department of Education’s deputy superintendent of teaching and learning. “I have a numeracy team and a literacy team who is out in schools and school systems pretty much every day providing training, providing support.”

In Vermilion Parish, 55% of students in grades 3-8 met state expectations in reading and 50% did so in math, making it one of the school systems with the highest mastery rates and biggest yearover-year gains. Superintendent Thomas Byler said multiple strategies boosted the scores, including building time into math and English class for struggling students to get extra help and hiring retired teachers to work as tutors.

“It’s really nice when the data support some of the decisions you make,” he said.

DeSoto Parish, where 54% of students achieved mastery in English and 47% did in math, was another top-achieving and top-growing school district. The results owe mainly to the hard work of educators and their desire to keep improving, said Superintendent Clay What’s working Corley.

“We’ve stopped asking what Several state policies have likely contributed to Louisiana students’ program to try or what strategy academic gains, state officials and to use,” he said. “We really just continue to ask ourselves, ‘How do experts say.

Teachers were trained in the sci- we get a little better every single ence of reading, which is backed day?’ ”

and Human Services suggested the significant drop in enrollment this year could be attributed to a federal crackdown on fraudulent or “phantom” enrollment. But analysts have said it was more likely related to the Jan. 1 expiration of federal subsidies, and other changes, including tightened requirements on which immigrants could access subsidized plans.

Mike Rhoads, deputy commissioner of life and health at the Oklahoma Insurance Department, cited a crackdown on fraudulent enrollments as one reason marketplace enrollments dropped. But he said in his state, the biggest factor was money.

“It’s all about affordability at this point in time,” he said in an interview, adding that he expects the problem to continue with insurers forecast to raise rates again next year.

Significant drop-offs An AP analysis of the data finds

that Ohio and Oklahoma each saw a more than 32% decline in ACA enrollment over the past year. They lost larger shares of their covered populations than any other state.

Following closely behind, and losing more than a fourth of their enrollees, were Arizona, South Carolina, Minnesota, Indiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Louisiana and Missouri.

Florida, a state that relies highly on ACA insurance in part because it did not expand Medicaid and is home to many gig workers and entrepreneurs, still has more residents in the marketplace than any other state, at nearly 4 million.

But it also saw the highest number of enrollees drop coverage this year — around 443,000.

The data doesn’t show whether people who dropped ACA health insurance this year found coverage elsewhere, and chances are some of them became insured through employer plans or other options. But Cox said most peo-

The gifted and Spanish and French immersion programs were removed from the school in 2023, leaving the school less racially diverse and with a larger population of economically disadvantaged children.

While not as dramatic a drop as Paul Breaux Middle School saw last year, Ernest Gallet Elementary School’s scores dropped 12% this year to 46% mastery overall, the largest drop of all Lafayette Parish 3-8 schools.

Ernest Gallet Elementary’s LEAP scores fell in every subject tested: 13% in math and social studies, 12% in English and 8% in science.

The scores at another elementary school and four middle schools fell across-the-board in every subject tested. They include Carencro Middle, down 6% to 17% mastery overall; Acadian Middle and Scott Middle, both down 4%; and Green T. Lindon Elementary and Edgar Martin Middle, both down 2%.

“We had some schools that went down and some schools that went up,” Touchet said. “The goal for every principal is to show growth.”

School system leaders will meet individually with principals, he said, to review scores, trends and weaknesses and develop plans for their school to help students grow.

In grades 3-8, Duson Elementary and Myrtle Place Elementary recorded the biggest increases in proficiency overall, up 8% each.

Myrtle Place Elementary achieved the highest level of mastery of all subjects at 83%, followed by L. Leo Judice Elementary at 76%, Woodvale Elementary and Milton Elementary, both at 65%, and Green T. Lindon Elementary at 58%.

David Thibodaux STEM Magnet Academy students performed better in every category than all other high schools in the parish, scoring 50% or more in every subject: English I, 76%; English II, 78%; algebra, 83%; geometry, 62%; biology, 50%; U.S. history, 60%; and civics, 82%.

Northside High School’s scores were the lowest in the parish:

DAIQUIRI

Continued from page 1A

English I, 10% or less; English II, 21%; algebra, 14% or less; geometry, 11% or less; biology, 9% or less; U.S. history, 2% or less; and civics, 15%.

Lafayette Parish mastery: n English/language arts — 49%, no change n Math — 45%, up 1% n Science — 38%, up 2% n Social studies — 40%, up 2% n All subjects, all grades — 43%, up 1%

Largest improvement, 3-8: n Duson Elementary, up 8%

n Myrtle Place Elementary, up

8%

n Ridge Elementary, up 7%

n L. Leo Judice Elementary, up

7%

n L.J. Alleman Middle, up 6%

n Dr. Raphael Baranco Elemen-

tary, up 6% n Westside Elementary, up 5% n Live Oak Elementary, up 5% n J. Wallace James Elementary, up 5% n J.W. Faulk Elementary, up 4% n Milton Elementary, up 4% n Woodvale Elementary, up 4%

Largest drop in scores, 3-8: n Ernest Gallet Elementary, down 12% (down in all subjects) n Carencro Middle, down 6% (down in all subjects) n Acadian Middle, down 4% (down in all subjects) n Scott Middle, down 4% (down in all subjects) n Green T. Lindon Elementary, down 2% (down in all subjects except social studies) n Edgar Martin Middle, down 2% (down in all subjects) n Evangeline Elementary, down 2% (down in English/language arts and math) n Broadmoor Elementary, down 2% (down in English/language arts and social studies) n Broussard Middle, down 2% (down in all but math)

Mastery of subjects, all grades: n Vermilion — 46%, up 3%

n Lafayette — 43%, up 1%

n Iberia — 35%, no change

n Acadia — 34%, no change n St. Mary — 33%, up 4%

n Evangeline — 29%, up 1%

n St. Martin — 27%, up 2%

n St. Landry — 26%, up 1%

n State — 36%, up 2%.

Contact Claire Taylor at ctaylor@theadvocate.com.

the permit not be allowed at the time, noted that Rooftop 116 generated the most noise complaints among downtown bars and was cited a year ago for failing to have adequate security at a large event, which was in violation of the bar’s conditional use permit.

Rooftop also was the subject of 206 calls to 911 in the past four years, including several instances when authorities were called twice in one night, according to data gathered by the DDA. Haynes is also seeking a conditional use permit for a cigar bar that is going before the City Council on Tuesday. That request was turned down by the Lafayette city zoning board in May.

the Lafayette city zoning commission, had exterior signage posted and had promoted the business for months before the council vote.

Among their claims were that Lafayette Consolidated Government limited the capacity of the bar to 49 patrons while the previous business in that space, a bar named Le Grenadier that was operated by a White person, was granted a capacity of 61.

They also accused the vote of being retaliatory due to complaints filed against Rooftop 116, which Haynes operates.

The Downtown Development Email Adam Daigle at Authority, which recommended adaigle@theadvocate.com.

ple who left the marketplace are likely going without insurance, because it is typically a “place of last resort” to get health coverage for people who aren’t eligible elsewhere.

Some of the states that saw the largest enrollment declines were the same ones that saw the biggest enrollment gains after the federal government introduced enhanced subsidies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Cox said that isn’t surprising, because those states likely had large numbers of people who enrolled only because the enhanced subsidies made coverage much more affordable.

Only one state saw an increase in its covered population. New Mexico gained some 14% more enrollees in the government health insurance program compared with the same time last year. It was the only state in the nation that fully replaced the lost federal subsidies using its own funds.

Biggest enrollment losses About three in five states use the federal marketplace Healthcare. gov, while the rest operate their own state-based marketplaces for ACA insurance.

The new data shows that federal marketplace states overall lost larger shares of enrollees than states with state-based exchanges.

One reason for that could be that many states with their own marketplaces took steps to offset costs for their residents when the enhanced subsidies expired in January.

New Mexico, which saw doubledigit enrollment gains, is the most extreme example of that. In a special legislative session last fall, lawmakers in the state approved a plan to use state funds to make up for the missing subsidies through mid-2026. In March, the state’s governor signed a bill to continue making up the difference through mid-2027.

The Acadiana Advocate ● theadvocate.com ● Tuesday, July 7, 2026 ● 5A

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Regional Summary TODAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

Humid; an afternoon t-storm

A t-storm around in the p.m.

A t-storm around in the p.m.

A t-storm around in the p.m.

A few morning showers; humid

A couple of afternoon showers

HIGH

LOW

HIGH

90° 76°

LOW

HIGH

90° 76°

LOW

91° 77°

HIGH

High/low Normal high/low Last year’s high/low Record high Record low

Beaumont 92/77 Port Arthur 91/79

Baton Rouge 90/75

Lake Charles 91/78

10s

20s

30s

Houma 89/75

40s

50s

YESTERDAY

TODAY

READING 40 MAIN POLLUTANT Ozone

MAIN POLLUTANT Ozone

60s

70s

80s

90s 100s 110s

JUL 7

City

Austin Boston Dallas Fairbanks Honolulu Las Vegas Louisville Miami Nashville

24-hour total Month to date Normal month to date year to date Normal year to date

HIGH

4:22p 9:52a 9:25a 1:08a 5:39a 5:21a 6:47a

FT.

FIRST

JUL 14

Hi

97 67 97 79 87 109 87 91 87

TODAY Lo

76 63 78 56 76 84 73 80 72

FULL

JUL 21

W

c r t pc sh s t t t

JUL 29

Hi

99 76 99 68 87 111 90 93 89

WED. Lo

75 67 79 53 75 83 73 81 72

LOW

1.02” 1.96” 1.36” 36.37” 32.51”

FT.

0.4 8:30a 0.2 1.0 2:01a 0.4 1.4 12:40a 0.8 1.1 5:03a 1.0 0.8 4:35p 0.3 0.9 3:44p 0.3 1.0 5:37p 0.4

6:13 a.m.

8:13 p.m.

12:17 a.m.

1:15 p.m.

NEW

GOOD

PRECIPITATION

90°/73° 91°/75° 93°/72° 102° in 1921 61° in 1924

Sunrise today Sunset tonight Moonrise today Moonset today LAST

Shown are areas of precipitation and high temperatures for the day.

LOW

TODAY’S TIDES Lake Pontchartrain (Tchefuncte River) Shell Beach South Point, Marsh Island Cypremort Point Grand Isle (Barataria Pass) Mississippi River (Southwest Pass) Wine Island

New Orleans 91/78

Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.

0s

Hattiesburg 92/74

Alexandria 88/74

Lafayette 90/76

HIGH

88° 76°

Lafayette through 5 p.m. Monday

Jackson 91/73 Many 89/73

LOW

91° 77°

TEMPERATURE

Longview 91/73

-0s

LOW

Monroe 91/74

Shreveport 91/74

-10s

HIGH

92° 78°

Humid today with periods of sun; an afternoon thunderstorm. Winds west-southwest 4-8 mph. Clear to partly cloudy tonight. Winds south-southwest 3-6 mph. A thunderstorm in spots tomorrow. Winds south-southwest 4-8 mph. Partly cloudy tomorrow night. Winds south-southwest 4-8 mph. Thursday: a thunderstorm in spots. Winds south-southwest 6-12 mph. Thursday night: partly cloudy. Winds light and variable. Friday: a thunderstorm in spots. Winds south 4-8 mph. Friday night: a thunderstorm. Winds east-southeast 3-6 mph.

W

s pc s c sh pc t t t

HIGH

FT.

--- ----- ----- --10:52a 1.4 --- ----- ----- ---

SOURCE: LOUISIANA DEQ AND AIRNOW.GOV

LOW

FT.

--- --9:20p 0.3 3:16p 0.2 7:09p 0.5 --- ----- ----- ---

The solunar period schedule allows planning days so you will be fishing in good territory or hunting in good cover during those times. Major periods begin at the times shown and last for 1.5 to 2 hours. The minor periods are shorter.

MAJOR MINOR MAJOR MINOR

Today 5:41a 11:52a 6:03p ---Wednesday 6:27a 12:15a 6:51p 12:39p Thursday 7:15a 1:01a 7:42p 1:28p Friday 8:06a 1:51a 8:35p 2:20p Saturday 9:00a 2:44a 9:32p 3:16p Sunday 9:59a 3:42a 10:32p 4:16p Monday 11:00a 4:44a 11:33p 5:17p

City

New Orleans Orlando Philadelphia Phoenix Pittsburgh Raleigh St. Louis San Diego Tampa

Hi

91 92 77 113 82 95 85 74 92

TODAY Lo

78 77 67 91 66 75 71 65 80

W

t t c pc t t t s t

GOOD

Hi

90 94 85 113 85 95 90 73 93

WED. Lo

78 76 70 90 68 76 76 65 81

W

t t pc s t t t s t

MISSISSIPPI Memphis Vidalia-Natchez Red River Landing Baton Rouge Donaldsonville Reserve New Orleans OHIO Cairo COMITE Near Olive AMITE Near Darlington Denham Springs Port Vincent TICKFAW Montpelier Holden ATCHAFALAYA Simmesport Melville Krotz Springs Butte La Rose Bayou Sorrel Morgan City

FLOOD STAGE

34 48 48 35 27 22 17

MON. 24-HOUR STAGE CHANGE

16.00 41.30 43.10 26.90 17.70 13.26 8.80

-2.01 +0.42 none +0.20 +0.10 +0.03 +0.14

40

26.21

-3.14

19

-1.31

+0.06

18 29 8

-0.05 11.11 2.11

+0.75 -0.21 +0.26

13 15

4.12 1.54

+2.40 -0.05

47 34 29 20 12 6

26.24 17.61 15.33 12.07 7.00 3.46

+3.25 +0.09 +0.35 +0.08 +0.80 -0.16

data as of 7 a.m. Monday

Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2026

Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain, sf-snow flurries, sn-snow, i-ice.

Venezuelans left alone to recover their dead after quakes

BY FERNANDA PESCE and ISABEL DEBRE Associated Press

LA GUAIRA,Venezuela — When the highrise where Noel Márquez lived with his family crashed to the ground and burst into flames in Venezuela’s twin earthquakes, Márquez, who happened to be at his girlfriend’s apartment, raced home and called out for his mother, grandparents and siblings. Only his 17-year-old brother, his legs pinned under columns that required heavy machinery to lift, responded.

Márquez and his father, who also survived, spoke through layers of concrete, hearing Leonel suffer, shout for help and inhale suffocating smoke as he waited for a crane to remove the columns crushing him. But it never came. After several hours, Leonel’s cries gave way to silence, Márquez said.

But even that, terrible as it was, was not what disturbed him the most. The worst, Márquez said, was trying to recover his families’ tangled remains with little more than his bare hands and a saw. He sliced off limbs to free the corpses of Leo-

we are still requesting a crane.”

Márquez is one of countless Venezuelans who, after days of torment, has been left alone to search, if not for signs of life, then for loved ones’ remains — and for some semblance of closure.

International rescue teams, quietly acknowledging the possibility that no more victims would be found alive after 12 days under the rubble, are preparing to depart.

Local authorities are turning their focus to finding shelter for thousands of displaced people. But the recovery of the dead has become a pressing, and horrifying, duty for Venezuelans still missing their loved ones.

Many say that just as they were ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MATIAS DELACROIX left without government help to Forensic technician Joel Mirabal rides through the area struck by the rescue survivors in the immediate earthquakes, collecting bodies recovered from the rubble, June 30 in La aftermath of the quakes, so too are Guaira, Venezuela. they now under-equipped to unearth their dead nearly two weeks later.

The more time passes, the more “It’s unfair. It’s inhumane, everynel and his mother but was forced to abandon his sister, who was eight thing that is happening,” 26-year-old gruesome the recovery process months’ pregnant, grandmother and Márquez said from the overflowing becomes, said William Gomez, a other relatives beneath the ruins — makeshift morgue at La Guaira firefighter in La Guaira. “It has and with their bodies, the hope that port. “We couldn’t get my brother been difficult because the bodies if he couldn’t save them, he could at out because we didn’t get a response are already in an advanced state of least give them proper burials. from the state ... and after 11 days, decomposition, decomposed to such

an extent that many times when we try to remove them, they fall apart.”

Authorities announced that the death toll rose on Monday to 3,535, with another 16,740 people injured.

Beyond that is an untold toll: those whose bodies have yet to be found.

There are no official statistics on how many people are buried under the rubble, but more than 30,000 reports of missing people have been sent to a website set up by the Venezuelan opposition.

There are 1.2 million tons of debris in the most affected parts of La Guaira, according to the United Nations Development Program.

“We are the ones helping ourselves: our family. Nobody else helps us except for a few volunteers,” said Yeikhary Urbina, who found the bodies of her mother and brother on Saturday suspended under piles of concrete, seemingly locked in an embrace.

In several WhatsApp chats on Monday, neighbors who could no longer wait for authorities to help them recover their dead discussed pooling their own money to rent a crane — for the price of $11,500, in one case.

Hemingway masterpiece on Spain’s bull runs turns 100; allure intact

BY JOSEPH WILSON Associated Press

PAMPLONA,Spain — Bill Hillmann has been gored three times while running with the bulls in Spain, but he wouldn’t miss this year’s San Fermin festival for anything.

It marks the 100th anniversary of the publication of Ernest Hemingway’s book “The Sun Also Rises,” which launched the future Nobel Laureate to literary fame and put Pamplona on the map for millions of people around the world.

On Monday, the festival kicked off with a firework blast over a jampacked plaza. The first of eight bull runs is on Tuesday.

Hemingway’s 1926 novel captivated generations of readers with its sexy Jazz Age tale of American and British bohemians trying to fill some inner void with the distractions of exotic travel, vast quantities of alcohol and the anguishing pursuit of impossible love.

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO

Bill Hillmann, 35, of Chicago, center left, falls seconds before a Victoriano del Rio ranch fighting bull gored him on his right leg during the 2014 running of the bulls of the San Fermin festival in Pamplona, Spain.

Its success established “The Sun Also Rises” as a cornerstone of the American literary canon, right up there with F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby.” It also popularized the term “lost generation” to describe the tight-knit group of early 20th-century writers expatri-

ated in Paris. Hemingway’s terse style forever changed American literature. In Spanish, its title is translated as “Fiesta.”

Hillmann, who hails from Chicago, was 19 when Hemingway’s vivid depiction of the bull running festival first enthralled him, especially descriptions of average Spaniards risking their lives sprinting through the streets to guide the bulls to the bull ring during the nine-day festival.

“I sat there for about six hours, well past midnight, reading the book,” Hillmann told The Associated Press in Pamplona as he looked down on the pen where the bulls are held before being set free on the cobblestoned route. “And by the time I was done with that book, I was going to be a writer and I was going to be a bull runner.”

Since that literary encounter, the 44-year-old Hillmann has run with the bulls in Spain hundreds of times, counting both his trips

to Pamplona and his participation in dozens more bull runs in other Spanish towns. His infatuation with Hemingway and Pamplona has never waned, even though he nearly died one time that he was gored by a bull horn.

Hillmann’s appreciation led him to earn a doctorate in English, and now it is his turn to teach “The Sun Also Rises” at East-West University in Chicago, and write about bull running.

Hemingway is etched into the landscape of Pamplona. Hotels and bars have busts of him or signs up that he was once there. Outside the Pamplona bull ring, which also has a statue of the writer, a huge banner hangs in honor of the novel, including a quote that shows how the festival left the writer speechless: “At noon of Sunday, the 6th of July, the fiesta exploded. There is no other way to describe it.”

When Hemingway made his last visits to Pamplona, he would fre-

quent the Perla Hotel; his suite still has furniture from the 1950s when he stayed there. The room, which overlooks the bull run route, also has two glass bookcases holding dozens of copies of “The Sun Also Rises.”

“Hemingway did a lot for Pamplona because he made it known around the world,” said Fernando Hualde, who worked for four decades as a receptionist in the hotel.

Hemingway’s local legacy, however, is mixed.

Beside a feminist critique of his hyper masculine public persona, Hemingway has drawn criticism from the animal rights movement for his praise of bullfighters.

Hualde says that some Pamplona residents rue his early promotion of the festival due to the ills of overtourism the sleepy provincial city is now experiencing.

Pamplona has 200,000 residents and receives over a million more people for the festival.

METRO

T H E A D V O C AT E.C O M

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T u e s d ay, J u ly 7, 2026

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LIVINGSTON PARISH

Jan Risher LOUISIANA AT LARGE

N.O. home’s writing on the wall is 168 years old My friends Tammy Theis and Rick Jordan live in the BlanquePaturzo-Sessums House in the New Orleans Bywater. The home dates to 1826. Like many of the older New Orleans homes, there’s a lot more to the house than meets the eye from the street.

The home’s exterior is painted the kind of locally inspired terracotta that has been a part of New Orleans since Spanish colonial days.

It’s a fascinating place, with a courtyard I adore, but this is not a house story.

Several years ago, on my first visit, Theis took me upstairs to see four narrow strips of exposed plaster left bare against a wall they had painted teal. The rectangles, floating in a sea of bluegreen, preserved handwriting in French. Beneath each strip was a typed translation: n “Be happy, Eugenie! These are the vows of the one who loves you more than life. Let the one who courts you at the moment make you happy.” n Then a name, written large and stylized: “Ant. Frederick. Jr.” Beneath it: “Eugenie Ram.” n “I’ll always love you. My last sigh will come out with your name.” n And finally: “You were an ungrateful person. You tricked me.

God will pardon you, but others, never.”

The last line appears to be dated “January 25, 1857.”

For years, that was the whole story Theis and Jordan had to go on.

They had built their own private theory: a French teenager, alone in his room, unrequited, working out his heartbreak on the wall because maybe there was no paper to be found. Or maybe permanence was the point?

And that’s where the mystery has remained.

Until recently.

One day last year, Theis came home and noticed a man and an older woman on the other side of the street. They seemed to be looking at her house.

Theis said, “Can I help you?”

The man said his name was Raul Mier, from Fort Collins, Colorado. The woman was his mother, Carmen Mier, who lives in Metairie. He explained that he’d traced his family back to this exact address.

Then he mentioned the name of one of his ancestors: Antonio Frederick.

With that, Theis invited them in and told them there was something they needed to see.

“I said, ‘You’re not going to believe this. Come up these stairs,’” Theis said. “His little 95-year-old Cuban mama just ran up those stairs.”

Theis had always assumed the handwriting on the wall belonged to someone French. But the family surname was Frederick, and the line traced back through Menorca, Spain, and then to New Orleans, where the young man’s grandfather had worked as a drayman, hauling people by horse and buggy.

When Raul Mier, 74, looked at the wall his great-great-greatuncle had written on more than 150 years earlier, he cried.

“I’ve been using ancestry.com to do research a lot, and I look at these old photocopies ... but to actually see his handwriting on the wall — unreal,” Raul Mier said.

From there, he has continued his research — nearly three years of digging through census records and city directories.

ä See RISHER, page 4B

Judge: Librarian owed $50K

to strike, which was granted. lowed by a writ to the Louisiana Lafayette group accused of defamation Ationmotion for a new trial by Jones Supreme Court, which found the

BY CLAIRE TAYLOR Staff writer

A Livingston Parish judge has ruled that Michael Lunsford and the Lafayette-based Citizens for a New Louisiana owe $50,000 to a librarian in a defamation case that has not yet been tried on its merits.

Twenty-first Judicial District Court Judge Erika Sledge of Livingston Parish on June 15 awarded Amanda Jones, a Livingston Parish school librarian, $50,979 to be paid by Citizens for a New Louisiana and Executive Director Michael Lunsford.

In 2022, Jones spoke at a Liv-

ingston Parish Library Board meeting against censorship and the proposal removal of books.

Lunsford, who runs the social media for the conservative Citizens for a New Louisiana, and blogger Ryan Thames blasted Jones on social Jones media, saying she supported books that she didn’t and that she supported pornography in libraries.

Jones sued in August 2022 for defamation. Lunsford, Citizens and Thames filed a special mo-

was denied. She stipulated that, should the defendants win on appeal, she would pay $12,500 to Citizens and $13,000 to Thames.

Sledge wrote in her decision that throughout 2023, Jones went through the appeals process, filing multiple legal briefs in response to the defendants’ two separate oppositions, filing a supplemental brief regarding the jurisdiction of the 1st Circuit Court of Appeal and so forth.

The 1st Circuit, in January 2024, ruled that it lacked jurisdiction in the case and dismissed the appeal without considering the merits of Jones’ case.

Jones filed an application for a rehearing, which was denied, fol-

1st Circuit did have jurisdiction.

The case was sent back to the appeals court in December 2024.

The appeals court found in October that Jones was likely to prevail in her defamation lawsuit.

Jones has since settled with Thames, who issued a public apology.

The Supreme Court denied a writ application by Lunsford, which is now final, Sledge wrote.

Lunsford, she wrote, did not dispute that fees are owed but argued they are unreasonable.

Sledge disagreed, awarding fees of $50,979 to Jones.

Contact Claire Taylor at ctaylor@theadvocate.com.

FRESH COAT OF PAINT

STAFF PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK

Dave Derouen adds a fresh coat of paint to the St. John Cemetery gates on Monday at the cathedral in Lafayette. Derouen said he and others are repainting the fence all the way around the 205-yearold cemetery. The message on the gate, written in French, translates to ‘He will wipe away every tear,’ from the book of Revelation in the Bible.

2 booked in Crowley man accused of stealing deputy’s car 2024 killing of Suspect faces additional charges after attempted escape

BY JA’KORI MADISON Staff writer

A Crowley man who was arrested in June in a carjacking and officer-involved shooting now faces additional charges after authorities say he attempted to escape custody during a hospital transport.

Dusty Johnson, 35, was originally arrested in an early June incident in which he is accused of carjacking a vehicle in Eunice and leading law enforcement on a multiparish pursuit that ended in Crowley. He was booked on two counts of attempted first-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder, armed robbery, carjacking, simple arson, two counts of hit-and-run driving, simple

BR man near Ville Platte

criminal damage to property, attempted aggravated kidnapping, aggravated flight from an officer and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Authorities said Johnson remained in custody until he required medical attention and was taken from jail to a hospital on Sunday.

According to police, during that transport Johnson overpowered a deputy, stole the car and attempted to flee. Lafayette police later located and recaptured him at a house on South Orange Street, where they say he broke into a home.

Johnson was booked on additional counts stemming from the Sunday incident, including aggravated battery on a police officer, home invasion, carjacking, aggravated flight from an officer, aggravated escape and simple escape, according to Lafayette police.

Authorities said in Johnson’s original June case, he carjacked a vehicle in

Two people have been arrested in the fatal shooting of a Baton Rouge man near Ville Platte more than two years ago, authorities said.

Daijah McClay, 29, of Plaquemine, and Kamrein McCRIME Clay, 21, of Houston, each face BLOTTER one count of principal to second-degree murder in the death Advocate of 24-year-old Jonah C. Lee, acstaff cording to the Evangeline Parish reports Sheriff’s Office.

Lee was found lying in a street on the outskirts of Ville Platte with gunshot wounds and died at a hospital on March 30, 2024.

Bail was set at $150,000 for each suspect.

ä See ACCUSED, page 4B

ä See BLOTTER, page 4B

2B ● Tuesday, July 7, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

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OPINION T H E A D V O C AT E.C O M/opinions

OUR VIEWS

State failing neediest families with unused WIC funds A recent report by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor found that Louisiana is failing to use funds designated to help low-income pregnant women gain access to healthy foods.

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children — more commonly known as WIC — is entirely federally funded. It provides routine testing, nutrition counseling and money for healthy foods to eligible women. Louisiana ranks last in the rate of participation among all the states. Add Washington, D.C., and the territory of Puerto Rico to the list, and we’re still dead last.

Between 2021 and 2024, Louisiana did not use approximately $111 million worth of federal WIC funding, the auditor found.

That a state with one of the highest rates of infant mortality isn’t using a program designed to help women deliver healthy babies should shock the conscience of everyone who cares about Louisiana’s mothers and children.

The report lists several reasons for the state’s low participation rate. Many of them are easy to remedy. For example, around 80% of the clinics that screen participants were not open beyond normal business hours. Most women in the program must complete regular clinic visits in order to maintain their benefits. But for working mothers, finding a clinic that could accommodate their schedules proved challenging.

In north Louisiana, for example, only one clinic near Shreveport operated in early morning hours or late into the evening.

For other would-be participants, the problem was that clinic hours and phone numbers posted on their websites were not accurate, and staff did not answer the phone.

The audit also found that many clinics were not doing at least one outreach event per month as required by state policy to let potentially eligible moms know about the program.

We are glad to note that the Louisiana Department of Health, which oversees WIC, agreed with the audit recommendations and has already begun to address these issues. It will conduct reviews of clinic information online and will institute a “secret shopper” program to randomly call clinics to make sure phones are being answered. It has set a goal to improve participation by 25% this year.

Surveys of participants also found that the program where beneficiaries receive EBT cards to redeem at participating stores for specific food products was not meeting their needs.

Some products, like yogurt, were offered only in large quantities so they did not redeem the items for fear they would spoil, participants shared. The Department of Health agreed to have more flexibility in what products were offered. Some parishes only had one vendor that accepted the food benefit program, so the department is looking at expanding that.

All of these measures mean that a lifeline for needy families will now be strengthened. But outreach is key — a lifeline is only useful if it reaches those in need.

YOUR VIEWS

Arch is just a symbol of decline, not triumph A gigantic Roman triumphal arch would absolutely contradict the American liberal democratic experiment framed in our Constitution.

It seems that Rome’s early republican Senate rarely approved such monuments to victorious generals, but the empire grew lousy with arches after the Caesars and subsequent power struggles destroyed the Roman Republic.

In our time, these symbols of Rome’s long decline and misplaced imperial pride, antithetical to American ideals, cannot represent true historic milestones.

The end of monarchy, aristocracy, and slavery, progress toward civil rights based on rule of law, and celebration of civic rather than ethnic, racial, or gendered national identity have all underscored the idea of American exceptionalism.

In stark contrast,Rome’s persecution of Christian martyrs spanned a history longer than our own semiquincentennial observance. The OED further defines “arch” as denoting cunning or slyness, often personified in an arch villain or arch fiend.

A garish, bellicose arch in our nation’s capital associated with President Donald Trump might also conjure images of “fallen arches,” or flat feet, which, like shin splints and bone spurs, have exempted draftees from military

We’re loosening access to guns while tightening access to ballot So there is a governmental proposal brewing that would make it easier to mail guns directly to purchasers’ homes. At the same time, there are ongoing attempts to make it more difficult to mail ballots to legally vote for government officials. Is it a coincidence that Donald Trump Jr. is positioned to directly benefit from easy internet and mail ordering of firearms resulting in increased revenues at GrabAGun? He holds a board position and is an official consultant to that company.

Louisiana consistently ranks among the states with the highest per capita firearm death rates in the United States. Louisiana typically ranks between second and sixth nationwide. The U.S. has the highest rate of firearm deaths — both homicides and suicides — by a wide margin compared to similarly developed, high-income nations. Do we really need to make it easier for citizens to obtain guns and the Trump family to further enrich itself?

While efforts are being made by the current Congress and administration to make voting more difficult, other advanced countries are embracing online voting. Today, you can obtain just about anything online in the U.S., but you cannot vote online unless you are disabled, out of the country, in the military and living abroad, or tribal voters living on reservations.

Other countries that allow online voting include Switzerland, France, Canada, the United Arab Emirates and India. Why not the U.S.? So many issues, so many questions.

Please, America, pay attention to the information coming from reliable sources. Do your research and think about what this means for our country and all of its citizens.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JEN GOLBECK

The U.S. Capitol and a mock-up of President Donald Trump’s proposed triumphal arch are seen from the Ferris wheel at the Great American State Fair on the National Mall.

service.

Should we copy arches sponsored

by European monarchs and emperors, like Napoleon’s Arc de Triomphe? No. Though arising as a Jacobin son of the revolution, Napoleon actually reversed hard-won French liberties that took two more major revolutions to restore.

Over the past 250 years, Americans have preferred to express sincere gratitude to our old French ally with heartfelt appreciation of Lafayette and Lady Liberty.

WILLIAM BERTOLETTE Baton Rouge

Kids can read the Ten Commandments, hypocrites LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ARE WELCOME. HERE ARE OUR GUIDELINES: Letters are published

identifying name, occupation and/or title and the writer’s city of residence.

The Advocate | The Times-Picayune require a street 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.

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I wanted to support Muhammad Yungai’s opinion on the hypocrisy of those people pushing the posting of the Ten Commandments in schools.

It is the continuation of brainwashing of children that self-righteous people employ to further their, and only their, religious views on others.

Yungai’s letter was well-written and on point. Older kids, more acquainted with diversity in this world, will have the wherewithal to figure out the bias behind this propaganda.

I still hear people talk about the glory of war and their sanctimonious

certainty in the correctness of capital punishment while witnessing their disregard for children after birth and their denial of pedophilia by priests (to name a few of the obvious hypocrisies).

Many now worship that gold-plated statue of a self-proclaimed god. They did then, and still do, parade as peacocks of “Christian” virtue. It doesn’t take kids long to connect the dots.

Thank you to Yungai for speaking the truth.

ROSE MARY WILLIAMS Baton Rouge

DENISE VERRET Breaux Bridge

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COMMENTARY Spell’s theology, not just actions, runs counter to historic Christianity Whether the Rev. Tony Spell will be convicted of a crime is a question that will be answered by a Louisiana jury.

Whether he holds views traditionally labeled heretical, however, is a verdict rendered more than 1,500 years ago.

Let me explain.

Spell, the fiery — some might say pugilistic — pastor of Life Tabernacle in Central, first came to prominence when he refused to abide by pandemic-era lockdown restrictions meant to slow the spread of the virus. More recently, he was arrested last month Faimon after an incident with his Roberts neighbor, in which Spell repeatedly punched his neighbor even after he had pinned the man to the ground.

The fight, which was caught on camera, landed Spell in the parish jail for a few hours on a count of second-degree battery. His case will work its way through our criminal justice system.

When he’s not fighting, Spell is running his church. Life Tabernacle is part of a movement within Pentecostalism that denies the ancient Christian formulation of God as a trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit as one God in three persons.

The church’s website makes this explicit: “the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are not names of separate persons, but titles of positions held by God.” Such a description is “classic modalism,” Lloyd Harsch, a professor of church history at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, told me.

Modalism emphasizes the “oneness” of God. It sees God as one being acting in three different “modes.” And while Pentecostalism is a relatively new movement — it grew out of an early 20th century revival in California — modalism goes back into the church’s early centuries.

It was “a heresy that was dealt with and resoundingly condemned as being outside orthodox Christianity” by the 5th century because it denies the Trinity, Harsch told me.

The reason for those decisions was simple: Modalism denies the Trinity, which “was an early foundational doctrine of the church,” Harsch said.

This issue was settled more than 500 years before the Roman Catholic-Eastern Orthodox split and more than 1,000 years before Martin Luther kicked off the Protestant Reformation.

PHOTO By MICHAEL BACIGALUPI

Life Tabernacle Church’s Tony Spell speaks to the media on June 24 at the church in Central.

Today, the majority of churches, including Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Protestant, are firmly trinitarian.

Spell’s views on the Trinity are a minority even within Pentecostalism.

Let me be clear here: I am not saying that Spell and his congregants should not be free to practice their religion as they see fit; they absolutely should. But I am noting that his beliefs fall outside of historic Christianity, and go against one of its bedrock doctrines.

Of course, one needn’t dive into dusty theological tomes or ancient church history to see the gaps between Spell’s version of Christianity and the one taught by Jesus.

Jesus taught humility, and Spell seems to revel in his own notoriety.

A few days after the fight, Spell told a deputy in a comment recorded on a body camera, “Everybody in the world knows my name.”

He also used a slur for gay people to describe the man he beat, and said he would beat the man or his family again if he felt it necessary, per body camera footage.

Jesus also taught nonviolence. When one of his followers cut off the ear of a soldier who had come to arrest Jesus, Jesus healed the man. He also famously said, “If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other

cheek also.”

Spell took a different tack: He charged across the street to confront his neighbor, and even after he was arrested, he boasted about the incident, saying in a news conference that he, as the shepherd, had to protect his flock.

Later, during a church service, he made light of it.

“I fulfilled Scripture because I lay hands on the sick. I don’t know how much recovery they’re going to have, but I laid hands on them,” he said.

Spell’s devotion to Scripture is clear.

And his church website calls the Bible “the inspired Word of God … Moreover, there is no salvation outside of what is taught in its pages.”

That presumably includes the letters of the Apostle Paul, who in 1 Corinthians holds aloft the three great Christian virtues: “faith, hope and love. And the greatest of these is love.”

And in Galatians, Paul lists the fruits of the Spirit, which include love, peace, gentleness and self-control, among others. And against those things, Paul notes, “there is no law.”

But it seems those virtues, like the Trinity, aren’t important to Spell and his version of Christianity.

Email Faimon A. Roberts III at froberts@theadvocate.com.

Soccer fans see our multicultural miracle The welcoming reception that so land migration from eastern and southmany European soccer fans have reern Europe, 1892 to 1914, you heard ceived as they have crossed the nation constantly that America was suddenly becoming — for some, dangerously bein pursuit of World Cup games has struck many as a happy surprise of coming — multicultural. the summer of the 250th anniversary In the decade from 1846 to 1857, of the Declaration of Independence. when immigration as a percentage of “The World Cup is at our shores, the preexisting population was at a and all these people are doing similar peak, the sudden inrush us a great service,” comedian of German and Irish Catholic Bill Maher posted. “They are immigrants inspired similar reminding Americans that this ruminations. The fact that place is kind of awesome.” many newcomers, rather than “They are seeing an America fan out into farms and the fronthey never imagined,” The Wall tier, clustered in high-density Michael neighborhoods in central cities Street Journal’s Peggy Noonan Barone seemed especially threatening. noted with something like awe.

“They expected a dark and But cultural diversity was brooding nation; they discovered a part of the American experience, gosun-filled magnificence. It’s so big, so ing back to colonial days and through spacious, has such wondrous shops, the Revolution and the first tenuous the best food and absolutely wonderyears of independence, which proful people.” duced the Constitution.

“We forget too easily,” British-born America’s revolutionary patriots had American Andrew Sullivan wrote, grown up during a period when recent “the loving, generous, beautiful culhistory was centered on foreign and civil wars centered on differences in ture that is still America at its core.

If it takes a soccer tournament rather religion. England’s Glorious Revoluthan a choreographed 250th annivertion, the ouster of a Catholic king by a Protestant foreigner, was as distant sary celebration to remind us of that, in time from revolutionaries active in so be it. We’re worth celebrating no the 1770s and 1780s as World War II is less.” as distant in time from us today.

Sullivan took special care to hail The English Civil War, which re“the multicultural miracle we have already achieved in this quarter of a sulted in the execution of the king, millennium.” It’s a refreshing contrast was contemporaneous with the demowith the notion, widely prevalent in graphically devastating Thirty Years’ the pre-Trump years of this century, War in Europe and 120 to 130 years in that America had suddenly, for the the past — not much further distant first time, moved from being a stifling- than World War I and the totalitarian fascism and communism of the 20th ly, insensitively monocultural society century that followed. to a multiracial, multicultural one.

Against such a background, the varWhen you go rifling back in American history, you encounter this notion time ied religious origins of the different and again. In the years of peak Ellis Is- colonies must have been disquieting.

The New England colonies had been founded by Calvinist rebels against the Church of England, and Virginia and the Carolinas by faithful Anglicans. Maryland had been established

by Catholics, Pennsylvania by Quaker proprietors, and New York by Dutch Reformed Protestants.

Article VI of the Constitution, approved by the convention in September 1787 and ratified by the ninth state and rendered effective in June 1788, provided that, unlike in Britain, “no religious test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”

And the First Amendment to the Constitution, approved by the First Congress in September 1789 and ratified by the states in December 1791, even before guaranteeing “the freedom of speech, or of the press,” provided that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” States could keep their established religions — Connecticut did until 1818, Massachusetts until 1833 — or have none at all.

In the nearly 250 years since, Americans have grappled with the difficulties of maintaining their “multicultural miracle” even as the population has increased from 4 million to 349 million.

But that there have been difficulties should not blind us to the founders’ achievement in declaring independence and establishing a frame of government appropriate to an always, and always-changing, multicultural society.

Michael Barone is on X, @MichaelBarone.

With Cuba, Trump had better beware of what he wishes for After beginning the war, but before his conduct of it turned it into an embarrassment, President Donald Trump said: “On the way back” from Iran “we will be taking over” Cuba “almost immediately.” Now, humiliated and bewildered, he hungers for a success before this autumn’s elections.

Cuba’s 67-year-old regime has survived 13 U.S. presidencies. But a bumptious 14th has big plans.

Loosely speaking.

Communist Cuba, a threadbare museum of Marxism, has always attracted tyranny tourists, leftist pilgrims eager to experience, briefly, applied socialism. The only good its evil ever produced is “Against All Hope,” Armando Valladares’s magnificent 1986 memoir of 22 years as a political prisoner. Beatings were never perfunctory, always ferocious and imaginatively cruel.

He was fed watery soup laced with glass, or dead rats, or half the length of a cow’s intestine, rectum included, filled with waste.

Other than those pilgrims, no one believes the Havana regime has a shred of legitimacy. What should be done?

For decades, Communist Cuba, a mendicant nation prickly about its revolutionary dignity, depended on George subsidies from the Soviet Union, Will then on bartered oil from Venezuela. Now it experiences electricity blackouts, sometimes lasting 22 hours a day. Some airlines have stopped serving Havana because fuel is scarce for return trips. Tourism has evaporated. The Economist says “harvests are virtually non-existent.” The Wall Street Journal’s Mary Anastasia O’Grady reports, “Output from once-vibrant export industries like sugar, tobacco, coffee and fruit can’t even supply the domestic market.”

Like North Korea, another family business, Cuba’s regime, in which Fidel Castro’s brother Raúl, 95, still matters, has one priority: survival.

It understands the threat posed by permitting any freedom in tyranny’s fissures. Hence, it’s fear of free enterprise, socialism’s solvent.

Raúl Castro (with whom President Barack Obama posed for photos during his “engagement” with Cuba) cannot be an interlocutor, given the proper U.S. indictment of him for murder. In 1996, he ordered Cuban military jets to shoot down two U.S. civilian aircraft over international water.

They were helping escapees from the prison island.

Trump’s base includes Cuban Americans, a large majority of whom, according to a Miami Herald poll, favor military intervention and oppose any economic engagement that preserves the regime. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, an adult in Trump’s Cabinet, says Cuba’s economic trajectory “will not change as long as the people who are in charge of it now remain in power.”

Gaesa, an army-run conglomerate, controls 70% of the economy.

Cuba’s economy shrank 11% from 2019 to 2024, and more than 1 million people, about 10 percent of the population, fled the country between 2022 and 2023. The Trump administration insists that prostrate Cuba threatens U.S. “national security.”

Cuba’s army has about one-fifth of its former 200,000 soldiers; its tiny air force is ramshackle.

Cuba reportedly has more than 300 drones, but what use are they? And surely there is sufficient U.S. leverage to pressure Havana into ending Russia’s and China’s use of the island for listening to U.S. military communications. Is there, however, a U.S. obligation toward this unfortunate neighbor?

Thomas Gradgrind, the villain (until he softened his cold utilitarianism) of Charles Dickens’s “Hard Times,” probably believed that “the Good Samaritan was a Bad Economist.” Meaning: Charity skews incentives for self-reliance, etc. Some ethicists, however, wonder whether a Good Samaritan nation with the power to do good has an obligation to do it.

All agree, however, that there is no obligation to do what cannot be done. And what can be done for a nation that by now is all regime and no meaningful citizenry?

In March, a mob sacked a Communist Party headquarters in central Cuba. This spark of insurrection was aberrant and fleeting. Totalitarianism always has one foundational objective, which it has achieved in Cuba. The population is a dust of wary individuals, easily blown about. Their capacity for collaboration — for politics — has atrophied. A smooth democratic transition is a chimera.

In January, Trump said, “Cuba is ready to fall.”

Into what? Has Trump thought through his vow to “take care” of Cuba with a “friendly takeover” during “a little brief stopover”?

Before he skittered away from demanding Iran’s “unconditional surrender,” he jovially said of Cuba: A U.S. aircraft carrier will “stop about 100 yards offshore, and they’ll say ‘Thank you very much. We give up.’”

Such a cutup. Our Metternich from Midtown Manhattan is not intimidated by the aphorism that if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.

Email Will at georgewill@washpost.com.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ARE WELCOME. HERE ARE OUR GUIDELINES: Letters are published identifying name, occupation and/or title and the

writer’s city of residence. The Advocate | The Times-Picayune require a street 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.

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Obituaries

NEW ORLEANS

Cause of fire under investigation French Quarter explosion led to evacuations

BY JONAH MEADOWS Staff writer

Entergy engineers on Monday were still working to determine the cause of a late-night French Quarter explosion that knocked out power and prompted evacuations to the area on Saturday, with workers focused on repairing and remediating an underground electrical vault damaged in the blast.

The incident, which didn’t cause any injuries, occurred about an hour after the conclusion of the July Fourth fireworks display on the riverfront. Police evacuated a roughly one-block radius around the intersection of Bourbon and Conti streets after the fire resulting from the explosion sent smoke billowing into the area.

In a statement on Monday, Entergy New Orleans spokesperson Beau Tidwell said the fire remained under investigation, with engineers “reviewing our data to determine where and how the event originated.”

“Entergy crews and our environmental remediation contractor are currently cleaning out the burned vault and working to effect repairs,” he added.

The New Orleans Fire Department, which responded to the blast on Saturday, did not provide any additional information on the incident Monday. City Hall referred questions to Entergy.

Speaking at a news conference early Sunday, Fire Department Chief Roman Nelson said crews used dry chemical extinguishers on the fire because it was electrical in nature, so they needed to wait to use water until power was disconnected.

While power lines and other electrical infrastructure

are typically above ground in most of New Orleans, in the French Quarter, much of that infrastructure is buried.

That buried equipment can cause problems, particularly when it interacts with other underground infrastructure.

In December 2019, a earlymorning blast on Dauphine Street near Toulouse shot several manhole covers high into the air and set fire to a parked car. An investigation indicated that methane from sewage had collected inside one of Entergy’s transformer vaults and ignited, though officials never determined how it got there.

Danny Raines, a veteran electrical safety consultant based in Georgia, said there are various triggers that can lead to blasts like the one that occurred Saturday night. Speaking generally, and without any specific knowledge about the July 4 incident, he said that aging equipment, commonly including faults on older cables, can create stresses

that result in a blast.

“Of course it makes a big old fireball with a lot of smoke,” Raines said, noting that sometimes moisture getting into electrical lines can be a factor and that utilities are typically responsible for clearing their underground vaults.

In its statement, Entergy said crews carry out vault inspections twice annually in an effort to prevent incidents.

The explosion was reported a little after 10:30 p.m. and Entergy said power had been restored by 6 a.m. the next morning.

Initially, Entergy representatives said the repairs were delayed after workers were “menaced by an individual threatening to shoot our lineman with a gun.”

New Orleans police and Entergy later confirmed that the threat had come in the form of a phone call to the utility’s call center and that there was no reported in-person threat.

Authorities say body found on Horn Island Miss. teen went missing during holiday weekend

BY POET WOLFE Staff writer

Mississippi law enforcement found a body Monday morning on Horn Island, a day after a teen went missing in the area while on a Fourth of July trip with friends, according to Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter.

The National Park Service located the body on the island’s north shore near its western tip at 8:45 a.m., Ledbetter said. He added that the Coroner’s Office said

the description of the body matched the missing teen and that it was “likely” him.

Officials are waiting to confirm the identity and inform family members before releasing any additional details. DNA results are pending.

Authorities said 18-yearold Nolan Wells was last seen on Horn Island about 3 p.m. Saturday wearing black shorts and sunglasses.

Wells disappeared during a Fourth of July outing with friends on the popular barrier island off Mississippi’s coast near Ocean Springs, which drew large boating crowds over the holiday weekend.

Family members turned to Facebook on Monday after-

RISHER

Continued from page 1B He has pieced together a story far messier than the romantic sketch we had imagined.

Some Louisiana habits apparently go back a long way — Frederick was 22 in December 1856, and he was arrested for drunk and disorderly conduct at Elysian Fields and St. Claude, about a 30-minute walk from his home.

Six weeks later, he wrote his lines about Eugenie Ramel on the wall of his family home on Independence Street. Mier has wondered whether the arrest and the wall are connected.

In a turn we didn’t see coming, Frederick already had a son by then, born months earlier in June to a Dutch immigrant named

STAFF PHOTO By JAN RISHER

Antonio Frederick Jr. wrote a stylized version of his name above that of Eugenie Ramal’s on the wall of his home in 1857.

Wilhelmina Prost, out of wedlock. He didn’t marry Prost until October 1857, nine months after he wrote of being fooled by Eugenie.

Meanwhile, Ramal married a notary named John McClelland and had a daughter, Dolorita, in June 1859, about two and a half years after the inscription.

Frederick died in 1866, at 31, having barely lived past

noon to comment on Wells’ disappearance. His mother, Christine Wonsley, thanked friends, family and law enforcement for their support, and said she and loved ones are “absolutely devastated.”

“I’m heartbroken for my sweet son who was always willing to cheer and uplift others,” Wonsley said. “Nolan was a special soul, God took his time creating our son. I ask that you please give me and my family time to grieve.”

His grandfather, Christopher Wells, said in a Facebook post that Wells’ mother and father “prayed for a positive outcome, but they also had to prepare themselves for the worst.”

“Now that my grandson

has been found, it’s time for answers,” he wrote, “But be mindful they need space and need to grieve. There has been enough finger pointing. Let law enforcement do their job.”

Multiple agencies, including the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, the Harrison County Sheriff’s Department, the United States Coast Guard, the United Cajun Navy and the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, assisted in the search.

“On behalf of the United Cajun Navy, we extend our deepest condolences to Nolan’s family, friends, teammates, and everyone whose lives were touched by him,” the group said in a statement.

the Civil War. Ramal died in 1872, at 34.

Raul Mier has been generous with what he’s found, though he is short on certainty about what any of it means. He said the research has made him consider how history echoes through families.

Frederick’s sister fled New Orleans for Cuba during the Civil War. Nearly a century later, Mier and his parents fled Cuba for New Orleans in 1961.

Despite the writing on the wall and Raul Mier’s research, we don’t know what Ramal did to earn Frederick’s devotion or his eventual fury.

What we do know is that a young man’s heartbreak outlived him. It survived renovations, storms, changing owners and generations.

When Frederick wrote those words on the wall, he probably never imagined

anyone would read them after he was gone — much less a grandnephew four generations later standing in the very room where they were written.

Email Jan Risher at jan. risher@theadvocate. com.

Duhon, Evelyn Bonin

Evelyn Bonin Duhon, 96, a beloved wife, mother and educator, passed away at home on Friday, July 3, 2026 surrounded by her family.

Evelyn was born on December 17, 1929, in Jeanerette, Louisiana. She was the youngest of ten children born to the late William Haywood Bonin and Euphemie Broussard Bonin. The family owned and operated the wellknown Paragon Grocery Store and a meat market in Jeanerette. After the death of Evelyn's father in 1940, the family moved to New Iberia around 1949, the same year that Evelyn graduated from Jeanerette High School.

Five of Evelyn's brothers and some of their children owned and operated meat markets in and around New Iberia.

On November 11, 1950, Evelyn married the love of her life, Truby Eric Duhon, and raised three children.

Evelyn's main focus in life was being the best mother that she could be, and despite giving 100% of herself to that endeavor she still managed to pursue higher education, earning a Bachelor of Science, Master of Education and Education Specialist degrees in Home Economics from the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette).

Evelyn spent 30 years teaching Home Economics at Judice Middle School in Lafayette. She was admired for her hands-on teaching methods and unwavering commitment to her students. As a result of her dedication to the teaching profession, Evelyn was a recipient of the Judice Middle School Teacher of the Year.

Evelyn is survived by her children, Dr. Patricia Duhon Roberts and her husband, Dr. Charlie Roberts, of Baton Rouge, Truby Eric "Rick" Duhon, Jr., of Miramar Beach, Florida and Jerome Keith Duhon of Lafayette. Evelyn was preceded in death by her husband, Truby Eric Duhon, Sr., her parents, her seven brothers, Hudson Paul Bonin; Dalton Joseph "Tahn Than" Bonin; Le Roy Anthony "Bill" Bonin; James Joseph "Jim" Bonin; Col. Louis Allen Bonin, USMC Ret; and Richard

the Jennings Police Department responded about 9:12 p.m. to a report of a shooting at a residence in the 400 block of Mouton Drive.

When officers arrived, they found 33-year-old Tevin Gotreaux suffering from a gunshot wound to his left hand.

During the preliminary investigation, officers learned that Gotreaux had reportedly been involved in a physical argument with his girlfriend before her stepfather, Tris Madison, arrived at the residence. An altercation oc-

curred between Madison and Gotreaux, leading to both suffering gunshot wounds, police said. Both parties went to trauma centers for medical care.

Madison remains hospitalized in critical but stable condition. Police did not release information about Gotreaux’s condition.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact the Jennings Police Department at (337) 821-5500, ext. 500, or the department’s tip line at (337) 275-9002.

victim’s vehicle. He then returned to the Eunice resiContinued from page 1B dence, crashed into a vehicle parked in the driveway and intentionally set a Chevrolet Eunice, where they say he Trax on fire, according to drove the vehicle to a home Louisiana State Police.

When Eunice police ofand threatened a homeowner with a firearm, attempted ficers responded, Johnson to kidnap the victim and opened fire on officers, postole a 2019 GMC Sierra lice said. Officers returned pickup. fire, striking Johnson before Investigators said Johnson he fled in the stolen pickup, later went to a gas station authorities said. and fired shots at a person in Johnson remains held on the parking lot, striking the a $275,000 bail, according

to arrest records. Officials said additional charges related to the escape attempt may be filed in St. Landry Parish.

Continued from page 1B The investigation remains ongoing, and authorities said additional arrests are expected.

July 4 shooting in Jennings injures 2 Jennings police are investigating a Fourth of July shooting that left two men injured following an altercation.

On Saturday, officers with

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Urban Bonin; and her two sisters, Myrtle Gertrude "Coon" Bonin and Margaret Madeleine Bonin Parent.

Funeral Services will be held at 1:00 PM on Wednesday, July 8, 2026 in Delhomme's Chapel of the Flowers with Pastor Chris Fuselier, First Baptist Church - Youngsville, conducting the services.

Burial will take place in Greenlawn Memorial Gardens Cemetery.

The family requests that visiting hours be observed at Delhomme Funeral Home Bertrand on Wednesday, July 8, 2026 from 11:00 AM to 12:45 PM. The family extends a special thanks to the wonderful staff at Southern Grace Hospice, especially to Nurses Leah, Hanna, Alana, Rachel, and Tiffany.

The family would also like to recognize Evelyn's at home caregivers: Carmelita Brown, Samatha Burleigh, Michelle Guidry, Roxanne Richoux, and her bookkeeper, Dawn Williams. Their expertise, kindness, and unwavering commitment to Evelyn's comfort and dignity in her final days were truly remarkable.

Pallbearers will be Glynn Chauvin, Mark Culter, Craig Duhon, David Duhon, Steven LeBlanc, and Terry LeBlanc.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in Evelyn's memory to Tunnel to Towers Foundation, 2361 Hylan Boulevard, Staten Island, NY 10306.

Personal condolences may be sent to the family of Evelyn Bonin Duhon at: www.delhommefuneralho me.com Evelyn Bonin Duhon and her family were cared for and entrusted final arrangements to Delhomme Funeral Home, 1011 Bertrand Drive, Lafayette, LA. Copyright Delhomme Funeral Homes, Inc. July 2026.

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Bidders wishing to sub‐ mit their bid electroni‐ cally must first be regis‐ tered within LCG Vendor Access at the website listed above. The regis‐ tration process can take some time; therefore, LCG recommends regis‐ tering days in advance of the time that bids are due. It is the sole respon‐ sibility of the bidder to ensure their bid is deliv‐ ered (whether electroni‐ cally via Vendor Access, in person, or via mail) to the Purchasing Division prior to the scheduled date and time of the bid opening. Vendors may request the bid package from electronically Thomas Metrejean at tg‐ metrejean@lafayettela.

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Bids must be signed in accordance with LRS Title 38:2212(B)5. A Cor‐ porate Resolution or Cer‐ tificate of Authority au‐ thorizing the person signing the bid is re‐ quired to be submitted with bid. Failure to sub‐ mit a Corporate Resolu‐ tion or Certificate of Au‐ thority with the bid shall be cause for rejection of bid.

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History not on Kiffin’s side

Odds are against LSU to win championship in coach’s debut

BY JON BLAU Staff writer

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JULIO CORTEZ

Mikel Merino celebrates scoring a goal for Spain during the World Cup round of 16 match against Portugal on Monday in Arlington, Texas. Spain won 1-0 and advances to the quarterfinals.

GREAT RELIEF

Late substitute Merino kicks Spain past Portugal, Ronaldo

BY SCHUYLER DIXON AP sportswriter

ARLINGTON, Texas — Mikel Merino was still on the bench in the final minutes of regulation, with Spain coach Luis de la Fuente worried about hanging on to his substitutes as long as possible because of looming extra time.

The Arsenal forward made all that fretting moot.

Merino scored in the first minute of second-half stoppage time, and Spain beat Portugal 1-0 on Monday to end the World Cup career of superstar Cristiano Ronaldo.

Merino had just been knocked down and a foul was called.

While Portugal’s Bernardo Silva argued, Merino played the ball back in, ran toward the goal and easily beat goalkeeper Diogo Costa after a series of passes capped by Ferran Torres’ nifty ball through the middle.

“He’s one of the best in his position worldwide, and he has given us a fantastic result and a fantastic goal,” de la Fuente said through a translator. “I want to express the importance of substitutes that came in later in the game. Not just today, but the contribution in other games has been enormous.”

Spain advanced to the quarterfinals for the first time since winning its only World Cup title in 2010.

Ronaldo was trying to get Portugal to the quarterfinals in a second consecutive tournament for the first time. Instead, the

career on soccer’s biggest stage is over for the all-time leader in international goals (146) and appearances (233).

Merino didn’t enter until the 85th minute, and his heads-up play showed some of the versatility that helped Arsenal win its first Premier League title in more than 20 years this spring.

The World Cup was in doubt for Merino, who turned 30 during the tournament, after right foot surgery cut short his Arsenal season.

In the biggest moment of the year for Spain, there he was with fresh legs, finishing with his left foot into the left corner of the net. After emerging from a group hug with his teammates, Merino made a circle around the flag in a corner before letting out a guttural scream while clenching both fists.

That’s how his father, Miguel Merino, celebrated more than three decades ago during his club career in Spain. And his son first emulated it after a late goal to beat host Germany to send Spain to the semifinals of the European championship two years ago.

This was Mikel Merino’s first World Cup goal, and 11th for the national team.

“What better way to celebrate,” Merino said. “You remember all the good and the bad, and there have been difficult moments for me this year.”

ä See WORLD CUP, page 3C

No Fears or Queen It’s Year 2 for Jeremiah Fears and Derik Queen, who made their rookie debuts in Vegas last summer. After a year when they both were secondteam selections on the All-Rookie team, they won’t be playing in Vegas this time around. First-year Pelicans coach Jamahl Mosley discussed the decision after Monday’s practice.

ä See LSU, page 3C

STAFF FILE PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

LSU football coach Lane Kiffin, shown at a Tigers basketball game vs. Kentucky on Jan. 1 at the PMAC, is under pressure to win big in his first season.

FIFA, World Cup under fire after Balogun decision

Absences highlight Pels’ Summer League roster The New Orleans Pelicans announced the roster for their Summer League team on Monday.

The players not on the roster proved to be bigger news than the players who were named.

Here are the five most notable things about who will be suiting up for the Pelicans when they tip off Summer League play in Las Vegas starting Thursday.

There was a time when college football coaches such as LSU’s Lane Kiffin didn’t exist in a win-now echo chamber pressurized by 24/7 media cycles.

But this isn’t to say everything was peachy.

“Coaching football is a rotten life,” former Michigan coach Bennie Oosterbaan, one of just three college football coaches to win a national title in his first season, told Time magazine just a few years after his glorious debut in 1948.

“I’m on top now, and there is a lot of backslapping,” Oosterbaan said.

“Let me lose the opener or a couple of other games next fall, and then watch how I’m blasted.”

Oosterbaan, considered the “best offensive mind in college football” by his predecessor, soured on scheming. When he left Michigan in 1958, he said “the pressure” got to him.

“Not from my bosses or the fans,” Oosterbaan said. “I mean the pressure that builds up inside a head coach whether he wins or loses.”

The coaching profession applies pressure. Kiffin, a renowned offensive mind in today’s era, said he doesn’t fret about outside expectations because none are greater than his own.

But the LSU job is a pressurecooker.

BY GRAHAM DUNBAR AP sportswriter

Rod Walker “They’ve been in here working with these guys,” Mosley said. “A big portion of that is them playing 82 games and being able to be up and play these games against the heavy hitters in the league.”

Count me among those who agree with that decision after seeing Fears play in all 82 games and Queen in 81.

They both have room for improve-

STAFF FILE PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD

Pelicans guard Micah Peavy reacts after hitting a 3-pointer against the Detroit Pistons during a game on Jan. 21 at ä See PELICANS, page 3C Smoothie King Center.

GENEVA — With the integrity of FIFA and the World Cup under attack from European soccer leaders, FIFA President Gianni Infantino acknowledged taking a call from President Donald Trump before U.S. forward Folarin Balogun was cleared to play against Belgium later Monday.

Balogun was issued a red card in the U.S. match vs. Bosnia-Herzegovina last week, resulting in a suspension for the Belgium contest. Trump called Infantino after the game with Bosnia to plead his case to overturn the call, and FIFA lifted the suspension Sunday.

That prompted a day of off-field furor at the World Cup. The Belgian soccer federation challenged FIFA’s

ä See BALOGUN, page 3C

2C ● Tuesday, July 7, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

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Cobolli victorious over de Minaur Paolini also gets to Wimbledon quarterfinals

BY ANDREW DAMPF AP sportswriter

LONDON — On his first match point, Flavio Cobolli stepped up and unleashed a 135 mph first serve down the T that landed on the line and sent a puff of chalk into the air on No. 1 Court at Wimbledon.

Fifth-seeded opponent Alex de Minaur could barely touch the serve and the Australian’s weak return didn’t even go past his own service line.

Cobolli reacted by leaping into the air and pumping his fist. He launched a ball into the crowd before moving forward to shake hands with De Minaur.

Then the Italian moved on to the performance he’d been waiting for.

Cobolli put his racket down and went back out into the center of the court and launched himself into the most iconic celebration in soccer: twirling in mid-air like Cristiano Ronaldo, he then landed on the grass with his feet planted wide and jerked his arms down by his side.

The mostly English crowd knew just what was going on and shouted “Siuuu” along with Cobolli.

“I love his celebration. I love him,” said Cobolli, who was once a promising soccer player himself in Roma’s youth system. “I will cheer for Portugal (against Spain at the World Cup) tonight because of Ronaldo.”

In his previous match, Cobolli performed a surfing celebration borrowed from Brazil striker Matheus Cunha.

Antonelli and Sinner While four-time champion Italy failed to qualify for a third consecutive World Cup, the country has no lack of sports stars and a few of them were in the spotlight at the grass-court Grand Slam on Monday.

Cobolli’s 7-5, 7-6 (4), 6-3 victory over a fellow top-10 player to reach the quarterfinals was a statement win as he attempts to back up his run to the French Open final.

At the same time over on Centre Court, Jasmine Paolini ended the run of rising Filipino player Alexandra Eala with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 victory to return to the last eight at a Grand Slam for the first time since back-to-back runs to the Ro-

AP basketball writer

NEW YORK — It’s been a rough couple of weeks for the WNBA with injuries.

Stars A’ja Wilson, Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Plum have all missed time for a variety of ailments.

While Wilson and Clark, who were both selected as All-Star starters last week, should be back soon, Plum will be a bit longer.

Wilson has missed three games with a foot injury she suffered against Chicago.

Las Vegas coach Becky Hammon said that the fourtime MVP could have played in Sunday’s loss to Wilson Indiana if it was a playoff game, but she was keeping her out while looking at the bigger picture Clark has been working her way toward playing again after she aggravated a back injury.

Clark has started practicing again and potentially will return during the current road trip that the Fever are on with games in Los Angeles, Phoenix and Las Vegas. The star guard missed the first game of the trip against Las Vegas on Sunday.

Plum is out with a lower left leg injury and is expected to be evaulated in late July right around the All-Star break. Los Angeles has struggled without her.

Last season’s MVP runner-up

WASHINGTON — Alex Ovechkin is returning for a 22nd season with the Washington Capitals.

Will this be the final act of his illustrious career?

“I don’t know,” he said. “We’ll see.”

The NHL’s career leader in goals didn’t formally commit to returning in 2026-27 until last week, so it was perhaps no surprise that Ovechkin remained noncommittal on whether this is going to be his swan song in Washington. Ovechkin said his wife suggested he play “one more year, or maybe two years, I don’t know” — so if anyone was expecting him to announce a retirement tour for this season, that did not happen.

Instead, Ovechkin is focused on showing he can still be effective — he’ll be 41 — and help the team win.

Forward Hachimura agrees to 2-year deal with Clippers

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MAJA SMIEJKOWSKA

Flavio Cobolli of Italy returns the ball to Alex de Minaur of Australia in their fourth-round singles match at Wimbledon in London on Monday. land Garros and Wimbledon finals two years ago.

Watching Paolini from the Royal Box was Kimi Antonelli, the 19-year-old Italian driver who leads the Formula One standings for Mercedes.

“I met Kimi afterward,” Paolini said. “I’ve been following him a lot lately. I’m becoming an F1 fan. He seems like a real nice kid and very down to earth.”

Coinciding with Italy’s troubles in soccer, Antonelli and defending Wimbledon champion Jannik Sinner — who plays Jan-Lennard Struff on Tuesday for a spot in the semifinals — have become the country’s most popular athletes.

Cobolli, too, is rapidly gaining attention after his run to the Paris final, where he pushed Alexander Zverev to five sets.

De Minaur led 5-2 in the second set and was up a break twice in the third. But Cobolli wouldn’t be deterred.

“Alex is a stratospheric player.

So beating him three sets to none makes me feel like I’m ready,” Cobolli said when asked if he’s ready for another deep run. “This gave me a lot of answers, and I think it provided a lot of answers to my opponents, too.”

World Cup and gelato After the victory over de Minaur, Cobolli’s grandfather had to go and find a new house for their team in the Wimbledon village since they had only reserved through the first week.

Now they can maintain Flavio’s nightly routine during the fortnight: dinner cooked by his father and coach, Stefano, and shared with his best friend, Watford midfielder Edoardo Bove, before watching a World Cup match and downing a tub of gelato (pear and white chocolate is Cobolli’s flavor for the tournament).

“An Italian family give us all the house here in Wimbledon,” Cobolli said. “So it’s really cool.”

Cobolli’s quarterfinal opponent will be Arthur Fery — the 23-year-old British player who grew up just five minutes from the All England Club.

Paolini doesn’t allow distraction Besides the challenge presented by the 21-year-old Eala, who eliminated defending champion Iga Swiatek in the previous round, the 5-foot-4 Paolini also had to try and not to let the presence of Roger Federer in the

Royal Box distract her.

At one point, Antonelli sat right next to Federer, the owner of a men’s record eight Wimbledon singles titles.

“He is my idol,” the 30-year-old Paolini said of Federer in an oncourt interview. “I was like during the match, ‘Please stay focused, stay focused. Don’t think about he’s here.’ I was watching all the finals and all the tournaments he was playing here.”

Paolini’s next opponent will be Marta Kostyuk, the Ukrainian player who reached her first Wimbledon quarterfinal by beating American qualifier Ashlyn Krueger 6-4, 6-4.

It was the hottest day of the tournament so far, as the temperature rose to 90 degrees, prompting players to place bags of ice around their necks on changeovers.

Another women’s quarterfinal will feature Linda Noskova against Elise Mertens.

The strong performance by Italian players follows similar results at the French Open, where three men reached the quarterfinals despite Sinner’s secondround meltdown in a Paris heat wave.

Stars Wilson, Clark nearing a return from injuries

BY DOUG FEINBERG

Ovechkin is back for another season with NHL’s Capitals

Throwback game Geno Auriemma and Robin Roberts will call the Dallas-New York game Tuesday night on ESPN. The pair called the first WNBA broadcast on the network 30 years earlier.

“Yeah, I was nervous the first time I did it, because I didn’t know what I was doing and now that I remember back and having to do it again, knowing what could go wrong, I’m even more nervous,” Auriemma joked on a conference call. “We just tried, just figure out, let’s watch the game and see what happens and talk about what we see.”

There will be a lot of familiarity for Auriemma as three of his former players will be in the game ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MICHAEL CONROy with Dallas having Bueckers and Azzi Fudd and the Liberty having Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark, right, drives on Atlanta Dream guard Stewart.

Te-Hina Paopao, left, during a game in Indianapolis on June 18.

Roberts has been impressed how the league has grown over the past Napheesa Collier has yet to play Toronto and Portland followed three decades.

“To see the respect it has earned, this year after she had offseason the Dream. Los Angeles, Chicago, surgery on both her ankles. She Seattle and Connecticut rounded the players are just incredible, and I’m just very grateful to see that it has started practicing again for out the poll. is getting the recognition that it’s Minnesota and also should be Player of the week getting right now,” she said. back soon.

Breanna Stewat of New York Power poll rankings was the AP player of the week. Game of the week Minnesota remained atop the She had a huge game in the LiberNew York at Minnesota, Saturpower poll this week barely edg- ty’s win over Minnesota last Fri- day. Two of the top teams in the ing New York. One point sepa- day. Stewart scored 36 points to WNBA will meet again in Minrated the top two teams. Golden go along with seven rebounds and nesota with the Lynx hosting the State was third with Las Vegas two blocks in the victory. Other Liberty. Star Minnesota forward fourth, The Valkyries picked up players receiving votes included Napheesa Collier might be ready some first-place votes. Dallas Paige Bueckers of Dallas, Sha- to play in that game as she’s been was fifth. Indiana, Washington kira Austin of Washington and working back from offseason anand Atlanta were next. Phoenix Gabby Williams of Golden State. kle surgeries.

Free agent forward Rui Hachimura and the Los Angeles Clippers have agreed on a twoyear contract that would be worth $28 million if a team option is exercised, a person familiar with the talks said on Monday.

Hachimura will be joining his third team, after splitting his first eight NBA seasons between the Washington Wizards and Los Angeles Lakers. His departure means all five of the players that the Lakers started in Game 1 of last season’s playoff run — Hachimura, LeBron James (still choosing a new team), Deandre Ayton (trade to Washington), Marcus Smart (agreed to sign with Houston) and Luke Kennard (agreed to sign with Phoenix) — will play elsewhere this season.

Kings cut loose veteran DeRozan after two seasons

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — DeMar DeRozan is finally free to pursue other opportunities following two seasons with the Sacramento Kings.

The Kings are waiving DeRozan in a move that has been expected for weeks, sources told The Sacramento Bee on Monday, making the six-time All-Star an unrestricted free agent.

DeRozan, 36, could have a number of potential suitors as he enters his 18th season at No. 16 on the NBA’s all-time scoring list with 26,711 points. ESPN reported that multiple contenders are expected to have interest in DeRozan, including those that are rebuffed in their pursuit of LeBron James.

DeRozan had one year remaining on a three-year, $74 million contract.

Braves place LHP Perez on IL with arm contusion

ATLANTA — The Atlanta Braves placed left-hander Martín Pérez on the 15-day injured list on Monday with a left forearm contusion.

Pérez was hit by Juan Soto’s line drive in Sunday’s 10-9 loss to the New York Mets and left the game.

Afterward, Atlanta manager Walt Weiss said X-rays were negative.

Pérez (6-6) allowed six hits and five runs, four earned, in 41/3 innings. He has a 3.54 ERA in 18 games, including 14 starts.

Right-hander Carlos Carrasco was designated for assignment after allowing five runs on five hits in two innings on Sunday.

The Braves recalled right-hander JR Ritchie from Triple-A Gwinnett and called up right-hander Owen Murphy, who has pitched for Gwinnett this season.

Cornerback Douglas agrees to 1-year deal with Commanders

Veteran cornerback Rasul Douglas has agreed to terms with the Washington Commanders on a contract for next season, according to a person familiar with the deal.

The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Monday because the contract had not yet been signed.

Douglas, who turns 31 on Aug. 29, returns to the NFC East after beginning his NFL career in the division with Philadelphia. A thirdround pick in 2017, he helped the Eagles win the Super Bowl in his rookie year.

With Washington coming off a season in which it ranked last in the league on defense, general manager Adam Peters has been active in adding talent on that side of the ball.

The Acadiana Advocate ● theadvocate.com ● Tuesday, July 7, 2026 ● 3C

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PELICANS

Continued from page 1C

SUMMER LEAGUE ROSTER

(NBA experience in parentheses) Chris Bell 6-7 Forward (0) Kobe Bufkin 6-4 Guard (3) Melvin Council 6-4 Guard (0) Dominique Daniels 5-10 Guard (0) Malik Dia 6-9 F/C (0) Hunter Dickinson 7-1 Center (1) Nate Mensah 6-9 Center (1) Peavy back at it Jalon Moore 6-7 Forward (0) While the Pelicans’ two firstMarkquis Nowell 5-7 Guard (1) round draft picks from 2025 Josh Oduro 6-9 F/C (1) won’t play, their second-round Johnny O’Neil 6-10 Forward (0) pick (Micah Peavy) will.

“I’m embracing it big time,” Micah Peavy 6-7 Forward (1) Peavy said. “I’m going to go out Jaron Pierre 6-5 Guard (0) and show what I’ve been working Jordan Riley 6-5 Guard (0) on and what this new coaching Christian Shumate 6-6 Forward (0) staff has been putting in place.”

Peavy played in 61 games as a Solomon Washington 6-7 Forward (0) ment, but what they did as rookies along with the work they have put in during the offseason suggest they are headed in the right direction. Playing against Summer League competition won’t do much to enhance that.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ASHLEy LANDIS

Spain’s Pedro Porro, left, and Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo react after Spain defeated Portugal in a World Cup round of 16 match on Monday in Arlington, Texas.

WORLD CUP

Continued from page 1C The latest meeting of Iberian Peninsula rivals that first played in a friendly in Madrid 105 years ago was quite the contrast to their most recent World Cup match.

It was eight years ago that Ronaldo had his only World Cup hat trick in a 3-3 draw with Spain in a group stage opener that is considered one of the tournament’s best games.

The 41-year-old superstar scored three times in this tournament, but he didn’t have many chances against Spain’s Unai Simón, who extended his World Cup record to 609 minutes without conceding a goal. Spain became the first team

to record six straight shutouts at the World Cup. The best chance was Ronaldo’s nifty backward kick in the 37th minute when Joao Felix’s header deflected off Simón’s left shoulder and popped in the air to Ronaldo.

He flicked the ball with his right foot, but it was soft enough to give Simón time to recover and make a leaping grab.

“I’ll wake up tomorrow like I woke up today, with a clear conscience,” said Ronaldo, who a day earlier had repeated his previous declaration that his sixth World Cup would be his last. “I gave my best. I won three titles with Portugal. Before Cristiano, Portugal hadn’t won any title. So, I’m happy.

The biggest title that I won with the national team was in 2016 (European Championship), which for

me had the same dimension as a World Cup, honestly.”

Portugal desperately pushed for an equalizer in the final eight minutes of stoppage time. Silva had a header that went just over the top of the net.

The defensive struggle came just two days shy of a year since Portugal beat Spain in a riveting UEFA Nations League final that went to penalty kicks after a 2-2 draw.

The other World Cup meeting was Spain’s 1-0 victory — also in the round of 16 — when La Roja won the title in South Africa.

“It was a great match. Two superb teams,” de la Fuente said.

“As we had said it, it was like an anticipated final. As it was expected, we had to suffer until the very end.”

BALOGUN

Continued from page 1C ruling not to enforce a ban on Balogun. The European soccer body UEFA described the decision as an “incomprehensible” breach of soccer’s rule of law. Trump acknowledged calling Infantino and took credit for getting FIFA to review the red card.

A chaotic and unprecedented day in modern World Cup history then saw a FIFA appeals judge dismiss Belgium’s legal challenge, fewer than eight hours before kickoff in Seattle with a quarterfinals place at stake. The game ended after press time.

The Belgian soccer body “is not a party to the proceedings and, as such, has no standing to appeal the decision,” FIFA said in a statement.

The Belgian federation said it “has informed the United States Soccer Federation that it contests the eligibility of the player, should the player be listed on the referee’s team sheet. This leaves all further actions open.”

The fallout from Balogun’s redcard challenge against a BosniaHerzegovina defender in a 2-0 win for the U.S. in the round of 32 last Wednesday has turned scrutiny on Infantino’s executive control of FIFA and his years-long close ties to Trump.

Infantino insisted in a social media post that FIFA’s disciplinary committee acted with independence and judged cases such as Balogun’s on “applicable regulations and the specific facts.”

“During our conversation,” Infantino said of his call with Trump, “I explained that there was an ongoing legal process involving FIFA’s independent judicial bodies and that the case would be decided in due course by the competent bodies.”

A FIFA disciplinary judge’s ruling Sunday left Balogun free to face Belgium in the round of 16 instead of serving a mandatory one-game ban.

The Belgian federation earlier said FIFA had not provided key documents for its appeal, and the soccer body of Norway — which faces England in the quarterfinals Saturday — said the lack of legal explanation from FIFA was “reason for concern regarding the integrity of the competition.”

The Swiss Football Association declared that the “credibility of the competition depends on clear rules that are applied consistently.”

Trump on Monday defended calling Infantino, saying he merely pointed out a “horrible” decision by a referee to issue Balogun a red card for an illegal tackle.

“All I did was ask for a review. I didn’t think it was a foul,” Trump told reporters at the White House

rookie. His best asset is his defense, which is why the Pelicans drafted him. But Peavy, who averaged 4.3 points per game last sesaon, knows Vegas is a chance to show strides on offense.

“Mainly, (I can show) just how many shots I’ve been putting up,” Peavy said. “My confidence is there.”

New kid on the block Jaron Pierre, the New Orleans native and St. Augustine High School alum, is the only player in the Pelicans’ 2026 draft class.

He was drafted late in the second round with the 58th overall pick.

All eyes will be on him. At Pierre’s introductory news conference last week, he described playing with his hometown team as surreal.

“It’s not surreal anymore,” he said Monday. “I’m really living it.”

Home again 2 Pierre isn’t the only player from New Orleans on the Summer League roster. Solomon Washington, who played at Carver and was Louisiana’s Mr. Basketball in 2022, is getting his shot to play for the Pelicans. The 6-foot-7 forward played his first three seasons at Texas A&M before finishing up this past season at Maryland.

“I want to show that I belong here and that I can compete with anybody on any given night and probably be the best player on the floor for what I do,” Wash-

LSU

Continued from page 1C

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MARTIN MEISSNER

United States players Folarin Balogun, left, and Christian Pulisic stand by after Balogun received a red card during a match against Bosnia on Wednesday in Santa Clara, Calif. about lobbying Infantino, a close ally, not to impose a one-game ban.

Instead, the ban was deferred for one year of probation and flared into an all-time controversy in the World Cup’s 96-year history just hours ahead of the U.S.-Belgium match in Seattle.

UEFA earlier criticized FIFA for an “incomprehensible and unjustifiable decision” that it said “crossed a red line,” and other stinging criticism came globally from former World Cup stars and coaches at the tournament.

“It’s a bad, bad, bad, bad, bad decision that will hurt the World Cup,” Norway coach Ståle Solbakken said Sunday after his team beat Brazil to reach the quarterfinals.

UEFA, whose member federations include Belgium, insisted: “Sometimes rules are open to interpretation. In this case not. When the certainty of rules is no longer guaranteed by its guardians, the integrity of the game is at stake and the credibility of a competition is undermined.”

UEFA has often clashed with Infantino during his decade in FIFA power.

“We express our disbelief at such an unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable decision,” said UEFA, where Infantino was its CEO-like general secretary from 2009 until being elected to lead FIFA in February 2016.

Infantino’s predecessor Sepp Blatter, who was forced from office in 2015 in fallout from corruption scandals, posted Monday on social media: “Red cards are not overturned by political phone calls. They are overturned by rules, evidence and independent bodies.”

Balogun was sent off directly for planting his cleated foot on the ankle of Bosnian defender Tarik Muharemovic during a 2-0 win for

the U.S. in the round of 32.

That kind of challenge has been a routine red card all season in competitions worldwide, and Balogun could have expected a two-game ban for serious foul play under the FIFA disciplinary code.

Still, similar challenges by star players have gone unpunished at this World Cup — by Argentina’s Lionel Messi against Algeria and Morocco’s Achraf Hakimi vs. Brazil. Bernardo Silva of Portugal got just a yellow card against Congo.

“I think a yellow card would have been fair,” Balogun later suggested.

This World Cup has been remarkable for FIFA under Infantino seeming to rewrite the norms of disciplinary action even before the tournament began.

A pattern of pardons opened FIFA to suggestions of executive intervention in the statutory independence of its judicial bodies, including the disciplinary committee that formally reprieved Balogun.

Cristiano Ronaldo was cleared to play in Portugal’s opening World Cup game despite getting a red card for serious foul play in a qualifying game against Ireland last November. He struck an opponent with an elbow.

Ronaldo served his mandatory ban in Portugal’s final qualifying game but he was reprieved from an expected two-game ban because FIFA introduced the idea of probation.

An imposed three-game ban was less meaningful as two games were deferred during a one-year probationary period.

At the opening game on June 11, South Africa’s Themba Zwane got a red card against Mexico for a similar offense to Ronaldo’s and FIFA imposed a three-game ban with no probation. Zwane did not play again at the World Cup.

SCHEDULE Thursday: vs.Timberwolves, 2:30 p.m.

Saturday: vs. Hornets, 3 p.m.

Sunday: vs. Suns, 2 p.m.

July 15: vs. Cavaliers, 4:30 p.m.

July 17, 18 or 19: TBA ington said.

Most intriguing players There are plenty to choose from. The high-flying Christian Shumate, who played at McNeese State, returns to the Summer League team for a second straight year.

There’s also Kobe Bufkin, who was drafted by the Atlanta Hawks with the No. 15 overall pick in the 2023 draft. That was one pick after the Pelicans drafted Jordan Hawkins.

I can’t leave off Markquis Nowell, a 5-foot-7 guard who set an NCAA Tournament record with 19 assists in Kansas State’s overtime win over Michigan State in 2023.

And there’s Dominique Daniels, who played at California Baptist.

Daniels averaged 23.2 points, including a 47-point game against Utah Valley. He made 18 of 21 free throws in that game. He is one of 10 players on the Summer League roster with no NBA experience. He and the other nine are hoping to change that with a strong showing in Vegas.

Email Rod Walker at rwalker@ theadvocate.com.

coaches in their second seasons, including Texas A&M’s Mike Elko, Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer, Tulane’s Jon Sumrall and James Madison’s Bob Chesney. The only first-year coach was Pete Golding, who took over for Kiffin in the postseason.

Title contenders typically take time to build. In two 12-team playoffs, the average tenure of coaches in the tourney was 4.8 years. The average was seven years for coaches in the final trio of four-team playoffs, right after NIL started in 2021.

Coaches can build toward the playoff quickly, but national titles in Year 1 are rare, and they have not translated to long-term happiness.

The only coaches other than Oosterbaan to win titles in their first seasons were Miami’s Dennis Erickson and Larry Coker. Erickson, who won it all in 1989 and did it again in 1991, jumped to the NFL and bounced between levels, with fading success, for two decades. Coker, a champion in 2001, was out of a job within five years.

At LSU, there’s a pace in which football coaches win titles. Saban arrived in 2000 and claimed his in 2003. Miles took charge of the Tigers in 2005 and won it all in 2007. Orgeron succeeded Miles in 2016 and took home the trophy in 2019.

It usually takes a few years.

Even in this era, where rosters can turn over in the portal, those new pieces have to mesh. Sometimes, they need to mature.

Indiana starters in 2025 averaged 4.3 years in college ball, including 11 players who were either fifth- or sixth-year seniors.

LSU’s projected 22 is a bit younger, averaging 3.5 years.

“We’re going to have the teams and rosters back to the way they were playing when (LSU was) great. I don’t know how fast, that might not be today,” Kiffin said in June, “but it’s going to happen.”

The pressure is on.

It’s a place where three coaches — Nick Saban, Les Miles and Ed Orgeron — have won national titles this century. It’s a place where Brian Kelly was axed, with $54 million left on his contract, because 34-14 with no playoff appearances wasn’t good enough.

To put it lightly, Kiffin must win. To put it not so lightly, LSU fans are “nuts,” according to Hall of Fame coach Urban Meyer, who proclaimed ahead of the Fourth of July weekend that Kiffin has to win a national title in 2026 — or at least come close — to stay in the fans’ good graces.

“He’s gotta be within a swing of it,” said Meyer, who won a national title in his second season at Florida and his third at Ohio State. “That’s one place, I remember when I retired, I said ‘Good, I’m never going there again’ — because (LSU) fans are nuts.”

It’s questionable whether Meyer’s take is fair, but talk of Kiffin’s title timeline was fair game as soon as he jumped from Ole Miss ahead of a playoff run because he considered Baton Rouge more fertile soil to build a contender.

Kiffin has promised the Tigers will win a title during his tenure, though he didn’t offer a specific timeline. But the question is certainly being asked locally and nationally.

How long should it take?

There is a perception that titles can be won more quickly these days because of transfers and athlete pay. Curt Cignetti just led one of the least successful programs in college football history, Indiana, to the mountaintop.

But many of Cignetti’s stars followed him from James Madison, a Cinderella script that can’t be repeated. It wasn’t until the coach’s second year, with a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback, Fernando Mendoza, that the Hoosiers won it all.

Email Jon Blau at jon.blau@ The 2025 CFP included five theadvocate.com.

SPORTS

24/7

4C ● Tuesday, July 7, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

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SCOREBOARD Odds Sports Betting Line MLB Tuesday

American League FAVORITE LINE at TAMPA BAY OFF at DETROIT -190 Boston -120 Cleveland -122 at TEXAS -166 National League FAVORITE LINE at ST. LOUIS OFF at PITTSBURGH OFF at CINCINNATI OFF at ST. LOUIS OFF at SAN DIEGO OFF at LA DODGERS -250 Interleague FAVORITE LINE Chicago Cubs -112 at MIAMI OFF Houston -118 at N.Y METS OFF at SAN FRAN OFF

UNDERDOG LINE N.Y Yankees OFF Athletics +160 at WHITE SOX +102 at MINNESOTA +104 LA Angels +140 UNDERDOG Milwaukee Atlanta Philadelphia Milwaukee Arizona Colorado

LINE OFF OFF OFF OFF OFF +205

UNDERDOG LINE at BALTIMORE -104 Seattle OFF at WASH +100 Kansas City OFF Toronto OFF

Pro basketball WNBA Glance EASTERN CONFERENCE W 13 12 12 10 9 6 4

New York Indiana Atlanta Washington Toronto Chicago Connecticut

L 8 8 9 9 11 14 16

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Minnesota Las Vegas Golden State Dallas Los Angeles Portland Phoenix Seattle

Sunday’s Games

W 15 15 14 13 8 9 8 5

L 5 6 7 8 10 12 13 17

Pct .619 .600 .571 .526 .450 .300 .200 Pct .750 .714 .667 .619 .444 .429 .381 .227

GB — ½ 1 2 3½ 6½ 8½ GB — ½ 1½ 2½ 6 6½ 7½ 11

Tuesday’s Games

Dallas at New York, 7 p.m.

Chicago at Phoenix, 9 p.m.

Major League Baseball

Milwaukee Chicago St. Louis Pittsburgh Cincinnati

West Division Los Angeles Arizona San Diego San Francisco Colorado

W 55 50 47 46 41

W 59 44 44 37 37

Tampa Bay New York Toronto Baltimore Boston

W 52 49 42 42 40

L 35 40 48 49 48

Pct .598 .551 .467 .462 .455

GB — 4 11½ 12 12½

Chicago Cleveland Minnesota Detroit Kansas City

W 47 47 44 40 36

L 42 44 47 50 54

Pct .528 .516 .484 .444 .400

GB — 1 4 7½ 11½

Seattle Texas Houston Athletics Los Angeles

W 47 45 45 41 36

L 44 45 47 49 55

Pct .516 .500 .489 .456 .396

GB — 1½ 2½ 5½ 11

Cincinnati 3, Baltimore 2 Minnesota 6, N.Y. Yankees 1

Pct .591 .556 .538 .505 .411

GB — 3 4½ 7½ 16

L 33 40 40 45 48

Pct .625 .556 .540 .505 .461

GB — 6 7½ 10½ 14½

L 32 45 45 52 54

Pct .648 .494 .494 .416 .407

GB — 14 14 21 22

Monday, July 6

Spain 1, Portugal 0 United States vs. Belgium, n

Tuesday, July 7

Argentina vs. Egypt, 11 a.m.

Switzerland vs. Colombia, 3 p.m.

NASCAR eero 400 Results

France vs. Morocco, 3 p.m.

Late Sunday

Friday, July 10

W93 vs. W94, 2 p.m.

Saturday, July 11

Norway vs. England, 4 p.m.

W95 vs. W96, 8 p.m.

Tennis

Kansas City 15, Philadelphia 1 Houston at Washington, n N.Y. Mets at Atlanta, n Milwaukee at St. Louis, n Arizona at San Diego, n Toronto at San Francisco, n Colorado at L.A. Dodgers, n

Tuesday’s Games

Monday

At All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club London Purse: £30,060,000 Surface: Grass Results Monday from the Championships at All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (seedings in parentheses):

Men’s Singles

Fourth Round Flavio Cobolli (9), Italy, def. Alex de Minaur (5), Australia, 7-5, 7-6 (4), 6-3.

Taylor Fritz (6), United States, def. Alexander Bublik (10), Kazakhstan, 7-6 (1), 6-4, 6-4.

Arthur Fery, Britain, def. Grigor Dimitrov, Bulgaria, 7-5, 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7).

Women’s Singles

Fourth Round Marta Kostyuk (12), Ukraine, def. Ashlyn Krueger, United States, 6-4, 6-4.

Elise Mertens (25), Belgium, def. Marie Bouzkova (21), Czechia, 6-4, 6-4.

Jasmine Paolini (13), Italy, def. Alexandra Eala (29), Philippines, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.

Linda Noskova (9), Czechia, def. Madison Keys (26), United States, 6-4, 7-6 (2).

Milwaukee (Misiorowski 9-4) at St. Louis (McGreevy 3-7), 1:15 p.m., 1st game Chicago Cubs (Boyd 3-1) at Baltimore (Baz 4-8), 5:35 p.m.

Atlanta (TBD) at Pittsburgh (Skenes 6-8), 5:40 p.m.

Seattle (TBD) at Miami (Meyer 9-1), 5:40 p.m.

Houston (Imai 5-4) at Washington (Alvarez 2-1), 5:45 p.m.

Kansas City (Lugo 3-6) at N.Y. Mets (TBD), 6:10 p.m.

Philadelphia (Wheeler 8-1) at Cincinnati (Abbott 5-4), 6:10 p.m.

Milwaukee (TBD) at St. Louis (TBD), 6:45 p.m., 2nd game Arizona (Gallen 3-8) at San Diego (TBD), 8:40 p.m.

Toronto (TBD) at San Francisco (McDonald 3-6), 8:45 p.m.

Third Round Mate Pavic, Croatia, and Marcelo Arevalo (6), El Salvador, def. Jean-Julien Rojer, Netherlands, and Theodore Winegar, United States, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-3.

Thanasi Kokkinakis, Australia, and Aleksandar Kovacevic, United States, def. Christian Harrison, United States, and Neal Skupski (5), Britain, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5).

Lloyd Glasspool and Julian Cash (3), Britain, def. Petr Nouza, Czechia, and Neil Oberleitner, Austria, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5.

Nikola Mektic, Croatia, and Austin Krajicek (14), United States, def. Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori (4), Italy, 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-4.

Women’s Doubles

Third Round Shuko Aoyama, Japan, and En-Shuo Liang (13), Taiwan, def. Hsieh Su-wei, Taiwan, and Wang Xinyu, China, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.

Kristina Mladenovic, France, and Hanyu Guo (10), China, def. Irina Khromacheva, Russia, and Anastasia Detiuc, Czechia, 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3.

Demi Schuurs, Netherlands, and Ellen Perez (9), Australia, def. Elena-Gabriela Ruse, Romania, and Marta Kostyuk, Ukraine, walkover.

Xu Yifan and Xinyu Jiang, China, def. Vera Zvonareva, Russia, and Laura Siegemund (7), Germany, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.

Mexico comes back to earth after exit

BY CARLOS RODRIGUEZ

AP sportswriter

MEXICO CITY — For nearly a month, millions of Mexicans allowed themselves to believe this World Cup would be historic.

They dared bigger and brighter dreams as the national team racked up win after win in fortress Azteca.

Then they woke up to a cruel reality on Monday morning: The World Cup was marching on without Mexico.

The team lost to England 3-2 in a round of 16 thriller on Sunday night and officially disbanded in the morning.

Supporters reluctantly returned to their daily routines, their team no longer a contender and their country no longer a host in a tournament running for another two weeks across the United States.

“It’s painful because we dreamed and had high hopes, and crashing out like this hurts a lot,” Mexico coach Javier Aguirre said. “It wasn’t meant to be ... we couldn’t seal the deal and give the people another night of joy.”

Mexico staged the opening ceremony and first match on June 11 for a 2–0 victory over South Africa. South Korea was beaten 1–0, the Czech Republic 3–0 and Ecuador 2–0 in the round of 32 for Mexico’s first knockout stage success in 40 years.

But Mexico stumbled in the round of 16 for the eighth time in the last nine World Cups. The sole exception was 2022 in Qatar, where El Tri failed to survive the group stage.

“Breaking through that barrier isn’t as easy as everyone thinks, but we’re on the right track,” midfielder Erik Lira said. “This time was different because we were playing as one of the best teams out there; we’re leaving with our

Auto racing

QUARTERFINAL Thursday, July 9

Men’s Doubles

Monday’s Games

American League

Sunday’s Games

Central Division

Brazil 1, Norway 2 Mexico 2, England 3

Wimbledon Results L 36 40 42 45 53

N.Y. Mets 10, Atlanta 9 Cincinnati 3, Baltimore 2 Pittsburgh 11, Washington 5 Chicago Cubs 6, St. Louis 4 Kansas City 5, Philadelphia 2 Colorado 7, San Francisco 6 Milwaukee 3, Arizona 2 Miami 9, Athletics 8 San Diego 5, L.A. Dodgers 2

Golden State at Washington, n Connecticut at Minnesota, n Seattle at Los Angeles, n

West Division

Sunday, July 5

Chicago Cubs (Boyd 3-1) at Baltimore (Baz 4-8), 5:35 p.m.

Athletics (Ginn 7-4) at Detroit (Skubal 4-4), 5:40 p.m.

N.Y. Yankees (Warren 7-3) at Tampa Bay (McClanahan 7-5), 5:40 p.m.

Seattle (TBD) at Miami (Meyer 9-1), 5:40 p.m.

Houston (Imai 5-4) at Washington (Alvarez 2-1), 5:45 p.m.

Kansas City (Lugo 3-6) at N.Y. Mets (TBD), 6:10 p.m.

Boston (Tolle 4-6) at Chicago White Sox (Schultz 2-5), 6:40 p.m.

Cleveland (Cantillo 7-3) at Minnesota (Bradley 7-3), 6:40 p.m.

L.A. Angels (Soriano 8-5) at Texas (deGrom 7-5), 7:05 p.m.

Toronto (TBD) at San Francisco (McDonald 3-6), 8:45 p.m.

Sunday’s Games

Monday’s Games

Central Division

Canada 0, Morocco 3 Paraguay 0, France 1

Tuesday’s Games

Atlanta Philadelphia Miami Washington New York

Quarterfinals Storm Hunter and Marc Polmans, Australia, def. Guido Andreozzi, Argentina, and Aldila Sutjiadi, Indonesia, 7-6 (5), 7-5.

Mate Pavic, Croatia, and Fanny Stollar, Hungary, def. Neal Skupski, Britain, and Desirae Krawczyk (6), United States, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (5).

Zhang Shuai, China, and Christian Harrison (3), United States, def. Joe Salisbury, Britain, and Leylah Fernandez, Canada, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-3.

Marcelo Arevalo, El Salvador, and Jelena Ostapenko (2), Latvia, def. Edouard RogerVasselin, France, and Laura Siegemund, Germany, 6-4, 7-6 (7).

ROUND OF 16 Saturday, July 4

Kansas City 15, Philadelphia 1 N.Y. Yankees at Tampa Bay, n Houston at Washington, n Toronto at San Francisco, n

W 52 50 49 46 37

Mixed Doubles

Men’s World Cup Glance

Monday’s Games

East Division

Ingrid Neel, Estonia, and Giuliana Olmos, Mexico, def. Aleksandra Krunic, Serbia, and Anna Danilina (3), Kazakhstan, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.

Soccer

National League

Dallas 89, Toronto 76 Indiana 84, Las Vegas 68

East Division

Colorado (Lorenzen 3-9) at L.A. Dodgers (Wrobleski 10-2), 9:10 p.m.

Chicago White Sox 7, Cleveland 6 Kansas City 5, Philadelphia 2 Houston 2, Tampa Bay 0 Detroit 6, Texas 3 Seattle 4, Toronto 0 Miami 9, Athletics 8 Boston 7, L.A. Angels 5

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By EDUARDO VERDUGO

Mexico’s Gilberto Mora reacts after the World Cup round of 16 soccer match between Mexico and England on Sunday in Mexico City. heads held high.”

But unlike previous heartbreaks — late-game collapses against Germany in 1998 and the Netherlands in 2014, and the penalty shootout disaster against Bulgaria in 1994 — this exit was on home soil with every advantage.

Mexico was riding a wave of four consecutive cleansheet victories. Estadio Azteca was fiercely partisan.

And Mexico City’s altitude was expected to hamper an unacclimatized England squad. Then a red card left England playing a man short for most of the second half.

But Mexico couldn’t capitalize.

“Losing didn’t hurt so much just because it was England; it hurt because this time it really seemed possible to go further,” said Eduardo Juárez, a 63-year-old retiree still wearing his green jersey on Monday. “We had a great team and high hopes but now it’s over.”

On Monday morning, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum used her daily news conference to offer words of comfort to the country.

“They played very, very well, and the moment Mexico is experiencing is one of great pride, hope and unity,” Sheinbaum said. “We need to keep our spirits up, acknowledge the effort and move forward.”

With Mexico’s run over, Aguirre’s contract has expired. According to the federation’s original roadmap, his assistant coach — Barcelona great Rafael Márquez — is slated to take the helm for the 2030 World Cup cycle.

Márquez has a signed agreement in principle but his official appointment must still be ratified by the owners of the 18 Liga MX first division clubs. This review will take place next month after Aguirre submits his final tournament report.

“I had Rafa as a player and now as a colleague; he is more than qualified,” Aguirre noted. “He is a valuable asset, he’ll prove it, and I hope he achieves better results than we did.”

For Mexico’s fans, that transition will become the new anchor for their fractured hopes.

At Chicagoland Speedway Joliet, Ill. Lap length: 1.50 miles (Start position in parentheses) 1. (7) Chase Briscoe, Toyota, 267 laps, 70 points.

2. (6) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 267, 40.

3. (1) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 267, 45.

4. (10) William Byron, Chevrolet, 267, 53.

5. (12) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 267, 35.

6. (8) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 267, 40.

7. (14) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 267, 36.

8. (5) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 267, 38.

9. (28) Corey Heim, Toyota, 267, 0.

10. (18) Riley Herbst, Toyota, 267, 31.

11. (9) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 267, 30.

12. (31) Joey Logano, Ford, 267, 25.

13. (23) Austin Cindric, Ford, 267, 33.

14. (26) Daniel Suárez, Chevrolet, 267, 23.

15. (22) Erik Jones, Toyota, 267, 22.

16. (29) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 267, 21.

17. (11) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 266, 20.

18. (19) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 266, 19.

19. (3) Chris Buescher, Ford, 266, 23.

20. (27) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 266, 17.

21. (4) Brad Keselowski, Toyota, 266, 16.

22. (15) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 266, 15.

23. (17) John H. Nemechek, Toyota, 266, 15.

24. (25) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 266, 13.

25. (30) Shane Van Gisbergen, Chevrolet, 266, 12.

26. (24) Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Chevrolet, 266, 11.

27. (32) Noah Gragson, Ford, 266, 10.

28. (16) Zane Smith, Ford, 266, 9.

29. (38) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 266, 8.

30. (37) Cody Ware, Chevrolet, 266, 7.

31. (33) Cole Custer, Chevrolet, 266, 6.

32. (20) Ryan Preece, Ford, 266, 5.

33. (34) Josh Berry, Ford, 265, 4.

34. (2) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 265, 12.

35. (36) JJ Yeley, Chevrolet, 256, 0.

36. (13) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 237, 2.

37. (35) Austin Hill, Chevrolet, accident, 47, 0.

38. (21) Connor Zilisch, Chevrolet, accident, 0, 1.

Race Statistics Average Speed of Race Winner: 126.937 mph.

Time of Race: 3 hours, 9 minutes, 18 seconds.

Margin of Victory: .276 seconds.

Caution Flags: 7 for 43 laps.

Lead Changes: 28 among 13 drivers.

Lap Leaders: D.Hamlin 0-6; K.Larson 7-18; D.Hamlin 19-34; C.Custer 35; D.Hamlin 36-37; K.Larson 38-48; W.Byron 49; A.Cindric 50-53; J.Logano 54; A.Cindric 55-68; W.Byron 69-85; C.Custer 86; W.Byron 87-90; B.Wallace 91124; C.Briscoe 125-128; D.Hamlin 129-132; R.Blaney 133-140; J.Yeley 141; W.Byron 142; C.Briscoe 143; W.Byron 144-169; J.Yeley 170; W.Byron 171-215; C.Bell 216; D.Hamlin 217218; B.Wallace 219; C.Heim 220; T.Gilliland 221; C.Briscoe 222-267 Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Led, Laps Led): W.Byron, 6 times for 94 laps; C.Briscoe, 3 times for 51 laps; B.Wallace, 2 times for 35 laps; D.Hamlin, 5 times for 30 laps; K.Larson, 2 times for 23 laps; A.Cindric, 2 times for 18 laps; R.Blaney, 1 time for 8 laps; C.Custer, 2

times for 2 laps; J.Yeley, 2 times for 2 laps; C.Bell, 1 time for 1 lap; C.Heim, 1 time for 1 lap; J.Logano, 1 time for 1 lap; T.Gilliland, 1 time for 1 lap.

Wins: T.Reddick, 5; D.Hamlin, 4; C.Elliott, 2; S.Van Gisbergen, 2; R.Blaney, 1; T.Gibbs, 1; C.Briscoe, 1; C.Hocevar, 1; D.Suárez, 1.

Top 16 in Points: 1. D.Hamlin, 764; 2.

T.Reddick, 720; 3. R.Blaney, 651; 4. T.Gibbs, 627; 5. C.Elliott, 584; 6. K.Larson, 583; 7. C.Buescher, 541; 8. C.Briscoe, 538; 9.

C.Hocevar, 524; 10. C.Bell, 512; 11. D.Suárez, 507; 12. W.Byron, 499; 13. B.Wallace, 484; 14.

S.Van Gisbergen, 437; 15. A.Cindric, 434; 16.

E.Jones, 411.

NASCAR Driver Rating Formula A maximum of 150 points can be attained in a race.

The formula combines the following categories: Wins, Finishes, Top-15 Finishes, Average Running Position While on Lead Lap, Average Speed Under Green, Fastest Lap, Led Most Laps, Lead-Lap Finish.

Transactions Major League Baseball

American League DETROIT TIGERS — Agreed to terms with OF Raylin Castillo on a minor league contract.

HOUSTON ASTROS — Reinstated SS Braden Shewmake from the 10-day IL. Optioned 2B Raynel Delgado to Sugar Land (PCL).

TAMPA BAY RAYS — Recalled RHP Chris Roycroft from Durham (IL). Optioned RHP Mason Englert to Durham.

National League ATLANTA BRAVES — Placed LHP Martín Pérez on the 15-day IL. Designated RHP Carlos Carrasco for assignment. Recalled RHP JR Ritchie from Gwinnett (IL). Selected the contract of RHP Owen Murphy from Gwinnett (IL).

WASHINGTON NATIONALS — Recalled RHP Cole Henry from Rochester (IL). Optioned RHP Eddy Yean to Rochester.

BASKETBALL

National Basketball Association ATLANTA HAWKS — Acquired G Aaron Wiggins from the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for draft considerations.

BOSTON CELTICS — Re-signed G Ron Harper Jr. to a contract. Re-signed C Neemias Queta to a veteran extension. Acquired F Paul George from the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for draft considerations.

BROOKLYN NETS — Signed C Day’Ron Sharpe and F Josh Minott to contracts.

CHARLOTTE HORNETS — Signed F Hannes Steinbach and G Christian Anderson to rookie scale contracts.

DETROIT PISTONS — Signed G Ebuka Okorie to a rookie scale contract. Acquired G Isaiah Joe from the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for draft considerations.

GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS — Re-signed C Al Horford to a contract.

MIAMI HEAT — Re-signed F Andrew Wiggins to a veteran extension. Acquired Fs Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis from the Milwaukee Bucks in exchange for Gs Tyler Herro, Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Kasparas Jakucionis, C Kel’el Ware and draft considerations.

MILWAUKEE BUCKS — Signed G Kam Jones to a two-way contract.

PHILADELPHIA 76ERS — Signed G Anfernee Simons and F Dean Wade to contracts. Acquired G Jaylen Brown from the Boston Celtics.

HOCKEY

National Hockey League CALGARY FLAMES — Signed D Simon Nemec to a five-year contract.

COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS — Signed D Colton White to a two-year contract.

EDMONTON OILERS — Signed F Owen Michaels to a two-year contract.

NEW JERSEY DEVILS — Re-signed F Ben Steeves to a one-year, two-way contract. Resigned G Jakub Málek to a two-year contract.

SOCCER

Major League Soccer REAL SALT LAKE — Acquired $1.1 million in cash from Toronto FC in exchange for M Nelson Palacio.

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LIVING

T H E A D V O C AT E.C O M

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T u e s d ay, J u ly 7, 2026

5CN

Microdrama filming starts in Baton Rouge and producer Tommy Harper talks his new adventure

LSU AGCENTER PHOTO

By RANDy LABAUVE

The LSU AgCenter Hammond Research Station is home to trial gardens where new plant introductions are evaluated on their performance in Louisiana’s challenging climate.

Trial run

Kasey Esser, center in dark suit, is readied to film a scene for ‘Because of Her’ in the Baton Rouge home of Elona and Kyle Sharbaugh on Wednesday.

Before plants make it into gardens, this LSU AgCenter station puts them to the test Plant breeders and marketing companies are constantly coming up with new cultivars to satisfy consumer preferences, fill market gaps and respond to industry needs.

GARDEN How do they NEWS decide which ones are good enough to be sold at garden centers across the country — and planted in your landscape?

You might be surprised to learn that, in many cases, the LSU AgCenter plays a role in this process.

In the heart of one of Louisiana’s clusters of nursery production, scientists at the AgCenter Hammond Research Station put about 150 annual bedding plants to the test every year in expansive, sunsoaked gardens. They also trial perennials, woody shrubs and ornamental trees.

The researchers mostly study new introductions from companies seeking the AgCenter’s data on how the plants perform in Louisiana’s challenging climate.

“It’s important for consumers to know what will work best in their environment,” said Caroline Blanchard, trials coordinator at the station. “We trial these plants so that consumers in Louisiana will know what works best in these hot and humid conditions.”

If a plant withers in the heat, doesn’t bloom as expected, struggles during dry spells or proves susceptible to pest problems, that information is noted. Of course, faculty and staff keep track of plants that shine, too. After all, if a plant can survive the Louisiana summer in full sun, there’s a good chance it can handle just about anything.

Other universities and private entities operate gardens that evaluate the performance of plants and provide data to help companies determine whether they’re worth putting them on the market. But the Hammond trials gardens are unique.

“This is different from other trialing companies who will trial in raised beds and really add a lot of inputs to their plants such as fertilizer and irrigation,” Blanchard said. “Our plants really take all of it. They take the heat, the sunlight, the water and all of that.”

At Hammond, plants are trialed in the ground in pine straw-mulched beds much like what you’d see outside someone’s home. That’s on purpose.

The gardens re-create the conditions where the flowers, shrubs and other specimens are most likely to be used

ä See TRIAL, page 6C

PROVIDED PHOTO By PATRICK MULHEARN

BY JUDY BERGERON Staff writer

While producer Tommy Harper focuses on production for Season 3 of Netflix’s supernatural, coming-of-age tale “Wednesday” in Ireland and France, his producing partner, Roberta Sparta, arrived in Louisiana last week to oversee another of Hollywood heavyweight Harper’s projects, the microdrama “Because of Her.” Early last week, lead actor Kasey Esser shared video on social media as he prepared to film scenes at the home of Elona and Kyle Sharbaugh off Highland Road. On Thursday, cast and crew re-assembled at the Shaw Center for the Arts downtown for more filming.

It’s humid; it’s humid. And I grew up in St. Louis, so I know what that feels like, but after being in LA for over a decade you

sort of lose the fortitude on that one,” Esser, 37, said on Facebook shortly after arriving in town.

For those unfamiliar, microdramas, sometimes called vertical dramas or vertical series, are short-form shows designed to be watched on a phone held upright.

Episodes typically run 60 to 90 seconds, with full seasons binged in about two to three hours.

Think soap operas with a 21stcentury delivery.

Subscribers download platform apps, including Harper’s new global VeYou, and receive a few free episodes before being charged a fee to view more. Average costs can range from $10 to $20 a week.

Baton Rouge company Irrevocable Designee LLC has a threeyear deal with Harper’s Tiny Verticals production arm to shoot

ä See MICRODRAMA, page 6C

PROVIDED PHOTO FROM FACEBOOK

A promo for one of Kasey Esser’s other recent projects, a microdrama called ‘The Unclaimed True Luna’

Original Triplet’s Blue Store in BR closing shop The original Triplet’s Blue Store is shown on May 27 in Baton Rouge.

STAFF FILE PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK

BY MADDIE SCOTT Staff writer

The original Triplet’s Blue Store near Southern University is closing on July 4 due to structural issues in the building, but the business may relocate to a site nearby with a new design, according to a social media post.

“Due to the poor condition of the building’s structure, it is

therefore deemed ‘unsafe’ to operate hereafter,” the business announced on its social media.

“For the safety of our customers as well as our staff, we can no longer operate business as is.”

At 605 Mills Ave., Triplet’s Blue Store was the first location of Blue Store Chicken, a fried chicken franchise with eight

ä See BLUE STORE, page 6C

6C ● Tuesday, July 7, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

lll

Bickering over leftover birthday cake This time I was not silent. In my Dear Miss Manners: I know this will sweetest voice, I said, “But you’ll probably sound trivial, but: Who share some with me.” should decide who gets the Then my sister-in-law leftover birthday cake? started talking about how See? I told you it was it wasn’t good manners, trivial. that the cake belonged to I made a birthday cake the birthday boy and that for my nephew. While I even though I made it, it was icing it, I mentioned to Judith wasn’t mine. his mom (my sister-in-law) Martin So, is the cake part of his that we could share the MISS birthday present? Or is the leftovers. She replied that MANNERS hostess or the baker the it was his cake, so he got one who decides how the all of it. I dropped the subject at the time, as it wasn’t worth food should be distributed?

Gentle reader: Apparently you do fighting over. consider this worth fighting over.

That night, we sang “Happy And a most unseemly battle Birthday” and sliced into the cake. it is, on both sides. Miss ManThen my sister-in-law said, “Just think, Jasper: That’s all yours.” ners’ only sympathies are with

the child, whose birthday was hijacked by two grown-ups haggling over his leftover cake.

She is forced to rule that the cake was, in effect, presented to the nephew, as the dessert to be shared with everyone at the table.

So, no — the baker should not make off with what is left.

Years later, your nephew’s wife will wonder why he begs her not to present him with a birthday cake, which would stir memories of his mother and aunt quarreling.

Dear Miss Manners: I am on a very limited income. A stamp is nearly a dollar, and that dollar can buy me a can of generic soup. I get free internet access, so email messages are how I write.

Should I give up a meal to send someone a thank-you note in the mail? Are their delicate sensibilities more important than me eating?

Gentle reader: Congratulations on your attempt to make it seem heartless to express gratitude to others. No doubt you picture Miss Manners harassing the unhoused for not giving dinner parties.

But yes, the delicate sensibilities of people who have been generous to you are important. You should be thanking them as best you can. Are those emails more than perfunctory notes? Are they specific and convincingly grateful?

Miss Manners worries about

that. The example of how you approached her, to whom you owe nothing but common civility, is not reassuring.

Dear Miss Manners: Is it proper to have a housewarming party for a man and woman who are building a house together, but aren’t married?

Gentle reader: Only if their building permit is legal.

Send questions to Miss Manners at her website, 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.

Ending toothpaste tube drama

LSU AGCENTER PHOTO By RANDy LABAUVE

At the Hammond Research Station trial gardens, plants are installed in beds, providing important information on how they perform in typical landscape settings.

TRIAL

Continued from page 5C while giving scientists and visitors a sense of how the plants might fit into a typical landscape.

Founded in 1922, the 140-acre station originally focused on work that sup-

ported the truck farming industry, which was popular in the Florida Parishes region at the time. The facility retooled in the mid2000s to support the green industry as it grew into a major economic driver of the area.

In addition to the trial gardens, the station also houses research aimed at

improving various facets of nursery production.

The station is located at 21549 Old Covington Highway about 6 miles east of Hammond. The trial gardens are open for selfguided tours from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Friday.

For more information, visit lsuagcenter.com/hammond or call (985) 543-4125.

MICRODRAMA Continued from page 5C

as many as 72 such series in Louisiana over the next three years, so “Because of Her” is just the beginning.

“It’s a romantic comedy.

Kasey Esser is a big actor in the space,” Harper said in late May. Something to watch for besides Esser, who’s referred to as “the Brad Pitt of microdramas,” is brand integration, according to Harper. New Orleans clothier Haspel has signed on for “Because of Her,” so expect to see Esser and other chiseled-featured actors entering the screen in Haspel’s signature seersucker suits.

“It’s kind of a no-brainer for a brand and for us to work together, because you can integrate the brand into the story a very natural way, and then you can also use the brand to help promote the series,” Harper said.

Harper, one of the creative minds behind many blockbuster films including “Top Gun: Maverick,” “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” “Star Trek Beyond” and “Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens,” is familiar with shooting in Louisiana, having worked as unit production manager on the “Battle Los Angeles” shoot in Baton Rouge.

“I had a good experience.

It was all positive for me.”

Harper said of the 2011 project starring Aaron Eckhart. “Dealing with the city and the government was great. Everybody was very accommodating. The crew

BLUE STORE

Continued from page 5C locations that vary slightly in name and menu across Baton Rouge.

Each of the businesses is owned by a different member of the Phan family. Mua Phan, who died in 2012, started the local fried chicken dynasty after taking over Triplet’s Food Mart near Southern University in 2000.

He set himself apart from other convenience stores when he started selling chicken wings in 2003. As

PROVIDED PHOTO

Executive producer Tommy Harper, second from left, at work on the set of ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ was great. The facilities were amazing. … I’m sure it’ll be the same when I get back out there.”

Locals were used in multiple facets of the “Battle Los Angeles” production, and eventually 95% of talent signed on to Harper’s microdrama projects will be local as well, he explained.

Harper will be in the city periodically to oversee Tiny Verticals’ productions firsthand, although probably not for “Because of Her,” he said.

Microseries shoots are quick, to say the least, lasting just seven to nine days.

Three to four months later, the series is up and on the platform. Look for “Because of Her” on VeYou in late August or early September, said Harper.

“They (Tiny Verticals’ series) will be on other viewing platforms eventually, but all of our originals will go to VeYou exclusively for at least the first four weeks,” he said.

Harper also offered insights into what’s charting

within the soaring trend of microseries, which first became popular in China: n Thirty- to 60-year-old women are the biggest consumers of vertical entertainment, and VeYou’s core demo. n There are also titles suited for the Gen Z demographic, light thrillers and action, while high school romcom dramas and similar genres are still in the mix. n For the male audience, thrillers, action pieces and some sports are available.

With the accelerated production window for microseries, taking advantage of location shoots in Louisiana will be a given.

“For this one (‘Because of Her’), I don’t even tell you where this series is located, but I’m just going to lean into the look and feel of Louisiana because it’s so picturesque,” he said. “Why wouldn’t I do that?”

of the tube, there is a Dear Heloise: The letter significant amount at the from Jan M. purports end where the toothpaste to end all the toothpaste exits the tube. It is drama. However, impossible to fully there’s one more squeeze this out, so thing that nobody several applications has mentioned. Beof toothpaste sit cause of my curiosthere unused. ity, I cut open the So, if one really tube after thinking Hints from wants to fully use up I’d effectively reHeloise a tube of toothpaste, moved all the toothit must be cut open paste within — only to access the remaining to discover that no matter amount, which will then be how one chooses to empty good for several brushings. the tube, it still has lots of And this is what should end toothpaste remaining. the toothpaste drama! — Rick I cut the end of the tube, B., in Portland, Oregon then cut along the creases of each side, and found Cotton swab trick that not only is there still toothpaste along the length Dear Heloise: I use a viscous

liquid cleaner to clean my sinks. After a few uses, the bottle clogs up, and the opening has to be cleaned out until the next few uses.

So, I decided to cut off one end of a cotton swab and put masking tape around the other end. I inserted the non-taped end into the bottle, and the taped end on top prevents the cotton swab from sliding all the way down into the bottle.

When I’m done, I reinsert the cotton swab until the next time I have to clean the sinks. — Linda, in Roanoke, Virginia Send a hint to heloise@ heloise.com.

TODAY IN HISTORY

By The Associated Press Today is Tuesday, July 7, the 188th day of 2026. There are 177 days left in the year.

Today in History: On July 7, 1981, President Ronald Reagan announced he was nominating Arizona Judge Sandra Day O’Connor to become the first female justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Also on this date: In 1865, four people were hanged in Washington, D.C., for conspiring with John Wilkes Booth to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln: Lewis Powell, David Herold, George Atzerodt and Mary Surratt, the first woman to be executed by the federal government.

In 1898, President William McKinley signed the Newlands Resolution, approving the annexation of the Republic of Hawaii.

In 1930, construction began on Boulder Dam (known today as Hoover Dam).

In 1976, the United States Military Academy at West Point included female cadets for the first time as 119 women joined the Class of 1980.

In 1990, the first “Three Tenors” concert took place as opera stars Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Do-

mingo and Jose Carreras performed amid the brick ruins of Rome’s Baths of Caracalla on the eve of the FIFA World Cup final.

In 2005, terrorist bombings in three Underground stations and a double-decker bus killed 52 people and four bombers in the worst attack on London since World War II. In 2010, Los Angeles police arrested and charged Lonnie Franklin Jr. in the city’s “Grim Sleeper” serial killings. (Franklin, who was sentenced to death for the killings of nine women and a teenage girl, died in prison in March 2020 at the age of 67.)

In 2013, Andy Murray became the first British man in 77 years to win the Wimbledon title, beating Novak Djokovic in the final.

In 2016, Micah Johnson, a Black Army veteran who served in Afghanistan, opened fire on Dallas police, killing five officers in an act of vengeance for the fatal police shootings of Black men; the attack ended with Johnson being killed by a bomb delivered by a police robot.

In 2021, a squad of gunmen assassinated Haitian President Jovenel Moïse and wounded his wife in an overnight raid on their home.

In 2022, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced his resignation after top government officials quit over the latest scandal to engulf him, this one involving his appointment of a politician who had been accused of sexual misconduct.

Today’s birthdays: Musicianconductor Doc Severinsen is 99. Former Beatle Ringo Starr is 86. World Golf Hall of Famer Tony Jacklin is 82. Actor Joe Spano is 80. Actor Roz Ryan is 75. Actor Billy Campbell is 67. Basketball Hall of Famer Ralph Sampson is 66. Singer-songwriter Vonda Shepard is 63. Actor-comedian Jim Gaffigan is 60. Actor Amy Carlson is 58. Actor Jorja Fox is 58. Actor Robin Weigert is 57. Basketball Hall of Famer Lisa Leslie is 54.

Actor Kirsten Vangsness (“Criminal Minds”) is 54.

Actor Berenice Bejo (Film: “The Artist”) is 50. Actor Hamish Linklater is 50.

Olympic figure skating medalist Michelle Kwan is 46. Guitarist Synyster Gates (Avenged Sevenfold) is 45. Pop singer Ally Brooke (Fifth Harmony) (TV: “The X Factor”) is 33.

Pop musician Ashton Irwin (5 Seconds to Summer) is 32. Country singer Maddie Font (Maddie and Tae) is 31.

YEARS

SUMMER OF SPACE

Email Judy Bergeron at jbergeron@theadvocate. com.

patriarch of the Blue Store Chicken franchise, Phan’s dream was for each of his 10 children to own and operate a Blue Store Chicken.

His daughter, Hue Tran, who now handles the legal and financial operations for all Blue Store locations, confirmed that the family owns the building they plan to vacate.

STAFF FILE PHOTO “Legends will never be

By HILARy SCHEINUK forgotten,” the post’s capCashier Deonshae Matthews tion said. “Legends will never die. Thank you all for shows off a plate of fresh the journey. We’re not going chicken wings at the original anywhere. But maybe only Triplett’s Blue Store on Mills a little further down the street.”

Avenue in Baton Rouge.

TONIGHT•8PM

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The Acadiana Advocate ● theadvocate.com ● Tuesday, July 7, 2026 ● 7C

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FrAnK And erneSt

roSebUdS

zItS

zodIAC cAncER (June 21-July 22) Whether you are dealing with money, joint ventures or health issues, knowing what's possible and what isn't before you make decisions will help you dodge letting someone take advantage of you.

LEo (July 23-Aug. 22) Keep discussions going. You have more opportunities than you realize, and engaging in activities that can help you visualize the outcome and turn it into something realistic is encouraged.

VIRGo (Aug. 23-sept. 22) A positive attitude will help you acquire information that's geared toward better health, finances and negotiations. Dissect what you hear, and rework the information to suit your schedule and needs.

LIBRA (sept. 23-oct. 23) Refrain from offering personal information. Someone will use what you say against you.

Concentrate more on what you can do to improve your life, prospects and financial situation. scoRPIo (oct. 24-nov. 22) Set a budget, draw the line and be realistic about what you want and what you need.

Refuse to let anyone pressure you into something that isn't necessary. Do your research. sAGIttARIus (nov. 23-Dec. 21) Spend more time nurturing meaningful relationships and fixing up your space to offer a convenient and comfortable place to excel. Don't hesitate to do things differently if it enriches your life. cAPRIcoRn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Do a double take if someone surprises or pressures

you to do something that makes you uncomfortable. Being upfront will lead to the least amount of tension.

AQuARIus (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Changes at home that add to your comfort and convenience will also bring you peace of mind and help you open doors that have been off limits. Don't let love cost you.

PIscEs (Feb. 20-March 20) Simplify your life and question anything that sounds too good to be true. Put more thought into what you enjoy doing and how you can implement what brings you pleasure into your everyday routine.

ARIEs (March 21-April 19) Look for ways to expand, and explore new outlets for your skills. Staying updated and accepting new means and methods for your talents will keep you in the running when faced with competitive situations. tAuRus (April 20-May 20) Get your facts straight, and stick to the bare minimum. Too much of anything will cost you mentally, physically or financially.

Take an innovative approach to decluttering.

GEMInI (May 21-June 20) Explore, live, learn and discover what excites you most. A change of scenery will spark your imagination and encourage you to explore new possibilities, but don't take a chance that can cost you.

The horoscope, an entertainment feature, is not based on scientific fact. © 2026 by NEA, Inc., dist. By Andrews McMeel Syndication

For better or For WorSe WonderWord

peAnUtS

SALLY Forth

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

toDAy's cLuE: n EQuALs H

Mother GooSe And GrIMM

SherMAn’S LAGoon FAMILY CIrCUS

dooneSbUrY

8C ● Tuesday, July 7, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

CurTiS

Hi and LoiS

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Sudoku InstructIons: Sudoku is a number-placing puzzle based on a 9x9 grid with several given numbers.

The object is to place the numbers 1 to 9 in the empty squares so that each row, each column and each 3x3 box contains the same number only once. The difficulty level of the Sudoku increases from Monday to Sunday.

Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer

BaBY BLueS

BLondie

THe wiZard oF id

nea CroSSwordS

La TimeS CroSSword

The Acadiana Advocate ● theadvocate.com ● Tuesday, July 7, 2026 ● 9C

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B.C.

Bridge

By PHILLIP ALDER Margery Allingham, commenting on her crime solver Albert Campion, wrote, “He did not arrive at this conclusion by the decent process of quiet, logical deduction, nor yet by the blinding flash of glorious intuition, but by the shoddy, untidy process halfway between the two by which one usually gets to know things.”

It is, of course, better to draw conclusions from logical deduction. In this deal, South is in four hearts. West leads the spade nine. How should East deduce the correct defense?

North made a game-invitational limit raise, showing four or more hearts, 10-12 support points (here, all high-card points, no short-suit points) and eight losers (here, two in each suit).

East knows that West has led a singleton or high from a doubleton — but which?

East should ask himself, “If my partner has a singleton, how many spades does that give declarer?” Here, the answer is five.

And would South have opened one heart with five spades in his hand? It would have been most unlikely, because with 5-5 in the majors, South would have opened one spade, not one heart.

So East should deduce that his partner has led from a doubleton and should signal encouragement with his spade seven.

South wins, cashes the heart ace, and

garfield

Pearls Before swiNe

hagar the horriBle

plays another heart. But West wins with his king, leads his second spade, receives a spade ruff and cashes the diamond ace for down one.

Note finally that declarer does best to call for dummy’s spade king at trick one, making it more likely that East will have a reflex reaction and win with his ace. © 2026 by NEA, Inc., dist. By Andrews McMeel Syndication

wuzzles Each Wuzzle is a word riddle which creates a disguised word, phrase, name, place, saying, etc. For example: NOON GOOD = GOOD AFTERNOON

PiCKles

Previous answers:

mallard fillmore

word game InstRuctIons: 1. Words must be of four or more letters. 2. Words that acquire four letters by the addition of “s,” such as “bats” or “dies,” are not allowed. 3.

Additional words made by adding a “d” or an “s” may not be used. 4. Proper nouns, slang words, or vulgar or sexually explicit words are not allowed.

toDAy’s WoRD — sAMEnEss: SAME-ness: Monotony; uniformity.

Bizarro

marmaduKe

Average mark 16 words Time limit 20 minutes Can you find 21 or more words in SAMENESS? yEstERDAy’s WoRD — GInGIVAL gain

vial

lain

gang

vigil

laving

gingiva

vinal

ling

giving

aging

living

nail

ailing

vain

align

vang

anvil

loCKhorNs hidato Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer

today’s thought “And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.” Mark 1:35 Since Jesus prayed so shouldn’t we? It is a great way to start our day. G.E. Dean

10C ● Tuesday, July 7, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

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BUSINESS T H E A D V O C AT E.C O M/news/business

DOW 53,055.91 155.84 0.29%

NASDAQ 26,121.16 288.49 1.12%

S&P 500 7,537.43 54.19 0.72%

EURO 1.1442 0.0002 0.02%

CRUDE OIL 68.55 -0.14 -0.20%

GOLD 4,155.10 42.40 1.03%

Microsoft cuts 4,800 jobs, many at Xbox

Sky agrees to buy British broadcaster LONDON — Sky, the U.K.-based TV, internet and mobile phone provider owned by Comcast, has agreed to buy ITV’s media and entertainment arm for up to $2.1 billion after months of talks to create a major competitor to the global streaming giants.

The deal includes the terrestrial TV channels and streaming service of ITV, Britain’s largest commercial broadcaster. ITV’s production arm, ITV Studios, known for shows such as the “I’m A Celebrity” series, will remain an independent company.

The transaction will “create a UK champion with the scale and resources to better compete with global streaming platforms,” ITV Chairman Andrew Cosslett said in a statement.

The combined Sky-ITV entity will become part of NBCUniversal following the completion of its split from Comcast, ITV said.

Pipeline proposed to carry Canada oil TORONTO — Alberta and Ontario proposed a pipeline Monday to carry western Canadian oil east and eventually to Atlantic export terminals as Canada seeks new markets beyond the United States, reviving a project that was abandoned nearly a decade ago.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said the proposed 2,050mile pipeline would run from Hardisty, Alberta, to Sarnia, Ontario, carrying up to 500,000 barrels of oil a day with potential for up to 800,000 barrels.

She said the corridor eventually could extend to Canada’s Atlantic coast, opening the door to oil exports to Europe.

The United States is by far the largest buyer of Canada’s crude oil, while Alberta holds one of the world’s largest proven oil reserves.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said the pipeline would be a sound investment regardless of whether it is publicly or privately financed. A feasibility study is planned.

30-YR T-BONDS 4.99 0.0 0.02%

AI stocks rebound to lift U.S. market

BRIEFS

FROM WIRE REPORTS

REDMOND, Wash. — Microsoft is cutting 4,800 jobs, about 2.1% of its global workforce, including a large number of workers at its Xbox video game business.

The layoffs included 1,600 Xbox workers, with more to come this year in a broader reorganization designed to “reset” Xbox as it faces heightened competition, the company said Monday.

“Our business today is not healthy,” said a memo from Xbox CEO Asha Sharma, who took over the gaming division earlier this year. “We are operating at margins that are 3-10x lower than comparable platform and publishing businesses.”

Sharma said the industry, in which Xbox competes with Sony’s PlayStation and Nintendo’s Switch, is facing a severe “hardware crisis” as costs soar for console components.

Beyond the layoffs announced Monday, Sharma said Xbox expects another 1,600 job cuts over the course of the fiscal year that began last week. The company is also spinning off four video game development studios previously acquired by Microsoft.

Nearly three years ago, Microsoft closed a $69 billion deal to acquire gaming giant Activision Blizzard, maker of “Call of Duty” and other blockbuster franchises. The company said at the time it wanted to broaden its game development portfolio and offer a Netflix-like streaming subscription service, but the strategy doesn’t appear to have been enough to get ahead of the competition.

“While those businesses have created meaningful value, they did not grow at the pace we expected,” Sharma said.

The Xbox cuts are in addition to broader Microsoft layoffs that the software giant’s Chief People Officer Amy Coleman tied to unspecified changes in customer needs.

6-MO T-BILLS 3.95 0.01 0.25%

BY STAN CHOE

AP business writer

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOS By MARK SCHIEFELBEIN

President Donald Trump rings the opening bell for the New york Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq in the Oval Office at the White House on Monday.

RINGING THE BELLS

President opens markets, ties time in office to stock market gains

BY JOSH BOAK Associated Press

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Monday rang the opening bells for the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq from the golden confines of the Oval Office, a symbolic act that reflects how he has increasingly tied his presidency to the stock market.

With high inflation hurting Trump’s popularity, the Republican president has tried to get more Americans to focus on their 401(k) investments, claiming that his policies should get the credit for any gains, particularly as the November midterm elections draw closer.

“It’s going to go up — I think the market’s going to go through the roof,” said Trump after formally launching the start of trading.

Only 33% of U.S. adults approve of Trump’s economic leadership, according to a June survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Still, the act of ringing the opening bell suggests why the president’s emphasis on the stock market might not help his party much with voters this fall.

The Oval Office event was promoting the launch of Trump Accounts, which were created as a vehicle for children to have investments in stock indexes as part of Republicans’ big 2025 tax and spending cuts bill.

In championing the accounts, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has emphasized that many Americans have no direct exposure to stocks.

This means that millions of people are not benefiting from

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks before President Donald Trump rings the opening bell for the New york Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq. investments that largely accrue to more affluent households or that the benefits they’re receiving are for retirements decades away.

Bessent declared before the bell ringing that “38% of American families do not have any exposure to our great equity markets.”

The S&P 500 stock index posted gains of 17.9% in 2025, but that came after annual returns of 25% in 2024 and 26.3% in 2023, during the presidency of Democrat Joe Biden. The benchmark stock index has risen roughly 10% so far this year.

But just as inflation crushed public support for Biden, Trump has also seen his approval fall prey to a cycle of rising prices. Trump won the 2024 election by promising to bring down costs, but his tariffs and the start of the war in Iran created new inflationary pressures.

The consumer price index has climbed 4.2% over the past 12 months, up from 3% when Trump started his second term

in January 2025.

Trump, however, is betting that the stock investments that are being seeded by the government and by some prominent companies and billionaires will give future generations a deeper stake in the U.S. economy. The accounts already have gotten a boost from billionaires beyond the $1,000 from the government.

Michael Dell, the founder of Dell Technologies, and his wife, Susan, appeared by Trump on Monday as they have pledged $6.25 billion for the accounts, while there have been separate pledges by billionaires including investor Ray Dalio and SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell, who said Monday that she would donate stock in the Elon Muskled company to the accounts.

Trump jokingly acknowledged that children had missed the stock market gains that have occurred so far because of the delay in launching the Trump Accounts.

“We should have acted faster,” Trump said.

NEW YORK — A rebound for artificial intelligence stocks lifted the U.S. market on Monday.

The S&P 500 rose 0.7% and pulled back within 1% of its all-time high, even though the majority of stocks within the index fell. The strength for companies in the artificial-intelligence technology industry sent the Nasdaq composite 1.1% higher, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 155 points, or 0.3%, to a record.

AI stocks have swung sharply in recent weeks on worries that their prices shot too high. Doubts are rising about whether all the dollars flowing into AI chips and data centers can possibly create enough gains in productivity and profits to make back all the investments.

Broadcom was one of the strongest forces lifting the S&P 500 and rose 3.7% after announcing long-term agreements to provide silicon products to Apple. It was coming off two straight losses of more than 2% on Wednesday and Thursday at the end of last week, before Friday’s holiday in advance of the Fourth of July.

The global appetite for AI from investors will face an additional test later this week when SK Hynix, the South Korean maker of computer memory, plans to raise $28 billion by selling shares of stock that will trade in the United States on the Nasdaq.

That would make it one of the biggest U.S. offerings ever, behind SpaceX’s IPO from last month, which raised $75 billion.

SK Hynix’s stock in Seoul has already more than tripled so far this year because of the AI boom, but its day-to-day swings have included sharp losses in recent weeks. It fell 14.6% on Thursday alone, for example.

SpaceX, which owns the xAI business, has seen its stock likewise swing following its ballyhooed initial public offering.

It erased an early gain to fall 1% in the last day of trading before it’s scheduled to join the Nasdaq 100 index of the largest non-financial stocks on the Nasdaq.

That inclusion will force funds like the QQQ exchange-traded fund, which mimic the index, to buy SpaceX themselves.

In the oil market, prices drifted after OPEC+ announced Sunday that seven of its members plan to expand oil production by a combined total of 188,000 barrels per day in August. It was the fifth straight month that OPEC+ members have agreed to raise output, moves that tend to weigh on oil prices.

The price of a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, fell 0.2% to $71.99. That’s close to where it was before the United States and Israel attacked Iran in late February and sent prices spiking.

In the bond market, Treasury yields eased a bit. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.47% from 4.49% late Thursday.

A report showed that growth last month for U.S. recreation, finance and other services businesses was roughly in line with economists’ expectations. The survey by the Institute for Supply Management said that some businesses said they were seeing lower prices for gasoline and diesel, easing inflationary pressures.

In stock markets abroad, indexes fell modestly across much of Europe and Asia. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was an outlier and rose 1.1%.

Georges Media names Chase Heatherly as chief revenue officer Columbus, a marketing agency in Gras Guide, and has expanded South Carolina native announcement.

“Chase’s experience scaling rev- the state. coverage into new markets, such Heatherly joins Georges Media as Shreveport-Bossier and Lake organizations, growing digito lead sales team enue as the locally owned me- Charles. tal businesses, and leading

Staff report

Chase Heatherly, a veteran media executive, has joined the parent company of The Times-Picayune and The Advocate as its chief revenue officer.

The former chief revenue officer of The Post & Courier parent Evening Post Publishing in South Carolina, Heatherly, 34, joined Georges Media at the end of June. He will be responsible for leading the sales teams across all of the Louisianabased media company’s brands, according to an internal company

through transformation dia company is expanding makes him an outstanding across Louisiana and into fit for where we are headed adjacent markets, includas a company,” said Pubing along the Gulf Coast.

Local news outlets across lisher Kevin Hall. “This is the country are facing big an important step forward new challenges in the acfor Georges Media as we continue to invest in leadcelerating digital era, though some companies ership that supports our Heatherly with strong local brands long-term growth and poand independent ownership are sitions us for continued success.”

A South Carolina native, Heath- managing to weather the changes.

In recent years, Georges Meerly led sales at Evening Post after stints at Gannett, McClatchy dia has acquired local Louisiana and other media organizations, brands with strong followings, including as president of King & including Arthur Hardy’s Mardi

In addition to its growth digitally and its acquisitions, the company has also launched new print offerings, including an expanded business section and coverage focused on health.

Heatherly said he’s ready to take on the challenge of growing those businesses.

“I have seen firsthand the leadership and innovation that Georges Media brings to our industry and the commitment its staff has to serving readers and the community at large,” he said. “I am excited to dive in and contribute.”