The Advocate 07-09-2026

Colleagues,familymourn senator

BY TYLER BRIDGES Staff writer

State Sen. Larry Selders, aDem-

ocrat from Baton Rouge, died suddenly Tuesday night at his sons’ football practice at Memorial Stadium, said Collis Temple Jr ,a longtime family friend.

Temple said Selders was 44 and leaves behind two sons, Larry Jr and Luke,and his wife, Kendra.

Selders hadbeen hospitalized in Maywithheart troubleand missed thefinalmonthofthe legislative session. He returned to the Senate chamber one day, waved to his colleagues from the side and was thenushered out.

Temple called Selders “a good man, oneofthe best I’ve ever known.”

Selders’ district included LSU andSouthern University and

downtown Baton Rouge as well.

State Sen. Regina Barrow,DBaton Rouge, represents adistrict that bordershis

“I am speechless and heartbroken,”

Barrow said Tuesday night,noting that she hadjust seen Seldersat theEssence Festival of Culture in

New Orleans on Sunday.She said Selders wanted to get out of the house but wasinasuite to limit his contact with others.

“He was agentle giant,” Barrow said.

“He definitely cared about children and their well-being.”

In atweet, Gov.JeffLandryalso called Selders agentle giant, adding that he “was respected by all.”

Selders,a social worker who focused on mental health issues, was elected to the Senate in February 2025 with 62% of the vote to

replace CleoFields, who hadbeen elected to the U.S. House.Selders hadspent theprevious five years in the state House. Selders hada solid liberalvoting record as alegislator,supporting awoman’s right to an abortion.

Buthedidn’tfollowDemocrats when he supported the creation of Education Savings Accounts that allowK-12studentstouse public dollars to study at private schools, an initiative promoted by Landry

BY JON GAMBRELL, SEUNG MINKIM and KONSTANTIN TOROPIN Associated Press

DUBAI, UnitedArabEmirates Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar sounded missile alertsirensearly Thursday morning warning of an Iranian attack after the UnitedStates launched anew roundof airstrikes targetingIran There was no immediate word of damage in the three Gulf Arabcoun-

tries. Kuwait’smilitarysaid it was actively intercepting incomingdrones andmissiles.

On Wednesday, Iran launched attacks on Bahrain and Kuwait over an earlier round of U.S. airstrikes against Iran ThelatestU.S.strikes beganWednesday, hours after President Donald Trumpsaid that recent Iranian attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz signaledthe end of the fragile ceasefire.

The action raised fears that the war in Iran could reignite, coming just a day afterthe U.S. militaryhit avariety

of military sites and port facilities following Iran’stargeting of several merchant vessels off the coast of Oman Military officials said in asocial mediapost Wednesday that the lateststrikeswere intended to “further degrade”Iran’sability “to threaten freedom of navigation” in the strait, through which afifth of the world’s traded oil andnatural gas passed before thewar beganwithU.S.and IsraeliattacksonFeb. 28.

Plan forVAclinicinSt. George progresses

Trafficconcerns linger for proposed Rieger Road site

BY CLAIRE GRUNEWALD Staff writer

Plans for anew VeteransAffairs outpatient clinic in the Baton Rouge region are making progress after asite plan was approved, but concerns about futuretraffic issues in the clinic’sarearemain. The St. George Zoning Commission unanimously approved asite plan Monday nightfor a120,000-square-foot, two-story outpatient

clinic with 600 parking spaces at 12501 Rieger Road, in the northwest corner of thePecue Lane andRiegerRoad intersection.The VA expects the new clinic to be open in 2029.

But there were afew conditions to the approval, themain onebeingthatthe commission wants to further discuss the number of street entrance and exit accesspointsatthe site.

“Wewantthis project to go forward;we want to make it work,” said Planning and Zoning Chair Billy Aguillard. “I think there’s atrafficissue.” Representatives fromCarnegieManagement and Development Corp., thecontract

purchaser of the property,presented the site plan to St. George,showingrenderings of what the site would look like and why the VA is expanding in the region.

MorganFrantz, Carnegie’s tenant and preconstruction coordinator,told the commission thecurrent setup of Baton Rouge’s twoVA clinics off Essen Lane, which are amile apart from one another,creates several challenges with transportation and logistics.

Frantz alsosaid that the facilities are at capacityand that the VA sends somepatients to its New Orleans medical centers as aresult.

BY MEGHAN FRIEDMANN Staff writer

As soon as news broke last week thata NewOrleansgrand jury had indicted Attorney General Liz Murrill, Gov.JeffLandry took to social media, promising to pardon her.

Murrill “will nothave to worry about having her reputation tarnished by this kangaroo grand jury or the Orleans Kangaroo court as Iwill pardon her as fast as the law allows,”Landry wroteina July 2 post on X. “The criminal justice system is acircus at its finest in Orleans and we will nothaveany of that!”

But pardoning Murrill —who faces eight counts of intimidation andeight more of malfeasance, but whose indictment has been stayed by theLouisiana Supreme Court —may not be as simple as it sounds.

The Louisiana Constitution requires the governor to get arecommendationfrom the Board of Pardons before he can grant clemency to an inmate —and preemptive pardons do not exist in Louisiana, like they do on the federal level, according to multiple attorneys andpeople familiarwith the clemency process.

“You can’tjustautomatically, withthe stroke of apen,sign somebody out of acriminalconviction in Louisiana,” said Jane

Selders

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By EMRAH GUREL

President Donald TrumpspeaksWednesdayduring anewsconference, flanked by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and SecretaryofState Marco Rubio, at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey

More suspected cocaine washes up in Keys

MIAMI For the second time in a week, a package believed to be cocaine marked with an image of a lion washed up in the Florida Keys on Wednesday morning, according to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.

The kilogram package found Wednesday washed up at Robbie’s Marina, the famous Islamorada landmark known for offering tourists a chance to hand-feed tarpons.

A ranger at Long Key State Park about 10 miles south of Robbie’s found a nearly identical package Sunday morning, the sheriff’s office said.

Both packages were turned over to the U.S. Border Patrol, which is standard procedure when drugs are found washed up or in the water Agents test the packages, but the sheriff’s office said the one found Wednesday was punctured and tainted by salt water

Washed-up loads of cocaine and marijuana are not an unusual occurrence in the Keys

They are typically lost packages from illegal smuggling runs either destined for the Keys or en route to another location

And the kilos typically have some sort of image on them, not to call out where they came from, but rather to tell smugglers who bought the contraband and where it’s going Monroe Sheriff Rick Ramsay told the Miami Herald.

2 girls wounded at German high school

BERLIN A 16-year-old boy found carrying weapons was arrested after allegedly wounding two 13-year-old girls at a German high school Wednesday, police said.

The suspect was carrying a knife and a firearm, but it wasn’t immediately clear how he wounded the two girls at the Welfen high school in Schongau, Bavarian police said.

Police added that the suspect is believed to have acted alone and the lives of the victims weren’t in danger

Bavaria’s state interior minister, Joachim Herrmann, told German news agency dpa that the suspect had received psychiatric treatment in the past. He didn’t give further details, but said he was a Croatian national who was living with his parents. Schongau has more than 12,000 inhabitants and is located southwest of Munich.

At least 5 children die in Bangladesh landslide

DHAKA, Bangladesh A landslide caused by monsoon rains killed at least five children as it swept through an Islamic school at a camp for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh’s southeastern Cox’s Bazar district, a fire official said.

More than 1 million refugees live in the camp. Dollar Tripura, local chief of the Fire Service and Civil Defense, said the landslide hit as children were attending classes.

Tripura said they rescued another five injured children but suspected that more could be buried The rescue operation continued Wednesday evening

Three days earlier, landslides killed at least eight people at Rohingya camps in the area.

The weather office in the South Asian nation’s capital, Dhaka, forecast more rain in the coming days. Authorities said they were relocating refugees from at-risk hilly areas and more than 1,000 people were already relocated. They said the refugees are often reluctant to leave their makeshift homes despite warnings. Bangladesh has urged the international community for years to help the country begin repatriation of the refugees to Myanmar, but the process is stalled.

Evacuees allowed to return to high-rise area

Crews stabilize project, but four buildings remain off-limits

BY PHILIP MARCELO, MICHAEL R. SISAK and ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE Associated Press

NEW YORK The streets around a midtown Manhattan high-rise where structural damage forced evacuations gradually returned to life Wednesday, as residents and hotel guests were allowed back into nearby buildings, and workers fashioned temporary fixes to shore up the damage.

After crews worked through the night to stabilize a section of the building where beams had buckled and floors had sagged, Mayor Zohran Mamdani sought to reassure wary New Yorkers, saying no more movement had been detected in the massive office-toapartment conversion project at Pfizer’s former headquarters near Grand Central Terminal.

But four other area buildings remained off-limits, and the city will conduct a broader inquiry into what went wrong and what can be done to prevent a more devastating incident such as a collapse, the mayor vowed.

“As soon as we answer the emergency questions around safety in this moment, we are going to be conducting a full investigation as to how we got to this point,” Mamdani said.

“Because this is not a necessary consequence of an office to residential

conversion. This, however, is clearly a breakdown in that process.”

Buckled beams, sagging floors

Authorities responding to emergency calls at the building discovered two mangled support beams and sagging floors on the 21st floor early Tuesday, triggering mass evacuations and street closures in a bustling area not far from the Grand Central transit hub and the Chrysler Building.

In the initial hours, officials believed the steel-framed building, which was empty other than the workers, wasn’t necessarily at risk of a total collapse, but “more of a localized collapse,” as Fire Chief John Esposito described it.

On-site contractors were eventually allowed to reenter the building late Tuesday to do the emergency repairs after city officials did a floor-by-floor inspection and found encouraging signs.

Repairs are ongoing

Temporary shoring and beams were installed throughout the 37-story building as crews made their way to the top.

Photos shared on social media by the city’s Department of Buildings showed multiple steel rods inserted side-by-side next to one badly bent column.

The department said the emergency work is being supervised by the owner’s engineer and an independent, third-party engineering firm hired by the owner

Once the emergency repairs are complete, Mamdani said city building officials will conduct a “rigorous assessment” to ensure the plans and the site are fully compliant with all codes before any nonemergency work proceeds.

Future of project uncertain

While the cause of the structural issues remains under investigation, unionized construction workers took the opportunity to slam the developers for using non-union workers. They staged a protest, complete with a large inflatable rat, near the site Wednesday

The renovation project is billed as the largest office-to-residential conversion in the city’s history, creating some 1,600 units of housing.

Spokespersons for MetroLoft, the project developer, didn’t respond to requests for comment Wednesday but the company has stressed that the building is not at risk of collapse. Nathan Berman, the firm’s founder, though, said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that the added weight from widening the top 15 or so floors of the building likely caused the damage.

Quake survivors improvise amid water shortages

Residents in La Guaira turn to beaches for showers, toilets

By The Associated Press

MAIQUETIA, Venezuela

Thousands of people affected by the devastating earthquakes in Venezuela last month are increasingly facing challenges accessing clean water as well as sanitation and hygiene services.

Families in the hardest-hit state, La Guaira, have taken to the beach to shower and relieve themselves, with excrement now dotting parts of the once-crowded Caribbean beaches. Others are using the little water that did not spill from their home storage tanks to do dishes and clean themselves Many are living in temporary shelters or outdoors after 190 buildings collapsed and 856 others were damaged, according to Venezuelan officials in the back-to-back earthquakes on June 24 that killed 3,685 people.

“We always have water in the tank — water reserved — but with the earthquake, most of the tanks in the houses broke,” Juliani Herrera, 20, said of the large blue plastic tanks that many Venezuelan families use to store water on days when the state-owned utility services the areas. “Now, we have to wait to see if a tanker comes and fills buckets.”

Some of the affected communities only had potable water service once every month or two even before the earthquakes. In Maiquetía, known for being home to the country’s main airport, people lined up Wednesday to receive a box bearing the United States flag containing food, water and a hygiene kit that included a soap, toothbrush and body cleansing

towelettes.

Herrera received one of the boxes that were handed out at a makeshift shelter adjacent to the beach. She carried it for several blocks, her chin, upper arm and hands covered with iodine-stained scratches that she got when she fell from a motorcycle as the ground shook violently when the quakes hit.

Beatriz Ochoa, regional head of advocacy for Latin America at the Norwegian Refugee Council, said in a statement that improved conditions are necessary to prevent spread of diseases as people are living in densely populated settings under high temperatures and seasonal rains and with limited privacy

“I have seen families doing everything they can to maintain dignity in extremely difficult conditions,” she said. “In one temporary shelter I saw families organizing themselves to keep common spaces clean, including through makeshift toilets and basic waste management arrangements. Their determination is remarkable, but families should not have to shoulder this burden alone.”

Judges deny request to restore Trump’s name

President’s name will remain off Kennedy Center pending an appeal

BY JESSE BEDAYN Associated Press

Athree-judgepanelonWednesday denied a request from the Kennedy Center’s board to restore President Donald Trump’s name to the institution while the board appeals an earlier ruling that dubbed the name change illegal and had it rescinded.

It’s another setback for the board of trustees, of which Trump is chairman, in a saga that began earlier this year when the Kennedy Center became: “The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.”

The conspicuous addition, and ensuing legal battle, became symbolic of Trump’s broader push to imprint his legacy and, in this case, his actual name — on the nation’s capital in his final term.

The panel of judges wrote Wednesday that the board of trustee’s request “failed to show how they will be irreparably injured” if Trump’s name remains off the building through the appeal process.

The board had argued that the removal “threatens to impede” fundraising efforts, but the judges found that claim came without the support of “specific facts or evidence.”

The Kennedy Center did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

“His name no longer desecrates this sacred memorial, which belongs to the American people,” said U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty, a Democrat from Ohio who filed the lawsuit. “Now it is time for the Trump administration to accept this, comply with the law, and take the tarps down.”

She was referring to tarps hung on scaffolding that had obscured the removal of Trump’s name, and which still veil that part of the building’s marble façade.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By yUKI IWAMURA

Crews inspect a buckled support beam inside 235 E. 42nd St. in New york on Wednesday.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ARIANA CUBILLOS People affected by the earthquakes carry U.S. humanitarian aid after receiving it in La Guaira, Venezuela, on Wednesday.

U.S. to license Ukraine to produce Patriot systems

Trump’s announcement at NATO summit a turnaround

BY LORNE COOK, SEUNG MIN KIM and SUZAN FRASER Associated Press

ANKARA, Turkey

U.S. President

Donald Trump said at a NATO summit Wednesday in Turkey that the U.S. will give Ukraine a license to make Patriot air defense systems to counter missile attacks from Russia in their more than four-year war a huge coup for Kyiv which has long requested the technology

Allowing foreign manufacture of Patriots, which the U.S. had resisted, was a turnaround for Trump that mirrored his day at the NATO meeting: Upon arriving, he lashed out at European partners for resisting his efforts to take control of Greenland and for not supporting his war in Iran. But by day’s end, he described a gathering of unity and “tremendous love,” and praised member nations on their progress in increasing their defense spending.

NATO’s European members plus Canada have scrambled to meet the alliance’s increased defense spending targets, which Trump has demanded as the U.S. draws down troops in Europe and insists the continent take more responsibility for its own security Trump had reopened old wounds among the 32 NATO leaders by insisting again ahead of the summit that the U.S. should control Greenland, a semiautonomous Danish territory. That led Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen to say her country is “ready to defend every inch of NATO including our own territory.” Trump also blasted some European countries for refusing to participate in the Iran campaign, singling out Spain as “a terrible partner in NATO” and renewing his threats to cut off trade.

Trump strikes a positive tone

But the tone of Trump’s meeting with the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was a break from earlier encounters which ended in acrimony, and Trump

praised the Ukrainian leader’s willingness to reach a deal on ending the fighting in Ukraine.

“We’ve actually developed a good relationship It’s hard to believe,” Trump said during a news conference with Zelenskyy, adding that he believed a deal on ending the war was on the horizon and that the U.S. would “work on some kind of security package” to provide to Ukraine.

Trump said the Ukrainian president has “done an amazing job” and “been very effective” in the war as he pledged to grant Ukraine a license to manufacture the Patriot defense systems.

“We’ll give them the right to make Patriots. We’ll show them how to do it,” Trump said. “I think they can produce them pretty quickly.”

Patriots are expensive, in high demand and take a long time to produce Zelenskyy has for years been asking for more of them, and more recently for a license so that Ukraine can manufacture its own.

Leaders show defense boost

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has dedicated a huge amount of energy to keeping Trump’s support for NATO and to holding the summit together. On Wednesday, he sought to tamp down the president’s ire by giving him credit for recent increases in defense spending from NATO allies.

“Grab the win. It’s there,” Rutte told Trump on Wednesday

The NATO chief pointed to countries including Estonia, Latvia, Poland and Denmark that are investing more in defense, but noted that the Trump administration expects “the Europeans and Canadians will equalize their spending with the United States.”

Last month Rutte went to Washington to hail the “Trump Trillion” — the $1.2 trillion that European allies and Canada have added to defense spending since Trump came to power in 2017.

As leaders converged on Ankara, Rutte hosted a “big reveal”

Kentucky governor requests public update on McConnell

Lack of details has fueled rampant speculation

BY BILL BARROW Associated Press

Kentucky Gov Andy Beshear is directly asking Sen. Mitch McConnell, the state’s most powerful figure in Congress, to disclose more about his condition after three weeks of silence from the 84-year-old since he was hospitalized in Washington.

The letter released Wednesday from Beshear, a Democrat who is considered a potential presidential candidate in 2028, to the former Senate Republican leader says, “Kentuckians have grown increasingly concerned about the current state of your health and well-being, and ability to hold office.” McConnell, whose physical condition has visibly declined in recent years, was hospitalized June 14.

He has not released a public statement, photos or videos since. Aides have disclosed nothing specific about his condition, other than to say last week that McConnell “continues to improve, and is working closely with his staff on Kentucky and Senate matters while the Senate is out of session.”

That lack of detail has fueled rampant speculation about his prognosis and whether he will return to the Senate when it reconvenes next week. The firestorm was enough that Republican Senate leaders, including Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D. and Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, on Tuesday made public statements

saying they had talked to McConnell and he was alert and discussing current events.

many senators are in attendance. Republicans currently hold a 53-47 advantage.

event to showcase the many deals planned for the increased spending much of it to be spent on U.S. companies, creating thousands of jobs for Americans.

At last year’s summit, the allies agreed to invest 5% of their gross domestic product on defense 3.5% on their defense budgets and 1.5% on infrastructure so troops and equipment can move faster in times of conflict.

Yet figures released by NATO on Tuesday showed that Slovenia, Belgium, Spain and the Czech Republic have struggled to meet the alliance’s old spending target of 2% of GDP

The Trump administration wants to see a leaner “NATO 3.0,” with Europe taking responsibility for its own security, including Ukraine, with conventional weapons while America would continue to provide its nuclear umbrella.

The Pentagon has launched a six-month review of U.S military presence in Europe, leaving allies to seek clarity on just how deeply

Trump intends to cut U.S. force numbers.

Zelenskyy pushes for NATO entry Zelenskyy made a fresh appeal Tuesday for Ukraine to be allowed to join the alliance, saying Ukrainian armed forces are highly experienced and would only boost NATO’s defense capabilities. Russia is vehemently opposed to that.

Zelenskyy has highlighted Ukraine’s adaptability and its ability to strike deep inside Russia. He said Ukraine’s armed forces are “eliminating” on average 30,000 Russian troops every month. In a declaration following Wednesday’s summit, NATO leaders pledged to provide Ukraine with $80 billion to help meet its defense needs this year and next, noting “the long-term threat Russia poses to Euro-Atlantic security.”

Concern has been mounting among some countries with borders near Russia that Moscow might be preparing a hybrid attack — a combination of conventional warfare with tactics like cyberattacks on the continent as Russian President Vladimir Putin struggles to secure victory in Ukraine. Trump to lift Syria’s designation

Trump also met with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, a former insurgent who led the offensive that unseated autocrat Bashar Assad in December 2024. Despite having once been an al-Qaida fighter, al-Sharaa has won Trump’s backing as he seeks to rebuild Syria and restore its shattered ties with the West.

Later, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement that Trump has told U.S lawmakers that the U.S. will soon remove Syria as a state sponsor of terrorism as part of a year-long normalization process with the country’s new government.

“Lifting sanctions on Syria will unlock international trade and investment, give Syria a chance to rebuild, and open up a new chapter for the Syrian people,” Rubio said. In June 2025, Trump signed an executive order ending a number of economic sanctions before revoking the terrorism designation a few weeks later for al-Sharaa, though the designation for Syria remained.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Wednesday evening, as he returned home following the NATO summit in Turkey, Trump was asked about McConnell but said the pair had not spoken.

“I have no idea how he’s doing,” Trump said McConnell is retiring at the end of his term in January, and the campaign to elect his successor already is underway Kentucky’s Senate succession law, which Republican legislators have twice changed during Beshear’s tenure, does not give the governor a role in picking a temporary successor should McConnell’s seat become vacant before his term ends Under the latest change in 2024, Beshear would call a special election if the seat became vacant. The winner of that election could take office after the result is certified. The general election winner would be sworn in as part of the new Congress in January But there are unresolved questions about the timing of a special election under the untested law and the possibility the seat could remain vacant until January. Beshear ended the letter by wishing McConnell “a safe and speedy recovery.”

If McConnell can’t return There is not much, if anything, that Beshear, Kentucky lawmakers or the Senate could do if McConnell remains in office but is unable to perform his duties between now and when the current Congress expires in January

Senate rules do not allow proxy voting. But there have been extended Senate absences before, and the chamber has continued its business with however

Without McConnell, that means a maximum of 52 Republican votes are available.

McConnell had been among the senators blocking war powers resolutions that seek to limit President Donald Trump’s military options in Iran. Without him, the administration has less of a buffer. On the other hand, McConnell already had been among the Republicans refusing to support Trump’s sweeping elections law overhaul.

Law changed in 2021, ’24

The 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution calls for Senate vacancies to be filled by popular elections. But it allows state legislatures to empower governors to appoint an interim senator to serve through those campaigns. Most states have taken this option, according to the Congressional Research Service. Kentucky law allowed interim appointments until 2021, when McConnell and other state GOP leaders persuaded the Republicanrun Legislature to make a change. They did not want Beshear to shift the partisan balance in Washington if he got the opportunity. They called for a committee of the previous senator’s state party to select three people from whom the governor could choose an interim senator In this case, that would mean Beshear picking which Republican would fill a vacancy Several states have this system.

Kentucky lawmakers changed the law again in 2024 to require a special election. The only role for the governor is to call that election.

Beshear vetoed the 2021 and 2024 changes but Republican lawmakers overrode him.

McConnell

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ALEX BRANDON

U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, on Wednesday. Trump announced he would allow Ukraine to manufacture Patriot air defense systems.

Family demands independent probe in ICE shooting

DHS says vehicle was rammed, officer fired in self-defense

BY LEKAN OYEKANMI, JACK BROOK and JEFFREY COLLINS

for America

Press/Report

Associated

HOUSTON A Mexican national fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Houston had no criminal convictions during his decades living in the U.S. and was driving a crew to a homebuilding site when he was killed, his family and a Texas congresswoman said Wednesday Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was working toward securing legal status in the U.S. and knew what to do if stopped by ICE, his son said Federal officials said they were stopping the vehicle in an immigration enforcement operation.

Ronaldo Salgado said his father may have been scared that the people in unmarked vehicles were coming to steal the tools he had used for 35 years to build homes so he could send his three American sons to college.

“He did not deserve to die. He did not deserve to be reduced to a headline of Mexican man shot and killed by ICE. He deserved to live a quiet life as Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a husband, a father and a job creator for dozens of men who also wanted the American dream,” Salgado said during a news conference. The shooting happened Tuesday in Magnolia Park, a neighborhood that has been a hub for Houston’s

Mexican American community for a century

Officials say vehicle was rammed Salgado Araujo was shot after he ignored commands and attempted to ram an officer who fired his weapon in self-defense, the Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday ICE officers were targeting him because he was living in the country without legal permission, according to the department, which oversees ICE.

The man’s car struck an ICE vehicle, the department added.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia said Salgado Araujo had no criminal convictions. Houston firefighters said he was shot in the abdomen. He died at a hospital.

Three other men appeared to be detained as Salgado Araujo lay moaning on the ground, according to his son, who said one of them was his uncle.

Daniel Tirado was one of the other men in the van and called his wife briefly to say they were being followed, Tirado’s stepdaughter Juana Degollado told The Associated Press.

“What he remembers is that an ICE agent shot Lorenzo and the van door was closed,” Degollado said.

Tirado wasn’t able to contact his family until Wednesday morning, and the call lasted only five minutes, his stepdaughter said. They haven’t been able to get additional information from ICE or the FBI.

Jose Rojas was also detained, according to his stepdaughter Grisel-

da Silva. The 51-year-old Mexican national had lived in the U.S. for decades without legal status or a criminal record, she said.

ICE has not released the names of the people detained.

Federal officials have not released video or images of the shooting or the vehicles. Salgado on Tuesday joined civil rights groups and Democratic officials in urging federal authorities to release all the footage and other information it has on the shooting.

In several other shootings involving federal officers, initial descriptions by immigration officials have sometimes been contradicted later by video evidence.

Federal investigation

The federal crackdown has created a country where officers think they can “shoot and explain later,” League of United Latin American Citizens President Roman Palomares said.

The league offered a $5,000 reward for information and videos from witnesses. Ronaldo Salgado and several civil rights organizations called for an independent investigation. Some begged anyone with videos to not turn them over to ICE.

Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare said Salgado Araujo’s family and the community deserve the truth, but federal authorities are exclusively handling the investigation.

ICE and DHS representatives have not responded to repeated requests for additional comment Wednesday

Homeland Security Secretary

Markwayne Mullin took over the department in March aiming to keep it away from the controversies that marked the tenure of his predecessor, Kristi Noem.

The shooting was at least the eighth death resulting from an encounter with federal immigration officers since the start of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

Son says father worked hard

Ronaldo Salgado said his mother was told something bad had happened to his dad around 7 a.m. Tuesday After frantically looking for him at his job site and finding his empty van, he saw a video.

“I recognized him, not from his appearance but from his voice crying for help as he lay on the street,” Salgado said.

Salgado Araujo met his wife as a teenager in Mexico. She made his lunch before he left for the day He would listen to music and pet his dog on his porch, Salgado said.

Salgado said his dad had started the process of obtaining his work permit.

“We dotted every I, crossed every T, filled every document, attended every appointment,” Salgado said. “He was close to obtaining his legal status.”

Salgado Araujo had biometric scanning and fingerprinting done earlier this year and had carefully studied what to do if ICE pulled him over

“Had my father seen an emblem of ICE or an emblem that says anything about a law enforcement agency my father would have complied,” his son said.

BY ILLIA NOVIKOV

Associated Press

KYIV, Ukraine Russian drones and missiles killed four people across Ukraine on Wednesday in attacks before dawn and at midday, as Moscow kept up its pressure on the capital of Kyiv in the latest phase of the over 4-year-old war Ukraine struck oil refineries in Russia’s Saratov and

Tatarstan regions, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who met with U.S. President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Turkey Trump said the U.S. would give a license to Ukraine so it could manufacture Patriot air defense systems to counter Russia. In Kyiv, several explosions were heard shortly after midnight, even before au-

thorities could issue an alert to give civilians time to find

shelter

The early morning Russian attacks killed one woman and injured two others in Kyiv, according to city administration head Tymur Tkachenko The State Emergency Service said the attack damaged several administrative buildings and warehouses, as well as a garage complex and several

Prosecutors play video in court of suspect in Kirk’s shooting

Clip shows Robinson after turning himself in

BY HANNAH SCHOENBAUM and MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press

PROVO, Utah Prosecutors played a video clip in court Wednesday of suspect Tyler Robinson after he had turned himself in to Utah authorities a day after the shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

The video showed Robinson standing in a room at the Washington County Sheriff’s Office wearing a T-shirt and baseball cap. There was no audio and it was unclear if he was interviewed by investigators while at the sheriff’s office.

State District Judge Tony Graf will decide at the conclusion of this week’s hearing if prosecutors have enough evidence to bring Robinson to trial on an aggravated murder charge in Kirk’s fatal shooting on the campus of Utah Valley University in September Graf indicated that on Thursday he would allow prosecutors to play redacted audio of statements given to investigators by Robinson’s roommate and romantic partner Lance Twiggs. Robinson’s lawyers said they were concerned about his right to a fair trial if the statements were played in open court and then broadcast by media outlets. They said prosecutors would attempt to portray Twiggs’ statements about what Robinson allegedly told him as a confession from Robinson, which could bias potential jurors

Attorneys for Kirk’s family and the media had urged the judge to make Twiggs’ statements and other evidence public. “To not be transparent, to

not be open and let the world see what happened will create doubt and distrust in the judicial system,” Kirk family lawyer Jeffrey Neiman told Graf.

Twiggs was interviewed twice as part of the investigation, State Bureau of Investigation Agent Brian Davis testified Wednesday He was given immunity for the statements meaning what Twiggs said cannot be used against him in a potential criminal case, Davis said.

Prosecutors allege Robinson sent a text to Twiggs saying he targeted Kirk because he “had enough of his hatred.”

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 DNA analysis

Robinson’s lawyers have questioned the reliability of DNA testing used to link the defendant to the suspected murder weapon A member of Tyler Robinson’s defense team interrogated a DNA analyst from the FBI about the techniques she used to connect Robinson to a towel wrapped around a rifle found at the college campus, where Kirk was shot while speaking to a large crowd.

Defense lawyer Michael Burt cast doubt on the analyst’s conclusions. “She can’t match Mr. Robinson to the questioned samples,” Burt argued. Forensics expert Lawrence Quarino said law enforcement agencies use “extremely reliable” tests to determine the probability that a person matches with DNA found at a crime scene. DNA testing “is the gold standard in forensic science,” said Quarino, a pro-

fessor and director of the forensic science program at Cedar Crest College in Pennsylvania.

FBI analyst Amanda Bakker said that after Twiggs provided a DNA sample for comparison, she was able to rerun her tests and attribute all of the DNA to two people.

Investigators found the towel and suspected murder weapon a bolt-action rifle with one spent round — in a wooded area near where Kirk was shot.

DNA on the towel matched to two people, Jennifer Faumuina with the State Bureau of Investigation testified. One was Twiggs and the other was very likely Robinson, she said.

Prosecutors allege Robinson confessed in a note left for Twiggs that read: “I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and I’m going to take it.”

The defense pushes back Investigators say Robinson went to a rooftop near where Kirk was speaking and shot him once through the neck as the activist was taking questions from a crowd of several thousand people. Kirk was declared dead after being taken to a hospital.

Prosecutors contend the shooting endangered others at Kirk’s campus event — an aggravating circumstance that could make the crime punishable by death under Utah law. Robinson also faces possible sentence enhancements based on the prosecution’s claim that he targeted Kirk because of his political views.

Robinson’s defense team has pushed back on the idea that he was hostile to Kirk’s politics. Defense attorney Richard Novak sought to block prosecutors from introducing a statement describing the traditional Christian values of Turning Point USA.

trams.

Hours later, another Russian drone struck Kyiv’s Desnianskyi district, killing a second person and injuring six others, Tkachenko said. A total of eight people were injured in the attacks on the capital.

In Kharkiv, two people were killed and 20 others were injured in a series of overnight strikes, according to Mayor Ihor Terekhov

In Zaporizhzhia, a Russian guided bomb injured two people Tuesday night, regional head Ivan Fedorov said.

Ukraine’s air force says Russia fired 169 long-range strike drones and seven missiles, including five ballistic missiles. Air defenses shot down or jammed 139 drones, and two anti-radar missiles didn’t reach their targets, it said.

All five ballistic missiles and 20 drones struck targets at 15 locations, the air force said, underscoring the continued strain on Ukraine’s air defenses. Russia’s Defense Ministry said it struck an arms industry facilities in Kyiv, hitting a plant that manufactured components for Flamingo cruise missiles and a facility assembling mid- and longrange drones.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By DAVID J PHILLIP

Ronaldo Salgado, son of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, wipes away tears while speaking during a news conference on Wednesday in Houston.

Members of a predator network used code words

German investigation led to convictions of four alleged members

BY KIRSTEN GRIESHABER, STEFANIE DAZIO and HUIZHONG WU Associated Press

BERLIN They called themselves the “German driving school for experts,” but prosecutors say the true purpose of their Telegram chats was to brag about the women they raped and share tips about how to drug them.

In posts that sometimes included photos and videos of their attacks on unconscious victims, they referred to women as “cars,” sedatives as “fuel” and rape as “driving,” according to court documents They called their victims “dead pigs.”

Investigators have been poring through several years’ worth of posts in roughly two dozen group chats on the popular messaging app that authorities believe served an online predator network of mainly Chinese men targeting mostly Chinese women in Germany Their investigation has already led to the convictions of three alleged inner circle members on rape and other charges. A fourth was convicted Wednesday in Berlin.

“The perpetrators were characterized by a particular ruthlessness, an objectification of the victims, and the perfidious planning of their crimes,” Frankfurt chief prosecutor Dominik Mies told The Associated Press.

Major details of the investigation remain unknown, at least to the public, including how many attacks and perpetrators have been linked to the German Telegram chats and how the chats, some of which reportedly had tens of thousands of members, could have operated for so long. It’s also unclear if the chats are linked to a ballooning investigation in Europe and the Americas into drug-facilitated sexual assaults by misogynist online communities Rally to support the victims

Under German privacy laws, prosecutors are limited in what they can say outside the courtroom, documents are restricted and, in the ongoing case in Berlin,

members of the public have been forced to leave the courtroom during parts of the trial.

This may be why the investigation into the Telegram group has garnered less attention in Germany than might be expected. But members of the country’s Chinese community, mostly women, have been attending court proceedings to show support for the victims even if they don’t know them

“What makes one really angry is to see that such groups hate women, they have no respect,” said Fu Xiao, who traveled roughly 310 miles to Berlin last week to attend the trial.

“Women aren’t seen as people.”

In China, state media has covered the cases comprehensively, but wider discussion about the prosecutions on Chinese-language social media like Rednote has been partially censored. Certain tags have been more likely to get a post deleted or banned on Rednote, screenshots and searches show But posts using less direct language have survived the censors, including ones that refer to “date rape” or the euphemistic “students studying abroad in Germany.”

China’s Ministry of Public Security and Rednote didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Cases echo landmark French trial

The German cases have drawn

comparisons to the attacks on Gisèle Pelicot, a French woman who, over the course of nearly a decade, was repeatedly drugged and raped by her then-husband and strangers he invited to their home. The trial — and Pelicot’s decision to waive her anonymity prompted a reckoning over rape culture in France and beyond.

“Pelicot is not an isolated case,” Judge Markus Koppenleitner said during a hearing in Munich for one of the Chinese men convicted in the German investigation. “This is not a Chinese or French phenomenon, but one that also exists in Germany and, ultimately, worldwide.”

Similar cases to the “German driving school” investigation have been popping up around the globe. Although authorities haven’t publicly linked them to the German prosecutions, some investigators have cited tips from German authorities and journalists as crucial to their progress.

In Los Angeles, German investigators last year reached out to police about a potential suspect in drug-facilitated sexual assaults. The defendant, a graduate student from China, is accused of drugging and sexually assaulting three women in L.A. after he allegedly procured the drugs from a Chinese national in Germany

In the Netherlands last month, police arrested four men suspected of drugging and sexually abusing women after hearing from authorities in Germany and the U.K. Dutch police said the alleged perpetrators used social media chat groups to disseminate videos showing the abuse and discuss how to drug victims.

And Europol, the European Union’s police agency, last week announced “Project Medusa,” an international operation designed to dismantle online networks that promote drug-facilitated sexual assaults. Law enforcement from Germany and the U.K. are leading the operation, which has already netted 57 arrests.

Questions about Telegram

The German predator network managed to thrive despite clear violations of Telegram’s terms of service, again raising questions about how the platform has been used for criminal activity

In 2024, the app’s founder was arrested in Paris over allegations that the platform was being used for illicit activity, including drug trafficking and the distribution of child sexual abuse images. He denied wrongdoing, blaming surging numbers of Telegram users that he said “caused growing pains

that made it easier for criminals to abuse our platform.” The investigation is ongoing.

“Sexual violence is explicitly forbidden by Telegram’s terms of service and such content is routinely removed,” the company said in a statement. “Telegram fulfils all of its legal obligations in relation to such harmful content, including everything set out by” the European Union’s Digital Services Act.

The company didn’t respond to questions about the German cases, including how photos, videos and comments about sexual crimes were posted for years in the app, whether Telegram was aware of the activity and what, if anything, it did to alert the authorities.

Some of the German Telegram chats date back to at least 2020, court documents show Attorney Magdalena Gebhard, who represented a victim in a previous Berlin trial that led to a conviction, said there was an inner circle of eight perpetrators but that some of the chat groups had up to 50,000 members.

Police only became aware of the network in 2024 after a man in Frankfurt, referred to by German courts as Dapeng Z., changed his tactics from drugging and sexually abusing female acquaintances to targeting strangers he met online, according to prosecutors.

German police arrested Dapeng Z., whom German and Chinese media have reported is the group’s ringleader in 2024 in cooperation with Chinese law enforcement, according to the Chinese consulate in Frankfurt and the Beijing News, a state-run media outlet. He was sentenced in February to 14 years in prison for aggravated rape, attempted murder and other offenses, though he has appealed. His attorneys didn’t respond to a request for comment. Although authorities haven’t publicly said how many women were victimized by the “driving school” network, they have said their investigation is ongoing, meaning there could be further arrests and additional victims. Gebhard’s client, for example, only learned she had been sexually assaulted after investigators discovered video footage.

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ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By EBRAHIM NOROOZI

All 12 N.O. judges recuse from

Murrill’s intimidation

La. Supreme Court asked to appoint someone

BY MATT BRUCE Staff writer

All 12 criminal court judges in New Orleans recused themselves Wednesday from Attorney General Liz Murrill’s bombshell indictment, leaving it to the Louisiana Supreme Court to appoint an outside judge over a case it stayed last week.

District Judge Angel Harris, who was randomly allotted the case, held a brief morning hearing to remove herself, and the remaining 11 judges followed suit with recusal orders of their own Chief Judge Juana MarineLombard then wrote a letter to the Louisiana Supreme Court, informing the high court of the recusals and asking justices to appoint an ad hoc judge over the case.

“We appreciate the expedience of the Criminal Court Judges in recusing the entire bench this morning, read a statement from Laura Cannizzaro Rodrigue, an attorney for Murrill who appeared in court Wednesday

Rodrigue

“Their swift action reflects the unusual and troubling nature of this indictment. We look forward to a vigorous defense of Attorney General Liz Murrill.”

Sources said most of the judges met behind closed doors early Tuesday and agreed to step away from a case the Supreme Court has already frozen while criticizing the grand jury process as well as the legal basis for the 16 charges leveled against Murrill.

They include eight counts each of intimidation and malfeasance

PARDON

Continued from page 1A

Hogan, a Hammond-based attorney who has been practicing before the Board of Pardons for a decade and formerly taught clemency law at LSU.

What’s more, during his first year in office, Landry signed legislation that made the clemency application process stricter Murrill’s charges are connected to letters she sent to elected Orleans officials, in which she warned they could lose their positions after they appointed an interim leader of the newly unified clerk of court’s office and called for an election. Mayor Helena Moreno and District Attorney Jason Williams were among those who received letters.

On Friday, the Louisiana Supreme Court stayed the indictment, citing “procedural defects and improprieties” in the legal process and saying Murrill was likely to succeed on a motion to quash the charges.

A spokesperson for Landry and a representative from Murrill’s office declined to comment.

The clemency process

Receiving clemency requires prisoners to go through a bureaucratic application process, with steps such as victim notification and hearings before the Board of Pardons.

There are two types of clemency: commutations, in which the state grants a lighter sentence to an inmate, and pardons, in which a conviction is wiped from the applicant’s criminal record. According to attorneys, commutations are for people still serving in prison, while pardons are typically granted to those who have already served their full sentences. They may want their convictions cleared so that their gun rights can be restored, for example.

Right now clients must usually wait a year before they can get a hearing before the board, according to Hogan Another advocate familiar with the pardon process put the estimate at two years.

“It’s a very long process that a lot of people are queuing up to get in to,” Hogan said.

More ‘guardrails’ In 2024, Act 660 of the regular legislative session tightened some of the rules around the clemency application process.

The law, sponsored by state Rep. Laurie Schlegel, R-Metairie, required the Board of Pardons, “to the extent feasible,” to “schedule hearings for pardon or commuta-

case

in office.

A New Orleans grand jury launched the investigation on its own, sources said, spurred by letters Murrill sent in May to Mayor Helena Moreno and several other New Orleans officials, after a council majority called a special election for a single clerk of court.

Gov Jeff Landry had just signed a law that dispensed with the Orleans criminal clerk post, effectively removing the clerk-elect, former life prisoner Calvin Duncan before he could take office.

Murrill warned the city’s elected leaders that she could seek their jobs for “usurping” the powers of Chelsea Richard Napoleon, the elected civil clerk chosen by the Legislature to lead the merged office.

The grand jury however, found it was Murrill’s actions that were criminal. Murrill cried foul over an investigation led by Laurie White, a former criminal court judge appointed as a special prosecutor Though the Supreme Court quickly stayed the case, it landed randomly with Harris, who on Wednesday cited irregularities in the grand jury process and “moving parts” for her decision to step off.

“It is this court’s duty to respect the grand jury process,” Harris said. “And for that reason, I am recusing myself from this case in order to avoid any distraction from allowing the grand jury process to play out.”

Harris noted that White once was a colleague on the criminal court bench, resigning in 2023 after 15 years as a judge.

Harris also noted that Murrill’s office is prosecuting scores of open cases in her courtroom along with other sections of criminal court, from arrests made by Troop Nola, a dedicated Louisiana State Police unit in the city

“I personally do not think that I would not be able to be impartial,”

Harris said “But it does give the appearance that I couldn’t for various reasons.”

Murrill’s attorneys are expected to file a motion soon to quash the indictment, which marked an escalation in a running turf war between Republican state lawmakers and Democratic city leaders in New Orleans. The move on Duncan’s seat was part of a broader Republican push to control and shrink the New Orleans courts.

Among the moves, a new law stripped the criminal court of three judgeships Among the judges who were spared was Leon Roche, who oversaw the grand jury that indicted Murrill. Roche also recused Wednesday

Rafael Goyeneche, president of the Metropolitan Crime Commission, said the recusals are warranted.

“This is a matter that has already been a source of embarrassment,” Goyeneche said.

“For the Supreme Court to take the unprecedented step of staying this indictment is confirmation of mistakes and potential misconduct. That would include the judge and the special prosecutor, and potentially others.”

Landry has pledged to pardon Murrill if she’s convicted. The governor also said on social media last week that he was “ordering the State Police to immediately begin investigating the alleged improprieties of this grand jury and those who ran it!”

Maj. Nick Manale of the Louisiana State Police declined to say Wednesday if the agency has launched a probe.

“Louisiana State Police is coordinating with the Governor’s Office and all involved parties regarding this matter. Further information will be released at the appropriate time,” he said.

Email Matt Bruce at matt bruce@theadvocate.com.

tion of sentence in the order in which the applications are filed.”

In other words, Murrill would likely have to wait in line before being considered for a pardon.

Act 660 set “guardrails” that ensure victims and proper authorities are notified during the application process and before commutations occur, said Schlegel. For example, victims’ kin must be told that an application is being considered at least 30 days in advance of the hearing.

Schlegel said she sponsored the legislation after former Gov John Bel Edwards ramped up commutations of prisoners during his last days in office. A few of the board’s recommendations for the commuted sentences had been sitting on Edwards’ desk for years.

At the time, Schlegel called the commutations offensive to victims, and she questioned whether victims’ families were properly notified.

Not all the inmates whose sentences were commuted were released from prison.

Edwards also faced criticism when he came out against the death penalty during his final year in office, prompting a swath of clemency applications from most of the state’s death row prisoners.

Landry, then the attorney general, challenged the validity of the clemency applications on procedural grounds and successfully stopped them from being expedited while Edwards was still in office.

New Orleans vs. Louisiana

Right now, a conviction against Murrill appears far off, and it is unclear whether the case against her will even go forward after the

SENATOR

Continued from page 1A

Selders explained that he attended University High, which requires tuition to attend, because he wanted to give other students a similar opportunity During his time in the House, Selders served with a former teacher of his at University High, Rep. Barbara Freiberg, R-Baton Rouge. She taught Selders in 10th

CLINIC

Continued from page 1A

“This is a very difficult situation that led to the VA initiating its solicitation for proposals to bring this new facility to St. George,” Frantz said.

Frantz said the VA searched for areas capable of handling traffic with nearby amenities, such as restaurants and stores. He told the commission the clinic, like other national VA clinics, would need three street entrance and exit access points, with two proposed on Pecue and one on Rieger. Frantz said the accesses would separately take care of visitors, staff and service traffic.

Commissioners and city engineering staff discussed having one Pecue Lane access point, but multiple representatives of Carnegie said having three access points are the VA’s criteria and without them it would nix the deal.

George Papandreas, Carnegie’s executive vice president, agreed to taking more meetings to discussing the access points, as long as the team could keep moving forward with other aspects of the development process.

St. George’s engineering department originally recommended limiting access to the site by getting rid of one of the proposed road access points.

Stephanie Phillips, St. George engineering manager said the area already has speeding issues, which could be made worse by the clinic.

“We know that they are speed-

grade in the 1997-98 school year

“As a teacher, I saw his strong work ethic and how determined he was to be successful, along with his genuine care for others,” Freiberg said Tuesday night. “It was a real special privilege to serve with him in the Legislature. He never lost his love for people or his desire to make a difference in their lives.”

A funeral service will be held Tuesday morning at Mt Zion First Baptist Church, where Selders worshipped, Temple said.

ing, so we have seen that there are a few accidents that happen because specifically that lane drops off into Woodridge subdivision,” she said.

Phillips recommended that one entrance on Pecue Lane would be used over the other, making it unnecessary to have both entrances. Ultimately, the commission settled on approving two out of three site access points with plans to discuss the third one in the next 30 days.

Some St. George residents who live near the proposed site also spoke at the commission meeting, asking about how the site would impact nearby traffic and drainage.

Margaret Hale, who lives in Woodridge subdivision, questioned where possible 18-wheelers would be accessing the site from and the added traffic on the roads by her house.

“That becomes a challenge, because obviously there will be more traffic because of this,” she said about peak rush hour in the area. “I don’t have a problem with this; I just have a couple of questions.”

The Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System first announced the location of the clinic in February and said it is funded by the PACT Act, which expands VA healthcare and benefits for veterans exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange and other toxic substances.

The proposed clinic will feature advanced medical treatments, including MRI, ultrasound, CT scans, pulmonary function testing and dedicated group mental health spaces.

STRIKES

Louisiana Supreme Court took the unusual step of staying her indictment. The indictment marked a dramatic escalation in a series of conflicts between Republican state leaders and Democratic elected officials from Orleans, mostly over the parish’s court system.

In the spring, the Republican Legislature combined New Orleans’ civil and criminal clerks’ offices, denying former life prisoner Calvin Duncan his seat as criminal clerk after his landslide win.

Moreno, the city’s mayor and Williams, the parish district attorney, sought to appoint an interim leader to head the unified office pending a special election. They were supported by five city council members.

Murrill accused the officials of helping to “usurp” the authority of civil clerk Chelsea Richard Napoleon, whom the Legislature selected to lead the office. The Louisiana Supreme Court upheld the state law that put Napoleon in charge.

But Moreno did not take kindly to Murrill’s letters, and she shot back at Murrill in a video, saying there was “a criminal law that prohibits intimidating or threatening a public official in an effort to try to influence their decision or change their position.”

Also during the recent legislative session, Republicans angered New Orleans when they reduced the number of judgeships in Orleans Parish and redistributed state aid from Williams’ office to other prosecutors’ offices. Proponents have said those decisions are meant to right-size the Orleans justice system.

Continued from page 1A

Iranian state media reported explosions in several locations, including the southern port cities of Bandar Abbas and Sirik, as well as Bushehr, home to Iran’s nuclear power plant complex.

After leaving a NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey Trump posted several videos on his social media site of what he said were explosions in Iran and issued another warning to the Islamic Republic.

“This is in retribution for yesterday’s bombing of ships by Iran. If it happens again, it will get much worse!” Trump wrote.

Trump had said earlier in the day that the latest back-and-forth fighting would not result in “longterm” military action.

“Anything that happens is going to happen very fast,” Trump said, though he also suggested the U.S. military might “just finish the job.”

Trump also renewed his past threats to hit Iran’s civilian infrastructure, including electric plants and desalinization plants, and to seize the oil-production hub of Kharg Island.

After three tankers were hit Tuesday, the U.S. launched strikes on Iran, and Iranian forces retaliated by attacking American military sites in the Persian Gulf.

Iran has asserted that the interim ceasefire deal gives it the right to manage traffic through the strait. Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, a key negotiator in talks seeking a permanent end to the war, was defiant in a post on X: “The era of bullying and extortion is over It leads

nowhere. We don’t fold.”

Strikes raise fears

Trump fueled concerns that the war could restart by saying the interim agreement to pause fighting was “over,” although he added that he would allow negotiations to continue.

Attacks have repeatedly threatened the shaky ceasefire, but Trump’s comments added new uncertainty and oil prices shot up after he spoke. A renewed conflict could engulf the wider Middle East and would likely again halt energy shipments through the strait.

“For me, I think it’s over,” Trump said when asked about the status of the ceasefire. He added that U.S. representatives can continue negotiations, but he cast doubt on the outcome. “They can talk, but I think they’re wasting their time,” he said.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi, also a top negotiator, retorted on X that Trump’s remarks “are not a sign of power but an admission of the failure” of U.S. policy toward Iran.

Trump has threatened to seize Kharg Island at previous points in the war, including last month, when he also questioned whether the U.S. “has the stomach for it.” Some 90% of Iranian oil exports pass through the island.

The new attacks on ships in the strait, despite the negotiations, could reflect a divide among Iran’s leadership. Hard-liners seek lasting control over the waterway, which is a globally important conduit for fuel shipments and has become a critical lever in confronting the West. Pragmatists want a permanent peace deal to lift international sanctions and provide desperately needed economic relief.

STAFF PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER

Special prosecutor Laurie White announces the indictment of Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill outside the Orleans Criminal District Court building in New Orleans on July 2

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ANMAR KHALIL Shiite clerics join other mourners during the funeral procession for the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei inside the Imam Ali Shrine in Najaf, Iraq.

Health

June 18 at the Rwampara Treatment Center in Ituri, Congo. Healthcare workers have walked off the job after delays in payment.

Health workers in Congo’s Ebola outbreak go on strike

Pay issues lead to protests as deaths near 600

BY PROSPER HERI NGORORA Associated Press

BUNIA, Congo The healthcare workers at the epicenter of Congo’s Ebola outbreak are walking off their jobs to protest delays in their payments, threatening efforts to slow the outbreak that officials said continues to spread faster than the response.

In Ituri province, the hardest hit among the three provinces in eastern Congo affected by the outbreak, some of the health professionals and other front-line workers told The Associated Press they’ve not been paid their wages and bonuses since the outbreak was declared on May 15. They also alleged they were working with limited gear, and were being treated unfairly by authorities as well as response teams

“Since the Ebola virus disease outbreak was declared, we’ve been demanding payment for our work,” Dr Biensi Kano, a member of the epidemiological surveillance committee in Ituri’s capital, Bunia, told The Associated Press.

The latest government data shows 1,708 recorded cases, including 580 deaths, and that the first month of this Ebola outbreak was already the worst on record, health authorities said. The strike comes at the start of enrollment for clinical trials for the treatment of the Bundibugyo virus that is responsible for this outbreak.

The World Health Organization representative in Congo, Dr Anne Ancia, said Tuesday that the virus continues to spread, fueled by population movements and insecurity, while some treatment centers are at near-full capacity

The non-payment of benefits “exposes us and our families to significant socio-economic difficulties and seriously undermines our living conditions,” said Kano.

In an official notice to national and provincial authorities over the weekend, front-line workers in Ituri threatened to strike if the wages were not paid in 24 hours. By Tuesday some had already stopped working although no official strike has been declared. The aggrieved front-line workers also include safety and security teams, those that often embark on community outreach as well as those burying patients who died from Ebola.

Congo’s government did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the situation. Officials in Ituri, however, said they’ve met with the workers and their concerns are being addressed

“The fact that Bunia airport is closed is hampering the very implementation of the response, particularly certain aspects of the flow of funds This is one of the reasons that may account for the delay in payment,”

Akilimali Pierre, incident manager at Congo’s National Institute of Public Health, told The Associated Press

Some of the workers organized a protest Monday outside the Rwampara Ebola treatment center They set tires alight, causing a brief panic in the vicinity before the police intervened to restore order

Health workers face other challenges as well, including attacks from angry residents and skepticism about the virus

Dr Ben Bakule, a community investigator, said he narrowly escaped death in late May when a group of angry young men attacked him and his colleagues while they were tracing contacts of a confirmed

Ebola case in the village of Tutu, in Djugu territory

“We spend money on transport to get to work. We thought we’d be rewarded. At the moment, nothing is going right because we’re not being paid. We don’t deserve this sort of treatment,” he told The Associated Press.

“We might have to give up our jobs. These are risks we’re taking. We risk dying for nothing. This government wants this epidemic to continue,” Bakule added, his voice tinged with frustration.

When he visited the mining town of Mongbwalu — considered the hot spot for the disease — last month, Congo’s Minister of Health Roger Kamba assured the response teams that the government was prioritizing their working conditions.

“All doctors, all nurses and all staff working on the response will be fully supported. We have the money for that,” Kamba said at the time.

But front-line workers say the reality is different.

“We are doing everything we can to make the public understand how dangerous this disease is. I came here to save people’s lives, but this is how I am being thanked. We are working day and night without being paid,” said Dr Ghislain Maneba, an epidemiologist and community investigator in the Rwampara health zone.

Meanwhile, the strike by some workers has caused concern among residents in Ituri, where measures to slow the outbreak have resulted in economic hardship.

Bunia resident Anifa Kito said she fears that response efforts may falter, further complicating daily life. “I would ask the authorities to resolve this situation before things get any worse,” she said, standing in front of her tomato stall.

Judge sets February trial for man charged with planting bombs

BY MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press

WASHINGTON A federal trial is scheduled to start in February for a Virginia man charged with planting pipe bombs near the national headquarters of the Democratic and Republican parties on the eve of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot by a mob of President Donald Trump’s supporters. The trial for Brian J Cole Jr is set to begin Feb. 16 and last about two weeks. U.S. District Judge Amir Ali set the trial date during a brief hearing Wednesday Zachary Lawson, one of Cole’s lawyers, told Ali that defense attorneys and prosecutors have not discussed the possibility of a plea deal to resolve the case.

On Monday, the judge ruled that Trump’s mass pardons for Capitol rioters did not apply to Cole. Ali refused to dismiss Cole’s case before trial, rejecting defense lawyers’ arguments that their client qualifies for a pardon because his alleged actions are “inextricably and demonstrably tethered” to the events near the Capitol on Jan. 6. Ali, who was nominated by Democratic President Joe Biden, concluded that Trump’s blanket pardons for Jan. 6 rioters explicitly applied only to people who were convicted of crimes related to the attack Cole was arrested nearly a year after Trump, a Republican, pardoned, commuted the prison sentences and or-

dered the dismissal of cases for all 1,500-plus people charged in the Jan. 6 attack. Prosecutors have said that Cole gave a confession when FBI agents questioned him after his arrest. Cole is accused of placing two pipe bombs outside the Republican National Committee and the Democratic National Committee headquarters near the Capitol on the night before the riot. The devices did not detonate before law enforcement officers discovered them on Jan. 6. A grand jury indicted Cole on four counts: interstate transportation of explosives, malicious intent to use explosives, an act of terrorism while armed and attempting to use weapons of mass destruction.

Democrat Platner announces plans to exit from Senate race

Withdrawal comes after sexual assault claim

BY KIMBERLEE KRUESI and MEG KINNARD Associated Press

SCARBOROUGH, Maine Graham Platner said Wednesday that he plans to withdraw from the U.S. Senate race in Maine after facing an allegation of sexual assault, shuttering an insurgent campaign that had withstood months of controversy only to implode and imperil Democrats’ attempt to regain power in Washington.

Platner’s exit will most likely force a reckoning within the party, which has been divided between its moderate and progressive factions, when it is struggling to unify during this year’s midterm elections. Maine is considered a key state for control of the narrowly divided Senate, and Democrats were desperate for a candidate capable of defeating Republican Sen. Susan Collins while President Donald Trump is broadly unpopular In an 11-minute video posted to social media, Platner said the process to replace him needs to be “open, transparent and democratic” and to reflect the will and values of people who supported him He also lashed out at Democratic leaders in Washington, D.C. “People in D.C. need to stay in D.C.,” Platner said. “Decisions should not be made by people in places of political power.”

At times scratching his beard and looking off camera as he spoke, Platner

seemed to become emotional as he announced his plans, seated on what appeared to be a wooden deck as the noise of nearby traffic whizzed by He also stressed that his decision was not an admission of guilt.

Although Platner had never before held elected office, progressive leaders promoted him over Gov Janet Mills, who was favored by the Democratic establishment. Mills dropped out of the race in late April as Platner, a military veteran and oyster farmer, consolidated support from primary voters who were eager for a more combative candidate and were willing to overlook his checkered past, which included a tattoo recognized as a Nazi symbol and online postings dismissive of sexual assault.

Shortly before Platner clinched the Democratic nomination in the June 9 primary, there were reports that he had exchanged sexually explicit messages with other women while married and that he had become physical with a previous girlfriend during an argument.

But Platner’s support didn’t crater until Monday, when Politico reported that a woman said he drunkenly forced her to have sex after she told him to stop.

Jenny Racicot, who lives in Maine, told Politico she had been in an on-and-off relationship with Platner but cut off contact with him after that night in 2021 and told him the encounter wasn’t consensual. In a CNN interview, she said she had been raped “by definition.”

After the story was published, Platner in a video released on social media denied the allegation as “categorically false” but said he would be “taking the time to reflect on the best path forward” for his campaign. High-level backers pulled their support, including

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who said the next day that he spoke with Platner and that “in light of these very serious allegations, I have recommended that he step aside.” State law includes a provision for Democrats to replace Platner before the general election. The state Democratic Party held an emergency meeting Wednesday, where more than 100 state committee members signed off on holding a nominating convention, in the event of Platner’s withdrawal. Platner announced he would do just that less than an hour later According to the statute, party officials may select a new nominee if a candidate who won the primary withdraws by 5 p.m. on July 13. The replacement candidate must be named by July 27. Democrats must net four Senate seats to gain control of the 100-member chamber, and party leaders viewed Maine as a critical piece of the puzzle, along with Alaska, Ohio and North Carolina.

Platner has faced difficult questions almost from the moment he started his campaign last year News outlets uncovered yearsold comments on Reddit that appeared to endorse political violence, dismiss rape in the military, criticize rural Americans and use anti-gay slurs. There was another controversy over the skull-andcrossbones tattoo, which is widely recognized as a Nazi symbol, on his chest He said he was unaware of the history and chose the tattoo while drunk and on leave with fellow Marines in Croatia. He covered the tattoo after becoming a candidate, and he said in an Oct. 21 interview with the Pod Save America political podcast that he was “not a secret Nazi.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MOSES SAWASAWA

workers tend to an Ebola patient on

Platner

Eliminated LSU positions detailed

CFO, communications, marketing workers cut

BY HALEY MILLER Staff writer

LSU eliminated its chief financial officer, vice president of engagement, and a number of communications and marketing positions in layoffs last week, according to documents.

LSU system President Wade Rousse said in a statement that the staff positions in central LSU offices were cut to put more money toward faculty and research in a push to reach the top 50 of the National Science Foundation Higher Education Research and Development Survey. “Louisiana deserves transforma-

tional change from LSU,” Rousse said. “I committed to streamlining operations and finding efficiencies so the university can focus on, and afford, the faculty needed to become a top 50 research institution.”

Twenty-five employees were laid off in total. Among them were Todd Manuel, vice president of engage-

ment, an office that formerly encompassed diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. The chief financial officer for the Baton Rouge campus, Tommy Smith, was also let go. In January, Rousse named Brandi Bush Roberts as CFO for the LSU system. Seven additional positions at the Office of Engagement were eliminated, including the director of institutional engagement and the director of learning and development Those responsibilities will be handled by the student affairs office, LSU spokesperson Meg Casper Sunstrom said.

CLEAN BREAK

Dion Watson, left, and Leroy Nixon chat with each other in the shade of the Family Community Car Wash after it closed for the day on Wednesday The car wash, located on the corner of Fairfields Avenue and North Acadian Thruway, is open 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

Man pleads guilty to manslaughter

Alleged gang member also robbed ATM technicians

An alleged member of the Bleedas gang has pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of manslaughter in the 2024 shooting death of 23-year-old Tedrick Owens. Tremayne Lindsey, 25, pleaded guilty last month in Owens’ killing. His trial had been scheduled for Tuesday after he was indicted on a count of second-degree murder Lindsey who also goes by “Meezy” according to court records, was also previously indicted on an attempted second-degree murder count from the same incident. It was dropped. In Owens’ death, police were called to the 1700 block of 75th Street in response to reports of a shooting around 3:30 p.m. on Feb. 8, 2024. Owens died of gunshot injuries at the scene. For the charge of manslaughter Lindsey received 35 years in prison to run concurrent with a previous 35-year sentence he received last month for robbing multiple ATM technicians at gunpoint. Lindsey and another Bleedas member 22-year-old Brandon Fleming, would order the workers to pull cash out of the machine while it was open for repairs, according to their arrest affidavits. Fleming pleaded guilty to the armed robbery charges and received 35 years in prison.

Washington Mardi Gras names 2027 king, queen

Ochsner CEO Pete November to reign over festivities

BY MATTHEW ALBRIGHT and MARK BALLARD Staff writers

WASHINGTON Pete November the CEO of Ochsner Health, and Peighton Ashley, a pre-med student at Xavier University in New Orleans, will be the next king and queen of Washington Mardi Gras, the Mystick Krewe of Louisianians announced Wednesday

As chair and interim captain of the Mystick Krewe of Louisianians and chair of the 78th edition of Washington Mardi Gras, House Majority Leader

Steve Scalise chooses the king and queen. The royalty becomes the public face of the event. They officially open and close festivities.

November has been president and chief executive officer of Ochsner Health System since 2022, which is headquartered close to Scalise’s home in Jefferson Ochsner runs 47 hospitals and more than 370 health and urgent care centers in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

He served on the Healthcare Transition Committee for Gov Jeff Landry

and co-chaired the Economic Development Transition Committee for New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno.

November has shepherded the organization through several significant partnerships, convening community leaders across Louisiana and the Gulf South. Ochsner is investing more than $450 million in improved facilities and infrastructure and is now partnering with Xavier University of Louisiana to create the Xavier Ochsner College of Medicine. Ashley, who graduated valedictorian in May from Liberty Magnet High School in Baton Rouge, will attend Xavier University this fall, where she plans to major in psychology while pursuing a pre-med track She

BY IANNE SALVOSA Staff writer

STAFF PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS

Police: Child died from multiple blunt force injuries

The cause of death for the 7-yearold child who died in Addis on July 1 is still under investigation, police said in a news conference Wednesday Police officers found Paris Williams unresponsive with critical injuries in a home in the 8000 block of La. 1 South. She was rushed to the hospital, where she died. Addis Police said the child’s mother Breyonne D. Dorsey 30, called 911 around 7:30 p.m. and quickly hung up. When police called back immediately, Dorsey said the call was “a mistake and everything was OK.” Police said they received another phone call at 9:47 p.m. reporting the child’s body at the residence They did not confirm that the call came from the mother

The Police Department said the child’s death was not caused by overturned furniture as previously thought, but multiple blunt force injuries. They could not give exact details of the injuries. Police also confirmed that evidence at the scene had been tampered with and concealed, which will lead to additional charges.

Dorsey was arrested on July 3 on counts including principal to second-degree murder, two counts of domestic abuse battery with child endangerment, and obstruction of justice

Dorsey’s alleged boyfriend, Christopher Butler 33, turned himself in to police on Monday He faces charges of second-degree murder and domestic abuse battery with child endangerment

Dorsey and Butler have declined

to provide statements or cooperate with law enforcement during the investigation.

Police believe from the evidence in the home that there was an intense fight between Butler and Dorsey and that both individuals suffered injuries as a result

A 12-year-old boy also was in the home at the time of the incident Coroner identifies victim in apartment shooting

The person killed in a shooting at a Florida Boulevard apartment complex Tuesday has been identified as 22-year-old Qwaviez Hamilton, according to the East Baton Rouge Coroner’s Office.

Baton Rouge police and the coroner were called to the scene at Mirage Villa Apartments at around 4 p.m.

Job fair planned for Hut 8 data center

BY JAMES MINTON Contributing writer

A July 14 job fair, followed by an open house for the community, will be the first public events associated with the Hut 8 data center now under construction in West Feliciana Parish. Hut 8 is calling the data center “River Bend” in promotional materials. The center, to be used for artificial intelligence purposes, is a few miles south of Entergy’s nuclear power plant, known officially as River Bend Station.

Meanwhile, West Feliciana agencies have received Hut 8’s $10 million advance payment in lieu of taxes that would normally be due on July 1 of next year, and the School Board and Sheriff’s Office have announced plans to share their portion of the windfall with employees.

Also, Parish President Kenny Havard announced a “document dump” of official papers associated with the parish’s dealings with Hut 8, including a narrative of the steps taken to bring the center under construction on the parish’s industrial park and neighboring properties.

The documents are available for public inspection on the Parish Council’s portion of the parish’s government website, www.wfparish.org/parish-council.

The River Bend “hiring event” will be on July 14 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. at West Feliciana High School, 8604 U.S. 61, north of St. Francisville.

Havard said the plan is for the meeting to be held in the school’s career education building Hut 8 said its representatives and those of its construction partners will be available to meet with potential job-seekers to discuss current and upcoming job opportunities. Interested visitors are encouraged to bring their resumes to the fair

The company said opportunities for employment will include workers in skilled trades, administrative support, equipment operation, electrical and mechanical work, safety, security, HVAC and operations and maintenance.

The community open house will follow the hiring fair, from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., also at the high school.

The company’s invitation says visitors will meet the Hut 8 team, learn about the project, and have opportunities to ask questions and share input on the facility

Of the $10 million early payment, the School Board received

$5.3 million, the sheriff’s office, $800,000, and the parish government, $3.9 million. Sheriff Brian Spillman announced that eligible employees

will receive up to $8,000 over the next year from the one-time payment.

As public agencies are prohibited from awarding bonuses to employees, the sheriff is calling the outlay a “prospective supplemental compensation program,” structured as additional compensation for services to be rendered during the term of employment.

The office’s allocation from the Hut 8 payment will be directed toward employee retention and recruitment, the sheriff said.

“This investment from Hut 8 gives us a unique opportunity to directly reward the men and women who serve West Feliciana Parish every day,” Spillman said in a statement announcing the pay plan.

“Like law enforcement agencies across the state, we compete for the most qualified deputies, detention officers, dispatchers and support personnel. Retaining experienced employees is critical to maintain public safety services, which is the Sheriff’s Office’s highest operational need. Retaining and recruiting quality personnel is one of our top priorities, and this is a meaningful step toward that goal,” Spillman said.

Qualifying employees will receive $4,000 on Aug. 1 and additional $4,000 on Jan. 15.

The School Board recently voted to give its employees a $7,000 annual stipend for the next two school years, budgeting the Hut 8 prepayment and expected increases in sales and property taxes.

Havard said the documents will remain on the parish government’s website at least until the project is completed.

“We want the people to see how the deals were negotiated,” Havard said, adding, “We didn’t want people to think it was done in a vacuum.”

The documents include the 60page “payment in lieu of taxes” agreement, appraisals of property involved in the site, and a map of the site.

Havard is critical of state officials who entered into nondisclosure agreements with other companies seeking to locate industrial projects in Louisiana, including a large data center planned for Richland Parish

Using NDAs to prepare the way, the administration of Gov Jeff Landry persuaded key legislators to prohibit local governments from levying sales taxes on construction materials and equipment installed in data centers.

That sales tax break already has cost West Feliciana Parish millions of dollars, Havard said. Havard said he did not sign an NDA during the lead-up to the Hut 8 announcement.

Police continue to investigate. Man faces manslaughter charge in overdose death

A man was arrested Tuesday in Baton Rouge and faces a charge of manslaughter after a victim overdosed on narcotics the suspect allegedly sold on Feb. 26. According to an arrest warrant, the overdose victim was found dead in their living room. The toxicology report showed positive results for the presence of cannabinoids, caffeine, trazodone, fentanyl, norfentanyl and 4-ANPP in his blood, plus opiates, cannabinoids and fentanyl in his urine.

Detectives connected 36-yearold Robert McKay with the victim because they allegedly discussed the delivery of narcotics via text on Feb. 25. East Baton Rouge Par-

ish Sheriff’s Office Street Crimes/ Community Policing Division conducted surveillance of McKay at his residence, where they said he was observed passing and receiving narcotics through his doorway Police collected 3.2 ounces of purple fentanyl, 0.5 grams of fentanyl, a digital scale with fentanyl residue, four 100-mg bottles of methadone and 2.4 grams of marijuana, along with other drug paraphernalia. McKay previously has been convicted of numerous crimes, including multiple battery and possession charges. He was charged Tuesday on additional counts, including possession of a Schedule I substance, and possession with intent to distribute illegal substances and other charges related to selling or producing drugs.

Property owners to see tax break

Reduction will be temporary, sheriff says

BY ANNAKATE FREELAND Staff writer

Assumption Parish property

owners will see a temporary reduction in taxes after Sheriff Leland Falcon announced he is suspending collection of a 4.25-mill property tax at the beginning of this fiscal year which started Wednesday

FESTIVITIES

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with ExxonMobil in the Public and Government Affairs Department, where she specializes in social media and helps promote STEM professions throughout the Baton Rouge community She was a member of the Louisiana Leadership Institute’s Leadership Academy and received the Louisiana Volunteer Service Award.

The dean of Louisiana’s eightmember congressional delegation, Scalise, R-Jefferson, was first elected to the House in 2008 He has ascended to the second-highest leadership position, behind House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Benton, in the lower chamber

The Mystick Krewe of Louisianians was created by the late Sen. Russell Long, D-Baton Rouge, to organize and handle the finances of the annual event.

What began as an ad hoc celebration by homesick congressional staffers in the 1940s morphed into a more organized Carnival event attended by high-level politicos, such as Vice President

LSU

Continued from page 1B

More than a dozen employees in communications and university relations, including the executive director of content, video producers and editors, were laid off. All communications will be overseen by Sunstrom with a staff of six, according to an LSU webpage.

Details of the layoffs were first

DELIVERIES

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what they need, when they need it,” Tyra Jones, Prime Air operations manager, said in a release. “Whether it’s a lastminute household essential or a birthday gift, our team in Baton Rouge is ready to deliver We’re excited to bring ultrafast drone delivery to the Baton Rouge community.”

Items eligible for drone delivery must be 5 pounds or less, which includes 60% of Amazon products, and the most popular drone-delivered products include everyday necessities like batteries and hygiene products. The MK30 drone delivers the products from Amazon’s facility at Cortana Place to anywhere

The 4.25-mill property tax was approved by voters in 2017 and came with a 15-year term intended to provide financial stability for the Sheriff’s Office.

According to Falcon, the Sheriff’s Office has strengthened its financial position over the nine years the property tax has been in effect. Although the tax remains authorized through 2032, property owners will not be assessed the 4.25 mills while the suspension is in place. Falcon said the suspension is not necessarily permanent. If the financial conditions at the

Richard Nixon (twice), Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson (multiple times) and Chief U.S. Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren.

Washington Mardi Gras has become an annual retreat for local, state and federal politicians to socialize casually with Louisiana business moguls, university presidents, charity leaders and trade association executives. Paid for by dues, tickets and donations, public access to Washington Mardi Gras is restricted and media coverage is limited to foster unguarded conversations that get business done, participants say The Louisiana Ethics Board allows elected officials to pay for their expenses out of campaign funds.

The official Washington Mardi Gras events take place at the Washington Hilton and usually begin on a Wednesday afternoon, next year on Jan. 20.

A number of private trade associations, companies and lobbyists hold their own parties at various venues around Washington. In between the toasts, cocktail parties and panel discussions, revelers can stroll down the halls of the Hilton visiting a series of

reported by the Louisiana Illuminator Rousse has said previously the organization will need to streamline in order to generate the dollars needed to achieve top 50, which depends on hiring more faculty and allocating more money to research. He and the LSU Board of Supervisors argue the ranking will make the university eligible for more grants and elevate its research reputation as it strives for greater academic prestige.

within a 7.5-mile radius. The company began construction on a drone hub and launchpad earlier this year in the parking lot of the fulfillment center Amazon employs flight monitors, safety and compliance officers, maintenance technicians and ground handlers at their Prime Air hubs to conduct the deliveries and ensure safety The area surrounding the fulfillment center includes Scotlandville, Central parts of St. George, LSU, Southern University and downtown. The autonomous drone flies up to 70 miles per hour and weighs about 80 pounds. The Cortana fulfillment center houses around 12 to 20 drones.

Baton Rouge is one of a handful of U.S. cities with the service. An Amazon official said in April that the company selected

Sheriff’s Office change before the millage expires, collection of part or all of the tax could resume.

Wendy Baldwin, a staff member with the Assumption Parish Assessor’s Office, said the 4.25mill tax generated about $1.05 million in 2025. According to a financial report for fiscal 2025, the department had a $10.9 million budget, and the agency ended the year with a $13.2 million fund balance The sheriff did not specify how long he anticipates the tax will remain suspended.

hospitality suites sponsored by corporations, charities, universities, trade associations, politicians and their fundraising arms

The drinks are free — it’s hard to find anything nonalcoholic — and food is always available.

Thursday night is the “Louisiana Alive” party that features Louisiana bands and chefs preparing a variety of dishes unavailable in Washington.

Friday’s main event is the Washington Mardi Gras Economic Development Luncheon & Reception, which gathers more than 300 business, civic and government leaders. It is usually closed to the public. Last year’s guest speaker was Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. The 78th edition of the four-day carnival event is capped off with a formal Saturday night Jan. 23 ball, hosted by the king and queen with entourages that include many of the festival queens

The black-tie ball is open to ticketholders, many of whom wear masks and traditional costumes.

Members of the krewe, including congresspersons, floats and marching bands, parade around the oval-shaped ballroom, tossing beads.

As part of the top 50 efforts, the board approved a major restructuring this year to group the flagship campus, LSU AgCenter, Pennington Biomedical Research Center and two health science centers in Shreveport and New Orleans as a singular research enterprise. With the hiring of Rousse, the board also split the formerly dual president-Baton Rouge chancellor position into two roles, allowing Chancellor Jim Dalton to prioritize research goals.

Baton Rouge due to its Amazon fulfillment center and thirst for innovation, exemplified by its universities.

The company hosted a community event downtown Baton Rouge in April for locals to see a drone up close and learn about the service.

STAFF FILE PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON Hut 8 data center construction continues on March 13 in St. Francisville.

ASSUMPTION PARISH

CRIME BLOTTER staff reports

WEST FELICIANA PARISH

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Obituaries

Anderson, Rochelle Reeves

RochelleReeves Anderson who entered her heavenly mansion on July 4, 2026, at age 90. She was married 63 years to her husband, Brother Bob Anderson, retired pastor of Parkview Baptist Church. She is survived by her daughters, Susan McKey and Janet (Dane) Blankenship, and her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Aservice will be held on Saturday, July 11, 2026,at Parkview Baptist Church.

Visitation: 1:00 p.m. Celebration of Life: 2:00 p.m

Arrangements with Church Funeral Services

Master Sergeant (Ret.)

Harrell Andrew Brandon, Sr., age 80, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, peacefully departed this life on Thursday, June 25, 2026. Born on June 3, 1946, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana,Harrell liveda life defined by perseverance, service, devotion,and quiet strength. He was proud of his military career and the opportunities he had to serve his country. He valued hard work,believed in helping others, and found joy in caring for his family. Those whoknew him willremember aman who faced life with determination, loved in his own way, and left behind many lasting memories. He is survived by his beloved wife, Loretta HopkinsBrandon; son, Andrew Brandon; daughter, Dorcas Brandon; stepdaughter, Lisa Brown (Jamal); brothers, Herman Brandon, Jr (Cheryl) and Warren L. Brandon, Sr. (Gloria); grandchildren, greatgrandchildren, nieces, nephews, other relatives, and many dear friends. Family and friends are invited to celebrate his life during apublic viewing on Thursday, July 9, 2026, from 4:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. A second viewing will be held on Friday, July 10, 2026, from 9:30 a.m. until 10:30 a.m. The Brothers of Lambda Alpha Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc. will conduct amemorial at 10:30 a.m. until the Celebration of Life Service commences at 11:00 a.m. at Hall Davis& Son Funeral Service, LLC, 9348 Scenic Highway, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70807.The service will be officiated by Pastor Charles L. Stewart, Jr. of New Jerusalem Baptist Church. Interment will follow at Louisiana National Cemetery in Zachary, Louisiana.

Broussard, Sr.(Tameka) of Houston, Tx. She was preceded in death by her parents Rev. Willie and Georgia Williams, herhusband of over fifty years Paul Broussard, Sr, and hersiblings George,Ruth, John, David,Emma, and Thelma Shewas aretired EBRbus driverand licensed cosmetologist. Savanna enjoyed growing plants and flowers, preparing delicious and highly anticipated meals forher familyand allwho stoppedbytovisit, fishing, sewing and being in style. Serviceswill be held at LittleZionBaptist ChurchonFriday, July 10, 2026 1955 74th Ave Baton Rouge,La. Viewing 10am untillreligious services at 11am. ConductedbyPastorRalphBrooks. In lieuof flowers, donationsmay be made to LittleZion Baptist Church. Shewillbelovingly rememberedfor her steadfastfaith,her passion forcooking,and her selfless, heroic spiritas the cherished matriarchof her family.

BarbaraTurner

Barbara Cheek, a belovedwife, mother grandmother,great-grandmother,and friend,passed awaypeacefully on Monday,July 6, 2026,atthe age of 89. Anative of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Barbara liveda life defined by compassion and generosity. She graduated from Baton Rouge High School and Louisiana StateUniversity. Shewas known by all who met her for herwarmspirit, thoughtful words, and genuine care forothers. Her ability to make people feel valuedwas one of her greatest gifts. Above all Barbara treasured her family. Shewas adevoted wifeand wonderful mother whoselove and guidance created alegacy. Hergentle nature and steadfast supporttouched the lives of thosearound herand willcontinue to be remembered by everyone fortunate enough to know her. Barbara had astrong faith and was activeinCampus Bible Class,taught by Nick Kalivoda,whereshe enjoyedstudying God'sword and sharingfellowship with others.She was also an avid gardener who found great joyinnurturing and creating beauty through her love of plants and flowers.Throughout herlife, Barbaragenerously gaveher time and talents to the organizations she loved. Sheserved as presidentofthe Lanier Elementary PTA (lifetime honorary member of the Louisiana PTA and National Congress of PTA), Sherwood Forest Garden Club, and Serendipity social group. Whatever club or organization Barbara participated in, she took an activerole and contributed with dedication and aservant's heart.Barbara was preceded indeath by her belovedson,JohnnieGeraldCheek; herhusband, EdwardCheek; her parents,JohnnieJamesand AnnieLauraDenham;her stepfather, Raymond Thomas; her brother, Johnnie JamesJr. (Jane); and her sisters, Yvonne McRight (Buddy) and Gloria Warren (Albert).She is survived by her daughters, Kimberly CheekPickren (GregoryPickren) and Laura CheekAguilar (Richard Aguilar); her grandchildren, Sage Pickren(Eric Dunheimer), RyanPickren (Rachel Pickren), John Aguilar (Hayes Aguilar), and AlexanderAguilar(fiancée, ToriNunnally); and hergreat-grandchildren, Elise Dunheimer,Wesley Pickren, Enzo Aguilar, and LochlanAguilar. Barbara's legacy of faith, devotion to family,and compassion willcontinue through the many livesshe touched Shewillbedeeply missed and forever cherished by those who knewand loved her.A memorialservice honoring Barbara's lifewill be held on Saturday, September 5, at Greenoaks Funeral Home,9595 Florida Boulevard, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Visitationwill begin at 9:00 a.m., with the memorialservice following at 10:00 a.m. In lieu of flowers, memorialdonations may be made to Radio Bible Courses, PO Box 14916, Baton Rouge, LA 70898.

Patrick "Pat" J. Crain, 82, of Ethel, Louisiana, was called home to be with the Lord on July3,2026. Pat was born on December 21, 1943, in Mount Hermon, Louisiana. Patissurvived by his belovedwife,Betty; his daughter, Donielle Crain Gainous (David); his son, Clark Crain(Kandi); 16 grandchildren; and 7greatgrandchildren. He was preceded in deathbyhis parents, W.B. and Frances Crain, and hisgreat-grandson, Brooks Gainous. Visitation willbeheldatFeliciana Baptist Church on Friday, July 10, 2026, from 6:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. Visitation willcontinue on Saturday, July11, 2026, from 9:00 a.m. until thefuneral serviceat11:00 a.m. Burial willfollow at the Crainfamily residence, 8001 Highway 10, Ethel, Louisiana 70730.

Janice Marie Criss (Trail)passed away peacefully on Friday, June 19, 2026, at theage of 77. Memorial Serviceswillbe held on Friday, July 10, 2026, at 11:00 a.m. at The Greater NewGalilee Baptist Church; 9185 WilburSt, Baton Rouge,La70807.

Pauline "Polly" Bondy Hernandezwas born in NewRoads, Louisiana, on May 3, 1928. She died on July6,2026 at LaCour HouseinNew Roads. She entered St. JosephAcademy in 1935 and completed theseventh grade in 1942. At that time, she went to live with her aunt and uncle, EleanorMcCall, and Floyd Bondy, who livedin Florence,South Carolina and had no children. There she attended both junior and high school, where she excelled in academicand extracurricular activities. She graduated from Florence High in 1946 and returnedtoLouisiana where she entered LSUfull-time in thefall. In 1949 she interrupted her educationto workfor the American Rice Growers Associate in Lake Charles. During that time, she enrolled in night courses at McNeese College.In 1952 she returnedtoBaton Rouge where she continued her educationasa part-time night student and was also employed by theOffice of thePresident of LSUwhere she served under theadministrations of GeneralTroy H. Middleton, Dr. John Hunter, and Dr. Martin D. Woodin. In 1970 she married John H. Hernandez. Afterher retirementshe devoted her life to homemakingand volunteering in civic, cultural, and church organizations. Theseincluded BatonRouge OperaGuild, The Literary Club,Garden Growers Study Group, Woman's Club, The East Side/WestSideClub,Foundation of Historic Louisiana, Friends of Magnolia Mound,and Ladyof theEquestrian Orderofthe Holy Sepulcher. Her greatest joywas beingwith family,friends, and their children. She and John frequentlyentertainedin their home and madeevery meal afestiveoccasion.

She is survivedbysisters, Gayle Bondy Brown, and Alice AlcideBondy. Also, many nieces and nephews to treasure her memory including Charles

"Beau" A. Bondyand JoAnn BondyMartin; godchildren BelindaBondy, James "Jim" Bondyand Gayle LaCour Pfister.Aunt Polly's love and generosity enrichedthe livesofher nieces and nephews and helpedform them intothe people they aretoday. She is preceded in death by her belovedhusband, of 53 years, John H. Hernandez, her parents, Auguste A. Bondy, Sr.and Annie Hays Bondy, brothers, David J. Bondy, Sr.(Adelaide) and AugusteArthur Bondy, Jr.; brothers-in-law Carl O. Brown, and Frederick Hill, Jr., sisters MargueriteBondy Bougere, Anne BondyTriche,Catherine BondyPaine (Charles), PatriciaBondy LaCour (Edgar), Mary Lillian Bondy Bond, sister-in-law and dear friend Thelma Dayries Bondy, and nephews Walter"Buddy" Bougere, Paul Bond and niece Nancy BondyKindy

Pallbearers willbe: David Bondy, Jr Matthew Bondy, Ed LaCour,Francis LaCour,Jacob "Jake" Harelson and Dr. Paul Rachal. Honorary Pallbearers: Richard Bondy, Steven F. Crucq, David E. Shirley, J. Clayton Johnsonand Mike Harelson. The family wouldliketothank Drs. Paul Rachaland Ashley Doucet Bordelon, Pointe Coupee Homebound Healthand Hospice,LaCour House and long-time caregiver, Yolandra Newton, for all theloving care they gaveAunt Pollyduring her last few years.

Funeral Mass (no wake) willbecelebrated by Father Scott Dugas at St. Mary'sofFalse River, 348 Main Street, NewRoads, Louisiana on FridayJuly 10, 2026 at 10am. Visiting and meal willfollow in St. Mary'sChurch Hall (11am1pm) and burial willbeat 2:30pm at Roselawn Cemetery,4045 NorthStreet,BatonRouge,Louisiana.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations to BatonRouge Opera Guild or thecharityofyourchoice

Susan Menier, bornin Shreveport and aresident of DenhamSprings, passed away July7,2026 at the ageof79. Susan wasborn in Shreveport,Louisianaon July4,1947 to Calvin and Skeet Bogard.Afterhigh school, Susan went on to earn her Cosmetologylicense in 1970 and then her Barber license 8years later.She had apassion for her joband was well respectedamong her peers. She wasanactivemember of HebronBaptist Church since 1980, whereshe enjoyed going to hear the wordofGod and share in thefellowship of those around her. Later on in life she enjoyed going to schools and volunteering as afoster grandparent. She lovedtospreadjoy and love to anyone who needed it.Above allelse, she lovedher children and grandchildren, and cherishedany time spent with them. Her kind and gentle spirit willbemisseddearly by allthose who knew and lovedher. She is survived by her children, TroyMenier (Christina) and Scott Menier; grandchildren, Austin, Dylan, Marisa and TaylorMenier; sister, Nona Lafleur (Larry), brother and sisters-in-law; Kirk and Monica Menier, Kyle and Lola Menier and Jenny Menier, as well as numerous nieces and nephews. She is also survivedbyher loving fur-baby, Coco. She is preceded in death by her parents, Calvin and Skeet Bogard,brother-in-law, Brent Menier and nephew, Ryan Menier.Relatives and friends are invited to join thefamily in celebrating her life on Saturday, July 11, 2026 at First Baptist Church in Denham Springs forthe visitationstarting at 10:00 AM until theservice at 11:00 AM.Immediatelyfollowing theservice therewillbea gathering

with food andfellowship that will also take place at thechurch.

Elisabeth de Rijk Spanhoff left this life peacefully on Friday June 26th 2026, she was81years old. Elisabeth wasbornonMay 10,1945 in Amsterdam, Netherlands to MariaGimberghdeRijkand Fredrikus Jacobus de Rijk. Herfondest memories of thefirst years in Amsterdam were exploring the city around herfamily home and thelove the familyshowered herwith beingthe first childborn after thewar.

Later herparents and six brothers andsisters immigrated to theUnited Statesand settled in Santa Monica,California. Here Elisabeth spenther youngeryearsgettingto know anew country. She attendedSanta Monica High School whereshe graduatedMaxima Cum Laude andreceiveda scholarship to MountSt. Mary'sCollegefor Latin studies. Elisabeth was an academic in everysense of the word.She enjoyed learningand graduated from MountSt. Mary'sCollege four years later with a Bachelor of Arts Magna CumLaude. From there she wasawarded ascholarship to the graduate program of Philosophy at the University of NotreDame. Here she wasawarded a master's in philosophy.

Later that year, Elisabeth marriedRenzo Willem Spanhoff and soon after gave birth to SaskiaSpanhoff, theironlychild. Elisabeth wasa loving mother whostayedhome to raise Saskia. She started gardening,enjoyedplayingpianoand cooking. After Saskiaenteredschool, Elisabeth went backto academia. She obtained herteaching certification andbegan to teachLatin at both McKinley Middle School andSt. Joseph's Academy in Baton Rouge Louisiana. Elisabeth then went on thereceive aMaster of Libraryand Information Sciencefrom Louisiana State University. Shethenwentontowork at theState Libraryasthe Coordinator of Technical Services. Elisabeth went on to become aprominent figure in thelibraryand informationscience community, best knownfor her academic contributions to bibliographiccataloging, librarystandards andliteracy. Shewrote extensively on literacy andpubliclibrariesinLouisiana, examiningthe history and surveys regarding therole of librariesinserving illiterate populations. After Elisabeth retired from herprofessional career,she spent alot of time exploring nature from taking up Botanyclasses to studyingbirdidentification.Hikinginthe desserts of theSouthwest wasa particular favorite.Itwas here in the Southwest that she acquired agreat love forthe Zuni Artisansand accumulated an impressivecollection of Zuni Fetishes. Shealso enjoyed writing poetry, Haiku's and playing herpiano.Elisabeth spent alot of time studying music, by followingcertain artists and attending Classical Music festivals throughout the

world.Shewas agreat supporter of thearts. Walking into herhomeis like entering abeautifulart galleryfulloflocal artists pottery, stainglass, sculpture and paintings. Most importanttoher were the paintingsand drawing of herbrother Marinus Wellman. Elisabeth was predeceased by herparents Fredrikus and MariadeRijk, brotherCornelis Welmann and wife Martha Welmann,sistersMaria Welmann,Neeltje Singh andAnneke Venrola. Elisabeth is survived by her twobrothersFranciscus Johannes Welmann and wife Olga Welmann and Marinus Johannes Maria Welmann,husband Renzo Spanhoff and daughter SaskiaSpanhoffand husband EnriquePinerua and manynieces andnephews that all held heringreat esteem. Elisabeth wasloved by all those that she encountered. She had agenerous heartand acalmspirit Sheneverprejudged peopleand always took time to engage in meaningful conversationswiththose she met. She will be missed by many. Serviceswill be held at St.AgnesCatholic Church on Wednesday July 15th at 11am. Visitation will be from10:30-11am. The family requests if you wish to make donations, please send themtoSt. Agnes Missionaries of Charity

In Loving Memory of Harriette Jackson Sparks, June 24, 1941 -July2,2026. With profound love and gratitude for alifebeautifully lived,wecelebrate thelifeand legacyofHarriette Jackson Sparks, who peacefully enteredeternal rest on July 2, 2026, surroundedbyher loving family. Though ourheartsare heavy with sorrow,werejoiceinknowing that Harriette's faithhas become sight. Herlifewas abeautifultestimony of love,sacrifice, strength,and grace. Herlegacywill continueto live on in theheartsofall whoknewand lovedher "Her childrenriseup andcallher blessed." Proverbs 31:28 Foreverloved. Deeply missed. Eternallyremembered. Aviewing (wake) will be held from8:00 AM to 9:00 AM on 2026-07-10 at Greater Mt Canaan Baptist Church,5820 Evangeline Street.A funeral service will be held from9:00 AM to 10:00 AM on 2026-07-10 at Greater Mt Canaan Baptist Church, 5820 Evangeline Street

Crain,PatrickJ.'Pat'

Spanhoff, Elisabeth

Cheek,

Sparks, Harriette Jackson

Criss, Janice Marie 'Trail'

Brandon, Harrell Andrew

Hernandez,Pauline Bondy 'Polly'

Menier,Susan

Broussard, Savanna

Savanna Broussard, 80, of Baker, LA passed away on June 26, 2026, she was born on August 29, 1945, in Baker, LA. Savanna was a beloved mother, grandmother, sister, aunt and friend. Known for her cooking, hairstyling and guiding wisdom. Savanna is survived by her three children: Shanna of Houston, Tx., Paul, Jr. (Leah) of Baton Rouge, LA, and Tellis

There’sareason they say slow and steady wins the race. For anyone tracking progress toward agoal, the true path to success comes from small steps that addupto somethingbig This week’sLEAP scores show that Louisiana is making that sort of progress in achieving the goal of improving educational outcomesfor students acrossthe board. After thestate’s stunning accomplishment in raising reading scores and overcoming pandemic learninglossinrecent years, education officials vowedtokeep up thepushtoimprove.

If there were concerns about whether the gains would hold, they can be put to rest now with recent LEAP resultsshowing the state’s students continuing to meet theever-higherbar set for them. Arecord36% are now meeting standards across all subjectsand grades.

Results for the 2025-26 LEAP tests released Monday show students in grades 3-8 grewin math, science and social studiesproficiency. While English scores were flat, it’s important to note that they have rebounded from the pandemic-era plummet. Forhigh schoolers, scores improved or stayed thesame in every subject except English I, where there wasa slight dip in the percentageofstudents meeting standards.Still, in all subjects combined, 36% of high schoolers achieved mastery or above— 2 percentage points above last year

Scores for East Baton RougeParish schools showed some of thestrongestgains sincethe pandemic, increasing 2percentage points across all subjects and grades. In English, students’ scores are within 1percentage point of pre-pandemicperformance, andscience proficiency has surpassed pre-pandemic levels Parishes surroundingBatonRouge posted some of the top scores in thestate. Four of the five top-scoring districts were in the Baton Rougearea. Ascension Parish took first place in the state rankings, witha mastery rate of 53%,followed closely by West FelicianaParish at number two, with52% of students hitting themark. Central and Zachary schools ranked fourth and fifth place, behind Plaquemines Livingston and West Baton Rouge parishes also easilybeat the state averagefor students achieving mastery or above.

This bodes well for aregion where new industries are moving in that will relyonahighly educated workforce of thefuture. We celebrate thisachievementbyour state’s students and teachers while also realizing that more work needs to be done. Theachievement gap between students in many categories— including Black and Hispanic students, students with disabilities, those still learning English andstudentsfrom low-income families— and the rest of our student population remains stubbornly high. And while mathscorescontinue to grow,fully two-thirds of students are not meetingstandards.

Yet, we can say we have confidence in education officials at the state andlocal levelasthey pursue astrategy that is leading to success. Louisiana should continuetoinvest in policies that areproducing these results. We cannot afford to turn back now

LETTERSTOTHE EDITOR ARE

HERE AREOUR

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TO SEND US A LETTER, SCANHERE

OPINION

Louisiana stands to gain from the growing American offshore wind industry.Asthe chief development officer of Grand Isle Shipyard, Iwould know America’senergy landscape looks alot different than it did when GIS was founded in 1948. We began as a shipbuilding and repair facility.In the late1950s, we began moving into construction, fabrication and support services for Louisiana’semerging offshore oil and gasindustries. We are now afull-service engineering, procurement,fabrication and construction company.That growth has only been possible becausewe evolved with the market.

Today,offshore wind is transforming Louisiana, just like offshoreoil and gas did in the20th century.By volume, almost25% of contracts for American offshore wind projects are going to businesses in Gulf states.

There’saclear reason:Justlike other offshore energy sources, wind requires expertiseinfabrication; construction, electrical and instrumentation engineering; project management services, and so much

Though it’struethat our government was set up to be secular,the Founders of this country were guided by Judeo-Christian principles and deeply informed by theBible.

The TenCommandments serveas themoral and ethical core for Judaismand Christianity, focusing on the proper worship of God and respectful conduct toward others.

“Upwards of 70% and 76% of U.S. adults believe displaying theTen Commandmentsinorongovernment buildings and public property is proper,” aPew Research Center survey said.

Much of theopposition comes from non-religious coalitions and groups representing secular citizens,atheists, interfaithand minorityfaiths. Iview theTen Commandments as ahistorical document.However, itsdisplay affectsyou is apersonal choice. If you favor it, blessyou. If it bothersyou, ignore it.

In his letter,Muhammad Yungai

more. Louisiana’sworkers have been pioneering energy projectsinthe Gulf for over acentury.AsAmerica builds offshore wind, we will play a critical role.

Beyond the thousands of jobs for shipbuilders, electricians and more that have already been created, we’re also seeing arise in training programs at technical colleges and high schools. Allofthis can andshould coexist with offshore oil and gas. Our clients don’tsee offshore wind as atradeoff; instead, it represents anew opportunity.

While offshorewind hasunique challenges in the Gulf, it presents us with the opportunity to develop new technology and innovate in ways no other state can.

Investing in offshore wind isn’tjust good for our energy portfolio; it’s good business. Our workers, companies and community will benefit from more offshore wind in Louisiana and throughout thecountry TODD BERTHELOT Galliano

presented asophomoric critique of thedisplay of theTen Commandments. He claims that they are notspecific enough. “Thou shalt not steal,Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt notcommit adultery…” not specific enough? To say that their display is inane is inane in itself. Because some people kill, some steal,some commit adultery and some covet their neighbor’sgoods, he therefore believes that the Ten Commandmentshave no moral value to serveasaguidefor civilized human behavior Why? Again, because some people do not adheretothem. Well, Iguess that since some people run red lights, there is no reason for traffic lights. He concludes that “kids will take one look at the TenCommandments and laugh themselves silly.” That is really inane.

TERRYDANTIN Thibodaux

Criminal justice reform is scary, yes, but what’smore frightening is living in astate that can’tget its educational budget properly funded. Especially when the quality criminal justice reforms approved in 2017, are fully implemented, would have saved Louisiana hundreds of millions of dollars.

The question Ihave always asked myself is “Are our citizens so criminally inclined and active that this justifies our state incarcerating moreof its citizens forlonger periods of time than any other state in our country?” Are we that bad? The formerly approved reforms not only saved money but improved public safety when fully implemented. Our governmental leadership has eliminated the previously approved reforms, and Louisiana is now spending morethan before the “correctional reforms” were approved. No wonder we can’tget the educational budget correct. No question, criminal justice reform is adifficult topic, but when clear real facts werepresented by an unbiased third party,itset the tone forthe improvements that, foronce, gave Louisiana quality recognition. It’s no wonder our governmental leaders can’t get the funds needed to improve our seriously flawed educational system; they ignore facts and continue to feed the public fiction because it’seasier to sell. Our governmental leaders have stopped thinking, and they wantusto do the same. Sad.

C. GERONHARGON Baton Rouge

Congratulations to Garret Graves forhis excellent column published in the June 30 edition of the newspaper regarding closed primary elections. Iagree with his opinion/views on this 100%, and Ithink any reasonable voter would also agree. Why can’twedowhat he suggests?

FRANK H. PEREZ Baton Rouge

WNBA should embraceCaitlinClark

What sports league, handedagenerational talent who has played brilliantly and deliveredmassivecommercial dividends,would make this very same player seem unwelcome and an object of scorn?

The WNBA.

Caitlin Clark arrived in the league three seasons ago already asuperstar considered one of the greatest college players in the history of the sport, and instantly boostedthe league—otherwise a commercially marginal outfit—toanotherlevel.

For her troubles, the Indiana Fever star has been treated like avirus that the league’santibodies seek to reject. The latest controversy erupted after aplayer with the Phoenix Mercury named Alyssa Thomas pressed her fist to Clark’sneck when the Fever guard was prone on the court. Theofficials missedthe foulinrealtime, but the league later deemed it aflagrant foul andsuspended Thomas fora game

The episode was shocking given Clark’simportance to the game,a little like TomBrady getting clotheslinedor ShoheiOhtani gettinghit by apitch, and the refs or umps not noticing. Still, ABC News ran asympathetic segment about Thomas, who is Black, getting death threats afterthe incident, and sports influencer Emmanuel Acho said that the incident showedthatClark is more trouble than she’sworth This is alittle like saying in the 1940s or 1950s that Major League Baseball didn’tneed TedWilliams.Now,of course, Clark hasn’tprovedherself one of thegreatest offensiveforces in her league’shistory,the way Teddy Ballgame did. She has achance,though, if she stays healthy —all the more reason for theWNBA to keep her fromgetting singled out for hard fouls onthe court. Players envious of Clark should realize that the only reasonasegment of fans cares about the league is that sheis playing in it.

Aplayer who is very good, and also famousand charismatic, is apriceless commodity for any league, and the entire WNBA should be grateful for what it has in Clark. They usedtosay of the New York Yankeesthat Yankees areborn, not made In asimilarvein, the WNBA could have hadalimitless marketing budget andwould have been unable to manufacture theCaitlin Clark phenomenon —itisorganicand not replicable. Clarkfills arenas at homeand away, whereteamssometimes temporarily move to larger NBAarenas to accommodate the crowds. She drives huge spikesinTVratings.Her jerseyisthe league’s bestseller. By one estimate, she accounts for more than aquarter of the league’s revenue. In terms of sheer economic value, Caitlin Clark is theElon Musk of the WNBA. The root of her appeal is that she’s truly extraordinary on thecourt, atop scorerand exceptional playmaker. This year, she’s been averaging roughly 21 points and8 assistsper game. She holds the record for mostassists in a game,and most assists in aseason, and

Indiana Feverguard

Caitlin Clark plays against the Atlanta DreamonJune 18.

reached 500 career assists at the fastest pace in WNBA history Her total offensive production per game —points plus assists—istops in the league this year She should be just getting started. But her WNBA tenure has been markedby controversieswithanidentity-politics edge, sinceit’snot hardtoimagine that the predominantly black league with adisproportionatenumber of openly lesbian players looks askance at the white, straight playerwho gets outsized attention.

Clark’steammateSophie Cunningham said after the latestincident thatClark is clearly being targeted.The league should make it clear that— as asport and entertainment business —itwants no part of suchanagenda and it highly values its mostvaluable player

Clark’sagent has said, correctly,that there’s no way the WNBA can pay Clark what she’s worth. What the league can do is provide an environment for her to reach her full potential; it’sthe very least it can do for Clark, thesport and its fans.

Rich Lowry is on X@RichLowry

Former slavetoldusthe valueofJuly4

It is unfortunate but also ironically appropriate that national effortstocelebrate the nation’sbirth were rattled by internal disputes overhow that birth should be celebrated.

“Who controls the past controls the future,” wrote George Orwell in 1984. “Who controls the present controls the past.”

By altering history to make the ruling party look great, in other words, leaderscan more easily justify their current actions in ways that help them hold power With that maxim in mind, one can easily see why the current administration takes such abig interestinhistory,when they’re not just staging commemorative stuntssuch as cage fighting on the White House grounds.

American and Western values as inherently harmfuland oppressive.”

That dependsonhow you view history,ofcourse. In afree society, historical inquiry is always going to raise inconvenient truths and challenge patriotic orthodoxies and hagiographies. As painful as that can be, in the long run it’s good for thebody politic.

The executive order designated Vice President JD Vance andLindsey Halligan, asenior White House aide, “to remove improper ideology” from the Smithsonian Institution, which includes dozens of museums, libraries, research centers, historical sites and the National Zoo.

Alas, “improper” is in theeye of the beholder.

as “beings of an inferior order,” who had “no rightsthat theWhiteman was bound to respect ” Douglass did not trytosugarcoat his descriptions of the brutalityofslavery or those who actively or passively tried to defend the“peculiar institution,”in theeuphemism popularized by Southern politician John C. Calhoun in the 1830s.

If the Declaration of Independence announced the birth of the United States of America, the Battle of New Orleans in 1815 marked our nation’send of adolescence and assumption of maturity in world affairs.

Nowcomes great news: The already splendid Chalmette Battlefield memorial at the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park is likely to be better protected and possibly expanded. One of our country’sgreat historical-preservation organizations, The American Battlefield Trust, has secured acontract to purchase 40 acres of additional battlefield near the current, 145-acre national park.

For example, President Donald Trump’sadministration has been involved in alegal battle regarding historical sitesand slavery inPhiladelphia, under an executive orderaimed at removing content that allegedly disparages America, in the administration’sview

Under that order,the National Park Service recently removed panels at the President’sHouse Sitedetailing the people George Washington held in slavery The City of Philadelphia sued the park service over the removals anda federal judge initially ordered thedisplays to be restored. In June, however, afederal appeals court vacated that injunction, allowing the administration to remove and replace the exhibit

That’sdisappointing. Yetthere’sonly so much the Trump administration can do to burnish the image of slavery,and I’m not sure why they’re trying, but make no mistake that they are.

Concerns over potential reforms at theSmithsonian —often called “the nation’sattic,” as arepository of history —have arisen since Trumpsigned aMarch 27 executive order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.”

The order arguedthat theSmithsonianhad in recentyears “come under the influence of adivisive, race-centered ideology” and saidthe institution has“promotednarratives that portray

This point was made with scathing precisionbyFrederick Douglassinan orationonJuly 5, 1852. Douglass, an abolitionistand former slave,addressed the Rochester (N.Y.) Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society on the topic “Whattothe SlaveIsthe Fourth of July?”

Douglass, only afew years before theCivil Warerupted, argued that the celebration of American independence is apainfulmockery to theenslaved Black American. It “reveals to him, morethan allother days in theyear, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim.”

To Douglass, it was glaring hypocrisy for anation to proclaim its liberty and equality while legally practicing humanbondage.

“The existence of slavery in this country,” hethundered, “brands your republicanism asham,your humanity abase pretense,and your Christianity alie.”

Lessthanfive years later,Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger B. Taney wrote themajority opinion in Dred Scottv.Sandford, which returned Scott, theenslaved plaintiff, to the man whoclaimed ownership over him,who had brought Scott to “free” territory andleased outhis labor,thus importing enslaved labor to U.S. territory where slavery was illegal.

In his infamous opinion, Taney arguedthat,at thetime of the Declaration of Independence, “civilized and enlightened”opinion held Black people

YetDouglass placed his hope in the nation’sfounding documents, arguing in his Rochester speech that the U.S. Constitution, if interpreted correctly, was actually a“glorious libertydocument.” Indeed, his reaction to the Dred Scott Decision, which he called an “open, glaring, and scandalous tissue of lies,” was hope. The promise of the Constitution was on an inevitable collision course with theinfamyofslavery As apatriotic American who served in the Army and who loves his country with adesire to improve it,Icelebrate theFourth of July in the way that Martin Luther Kingdid in his historic 1964 “I Have aDream”speech, with an aspirational vision for our country’s improvement.

Ibelieve, as Douglass did, that our Constitution continues to be aglorious document,although the arguments over how it can be mademore “glorious” never end.

Evidence of that was offered last week by theSupremeCourt’sreengaging the age-old argument about birthright citizenship, which dates back to theratification of the 14th Amendment, which granted the citizenship that Taney’scourt had denied to enslaved Black Americans.

Likemany others, Ithought theargumentover thecitizenship of children born in this country was settled long ago. Yetthe high court ended up only one vote short of getting rid of birthright citizenship, amove promoted mainly by people who call themselves conservative.

Yes, in pursuit of a“perfect union,” there always will be some people who want to make it “more perfect,” even when they express what sounds to me like “improper ideology.”

Email Clarence Page at clarence47page@gmail.com

Right now,the southeast border of the park is Chalmette National Cemetery,the burial grounds forveterans of the War of 1812, the Civil Warand the Vietnam War. But on the other side of the cemetery,onland where armed skirmishes took place twoweeks before the ultimate 1815 battle, and across which the British marched toward their doomed encounter with Andrew Jackson’sAmerican army,the property long has been zoned forindustrial use.

If the Battlefield Trust is able to officially complete the purchase (it is now working to raise the final $1 million to do so, by September), the land could then be donated to the national park system and added to Jean Lafitte —ifCongress approves, which should be easily doable with Louisiana holding the top twoposts in the House of Representatives. Or it could be donated to Louisiana forstate park use complementary to the national park, or,ifnothing else works, the Battlefield Trust itself could curate exhibits there.

Either way,Battlefield Trust President David Duncan said in aphone interview,“we want to get it to aresponsible steward as quickly as we can,” because “it’simportant to the story of what they’re already (showing and) interpreting there” at Jean Lafitte.

For those less familiar with that story,itinvolves one of the mostimportant wartimevictories in American history.With the British still loath to admit that their former colonies were theirequal, andwith Great Britain at war with France, theparentcountry repeatedly violated American shipping rightsand even captured American sailors andforced them to serve on British warships. Hence, the U.S. declared war —but then barely achieved amilitary “draw,” as it were, winning somenaval battles and holding Baltimore Harbor but seeing our own Capitol and White House burned to the ground. In late 1814, as diplomats werefinally agreeing to peace termsthat madeneither side happy,the British were trying to seize New Orleans militarily and thus gain control of the Mississippi basin. But in abrilliantly planned and executed defense eight days into the new year,Jackson’sarmyabsolutely routed the British attackers at Chalmette, news of which reached the rest of the nation before newsof the peace accord. Suddenly,aweak “webarely survived” peace deal became, in the popular mind, amassive victory that proved the United States was aglobal power

The benefits both to our national psyche and to the U.S. world standing were immense.

As it is, the current battlefield is atreasure. While rather rudimentary in presentation compared with other,far moresprawling American battlefields such as Gettysburg or Antietam, the story of the battle is portrayed in easily understandable ways. The tour guides on my sojourns have been superb, leaving visitors with a firm appreciation of how the battle progressed and how the Americans triumphed.

The sightlines from Jackson’sdefensive lines, though, could be badly marred if the land on the other side of the cemetery is industrialized rather than preserved as anatural space.

“Ifsomebody comes in and builds (a) warehouse complex, or arefinery expands to that property or someother industrial use, well, that’sgoing to diminish the power of place and the visitor experience when they come to the existing park,” Duncan said.

Adding the 40-acre parcel, he said, will amount to “adding to avery rich and important story in our country’shistory and bringing it to lifethe best way we possibly can.”

Of course, the story of that battle —the help from NewOrleans’ leading citizens, the crucial spy network of Jean Lafitte’spirates, the astonishingly lopsided result —holds almost mythic sway,even as an entirely true tale, on the selfimage of Louisiana natives.

Nowthe physical footprint of that fabled-butreal history appears likely to be materially enhanced. Our history,ascity,state and nation, is arightfully proud one. It’s ahistory well worth keeping in trust.

Email Quin Hillyer at quin.hillyer@ theadvocate.com

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO

Clarence Page

Quin Hillyer

Rich Lowry

BRIEFS

FROM WIRE REPORTS

Oil prices rise, stocks drop astruce ends

NEW YORK Oil prices rose, and stock markets dropped in shaky trading worldwide Wednesday after President Donald Trump raised doubts about the temporarytruce in the war with Iran

The S&P 500 fell as much as 1.1% afterTrump said the ceasefire agreement was “over,” butthe index then trimmed itsloss to 0.3% after Trumpsaidrecentfighting did notmean areturn to full-scale war. They’re his latest mixed messagesonwhat will happen with the war,whichthreatensto worsen inflation for the world

The price for abarrel of Brentcrude climbed 5.2%to $78 02and brieflytopped $80. That’sstill below its peak fromearlier in the war,when theprice forthe mostactively traded contract reached nearly $120.But the jump is unsettling because oil prices hadjust dropped back to wherethey werebeforethe war

The worry is that acontinuation of the war will block the Strait of Hormuz and prevent the delivery of crudefrom the PersianGulf to customers worldwide. That could worsen inflation, which economists expectedwould ease with oil prices, andinturn force theFederal Reserve andother central banks to raise interest rates. On Wall Street,stocks of companies in the housing industry helped lead the way lower Builders FirstSource, which sells countertops, windows and other building supplies, fell 5.4%. Homebuilders PulteGroup fell 5.4%, and D.R.Horton sank 4.6%. Companieswith big fuel bills alsosank. American Airlines lost 4%,and cruise operator Carnival fell 3.9%.

Waymo reports teen ridersfor bad behavior

Aself-driving Waymo reportedtwo teens to San Mateo, California, police on Monday aftertheywere found drinking alcohol and shooting toy guns in the back of the vehicle.

According to asocial media post from the San Mateo Police Department,officers detained two 15-year-olds after the Waymo they were ridingin contacted the department and stopped in aparking lot until lawenforcement arrived.

“Parents do you know where your teens are?” the San Mateo PoliceDepartment wrote on Facebook following theincident. “Waymo does!”

Officers removed both teens from the vehicle and determinedthey were using toy gunstoshoot Orbeez out the windows. Orbeez are small, water-absorbing beadssoldat toy stores.

Stellantis starts selling Chinese EVs in Mexico

Chinese electric vehicle maker Leapmotor has joined with partnerStellantis NV to start selling an SUV in Mexico —the latest example of Chinese automakers aimingtoquickly grow market share just over the U.S. border

The Leapmotor B10 compact SUV formally launched in recent days withthe carmaker promoting the vehicle around various FIFAWorld Cup events happeninginthe country. The “ultrahybridSUV,” as Leapmotordescribesit, is poweredbya battery but includes an onboard gas generator offering more than 550 miles of range.

Leapmotor will leanonStellantis’existing presence in Mexicofor salesand partssupport,including its dealersand Moparaftermarket parts distributionsystem. In 2024, Stellantis formed a51%-49%joint venture with the Chinese company,called Leapmotor International. Stellantis holds a21% stake in the Chinese automaker Leapmotor’sarrival in Mexico alongside Stellantis is the latest push by aChinese automaker to grow salesinNorth America —evenasU.S. regulators have, for now,keptthe country’s EVs and hybrids out with high tariffs and other strict technology bans.

Fedsplit over future path of inflation

Meeting minutes underscore division

BYCHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP economics writer

WASHINGTON The Federal Reserve’srate-settingcommittee is split over whether inflation is likely to stay elevated or whether it will cool once the Iran war winds down, according to minutes released Wednesday.

In thefirstset of minutes released undernew chair Kevin Warsh, “many” of the Fed’s 19 officials said its key rate would be unchanged from or slightly below itscurrent levelof3.6% by the end of this year

But “many” alsosaidthat it would

likely be higher by year-end.

Forecasts released after the meeting endedJune 17 showed that half of the 18 policymakers who submitted projections supported lifting rates by the endofthisyear, while the otherhalf supportedkeeping themunchanged or reducing them. Warsh did not submit aforecast, reflecting his view that doingsocan lock policymakers into aspecific approach that is harder to change if theeconomy shiftsdirection. Theminutes underscored the deep divisions among Fed officials,

particularly over the future path of inflation. The policymakers generally expected inflationwould decline as gas prices cooled and the effect of tariffsfaded. Yetmany officials also worriedthatmassive investment in the artificial intelligence buildout would keep inflation elevated by lifting prices for semiconductorsand other technology goods.

The minutes, released three weeksafter theJune 16-17 meeting, also said that afew officials believed therewas “a case forraising” theFed’srate at that meeting, but they agreed to keep it unchanged, adecision that was approved by a unanimous vote. The minutesdon’t disclose the identities of which officials supported which outcomes.

Warsh wasappointed by President Donald Trumpearlier this year to replace Jerome Powell, whose term ended in May.Trump had repeatedly criticized Powell for notreducingborrowingcosts quickly enough, but for now there’s littlesign Warsh is moving to cut rates. Powell, meanwhile, is still on the Fed’spolicymaking committee, serving aterm as aFed governor that lasts until January 2028. During anews conference June 17, Warsh emphasized that the Fed will return inflation to its2%target, whichithas missed formorethan five years. Hiscomments were interpretedbyeconomists and Wall Street investors as evidence that the Fed mayhike rates later this year

ADAPTING HARVESTS

BY JOSHUA A. BICKEL Associated Press

BROOKSVILLE, Ky Even as thesun started to set, the day’sheatwas still hanging in the air as Annie Woods walkedback outtoharvest squash andzucchini on her 50-acre farm.

Prolonged and intense heat is part of a climate change-drivenpatternofweather extremes that has also led to intense floodingand prolongeddrought.For farmers, this means shorter planting windows and potential lossofcrops becauseofperiods of earlyseason heat followed by afreeze.

“I think it’spretty safe to assume these kind of heat waves aren’tgoing awayor they’renot freak occurrences,” Woods said. Therecent heat dome, ahigh-pressure weather system that traps heat and humidityovera region, affected some specialty farmerswho produce cropsoffruitsand vegetables. Human-driven climatechange also has brought more intense heat waves andother extreme weather

These specialty farmers have found ways to adapt, in part by adjusting their harvest schedules to avoid the hottest parts of the day. Buttheydon’talways have access to the same safety net as farmers of traditional commodity crops suchascornand soybeans when extreme weather hits, experts say.

The heat and humidity that comes with a heat dome can be dangerous for farmworkersand is a“serious threat to human health,”

said Melissa Widhalm, the associate director at the MidwestRegional ClimateCenter in West Lafayette, Indiana.

Woodsworksinthe coolestparts of the day in themorning and evening, taking frequent water breaks. She plantsand harvests by hand, unlike larger farmsthat often rely on machinery. If it getstoo hot andshe has to harvest,she pitches atent she uses for farmers markets in thefields to create some shade.

Extreme heat coupled with periods of rain and high humidity can also bring diseases andother peststhatcan destroy crops. Right now the priorityisharvesting those most-vulnerable crops, suchastender salad greens. Woods grows vegetablesand culinary herbs for restaurants in the region and for acommunity supported agriculture program.Harvesting crops when it’stoo hot outside can affect their quality,she said.

She’salso concerned forthe health of her seedlings that will growinto fall crops. Right now,Woodskeepsher seedlings in an enclosed cabinet inside abarn where it’scooler

Once they’ve germinated, shemoves them into agreenhouse with fans runningtokeep temperatures manageable.

“Wehavetodoalot of checking on the greenhouse and watering frequentlytokeep those teenytiny plants alive,” Woodssaid. Forsome growers,the recent heat also has shortened the harvest window for certain specialtycrops.

Semiconductorworkershortfall

BY MAGGIE EASTLAND and LORELEI SMILLIE Bloomberg News (TNS)

Agrowing nationwide shortage of high-skilled workers threatens to delay constructionofbillions of dollars in new semiconductor plantsacross theU.S.and constrainfuturechip production unless the industrypoolsresources and the government keeps up funding,accordingtoanew report

The deficit is expected to be most acute in statessuch as Texas, California,Arizona, NewYorkand Ohio,where many of the new facilities are beingplanned,according to new analysis including asurvey of employers from McKinsey & Co., the chipindustry group SEMI and the National Science Founda-

tion.Altogether,the skilledlabor deficitisprojected to reach as muchas157,000 full-timeworkers by 2030, the study released Tuesday found. Thedearth of talentrisks stalling plans by Taiwan SemiconductorManufacturing Co.toinvest as much as $265 billionina dozen chipmaking and packaging facilitiesinArizona,aswell as Micron Technology Inc.’svisiontospend $100billion on memory chip production in New York and Samsung Electronics Co.’s logic chip facility in Texas. Even Intel Corp.’s delayed $28 billion investment in Ohio is setfor shortages once production ramps up, the report said. The workforce challenges mark the latest hurdle for chipmakers

For Paul Rasch, whoowns and operates multiple fruit orchards in central Iowa,the heat has forced his crew of eight workers to step up harvesting of raspberries. Normally they’d have aboutthreeweekstoharvest this perishable fruit, but“we’rescrambling to pick as manyaswecan,” he said.

They’ve startedharvesting as early as 6a.m. somemorningstofinishbefore noon when it gets too hot and unsafetowork.

He’salsoinstalled airconditioninginside buildings and is adding shade outdoors with treesand coveredpavilions so customers coming to pick their own fruit can stay cool. And he’stesting afew high tunnels so he can keep conditions moreconsistent forcertain crops.

Raschsaidthatitseems like these heat events are becoming more common, more intense and lasting longer.These events, along with floods, drought andlate-spring frosts are allworrisome andcan adversely affect crops throughout the year

“Wedon’tever seem to have atypical year anymore,” he said.

Smaller farmslike Woods’ and Rasch’soften plant andharvest awide variety of crops throughout the year.Part of that is abusiness decision, but it’salso to protect against losses that might impact one crop, but not others.

“You’re always gonna have something that will thrive while other things might be more challenged,” Woods said.

seeking to expand theirmanufacturing footprintinthe U.S. and reversethe migrationofproductioncapacity to Asiathat unfolded decades ago. Rising prices for awide range of goods includingcopper,steel and cement threaten to increase the cost of construction fornew facilities billed as acenterpiece of President Donald Trump’seconomic agenda. At the sametime thechip industryexpects to seea worker shortfall, the AI boom —and companies’ rush to investinit— has also been blamed for layoffs in other parts of thelabor market, including in the tech industry.Challenger, Gray &Christmas, which tracks layoff plans, found almost 102,000 announced job cuts attributed to AI

so far thisyear Unless addressed soon, thechip industry labor gaprisks undermining not only the billions of dollars in planned investmentbycompanies but also the federal grants aimed at boosting domestic production underthe 2022Chipsand Science Act, according to thereport. The authors recommended a range of solutions including, continued government funding, expanded curriculum on semiconductors and earlier exposure to chipindustry careers.

“There’sjust not enough talent to go around,” said Taylor Roundtree, apartner at McKinsey whohelped with theanalysis.

“Folks arerealizing that the potential gap is so large that they collectively do have to solve it.”

Warsh

ASSOCIATEDPRESS PHOTOByJOSHUA A. BICKEL

Annie Woods lifts acrate of squash and zucchini while harvesting at her farminBrooksville, Ky

NO PLACE LIKE HOME

From the9th Ward to theNBA,forward Washington lookingtomakehis mark forPelicansinSummerLeague

BY RODWALKER Staff writer

Solomon Washington’sname didn’tget called by NBA commissioner Adam Silver during thefirst round of last month’sdraft.

It didn’tget called bydeputy commissioner Mark Tatum the next nightinthe second round, either

But that didn’treally matter.

ThephonecallhereceivedfromtheNewOrleansPelicans lettinghimknowhe’dbeontheirSummerLeaguerosterwas all he needed.

Washington just wantedtoget his foot inthe door

It helps that he gets to do so with the team that plays just afew miles from New Orleans’ 9th Ward, wherehe was raised.

“It’ssurreal,” Washington said.“GrowingupinNew Orleans, you want to play for LSU. Youwant to play for the Pelicans and the Saints. For them to givemethatcall, it was emotional.Meand my mom, weshed atear.It’sstill an opportunity to get betterand to show that you belong.”

The 6-foot-7 forward gets his first chance to prove himselfThursdaywhen thePelicans play theMinnesotaTimberwolves in the Summer League opener in LasVegas. Washington knows exactly what he brings to the table.

“My strengthismyenergy,” Washington said. “My defense. Guarding 1through 5. Agreat rebounder.I play with my heart on my sleeve.” Washington averaged almost adouble-double (9.8 points and9.2 rebounds)thispastseasonatMaryland. He played just oneyear at Marylandafter spending his first three seasons at Texas A&M.

It was his sophomoreseason at A&M when Washington found his niche and started figuring things out.

“College was aculture shock,” Washington said. “I went from being thebest player to theultimate role guy.Just me embracingthatrole. Nobody is going to pay me to put theball in the basket. I’m going to have to bring energy every night. Guard thebest guy and keep other guysengaged on defense. That’s my callingcard.”

ä See PELICANS, page 3C

Pelicans forward Solomon Washington, aNew Orleans nativewho starred at Carver High School, is on theteam’s Summer League roster this season. PROVIDED PHOTO By

Breakout playerswho couldpropel Kiffin’s LSUdebut

BY JON BLAU Staff writer

There is reason to believe LSU should have agood season in Lane Kiffin’sdebut because the roster is littered with proven names. Quarterback SamLeavittwenttothe College Football Playoff with Arizona State. Jordan Seatonwas an All-Big 12 performerat Colorado. Princewill Umanmielenwas an AllSEC edge rusher at Ole Miss, and linebacker T.J. Dottery led the conference in tackles. LSU’score appears solid, but the difference between agood and agreat season will hinge on talent that hasn’tbeen fully realized. Here are the breakout candidates who could makethe Tigers’ 2026 campaign.

TE Trey’Dez Green

The6-foot-7, 237-pound junior’stalent is anything but asecret.

EA Sports College Football 27 madehim the highest-rated tight end in the game, and Green wasvoted second-teamAll-SECby the conference’scoaches in 2025. The big question is whyGreen wassuch a mystery to his previous coaching staff. He finished last season with33catches for 433 yards and seven touchdowns. Those are good numbers, but he wasn’texactly aconsistent feature in LSU’s gameplan. Green had zero receptionsinlossesto Ole Miss and Alabamaand just over 75% of his yardscame in consecutive SEC games against South Carolina, Vanderbilt, and Texas A&M, plus an 80-yard finale against Houston. Kiffinand hiscoordinator,CharlieWeis Jr., were paid top dollar to fashion ascheme that gets LSU’sbest players the ball; it shouldn’tbehard to target an ex-basketball player whoistaller than defensivebacks andmoreagile thanmost linebackers. Puthim outwideversus acorner.Establish arunning game andclear outthe middle forquick slants. Properly stitch the Xs and Os together and Green should offer Leavitt the mostluxurious of security blankets. RT Weston Davis

LSUhopes pitching reinforcements make it to campus

BY KOKI RILEY Staff writer

LSU baseball’sincoming pitching crop from the high school ranks is deep, stocked fullofarms who can help replenish astaff that struggled in 2026. TheTigershavefive left-handers andsix right-handers in theirrecruitingclass,leadinga group that headsintothis weekend’s MLB draftasthe No.2 recruiting class in the nation, according to Perfect Game.

To helppreview thedraft,The Advocate spoke with six MLBscoutsabout LSU’s incoming highschool class and its own drafteligible players to paint aclearer picture of what may happen on Saturday and Sunday. They spoke to The Advocateconfidentially This story isparttwo of athree-partseries of scouting reports, draft predictions and analysis on every LSU player and signee. Here’swhatyou need to know aboutevery LSUpitching signee before the draft LoganSchmidt,LHP

School: Ganesha High

Hometown: AlisoViejo, California

Ht/Wt: 6-4, 210 pounds

Draft rankings: No. 28, ESPN; No. 43, MLB. com; No. 53, The Athletic Breakdown: Schmidt has all thetools to become amajor-league starter.Hehas afastball that can reach 97 mph, arepeatable delivery,multiple off-speed pitches anda starter’sframe. The fastballisSchmidt’s best trait, as it usually sits between 93-95 mph. One scout said it was among the best fastballs in this year’shigh school class. Schmidt also throws aslider and achangeup that he barely used in high school. The slider,according to the same scout, could usesomesharpening before it’s readyfor professional baseball.

Schmidt is also young forthe 2026 class, having reclassified up from the 2027 class to be draft-eligible this summer.Hedoesn’t turn 18 until July 23, which would “help his draft stock in models,”another scout said. For ahigh school pitcher,Schmidt’s floor is high. And based on talent alone, he shouldn’tfallpast thesecondround.But one scout doesn’tbelieve it’sa foregone conclu-

sionhe’llsign with an MLBclub, labeling his chances of putting pen to paper at just 70%. Odds of reaching campus: Less than 50% Jensen Hirschkorn,RHP

School: Kingsburg High Hometown: Kingsburg, California

Ht/Wt: 6-7, 205 pounds

Draftrankings: No.50, MLB.com; No. 54, ESPN;No. 96, The Athletic

Breakdown: Hirschkorn has the tools to be a top-of-the-rotation starter.Hehas an effortless delivery and towers over hitters thanks to his 6-7 frame. His size and lower arm slot help playupa fastball thatalreadysitsin themid-90s, andhethrowsa slider— scouts who spoke to The Advocate believe it is a plus pitch —and achangeup that he rarely used in high school.

Hirschkorn also played basketballin high school,and his athleticism shineson themound through his abilitytopound the strike zone. Butdon’t count on Hirschkorn ending up

ä See PITCHING, page 5C

LSUtightend

Trey’Dez Green STAFFFILE

PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK

NEWORLEANS PELICANS

PROVIDED PHOTO

Braydon Wisener makes apitch last season for Hargrave High School in Texas. MLB scouts expect theLSU commitment toarrive in Baton Rougeinstead of pro baseballnext season.

‘Ferytale’ rolls on at Wimbledon

British wild card Fery reaches semifinals

BY KEN MAGUIRE AP sportswriter

LONDON If he keeps playing like this, Arthur Fery might just become Wimbledon royalty Fery grew up five minutes from the All England Club and now the 114th-ranked player is a semifinalist at the grass-court Grand Slam

The 23-year-old British player, who needed a wild-card invitation to enter the tournament, beat ninthseeded Flavio Cobolli 6-4, 7-6 (4), 6-0 on Centre Court in front of roaring home fans and a Royal Box contingent that included Britain’s Queen Camilla on Wednesday

His run has been dubbed a “Ferytale” and has included a viewing by Kate, the Princess of Wales, earlier in the tournament.

“It gets better and better every match,” Fery said in an on-court interview “I just can’t believe it.”

The only other wild card to have reached the men’s singles semifinals at the All England Club was Goran Ivanisevic in his run to the Wimbledon title in 2001.

Fery earned a standing ovation after winning the first set The deafening roar that followed Fery taking the tiebreaker to seal the second set was heard over at Wimbledon’s other main stadium — No. 1 Court, where Alexander Zverev was in the process of beating Taylor Fritz in straight sets.

Fery sealed his memorable victory with an ace and fell onto his back to soak in the applause.

“That last game, I felt emotions that I hadn’t experienced before in my life,” he said.

A short time later, Zverev wrapped up his 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 win to set up a semifinal against Fery on Friday Moments before the start of their quarterfinal match, Fery and Cobolli were surprised to meet Camilla in the hallway moments before they walked onto court.

“She came to say hello, she introduced herself to both me and Flavio,” Fery said. “It’s obviously an

honor to play in front of her Great to meet her. She had some really kind words to me at the end, as well. Playing in front of tennis legends and now the queen, so it’s special.”

Roger Federer had been on hand Monday when Fery ousted Grigor Dimitrov in five sets in a fourthround that was also on Centre Court.

A champagne cork popped in the crowd late in the first set and distracted Cobolli during his service motion The locals will surely pop a few more with a British player to support in Friday’s semifinal.

The 24-year-old Cobolli, who lost the French Open final to Zverev made 41 unforced errors to Fery’s 15 and only broke the British player once — to start the second set, but Fery broke back in the fourth game.

“I felt like I didn’t express even 50% of my tennis But obviously that had a lot to do with him. He was better than me,” said Cobolli, who also lost to Fery in the first round at this year’s Australian Open.

Friday’s other semifinal pits seven-time Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic against defending champion Jannik Sinner

Royal encore for Fery

Camilla wasn’t the only royal

rooting for Fery on Wednesday

Princess Kate congratulated him in a social media post that noted his “fantastic achievement that has inspired so many.”

The French-born Fery, who said he feels “very British,” also exchanged pleasantries with Camilla after his big victory

“She was waiting for me at the end of the match. She congratulated me. I told her how much of an honor it was for me to play in front of her,” said Fery, who turns 24 on the day of the men’s final “She just said, ‘Congratulations, keep going.’ I told her it was my birthday on Sunday so it would be great to play the Wimbledon final on my birthday.” Zverev ready for Fery crowd

The second-seeded Zverev, who dispatched Fritz in just under two hours, recalled being impressed by Fery’s win over Cobolli in Melbourne.

“I watched that match. I was very impressed back then already He has a very clean technique and very clean groundstrokes,” said the 29-year-old German who is also into his first Wimbledon semifinal.

“It’s going to be a great atmosphere,” he said of Friday’s match “Of course, I know that 99% of the

people will be cheering for him. But I also enjoy those kind of atmospheres. I enjoy when the energy is very high.”

Kostyuk to meet Noskova in semis

Earlier Wednesday, Marta Kostyuk beat Jasmine Paolini 6-3, 6-2 to reach her first Wimbledon semifinals.

The 24-year-old Ukrainian also reached the last four at the French Open, losing to Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva, the eventual champion in Paris.

Kostyuk raised her hands and dropped to her knees after Paolini scuffed a shot on her second match point. After shaking hands with the Italian, Kostyuk did a pirouette on court.

Kostyuk will be back on Centre Court on Thursday to face Linda Noskova for a spot in Saturday’s final. Noskova beat Elise Mertens 6-3, 7-5 on No 1 Court.

It’s the first career Grand Slam semifinal for the 21-year-old Noskova, who improved to 10-1 on grass this season.

The other women’s semifinal features Coco Gauff against Karolina Muchova, who like Noskova is from the Czech Republic. They’re up first on Centre Court on Thursday.

Scottish Open player composition looks like a major

BY DOUG FERGUSON AP golf writer

NORTH BERWICK, Scotland The Scottish Open has the look of a major championship week, not so much because of the strength of the field or the heritage of the golf course. It’s about the collection of players. Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton are among seven players from LIV Golf competing this week in a PGA Tour-sanctioned event along Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and Matt Fitzpatrick. Given the divide in golf that began four years ago when LIV Golf launched, they only get together four times a year at the majors.

“I’ve talked about wanting to have all of the best players in the world play together,” McIlroy said Wednesday “Yeah, I guess this is good.” He also made clear it’s not all that unusual.

The Genesis Scottish Open is cosanctioned by the European tour and the PGA Tour Rahm is back in good graces with the European tour and the other six LIV players — Hatton, David Puig, Adrian Meronk, Victor Perez, Laurie Canter and Tom McKibbin — still have standing in Europe

All have played European tour events while on LIV The rarity is being among the PGA Tour’s leading stars, who are here to prepare for the British Open next week.

LIV players previously had a tournament in Spain during the Scottish Open Now the league, which will lose its Saudi funding after this season, has been off for a month and won’t resume until its UK stop right after the British Open.

“Just happy the DP World Tour let me have the opportunity and

ninth hole during the U.S Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club on June 21 in Southampton,

McIlroy is among several stars participating in the

that I can be here and play what’s not only a great week but a great golf course great crowd,” Rahm said. “It’s one of my favorite weeks, so it’s really fun to be here again.

“Although I love Valderrama this one gets you much more prepared for The Open and that’s why so many players have come and played the Scottish Open before it was a co-sanctioned event.”

Asked if it felt any different, Rahm replied without elaboration, “No.”

A few spots down the range from Scheffler at The Renaissance Club was his fellow American, Patrick Reed, who hasn’t played a PGA Tour event since the 2022 Memorial before he went to LIV

Reed is no longer with the rival league, deciding not to renew his contract at the start of the year and then playing his way to the top of the Race to Dubai. He is almost certain to regain PGA Tour status as one of the 10 leading players on the European tour Reed is banned from the PGA Tour until September — he is playing the Scottish Open as a European tour member — though he plans to stick with a full European tour schedule through the fall. So by appearance, it looks as though golf is being put back together

Perhaps more of this is to come.

So much uncertainty faces LIV Golf without Saudi funding except for the expectation that if it does survive for 2027, the purses

Moore’s former assistant sues University of MIchigan

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Sherrone

Moore’s former executive assistant is suing the University of Michigan, claiming the school violated the Freedom of Information Act by denying requests made on her behalf after the football coach was fired for having an inappropriate relationship with her Paige Shiver and her attorneys filed a lawsuit on Wednesday in a Washtenaw County court seeking requested records and punitive damages.

Moore was fired in December after leading the Wolverines for two seasons following Jim Harbaugh’s move to the NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers.

He was accused of confronting Shiver, with whom he had been having an affair, and blaming her for his firing.

Márquez named head coach of team Mexico

MEXICO CITY Rafael Márquez is taking the reins of the Mexican national team. The Mexican Football Federation (FMF) announced Wednesday that the former Barcelona star will succeed Javier Aguirre as head coach leading up to the 2030 World Cup.

Márquez, 47, served as Aguirre’s assistant from August 2024 until Mexico’s recent 3—2 round of 16 loss to England. While a succession plan had been in place since 2024, rumors had circulated that the FMF might look elsewhere.

While El Tri has no immediate fixtures scheduled Márquez is expected to make his managerial debut during the FIFA international window in late September and early October

IOC eases path toward Russia returning in 2028

GENEVA Russia has moved closer toward having a full team with its national flag and anthem at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

The International Olympic Committee on Tuesday provisionally lifted a suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee and advised Olympic sports bodies to end a three-year program where Russian athletes had to be vetted for permission to compete as neutrals.

The IOC said the timing was because qualifying events are starting for the L.A. Games, and “the need to offer equal access to these competitions to all athletes.”

“We don’t want to hold athletes accountable for the actions of their governments,” IOC president Kirsty Coventry said at an online news conference.

will be much smaller and the tour leaner Also unclear is who will be under contract, and how the PGA Tour will bring them back.

Brooks Koepka, also playing at The Renaissance Club this week, was the first to return and is not concerned with the future of LIV or its players.

“I don’t have an opinion either way,” Koepka said.

He is more interested in his own past. The Scottish Open was the first tournament he played as a European tour member in 2013. Koepka had just won in Scotland for his third Challenge Tour title to get an instant promotion, and then flew to England and qualified for the British Open.

Those were happy, carefree times. Now he is happy to be back on the PGA Tour, mainly because his wife and young son are able to travel more easily and he likes having them around.

“I feel like last year I wasn’t in the head space to actually play good golf, and now that everything is kind of cleared up and I’m in a better we all have that, right? It’s life,” Koepka said.

McIlroy and Adam Scott are among those who have dropped in on Royal Birkdale ahead of the British Open for little more than a scouting report The Lancashire links has changed the fifth hole and built a new par-3 (No. 15) that can play as long as 241 yards. The Renaissance Club is not links turf, but it has the look. And if nothing else, it’s a chance to get adjusted to the time zone and to slightly slower greens. For Scheffler there could be no better way to get ready for his Open title defense than to win for the first time since January

“I didn’t come over here just for Open prep,” he said. “I came over here to play golf and play well.”

Ukraine’s Kostyuk continues in Wimbledon, slams IOC LONDON As Marta Kostyuk played on Centre Court at Wimbledon on Wednesday, her compatriots in Ukraine were dealing with another deadly attack by Russia on Kyiv

It’s been the same for much of Kostyuk’s run to the semifinals.

On Monday, after Russian missiles struck residential buildings close to where Kostyuk’s parents live, she had to block that out to play her fourth-round match at the Grand Slam tournament

Last week, Russia hammered the Ukrainian capital with an 11hour drone and missile attack that killed at least 21 civilians.

For Kostyuk, every day is about finding a way to focus on tennis while not shutting her eyes to what is going on at home.

Riveron steps down as ACC supervisor of football officials

CHARLOTTE N.C. Al Riveron is stepping down as supervisor of football officials for the Atlantic Coast Conference, a role he has held since November 2022.

The league announced the move Wednesday, with Riveron having worked more than three decades as an on-field official or an officiating administrator in college and the NFL. He was the NFL’s first Hispanic referee and served as that league’s senior vice president of officiating before retiring in August 2021. Riveron’s time as head of ACC football officiating has included the building of a newly designed gameday operations center as the league moved its headquarters from Greensboro to

The

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By SETH WENIG

Rory McIlroy watches his tee shot on the

N.y.

Scottish Open.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MAJA SMIEJKOWSKA

Arthur Fery of Britain returns the ball to Flavio Cobolli of Italy in a quarterfinal singles match at Wimbledon on Wednesday in London.

From classmates to coaches

Southern Lab coaches reflect on friendship, state titles

BY JACKSON REYES Staff writer

In a classroom at Southern Lab in 1997, Jacob Davis and Krystal Flowers first met in the sixth grade Their friendship was forged in honors classes and playing sports. Years later, they’re back in the very halls where their friendship began, this time coaching at their alma mater Both won state titles in their first seasons as head coaches with the Kittens, with Flowers winning a girls basketball state title, and Davis coaching state titles for the girls and boys track and field teams.

Early years

Southern Lab competes at the 1A level with around 200 students in high school. Smaller classrooms offered plenty of opportunities to form deeper connections.

“Pretty much everybody here is family,” Flowers said. “You become brother and sister instantly because we’re around each other 24/7.” They quickly learned about their classmates’ families, and after graduation, continued to keep in touch, celebrating achievements and being there for each other in hard times.

Now, their experiences have come full circle.

Davis follows in his father’s footsteps, who also attended the school He was taught by some of the teachers who taught his father, and now he’s teaching his former classmate’s children.

“When you have a standard of excellence, when you’re striving for something,” Davis said, “it’s good that you have the opportunity to pour that back into that next generation.” Back coaching

Both Davis and Flowers had their own paths back to Southern Lab.

Davis returned to the school to teach and served as an assistant coach for track and field and football. When their head coach changed schools, Davis got his chance to lead the team this past season.

“That was an honor because what it says is that we see something in you, we trust your leadership,” he said.

Flowers took a year off after coaching at Central. She started her master’s in social work at LSU. She planned to retire from coaching to focus on being a mom and getting her degree.

That’s when a phone call came from her former classmate, and then-girls basketball coach Quianna Chaney

Chaney won consecutive state titles before moving on to the collegiate level. She wanted the program to go to someone who understood what it meant to be at Southern Lab.

“I prayed on it,” Flowers said “It didn’t take me long to realize that this is where God wanted me to be. Now that I’m here, like I tell everybody I can’t imagine myself being anywhere else. It’s home.

In her first season, the Kittens girls’ basketball program won its third straight Division IV select state title.

Davis went out and guided his girls’ and boys’ track and field teams to state titles. They both understood what it meant to uphold the tradition of Southern Lab.

“People could be anywhere,” Davis said, “but we chose to come back here to be in this environment and keep that legacy going.”

What makes Lab special

While Southern Lab may be a smaller school, it doesn’t lack in achievements. When you walk

Hardaway takes on father’s

legacy and jersey number

BY TIM REYNOLDS AP basketball writer

MIAMI Tim Hardaway Jr would always follow the same routine in his 15 visits to Miami as an opponent. Walk into the arena, take a look into the rafters, gaze at one specific banner

“Hardaway 10” sways, commemorating his father’s time with the Heat and the jersey they retired in Tim Hardaway Sr.’s honor.

“Coming here when I was an opponent, I felt like it gave me a superpower,” Hardaway Jr. said

It’s his jersey now

The Heat formally introduced part of the family on Wednesday, with the 34-year-old Hardaway getting his welcome-back-to-Miami news conference — and getting handed a No. 10 Heat jersey, only this one with “Jr.” after the family surname on the back

through the school doors, a trophy case overflowing with state championships catches the eye immediately

Donor plaques spanning generations stretch across the wall just around the corner For Davis and Flowers, this is what they love about Southern Lab. Flowers brought her kids to Southern Lab, hoping they would experience that same feeling.

To be in the same gym and halls of lockers where she grew into the person she became and to give that same experience back to a new generation, is something she cherishes.

“I’ve been at 5A schools, and it’s great,” she said. “Here it’s more family-oriented. I know your name, I know your mom. I know your dad. It just speaks volumes to just a tradition and the excellence that we put out at this school.”

Success on the entire campus, from sports to academics, is built into the nature of the school, Davis said.

“We’re competitive in everything that we do,” Davis said. “Those kids, they see it, and they grow up, wanting to replicate that.”

He sees it first-hand with Flowers’ son, Ramaj Flowers. As an assistant coach in football, he sees the freshman receiver garnering offers from top Division I programs like Colorado and Tulane

“I know that the time that coach (Flowers) and her husband spend with their kids and how they pour into them,” Davis said. “You get to see all of that, and it’s a special thing.”

Flowers loves that her son is not just succeeding early but doing it at her alma mater.

“It’s surreal, and it’s beautiful,”

Flowers said “I wouldn’t want him to be doing what he’s doing anywhere else but Southern Lab.”

Leaning on each other

The two were grateful to have each other throughout their first season as head coaches at Southern Lab

“I called on him a lot of times this year,” Flowers said “Not that it was too much pressure, it was just the fear of not holding up to the standard.”

It was a struggle for Flowers to get a team of girls she had never met before to buy into her philosophy After talking with Davis, she knew she had to stick to what she knew worked

“It came to pass,” Flowers said. They bought in, and they worked hard for me.”

First year takeaways

With Year 1 under their belts, the two reflected on what they accomplished at the school.

Davis got to pour into his students both on the field and in the classroom. His passions are law and athletics. While winning state titles, he also oversaw Southern Lab’s law studies program and had two students qualify for nationals in Washington, D.C., as some of the best in the nation.

“To see students in both areas in academics as well as on the track and the football field,” Davis said.

“It’s an experience of extreme joy.”

Flowers cherished winning a state title, but she also loved being able to encourage her players to try out for other sports and help Southern Lab excel in track and field.

“That was one of the things that I think I’m most proud of, which is that a lot of the girls bought in,” she said.

To see their teams battle through adversity to win championships and excel academically is a snapshot of what it means to be part of the Southern Lab family Davis said.

You’re going to look back on it and realize that your time at Southern Lab was one of the best times in your life,” Davis said before a brief pause. “Then you send your kids back.”

“This is really bizarre,” said Heat President Pat Riley, who coached the elder Hardaway in Miami.

The younger Hardaway used to run around the Heat practice

floor as a kid while his dad played games, or hang out in the family room partaking in video games. As Hardaway Jr got older, Riley would ask someone on the staff to put him through workouts on the practice court.

That staffer was Erik Spoelstra, now the Heat head coach

“I think things are going to be a little bit more serious now than before,” Hardaway said “But I mean, I’m very comfortable and confident

PELICANS

Continued from page 1C

The Pelicans are hoping Washington can blossom into a Dennis Rodman or Isaiah Stewart-type player The kind of player who may not fill the stat sheet with points but can impact the game in other ways with that toughness and grit that executive vice president of basketball operations

Joe Dumars has so often talked about It shouldn’t have come as a surprise that it was the first thing out of the mouth of Pelicans’ head coach Jamahl Mosley when asked what he likes about Washington’s game.

“That toughness,” Mosley said. “He represents what this city is about. The tenacity The resiliency The focus level. There is a toughness that he possesses every single game. His willingness to learn what we are trying to teach. He’s quick to pick things up and do whatever is necessary to get on the floor.”

Washington has always been that way, dating back to his playing days at Carver High in New Orleans East. Nate Roche coached Washington all four years at Carver and got an up-close look at his ascent.

“For a kid like Solomon to come from where he came from is special,” Roche said. “You’re talking about a kid who was unranked and didn’t really get up there in the national rankings. He really just got it out the mud and worked. With him coming from the 9th Ward, the public school system, and playing park ball in

LSU

Continued from page 1C

While there is an expectation Green will break out this season, Davis’ emergence is more of a hope currently

The 6-6, 315-pound redshirt sophomore struggled mightily during stretches of his freshman campaign He was graded in the mid-40s by Pro Football Focus, which had him as one of the worst tackles in the SEC.

Seaton could protect Leavitt’s blindside perfectly, but it doesn’t matter if edge rushers are flying toward Leavitt’s face.

The Tigers need their right tackle to grow up, which can happen. Davis, a borderline five-star prospect in his class, was just a redshirt freshman last season. At least in pass protection, he showed signs of improvement toward the end of the regular season.

Davis has a new position coach, Eric Wolford, who came to LSU after stops at South Carolina, Alabama and Kentucky Plus, Kiffin linked up with ex-Tigers line coach James Cregg at Ole Miss and brought him back to Baton Rouge to coordinate the run game.

Davis was the first-team right tackle all spring, and he “flashed,”

to be able to go up there and talk to coach anytime I need some guidance or assistance on anything. I feel like he’s a great person in order to do that.”

Miami entered the offseason with a slew of wishes and needs. It wanted a superstar; it landed one by getting Giannis Antetokounmpo (and, like the rest of the league, is waiting to hear where former Heat star LeBron James wants to play this coming season). It also wanted to find shooting and durability; Hardaway is coming off a season where he had career-bests in 3-pointers made (224) and 3-point percentage (nearly 41%), and he’s played in 236 of a possible 246 regular-season games over the last three seasons.

the NORD recreational system, we’re extremely proud of a kid that trusted his process and saw it all the way through.”

Washington led Carver to a state championship in his senior season. Not only was he named Metro Player of the Year as the best player in the greater New Orleans area, but he was also named Louisiana’s Mr Basketball.

Roche describes Washington as “freakishly athletic,” something high school sportswriter and videographer Josh Preston saw time and time again Preston has covered high school hoops in the area for a dozen years and has the high-flying Washington on his short list of best dunkers to come through the area, right alongside guys like former Chalmette High star Mitchell Robinson, who went on to play with the New York Knicks and recently signed with the Boston Celtics.

Washington became a regular in Preston’s videos on social media because of the way he attacked the rim.

“Solomon never really got any bodies, though, because nobody would jump with him,” Preston said.

Washington is always busy making sure his teammates are where they are supposed to be. His teammates on the Pelicans’ Summer League team have already gotten a glimpse of that in practice When second-round draft pick Jaron Pierre wasn’t guarding as hard as Washington thought he should be, Washington reminded him to. Pierre welcomed the encouragement.

according to Kiffin If he rounds into form, it would be the simplest solution to rounding out LSU’s front five, which needs to improve if LSU’s offense is going to succeed in 2026.

DE Jordan Ross

The concept here is similar to Seaton and Davis.

Umanmielen promises to bring pressure from one side of the line, but he can’t be the only threat, or offenses will slide protection his way LSU needs someone applying pressure on quarterbacks from the other edge.

Ross, a five-star recruit in the 2024 class, has the talent to be that complementary piece. He just wasn’t productive at Tennessee, finishing with 1.5 sacks in two seasons. The 6-5, 246-pound junior had moments, though. Ross blocked a punt and returned it 49 yards for a score in his first college game. His final outing with the Vols was his best, posting a career-high six tackles in the Music City Bowl versus Illinois.

Ross opted for a “fresh start” after his defensive coordinator Tim Banks, was fired and connected with a defensive line coach, Sterling Lucas, who helped another five-star in the 2024 class, South Carolina’s Dylan Stewart, reach Freshman All-America status.

His role in Miami, whether as a starter or off the bench, will be simple: Make life easier for Antetokounmpo and Heat center Bam Adebayo

“Once the call came, I think it was kind of a no-brainer,” Hardaway said “It’s the right fit, not only for this franchise, but for me personally — especially when you have two guys out there that definitely need spacing for them to go out there and operate and do what they do best. My job here, it’s just to make their life easy and that’s to knock down shots.”

And he gets to come home to do all that. Born and raised in Miami, the Heat will be his sixth NBA team — in the city he still calls home

“Tell me that s*** again.” Pierre, who is also from New Orleans, has known Washington for years. The two of them played football in the streets together in the East when they were younger They also hooped against each other in AAU ball and high school. So the respect between the two is mutual. Pierre gives Washington’s pointers on offense. Washington returns the favor on the other end.

“He’s always been that aggressive kid,” Pierre said. “He doesn’t have to come out there and do anything on the offensive end and he still can make an impact by running the floor and getting dunks and getting blocked shots. He brings his own energy.” Washington and Pierre are rooting for each other They both want to see each other succeed. Washington was one of the first people to call Pierre when he was drafted. Shortly after the draft, Washington got the call he wanted — a chance on the Summer League roster

“I never thought I’d be in this position,” Washington said. “If you had told me I’d be in this position a few years ago, I would have said you’re lying.”

Washington admits that he thought his route would be playing overseas, thousands of miles from his New Orleans home Instead, he gets his chance not too far from the 9th Ward.

“For me to get this opportunity is big,” Washington said. “That’s why I know I’ve got to work hard. I’ve got to put in extra hours. Whatever the team needs me to do for us to be successful, I’m ready to do it.”

A breakthrough from Ross would unlock Blake Baker’s defense, which has brought extra blitzers to generate pressure because the front four hasn’t been enough.

DT Deuce Geralds

LSU has veteran options at defensive tackle with Dominick McKinley and transfers Malik Blocton (Auburn) and Stephiylan Green (Clemson). A massive freshman, Richard Anderson, could also plug gaps.

But it’s Geralds, another freshman, who could take the Tigers’ defense to another level.

He’s not the biggest at 6-1, 280 pounds, but the Georgia native is a quick-twitch athlete who explodes out of his stance. He was identified by multiple teammates during the spring as a freshman who doesn’t play like one. It remains to be seen how Geralds stacks up against SEC competition, but if he emerges as a chaos agent on the interior, it becomes even harder for opposing offenses to deal with LSU’s edge rushers. If the defensive line proves complete, the linebacker duo of Whit Weeks and Dottery is that much better. A talented secondary should have more takeaways. It’s a domino effect that takes LSU’s defense from good to great.

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By DAVID ZALUBOWSKI Denver Nuggets guard Tim Hardaway Jr is seen in the first half of a game on March 27 in Denver.

STAFF FILE PHOTO By JACKSON REyES

Southern Lab coach Jacob Davis poses with his track and field teams atop the podium after winning both the girls and boys Division IV state titles on May 7 at the Bernie Moore Track Stadium.

WORLDCUP 2026

Peacock

Quarterfinals bringfamiliar faces

BY TIM REYNOLDS AP sportswriter

MIAMI GARDENS,Fla. More World Cup teams. Same World Cup story

This edition startedwith 48 teams; it’snow downtoeight, with six of those from Europe. And unless Morocco pulls off aseries of surprising outcomes overthe final two weeks, the champion will come from Europe or South America. Again. As always.

Atournament that has been around for nearly acentury —the first World Cup was in 1930 —has been contested on 22 previous occasions. The champions: 12 fromEurope, 10 from South America,zero from the rest of the globe combined.

This year’squarterfinallineup: six from Europe, one from South America, one from Africa. Not exactly ahistory-bucking set of outcomes there

That said, it seems like even some of Europe’s best playersare surprised at how well this World Cup has gone “I thought it was not possible to do some things,” Norway star Erling Haaland said afterhis two goals helped his team beat Brazil fora spot in thequarterfinals— the first time his nation has gone this deep in aWorld Cup. “I guess I’mwrong.”

He was wrong in agood way.The tournament hosts were wrong in a not-so-good way North America had three cracks at breaking through this year in a bigger-than-ever,48-team World Cup with the U.S., Mexico and Canada all co-hosts.

None of those teams even made the quarterfinals.

“Weneed to get over that next hurdle,” U.S. star ChristianPulisic said in atelevised interview after the Americans wereousted by Belgium in the round of 16,a lopsided 4-1 defeat that shows how far North America stillhas to go. “Trying to compete and beat the world’sbest, that’sour next step …There’sstill another step that

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOByMARTIN MEISSNER

Team Franceplayers celebrate their victoryatthe end of aWorld Cupmatch against ParaguayonJuly4in Philadelphia. France will faceMorocco in theWorld Cupquarterfinals on Thursday

we havetotake.”

Thethree hosts all got through thegroup stageand the round of 32 with ease. The U.S., Mexico and Canada hada combined 9-2-1 record in those matches, outscoring opponents by atotal of 20 goals. Things looked promising, to say theleast.

Then camethe roundof16. Thud.

Englandousted Mexico3-2,the U.S.got rolled by Belgium in a match that looked one-sided from the outsetand Canada was outclassedina 3-0 loss to Morocco. Combined numbers from that trio of matches: 0-3-0 record, outscored byseven goals.

“Levels,” French soccerlegend Thierry Henry saidinhis role as an analyst on Fox after theU.S defeat. “TheWorld Cup is different inthe group stage. Roundof 32 never existed before. Everyone

made history in theround of 32. It never existedbefore …Unfortunately,one host, two hosts, three hosts, out. That’sexactly what you don’twant at aWorld Cup. That is annoying for me.” If it annoys Henry,imagine how it feels for theCanadians, Mexicans and Americans. There hasn’tbeen aCONCACAF —the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean AssociationFootball—teamin the WorldCup quarterfinals since Costa Rica in 2014. Before that,itwas the U.S. in 2002 in its best showing at the WorldCup sincefinishing third in 1930. Canada has never been past theround of 16. Mexico has played in each of thelast nine World Cups; it reached the round of 16 in eight of those,never going further in that span.

Belgiumgetsserious vs.Spain aftergleefully routinghostU.S.

BY GREG BEACHAM AP sportswriter

CARSON, Calif. No more playful dances. No more taunting social media posts. Belgium is done celebrating its victory over the host United Statesand hard at work on extending itsWorld Cuprun on American soil.

The Red Devils trained in theLos Angeles area on Wednesdaywith the memory still freshoftheir 4-1 thrashing of the Americans in Seattle on Monday.After surviving a test from Senegal with athrilling comeback and then thoroughly dominating the U.S. in its first two knockout games, Belgium faces its toughest challenge yetagainst unbeaten Spain in thequarterfinals on Friday But this tumultuous World Cup run has sparked somethinginthis Belgian team, goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois believes.

“Wegained alot of confidence, because we knew it wasgoing to be ahard game against America,” Courtois said at the LA Galaxy’s suburban stadium. “They’re obviously the home team with afull stadium (that’s) with them, so it’s nice to perform in agood way defensive, offensively,and just play our game.” Belgium went into the U.S. matchup with aworld of indignant motivation afterstar American forward Folarin Balogun’sonegame red-card suspension was curiously lifted by FIFA.The Red Devils took it out on an outclassed American team and then celebrated gleefully,both on thepitch and in the dressing room.

In the most viral moment, many players didthe simplistic dance associated with U.S. President Donald Trump and performed by numerous athletesacrossthe sports world in recent months, including American star Christian Pulisic. Belgium left backDiego Moreira smiled slightly when asked about the meaning of doing the dance after Trump called FIFApresident

Belgium’sCharles De Ketelaere celebrates after scoring agoal during aWorld Cupmatch againstthe United StatesonMonday in Seattle. Belgium won4-1.

Gianni Infantino to askfor areviewofBalogun’sred card.

“There are different ways to celebratedifferent goals,” Moreira said through an interpreter.“You can dodifferentdances, and that’s what we’vedone. We just celebrated thewin after thegame.”

Courtois said he wasn’t in the dressing room because he was at doping control, so he couldn’tcomment on thedance.

The Red Devilssay they’veput that cathartic evening behind themafter landing for their second game of the tournament to be played atSoFi Stadium in theLos Angeles area. Belgium was still in amood to argue with Americans, however: The team moved its training base on Wednesday with FIFAapproval af-

terdeciding thatits assigned fields at Los Angeles’ Loyola Marymount University “did notmeet theminimum standards required for our training session,” according to a statement from the Royal Belgian Football Association.

Belgium will be an underdog against Spain, which has yet to concede agoal in this World Cup. That’s fine with the RedDevils, whohave played their best soccer of the tournament since theirstirring rally from a2-0 deficit to beat Senegal3-2. When askedaboutfacing powerhouse Spain, Courtois’ mind immediatelywenttoBelgium’s 2-1 victory over Brazil in the World Cup eight yearsago in Russia. That upset sent the RedDevils to the semifinals for the first timein 32 years.

GLANCE

Scores, schedule ROUND

“Everyone gave everything,” Mexico midfielder Erik Lira said. “But, in the end, it wasn’tenough.” That seems to be an every-fouryearsrefrain for every place other thanEurope andSouth America. There wassome diversity in the makeup of the 2002 World Cup quarterfinal field with five confederations —Europe, South America, Asia, Africa and North America all represented that year It was arare blip. Of the 48 available quarterfinal spots over the six World Cups since, Europe has claimed 30, South America 14, Africa three andNorth America one. Morocco is carrying Africa’s hopes now andthat continent came out of the group stage looking poised for abreakthrough. It sent 10 teamstothe tournament; nine madeitinto the round of 32. Andthen,most of the teams saw

their hopes end by surrendering late goals.

Ivory Coast, South Africaand Congo all surrendered decisive goals in the 86th minute or later of what became their exits from the knockoutphase. Cape Verde’s magical ride ended after giving up an own goal to Lionel Messi and defending championArgentina in the 111th minute. And forSenegal andEgypt, the endings were particularly harsh —both led 2-0 late in thesecond half, then fell by 3-2 scores to Belgium and Argentina, respectively Egypt felt the match was stolen by officiating decisions.

“Perhaps they wanted to keep the world champion in the competition,”Egypt coach HossamHassan said.“Perhaps they wanted Messi to stay in the competition.” The counterpoint to thatwas how,onceagain, apowerhouse like Argentina found away.For thefifthtime in thelastsix World Cups, Messi’steam is in the quarterfinals. Some things just don’tseemto change.

IN BRIEF

Frustratingofficiating

EGYPTIAN FOOTBALLASSOCIATION‘CANNOTREMAIN SILENT’ ABOUTOFFICIATING IN LOSS TO ARGENTINA: The Egyptian Football Association (EFA) said Wednesdayit“cannotremain silent”after what it believes was unfair andbiased officiating in Egypt’s3-2 round of 16 loss against Argentina on Tuesday Egypt coach Hossam Hassan and several players criticized the officiating after being left in disbelief as Argentina scored three unanswered goalsin13minutes to pull off oneofthe biggest comebacks in World Cup history

“Defending the rights andinterests of the Egyptian national team is nota matterthatcan be ignored, minimized, or treated as secondary,” the EFAsaid in a statement. “Itisaresponsibility thatwecarry withfull conviction and determination.”

Egypt appeared to have netted its second goal in the 58thminute, but aVideo Assistant Referee (VAR) reviewdetermined that Marwan Attia hadfouledArgentinadefenderLisandro Martínez before the goal.

The statement said that the referee failed to use the VARsystem appropriately,leading to the loss.

“Several key incidents raised serious concerns and left profound questionsabout the consistency and fairness of decisions that directly influenced the course of the game,” the statement read.

Mostafa Ziko nettedanotherone nine minuteslater to give Egypt a 2-0lead, butall momentum shifted ontoArgentina’sside when Lionel Messi assisted CristianRomero in the 79th minute —the first of threeconsecutive goals.

Hassanheldhisarmsupinan“X” shape to signal racial abuse after Argentina’s game-winnertwo minutes intostoppagetime. Afterthe game,Hassansaidhisteamwasthe victim of asoccerestablishment that favored Messi and Argentina. In the dramatic climax to the game, Egypt’sgoalkeeping coach Saafan Elsaghir wasred-carded andseveralyellowcards were dished out to Egyptian players. The EFA’sstatement said that a

numberofexperts andanalysts have defendedEgypt,underlining the importance of integrity, fairness and transparency in officiating on soccer’sbiggest stage. Thestatement expressed the frustration among Egypt players, staffand supporters.

Must-see T.V.

MEXICO-ENGLAND IS MOST-WATCHED NON-U.S.ENGLISH-LANGUAGEWORLD CUP MATCH IN U.S.HISTORY: The match betweenEnglandand Mexico in the round of 16 has become the most-watched World Cup game not involving the U.S. broadcast in English in the country’shistory,according to Fox.

The networksaidWednesday an average of morethan 21.7 million tuned in to watch England’s 3-2 victory in Mexico City on Sunday night. That tops theprevious record of the final between Argentina andFrancein2022, which was seen by 16.7 million. Foxsaidthe audience peaked at more than 25.7 millionfrom 9:15-9:30 p.m. The U.S.-Belgium game the following night is the most-watched at 30 million.

On themove

HAALAND,SPIRITEDNORWAYSQUAD TRAINS IN FORT LAUDERDALE AFTER SWITCHING HOTELS: TheNorwegian nationalteam, which has captivated World Cup fans with superstarErlingHaaland andthe synchronized Viking Row chant, landed in South Florida on Monday and trained in Fort Lauderdale on asweltering Wednesday afternoon in preparation for Saturday’squarterfinal against England at Hard Rock Stadium Players were spirited, despite the heat, clapping, cheering and singing at the start of training session at Inter Miami Stadium (formerly Chase Stadium) in Fort Lauderdale.

Thetripbegan with abit of ahiccup, as the team opted to switch hotels after just one night. The Norwegian delegation was scheduledtostayatthe Dalmar Hotel in Fort Lauderdale for the entire week but chose to move with FIFA’s help.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MADDyGRASSy

Recovery under way after tree falls on Skip Bertman’s home

BY SCOTT RABALAIS Staff writer

A large tree that fell Sunday on part of legendary former LSU baseball coach Skip Bertman’s home could have been much worse, his daughter Jodi said Wednesday

A towering oak tree adjacent to the side of Bertman’s home and driveway fell during a storm onto the garage and one of his automobiles at the back of the house in the Riverbend subdivision, south of LSU. While there was extensive damage to the garage, which was covered Wednesday with a large tarp, and the car, the main part of the house appeared unscathed.

Jodi Bertman expressed her gratitude at the outpouring of support and concern for her father, who led LSU to five College World Series national championships and later served for eight years as the school’s athletic director

“The house is OK,” Skip Bertman, 88, said. “Everything is fine.”

By Wednesday the tree had been removed, leaving a sizable depression in the ground adjacent to the main part of the house.

It isn’t the first time Bertman’s long-time residence has suffered a calamity

In 2004, a fire started in the garage and spread to both floors of the main part of the house, doing extensive damage that destroyed much of Bertman’s baseball memorabilia collected over the years. Bertman and his wife Sandy, who died in 2025, were uninjured in the fire.

Skip Bertman coached LSU from 1984-2001, then served as athletic director from 2001-08. The field at LSU’s current Alex Box Stadium was named for Bertman in 2013. In April, Flamingo Park baseball field in Miami Beach, Florida, was renamed in Bertman’s honor Bertman graduated from Miami Beach Senior High School and coached the school’s baseball team from 1962-74.

PITCHING

Continued from page 1C

at LSU. Three scouts believe he will sign out of the draft and be selected no later than the second round. As one scout put it: “I can’t imagine that 30 pro teams let that guy get through the draft.”

Odds of reaching campus: Low

Lucas Nawrocki, LHP

School: Aledo High

Hometown: Aledo, Texas

Ht/Wt: 5-11, 197 pounds

Draft rankings: No. 115, ESPN; No. 151, MLB.com

Breakdown: There’s a lot to like about Nawrocki. He’s physically built, throws strikes, has a “knockdown” slider and has a fastball that’s up to 95 mph. He also throws a changeup that one scout believes has the makings of becoming a reliable third pitch.

The only stumbling block in Nawrocki’s profile is his height (511), which, in MLB’s eyes, likely makes him a future reliever. That could help LSU get him to campus. Even if MLB teams like Nawrocki, they’d only be willing to spend so much on a high school pitcher likely destined for the bullpen

“I think his number’s going to be between like $1.5 and $2 (million), and if he would take a million, maybe someone does it, but it’s a 5-foot11 lefty,” the same scout said. “And he has a really good breaking ball, but the consensus is in pro ball he’s probably a reliever.”

If Nawrocki makes it to campus, the same scout believes he could make an immediate impact for the Tigers, similar to how Griffin Herring helped LSU out of the gate as a freshman.

The expectation is that Nawrocki will be a pitcher only in college, but he could also help LSU as a hitter He hit multiple balls at 109 mph with a wooden bat at the MLB draft combine last month.

Odds of reaching campus: Over 50% Cooper Sides, RHP

School: Orange Lutheran

Hometown: Orange, California

Ht/Wt: 6-6, 225 pounds

Draft rankings: No. 99, MLB.com

Breakdown: Sides has an imposing frame and a wide repertoire of pitches, featuring a four-seam fastball, two-seam fastball, slider, changeup and curveball. He delivers the ball at a lower-release point, and one scout compared him to current LSU right-hander Reagan Ricken.

“It’s more the (physical) size and the (pitch) shapes that you’re going to kind of get with those guys,” the

Verlander planning to retire after this season

BY LARRY LAGE AP sportswriter

DETROIT Justin Verlander plans to call it a career later this year

The three-time Cy Young Award winner, two-time World Series champion and 2011 AL MVP will retire after this season with the Detroit Tigers.

Verlander made the announcement on Wednesday, shortly after he was added as a Legend Pick to the American League All-Star roster

“While I’m fully committed to giving my team everything I have for the rest of this season, I’ve decided this will be my last,” Verlander shared on social media. “It’s fitting that I get to finish where it all started — with the Detroit Tigers, the organization that drafted me and gave me my first opportunity.”

Oldest player in the majors

The 43-year-old Verlander is

the oldest player in Major League Baseball. He signed a $13 million, one-year contract to rejoin the Tigers in February

Verlander allowed five runs in 3 2/3 innings during a 9-6 road loss at Arizona on March 30.

That was his only start this year

“It’s time for the next chapter,” Verlander said. “But first, I’m excited to finish this season the only way I know how — with everything I’ve got.”

He went on the injured list with hip inflammation early in the season and when the right-hander was nearing a return last month, he pulled a hamstring during a bullpen session. “I never wanted to retire because of a milestone, a number, or a date on the calendar,” Verlander said. “I wanted the game to tell me when it was time. Over the last several months, I’ve realized that time has come.” He was scheduled to pitch in

June and make what would have been his first start with the Tigers at Comerica Park since August 30, 2017 — the day before he was traded to the Astros. He went 183-115 from 2005 to 2017 with the Tigers. He won the American League Rookie of the Year award in 2006 and both the AL MVP and Cy Young Award in 2011. He helped Detroit reach the World Series in 2006 and 2012 along with four straight division titles from 2011 to 2014. Verlander was the 2017 ALCS MVP in Houston and helped the Astros win the World Series that year and was a key player for them when they won another title in 2022. He won his second and third Cy Young Award in 2019 and 2022. “I’ve been fortunate to play with and against incredible players, for outstanding organizations, and compete in front of fans who deeply appreciate the game,” Verlander said.

scout said. “They’re very similar.”

The same scout believes that Sides will get through the draft and make it to LSU. Sides, the scout said, didn’t have the spring he wanted at Orange Lutheran and entered the season believing he needed to be a first-round-caliber player to not make it to Baton Rouge.

“I think the expectation of a lot of scouts was that they hoped he was a true second-rounder,” the scout said. “He looks more like a fourth(or) fifth-rounder right now.”

The same scout said that Sides needs to “clean up” the lower half of his delivery to unlock his potential.

“I think he was trying to balance some extra weight room stuff with pitching for the first time,” the scout said, “and just didn’t know how to handle both. So the body just looked really sloppy.”

Odds of reaching campus: High

Kolby Stringer, RHP

School: West Marion High

Hometown: Foxworth, Mississippi

Ht/Wt: 6-3, 225 pounds

Draft rankings: No. 120, MLB.com

Breakdown: Stringer is the mystery man of LSU’s recruiting class. He didn’t commit to the Tigers until April, and scouts didn’t get a close look at him until this spring. Before his LSU commitment, he was committed to Pearl River Community College.

Two factors led to Stringer’s late ascension He pitched at a smaller school in Mississippi — Class 3A — and his fastball velocity didn’t take a leap until recently One scout said he saw the fastball up to 95 mph.

“I think high school kids kind of have to show they can throw the ball hard and not do it for just one inning,” the same scout said. “And I think he kind of did that.”

Stringer also throws a changeup and a 12-to-6 curveball that the scout described as an “old school” pitch. Whether he signs with an MLB club or goes to LSU remains a bit of a mystery, but he has caught MLB teams’ attention.

Odds of reaching campus: 50/50

Dylan Blomker, RHP

School: La Cueva High

Hometown: Albuquerque, New Mexico

Ht/Wt: 6-4, 212 pounds

Draft rankings: N/A

Breakdown: LSU coach Jay Johnson has cornered the market on top prospects from New Mexico.

In Blomker, LSU “probably” has landed the best high school player from the state since Steven Milam, at least according to one scout.

Blomker has a fastball that can reach the mid-90s, but his best trait is his ability to spin the ball. His slider and curveball are his

William

Nate yeskie approaches in the

Carolina on May 2 at Alex

best pitches. He still needs to work on his overall consistency but the breaking balls and his size give him the tools to be a potential starter

“He does a lot of things well, but he just needs to put it all together more often,” the same scout said. “But the calling card for him is that he can spin many shapes effectively.”

Blomker didn’t crack ESPN’s or MLB.com’s draft rankings, but his starter traits could intrigue MLB teams. The main holdup for clubs would be questions surrounding his lack of consistency, the scout said.

If Blomker gets to LSU, the scout believes he could work as a long reliever in the mold of Zac Cowan or provide shorter bursts of production in relief.

“I have the sense that he’s relatively signable. It would take $800,000 to a million dollars,” the scout said. “He is a pitcher who does a lot of things really well that pro teams are attracted to. He’s probably a less than 50% (chance of signing), but if he does, it’s later in the draft.”

Odds of reaching campus: Over 50%

Coleton Brady, RHP

School: TNXL Academy

Hometown: North Collins, New York

Ht/Wt: 6-5, 215 pounds Draft rankings: No. 71, The Athletic; No. 178, MLB.com

Breakdown: Brady is a big righthander who doesn’t turn 18 until October That alone makes him attractive to MLB clubs, not to mention the fact that his fastball has reached 95 mph, and he throws a slider and curveball.

Two scouts believe that between

Brady and Spencer Evans, his TNXL teammate and fellow LSU signee, Brady is more likely to sign with a pro team. But those same scouts, along with a third scout, said it’s more likely than not Brady ends up at LSU.

According to one scout, mechanical issues this spring hampered his progress.

Odds of reaching campus: Over 50%

Spencer Evans, LHP

School: TNXL Academy Hometown: Ocoee, Florida

Ht/Wt: 6-3, 190 pounds

Draft rankings: No. 194, MLB.com

Breakdown: Evans has a starter’s build, a fastball in the low-to-mid 90s and an effective breaking ball, but consistently finding the strike zone was a challenge for the lefthander this spring. For that reason, he’ll likely end up at LSU.

“I think he kind of falls in the bucket of the high school guy that you have to scout in case he ends up being signable, or in case he comes out and has like a huge spring or something,” one scout said. “Everybody knew who he was, obviously And there’s some upside in him, but I think he ends up at school.”

The mechanical issues that hurt Brady also hampered Evans’ progress this spring, according to another scout.

“Guys got into their heads, telling them how to do things, and it just wasn’t the right answer,” the scout said. “I don’t know how much it fixed itself.”

Odds of reaching campus: High Braxton Beaty, LHP

School: Angleton High Hometown: Angleton, Texas

Ht/Wt: 6-0, 178 pounds

Draft rankings: N/A

Breakdown: Beaty announced last month that he’d withdraw his name from the draft and come to LSU.

When he’s at his best, Beaty can pound the strike zone with an advanced three-pitch mix, which is why two scouts said they think Beaty can make an immediate impact at LSU.

“That guy could pitch on Sunday as a freshman,” one scout said. “He’s a very advanced guy. He’s just really little and not physical.”

Beaty’s fastball won’t overwhelm hitters — it sits between 88-93 mph — but his breaking ball is strong and he has good feel for a changeup. His lack of physical size and strength likely limits him to a relief role at the next level.

His command and stuff were also inconsistent this past spring, likely because it was his first season since undergoing Tommy John surgery

Odds of reaching campus: 100% Bradyn Cupit, LHP

School: West Monroe High

Hometown: West Monroe

Ht/Wt: 6-1, 205 pounds

Draft rankings: N/A

Breakdown: Cupit is LSU’s lone signee from Louisiana and the state’s top left-handed pitcher. He pounds the strike zone with a low 90s fastball, curveball, slider and changeup, and he has a mature, physical frame. In part due to his lower ceiling as a prospect, he’s expected to make it to LSU. One scout believes he could make an immediate impact if he gets to Baton Rouge.

“He can pitch, and he’s got some pretty decent stuff,” the scout said. “It’s just what you see is what you get from him.”

Odds of reaching campus: High Braydon Wisener, RHP

School: Hargrave High

Hometown: Huffman, Texas

Ht/Wt: 6-2, 195 pounds

Draft rankings: N/A

Breakdown: Wisener is mainly a fastball-slider pitcher who has been up to 96 mph with the heater

His slider has also flashed potential, but he’s had trouble replicating it, according to one scout.

Wisener is expected to make it to LSU, according to two scouts, in part because of his inconsistent command.

Odds of reaching campus: High

Email Koki Riley at koki.riley@ theadvocate.com. For more LSU sports updates, sign up for our newsletter at theadvocate.com/ lsunewsletter

STAFF FILE PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON LSU pitcher

Schmidt, center waits on the mound as pitching coach

third inning of a game against South

Box Stadium.

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By DARRyL WEBB

Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander works against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the first inning of an opening-day game in Phoenix on March 30

STAFF FILE PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK

Former LSU coach Skip Bertman watches as the Tigers host Milwaukee on opening day of the regular season on Feb 13 at Alex Box Stadium

Saints players warm up during minicamp

the

Saints announce 10 training camp dates open to public

BY MATTHEW PARAS Staff writer

The New Orleans Saints revealed their training camp schedule Wednesday, with 10 dates open to the public.

Eight of those will be conducted at the team’s practice facility, while another two will take place at different locations. On Aug. 18, the Saints will have an open practice against the Dallas Cowboys in Oxnard, California, while on Aug. 26, the Saints will hold an evening

practice at Yulman Stadium on Tulane’s campus. Fans can attend the following practices, with dates and times subject to change:

n July 30 (9 a.m.-10:15 a.m.)

n July 31 (9 a.m.-10:30 a.m.)

n Aug. 2 (9 a.m.-10 a.m.)

n Aug. 3 (9 a.m.-11 a.m.)

n Aug. 5 (9 a.m.-11 a.m.)

n Aug. 8 (9 a.m.-10:30 a.m.)

n Aug. 9 (9 a.m.-10:30 a.m.)

n Aug. 13 (9 a.m.-11 a.m.)

n Aug. 18 (4 p.m., in Oxnard, California, against the Cowboys)

n Aug. 26 (TBD, at Yulman Stadium in the evening)

The Saints will also host a joint practice with the Jacksonville Jaguars on Aug. 13, and fans will be able to attend.

According to the Saints, tickets for practices are free but must be reserved ahead of time. Seasonticket holders can do so on July 13 through their account manager, while the rest of the public can do so a day later on the team’s website. Training camp for the Saints starts July 29.

Bart’s late two-run homer helps lift Atlanta to victory over Pirates

BY WES CROSBY Asscoiated Press

PITTSBURGH Joey Bart hit a tworun home run with two outs in the eighth inning, lifting the NL East-leading Atlanta Braves to a 3-0 win over his former team on Wednesday after Pittsburgh Pirates starter Jared Jones pitched six perfect innings before being lifted. Bart, traded to the Braves from the Pirates on June 18, followed a double by Mike Yastrzemski with a 422-foot drive to left-centerfield off a slider from Dennis Santana (2-4). Drake Baldwin added an RBI single to center in the ninth.

Jones struck out eight on 77 pitches, including 53 strikes, to lower his ERA to 4.37 from 5.28. His bid was nearly ended by Bart with one out in the third, but a long drive to left was caught at the wall by Bryan Reynolds.

The 24-year-old Jones hasn’t thrown more than 81 pitches in eight starts since returning May 20 after missing all of last season after undergoing an ulnar collateral ligament internal brace surgery on May 21, 2025. Mason Montgomery relieved Jones to start the seventh inning, getting Michael Harris II to ground to first before yielding a single to left by Ozzie Albies with

one out. He struck out Matt Olson and Baldwin to end the inning.

Dylan Dodd (1-0) was perfect for Atlanta in the bottom of the seventh and earned the win. Raisel Iglesias struck out two in the ninth for his 18th save.

Braves starter Grant Holmes lasted five innings, giving up three hits with three strikeouts and a walk.

The Pirates left men on base in each of the first four innings In the third, they had two in scoring position after Reynolds stole second following a two-out single. Holmes forced Jared Triolo to ground to third, ending the threat.

SCOREBOARD

4. Sheldon Creed, 673 (1). 5. Austin Hill, 643 (2). 6. Brandon Jones, 633 (1). 7. Carson Kvapil, 630 (0). 8. Sammy Smith, 602 (0). 9. Parker Retzlaff, 556 (0). 10. Sam Mayer, 549 (0). 11. Taylor Gray 535 (1). 12. Brent Crews, 527 (0). 13. William Sawalich, 483 (1). 14. Rajah Caruth 479 (0). 15. Ryan Sieg, 452 (0). 16. Anthony Alfredo, 391 (0). 17. Brennan Poole, 366 (0) 18. Dean Thompson, 344 (0). 19. Jeremy Clements, 325 (0) 20. Harrison Burton, 316 (0). 21. Jeb Burton, 315 (0). 22. Blaine Perkins, 290 (0). 23. Patrick Staropoli, 272 (0). 24. Austin Green, 262 (0).

25. Josh Bilicki, 244 (0). 26. Lavar Scott, 220 (0). 27. Kyle Sieg, 203 (0). 28. Ryan Ellis, 202 (0). 29. Joey Gase, 130 (0). 30. Josh Williams, 129 (0). 31. Nicholas Sanchez, 120 (0). 32. Garrett Smithley, 112 (0). 33. Alex Labbe, 93 (0). 34. JJ Yeley, 80 (0). 35. Andrew Patterson, 72 (0).

36. Mason Maggio, 65 (0).

37. Nathan Byrd, 61 (0). 38. Dawson Cram, 52 (0). 39. Myatt Snider, 49 (0). 40. Preston Pardus, 45 (0)

41. Will Rodgers, 41 (0).

42. Brad Perez, 36 (0). 43. Jordan Anderson, 33 (0).

44. Lee Pulliam, 32 (0). 45. Luke Fenhaus, 31 (0). 46. David Starr, 31 (0). 47. Carson Ware, 28 (0). 48. Blake Lothian, 27 (0). 49. Logan Bearden, 17 (0)

50. Jesse Iwuji, 12 (0). 51. Gray Gaulding, 9 (0). 52. Alex Guenette, 9 (0). 53. Dexter Bean, 7 (0). 54. Glen Reen, 7 (0). 55. CJ McLaughlin, 7 (0).

56. Cleetus McFarland, 7 (0).

57. Derek White, 5 (0). 58. Baltazar Leguizamón, 5 (0).

59. Tyler Tomassi, 4 (0).

60. Austin J Hill, 4 (0). 61. Kyle Kelley 3 (0).

62. Sage Karam, 2 (0). 63. Matt Wilson, 1 (0). Pro tennis

Wimbledon results

Wednesday At All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club London Purse: £30,060,000

Surface: Grass

Men’s Singles Quarterfinals Arthur Fery Britain, def. Flavio Cobolli (9), Italy, 6-4, 7-6 (4), 6-0. Alexander Zverev (2), Germany, def. Taylor Fritz (6), United States, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2.

Women’s Singles Quarterfinals Marta Kostyuk (12), Ukraine, def. Jasmine Paolini (13), Italy, 6-3, 6-2. Linda Noskova (9), Czechia, def. Elise Mertens (25), Belgium, 6-3, 7-5. Men’s Doubles Quarterfinals Mate Pavic, Croatia, and Marcelo Arevalo (6), El Salvador, def. Lloyd Glasspool and Julian Cash (3), Britain, 6-2, 7-6 (2) Kevin Krawietz and Tim Putz (7), Germany, def. Fabien Reboul and Sadio Doumbia (13) France, 7-5, 7-6 (6)

Women’s Doubles Quarterfinals Gabriela Dabrowski, Canada, and Luisa Stefani (2), Brazil, def. Katarzyna Piter, Poland, and Anna Siskova, Czechia, 6-1, 6-2. Shuko Aoyama, Japan, and En-Shuo Liang (13), Taiwan, def. Demi Schuurs, Netherlands, and Ellen Perez (9), Australia, 6-4, 6-4. Transactions Major League Baseball American League ATHLETICS — Reinstated LF Tyler Soderstrom from the 10-day IL. Optioned 3B Max Muncy to Las Vegas (PCL). LOS ANGELES ANGELS — Reinstated CF Mike Trout from the 10-day IL. Designated 3B Donovan Walton for assignment. MINNESOTA TWINS — Agreed to terms with RHP Matt Bowman on a minor league contract. Placed RHP Marco Raya on the 15-day IL retroactive to July 5. TORONTO BLUE JAYS — Sent RHP Max Scherzer on a rehab assignment to Buffalo (IL). National League ATLANTA BRAVES — Recalled RHP Victor Mederos from Gwinnett (IL). Optioned LHP Connor Thomas to Gwinnett. CHICAGO CUBS — Sent RHP Phil Maton on

(Ball-Overturned to

Boone is ejected from the game.. Umpires—Home, Doug Eddings; First, Mike Muchlinski; Second, Emil Jimenez; Third, Gabe Morales. T—2:19. A—19,373 (25,025).

STAFF PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER

at

team’s outdoor practice field on June 17 in Metairie.

Super Summer Sippers

BY GRETCHEN MCKAY

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (TNS)

Summer entertaining comes with some definite perks. Menus are more relaxed because we’re oftencookingsimple foods like burgersorchicken on the grill, and with farmers markets in full swing, there are so many seasonalfruits and vegetables available that virtually anyrecipe is easy to source. Being in vacation mode also ushers in amore carefree attitude because there’ssomething magical about summer activities like catching lightning bugsand watching the blazing oranges and pinks of asetting sun dip below the horizon.

So it bears asking: If living is so famously easy in summertime, shouldn’tthe cocktails we whip up on asultry evening be just as effortless, with just one question to be answered: shaken or stirred? (A common rule of thumb is shake if there’scitrus or mixer,stir if there’snot.)

The answer to surefire success, says Fred Siggins, author of “Equal Parts Cocktails: The

ä See SIPPERS, page 2D

BOUND BYFLAVOR

There are places in New Orleans that exist beyond their four walls and hand-painted menus. Places where thegrease from decades of po-boys has seeped into the very soul of the city,where laughter echoes long after the last customer has left and where friendships are forged over baskets of fries that somehow taste better because they’re seasoned with rebellion.

Leni’sCafe at 741 Baronne St. wasone of those places.

1. Combine whisky,lemon juice, pistachio simple syrup and egg white in acocktail shaker. 2. Seal tightlywithout ice and shake vigorously for 10-15 seconds. 3. Using astandardHawthorne strainer and afine-mesh sieve, strain into achilled coupeor rocks glass. 4. Garnish the side of theglass with pistachio cream and crushed pistachios if you desire.

Monica came homeyesterday carrying astorythe way some peoplecarry flowers, carefully reverently,knowing it’s precious. She’d been talking withher coworker,Janell, and what started as casual workplace conversation hadtransformed into something deeper

Maybeitwas because Leni’s just closed its doors permanently

PatrioticCelebration

BY LINDAGASSENHEIMER

Tribune News Service (TNS)

Although created in honor of the USA’s 250th birthday, this patriotic red, white and blue salad will be ahit all summer long. Bursting with color and freshflavor,it’safestive addition to any table. Best of all, there’snocooking required. There are just afew simple ingredientsbrought together in minutes.It’s cool, refreshing, and effortless to prepare making it perfectfor ahot summer evening.

Note that walnuts or almonds can be used instead of pecans.

Kevin Belton

last month.Maybe grief has a way of unlocking memory. Either way,the kind of reminiscing that followed made Monica stop everythingand lean in closer,made the present fade away She settled beside me andbegan painting thepicture Janell had shared: high school days when the biggest thrill was sneaking off campus for lunch, even though it was strictly forbidden.

“They’d hear the keys first,”

ä See BELTON, page 2D

2tablespoonssugar

lightly beaten About 2cups buttermilk 3to4tablespoons vegetable oil 1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. 2. Siftthe cornmeal, flour,baking powder,salt and sugar into alarge glass or metal mixing bowl(not plastic).

Leon’sskillet cornbread features a crunchy crust.

PHOTO By MONICA BELTON

PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE/TNS

Pistachio Sour

Jambalaya, My Way

This is Marcelle Bienvenu’s redjambalaya —aNew Orleans-style version made with tomatoes, shrimp and ham. Jambalaya is similar to Spanish paella, both being rice-based dishes with an assortment of seafood, meats and sausages.

Makes 4to6servings.

6tablespoons butter

1/2 cup green onions (white and green parts), chopped

1/2 cup yellow onions,chopped

1largegreen bell pepper,julienned

1cup celery, chopped

1teaspoon garlic,minced

1/2 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

1/2 pound boiled ham, cubed

1/2 pound smoked sausage, such as andouille or kielbasa, sliced 1/4 inch thick (optional)

1(16-ounce) can whole tomatoes, crushed,with their juices

BELTON

Continued from page1D

Monica said, and Icould hear the smile in her voice.

“The principal had this enormous set of keys that jangled so loud you could hear her coming from a blockaway.”

It was the world’sworst stealth approach, and an early warning system.

Leni knew the drill.The moment those keys started their telltale symphony, he’d spring into action, ushering giggling teenagers to the back of the restaurant like aNew Orleans guardian angel in an apron. Hidden among the kitchen supplies and the smell of sizzling oil, those students would hold their breath and suppress their laughter while the principal made her rounds, searching for truants she knew were there but couldnever quite catch.

For nearly 50 years,Leni’sCafe served more than just food. It servedasa sanctuary,aco-conspirator, akeeper of secrets and stories. And for Janell and her friends, it became the back-

By The Associated Press

Today is Thursday,July 9, the 190th day of 2026. There are 175 days left in the year

TodayinHistory: On July 9, 1868, the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, granting citizenship and “equal protection under the laws” to anyone “born or naturalized in the United States,” including formerly enslaved people.

Also on this date: In 1850, President Zachary Taylor died of gastrointestinal illness after consuming alarge amount of cherries and iced milk on ahot day five days earlier; Vice President Millard Fillmore wassworn in as president the following day In 1896, William Jennings Bryant delivered his famous “Cross of Gold” speech at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. In 1918, 101 people were killed in atrain collision in Nashville, Tennessee, in the deadliest U.S. rail disaster in history In 1937, afire at 20th Century Fox’sstorage facility in Little Ferry,New Jersey, destroyed most of the studio’ssilent films.

In 1943, during World War II, the Allies launched Operation Husky,the invasion

1cup chicken broth Salt

Cayenne pepper

2bay leaves

1cup long-grain rice

Hot sauce for serving

1. Melt the butter in alarge heavy pot over medium heat. Add thegreen onions, yellowonions, bell peppers, celery and garlic.Cook, stirring, until they aresoft and palegold, 6-8 minutes

2. Addthe shrimpand ham,and sausage (if using).Cook for 2-3 minutes, or until the shrimp turn pink.

3. Stir in the tomatoes and the chicken broth.Season to taste with salt and cayenne. Addthe bay leaves and the rice.

4. Cover and reduce theheat to mediumlow.Cook until therice is tender and all the liquid is absorbed, about 25 minutes

5. Remove the bay leaves and serve. Pass thehot sauce!

droptoafriendship that would span decades, long after thelast bell rang,long after graduation capswere thrown, long after they had anyreason to hideinthe back ofarestaurant

They dreamedabout making it to lunch, Janell had told Monica. Not justfor the fries, though those fries were legendary butfor each other.For thelaughter that camesoeasily when you’reyoung and theworld feels full of possibility.For thestories they’d tell and retell until they became mythology

“Janell said they weren’t even sure Leni had menus,” Monica smiled. “They just ordered off theboard ”

That’sthe thing about placeslike Leni’s. Youdon’t need menus wheneveryone knows what’sgood. You don’tneed fancy decor when the walls themselves hold almost 50 years of stories. Youdon’tneed anythingexceptgood food, good peopleand theunderstanding that some places becomepart of your story in ways you can’tquiteexplain

This is what makes New Orleansunlikeany other city,Ithought as Monica

TODAYIN HISTORY

of Sicily In 1944, during World WarII, American forces secured Saipanasthe last Japanese defenses fell; the occupation allowed theU.S. to put B-29 bombers on the island,within range of Tokyo In 1947, the engagement of Britain’s PrincessElizabeth to Lt. Philip Mountbatten was announced In 1965, the Sonny& Cher single“IGot YouBabe” was released by ATCO Records. In 1982, Pan Am Flight 759, aBoeing727, crashed in Kenner shortly after takeoff from Louis Armstrong New OrleansInternational Airport, killing all 145 people aboard andeight peopleon theground. In 2004, aSenate Intelligence Committee report concluded theCIA had providedunfounded assessmentsofthe threat posed by Iraq that the Bush administration had relied on to justify goingtowar In 2010,the largest U.S.Russia spy swap since the Cold Wartook place on a remote stretch of Vienna’s main airporttarmac as planesfrom New York and Moscow arrivedwithin minutesofeach other;10 Russian sleeperagentswere exchanged for fourprisoners accusedbyRussiaof spying forthe West. In 2011, South Sudan of-

SIPPERS

Continuedfrom page1D

Simple Ratio for Spectacular Drinks” (Ten Speed Press, $22), may lie in the time-tested formula of making cocktails that are built on an identical 1:1:1 ratio of ingredients.

“If theidea of making good cocktails at home sounds daunting, don’t worry,it’sa lot easier than it seems,” he writes in the introduction. He makes anegroni with 1ounce each of gin, campari and sweet vermouth, and atropical mai tai with 3/4 ounce each of Jamaican rum,orange liqueur,lime juice and amaretto.

“Strip away all the fancy tools andtechniques professional bartenders use, and all you’re doing is puttingacouple different liquids in aglass,” Siggins says. If you’re new to cocktails or simply want to get better at making them, Siggins’ book includes achapter on getting started with proper tools of thetrade, including abreakdown of glassware, and tips on how to stock ahome bar (with thoughts on which spirits and flavor makersare “critical”)

Cheers!

El Diablo Verde

finished her story.It’snot just thearchitecture, music or the food, though all of those things matter.It’sthe way acafe owner becomes aguardian angel for truant teenagers. It’sthe way thejingle of keys becomes part of the neighborhood soundtrack. It’s theway a basket of fries can hold an entire friendship, an entire era, an entire life.

Lastmonth, Leni’sCafe closed its doors for thefinal time. After nearly half a century,another piece of New Orleansslipped into memory, but it lives on in conversations like the one Janell and Monica shared. It lives on in thestories we tell, in the friends we remember,inthe laughter that still echoes if you listen closely enough.

Kevin Belton is resident chef of WWL-TV and has taught classes in Louisiana cooking for 30 years. The most recent of his four cookbooks, “KevinBelton’sCookin’ Louisiana: Flavors from the Parishesofthe Pelican State,” waspublished in 2021. EmailChef at chefkevinbelton@gmail. com.

ficially becameanindependent nation.

In 2018, President Donald Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh to fill theseat left vacant by theretirement of Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy

Today’sBirthdays: Author Dean Koontz is 81. Actor Chris Cooper is 75. Musician and TV personality John Tesh is 74. Country singer David Ball is 73. Businessexecutive/TV personalityKevin O’Leary (TV:“Shark Tank”) is 72. Singer Debbie Sledge (Sister Sledge) is 72. Actor Jimmy Smits is 71. U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham is 71. Actor TomHanks is 70. Singer Marc Almondis69. Actor Kelly McGillis is 69. Rock singer Jim Kerr(Simple Minds) is 67. Actor-rock singer Courtney Love is 62. Actor Pamela Adlon is 60. Actor ScottGrimes is 55. Actor Enrique Murciano (TV:“Without aTrace”) is 53. Musician/producer Jack Whiteis51. Rock singermusician Isaac Brock (Modest Mouse) is 51.

Actor-director Fred Savage is 50. Actor Linda Park(TV: “Star Trek: Enterprise”) is 48. Actor Megan Parlen is 46. Animator/writer/ producer Rebecca Sugar is 39. Actor Mitchel Musso is 35. Actor Georgie Henley (Film: “The Chronicles of Narnia”)is31.

Its 50 recipes range from all-time classics everyone knows (margarita, martini) to partyfavorites (cosmopolitan, espressomartini) to modern classics born out of the cocktail renaissance that began in the 1990s (whiskey-based paper plane, rum-and Campari-forward jungle bird)

Or,hit your cocktail spot with one of these recipes. They may break Siggins rule by including more than three ingredients, but only slightly —and they’re allfairly simple to stirorshake together That makes them perfect for your cookout or any other time you gather with family or friends this summer

2. Shake vigorously for 8-10

4. Garnish with amint sprig.

RoyalMule Serves 1. Recipe is

PHOTO By MONICA BELTON

Marcelle Bienvenu’sred jambalayaisaNew Orleans-style version made with tomatoes, shrimp and ham.

CANCER(June 21-July22) Thinkmatters through. Consideryourchoices, anddo what'sbestfor everyone. Your conscientious approach will help you gain the trust andrespect of those youdeal with today.

LEO (July 23-Aug.22) Take atour of what's floating around in your mind and quantify what's necessary and what you can discard.The process of elimination will help clear apath forward that suits your needs.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept.22) Live andlearn What you experience todaywill help youmakebetter decisions. Experience is the spice of life, but it can also cost you. Be aleader, not afollower.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct.23) Takeflight and look at the world with gratitude. Count yourblessings,and project an image that makes others gravitate toward you. Don't limit what youcan accomplish because you held back.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 22) Pull outall the stops. Askquestions,and you'll feel good aboutyourself and thedestination you pursue. Make reasonable plans,and walk away from anyone trying to talk youinto something youdon't need

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23-Dec. 21) An offer or change someone makes will dazzle you. Be carefulnot to get sweptupinsomeoneelse's dream.Bea friendly observer todayand let the chips fall where they may.

CAPRICORN (Dec.22-Jan. 19) Open your heartand your doors to those you care aboutorwanttohelp. How youliveand

treat others will set an example for those trying to find their way through something similar.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb.19) Choose to make adomesticchange. Setyour sights on what you want outoflife, and embrace newbeginnings. Don't fallfor the first person,suggestion or offer that tries to influence you.

PISCES (Feb. 20-March 20) Participate, ask questions and discover what's available to you and how you can parlay your skills,attributes and experience into something newand exciting. An opportunity to takeonanew position looks encouraging.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) Getinto high gear andbethe onetomakethings happen. Thinkbig and discoverthe simplest way to reach your objective. Arelaxed demeanor and aggressive plan will help youmaintain theideal balance in life.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) Put your heart out to the universe and live lifeyour way. What youproject you'llget back Ahumble, kind approach whendealing with thoseyou encounter will win approval.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) Reconsider the lifestyleyou desire and how to proceed You have plenty to gain if you talk to experts and price outthe cost necessary to reach your destination.

Thehoroscope, an entertainment feature, is not based on scientific fact ©2026 by NEA, Inc., dist.ByAndrews McMeel Syndication

beetLe bAILeY

Mother GooSe And GrIMM

Sudoku

InstructIons: Sudoku is anumber-placing puzzle based on a9x9 grid with several given numbers. The objectistoplace the numbers 1to9inthe empty squares so that each row, each column and each 3x3 boxcontains the samenumber only once. The difficulty levelofthe Sudoku increasesfrom Monday to Sunday

Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer

THewiZard oF id

BLondie

BaBY BLueS

Hi and LoiS

CurTiS

BY PHILLIP ALDER

Willie Tyler, aventriloquist, comedian andactor, said, “The reason lightning doesn’tstriketwice in the same place is thatthesameplaceisn’ttherethesecond time.”

Howdoesthissegueintoabridgedeal? Withdifficulty! Southisinfourhearts Westleadsthe diamond ace. What ought to happen after that?

NorthrespondedwiththeJacobyForcingRaise, showing four or more hearts, game-forcingvalues and, usually, no singleton or void(because with ashort suit, North would have made asplinter bid). South rebid four hearts to indicatea minimum opening bidwith no singleton or void.

At 999 tablesout of 1,000, East would signal with his diamond nine under partner’s ace, starting ahigh-low with adoubleton. Westwould then cash the diamond king and give his partner a diamondruff. Whatever East does next, though, South wins, draws trumps and claims10tricks: one spade, five hearts andfour clubs.

However, East should realizethat he doesnotneedarufftogainatrumptrick.

So he shouldnot advertise his doubleton. Instead, he should play hisdiamondfour at trickone.

ThenthespotlightfallsonWest.IfEast hasjustplayedasingleton,itwouldprobably be righttocontinue diamonds. But if South hasfourdiamonds, he would have exactly 2-5-4-2distribution,which is unlikely. Instead, Westshould think about shifting. And given the dummy, a spade looks better than aclub. Note that this is the only way to defeat the contract, the defenders then taking one spade, one

Syndication

Each Wuzzleisa word riddle which creates adisguised word, phrase, name, place, saying, etc. For example: NOON GOOD =GOOD AFTERNOON

Previous answers:

word game

InstRuctIons: 1. Words must be of four or more letters.

Average

the

wuzzles

loCKhorNs

marmaduKe

Bizarro

hagar the horriBle

Pearls Before swiNe

garfield

B.C.

PiCKles

2026, throughAugust8,2026. The plan maybeviewed online at theCity-Parish Office of Community De‐velopmentWeb page lo‐catedat: www.brla.gov/ CommunityDevelopment. Upon request, theplan maybeprovidedinac‐

takenonany agenda item.Oncerecognizedby thepresiding officer, the person afforded the floor,shall identify the agenda item upon which he or shewishestopro‐vide comment andshall limithis or hercom‐mentstomatters that arestrictlyrelevantto that agenda item.Com‐mentaryshall notexceed three(3) minutesper person.Nodialoguebe‐tween Planning andZon‐ingboard membersand thepublicshall be per‐mitted at thesemeet‐ings,excepttoclarify the nature of questions and/or comments.The presidingofficerre‐serves theright to limit and/or terminateany commentary when deemed necessaryor outsideofpublicdeco‐rum.

3. CHANGES/ADDITIONS TO THEAGENDA D. READINGOFTHE MINUTES 1. Approval of minutesof theMay 04, 2026 regular meetingand approve them as written. Themotionwas made by CommissionerPeay Themotionwas sec‐ondedbyCommissioner Murphy To approveminutes of May04, 2026, regular meetingand approve them as written.

YEAS:Watkins,Peay, Womack,Murphy NAYS:None ABSENT:Slaughter Floyd, Williams ABSTAINED: None

SHERIFF’SSALE CYPRESSLOANSERVIC‐ING, LLCVS. DEMETRA GLOVER DOCKET NO:51163

throughSatur‐day, 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.,toMondaythrough Sunday,6:00a.m.to4:00 p.m.,and revise themax‐imum operatingsched‐ulefromseven days per week andten hours per daytoseven days per week andtwenty-four hoursper day. Commentsconcerning theproposedpermit modification maybe filedwiththe Secretary of theLouisiana Depart‐ment of Environmental Qualityatthe following address: LouisianaDepartmentof EnvironmentalQuality Office of Environmental

E. PRESENTATION OF DELEGATION F. ANNOUNCEMENTS G. ZONING Theconsent agenda con‐sistsofitems with no outstandingissuesthat do notrequire plan amendments,text amendments,variances or waivers. Consent agenda itemsmay be ap‐proved with asinglemo‐tion withouta public hearing, UNLESS re‐movedfromthe consent agenda andplacedinthe regularagendaorder Itemsplacedonthe Con‐sent Agenda by thePlan‐ning &ZoningStaff will nothavetimeallocated forspeaking, UNLESS thereisa member of the Planning &ZoningCom‐missionofthe public at themeetingwho wishes to speakonthe item.In such cases, theitemwill be removedfromthe consentagendaand placed in theregular agenda orderfor discus‐sion 1. ConsentAgenda 2. OldBusiness 3. NewBusiness H. REPORT OF THECITY PLANNER I. REPORT OF THE CHAIRWOMAN J. ADJOURNMENT Themeetingwas

18THJUDICIAL DISTRICT COURTWESTBATON ROUGEPARISHSTATE OF LOUISIANA By virtue of aWritof Seizure andSale, di‐rected by theHonorable TheEighteenth Judicial District Court, forthe Parish of West Baton Rouge, in theabove enti‐tled andnumbered cause, Ihaveseizedand proceed to sell by public auction, on thefront stepsofthe West Baton RougeCourthouse, 850 8thStreet,PortAllen LouisianaonWEDNES‐DAY, AUGUST 12, 2026 at 10:00 A.M.,the following describedproperty, to wit: Acertain tractorparcel of land,together with all thebuildings andim‐provements thereon, and allthe rights,ways, privi‐leges, appurtenances andadvantagesthere‐untobelonging or in any‐wise appertaining,situ‐ated in West Baton RougeParish, Stateof Louisiana, beingmore fully designated as Lot57 as shownonthe official subdivisionplatofWest Palm Estates filedand recorded in MapBook 5, MapNo. 138, recordsof West BatonRouge Parish,Louisiana,and having such dimensions andmeasurementsas shownonsaidplat, refer‐ence beingherewithspe‐cially made to said plat of survey forgreater cer‐taintyordescription Whichhas theaddress of:428 KeyBiscayne Drive, Port Allen, LA 70767

TermsofSale: Cash to thehighest bidder WITH benefitofappraisement andaccording to law.

Attorney forthe Plaintiff: LOGS LegalGroup,LLP 3510 N. Causeway Blvd Suite600 Metairie,LA 70002 (504) 837-7622 Judicial Advertise‐ment(s)willappear in THEADVOCATEonthe date(s)of: JULY 9, 2026 andAUGUST 6, 2026. JEFF BERGERON,SHERIFF PARISH OF WEST BATON ROUGE BY:ANGIE DELAUNE, CIVILDEPUTY $54.70

26-10678 §(JOINTLYADMINISTERED) CROSBY MARINE TRANSPORTATION, LLC, § §CHAPTER 11 §COMPLEX CASE Debtors. § §SECTION: A NOTICE OF BAR DATES FOR FILING PROOFS OF CLAIM

NOTICE: Your rights may

Crosby Marine Transportation, LLC (“Transportation”),Crosby Tugs, LLC (“Tugs”), Crosby Dredging, LLC (“Dredging”),and Bertucci Contracting Company,L.L.C. (“Bertucci”and collectively,“Debtors”),asDebtors in Possession, each filed for relief under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code thereby commencing these cases (the Chapter 11 Case(s)”) PLEASE TAKE NOTICE the Court has set July 30, 2026,asthe deadline for any person or entity that holds aclaim against the Debtors as of the Petition Date (referred to as Creditor”or“Creditors”) to file a Proof of Claim as modified by the Order establishing the Bar Date. This Bar Date applies only to

lien; (b)The natureofthe maritime lien under 46 U.S.C. §13101(5); (c) The datethe lien was established; (d)The amount of the lien claimed; AMaritime Lien can arise from amaritime tort or the provision of “necessaries” to avessel. Necessaries can include any essential goods, supplies, or services provided to avessel to keep it operating safely,efficiently,and in navigation.

ADDITIONALLY, if you areasserting amaritime lien against any of the Debtorsorthe Debtors’ vessels, you must also attach documentation supporting your lien claim (e.g. invoices, receipts, charter agreements, bills of lading, supply or repair contracts, vessel logs, time-and-material logs and/or ledger entries, any notices of claims of lien filed withNational Vessel Documentation Center). If you assert morethan one maritime lien (e.g. for services provided to multiple vessels), you will need to submit aseparateproof of claim and addendum for each claim/lien asserted.

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE the deadline forany Creditor with aclaim that arises from the rejectionofanexecutory contract or lease is on or beforethe later of (a) the General Bar Date; or (b) thirty (30) days after the effective date of such rejectionasordered by the Court.

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE Youcan file aProof of Claim using one of three methods: 1. By using the Court’sElectronicProof of Claim (“ePOC”) process on the Court’swebsite, https://ecf.laeb.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/ autoFilingClaims.pl; 2. If the person or entity is represented by an attorney,by filing electronically through the Court’sCM/ECF system aProof of Claim conforming