The Acadiana Advocate 07-11-2026

Cajuns infielder Amedee ‘hoping for the best’ ahead of MLB LB draft 1C THE

ACADIANA

ADVOCATE

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

|

S at u r d ay, J u ly 11, 2026

$2.00X 00X

Judge OKs Krotz Springs closure Ruling cites board’s authority to shutter school

BY JOEL THOMPSON Staff writer

A temporary restraining order issued last week that prevented the closure of Krotz Springs Elementary School was overturned Friday during a show cause hearing.

The St. Landry Parish School Board approved a budget plan July 1 that closed down several schools across the parish including KSES, after an $18 million deficit forced cutbacks.

In discussions before the vote taken at the July 1 meeting, parents of KSES students and concerned community members voiced intense opposition to the proposed closure of the school.

“We will continue to support our school, and that includes preparing to go down the charter school route, which we

ä See SCHOOL, page 5A

SpaceX among attendees at La. ‘summit’ Speculation over company’s plans swirls

BY MIKE SMITH Staff writer

Two SpaceX representatives attended a recent “summit” in Baton Rouge with senior officials from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Gov. Jeff Landry’s administration, another potential signal of interest in a Louisiana expansion by Elon Musk’s rocket company.

The meeting on June 26 was primarily aimed at discussing ways to speed permitting and other regulatory steps

STAFF FILE PHOTO By dAVId GRUNFELd

Intense scrutiny has been focused on the now-shuttered Louisiana Oilfield Restoration Association, a company charged with plugging orphaned wells such as these near Lettsworth. The company was found to have violated the law after giving a loan to a state official in a department overseeing their work.

Ethics Board hands out fines over improper loan

Shuttered company, subsidiary, manager violated law, opinion states

BY PATRICK SLOAN-TURNER Staff writer

Leaders of a company charged with plugging orphaned oil wells in Louisiana have been fined $5,000 each after the state Ethics Board found they violated the law by giving a $780,000 loan to a top official in the department that oversaw their work.

The fines from the Louisiana Board of Ethics add to intense scrutiny of the now-shuttered Louisiana Oilfield Restoration Association, which already is the subject of an investigation by the Attorney General’s Office and a damning report by the Louisiana legislative auditor.

In an opinion issued last week, the Ethics Board said LORA, its subsidiary Chromos and Andrew Berthelot — a manager for both companies — improperly gave the loan to former Office of Conservation attorney Johnny Adams in 2023.

As a top attorney in the state office at the time, Adams helped organize the state’s program involving LORA and personally drafted the agreement between the conservation office and the new company, the board said.

The board fined Berthelot, LORA and Chromos $5,000 each.

According to the board’s findings, Berthelot served as LORA’s chief financial officer and was a manager of Chromos.

Attempts to reach Berthelot and his attorney were not immediately successful Friday.

Despite the board’s findings, partial owner of LORA Van Mayhall III said Friday that the company did not violate any ethics rules or laws but said the company’s leaders “have decided not to spend any more time or resources contesting the Board of Ethics’ actions.”

“LORA’s owners and directors are

ä See FINE, page 5A

BY THE NUMBERS

$780,000

The loan provided to former Office of Conservation attorney Johnny Adams

$5,000

The amount manager Andrew Berthelot, Louisiana Oilfield Restoration Association and its subsidiary Chromos were fined

2.6%

The unusually low rate of interest charged to Adams and his wife, Baton Rouge Metro Council member Laurie Adams.

ä See SPACEX, page 5A

Housing bill to become law without Trump’s signature President won’t ink his name to bipartisan effort in protest

BY MICHELLE L. PRICE and JOSH BOAK Associated Press

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump will let the bipartisan housing bill approved by Congress become law without his signature, saying Friday that he was

WEATHER HIGH 92 LOW 77 PAGE 6A

refusing to put his name on it because of the little progress made in passing a strict voter ID bill that he has been pushing.

“I will not sign the Housing Bill, which has been fully approved by Congress and sent to the White House, in PROTEST over the fact that the United States Senate is not capable of passing THE SAVE AMERICA ACT,” Trump posted on social media.

Trump had 10 days until the Friday deadline to sign the bill, issue a veto, or allow

the measure to take effect without his signature. He has chosen to let the measure become law without his express approval, undercutting his administration’s claims that he considers it a priority to combat inflation.

Trump’s rejection of the bipartisan housing legislation exacerbates tensions with his own party in a midterm election year and cuts short their efforts to address a key voter concern about rising costs. His post comes more than a week after he canceled plans to sign

the bipartisan legislation, announcing he was using it as leverage in his push for a strict voter ID bill.

The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act aims to lower the cost of housing and spur more home construction. It’s the broadest federal effort in decades to address America’s housing affordability problems, as state and local regulations have made it difficult to build in many of the communities that are also sources of job growth

ASSOCIATEd PRESS PHOTO By ALEX BRANdON

President donald Trump speaks with reporters in flight on Air Force One after landing at U.S. Air Force Base at RAF ä See BILL, page 5A Mildenhall, in Suffolk, Eastern England, on Wednesday.

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

102Nd yEAR, NO. 11

2A ● Saturday, July 11, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

BRIEFS

FROM WIRE REPORTS

Islandwide blackout strikes Cuba again

HAVANA — An islandwide blackout struck Cuba on Friday for the second time this week as the nation of nearly 10 million people grapples with a crumbling power grid and fuel shortages stemming from a U.S. energy blockade.

While total blackouts have become increasingly common in the Caribbean country, it’s unusual for back-to-back ones to hit just days apart. Cuba’s Electric Union confirmed the outage on X. Officials had also confirmed the first total power outage, which happened on Monday, although it wasn’t clear what caused it.

Authorities at the time said an investigation was underway.

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

Cuba produces only 40% of the fuel it needs, while the 730,000 barrels of oil delivered by a Russian tanker in late March ran out by the end of April. The government also has been rationing power with intentional outages that can stretch to more than 24 consecutive hours.

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

Former Afghan official extradited to U.S.

NEW YORK — A former Afghan general who also served in his nation’s National Assembly was extradited to the U.S. on Friday to face drug charges, authorities said.

Abdul Zahir Qadeer, 52, of Afghanistan, appeared in Manhattan federal court and was ordered detained until trial, federal prosecutors said in a release.

Qadeer was arrested in Nairobi, Kenya, on April 15 before his extradition to face charges that he conspired to import heroin and methamphetamine, along with related firearms offenses.

Authorities said he previously served as a general in Afghanistan’s Border Force and as first deputy speaker of Afghanistan’s House of the People.

It was unclear who is representing him on the U.S. charges, which if he is convicted carry a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison and a maximum of life behind bars.

U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton described Qadeer as a large-scale international narcotics and military-grade weapons trafficker.

“In an attempt to traffic massive amounts of poison and weaponry — including heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers — Qadeer allegedly sold a two-kilogram test shipment to a buyer, which was delivered in South Africa,” Clayton said in a release.

The prosecutor said the buyer was actually working with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

Abducted students rescued in Nigeria

ABUJA, Nigeria — Students abducted in May by Islamic militants in Nigeria’s southwestern Oyo state have been rescued, the government said Friday.

Government spokesperson Bayo Onanuga did not specify the total number of students rescued, but authorities said at the time of the abductions on May 15 that more than 40 people had been abducted. One of the teachers abducted alongside the students was killed shortly afterward.

Eight militants were arrested as part of the operation, while an unspecified number of the militants were killed, Onanuga said.

The abductions in a southern state had represented an escalation of the country’s security crisis because most such abductions previously had taken place in the north.

“This successful military operation has ended the siege and standoff of over 50 days and has brought relief to the entire nation and the affected families in particular,” Nigerian President Bola Tinubu said in a statement.

lll

U.S. demands Iran say strait open Officials want Tehran to say it won’t attack ships anymore

BY MICHELLE L. PRICE, JON GAMBRELL and WILL WEISSERT Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The U.S. is demanding that Iran make a public statement saying the Strait of Hormuz is open and that ships crossing the vital corridor won’t be attacked anymore, senior U.S. officials said Friday, adding that internal Tehran power struggles have made it difficult to reach and keep a deal.

The U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe to reporters the state of play with Iran, said the resumption of strikes this week came after what they described as a rogue faction of Iranian hard-liners trying to sabotage the ceasefire between Tehran and Washington.

It comes as President Donald Trump reiterated on social media Friday that he views the interim ceasefire deal as “OVER!” But he said the U.S. would continue talks aimed at putting a permanent end to the war.

The officials said Friday that Trump is giving U.S. negotiators limited time to reach a deal with Iran, but, in a sign of the challenges ahead, they underscored that the president had a wide range of options if talks fall apart. They also said a power struggle was playing out in real time in Iran after U.S. and Israeli strikes at the start of the

The officials said they would never reach a nuclear deal with Iran if it would not first abide by terms of the ceasefire deal and stop renewed attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

That struggle underscores the long-term challenges the Trump administration faces in the wake of the war it started and expected to wrap up months ago. Trump in late February broke off talks with Iran over its nuclear program and launched the military campaign, saying he was taking the action because Tehran was attempting to rebuild its program and deASSOCIATEd PRESS PHOTO By ALTAF QAdRI velop long-range missiles.

He faces political presA man waves an Iranian flag on Sunday during funeral ceremonies for slain Iranian sure in the U.S. to bring Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and members of his family at Imam Khomeini the conflict and its ecoMosalla Grand Mosque in Tehran, Iran. nomic impact to a close and avoid the kind of prolonged war killed its longtime lead- ran’s diplomat at the United Iran’s grip on the strait Middle East conflict he had er, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Nations told reporters that during the conflict led to a campaigned against. any activity in the Strait of global energy crisis, though Control of the strait Hormuz, including its open- oil prices have sharply Unclaimed strikes The U.S. is working on ing or demining operations, dropped since wartime No one claimed responsipressing Iran to make a “rests exclusively with highs of $120 a barrel. bility Friday for airstrikes public statement that the Iran.” that hit Iran after the U.S. “Any attempt, by external Nuclear deal Strait of Hormuz, a vital said it finished its attacks, waterway for world energy actors, to interfere with or The U.S. officials said to leaving questions about markets, is open and free to establish a power arrange- reporters Friday that any who else may be targeting ships to transit, the officials ment would violate the (in- deal on Iran’s nuclear pro- the Islamic Republic. said.

On Friday, Iranian state terim deal), and undermine gram would require Tehran On a call with reporters, its implementation, delay to turn over its stockpile of media quoted Esmail Kouthe officials suggested that the restoration of normal highly enriched uranium. sari, a member of the Iraleaders in Iran even told commercial navigation, If the U.S. does not reach a nian parliament’s national their U.S. counterparts that jeopardize maritime safety, deal with Iran to turn over security committee and a the ship strikes were a mis- and increase regional ten- its nuclear material, it has former commander in the take and the country hoped sions,” Ambassador Amir military options to ensure paramilitary Revolutionto continue negotiations de- Saeid Iravani said outside that it remains buried un- ary Guard, as warning the the U.N. Security Council. spite that. derground forever, the of- UAE would “pay the price Iran has said the strait ficials said. They did not for its cooperation with the Trump didn’t care that the United States.” He accused firing on ships came from a must now be under its sole detail those options. hard-line faction and re- control and that vessels The highly enriched ma- the Emirates of having a sponded with more power- should begin to pay fees to terial that could potentially “behind-the-scenes” role in ful counterattacks, show- Tehran — even though the be used to make a nuclear the recent U.S. attacks.

U.S. Central Command ing Iran that there would world for decades has con- weapon is believed to be be consequences no matter sidered it an international buried after strikes the U.S. spokesperson Capt. Tim who was behind it, the offi- waterway. About a fifth of launched on Iran last sum- Hawkins said there were all traded oil and natural mer. Iran says its nuclear “no operational updates” afcials said.

But moments before the gas passed through the program is intended for ter Trump’s pronouncement U.S. officials spoke, Teh- strait before the war began. peaceful purposes. about the ceasefire.

Trump ousts election commission members

BY BILL BARROW Associated Press

President Donald Trump has ousted members of a bipartisan federal election commission that resisted his efforts to require would-be voters to document their U.S. citizenship before registering.

The White House on Friday confirmed the executive action against members of the Election Assistance Commission, which distributes Trump federal grants to states, oversees the testing of voting systems and maintains the national voter registration form.

Though the move likely won’t have major effects on the November midterms, it’s the latest instance of the Republican president trying to exert White House influence over how U.S. elections are

conducted, and it’s the first test of his newly expanded presidential power after the Supreme Court ruled recently that the president can fire members of independent agency boards without cause.

“The President, and head of the Executive Branch, reserves the right to remove individuals that may not be totally aligned with the important task of securing America’s elections and ensuring every legal vote is counted. The Slaughter decision gives the President precedence to do so,” said a White House statement to AP. The president removed the four-seat commission’s two Democratic members, Thomas Hicks and Benjamin Hovland. The panel’s Republican member, Christy McCormick resigned. Former Republi-

can commissioner Donald Palmer already had left his post voluntarily earlier this year. The changes were first reported by VoteBeat, a news outlet that covers elections and voting across the U.S. Trump has repeatedly tried to reshape voting regulations, even though the U.S. Constitution grants control of elections to the states and not the president. Citing that separation of powers, courtshaveblocked most of Trump’s two executive orders that sought to reshape voting.

Trump has also launched an investigation of his 2020 loss, which he continues to falsely insist was due to fraud, and this week his administration threatened states if they did not try to purge what federal officials believe are noncitizens from their voter rolls.

Still, Trump has largely been powerless to change election processes through

Graham Platner withdraws from Maine U.S. Senate race

BY MEG KINNARD and PATRICK WHITTLE

Associated Press

PORTLAND, Maine — Graham Platner on Friday submitted his paperwork to formally withdraw from Maine’s U.S. Senate race, officially ending an upstart yet troubled campaign whose dissolution threatens Democrats’ pursuit of chamber control.

Platner’s paperwork was received by the Maine secretary of state’s office and reflected shortly thereafter in its online withdrawal list.

In a letter to the secretary of state’s office, which Platner also posted on social media, he wrote

that the Mainers who had nominated him “voted for a new kind of politics” that is “representative of people down here in the real world — not billionaires, oligarchs, or the political establishment.” It was the same outsider chord that had been a trademark of his tumultuous campaign, in which Platner drew backing from progressive leaders including Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna of California.

“I seek to further the movement we have built together and the future we believe in,” he went on, without detailing what that meant.

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.

The formal withdrawal comes two days after Platner said he would quit the race, facing an allegation of sexual assault that he has denied. Maine Democrats are seeking a new nominee, and several hopefuls have already begun jockeying for position.

State law includes a provision for Democrats to replace Platner before the general election but the replacement must by named by July 27.

executive fiat and David Becker, a former Department of Justice attorney who runs the Center for Election Innovation & Research, said his purge of the EAC wouldn’t alter that.

“This doesn’t really change anything about how our elections will be run, and how states are successfully en-

suring secure, convenient, safe elections,” Becker wrote on the social media site BlueSky Friday morning.

On Capitol Hill, the leading Democrats with election oversight responsibility said Trump, rather than bolstering U.S. election integrity, is further politicizing the voting process.

GET IN TOUCH Customer Service: HELP@THEADVOCATE.COM or 337-234-0800 News Tips / Stories: NEWSTIPS@THEADVOCATE.COM Obituaries: 225-388-0289 • Mon-Fri 9-5; Sat 10-5; Closed Sun Advertising Sales: 337-234-0174 • Mon-Fri 8-5 Classified Advertising: 225-383-0111 • Mon-Fri 8-5 Subscribe: theadvocate.com/subscribe E-Edition: theadvocate.com/eedition Archives: theadvocate.newsbank.com The Acadiana Advocate (USPS # 25-866) is published daily by Capital City Press, LLC at 203 W. Third St., Lafayette, LA 70501. Periodicals postage paid at Lafayette, LA ISSN 2643-7252 and additional mailing offices.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Acadiana Advocate, Circulation Accounting, P.O. Box 588, Baton Rouge, LA 70821. Newspaper carriers are independent contractors and not employees of Capital City Press.

All home delivery subscription sales are non-refundable. Should you discontinue your subscription during term, the subscription will end with the expiration date on your subscription, and there will not be a refund of a prorated amount. Subscribers who purchased their subscription before Feb. 1, 2023 and wish to cancel can request a refund of a remaining balance at https://www.nola.com/app/forms/refund-request-form/. Refunds are considered on a case-by-case basis at the discretion of Capital City Press, LLC or its designee. All subscriptions purchased that include a special edition will have the special edition value deducted prior to any refund provided to subscriber upon cancellation of service. Standard subscription rates may be effective upon renewal. All standard subscriptions include digital access and e-Edition, a digital replica of the printed Advocate edition(s). The apps are free for tablets and smartphones. Smartphone apps may not be supported on all devices. The Advocate standard subscription rate is $80.89 per 4-week period, plus tax. The Acadiana Advocate standard subscription rate is $68.48 per 4-week period, plus tax. Standard digital subscriptions include e-Edition with the rate of $31.15 per 4-week period, plus tax starting 1/1/25. Special editions included in home delivery subscriptions are 1/30/26, 3/11/26, 4/15/26, 5/27/26, 7/8/26, 8/19/26, 9/30/26 11/26/26, 1/22/27, 3/10/27, 4/14/27, 5/26/27, 7/14/27, 8/18/27, 9/29/27 and 11/25/27 and are billed at $6.23 each. The Thanksgiving Day edition will be billed at your regular Thursday rate plus $6.23. To opt out of special edition delivery, email help@theadvocate.com or call 225-388-0395. By opting out of special editions you will not receive that day’s newspaper. Thanksgiving Day is not a special edition and opting out for that edition isn’t permitted. Prices shown are in U.S. dollars. Prices subject to change. Other restrictions may apply. We no longer provide credit for temporary delivery stops of 14 days or less. During a temporary delivery stop donations are made to our News in Education program. This program provides newspapers and digital access to schools across Louisiana. This program is paid for by sponsors and temporary stops so that students may use the newspaper for educational purposes in the classroom. During a temporary delivery stop of the print edition subscribers have unlimited digital access to theadvocate.com, nola.com and the apps for tablet and smartphone. Seasonal delivery times from August 2025 through February 2026 will extend to 8:00 a.m. on weekends. Subscribers may also choose to access our digital replica e-Edition of the printed Advocate, Times Picayune | New Orleans Advocate and Acadiana Advocate only. As a highly valued customer, we also value your privacy. All personal information collected by The Advocate will be used for administration and customer verification; it may be used for promotional purposes in accordance with The Advocate’s privacy policy. Please refer to our policy located at https://www.theadvocate.com/new_policy/ for information regarding the collection, use and disclosure of personal information.

By providing your phone number and email address you agree that we can call or email you to confirm delivery service, satisfaction and/or sales promotions as they may occur from The Advocate.

The Acadiana Advocate: 203 W. Third Street, Lafayette, LA 70501

The Acadiana Advocate ● theadvocate.com ● Saturday, July 11, 2026 ● 3A

lll

Detainees say ICE officer shot driver through window

BY LEKAN OYEKANMI, JACK BROOK and RYAN J. FOLEY Associated Press/ Report for America

HOUSTON — Three men inside a van who witnessed the fatal shooting of the driver by an immigration officer in Houston said the Mexican man was shot through a passenger window and that the officer was never threatened, a lawyer who has spoken with them said Friday.

The shooting Tuesday during an attempted traffic stop by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in Houston has revived critical voices deriding the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and how ICE operates. Immigration arrests around the country recently surged to 10,000 over a five-day period, fueled in part by massive Congressional funding.

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, has released no evidence to support the officer’s story that Lorenzo Salgado Araujo ignored their commands and rammed into an ICE vehicle with his white van, or that the officer fired in self-defense.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia has said the acting director of ICE told her officers thought someone

in the van, but not Salgado Araujo, had a final order of removal but did not share a name.

The officers were not wearing body cameras and neither ICE nor DHS have released photos, videos or other evidence from the scene.

Salgado Araujo was a 52-year-old homebuilder who was shot and killed as he was driving his crew to a construction site. His family said he had lived in the U.S. for more than 35 years, had no criminal record and was close to finishing the long process of obtaining legal status when he was killed.

ICE detained the other three men in the van and they all told a lawyer that no officer was in front of the van or even in danger.

“After speaking with these men, I have no doubt that what they’re saying is the truth. I know that these agents — the agency — is going to try to cover it up,” attorney Hugo BalderasIbarra said during a news conference.

Images of the van after the shooting appear to show no damage, he said.

ICE has not released the names of the detained men, but family members said they have been able to briefly talk with them. Salgado Araujo’s brother was among

ASSOCAITEd PRESS PHOTO By ANNIE MULLIGAN

democratic U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia speaks Friday during a news briefing regarding her conversation with Acting ICE director david Venturella outside her office in Houston. those arrested.

Garcia said at the same news conference it was unsurprising that Salgado Araujo drove off when ICE tried to stop his vehicle, given that their vehicles were unmarked and had no lights.

“What would you do if you were being followed by someone and the cars were unmarked?” Garcia said.

Salgado Araujo was at least the eighth person to die during the Trump ad-

ministration’s immigration enforcement campaign. No immigration officers have been charged in the killings and video footage in several previous shootings has contradicted the accounts of federal officers.

ICE is pressuring the men to self-deport, which would make it harder for them to share their version of events with investigators or others, said Juana Degollado, who said her stepfather Daniel

Tirado Pantoja is among the detained men. She said he has no legal permission to live in the U.S. but has no criminal record.

“It is extremely important that we preserve the integrity of this investigation,” Balderas-Ibarra said. “That will all be out the window if they are deported.”

DHS said allegations that the men have been pressured to leave the country are “categorically false.”

DHS said Thursday that officers investigating a tip weeks earlier saw two white vans at the address of a target. While heading to that address Tuesday, officers saw a white van and someone inside who resembled the person they were looking for, the department said in a statement.

“No one in that van had warrants or any legal problem,” Degollado told The Associated Press in a text message.

DHS said it will not release the officer’s name because they could face threats and violence and their family could be at risk.

DHS also has not responded to requests for other information, including how long the officer has worked for ICE or whether anyone involved in the shooting is on administrative leave.

Unlike some previous deaths involving federal immigration officers, few photos or videos surrounding the shooting have emerged publicly in the days since Salgado Araujo’s death.

The League of United Latin American Citizens offered a $5,000 reward for video or other evidence, but the positions of the vehicles means surveillance cameras in the area were blocked from recording the shooting, CEO Juan Proaño said.

Crews are draining the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool again

BY WILL WEISSERT

“Drain the water, clean up the fireworks stuff,” Burgum told Miller, who is the wife of deputy White House chief of staff Stephen Miller. “Repair the vandalism that was done.

Fill it back up again.”

The work on the reflecting pool is just one of a number of projects Trump has spearheaded across the nation’s capital. Most prominently, he demolished the White House’s East Wing to build a $400 million ballroom and

Associated Press

on his social media site of the pool: “The goal is to have it done, at this higher level, prior to July 4th — We are ahead of schedule!”

But problems began quickly after the initial work was finished. Trump blamed vandals, and court documents later showed that the National Park Service reported to the U.S. Park Police a June 9 incident in which a sharp knife or razor cut the pool’s new liner.

ASSOCIATEd PRESS PHOTO By MARK SCHIEFELBEIN

National Park Service workers stand Friday near a pump placed next to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington.

Burgum, whose agency oversees the National Park Service, told conservative podcaster Katie Miller in an interview released earlier this week that the new round

r y ou da tY o ar T St ove M

WASHINGTON — Crews are again draining the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool as President Donald Trump’s problem-plagued effort to revamp the waterway pushes well past his initial goal of having it ready by July 4 to mark the nation’s 250th birthday.

The president at first suggested his renovations would last a century. But, within weeks of the project originally reaching completion last month, the water was beset by an algae bloom and pieces of the new coating appeared to be peeling off the bottom.

Trump has blamed the peeling on vandals, though critics allege it’s from shoddy repair work.

Interior Secretary Doug

plans to build a towering arch between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery.

He initially announced his intentions to beautify the reflecting pool this spring, saying he wanted it completed before the nation’s 250th birthday celebrations.

Water was drained and Trump directed that the bottom be painted what he called “American flag blue.”

In May, the president posted

of draining was planned. He also said that the water might still contain debris from an extensive Independence Day fireworks display over the National Mall.

Family of Mississippi teen who died after trip seek transparency

BY MICHAEL R. SISAK Associated Press

NEW YORK — Attorneys for the family of a Mississippi 18-year-old who was found dead after a July 4 boat trip with friends to an island off the Gulf Coast called for a deeper investigation and greater transparency at a news conference Friday with the Rev. Al Sharpton, saying many of the details they’re discovering are “not adding up.”

Noted civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who was retained by the family of Nolan Xavier Wells earlier this week, has said the family has concerns about the investigation and planned to conduct an independent autopsy. Wells traveled by boat to Horn Island, Mississippi, on July 4 with a group of friends, but did not make the return trip with them that afternoon. His body was found early Monday morning, more than a day later.

While Jackson County Sheriff’s Office officials said investigators don’t suspect foul play in the Black college student’s death, the sheriff has asked for any witnesses or people with video from the popular beach island about 10 miles off the coast of Mississippi to come forward to help shed light on the moments before Wells’ disappearance and death.

Family members have raised concerns, saying they’ve seen video of a fight allegedly involving their son, and saying as an elite athlete he was able to swim. Wells,

ASSOCIATEd PRESS PHOTO By yUKI IWAMURA

Christine Wonsley, mother of Nolan Xavier Wells, reacts Friday as she speaks during a news conference at National Action Network headquarters in New york. who would have turned 19 next month, attended Southwest Mississippi Community College, where he played wide receiver on the football team.

At the news conference Friday attorneys said the friends who left Wells on the island, took his phone and keys when they departed.

Crump said Wells’ family used an app to track his phone, and a friend went to where it was on land to pick it up.

“What teenager would leave their phone behind if they’re going to stay on this island? What teenager wouldn’t take their phone?

It’s not adding up at all,” Crump said.

He added that the family believes text messages from social media apps had been deleted from his phone when they got it back, and they plan to employ experts to try to receive all the data

they can.

A photo posted to social media, allegedly from the boat ride to the island, shows Wells with his arms around three White, male friends. Speculation and suspicion about the teen’s death have been rampant online, as people grapple with the state’s history of racial tension and what it means to be a Black person in a majority White space.

Wells’ mother, Christine Wonsley, looked to the sky several times as lawyers spoke Friday, to hold back tears. When she spoke, she said this was not how she wanted the world to know her son.

Wonsley said they had taught him about history, but he was a peacemaker who didn’t like division, and wanted everyone to be included.

“We just wanna know what happened,” she said, through tears. “And why our baby didn’t come home.”

Visit us today and take the first step toward finding your perfect address.

addresslafayettela.com DRE#01901536 This website is a marketing and information program that sends all inquiries to state-licensed real estate professionals.

4A ● Saturday, July 11, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

lll

U.S. license could let Ukraine produce Patriot missiles But it won’t be simple or quick

BY ILLIA NOVIKOV Associated Press

KYIV, Ukraine — President Donald Trump’s pledge to give Ukraine a license to produce Patriot air-defense systems could mark a major breakthrough for Kyiv, but experts and Ukrainian officials warn that turning the idea into real weapons would likely take years.

Speaking Wednesday alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, Trump said the United States would allow Ukraine to make the U.S.-designed systems that Kyiv has long sought to shield its cities and infrastructure from Russian missiles and drones.

“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.”

But the statement left open a crucial question: What exactly would Ukraine be allowed to produce?

“America has recognized Ukraine as a country that is

ASSOCIATEd PRESS FILE PHOTO By EFREM LUKATSKy

Ukrainian Air Force’s F-16 fighter jets fly over a Patriot Air and Missile defense System in 2024 in Ukraine. ready to do this,” Zelenskyy told reporters Thursday, adding that Ukrainian and U.S. diplomats and defense officials must now work “without pauses” to finalize the licensing arrangements.

Patriot interceptor missiles, which are fired to shoot down incoming missiles, drones and aircraft, are produced by U.S. defense con-

UNITED KINGDOM

Charles III hosted Prince Harry, family

BY DANICA KIRKA and BRIAN MELLEY Associated Press

LONDON — King Charles III hosted Prince Harry and met with his family for the first time in years Friday as they try to repair a rift that has persisted since his youngest son and wife quit royal life and moved to America six years ago.

Harry, Meghan and their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, met with the king and Queen Camilla at Highgrove House, a country estate west of London, Buckingham Palace confirmed.

The Duke of Sussex had arrived Monday in his homeland for a number of charity events that were

overshadowed by speculation of whether he would meet with his father.

British tabloids and news broadcasts were filled with speculation about whether Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, would accompany him and, more importantly, whether they would bring their two children so they can finally get to know Grandpa Charles.

However, the monarch’s schedule is often years in the making, with events penciled in long before they take place. An opportunity to hold such a meeting would have been fleeting, particularly because the children would need to return to school in the fall and because they live in California.

tractors Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, part of RTX. A production license would not automatically allow Ukraine to manufacture complete Patriot batteries — including launchers, radar systems, command posts and missiles — from scratch. It could instead cover narrower parts of the system, such as interceptor missiles, final

Associated Press

LONDON — British police on Friday arrested a 26-yearold man on suspicion of murder in the killing of Ann Widdecombe, a former British member of Parliament and reality TV contestant.

Widdecombe, 78, was found dead on Thursday in her Haytor Vale home on the edge of Dartmoor National Park in southwest England after sustaining what police said were “serious injuries.”

The killing was not believed to be an act of terror and there was no information to suggest it was politically motivated, Devon and Cornwall Police Assistant Chief Constable Matt Longman said.

Longman did not discuss a possible motive but said the suspect was in custody as the investigation continues.

“This is really shocking news, and my thoughts, I think all of our thoughts, will be with the family and friends of Ann Widdecombe

BY JOEY CAPPELLETTI Associated Press

SAWYER, Mich. — A completed bridge linking Detroit and Canada is expected to open by the end of the month after U.S. and Canadian officials reached an agreement to resolve the dispute that delayed its debut, according to two people directly involved in the negotiations.

The sources were not authorized to publicly disclose the deal before a formal announcement.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony scheduled for early June was postponed after the WindsorDetroit Bridge Authority said the two countries needed more time to resolve “outstanding issues.” The delay followed President Donald Trump’s earlier threats to block the bridge’s opening.

Commercial traffic is now expected to begin before Aug. 1, according to two officials, though a date for the

at this awful time,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer said.

“Ann was a distinguished politician over many, many years with many achievements, and it’s a huge, huge loss.”

Widdecombe found fame after leaving Parliament as a contestant on the “Strictly Come Dancing” and “Celebrity Big Brother” reality television shows. She later joined the Brexit Party and became a spokeswoman for the anti-immigration Reform UK party.

Protection your loved ones deserve ...

GUARANTEED Life Insurance up to $30,000.00

Modified Whole Life Insurance from Physicians Life Insurance Company

Imagine what $30,000.00 could mean to your family after you’re gone — cash to help pay your funeral, medical bills or other final expenses.

• Guaranteed acceptance for ages 45 to 85* • No medical exam, no health questions • Lock in your rate for life

Find out how affordable this coverage can be — Call for your FREE Information Kit

1-877-654-4599 Life55plus.info/Acadiana

 Plus — you’ll also get a FREE

Final Wishes Planner just for calling!

*Ages may vary by state. Guaranteed for one of these life insurance policies. Benefi Benefits ts reduced fifirst rst two years. Insurance Policy L770 (ID: L770ID; OK: L770OK; TN: L770TN).

6236-0625

that has shown how quickly weapons production can expand when a country receives designs, technical support and access to components. Ukraine has become a leader in the manufacture of cheap, expendable drone systems. Russia has scaled up domestic production of Iranian-designed Shahedtype attack drones, known in Russia as Gerans, at a factory in Tatarstan.

But experts say Patriot interceptors are far more complex, requiring precision guidance, advanced radar technology, solid-fuel rocket motors, military-grade electronics and strict certification standards.

Yehor Chernev, deputy chairman of Ukraine’s parliamentary committee on national security, defense and intelligence, said the legal and bureaucratic process could be launched within months, but implementing production would take years.

Even if Ukraine received complete component kits from abroad, Chernev said, it would likely need at least 18 to 24 months to launch its first pilot production line, followed by more time to complete the first weapons.

Sources: Detroit-Canada bridge to open by late July

Police in the U.K. arrest suspect in killing of former Parliament member

BY BRIAN MELLEY

assembly from imported component kits or production of selected components.

Serhii Beskrestnov, an adviser to Ukraine’s defense minister, said a U.S. license would typically come with technical documentation, training for specialists, supplier contacts and foreign consultants to help launch manufacturing.

Other experts say the first step would likely be more limited than full domestic production.

Anatolii Khrapchynskyi, development director of the Fly Group Ukraine defense company, said Trump’s wording was ambiguous because he referred broadly to producing “Patriots,” without specifying whether he meant missiles, launchers, radar systems, command centers or components.

Missile production alone involves a vast supply chain, Khrapchynskyi said, with hundreds of companies making parts such as control surfaces, engines, guidance systems and communications equipment.

The Trump administration has not offered details about the Ukraine license, but an administration official said the U.S. is significantly accelerating and expanding Patriot production to meet growing demand and is forming industrial partnerships with allies and partners globally to deliver Patriots. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Any additional Patriot systems would enter a war

“I had a conversation with the secretary yesterday, Secretary of Commerce Lutnick, and the deal will be announced in the next few days,” Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers said Friday on WJR radio. “This is getting wrapped up. That bridge is going to get open.”

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, congratulated those who have worked to open the bridge.

ASSOCIATEd PRESS FILE PHOTO By PAUL SANCyA “This bridge is a testament The Gordie Howe Bridge is shown under construction on May to the enduring partnership 22 between Windsor, Ontario and detroit. between Michigan and Canada and what we can get done official ribbon-cutting cer- candidate Mike Rogers ref- when we think big and bet on erenced the deal during an our shared future together,” emony has not yet been set. she said in a statement.

Republican U.S. Senate interview Friday.

OVER 50?

UNLIMITED FOR JUST $35/MONTH.

Backed by #1 Network Coverage and Customer Satisfaction.*

100% U.S. BASED CUSTOMER SERVICE. Ranked #1 in customer satisfaction

by ACSI®.*

FAST, RELIABLE NATIONWIDE COVERAGE. Ranked #1 in network coverage by ACSI®.*

Switch & Save Today.

844-238-7868

© 2026 Consumer Cellular, Inc. Terms and Conditions subject to change. Plans shown include $5 credit for AutoPay and E-billing. Taxes and other fees apply. Credit approval required for new service. Cellular service is not available in all areas and is subject to system limitations. For unlimited plans, high-speed data is reduced after 35GB on single-line plans and 50GB of combined usage on multi-line plans for the remainder of your billing cycle. Unlimited data plans only for customers age 50+.

Age validation required. *2025 ACSI® Survey of customers rating their own wireless service provider. ACSI® and its logo are registered trademarks of the American Customer Satisfaction Index LLC. For more about the ACSI®, visit www.theacsi.org.

The Acadiana Advocate ● theadvocate.com ● Saturday, July 11, 2026 ● 5A

lll

SCHOOL

Continued from page 1A have discussed,” said Krotz Springs Mayor Carroll Snyder during the July 1 meeting. “If the board isn’t willing to fund it, I would request they release it to us so that we can move forward on our own.”

In anticipation of the July 1 meeting, Krotz Springs received a preliminary injunction issued by Judge Charles Cravins that set up an official hearing on the matter.

Cravins, who presided over the hearing, quickly reaffirmed the board’s authority to close down the campus, citing the case from earlier this year involving Lafayette Parish school system’s efforts to close Ovey Comeaux High School, saying “the School Board has full determination over the number

Parish schools Superintendent Milton Batiste III first unveiled the board’s plan to shutter multiple schools including KSES. As with all public meetings, notice is required to be given to the public in accordance with Louisiana’s Revised Statutes. According to board attorney Wyatt Joiner, the School Board provided evidence to the plaintiffs regarding the board’s issuance of proper notice.

“The board sent notice to the media and to the official journal.

So many people attended we had STAFF FILE PHOTO By BRAd BOWIE to seat some people in a separate meeting room,” Joiner said.

Signs indicating the post office and elementary school can be seen in Krotz Springs provided several Krotz Springs in July 2023 in St. Landry Parish. A judge overturned a affidavits from Krotz Springs comtemporary restraining order issued last week that prevented the closure munity members claiming that the board’s choice to refer to the June of Krotz Springs Elementary School.

13 meeting as a retreat caused and the location of schools within Krotz Springs was whether prop- them to believe that the meeting its boundaries.” er notice was given for the June was not open to the public. The The primary issue raised by 13 board retreat, where St. Landry board argues that this understand-

SPACEX

FINE

Continued from page 1A for projects, which often require Corps involvement and approval. The meeting included a broad range of attendees from government agencies, ports, contractors, industry associations and relevant nonprofits.

Two SpaceX representatives involved in governmental and regulatory matters participated, including one, Owen McDonough, who specialized in water and wetlands issues for the Environmental Protection Agency during President Donald Trump’s first term.

Michael Hare, executive director of the state’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, said he invited McDonough because he knew him from previous work and believed he could provide valuable insight into regulations surrounding water and wetlands issues. The other SpaceX representative, Brandon Conroy, was involved in required environmental mitigation efforts related to the company’s “Starbase” industrial and launch facility near Brownsville, Texas.

Hare said there was no discussion of potential SpaceX projects in Louisiana at the event and that McDonough and Conroy came for the same reason as did other attendees: to provide insight and suggestions on how to overcome bottlenecks in the federal regulatory process. Hare has previously worked in Washington and has specialized on mitigation issues.

“I just consider him a national expert on wetland policy,” Hare said of McDonough, who was involved in developing a wetlands policy in the first Trump administration known as the Waters of the U.S., or WOTUS. “He just happens to work at SpaceX, and so that was the easy button I hit on inviting him there.”

Hare said the summit would help Louisiana projects, but that the issues discussed are relevant on a national level and that he organized the meeting with that in mind.

BILL

Continued from page 1A and economic opportunity.

White House economists estimated earlier this year a national shortage of 10 million homes and the bill could help to close a portion of that gap.

But Trump called the bill “a yawn” and “so unimportant” compared to legislation that would require proof of citizenship for all voters.

He surprised Republican lawmakers on June 24, when, shortly before a planned signing ceremony at the Capitol, he announced he would not approve the bill until lawmakers first passed the voting legislation.

That bill, the SAVE America Act, doesn’t have enough Republican support to pass.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Benton, said

ASSOCIATEd PRESS FILE PHOTO By JOHN RAOUX

Elon Musk, founder, CEO and chief engineer/designer of SpaceX, and owner of Twitter, speaks during a news conference after a Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket test flight at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., in 2020.

Representatives from SpaceX attended a ‘summit’ recently in Baton Rouge aimed at discussing permitting and other regulatory steps for projects.

“This is really meant to help inform national policy,” he said.

Clearing the way SpaceX’s attendance, however, comes as the state appears to be clearing a path for aerospace development in Louisiana. State legislators this past session approved incentives designed to attract such companies and another measure granting them broad immunity from lawsuits. Lawmakers also granted them exemptions from public records laws related to critical infrastructure.

The state’s recent deal with Exxon to settle longstanding coastal damages lawsuits also heightened speculation over whether SpaceX is interested in large tracts of coastal land in Vermilion Parish. Exxon owns the land, which it had initially intended to use for carbon capture, and removing legal liability connected with it could ease a sale.

McDonough and Conroy did not respond to requests for comment, nor did SpaceX’s media affairs office. The Governor’s Office also did not respond to requests for comment.

Louisiana Economic Development, the state’s business promotion arm, declined to comment on any potential discussions with SpaceX. “LED doesn’t comment on prospective projects,” said agency spokesperson Emma Wagner.

after submitting the housing bill to the White House that he told Trump he should get the “fattest black marker you have, and sign your name really big on that.”

“I hope he does sign it,” Johnson told reporters at the time. “If he doesn’t, it’s still law. We’ll still celebrate it.”

He said he also understood Trump was trying to make a point that the elections bill is the top priority. “And I think he’s making it very effectively,” Johnson said.

Still, Trump’s decision not to sign the bill gave Democrats an opening to criticize him on the issue of affordability.

“His priorities couldn’t be clearer: higher cost for families and more power for himself,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said on X. The housing bill passed the Senate on an 85-5 vote and the House approved it with an 358-32 vote.

Reducing red tape Any potential SpaceX development, particularly along the coast, would likely require permits from the Corps. Rene Poche, a spokesperson for the Corps’ New Orleans district, said the agency has not received any permit applications from SpaceX and has not held discussions with the company on the topic.

The June event, dubbed the “Summit at Sea Level,” was billed as a first-of-itskind between the Corps and local leaders. Corps leadership at both the national and local levels attended, including Army Assistant Secretary for Civil Works Adam Telle.

The meeting concluded with a Q-and-A session between Telle and Landry. The Corps and CPRA issued a joint statement on Thursday detailing areas targeted for improvements and describing a plan to address them.

“Attendees from across the public and private sectors together identified 19 priority actions designed to tear down administrative red tape, align complex permitting requirements and significantly shorten project delivery timelines,” it said.

Email Mike Smith at msmith@theadvocate.com or follow him on Twitter, @ MikeJSmith504. His work is supported with a grant from the Walton Family Foundation, administered by the Baton Rouge Area Foundation.

That legislation seeks to cut federal housing rules, slim-down environmental reviews, make it faster to build homes and limit the ability of corporations to buy single-family homes.

The bill does not address all of the causes of the country’s housing woes, including a shortage of construction workers, climbing insurance costs and wages that have not risen fast enough for renters and buyers.

But the bill has drawn support from the real estate industry and housing advocates.

The U.S. housing market has been a driver of recent affordability challenges as skyrocketing prices have kept aspiring buyers out of the market. The National Association of Realtors said Thursday that the median sales price increased 1.8% in June from a year earlier to $440,600, an alltime high on data going back to 1999.

ing of term “retreat” was not in line with how the organization has used it in the past.

Judge Cravins ultimately dismissed the injunction due to a lack of evidence provided suggesting that proper notice of the meeting was not given, while also sympathizing with the parent of KSES students distressed about the school’s closure.

“It’s a difficult situation, and unfortunately there’s no good solution. It’s not a personal attack against anybody or any community,” Cravins said. “You can’t possibly think that these School Board members think it’s in their best interest to close schools without good reason.”

The ruling will also require Krotz Springs to pay an unspecified amount of procedural costs for the hearing, but not for the board’s attorney fees.

cil member Laurie Adams — used the funds to buy Continued from page 1A a home and quickly paid off the loan in about six months, according to reproud of the important cords.

“The loan was not a bona work that we did to clean up orphan wells in Louisi- fide loan made by a duly liana as a private company censed lending institution with private funds,” May- at the normal rate of interest,” ethics officials said in hall said.

LORA was formed in 2019 their opinion last week.

Because of the unusually to work with the Louisiana Office of Conservation low 2.6% rate and LORA on plugging orphaned oil not being a proper lender, and gas wells, using fees the loan was a “thing of ecocollected from industry nomic value.” operators that purchased The transaction violated financial security through multiple ethics laws, the the nonprofit. board said.

To manage that money, LORA hired Chromos, a Company under scrutiny company run by many of Last month, the legisthe same people, including lative auditor released a Berthelot, according to a scathing report on LORA, recent report from the leg- which detailed a scheme that officials say went on islative auditor.

In 2022, after the partner- for several years and inship was active, investiga- cluded numerous improtors say LORA transferred prieties. $780,000 to Chromos, As part of that report, which then made an iden- investigators cited email tical loan to Adams while chains sent between Mayhe oversaw legal matters hall, Berthelot and others for the Office of Conserva- while LORA was being tion. The board concluded formed. Adams, a Louisiana the money originated with conservation official at the LORA, despite passing time, was included in the emails. through Chromos. “(LORA) will basically Adams and his wife — Baton Rouge Metro Coun- just be a shell … ” Mayhall

Safety. Style.

Stress-Free Installation.

CALL NOW 1.833.472.5859

wrote in September 2019.

In the same email, Mayhall said “when the DNR wants to look at our books, we can show them the books of (LORA),”and the state would not have access to Chromos’ financial records.

On the day the report was released, Attorney General Liz Murrill — whose office previously opened a civil case against LORA — said in a statement that “we will be further reviewing the case for criminal charges that may be appropriate as well.”

Adams’ attorney Steve Moore said the report did not paint the whole picture, calling it “misleading” and “inaccurate.”

Moore said Adams did not influence the selection of LORA to run the state’s program as the auditor “cherry-picked” information to include in its findings.

Mayhall had ownership in both LORA and Chromos. Like Adams’ attorney, Mayhall said the auditor’s report left out key facts, despite LORA’s cooperation with investigators.

Email Patrick SloanTurner at patrick.sloanturner@theadvocate.com.

SPECIAL OFFER

Waiving All Installation Costs!

Add’l terms apply. Offer subject to change and vary by dealer. Expires 12/27/26.

6A ● Saturday, July 11, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

lll

TODAY

SUNDAY

MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

A t-storm around in the p.m.

A shower and t-storm; humid

Showers and a heavier t-storm

Showers and a heavier t-storm

A shower and thunderstorm

Sunshine and a few clouds

HIGH

LOW

HIGH

92° 77°

LOW

HIGH

90° 76°

LOW

84° 75°

Beaumont 92/77 Port Arthur 90/78

Baton Rouge 92/76

Lake Charles 92/77

New Orleans 92/78 Houma 89/77

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

0s

Hattiesburg 94/75

Alexandria 92/75

Lafayette 92/77

10s

20s

30s

40s

50s

LOW

HIGH

LOW

91° 76°

YESTERDAY

TODAY

REAdING 34 MAIN POLLUTANT Particulates

MAIN POLLUTANT Particulates

Lafayette through 5 p.m. Friday

Jackson 95/75 Many 91/73

HIGH

91° 76°

TEMPERATURE

Longview 95/76

-0s

LOW

Monroe 95/76

Shreveport 95/77

-10s

HIGH

86° 73°

Once again, some of the same isolated showers and thunderstorms that we experienced yesterday will return today. So expect a mostly sunny to partly cloudy, hot and humid day with scattered showers and thunderstorms. Some of the thunderstorms could be very strong and result in excessive rainfall that could lead to flash flooding. Temperatures this afternoon will be about where they should be, rising into the low to mid-90s. The humidity will remain high, so temperatures will feel like the triple digits.

60s

70s

80s

90s 100s 110s

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

Sunrise today Sunset tonight Moonrise today Moonset today NEW

JUL 14

City

Austin Boston dallas Fairbanks Honolulu Las Vegas Louisville Miami Nashville

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

90°/76° 91°/75° 87°/74° 99° in 1981 62° in 1947

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

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

HIGH

5:36p 11:02a 4:24a 7:35a 7:17a 6:35a 8:25a

6:15 a.m.

8:12 p.m.

2:55 a.m.

5:50 p.m.

FIRST

JUL 21

Hi

93 78 99 80 87 110 84 94 90

TODAY Lo

75 65 80 53 77 87 71 81 72

FULL

LAST

JUL 29

W

t pc pc pc sh s t t t

AUG 5

Hi

94 78 95 71 87 109 82 95 84

GOOd

PRECIPITATION

SUN. Lo

76 65 75 52 74 88 70 79 72

W

t s t c sh pc sh c t

FT.

LOW

0.00” 2.88” 2.22” 37.29” 33.37”

FT.

HIGH

0.8 4:55a -0.2 1.8 11:31p -0.5 2.1 6:24p -1.0 2.0 10:36p -0.2 1.5 6:49p -0.4 1.8 5:13p -0.7 1.9 7:51p -0.6

---------------

FT.

---------------

SOURCE: LOUISIANA dEQ ANd AIRNOW.GOV

LOW

---------------

FT.

---------------

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

MAJOR MINOR MAJOR MINOR

Today 9:00a Sunday 9:59a Monday 11:00a Tuesday 12:03p Wednesday 12:36a Thursday 1:38a Friday 2:36a

City

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

Hi

2:44a 9:32p 3:42a 10:32p 4:44a 11:33p 5:47a 12:34p 6:50a 1:05p 7:51a 2:04p 8:48a 3:00p

TODAY

92 95 84 108 82 92 82 73 94

Lo

78 76 69 88 65 74 70 67 80

W

t t t pc t t t pc t

GOOd

Hi

90 94 88 108 83 86 87 74 94

3:16p 4:16p 5:17p 6:19p 7:19p 8:17p 9:12p

SUN. Lo

78 77 66 89 65 70 67 69 81

W

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

t t pc pc pc t s pc pc

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

FLOOD STAGE

34 48 48 35 27 22 17

FRI. 24-HOUR STAGE CHANGE

9.00 41.00 43.30 27.00 17.80 13.34 9.00

-0.20 -0.46 -0.10 none -0.10 +0.09 -0.03

40

24.71

+0.46

19

-1.38

-0.06

18 29 8

-0.79 11.42 1.53

-0.10 -0.28 +0.05

13 15

1.88 1.86

-0.05 -0.25

47 34 29 20 12 6

23.55 17.93 15.39 12.40 7.00 3.38

-0.28 -0.20 -0.30 -0.03 -0.20 +0.02

data as of 7 a.m. Friday

Forecasts and graphics, except for damon’s Outlook, provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2026

Crews rescue about 20 after building collapses in Mo.

By The Associated Press REYNOLDS COUNTY, Mo. — Emergency crews rescued about 20 people in Missouri on Friday after a building collapsed in a campground following widespread flooding and heavy rainfall in the state.

The campers were on top

of a building at the Bearcat Getaway campground near the Black River, about 85 miles south of St. Louis, when it collapsed and were later rescued from the water, said Sgt. Eddie Young with the Missouri State Highway Patrol at a news conference.

The Reynolds County sheriff’s office said emergency

responders had more than 90 water rescues of campers and people in cars after several inches of rain fell overnight into the morning across a long swath of central and eastern Missouri.

The National Weather Service issued flash flood warnings for the area, which got between 6 and 12 inches as

thunderstorms piled on the area one after another, said Matt Beitscher, a lead meteorologist with the NWS office in St. Louis.

“It’s very, very popular place for recreation,” said Beitscher of the affected counties. “So there are campgrounds there. There are float trip locations there. A

lot of vulnerable populations that would be susceptible to flash flooding.”

Gov. Mike Kehoe declared a state of emergency and activated one of the state’s search and rescue teams to assist. Several major roads were impassable due to flooding and damage, and a helicopter from the Missouri Na-

tional Guard was being used to reach stranded people, said Young.

In Reynolds County, two rescue boats capsized in the flooding, but other emergency personnel safely recovered the responders, the sheriff’s office said. A family reunification center has been set up.

Meteorologists warn of extreme heat in U.S. in week ahead

BY SETH BORENSTEIN AP science writer

Most of America’s Lower 48 states are about to swelter under an unusually large, strong and long-lasting heat dome that will spike temperatures in a way that the National Weather Service calls “significant and dangerous.”

The heat wave will start this weekend and last at least a week, with some areas feeling its effects until the end of the month, meteorologists said. Temperatures will be 15 to 25 degrees warmer than normal in many areas, including at night, they said. Hotter nighttime temperatures are especially bad for both human health and efforts to tamp down an already active wildfire season.

“This upcoming heat wave does look pretty remarkable,” said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources. “This is going to be a long duration, widespread and high-intensity heat event that’s going to affect millions of people for over a week.”

A dome of high pressure — which traps hot air like a pot lid while blocking cooling winds and rain — will initially park over the Northern Plains, but it will be so big that it will trap sweltering temperatures across as much as two-thirds of the

continental United States, three meteorologists told The Associated Press. While it will initially miss the East Coast, the heat dome will shift and wobble, maybe even spreading from coastto-coast over the next 10 days or more, they said.

Forecasters are expecting record triple-digit highs this weekend in Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota.

The weather service is predicting more than 90 U.S. local temperature records will be tied or broken through Wednesday, with two-thirds being overnight heat records that can hinder how the human body recovers from broiling days.

“Nights can be just as dangerous as days. If you don’t get heat relief at night, that’s going to spill out into your daytime experience and become extremely dangerous,” said meteorologist Bob Henson with Yale Climate Connections. “Heat is not to be played with. It’s just as dangerous as a tornado or hurricane that can kill you just as easily, just in a quiet and different way.”

Swain said what makes this heat wave so different is how big a warm shadow it will cast and how long it will persist.

In the past couple of weeks, major heat waves have caused extensive suffering in Europe, the U.S.

ASSOCIATEd PRESS PHOTO By JACQUELyN MARTIN

Mickelina Papotto, of Salem, Ore., left, and Lorie Odegaard, of Gaithersburg, Md., fan themselves while waiting in line for the Ferris wheel on July 1 at the Great American State Fair on the National Mall in Washington.

East Coast and most recently the U.S. Southeast.

Now any place in the United States that escaped the earlier July heat waves will get this one, Swain said.

Rain is likely to sneak below the southern edge of the heat dome and douse the U.S. Southeast during the daytime, setting up something strange, Climate Central meteorologist Shel Winkley said. Because of the added moisture and humidity, the Southeast could get record-shattering nighttime heat but below-normal day-

time warmth, he said.

The weather service is predicting record nighttime heat in a number of locations from Texas to Florida to North Carolina on Saturday. Temperatures won’t drop below 80 degrees at night in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Miami; Tampa, Florida; Galveston, Texas; and Charleston, South Carolina, according to the forecast.

While heat domes are not unusual in the summer, Winkley said this one stands out because of how strong it is, likely to set records for the

amount of high pressure that it will contain. It’s especially unusual for being so far north, he said.

It’s likely to persist so long because drought-stricken areas have less soil and air moisture that would normally slow the warming of the air, Swain said. The drier, hotter air then worsens the drought conditions and stokes more heat in a vicious cycle, he said.

This will add to wildfire risk, already bad because of the drought, he said.

The El Niño that recently

formed is too young to have a pronounced impact on this heat wave, but climate change from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas clearly does, the three meteorologists said.

“We know that heat waves are becoming more intense, they’re lasting longer, they’re covering larger areas than they used to because of human-caused climate change,” Swain said. “And so when we see an event like this, we know there is at least a partial contribution by the long-term warming trend.”

Climate Central uses 20 different computer models to compare what’s forecast to what would be expected in a world without greenhouse gas-caused warming as part of its Climate Shift Index.

A 20,000-square-mile swath of the country from Southern California to northern Minnesota where 24 million people live this weekend will have warmth reaching the highest level on that index, meaning the heat is at least five times more likely because of climate change.

Their analysis produced similar readings for the East Coast heat wave over the July 4 weekend and the recent Southeast heat wave.

“Using attribution science we know that those temperatures would be virtually impossible without the influence of climate change,” Winkley said.

METRO

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

|

S at u r d ay, J u ly 11, 2026

1BN

EPA grant to fund 2 site assessments

Properties to be checked for contamination

BY CLAIRE TAYLOR Staff writer

Two Lafayette properties will be assessed for environmental contamination through a federal EPA grant awarded to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality.

Property identified as Orleans Oil property, 1509 Cameron St., a vacant gas station across from Bottle

Art Lofts on University Avenue, and the Lafayette Utilities System’s retired Curtis Rodemacher Power Plant at 200 W. Pinhook Road will undergo environmental assessment, LDEQ press secretary Meagan Molter said.

The department was awarded a combined $4.5 million from the EPA through the 2026 Brownfields Multipurpose, Assessment and Cleanup Grant Program.

As part of the funding, the department will receive a $2 million Brownfields Community-wide Assessment Grant for environmental assessment and Brownfield planning at vacant and underutilized properties to facilitate their reuse, Molter said in a news release.

Initial efforts, she said, will focus on Lafayette and Homer in Claiborne Parish and Washington in St. Landry Parish “to build on

the momentum created through established partnerships between LDEQ’s Brownfields Program and local entities.”

The Community-wide Assessment Grant, Molter said, will be used to conduct environmental assessments, develop cleanup plans, if needed, and conduct Brownfield planning activities. It cannot be used for cleanup.

“If a site requires cleanup, we then work with the project champion to help identify resources to help offset the costs of cleanup,”

Molter said.

Shreveport also was awarded a $1 million Brownfields Multipurpose Grant focusing on the Cross Bayou Area/Ledbetter Heights District.

The Delta Agricultural Research and Sustainability District was also awarded a $1.5 million Brownfields Assessment Grant to assist with sites in Ferriday and Vidalia, both in Concordia Parish; Lake Providence in East Carroll Parish; Richmond Village in Madison Parish; and St. Joseph in Tensas Parish.

NO TRAIN, NO GAIN

ABOVE: Club members and judges watch a dancer in the talent competition during the Courtesy Automotive Group and the University of Louisiana at Lafayette annual Training 4 Life event for hundreds of Acadiana children at the Blackham Coliseum in Lafayette on Thursday. Children from several local Boys & Girls Clubs across Acadiana participated in a day of games, food, music and mentoring sessions led by local leaders. LEFT: Club members cheer during the annual Training 4 Life event on Thursday.

STAFF PHOTOS By BRAd KEMP

Bubble tea company to open Lafayette location Chatime to offer customizable drinks

Staff report A worldwide bubble tea company that is expanding into the United States will open a franchised location in Lafayette.

Chatime signed a lease to open near Costco in the Ambassador Town Center at 109 Old Camp Road, Suite 106, and was granted a building permit from Lafayette Consolidated Government to renovate the space, according to records.

Jonathan and Jasmine Hamlin are the owners.

Chatime, which was founded in 2005 in Taiwan, has grown into one of the world’s leading brands of bubble tea, also known as boba tea. It has more than 1,400 locations in Asia, Australia and Canada.

The company has just over a dozen U.S. locations listed on its website, but earlier this month announced the first of six locations planned for the Las Vegas market, according to reports.

Chatime features customizable milk teas, fruit teas, and signature brown sugar pearl drinks with adjustable sweetness levels, dairyfree alternatives, and a variety of tea and topping combinations.

Longtime Youngsville man arrested on four sex crime counts Lafayette Habitat A Youngsville man was arrested administrative leave after a video Wednesday in connection with mul- allegedly shows him and another tiple sex crime counts involving ju- officer slamming a suspect to the veniles, authorities said. ground.

Chad Boudreaux, 47, faces two Officer Sam Tezeno has been counts each of first-degree placed on administrative rape and molestation of a juleave after residents showed CRIME up at a Patterson City Counvenile, as well as two counts of possession of a firearm by BLOTTER cil meeting questioning the a convicted felon, according Advocate officer’s behavior, according to Youngsville police. to KLFY, which spoke with staff The investigation began Patterson Police Chief Garreports after authorities received rett Grogan. information that juveniles “Citizens of Patterson had may have been sexually assome concerns on Officer Tezeno’s arresting power and saulted, Youngsville Police whether he’s certified or not … and Chief Jean-Paul Broussard said.

Detectives gathered enough evi- saying that they’re afraid of his podence to obtain an arrest warrant for licing,” Grogan told the news station.

Boudreaux, Broussard said.

The St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s OfThe investigation remains ongo- fice is investigating the June 26 ining, and authorities are looking into cident, according to St. Mary Now. the possibility of additional victims. The names of the officers have not Boudreaux was being held in the been released.

Lafayette Parish jail on $750,000 The video in question shows two bail. alleged Patterson officers approaching a man outside of a parked truck.

When the man touches the vehicle’s door, an officer is seen pushing him against the vehicle before both The Patterson Police Department ä See BLOTTER, page 2B has placed one of its officers on

Officers slammed suspect, video allegedly shows

director to retire

Taylor led agency for 26 years Staff report Longtime Lafayette Habitat for Humanity director Melinda Taylor will retire at the end of the year, according to the agency.

Taylor has led the agency for 26 years and helped families achieve the dream of homeownership while also strengthening neighborhoods and changing lives.

Taylor championed affordable housing initiatives while fostering a culture of collaboration among volunteers, donors, corporate partners and faith communities.

Her leadership has helped position Lafayette Habitat as a trusted and Taylor effective organization dedicated to serving families and advancing affordable housing solutions throughout Acadiana, Habitat officials said.

Habitat’s board of directors has started the search process for her successor.

“Melinda’s dedication to our mission has been nothing short of exceptional,” board chair Jason Huffman said. “For 26 years, she has led with compassion, integrity, vision and a deep belief that everyone deserves a safe, decent and affordable place to call home.”

2B ● Saturday, July 11, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

lll

Demolition begins at N.O. airport’s south terminal Bids sought to tear down concourses

BY GRACE MAYER Staff writer

New Orleans airport officials are preparing to knock down big portions of the vacant south terminal, a significant step in the broader plan to upgrade infrastructure, expand parking, add hangar space and eventually build another new terminal over the next 20 years.

Demolition of the concourses of south terminals A and B, where passengers caught their planes for decades before the north terminal of Louis Armstrong New Orleans

International Airport opened in 2019, is expected to begin in the next three months, according to airport spokesperson Tara Letort.

Letort noted that a specific start date and cost estimate will come out after the demo contract is awarded.

The McDonnel Group, the general contractor on the project, is currently seeking bids for the work, with responses due later in July.

Portions of the south terminal will remain standing and will be used for servicing and repairing aircraft. The demolition will create space for a new hangar. At a March news conference, Aviation Director Kevin Dolliole said cargo and private aviation terminals, along with

a school for aircraft mechanics, are also planned for the site.

The demolition is among the more noticeable signs that the airport’s larger master plan is being put into motion. It’s an effort that airport officials, parish and city leaders began working on nearly three years ago and presented updates on earlier this year.

Several other infrastructure projects are being completed at the airport, including an $84.5 million project to pave a connector road for shuttles.

1959 and was built for $7.5 million.

Two additional concourses were added to the terminal in 1974 and allowed the airport to expand to 42 gates.

When the $1.3 billion north terminal opened in 2019, the airport relocated passenger service and other operations previously housed on the south campus to the new terminal.

Parts of the south terminal remained in use for administrative and public safety purposes. Occasionally, movie and television crews used the space as a set for Demolition plans filming. It’s also been used as a The south terminal, originally skate park.

Demolishing the south terminal known as the Moisant International Airport terminal, opened in is only one part of the larger mas-

Landry, Moreno trade barbs over money, politics Friday.

Thursday, Moreno announced Landry letter N.O. mayor requests sheOnwas “I understand your desire not to withdrawing the city’s reto have the State Bond ComLandry also sent a letter to leg- trade public letters, as that seems meeting with governor quest mission approve a $110 million islative leaders on Friday telling to be an indictable offense in the

BY TYLER BRIDGES Staff writer

Gov. Jeff Landry showed no interest Friday in New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno’s request the night before to have the two of them hash out their escalating differences over money and politics.

Landry jabbed her in a tweet Friday for having sought state approval to hold a bond sale for the cash-strapped city.

It confirmed to him, he wrote, that the city is treating the state “as an ATM” to balance its budget.

He added, “Please remember the State and its citizens are not an ATM on Bourbon Street!”

Moreno responded several hours later with a digital media post where she once again asked to sit down with him.

“Governor, let’s find a way for New Orleans to be successful so that the state can be successful as well,” she said from her City Hall office. “As goes the city of New Orleans, so goes the state of Louisiana.”

Moreno ended by jabbing him back.

“Happy to meet you anywhere, even on Bourbon Street, and you can show me your favorite ATM machine,” she said, barely suppressing a smile.

Upper hand Landry has the upper hand in this dispute with Moreno because she has inherited a budget shortfall from her predecessor, LaToya Cantrell, and the city needs authorization to borrow money or sell bonds from the State Bond Commission — populated by the governor’s Republican legislative allies.

bond sale for New Orleans next them that he has asked Waguesweek because she heard from Re- pack to study why the Sewerage & Water Board has moved publican friends that the so slowly to repair Decacommission would reject it.

She also said that state tur Street in New Orleans. leaders “seeking to deThree businesses there have said the delays have fund New Orleans to punturned that stretch of the ish, weaken or destroy it French Quarter into a must face the harsh truth ghost town, forcing them and consequences that, to shut down. ultimately, doing so is selfLandry Moreno has also been harm to Louisiana.” criticizing the S&WB for In her social media post moving too slowly to finish Friday, she included a the work. video clip of Mike WaguesJay Dardenne, a Repubpack, the Louisiana legislalican who served in the tive auditor, telling Landry state Senate and as seclast year that the city would need additional funds this retary of state, lieutenant year. governor and as then-Gov. In her letter to the govJohn Bel Edwards’ top budget official, lamented ernor Thursday night, she Moreno Landry’s unwillingness to said that not having access to the additional funds for the rest meet with Moreno.

“Any time a party is not willing to of 2026 would force city officials to delay infrastructure projects, talk with an opposing side about an institute $20 million in budget cuts issue that could be resolved is not and continue furloughs of city em- a good thing,” Dardenne said. “We ought to be about trying to work ployees.

“I commend the City for now tak- together for the common good ing the more fiscally responsible for everybody in Louisiana. That approach,” Landry responded, in speaks for people in New Orleans, his only positive comment to More- for people who feel offended by no in his tweet Friday aimed at her. Republicans and Republicans who Waguespack, a certified public ac- think the indictment is a politically countant and former sheriff, said in motivated attack on them.”

Dardenne was referring to the an interview Friday that the city’s request to sell bonds would not cost indictment of Attorney General state taxpayers anything unless, in Liz Murrill, handed down by an Ora worst-case scenario, the city de- leans Parish grand jury last week. faulted on the bonds. This would It has intensified tensions between hurt the state’s overall bond rating, New Orleans officials and Republihe added. cans elsewhere in the state.

The city’s request before the The grand jury indicted Murrill State Bond Commission, Wagues- on 16 felony counts for writing a pack said, “is simply a legal and letter to Moreno and other city ofprocedural authorization, it’s not ficials that they called threatening. financial backing.”

Landry trolled Moreno on this

City of New Orleans,” he wrote.

Meanwhile, Murrill appears to continue to feel aggrieved by a grand jury indictment of her.

On Thursday night, she released a statement saying the city didn’t have the means to pay back the $110 million in bonds over the 16year term period.

“That request was dead on arrival,” she said pointedly.

The Attorney General’s Office on Thursday filed a public records request to the city asking for documents related to the decision by Moreno and the City Council to bolster their slim reserves by selling the next nine years of revenue from its lease with Caesars’ casino.

In exchange, the city received $103 million.

On Friday, the Attorney General’s Office didn’t respond to a query on the reason for the public records request.

On Thursday, Landry wrote Moreno that the deal cost the city $50 million in future lease payments, “a decision that is tantamount to the largest ‘pay day loan’ by a municipality in recent times.”

One Republican who voiced support for the city and Moreno was Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser, who noted in his role as the state’s chief tourism promoter that millions of people visit New Orleans every year.

“Mayor Moreno and her administration have worked hard to get New Orleans moving in the right direction,” Nungesser said in a statement Thursday night. “We should all be focused on building on that momentum by working together. At the end of the day, this is about doing what’s best for the people of Louisiana.”

St. Tammany man sues sheriff for wrongful arrest He was accused in 6-year-old’s hit-and-run death

BY WILLIE SWETT

Staff writer

A St. Tammany Parish man is suing former Sheriff Randy Smith and some of his deputies in federal court for allegedly wrongfully arresting and jailing him for 13 days last year in connection with a hit-and-run that killed a young boy.

Cody Beaudette was arrested on Aug. 13, 2025, by the Sheriff’s Office on counts of vehicular homicide, hit-and-run and reckless operation in connection with the death of 6-year-old Jeremiah Ramirez.

After 13 days in jail, Beaudette was released on bond and then, two days later, with mounting pressure from family members

BLOTTER

Continued from page 1B officers slam the man into the ground, according to video obtained by KQKI News.

The man is then taken into custody.

“I didn’t do nothing,” the man, later identified as Jevon R. Smith, 48, said repeatedly.

Smith faces charges of stop sign violation, resisting an officer and disturbing the peace.

Tezeno has worked at several law enforcement agencies over the years, with most ending in terminations

and investigators who drew attention to exonerating evidence, the Sheriff’s Office announced on Aug. 29, 2025, that new evidence showed the vehicular homicide charge was “not supported” and Northshore District Attorney Collin Sims’ office announced it was refusing prosecution.

Another individual, Connie Estes, was booked that same day on hit-and-run and obstruction of justice counts and has a trial scheduled to start Sept. 14 in connection with the death of Ramirez.

The boy was riding his scooter on Northshore Lane near Slidell on Aug. 13 when he was struck and killed.

Beaudette and his family are now seeking damages for wrongful arrest and imprisonment. They are accusing Smith, who served as St. Tammany sheriff for nearly a decade until he resigned in June, and some of his employees of doing shoddy investigative work before Beaudette’s arrest and later

ignoring exonerating evidence during his imprisonment.

The complaint, filed in the Eastern District of Louisiana on June 18, accuses Smith of violating Beaudette’s constitutional rights against unreasonable searches and seizures, and accuses a handful of sheriff’s deputies, some named and some anonymized, of illegal seizure, excessive force, false arrest and imprisonment and malicious prosecution, among other allegations.

“He suffered a lot of mental anguish, him and his family, over the whole ordeal,” said Beaudette’s lawyer, Michael Raspanti, in an interview.

Suzanne Carboni, a spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Office, said she could not comment on pending litigation at this time. In August 2025, when the Sheriff’s Office announced they were no longer seeking the homicide and hit-and-run charges against Beaudette, Smith said, “We believe in

or administrative leave, acGrogan told KLFY that he cording to KLFY. In one in- supported hiring Tezeno. cident, he is alleged to have taken an unmarked St. Martinville unit without authoriLOTTERY zation to a Mardi Gras event in Eunice.

THURSDAY, JULY 9, 2026 Tezeno also filed a fedPICK 3: 8-6-1 eral whistleblower lawsuit PICK 4: 4-9-9-1 against the Grand Coteau PICK 5: 9-2-0-8-0 Police Department following his termination. He alUnofficial notification, legedly showed up to work keep your tickets. with a firearm despite not being POST-certified to carry a weapon.

The Jenerette Police Department hired Tezeno sometime in 2025, before he joined the Patterson Police Department about five THEADVOCATE.COM/SUBSCRIBE months ago.

holding individuals accountable, but we also have a duty to correct course when the facts demand it.”

Beaudette’s complaint alleges that the affidavit in support of his arrest warrant was based on thin evidence and was missing multiple crucial pieces of information.

For instance, the color of the vehicle wreckage at the scene of the hit-and-run was a different color from Baudette’s vehicle, the complaints state, and the wreckage at the scene didn’t match damage to Beaudette’s vehicle.

It also alleges that even after multiple people showed the Sheriff’s Office evidence that contradicted their earlier findings and showed Beaudette’s innocence, they continued to detain him.

“What is striking is that Beaudette’s little sister, who is not a cop, not a private investigator — she managed to acquire all the evidence to really determine who did this in a matter of two days by herself,” Raspanti said.

ter plan to expand the airport. The plan also includes adding more gates, expanding the security checkpoint area, building another parking garage and a second terminal.

In July 2025, airport officials said they would need to open a second terminal in the next six years to meet travel demands.

Airport passenger count grew from 5.9 million to 6.6 million between 2022 and 2024. Passenger traffic dipped nearly 9% in 2025, falling to 6.2 million passengers.

The airport expects to see passenger growth reach 9.7 million “enplanements,” or the number of passengers boarding an aircraft, by 2031, Dolliole said at the time.

BATON ROUGE

Library sued over gender pronoun controversy Pastor says he was unlawfully fired

BY CLAIRE GRUNEWALD Staff writer

A local pastor has filed a lawsuit claiming Baton Rouge’s library system unlawfully fired him after he refused to use someone’s preferred gender pronouns.

The Rev. Luke Ash filed the suit Thursday alleging that the East Baton Rouge Parish Library terminated his employment a year ago because of his religious beliefs, which Ash said prevented him from using a co-worker’s preferred gender pronouns. He is also the lead pastor at Stevendale Baptist Church in Baton Rouge, per the church’s website.

Ash is represented by Liberty Counsel, a Christian civil liberties law firm, and said the library’s inclusivity policy violated his First Amendment rights, and his lawsuit seeks a permanent injunction declaring the policy unconstitutional. The lawsuit also asks the court to order the library to reinstate Ash to his former position, restore his benefits and award back pay and damages.

Liberty Counsel said in a news release that a library co-worker in July 2025 asked that Ash refer to them by their preferred pronouns. Ash told the co-worker he would not do so due to his religious beliefs.

Shortly after this conversation, Ash’s supervisors reiterated the library’s policy, which states “all employees have the right to be addressed by their chosen name and pronouns.” According to the lawsuit, Ash said he would not lie.

The lawsuit said that after this encounter, Ash’s employment was terminated and “the library made clear to Ash that he was being terminated because of his refusal to use preferred pronouns and nothing more.”

Ash was hired as a library technician in late March 2025, and his termination was effective July 11, 2025, according to personnel records obtained by The Advocate.

Library director Katrina Stokes said Friday that the library does not comment on employee and personnel matters.

The lawsuit also names the city of Baton Rouge, the Metro Council and library board of control as defendants.

A spokesperson for the Mayor’s Office declined to comment.

.theacadianaadvocate.com Pets

LIVESTOCK ANIMALS Breeding Boer-Mix Herd For Sale– 7 healthy Boer-mix breeding does. De‐ wormed, pasture-raised, good moth‐ ers. Ages 1-3 years. Selling as complete herd. Near Pointe Coupee Call/Text 337654-7962. $2,500 OBO

A unique Mardi Gras experience in a hardcover book CATS RAGAMUFFIN & RAGDOLL KITTENS www.CatsByFrancy.com/kittens $1500up! Reg. Shots & Guaranty 337-230-3150

NEWS 24/7 ON

ORDER TODAY!

PORCHES.PICTORIALBOOK.COM

lll

BUSINESS

The Acadiana Advocate ● theadvocate.com ● Saturday, July 11, 2026 ● 3B

T H E A D V O C AT E.C O M/news/business

DOW 52,637.01 149.60 0.28%

NASDAQ 26,281.61 74.72 0.28%

BRIEFS

FROM WIRE REPORTS

China blocks exports of helium, key for chips

HONG KONG — China on Friday said it is temporarily blocking the export of helium, a key element for chipmaking, as the Iran war’s escalation adds to global supply disruptions.

China’s commerce ministry and its customs agency said in a brief statement that they are imposing a temporary export ban on helium, effective immediately, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Foreign Trade Law of the People’s Republic of China.

They did not elaborate further on the reasons.

Helium is crucial for semiconductor manufacturing, and is also used in the medical sector such as in the cooling of MRI machines. Since the Iran war began in late February, global helium supply has been disrupted and prices have gone up substantially.

China only produces about 15% or less of its own helium, importing much of it from Qatar, which generates roughly one-third of the world’s supply, according to estimates cited in a research note by the consultancy Trivium China.

China is looking to protect its industries as global supply of helium has become “very tight,” said Gary Ng, a senior economist at the French bank Natixis.

“Such an export control measure is intended to protect the local industry, especially as it is critical to chipmaking,” he said. It is imposing the measure likely more to secure supply for local usage than for political reasons, Ng said.

The move comes at a time when China is stepping up its self-sufficiency capabilities in chipmaking and artificial intelligence as its technology race with the U.S. heats up.

It is not known when global helium supply will return to normal, said Cameron Johnson, a senior partner at Shanghaibased consultancy Tidalwave Solutions.

Kia launches new recall for 463,000 Tellurides NEW YORK — Kia America has issued a new recall for nearly 463,000 of its Telluride SUVs, urging owners to again park their vehicles outside and away from buildings after several customers reported fires following previous repairs.

The recall, announced this week by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, replaces a prior one Kia initiated in 2024. Certain Tellurides from the 2020-24 model years are affected, with the NHTSA warning that the front power seat motor of these vehicles may overheat due to a stuck slide knob.

That could result in a fire while the car is parked or being driven. And even after Kia rolled out a remedy in 2024, recall documents note several customers filed complaints of alleged fires underneath the passenger seat.

The automaker investigated other vehicles that had received the prior repair and identified “sporadic dealer workmanship issues” — later deciding to initiate a new recall.

Between October 2024 and April 2026, Kia North America’s safety office identified 18 incidents involving either localized seat fires or melting of the seat motor, per recall documents. No associated injuries or crashes have been reported.

In a statement, Kia America noted that “an external impact with excessive force” to the vehicles’ front power seat side cover or slide knob could cause their switch to become dislodged or otherwise damaged — resulting in overheating if the motor continues to be used over time. To prevent this, Kia’s new fix will be for dealers to install an electronic fuse assembly, free of charge.

That remedy will be available in early August, according to an advanced dealer notice published by the NHTSA. And owner notification letters are set to be mailed starting Aug. 13.

S&P 500 7,575.39 31.75 0.42%

EURO 1.1419 -0.0010 -0.09%

CRUDE OIL 71.51 -0.57 -0.79%

GOLD 4,090.60 -40.00 -0.97%

6-MO T-BILLS 3.96 0.04 1.02%

30-YR T-BONDS 5.06 -0.0 -0.02%

EU demands Facebook design changes

commission overseeing tech. “Pro‘Addictive features’ must be disabled to meet social media law, it says tecting the physical and mental

BY KELVIN CHAN Associated Press

The European Union accused Meta on Friday of breaching its social media law by designing Facebook and Instagram to get users hooked, and demanded it disable “key addictive features” like infinite scrolling.

The EU’s executive arm issued a fresh set of charges against Meta Platforms as part of its investigation under the 27-nation bloc’s strict digital rule book known as the Digital Services Act. The sweeping set of regulations from Brussels requires tech platforms to protect internet users under threat of hefty fines.

The European Commission said Meta failed to properly assess the risks its design features pose to the physical and mental health of users, including minors. And while the company has tools and controls to help manage Facebook and Instagram use, it said they were easily overridden, dismissed, or technically challenging to use.

Meta “needs to implement design changes” to Instagram and Facebook, such as disabling “key addictive features” like autoplay of videos and infinite scroll so they’re not turned on by default, the commission said in its preliminary findings.

Meta now has the chance to respond and defend itself before the commission issues its final deci-

sion, which could result in a fine worth up to 6% of the company’s global annual revenue.

Meta said Friday that the preliminary findings do not recognize the steps that the company has already taken to protect teens.

“Since this investigation began, we rolled out Teen Accounts that automatically protect teens and put parents in control — allowing them to block access to Instagram at night and cap daily screen time at just 15 minutes,” Meta said in a prepared statement.

Europe is committed to enforcing its legislation that holds platforms accountable for addictive design features, said Henna Virkkunen, an executive vice-president at the

health of Europeans must be a priority for social media platforms,” Virkkunen said in a statement.

Facebook and Instagram design features, including personalized recommendations and push notifications, serve up an endless stream of content, putting users’ brains on “autopilot” and fueling compulsive use, the commission said.

Meanwhile, screen time controls that parents can impose on their teens’ devices can be “easily dismissed” and don’t result in a meaningful reduction of use, the commission said. And the controls are undermined by the technical expertise, time and effort that parents need to understand and use them, it said.

SK Hynix rises 13% in debut demand for memory chips soars amid AI frenzy

BY DAMIAN J. TROISE Associated Press

NEW YORK — Shares of South Korean memory chipmaker SK Hynix rose 13.1% as they made their debut on Wall Street, at a time when demand for chips is surging thanks to the frenzy around artificial intelligence.

The company is already one of the largest in South Korea, along with Samsung Electronics, and is a member of the Kospi index.

Even with a recent pullback, the country’s Kospi index is up 77% so far this year and SK Hynix shares have more than tripled.

SK Hynix priced its American depositary receipts, or ADRs, at $149 each Thursday.

They opened Friday at $170 and closed at $168.49. The offering of 177.9 million ADRs raised proceeds of $26.5 billion, making it the biggest-ever initial share sale in the U.S. by a foreign company. An ADR is issued by a bank or broker and is a simplified way for U.S. investors to own foreign stocks through the U.S. markets.

SK Hynix is going public in the U.S. amid a surge in IPO proceeds. There were 48 IPOs raising a total of $104.8 billion during the second quarter, according to Renaissance Capital. It is the biggest quarter for deal proceeds in five years, in large part because of SpaceX raising $75 billion. Many of the companies going public are capitalizing on the demand for all things AI. SK Hynix has a dominant position globally for high bandwidth memory, which is essential for the development of advanced AI technology. The company recently entered a partnership with Wall Street’s most valuable company, Nvidia, for advanced memory

ASSOCIATEd PRESS PHOTO By AHN yOUNG-JOON

A currency trader watches monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics Co. stock price at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, on Thursday. chips as AI infrastructure expands globally.

Increasing demand for AI has been driving a surge in profits for chipmakers. Memory chips have become more expensive as demand outpaces supply along with the advancement of artificial intelligence technology. Technology giant Apple recently announced an increase in prices for Macs and iPads because of the jump in price for memory chips.

The U.S. is SK Hynix’s largest market, accounting for 68.8% of its revenue last year. It is planning an expansion that includes build-

ing its first U.S. production facility, located in Indiana. Overall, the company had revenue of just under $65 billion in 2025. That helped profits double to about $28 billion.

The company recently joined with Samsung and the government in announcing plans to invest a combined $518 billion in building a new computer chipmaking hub in South Korea’s southwest region, part of national efforts to expand investment beyond the greater Seoul metropolitan area, the country’s economic center and heart of its semiconductor sector.

Wall Street shows it’s hungry for AI winners

BY STAN CHOE Associated Press

NEW YORK — U.S. stocks ticked higher Friday after Wall Street showed its appetite is still big for winners of the artificial-intelligence boom.

The S&P 500 rose 0.4% to close out its fourth winning week in the last five. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 149 points, or 0.3%, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.3%.

That’s led to sharp recent

swings for AI stocks, which have grown into some of Wall Street’s most influential because of their huge sizes.

Nvidia was the strongest single force lifting the S&P 500 Friday after rising 4%.

Delta Air Lines said it was able to absorb higher fuel prices from April through June because of strong demand from customers to fly, including a wide range of corporate travelers. That helped it report profit and revenue for the spring that topped analysts’

expectations, and it gave a forecasted range for upcoming profit in the summer whose midpoint was above analysts’ expectations. Delta’s stock fell 1.8%, though, after coming into the day with a strong 28.2% rise for the year so far.

Companies across industries will need to produce big growth in profits to justify the big moves for their stock prices, which are broadly near records.

Elsewhere on Wall Street, Circle Internet Group rose 5%. The

company behind the USDC cryptocurrency, which is supposed to keep the value of $1, said it won U.S. regulatory approval to establish a bank. It will operate under the name Circle National Trust, and CEO Jeremy Allaire said the move “marks a defining step in bringing blockchain technology and digital assets into the core of the U.S. financial system.”

WD-40’s stock jumped 10.6% after reporting much stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

Apple accuses ChatGPT maker OpenAI of stealing trade secrets

BY KAITLYN HUAMANI and MATT O’BRIEN AP technology writers

Apple on Friday accused OpenAI of stealing trade secrets as it seeks to build its own hardware for ChatGPT, a major rupture in a partnership between the iPhone maker and the artificial intelligence company.

Apple said in the lawsuit filed in a California federal court that the theft of its trade secrets was part of a “coordinated pattern of misconduct at an institutional level”

by OpenAI. “This case is about Apple’s former employees stealing Apple’s trade secrets for the benefit of OpenAI,” the filing says. “Apple brings this suit to put a stop to it.”

Two former Apple employees who now work for OpenAI are also named as defendants. One is Tang Tan, who helped design the iPhone, Apple Watch and iPod and is now OpenAI’s chief hardware officer.

The other is Chang Liu, a former electrical engineer Apple says it entrusted with some of its most sensitive product development efforts before Liu left Apple to join OpenAI earlier this year.

OpenAI did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

ASSOCIATEd PRESS FILE PHOTO By dAVId ZALUBOWSKI OpenAI has never said exactly A shopper looks over Apple MacBook laptops on display in a Costco what type of device it is building warehouse on June 2 in Sheridan, Colo. Apple said in a lawsuit Friday but has described it as an effort to find a new way of interacting with that former employees were stealing trade secrets for OpenAI. AI that goes beyond “traditional products and interfaces.” It’s part advances, a decade after Amazon The lawsuit claims the effort of a broader push to create a physi- and Google introduced screen-free was built partly on knowledge stocal embodiment of the latest AI talking speakers into homes. len from Apple.

4B ● Saturday, July 11, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

lll

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

ANOTHER VIEW

The next American revolution is already here Recently, we looked back tance for the disadvantaged, at the American Revolution. higher taxes on the rich and Now it’s time to look ahead an array of free or subsito the next revolution aldized social services. These proposals will appeal to the ready taking shape. left, especially newly enerThis new revolution won’t be fought with muskets and gized Democratic Socialists. cannon, but with code, modThey will also find support among others who are els and automated less liberal, but who workflows. Sparked are losing jobs and caby artificial intelligence, it will fuse reers due to AI. technology, economEconomic conservaics and government tives need to be on policy in ways we’re guard; they have big Ron only beginning to fights ahead of them.

Faucheux Voters will demand acunderstand.

Seen by many as tion, and that usually mysterious and creepy, AI is means more spending, taxes imposing new demands on and bureaucracy. Democrats an unprepared government. will be comfortable in that It’s setting off alarms loud political environment; Reenough for both parties to publicans won’t. hear.

So, what will Republicans AI should lift productivity. offer? Economic growth and It will also bring fear and government reform could be churn to the job market. It popular solutions. But concould dislocate millions of servatives must spell out exworkers, widen the wealth actly how these policies will gap and further strain our directly help those in need; limping democracy. if they can’t do that, DemoThe size and speed of the crats will have the edge.

AI transformation remain One idea that may gain uncertain, but its scale will traction is “universal babe revolutionary. Goldman sic income” (UBI), which Sachs says two-thirds of would give all Americans occupations could face siga monthly check without the need to perform work. nificant AI exposure within Numerous entrepreneurs, a decade. The Organization investors and pundits have for Economic Co-operation floated various forms of UBI and Development finds to cushion against economic higher-wage, knowledge workers to be most exposed. disruptions caused by AI. This includes Elon Musk, McKinsey estimates nearly who says it will be “necesa third of U.S. work hours could be automated. Imagine sary” as AI automates work. the ripple effects.

UBI would appeal to Politicians aren’t driving politicians looking for a fast this change; technology is. fix. But UBI would cost a AI will force government fortune to implement — as to think and act differently. much as $4 trillion a year — It will put a premium on making it an awfully big bet. competence, efficiency and That’s why hard quesnimbleness in public agentions need to be asked about cies. Americans won’t need a UBI and other new safety net proposals: Would they technical manual to protect change the nation’s work themselves, but a new viethic? Would they swell the sion for managing governnational debt beyond what ment and safeguarding the the economy and currency economy. can stand? What other proMany agencies can’t untangle yesterday’s IT grams could be cut to offset problems, much less master costs? today’s surging computing Expensive social welfare power. That’s why we must proposals would likely face ask: Does government — stiff opposition from the federal, state and local — right, but an economic crisis have the capacity to handle could force Congress to get what’s coming? the ball rolling on one or One challenge cannot be some of them, even when dodged: reform of civil sermany members are disinvice, the system government clined to do so. Remember uses to hire, fire and comhow fiscal conservatives during the pandemic relucpensate public employees.

AI will eliminate the need tantly voted for pumped-up for hundreds of thousands of unemployment benefits and government jobs and create rounds of cash giveaways the need for new ones. that sent deficits and debt Civil service must make into orbit? sweeping changes to job They say never waste a descriptions, recruitment ef- crisis, but they should also forts, training and pay scales ask, how much will it really cost? to keep up.

The next revolution has AI rewards speed and flexstarted. Whether it renews ibility; civil service, with its America or hardens its diviendless paperwork, doesn’t.

That will put Democrats in sions depends on whether a political bind; do they sup- we can match the speed of port necessary reforms even technology with the light of wisdom. if they offend their allies in public employee unions?

But Democrats have plen- Ron Faucheux is a nonpartity off-the-shelf remedies to san political analyst, pollster reduce AI’s negative effects: and writer based in LouisiMedicare for All, cash assis- ana.

YOUR VIEWS

Pay attention to storm surge protection projects

End sale of flavored tobacco to protect La. minors

The Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority is currently stressing storm surge mitigation projects. Timely elevated structures are the only adequate method of accomplishing that goal. A 10- to 15-foot storm surge event will cause severe damage to the span of populated areas only protected by various low landforms.

The CPRA is trying to accomplish effective storm surge protection through the construction of adequate mitigation projects.

Can that be achieved within the CPRA guidelines and budget?

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers can construct the necessary projects to accomplish that goal. They are currently not doing that based on the support of the many Mississippi River crevasses by not adequately clos-

In May, the Food and Drug Administration announced that it authorized four flavored e-cigarette products, including mango and blueberry flavors. This marks the first time the FDA has authorized a flavored e-cigarette product (other than menthol and tobacco flavors) and it’s very concerning for the health of our kids.

After years of recognizing the dangers flavored e-cigarettes pose to youth, it is deeply troubling to see the FDA ignore the scientific evidence and reverse course. According to the FDA’s own report, youth often start vaping because of flavored products, including fruit flavors. One in 10 middle school students and 1 in 5 high school students in Louisiana currently use a tobacco product. More than 70% of youth initiate tobacco use by vaping.

Proven policies like comprehensive flavored tobacco laws, high tobacco taxes, strong smokefree laws and public education campaigns work. We have done a tremendous job in reducing smoking over the last 50 years and even saw a 70% decrease in youth e-cigarette use from 2019 to 2024. But we cannot go backward.

With the FDA failing to protect our kids from tobacco use, Louisiana lawmakers must take action to end the sale of all flavored tobacco products to protect the health and safety of our youngest residents.

ing them. The saltwater infusion issue will continue to harm the communities of the delta and possibly locations further upriver.

The destruction of thousands of acres of east bank oyster and associated fisheries continues.

The completed Neptune crevasse USACE structure was not designed to accomplish storm surge protection. That structure is said to be currently sinking.

Timely mitigation by elevated temporary structures constructed utilizing sheet piling effectively solves the issue. The sheet piling can be easily removed at some point of that process or remain. Permanent sheet piling structures were constructed in Lafitte and Lake Borne postKatrina projects.

KENNETH RAGAS New Orleans

Hammond overrides guidelines that made downtown unique I write with deep disappointment about the June 9 Hammond City Council decision to overturn the Historic District Commission’s denial of a request to paint exposed brick and stone at 408410 W. Thomas St. The commission’s denial followed the Hammond Historic District guidelines and the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation, which discourage painting historic masonry.

The commission has applied these standards consistently for 48 years. We were appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the council because we possess the training and experience to interpret preservation guidelines and protect downtown Hammond’s historic fabric.

Our work contributed to the district’s national recognition in 2022 with a Great American Main Street Award. The commission has been a cornerstone of downtown’s resurgence: Vacancies are under 5% and many properties have been responsibly rehabilitated using historic tax credits and established guidelines.

Visitors, residents, businesses and film productions are drawn to downtown’s unique sense of place.

When council member Carlee Gonzales seconded council member Steve Leon’s motion to override the denial for Christopher Edwards, she remarked that the commission gives little consideration to economic development.

That is incorrect. Since 1978, the commission’s preservation standards have been grounded in economic development. Those standards are why downtown is attractive, why investments worth millions align with them, and why altering historic features, such as painting masonry, would degrade materials and harm the character that sustains commerce.

The council’s reversal disregards decades of policy and expert review and substitutes politics for preservation principles.

I respectfully request that Mayor Pete Panepinto veto this action.

If Hammond is serious about preserving downtown’s character and economic vitality, the council should respect the commission’s role, consult the guidelines and base decisions on informed review rather than expedience.

ERIC WEINZETTLE director of advocacy, American Lung Association

Comparing Confederates to Nazis beyond the pale As the descendant of three generations of New Orleanians who served in the Army of the Tennessee — one of whom was a prisoner of war at Meridian, I take great exception to Michael Burnside’s comparison of Confederate soldiers to Nazi soldiers. Not only is it historically inaccurate, it is also an ethnic slur on people who emigrated from Ireland to New Orleans in 1832 and became respectable businessmen.

They served on the Confederate side because that was their home and their livelihood. And by the way, they never owned any slaves.

MICHAEL HOLLY commissioner, Hammond Historic district Hammond

BILL HUEY Baton Rouge

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR LOCAL REPORTING

KEVIN HALL

President & Publisher

RENE SANCHEZ

VP/News, Executive Editor

KARYN KEARNEY EVP/Strategic Partnerships

ARNESSA GARRETT Managing Editor/ Opinion

JUSTIN MITCHELL

Managing Editor/ Audience

HANK STUEVER

Managing Editor/ Enterprise

FRED KALMBACH

JENNIFER BROWN

JERRY DICOLO

EMMA DISCHER

Managing Editor

Managing Editor, New Orleans

KRISTIN ASKELSON Managing Editor, Acadiana

BARBARA LEADER Managing Editor, Shreveport

Senior Editor Senior Editor

ANDREA GALLO

ROGER HOLMES

Chief Revenue Office

ASHLEY WHITCHER

VP/ Consumer Sales

JIM MYERS

General Manager/ Advertising

VP/IT

Senior Editor/ Investigations

VP/Finance

JESSICA WILLIAMS

ROBERT STOLL

Senior Editor

CHASE HEATHERLY

Executive VP, Operations

VP/Distribution

KYLE WHITFIELD

G

GEORGES MEDIA GROUP JOHN D. GEORGES Owner

JUDI TERZOTIS

ROBERT YOUNG

Chief Executive Officer

LOU HUDSON

Editorial Page

VP/ Majors & Nationals

DAN SHEA

Chairman

ARNESSA GARRETT STEPHANIE GRACE WILL SUTTON QUIN HILLYER FAIMON ROBERTS

OFFICIAL NEWS PARTNER OF THE LOUISIANA RAGIN’ CAJUNS

SPORTS

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

|

S at u r d ay, J u ly 11, 2026

1CN

Amedee ‘hoping for the best’ ahheadd off MLB Draft D f make a single errorr all season.

Cajuns IF looks to cap stellar season with call to the majors didn’t “I think just working with Thib (assis-

BY KEVIN FOOTE Staff writer

It was quite a senior season for Lee Amedee.

After a disappointing 2025 campaign for the UL Ragin’ Cajuns, Amedee decided to stick around and help restore the program’s winning tradition.

He delivered the best offensive and defensive season of his career in leading the Cajuns to the Starkville Regionals.

Amedee then followed that up by winning the Tony Gwynn Community Service Trophy.

Now, Amedee hopes for a second encore by being selected in this weekend’s 2026 Ma-

jor League Baseball Draft in Philadelphia.

Rounds 1-4 will begin at noon Saturday, followed by rounds 5-20 starting at 10:30 a.m.

Sunday.

“I’m just hoping for the best,” Amedee said. “I know whatever happens has happened for a reason, so I’m just going to trust God throughout that process. There’s really nothing I can do now. It’s out of my hands.”

The 6-foot-1, 205-pound left-handed hitter batted .300 with 12 doubles, four triples, seven homers, 54 RBIs and seven stolen bases.

After mostly playing third during his career, Amedee became UL’s everyday first baseman this season — although he played on third and second base occasionally — and

tant coach Seth Thibodeaux) a lot,” Amedee said of hiss flawless defense in his first season s at first base. “I also worrked a lot with Trey (student asssistant LaFleur), just picking his h brain because he was really goo od at first base.”

As for the service award d, Amedee said, “I really feel like any yone on our team could have won tha at award, because our team has done e so much community service over the last four years.”

As excited as Amedee iss to potentially get drafted this weekend, not getting a call won’t

BREATHING ROOM LSU’s big offseason gave Johnson more options with MLB draft signees

LSU coach Jay Johnson walks out of the dugout before a game against Oklahoma on March 21 at Alex Box Stadium.

STAFF FILE PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

BY KOKI RILEY Staff writer

Jay Johnson’s job this summer was never going to be easy.

LSU needed to replace its starting outfield. It had to revitalize an infield defense that struggled throughout 2026, and changes were needed to a pitching staff that finished last in the Southeastern Conference in ERA. But, for the most part, those questions LSU entered the summer with have been answered.

It’s why Johnson heads into this weekend’s MLB Draft — which begins on Saturday at noon with rounds 1-4 and continues on Sunday at 10:30 a.m. with rounds 5-20 — feeling good about this offseason and where his team stands heading into next year. ä MLB Draft Rounds 1-4

NOON SATURdAy, MLB NETWORK, NBC at the MLB Draft to finish off the lineup or starting rotation.

With only 17 signees, LSU lost eight players to the draft last summer.

“It’s really hard to forecast because I think we have maybe only one that’s going to go in the first round (this year), but there’s a huge ‘but’ behind this: There’s going to be (more than) $350 million given away to players in this draft,” Johnson said. “So that’s a lot of wiggle room when you talk about the second and

STAFF FILE PHOTO By BRAd KEMP

ä See CAJUNS, page 3C

MLB DR AF T INTEL

“We retained just about everybody we wanted to retain,” Johnson said.

“And then with the portal, we’re excited about what we’ve added. And we’ve got a third layer of this with the draft and the high school recruits, and we’re just kind of trying to get prepared for a lot of different scenarios with that.”

LSU has 22 high school signees who could be swooped up by MLB teams in the coming days. Johnson expects about 14 of them to make it to campus, but after adding eight players from the transfer portal and bringing back numerous key pieces on both sides of the ball, LSU won’t have to rely on a positive outcome

UL infielder Lee Amedee

MLB’s proposed changes could transform college ball Owners suggest eliminating high school players from draft

BY KOKI RILEY Staff writer

If Major League Baseball goes into a lockout, the ramifications would be obvious.

Players would be out of work. Team employees would likely be furloughed or, even worse, laid off. And fans wouldn’t be able to enjoy the sport that they love.

But the consequences of a work stoppage in MLB wouldn’t end there. A lockout and the effects of a new collective bargaining agreement — the current one expires in December — would also strike at the heart of how LSU baseball fills out its roster every year.

That’s because this year’s MLB Draft could be the final one under its current set of rules.

“I think probably the biggest thing is it’s just a bunch of question marks for everybody,” one MLB scout said. “I think at the end of the day, the same thing that always kind of rings true is that the owners don’t want to spend as much money, and the owners want a more efficient way for talent to get to MLB.” Last month, in the early stages of negotiations with the MLB players union, owners laid out a variety of proposed changes to the MLB Draft and amateur development system. The proposal included eliminating high school players from the draft, forcing those players to stay in college for at least two years, shrinking the draft to 12 rounds and slashing signing bonuses in half.

For context, clubs have over $358 million to spend on players during this weekend’s MLB Draft, and high school players have been eligible for the draft since it began in 1965. Changing the latter custom would not only add more talent to the college game, but it would also save money for major league owners.

“I think Major League Baseball appreciates the fact that it has a very strong pipeline coming from college baseball,” ESPN MLB insider Jeff Passan told The Advocate months before the owners’ latest proposal. “A lot of the baseball education that’s done these days happens at the college level, and MLB teams essentially don’t have to pay for it.

ä See MLB, page 3C

third round for teams to pay guys $2 million or more. And we have a number of guys that I think are capable of commanding that bonus.”

Rebuilding the lineup LSU brought back four of its five best hitters by the end of last year, including Omar Serna, Cade Arrambide, Mason Braun and Steven Milam. Convincing Milam, who was draft-eligible, to return was arguably the best news Johnson got all summer.

Milam caught Johnson off guard when he told him he’d be returning

ä See LSU, page 3C

AP PHOTO By MATT SLOCUM

Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Konnor Griffin swings at a pitch during a spring training game on Feb. 22. Under MLB’s proposed changes, LSU would have high school players on its roster for two years.

2C ● Saturday, July 11, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

lll

BROADCAST HIGHLIGHTS On TV

MEN’S AUSTRALIAN RULES FOOTBALL Midnight (Sun.) Richmond at Melbourne FS2 AUTO RACING 7:55 a.m. FIM Moto: Germany Grand Prix FS1 8 a.m.

NASCAR Trucks: Practice FS2 8:30 a.m. NASCAR Trucks: Practice FS1 9 a.m.

Pro Motocross: Southwick Nat’l NBCSN 9:05 a.m. NASCAR Trucks: Qualifying FS1 11 a.m. Pro Motocross: Southwick Nat’l NBCSN Noon NASCAR Trucks: LiUNA 150 FS1 Noon Pro Motocross: Southwick Nat’l NBCSN 3:30 p.m. NASCAR Cup: Qualifying TRUTV 6 p.m.

O’Reilly: Focused Health 250 CW BEACH VOLLEYBALL 3:30 p.m. League Week 5 CW CFL 6 p.m.

Calgary at Montreal CBSSN CYCLING 7 a.m.

Tour de France, Stage 8 NBC 5:30 a.m. (Sun.) Tour de France, Stage 9 NBCSN GOLF 9 a.m. dP World/PGA: Scottish Open Golf 11 a.m. dP World/PGA: Scottish Open CBS 11 a.m. Kaulig Companies Champ.

Golf

1:30 p.m. American Century Champ.

NBC 3 p.m. dP World/PGA: ISCO Champ. Golf 3 a.m. (Sun.) LPGA: Evian Championship Golf GIRLS HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL 11 a.m. Run 4 Roses Classic ESPN2 1 p.m.

Run 4 Roses Classic ESPN2 HORSE RACING 11:30 a.m. Saratoga Live FS2 7 p.m.

America’s day at the Races FS1 MLB Noon MLB draft: First Round NBC 1:30 p.m. MLB draft: Rounds 1-4 MLBN 3:10 p.m. Boston at N.y. Mets FS1 6:15 p.m. Atlanta at St. Louis MLBN 9 p.m.

Arizona at L.A. dodgers (JIP) MLBN NBA SUMMER LEAGUE 2:30 p.m. Miami vs. Orlando Prime 3 p.m.

New Orleans vs. Charlotte ESPN 4:30 p.m. Indiana vs. Philadelphia Prime 5 p.m.

New york vs. San Antonio ESPN 6:30 p.m. denver vs. Minnesota Prime 7 p.m.

Atlanta vs. Brooklyn ESPN 8:30 p.m. Houston vs. Toronto Prime 9 p.m.

L.A. Lakers vs. dallas ESPN RODEO 9 p.m.

PBR Teams: Bulls and Beats CW

IN BRIEF

FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

MEN’S RUGBY 3:10 a.m. (Sun.) Gold Coast at Melbourne FS2 WOMEN’S RUGBY 8:55 p.m. New Zealand at Canberra FS2 10:40 p.m. Parramatta at St. George Illawarra FS2 MEN’S SOCCER 4 p.m.

World Cup: Norway vs. England FOX 8 p.m.

Chattanooga at San Antonio ESPN2 8 p.m.

World Cup: Argentina vs. SwitzerlandFOX WOMEN’S SOCCER 5:30 p.m. Washington at North Carolina ION 7:45 p.m. Angel City at San diego ION SOFTBALL 1 p.m.

Carolina at Texas ESPN 4 p.m.

Chicago at Portland CBSSN TENNIS 7 a.m.

Wimbledon, doubles Champ. ESPN 10 a.m. Wimbledon, Women’s Final ESPN 10 a.m. Newport-ATP/WTA Challenger Tennis WNBA Noon New york at Minnesota ABC 3 p.m.

Portland at Atlanta CBS 5 p.m.

Phoenix at Los Angeles NBCSN X GAMES 6 p.m.

MoonPay X Games 2026 ESPN2

WIMBLEDON

Sinner routs Djokovic in semifinal

BY ANDREW DAMPF Associated Press

LONDON — Novak Djokovic didn’t dwell on Centre Court after getting dominated by Jannik Sinner in the Wimbledon semifinals.

The 39-year-old Djokovic enjoyed a warm, smile-filled embrace with his 24-year-old opponent at the net after the 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 defeat Friday, quickly packed up his tennis bags and then waved to the boisterous crowd as he held one hand to his chest to show his appreciation as he walked off.

Will the seven-time Wimbledon champion ever be back to play on these hallowed lawns again?

Only time — something that Djokovic is running out of — will tell.

It’s been nearly three years since Djokovic won his record-extending 24th Grand Slam singles title at the 2023 U.S. Open. And despite reaching the semifinals at all four Grand Slams last year and reaching a final and another semi in two of three Slams this year — he acknowledges that’s not enough.

“For 99% of the players, that would be a very good Grand Slam result,” Djokovic said. “For me, it’s good but not good enough, because I’m blessed and cursed to be used to something of a highest degree in terms of results and achievements.

“I always have the highest expectations for myself,” Djokovic added. “So it’s kind of that internal battle really of what I’ve been through for the 20-plus years of my career, what the goals were always, the expectations, and trying to balance it out and really be a little more humble in that sense.”

Still, Djokovic expressed interest in playing Wimbledon when he’s 40: “I would like to, at least one more time,” he said.

“I feel when I’m healthy,”

Los Angeles Dodgers two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani will miss next week’s All-Star Game in Philadelphia because of continued irritation in his left knee.

The Dodgers added that Ohtani would not make his scheduled start on the mound against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday but would continue to start at designated hitter throughout the weekend.

Ohtani has been dealing with discomfort in his left knee for at least a month. The right-hander had an outing cut short against the Pittsburgh Pirates on June 11 because of inflammation in the knee.

The Dodgers said that after their series against the D-backs ends on Sunday, Ohtani will have some “interventions” done on the knee to get ready for the second half of the season, which will cause him to miss the All-Star Game.

Cardinals, Wetherholt agree to $112.5M deal The St. Louis Cardinals and JJ Wetherholt have agreed to an eightyear, $112.5 million contract that starts next season and buys out the rookie second baseman’s first several years of potential free agency.

St. Louis selected Wetherholt seventh overall out of West Virginia in the 2024 amateur draft and he rocketed through their farm system. The 23-year-old made his major league debut on opening day and was hitting .267 with 13 homers and 36 RBIs and nine stolen bases going into Friday night’s game against the Atlanta Braves.

Advanced metrics also have graded Wetherholt as one of the best defensive second basemen in baseball this season.

He is earning the major league minimum $780,000 this year.

Wembanyama’s extension with Spurs may top $250M

ASSOCIATEd PRESS PHOTO By BRIAN INGANGA

Jannik Sinner serves to Novak djokovic in their singles semifinal match on Friday at Wimbledon in London.

Djokovic added, “I’m still able to play as a top-five player, still able to compete at the highest level.”

For Sinner, it was a measure of revenge after Djokovic won their last meeting in five sets in this year’s Australian Open semifinals.

“Playing against Novak,” Sinner said, “what he’s still showing is true inspiration.”

Aiming to defend his title at the grass-court Grand Slam, the topranked Sinner will face secondseeded Alexander Zverev in Sunday’s final.

Zverev ended the “Ferytale” run of British wild card Arthur Fery with an overpowering 7-6 (0), 6-2, 6-4 victory earlier as the starstudded crowd on Centre Court witnessed two one-way contests.

Zverev will be playing for another major trophy a month after

winning his first Grand Slam title at Roland Garros.

If there were any lingering questions over Sinner’s physical status after his meltdown at the French Open, they should be answered now.

Sinner blasted his way past Djokovic and showed off the kind of dominance he displayed before that second-round defeat in Paris.

“I knew mentally,” Sinner said, “that today I had to raise my level, which I’ve done.”

Andre Agassi attributed Sinner’s performance in part to Djokovic: “What these guys can do now is all because he has shown them what’s possible,” Agassi said on the BBC.

Roland Garros came in his fourth Grand Slam final, is attempting to become the first man in the professional era (since 1968) to win his second major title at the next event immediately after his first.

Sinner has won his last nine meetings with Zverev and 14 straight sets.

“I have to trust myself and I have to believe that I can win and that’s what I’m going to do,” Zverev said before he knew who his opponent would be.

The 114th-ranked Fery, who grew up five minutes from the All England Club and played at Stanford University, was attempting to become the first wild card to reach the final since GoSinner on a roll vs. Zverev ran Ivanisevic won Wimbledon Zverev, whose breakthrough at in 2001.

McIlroy shares lead at Scottish Open Scheffler misses cut for first time in nearly four years

BY DOUG FERGUSON Associated Press

NORTH BERWICK, Scotland — Rory McIlroy took advantage of the scoring holes in windy conditions Friday and posted a 4-under 66 for a three-way share of the lead in a Scottish Open that no longer has Scottie Scheffler.

As comfortable as McIlroy looked, Scheffler struggled from the start and wound up with a 72 to miss the 36-hole cut for the first time in nearly four years. He had made 78 cuts in a row, the longest streak since Tiger Woods set the record (142) more than 20 years ago.

“Got off to a poor start and after that, I didn’t really it close enough to give myself a bunch of looks,” Scheffler said. “That’s how you shoot over par.”

Jordan Smith of England had the low score of the tournament with a 63 and was the first to post at 9-under 131, joined by the resurgent Tom Kim (66) and McIlroy, who has not won since going backto-back in the Masters in April.

Dodgers’ Ohtani to miss All-Star Game due to knee

ASSOCIATEd PRESS PHOTO By MALCOLM MACKENZIE

Rory McIlroy plays on the 14th fairway during the first round of the Scottish Open on Thursday at The Renaissance Club in North Berwick, Scotland. McIlroy had a share of the lead after two rounds.

“It would have been nice to be a couple better,” McIlroy said. “But it’s obviously another good day and in good position.”

But the most surprising development at The Renaissance Club was Scheffler. Instead of heading to the range after his round, he was making plans to head south earlier than he imagined for his title defense in the British Open at Royal Birkdale.

He had not missed the cut since the 2022 FedEx St. Jude Championship.

Scheffler had company that was equally surprising. Patrick Cantlay and Bernd Wiesberger became the first players since Jordan Spieth at the 2023 Sony Open to share the 18-hole lead and then miss the cut. Cantlay shot a 74, while Wiesberger shot 43 on the back nine for a 78.

Brooks Koepka, who was one shot off the lead going into Friday, also missed the cut.

McIlroy, who won the Scottish Open three years ago, found a new wedge to help him with firm turf at Renaissance and next week at Birkdale. He still faces a busy leaderboard going into the weekend.

Smith ran off four straight birdies early on the back nine, all of them inside 10 feet. Kim, who tied for third in the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, holed a 40-foot eagle putt on the par-5 seven and finished with two birdies on his last five holes.

Kim fell out of the top 100 in the world before steadily climbing back up. The U.S. Open was a big step, and it eventually got him into the British Open next week.

“I think being under the radar was kind of nice, just be able to work on my game and keep getting better,” Kim said. “Not being in the spotlight all the time, you don’t see everything, you don’t see all the good stuff. I knew I was really, really close. And I’m still working towards trying to be the best I can be. But all those little things kind of kept adding, kept adding, and I think it’s shown the last couple weeks.”

Victor Wembanyama has signed what will be the richest contract in San Antonio Spurs history, a fiveyear extension that could exceed $250 million if the player option in the final season is picked up, a person with knowledge of the negotiations said Friday.

The Spurs, who went to the NBA Finals this past season behind the All-NBA center and unanimous Defensive Player of the Year, announced that Wembanyama had signed, simply saying the sides agreed on “a multi-year contract extension.”

The agreement comes at a discount; Wembanyama could have agreed to a deal that topped $300 million but chose a lesser amount to help give the Spurs flexibility going forward with their young core, the person said.

Top-ranked Korda misses cut; Woad takes Evian lead

EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France — Topranked Nelly Korda’s bid for a third straight major and fifth overall ended early when she missed the cut after the second round of the Evian Championship on Friday.

As Korda scrapped to stay in the tournament, English golfer Lottie Woad carded a 7-under 64 to take a one-stroke lead from overnight leader Aki Iwai of Japan.

Korda had a poor opening round of 74 on Thursday and, although she improved with 69 on Friday, her 1-over total left her tied for 67th and she missed the cut by one stroke. She last missed a cut at the 2024 Women’s PGA Championship.

Woad’s round featured eight birdies and a bogey and put her on 11 under overall at the midway point of the fourth of the five women’s majors this year.

Percy shoots 66 at rainy Firestone to take lead

AKRON, Ohio — Cameron Percy shot a 4-under 66 on Friday at rainy Firestone Country Club to take a one-stroke lead in the Kaulig Companies Championship, the fourth of the five major tournaments on the PGA Tour Champions.

Percy had a 7-under 133 total.

The 52-year-old Australian is winless on the senior tour.

“You can’t fake it around here.

You’ve got to hit it solid,” Percy said. “The par 3s are hard, everything’s hard. You’ve got to hit it really good. You can’t just slap it everywhere and shoot a 68.”

First-round leader Jerry Kelly was tied for second with Zach Johnson. Kelly shot 69, and Johnson had his second straight 67.

The Acadiana Advocate ● theadvocate.com ● Saturday, July 11, 2026 ● 3C

lll

CAJUNS

Continued from page 1C discourage him much. He’s seen former teammate John Taylor go undrafted and then play on two independent league teams before signing with the Texas Rangers.

Currently, Taylor is playing Triple-A ball for the Round Rock Express.

“Yes, John kind of laid out the pathway if you don’t get drafted,” Amedee said. “If you want to keep playing baseball, there’s a way. I’m definitely not ready to stop playing baseball.”

While Amedee is out of college eligibility, there are a handful of players who are now juniors again on UL’s roster following last month’s new NCAA 5-for-5 eligibility guideline. Cajuns coach Matt Deggs could see a few of them getting a call this weekend.

With the transfer portal working out for the Cajuns, the coaching staff waits to see if any other po-

MLB

Continued from page 1C “So farming out labor sounds good. Baseball organizations will sign up for that eight days a week.”

It’s unlikely that all of MLB’s proposals will be implemented.

The MLB players union has already decried the plans in a statement, saying that “MLB made another set of proposals that are flat out bad for baseball, ones that would cripple the next generation of players and damage the future of our game.”

Before MLB’s latest proposal, two scouts had speculated in interviews with The Advocate that MLB was intent on removing high school players from the draft. Last

tential holes in the roster open up after the draft.

Pitcher Cody Brasch is expected to be taken in the first 10 rounds, so there’s no expectation he’ll be returning to Lafayette.

But Deggs said there will be teams considering such juniors as Donovan LaSalle, Ty Roman and Drew Markle.

“You just never know,” Deggs said. “It’s hard to speculate anymore. Everything is so different now. It’s all a calculated gamble.

With the way things have shaken out at our level with NIL and rev share, I think more guys are going to get to the point where they turn it down and come back.

“To me, it’s not just about the money. It’s about maximizing your baseball life.”

For some draftees, getting paid and the opportunity is enough. For a prospect that is not quite ready, though, Deggs warns that getting drafted often initiates a two-year exit from the game.

Things began to click for LaSalle down the stretch, and he unleashed

Email Kevin Foote at kfoote@theadvocate.com.

UL infielder Lee Amedee, shown here playing a game in the Starkville Regional, is hoping to hear his name called in this weekend’s MLB draft.

month’s offer from the owners only confirmed their suspicions.

“MLB wants to have a really good working relationship with the college teams,” one scout said.

“Owners want more assurance with drafting college players. Just look at the amount of money that’s spent on high school players. The data is just not very good. It’s a lot of wasted money.”

If MLB’s proposals had been in place over the past few seasons, LSU would have had the likes of Konnor Griffin, Justin Crawford and Robby Snelling wearing the purple and gold for two years.

All three players were LSU signees who were drafted out of high school, became top prospects and have since debuted in the major leagues.

Having players of Griffin’s cali-

ber on LSU’s roster would transform not just the Tigers, but every program in college baseball.

There’d be a significant trickledown effect that would raise the level of talent at mid-major schools and junior college programs.

That’s, in part, because not every top signee is ready to contribute in a league such as the Southeastern Conference right away.

“In the SEC, there’s so much pressure to win right now,” a scout said. “You go through the starting lineups; it’s almost an anomaly now when you see a freshman playing every day.”

Ultimately, high school players may not get boxed out of the draft.

Passan didn’t believe that would be the case in his conversation with The Advocate before MLB’s latest proposal, and the MLB play-

ers union has already taken a hard stance on the issue.

But even if high school players are still allowed to be selected under the next CBA, other changes could arise. The draft could be shortened further, the bonus pools for players may shrink or the ability for teams to sign players to over- or under-slot deals could be eliminated.

Whatever happens, the owners seem intent on making sweeping changes, not just with the draft but with the entire sport — the introduction of a salary cap being the most notable proposal.

The owners are so motivated to make changes that one scout told The Advocate he expects there to be a lockout that would last through all of next year, which would mean there would be no

his power stroke. The Oklahoma State transfer hit .238 with 11 doubles, 13 homers and 44 RBIs. Roman also shined down the stretch from the left side, striking out 89 in 87 innings with a 4-4 record and 4.83 ERA. Markle has always displayed his athleticism on a 6-foot-5 frame with the ability to play center field and any of the infield positions.

“Personally, I wouldn’t forsake the opportunity to play another year on a tight-knit college team,” Deggs said. “Other than if you’re on a big league team that makes the playoffs, this is the last true team you’re ever going to play on.

“To me, you need to maximize that camaraderie and brotherhood, but every situation is different. We’ll see what happens.

I really believe there are two or three big leaguers on our roster right now. It’s just a matter of when.”

LSU

Continued from page 1C to LSU for his senior season. The possibility of him coming back was brought to Johnson in April, but LSU’s coach didn’t believe it because he thought MLB would prioritize Milam as a slick-fielding shortstop who was coming off his best season at the plate against SEC competition.

“I’m probably his biggest fan as a player. I think (he has) tremendous value for a Major League Baseball team,” Johnson said. “He went out and did his research about where he felt he would be and decided that he wanted to come back.

“I think that’s the cool side of this. This is more about (the fact that) he wasn’t ready to leave yet. I think that’s pretty awesome.”

With Milam, Braun, Arrambide and Serna providing LSU a strong core for the lineup, Johnson was aggressive in the transfer portal to supplement what he already had.

LSU added outfielders Angel Laya (Oregon), Jason Wachs (Tulane) and Bino Watters (Notre Dame) to replace its starting outfield from the past two seasons. Laya, Wachs and Watters were all in the top-60 of ESPN’s portal rankings.

The only question surrounding the trio is who plays center field.

Laya, Wachs and Watters were primarily corner outfielders at their past stops.

“I think they all are good outfielders,” Johnson said. “I need to, frankly, see more before I would comment on that, but we’ll probably play them all in center at some point during the fall and go from there.

“I think Jason could do it. I think Angel can do it, and Bino’s a good runner. I mean, he has like six or seven stolen bases up in the (Cape Cod Baseball League).”

On the infield, the Tigers also brought in Texas State shortstop Dawson Park and Florida second baseman Cade Kurland. Park is expected to shift to third base — with Milam returning to shortstop — and Kurland will likely play sec-

DOWNLOAD

STAFF FILE PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK

LSU coach Jay Johnson watches a pitch during an opening-season game against Milwaukee on Feb. 13 at Alex Box Stadium. ond base after starting there for four years at Florida.

Park is coming off a big season, hitting 13 home runs and posting a .962 on-base plus slugging percentage last year at Texas State. But his campaign was cut short in early May after he got into an on-field altercation with a teammate and left the program for the remainder of the season the day after.

“Relative to the situation, I did what I needed to do to find out everything about that,” Johnson said. “And I’m comfortable with it, and feel very good about Dawson. And I have zero concerns about him fitting into our team and adding to our team.”

That, in part, was because the market for pitchers wasn’t strong in Johnson’s eyes. LSU aggressively pursued only one left-handed pitcher in the portal, he said, and Gonzaga right-hander Landon Hood — one of the Tigers’ three pitching additions — was among the few pitchers with the profile they were seeking.

“Early on, as we were evaluating what was in the portal, I didn’t think there would be many guys like him entering,” Johnson said about Hood. “And we were right about that.”

Johnson’s excitement about Hood, therefore, can’t be understated. The rising sophomore was Pitching staff taking shape the West Coast Conference FreshLSU was aggressive in the por- man of the Year after posting a 2.48 tal in adding hitters, but the same ERA in 541/3 innings. He struck out wasn’t true for the Tigers’ portal 78 batters while only walking 21. strategy with pitchers. They were “He’s a really good pitcher and more timid in the market, only a really good competitor,” Johnson adding three arms, none of whom said. are left-handed.

Along with Hood, LSU also add-

DOWNLOAD

DOWNLOAD

DOWNLOAD

STAFF PHOTO By BRAd KEMP

ed right-handers Diego Velazquez (Southern Cal) and Kaden Smith (South Florida).

Velazquez, a two-way player, is another rising sophomore who was a top recruit from California in the 2025 class, posting a 4.26 ERA on the mound as a freshman and playing 26 games as a position player.

Johnson wouldn’t close the door on his future as a hitter, but he views Velazquez as a pitcher first moving forward.

“The focus is pitching,” Johnson said. “He’s going to be an excellent draft pick out of here in two years as a pitcher. I think he’s good enough to be a position player for us. We may investigate that, but I think he’s got the ability to be a significant contributor to the pitching staff.”

Smith was a later addition to LSU’s portal class. He posted a 4.24 ERA over 462/ 3 innings, working as both a starter and a reliever for the Bulls after transferring from TCU, where he spent his freshman year. Johnson believes he is good enough to get outs in the SEC. With Casan Evans, Cooper Moore and William Schmidt already set to return, LSU didn’t need to remake the top of its staff. Hood has a chance to crack that rotation, and Velazquez and Smith could contribute as important relievers, but the rest of the staff will likely be made up of freshmen and returning arms.

LSU is set to bring back righthanders Zion Theophilus and Reagan Ricken and left-handers Danny Lachenmayer, Jonah Aase, Ethan Plog and Cooper Williams.

The Tigers also have one junior college commit (right-hander Major Osbolt) and 11 high school signees they could add depending on the outcome of the MLB Draft.

One of those signees, left-hander Braxton Beaty, has already withdrawn his name from the draft.

“There are a few targeted players that we feel will help us get to another level next year,” Johnson said. “And, obviously, for the long-term success of the program, I think getting some of this young pitching talent through will be important.”

MLB games in 2027.

And nobody who loves the game would want that scenario.

“Ownership is in such a different position than it was when we were coming off of COVID that I think they’re going to draw a huge line in the sand: ‘Hey, we’re going to stick to this, and we want a (salary) cap,’ ” the scout said. “And I think the players have just fought it for so long that I don’t see them going down without a fight as well.

“Both sides just seem to be so dug in right now that it’s hard for me to see a path to them playing in 2027.”

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

How the freshman class fits in LSU’s freshman class enters this year’s draft as the No. 2 class in the nation, according to Perfect Game.

But ask Johnson which signees make it through the draft, and he can’t pretend to give a straight answer.

“All I’m doing right now is (thinking about) what’s going to happen with the draft this week,” Johnson said. “Like it’s 1000% my focus. Having conversations with players and their advisers, and those types of things.

“We’ll see. I wish I could be a better prognosticator of how it’s going to go, but nobody really gives anybody a straight answer in regards to these things.”

It’s hard to deny the impact some of LSU’s top signees could make if they made it to school.

Dominic Santarelli has one of the most powerful high school bats in the draft. Malachi Washington is a power-hitting center fielder with top-tier athleticism. Will Adams is a first baseman who’d be ready to contribute as a hitter on Day 1.

But if none of them make it to school, Johnson has made sure to cover his potential losses with top hitters in the transfer portal, such as Laya, Watters and Park.

LSU may be more reliant on its top high school signees to make it through the draft on the pitching side — including left-hander Lucas Nawrocki and right-hander Cooper Sides — but Johnson still has most of his top arms returning and has added three more from the portal.

According to Johnson, LSU landed eight of the 10 players it coveted in the portal.

“I think, for the most part, we met the needs for this team that were maybe lacking with some of the returning players in the portal,” Johnson said, “probably about as good as you can.”

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

ONE great state FOUR great apps

4C ● Saturday, July 11, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

lll

Merino stars again as Spain edges Belgium

BY GREG BEACHAM AP sportswriter

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Mikel Merino scored in the 88th minute on a rebound yielded by backup Belgium goalkeeper Senne Lammens, and Spain advanced to the World Cup semifinals with a 2-1 victory on Friday.

Merino was the late hero for the second straight match for Spain, which will face tournament favorite France in the semifinals on Tuesday in the Dallas area.

“It will be a clash of giants,” Spain coach Luis De La Fuente said through a translator.

Merino came on in the 86th minute and scored on his second touch of the match, charging into the box and pouncing after Lammens spilled a rebound of Pau Cubarsí’s long shot.

The Arsenal forward also scored as a substitute early in injury time to secure Spain’s 1-0 victory over Portugal in the round of 16. This second clutch goal against an upset-minded Belgium sent La Roja to the semifinals for the first time since they won the World Cup in 2010.

“I’ve done this again, and it’s happened to me again, so it

before his substitution. He received treatment during the hydration break, but he left the match in tears.

Only Germany’s Manuel Neuer has played more World Cup matches than Courtois, while Lammens had not yet played at this year’s World Cup. Belgium desperately pressed for an equalizer in the final minutes with substitute forward Romelu Lukaku leading the effort, but Aymeric Laporte acrobatically volleyed the best chance out of the box in the second minute of injury time.

Fabián Ruiz scored in the 30th minute for Spain, but Belgium forward Charles De Ketelaere notched the first goal allowed by Spain in the entire World Cup in the 41st minute.

Spain remained unbeaten since ASSOCIATEd PRESS PHOTO By MARK J. TERRILL March 2023 in a streak of 37 matches, while Belgium’s streak Spain midfielder Mikel Merino celebrates scoring a goal during a World of 18 straight unbeaten matches Cup quarterfinal match against Belgium on Friday in Inglewood, Calif. ended.

After a cautious start from both would seem that coincidence ex- the match in the 71st minute after teams in the World Cup’s second ists,” a smiling Merino said. “If longtime Belgium keeper Thibaut quarterfinal match, Spain broke you’re ready and you try, it can Courtois left with an apparent through when Lamine Yamal and Pedro Porro moved the the happen for you. I’m very, very thigh injury.

Courtois made four saves, but ball down the right side and got pleased.”

Lammens, the capable Manches- the Real Madrid keeper went it to Dani Olmo, whose shot was ter United keeper, was forced into down to the grass four minutes stopped by Courtois. The rebound

went straight to Ruiz, who hammered home his first goal of the tournament.

Ruiz was making his first start since Spain’s World Cup opener, replacing Pedri in the lineup in a mildly surprising tactical decision

by De La Fuente — whose later substitute decisions paid off even more.

Spain didn’t allow a goal in its first five matches at this year’s tournament, and goalkeeper Unai Simón hadn’t conceded in a World Cup-record 650 minutes dating to Qatar. The streaks abruptly ended when De Ketelaere muscled past Cubarsí and headed home a cross from Timothy Castagne for Belgium’s tying goal.

Belgium hadn’t generated anything close to a strong scoring chance before the latest big moment for De Ketelaere, the Atalanta forward who scored two goals in Belgium’s 4-1 rout of the co-host U.S. on Monday.

Belgium captain Youri Tielemans was removed from the starting lineup after getting injured during warmups. He joined injured defender Amadou Onana on the sidelines, although Kevin De Bruyne returned for Belgium and started the match.

SCOREBOARD Hole-in-one

Los Angeles

Hudson Greene

N.Y. Mets 7, Kansas City 3 Cleveland 5, Minnesota 2 N.Y. Yankees 12, Tampa Bay 4 Baltimore 3, Chicago Cubs 2 Boston 2, Chicago White Sox 1 Detroit 4, Athletics 1 Miami 8, Seattle 4 Texas 7, L.A. Angels 6

Course: Sanata Maria Hole: No.5 Club: 9 Iron Witnesses: Parker Greene, Maddox Mowad

High school baseball (All games at Fabacher Field, Broussard, unless indicated)

Saturday’s games

9 a.m. — Carencro Aces vs. Gauthier Amedee Noon — Gulf Coast Bank vs. Bossier Phillies 4 p.m. — St. Landry Indians vs. Lafayette Drillers (at Miller Field, Crowley) 7 p.m. — Retif Oil vs. Crowley Millers (at Miller Field, Crowley)

Sunday’s games

9 a.m. — Game 1 loser vs. Game 3 loser Noon — Game 2 loser vs. Game 4 loser 4 p.m. — Game 1 winner vs. Game 3 winner 7 p.m. — Game 2 winner vs. Game 4 winner

Monday’s games

1 p.m. - Game 6 winner vs. Game 7 loser 4 p.m.- Game 5 winner vs. Game 8 loser 7 p.m. - Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner

Tuesday’s games

4 p.m. — Game 10 winner vs. Game 8 loser 7 p.m. — Game 9 winner vs. Game 11 winner

Wednesday’s games

4 p.m. — Championship game 7 p.m. — (If necessary)

Odds

UNDERDOG LINE LA Angels +124 at WHITE SOX +100 at TAMPA BAY -102 Kansas City +134 at TEXAS +104 UNDERDOG LINE Colorado +128 at PITTSBURGH +110 at CINCINNATI -102 at ST. LOUIS -106 Arizona +225 UNDERDOG at WASH Boston Cleveland at DETROIT at SAN DIEGO

LINE +160 OFF +122 +124 +102

Pro basketball WNBA Glance Atlanta Indiana New York Washington Toronto Chicago Connecticut

W 13 13 13 10 9 7 5

L 9 9 9 10 12 14 17

Pct .591 .591 .591 .500 .429 .333 .227

GB — — — 2 3½ 5½ 8

Minnesota Las Vegas Golden State Dallas Los Angeles Portland Phoenix Seattle

W 16 16 16 14 9 9 8 6

L 6 6 7 8 11 13 15 18

Pct .727 .727 .696 .636 .450 .409 .348 .250

GB — — ½ 2 6 7 8½ 11

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Thursday’s Games

Atlanta 89, Seattle 78 Las Vegas 88, Portland 80 Indiana 92, Phoenix 89

Friday’s Games

Dallas at Toronto, n Golden State at Connecticut, n Chicago at Los Angeles, n

Saturday’s Games

New York at Minnesota, noon Portland at Atlanta, 3 p.m.

Phoenix at Las Vegas, 5 p.m.

Sunday’s Games

New York at Toronto, 2 p.m.

Seattle at Washington, 2 p.m.

Chicago at Dallas, 6 p.m.

Indiana at Las Vegas, 8 p.m.

Athletics (Jump 3-3) at Chicago White Sox (Fedde 4-6), 1:10 p.m.

L.A. Angels (Johnson 1-4) at Minnesota (Ryan 6-5), 1:10 p.m.

N.Y. Yankees (Schlittler 9-5) at Washington (Mikolas 3-7), 3:05 p.m.

Boston (TBD) at N.Y. Mets (Peralta 5-7), 3:10 p.m.

Cleveland (Bibee 2-9) at Miami (Pérez 5-6), 3:10 p.m.

Seattle (Gilbert 7-5) at Tampa Bay (Jax 4-6), 3:10 p.m.

Philadelphia (Sánchez 10-4) at Detroit (Mize 4-5), 5:10 p.m.

Houston (Lambert 7-5) at Texas (Rocker 2-7), 6:05 p.m.

Kansas City (Cameron 5-6) at Baltimore (Bradish 5-9), 6:05 p.m.

Toronto (Yesavage 4-4) at San Diego (Buehler 5-5), 7:40 p.m.

Atlanta Miami Philadelphia Washington New York

W 54 52 52 48 40

Central Division Milwaukee Chicago St. Louis Pittsburgh Cincinnati

West Division

W 59 52 48 47 42

Los Angeles Arizona San Diego San Francisco Colorado

W 61 46 46 39 38

Thursday’s Games

L 38 42 42 46 54

Pct .587 .553 .553 .511 .426

GB — 3 3 7 15

L 34 41 44 47 50

Pct .634 .559 .522 .500 .457

GB — 7 10½ 12½ 16½

Pct .649 .495 .495 .419 .400

GB — 14½ 14½ 21½ 23½

L 33 47 47 54 57

N.Y. Mets 7, Kansas City 3 Atlanta 10, Pittsburgh 5 Baltimore 3, Chicago Cubs 2 Philadelphia 1, Cincinnati 0 Miami 8, Seattle 4 Milwaukee 8, St. Louis 4 Arizona 3, San Diego 1 San Francisco 8, Colorado 2

Friday’s Games

Milwaukee at Pittsburgh, n Philadelphia at Detroit, n N.Y. Yankees at Washington, n Chicago Cubs at Cincinnati, n Cleveland at Miami, n Boston at N.Y. Mets, n Atlanta at St. Louis, n Toronto at San Diego, n Arizona at L.A. Dodgers, n Colorado at San Francisco, n

Saturday’s Games

Colorado (Freeland 2-7) at San Francisco (Mahle 1-8), 3:05 p.m.

Milwaukee (Drohan 4-2) at Pittsburgh (Chandler 3-8), 3:05 p.m.

N.Y. Yankees (Schlittler 9-5) at Washington (Mikolas 3-7), 3:05 p.m.

Boston (TBD) at N.Y. Mets (Peralta 5-7), 3:10 p.m.

Cleveland (Bibee 2-9) at Miami (Pérez 5-6), 3:10 p.m.

Philadelphia (Sánchez 10-4) at Detroit (Mize 4-5), 5:10 p.m.

Chicago Cubs (Assad 6-1) at Cincinnati (Lodolo 3-2), 6:10 p.m.

Atlanta (López 4-1) at St. Louis (Liberatore 4-6), 6:15 p.m.

Toronto (Yesavage 4-4) at San Diego (Buehler 5-5), 7:40 p.m.

Arizona (Pfaadt 2-1) at L.A. Dodgers (Yamamoto 9-5), 8:10 p.m.

Genesis Scottish Open Friday

American League Tampa Bay New York Toronto Boston Baltimore

W 54 51 44 43 43

L 37 42 49 48 51

Pct .593 .548 .473 .473 .457

GB — 4 11 11 12½

Cleveland Chicago Minnesota Detroit Kansas City

W 48 47 46 43 38

L 46 45 48 50 56

Pct .511 .511 .489 .462 .404

GB — — 2 4½ 10

Texas Seattle Houston Athletics

W 47 47 46 41

L 46 47 49 52

Pct .505 .500 .484 .441

GB — ½ 2 6

West Division

Saturday’s Games

Golf

Major League Baseball

Central Division

10½

Philadelphia at Detroit, n N.Y. Yankees at Washington, n Kansas City at Baltimore, n Cleveland at Miami, n Seattle at Tampa Bay, n Boston at N.Y. Mets, n Athletics at Chicago White Sox, n Houston at Texas, n L.A. Angels at Minnesota, n Toronto at San Diego, n

East Division

Saturday

EASTERN CONFERENCE

.394

National League

Sports Betting Line MLB American League FAVORITE LINE at MINNESOTA -152 Athletics -118 Seattle -116 at BALTIMORE -158 Houston -122 National League FAVORITE LINE at SAN FRAN -157 Milwaukee -130 Chicago Cubs -116 Atlanta -110 at LA DODGERS -275 Interleague FAVORITE LINE N.Y Yankees -190 at N.Y METS OFF at MIAMI -144 Philadelphia -146 Toronto -120

57

Friday’s Games

2026 American Legion State Tournament

East Division

37

Thursday’s Games

At The Renaissance Club North Berwick, United Kingdom Purse: $9 million Yardage: 7,282; Par: 70 Second Round Tom Kim, South Korea 65-66—131 R. McIlroy, Northern Ireland 65-66—131 Jordan L. Smith, England 68-63—131 Matt Fitzpatrick, England 67-65—132 Min Woo Lee, Australia 66-66—132 Chris Gotterup, United States 68-65—133 Joost Luiten, Netherlands 67-66—133 Robert MacIntyre, Scotland 67-66—133 Keita Nakajima, Japan 67-66—133 69-64—133 Victor Perez, France N. Von Dellingshsn, Germany 69-64—133 S. Yellamaraju, Canada 68-65—133 W. Clark, United States 67-67—134 Nicolai Hojgaard, Denmark 68-66—134 M. Thorbjrnsn, United States 66-68—134 Karl Vilips, Australia 70-64—134 Danny Willett, England 67-67—134 Marcus Armitage, England 68-67—135

-9 -9 -9 -8 -8 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -7 -6 -6 -6 -6 -6 -5

Ryan Gerard, United States 68-67—135 -5 Oliver Lindell, Finland 66-69—135 -5 Guido Migliozzi, Italy 68-67—135 -5 Patrick Reed, United States 68-67—135 -5 Kevin Roy, United States 67-68—135 -5 Darius Van Driel, Netherlands 70-65—135 -5 Ricky Castillo, United States 70-66—136 -4 Cameron Davis, Australia 70-66—136 -4 H. Du Plessis, South Africa 70-66—136 -4 Austin Eckroat, United States 70-66—136 -4 Ryan Fox, New Zealand 71-65—136 -4 Tyrrell Hatton, England 70-66—136 -4 Calum Hill, Scotland 67-69—136 -4 Casey Jarvis, South Africa 68-68—136 -4 John Keefer, United States 68-68—136 -4 R. Nrgrd-Petersen, Denmark 68-68—136 -4 A. Putnam, United States 71-65—136 -4 Andy Sullivan, England 68-68—136 -4 Justin Thomas, United States 69-67—136 -4 Laurie Canter, England 69-68—137 -3 Corey Conners, Canada 67-70—137 -3 Tommy Fleetwood, England 67-70—137 -3 Si Woo Kim, South Korea 70-67—137 -3 Chris Kirk, United States 70-67—137 -3 Mikael Lindberg, Sweden 69-68—137 -3 Francesco Molinari, Italy 68-69—137 -3 Andrew Novak, United States 66-71—137 -3 Matti Schmid, Germany 68-69—137 -3 Nick Taylor, Canada 70-67—137 -3 S. Theegala, United States 70-67—137 -3 M. Brennan, United States 67-71—138 -2 Eric Cole, United States 71-67—138 -2 Alejandro Del Rey, Spain 72-66—138 -2 Nicolas Echavarria, Colombia 68-70—138 -2 Nacho Elvira, Spain 69-69—138 -2 M. Greyserman, United States 69-69—138 -2 Brian Harman, United States 70-68—138 -2 Rasmus Hojgaard, Denmark 65-73—138 -2 Viktor Hovland, Norway 68-70—138 -2 Scott Jamieson, Scotland 69-69—138 -2 Yuto Katsuragawa, Japan 71-67—138 -2 Kurt Kitayama, United States 66-72—138 -2 J. Kruyswijk, South Africa 69-69—138 -2 E. Lopez-Chacarra, Spain 70-68—138 -2 T. McKibbin, Northern Ireland 67-71—138 -2 Mac Meissner, United States 71-67—138 -2 Shaun Norris, South Africa 68-70—138 -2 Jon Rahm, Spain 73-65—138 -2 Davis Riley, United States 68-70—138 -2 Adrien Saddier, France 72-66—138 -2 Adam Scott, Australia 69-69—138 -2 J.J. Spaun, United States 68-70—138 -2 Jesper Svensson, Sweden 70-68—138 -2 Missed Cut Ludvig Aberg, Sweden 68-71—139 -1 Z. Bauchou, United States 67-72—139 -1 Dan Bradbury, England 71-68—139 -1 Patrick Cantlay, United States 65-74—139 -1 Harris English, United States 71-68—139 -1 Ewen Ferguson, Scotland 70-69—139 -1 Dylan Frittelli, South Africa 70-69—139 -1 M. McCarty, United States 67-72—139 -1 Marco Penge, England 70-69—139 -1 David Puig, Spain 75-64—139 -1 Antoine Rozner, France 69-70—139 -1 J. Trey Schaper, South Africa 68-71—139 -1 Sepp Straka, Austria 70-69—139 -1 Angel Ayora Fanegas, Spain 66-74—140 E Daniel Brown, England 73-67—140 E Grant Forrest, Scotland 69-71—140 E Doug Ghim, United States 71-69—140 E J. Gumberg, United States 72-68—140 E Joe Highsmith, United States 71-69—140 E Michael Kim, United States 68-72—140 E Brooks Koepka, United States 66-74—140 E Joakim Lagergren, Sweden 70-70—140 E Shane Lowry, Ireland 71-69—140 E Max McGreevy, United States 69-71—140 E Adrian Meronk, Poland 69-71—140 E N. Norgaard Moller, Denmark 71-69—140 E Thorbjorn Olesen, Denmark 70-70—140 E A. Potgieter, South Africa 70-70—140 E S. Scheffler, United States 68-72—140 E Alex Smalley, United States 72-68—140 E Erik Van Rooyen, South Africa 71-69—140 E Alex Fitzpatrick, England 71-70—141 +1 Julien Guerrier, France 71-70—141 +1 Harry Hall, England 71-70—141 +1 Angel Hidalgo, Spain 68-73—141 +1 Billy Horschel, United States 74-67—141 +1 Matteo Manassero, Italy 72-69—141 +1 Aaron Rai, England 71-70—141 +1 J. Veerman, United States 73-68—141 +1 Paul Waring, England 71-70—141 +1 R. Johnston, United States 72-70—142 +2 Jake Knapp, United States 72-70—142 +2 Richard Mansell, England 70-72—142 +2 Dylan Naidoo, South Africa 70-72—142 +2 Ockie Strydom, South Africa 69-73—142 +2 Matt Wallace, England 70-72—142 +2 P. Coody, United States 71-72—143 +3 Rikuya Hoshino, Japan 71-72—143 +3 Pablo Larrazabal, Spain 71-72—143 +3 Junghwan Lee, South Korea 72-71—143 +3 Hao-Tong Li, China 68-75—143 +3 Kristoffer Reitan, Norway 71-72—143 +3 X. Schauffele, United States 69-74—143 +3 Sam Stevens, United States 68-75—143 +3 Bernd Wiesberger, Austria 65-78—143 +3 Seungbin Choi, South Korea 71-73—144 +4 Padraig Harrington, Ireland 74-70—144 +4 Mark Hubbard, United States 70-74—144 +4 T. Lawrence, South Africa 71-73—144 +4 Alex Noren, Sweden 69-75—144 +4 Ashun Wu, China 73-71—144 +4 C. Hoffman, United States 74-71—145 +5 Sungjae Im, South Korea 72-73—145 +5 Daniel Rodrigues, Portugal 72-73—145 +5 B. Snedeker, United States 69-76—145 +5 Connor Syme, Scotland 75-70—145 +5 Kevin Yu, Chinese Taipei 75-70—145 +5 Brian Campbell, United States 72-74—146 +6 Daniel Hillier, New Zealand 75-71—146 +6 Kota Kaneko, Japan 71-75—146 +6 A. Otagi, United Arab Emirates 76-70—146 +6 John Parry, England 75-71—146 +6 Matthieu Pavon, France 70-76—146 +6 David Ravetto, France 73-73—146 +6 A. Smothermn, United States 74-72—146 +6 Martin Couvra, France 73-74—147 +7 Taylor Moore, United States 70-77—147 +7 Yurav Premlall, South Africa 71-76—147 +7 Frederic Lacroix, France 73-75—148 +8 Marcel Siem, Germany 69-79—148 +8 Richard Sterne, South Africa 72-76—148 +8 Bud Cauley, United States 73-76—149 +9 Baekjun Kim, South Korea 75-74—149 +9 Taehoon Ok, South Korea 72-78—150 +10

Freddy Schott, Germany

The Amundi Evian Championship

85-68—153 +13

Friday

At Evian Resort Golf Club Evian-les-Bains, France Purse: $9.1 million Yardage: 6,479; Par: 71 Second Round Lottie Woad Aki Iwai Hae-Ran Ryu Mao Saigo Charley Hull Nastasia Nadaud Jeeno Thitikul Miyu Yamashita Perrine Delacour Erika Hara Brooke Henderson Jin Hee Im Auston Kim Anna Nordqvist Shuri Sakuma Hinako Shibuno Maja Stark Ariya Jutanugarn Minami Katsu Lydia Ko Somi Lee Amy Yang Casandra Alexander Kajsa Arwefjall Jodi Ewart Shadoff Cara Gainer Nataliya Guseva Soo Bin Joo Sei Young Kim Sara Kouskova Jennifer Kupcho Shiho Kuwaki Mary Liu Yuka Saso Patty Tavatanakit Jing Yan Ina Yoon Pajaree Anannarukarn Aditi Ashok Chella Choi A Lim Kim Alison Lee Andrea Lee Maria Marin Ruoning Yin Karis Davidson Ayaka Furue Melanie Green Wei-Ling Hsu Anna Huang MinJi Kang Lauren Kim Nanna Koerstz Madsen Cassie Porter Chiara Tamburlini Shannon Tan Jenny Bae Brianna Do Linn Grant Hyo Joo Kim Farah O’Keefe Ryann O’Toole Pauline Roussin-Bouchard Yunseo Yang Arpichaya Yubol Rose Zhang Hye Jin Choi Allisen Corpuz Lauren Coughlin Hannah Green Chizzy Iwai Nelly Korda Gaby Lopez Julia Lopez Ramirez Yealimi Noh Kyorim Seo Asterisk Talley Suvichaya Vinijchaitham Kelsey Bennett Robyn Choi Amanda Doherty Isi Gabsa Leonie Harm Esther Henseleit Agathe Laisne Yuna Nishimura Rio Takeda Dewi Weber Weiwei Zhang Celine Boutier Helen Briem You Min Hwang Jiwon Jeon Megan Khang Grace Kim Frida Kinhult Mi Hyang Lee Polly Mack Leona Maguire Sayaka Takahashi Carla Tejedo Mulet Lilia Vu Manon De Roey Aphrodite Deng Alexandra Forsterling Gina Kim Lucy Li Yu Liu Alexa Pano Lauren Walsh Hyunjo Yoo Yuri Yoshida Ashleigh Buhai Carlota Ciganda Yan Liu Brooke Matthews Kiara Romero Jenny Shin Jin Young Ko Mimi Rhodes Ana Belac Pornanong Phatlum Chanettee Wannasaen Lindy Duncan Na Rin An Esme Hamilton Alice Hewson

Ingrid Lindblad Minjee Lee Miranda Wang Gabriela Ruffels Nasa Hataoka

78-74—152 77-77—154 77-77—154 78-77—155 80-WD

+10 +12 +12 +13

Soccer Men’s World Cup Glance 67-64—131 63-69—132 66-68—134 66-68—134 66-70—136 68-68—136 72-64—136 70-66—136 65-72—137 67-70—137 67-70—137 66-71—137 70-67—137 69-68—137 70-67—137 69-68—137 66-71—137 70-68—138 70-68—138 69-69—138 68-70—138 70-68—138 73-66—139 69-70—139 69-70—139 67-72—139 70-69—139 72-67—139 69-70—139 72-67—139 69-70—139 70-69—139 70-69—139 72-67—139 70-69—139 67-72—139 69-70—139 73-67—140 70-70—140 68-72—140 71-69—140 69-71—140 70-70—140 74-66—140 67-73—140 70-71—141 68-73—141 71-70—141 69-72—141 70-71—141 67-74—141 70-71—141 72-69—141 69-72—141 71-70—141 69-72—141 76-66—142 72-70—142 69-73—142 69-73—142 68-74—142 69-73—142 74-68—142 72-70—142 70-72—142 70-72—142 71-72—143 72-71—143 71-72—143 70-73—143 70-73—143 74-69—143 73-70—143 72-71—143 72-71—143 74-69—143 70-73—143 76-67—143 74-70—144 73-71—144 72-72—144 73-71—144 73-71—144 72-72—144 73-71—144 70-74—144 72-72—144 71-73—144 70-74—144 76-69—145 73-72—145 72-73—145 73-72—145 71-74—145 73-72—145 73-72—145 71-74—145 74-71—145 71-74—145 71-74—145 73-72—145 72-73—145 74-72—146 72-74—146 71-75—146 75-71—146 74-72—146 74-72—146 70-76—146 73-73—146 74-72—146 73-73—146 75-72—147 72-75—147 77-70—147 72-75—147 74-73—147 75-72—147 74-74—148 76-72—148 74-75—149 76-73—149 78-71—149 73-77—150 77-74—151 80-71—151 77-74—151

-11 -10 -8 -8 -6 -6 -6 -6 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -4 -4 -4 -4 -4 -3 -3 -3 -3 -3 -3 -3 -3 -3 -3 -3 -3 -3 -3 -3 -2 -2 -2 -2 -2 -2 -2 -2 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 E E E E E E E E E E +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +2 +2 +2 +2 +2 +2 +2 +2 +2 +2 +2 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +3 +4 +4 +4 +4 +4 +4 +4 +4 +4 +4 +5 +5 +5 +5 +5 +5 +6 +6 +7 +7 +7 +8 +9 +9 +9

QUARTERFINAL Thursday’s game France 2, Morocco 0

Friday’s game

Spain 2, Belgium 1

Saturday’s games

Norway vs. England, 4 p.m.

Argentina vs. Switzerland, 8 p.m.

SEMIFINAL Tuesday

France vs. Spain, 2 p.m.

Wednesday TBD, 2 p.m.

3RD PLACE PLAYOFF July 18 TBD, 4 p.m.

FINAL July 19

TBD, 2 p.m

Transactions Major League Baseball

American League ATHLETICS — Placed 3B Zack Gelof on the 10-day IL. Recalled 1B Joey Meneses from Las Vegas (PCL).

CHICAGO WHITE SOX — Reinstated 1B Munetaka Murakami from the 10-day IL. Optioned 1B Jacob Gonzalez to Charlotte (IL).

HOUSTON ASTROS — Sent RHP Kai-Wei Teng on a rehab assignment to FCL Astros.

KANSAS CITY ROYALS — Reinstated 1B Vinnie Pasquantino from the 10-day IL. Recalled RHP Eli Morgan from Omaha (IL). Agreed to terms with RHP Vince Velasquez on a minor league contract. Ooptioned CF Kameron Misner and RHP Jose Cuas to Omaha.

MINNESOTA TWINS — Optioned LF Kyler Fedko to St. Paul (IL).

TAMPA BAY RAYS — Sent RHP Steven Wilson on a rehab assignment to FCL Rays.

National League ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS — Recalled OF Ryan Waldschmidt to Reno (PCL). Designated INF Pavin Smith for assignment.

ATLANTA BRAVES — Reinstated RHP Tyler Kinley from the paternity list. Optioned RHP Hurston Waldrep to Gwinnett (IL).

CINCINNATI REDS — Reinstated 3B Ke’Bryan Hayes from the 10-day IL. Placed 2B Matt McLain on the 10-day IL retroactive to July 8.

MILWAUKEE BREWERS — Agreed to terms with RHP Bryse Wilson. Designated RHP Easton McGee for assignment. Optioned LHP Drew Rom to Nashville (IL). Sent LHP Rob Zastryzny on a rehab assignment to Nashville.

NEW YORK METS — Placed 1B Mark Vientos on the 10-day IL. Designated RHP Dan Hammer for assignment. Selected the contract of SS Zack Short from Syracuse (IL). Recalled RHP Tobias Myers from Syracuse.

PITTSBURGH PIRATES — Optioned RHPs Hunter Stratton and Cam Sanders to Indianapolis (IL). Recalled RHPs RHP Antwone Kelly and Thomas Harrington from Indianapolis.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS — Transferred RHP Jake Irvin to the 60-day IL. Selected the contract of LHP Tom Cosgrove from Rochester (IL).

BASKETBALL

National Basketball Association BROOKLYN NETS — Acquired F Julius Randle from Minnesota.

CHARLOTTE HORNETS — Acquired F Mouhamadou Gueye from Chicago.

CHICAGO BULLS — Acquired C Nic Claxton from Brooklyn.

DALLAS MAVERICKS — Signed F Tarik Biberovic to a contract.

HOUSTON ROCKETS — Signed G Marcus Smart to a contract.

MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES — Acquired Gs LaMelo Ball and Josh Green from Charlotte in exchange for F Naz Reid and draft considerations. Re-signed G Ayo Dosunmo to a contract.

NEW YORK KNICKS — Re-signed G Jordan Clarkson to a contract.

UTAH JAZZ — Signed C Jaxson Hayes and G Josh Okogie to contracts. Signed C Mo Bamba to a contract.

Women’s National Basketball Association MINNESOTA LYNX — Signed F Liatu King to a player development contract. Signed G Eliška Hamzová to a seven-day contract.

FOOTBALL

National Football League CHICAGO BEARS — Signed TE Sam Roush to a rookie contract.

HOCKEY

National Hockey League MINNESOTA WILD — Signed F Caedan Bankier and Ds Carson Lambos and David Spacek to one-year, two-way contracts.

MONTREAL CANADIENS — Signed D Bogdan Konyushkov to a two-year contract.

OTTAWA SENATORS — Signed F Tyler Boucher to a one-year, two-way contract.

SEATTLE KRAKEN — Signed G Victor Ostman to a one-year contract.

SOCCER

Major League Soccer FC DALLAS — Signed F Logan Farrington to a contract extension through the 2027-28 season, with club options for the 2028-29 and 2029-30 seasons.

ORLANDO CITY SC — Acquired $600,000 in 2026 General Allocation Money (GAM), $400,000 in 2027 GAM and $250,000 in 2027-28 GAM from Houston Dynamo FC in exchange for F Duncan McGuire.

LIVING

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

|

S at u r d ay, J u ly 11, 2026

INTO THE FIRE

Terry Robinson FAITH MATTERS

Belfair Church feasts on ‘Lunch and Learn’ series Bibles were open. Pens moved across notebooks. Eyes followed both while ears were fixed on the Rev. Jon Bennett’s teaching.

Members of Belfair Church in Baton Rouge have been getting their fill during the annual two-month summer “Lunch and Learn” Bible study series, trading in their Wednesday noon lunch hours for an opportunity to dig deeper into Scriptures.

Bennett, the church’s pastor for 24 years, said it gives him joy to see the enthusiastic turnout for the series, which concludes with group discussions.

“It encourages me as a pastor to see that our members love the Word and that they want to grow,” said Bennett, 47. “In the middle of the day, they bring their lunch and feast on the Word.”

This series has Bennett centered on the seven churches described in the prophetic Book of Revelation.

Azalee Barlow, a minister and member of Belfair for nearly 48 years, said the study of the churches has given her an understanding of how to cope during the difficult times in which we are living.

“It’s speaking of what’s going on now and getting us prepared,” said Barlow, 70. “We have to realize that we have to go through all this stuff, but we have to keep our eyes focused on the prize — and that prize is Jesus.”

Last week’s study focused on the church at Thyatira.

Bennett said Thyatira was a working church characterized by love, faith, service, patience and endurance. But he highlighted from Revelation 2 that the church tolerated “that woman Jezebel,” which represents corrupting influence and named for the idolatrous Old Testament figure.

“She lived kind of a loose lifestyle. She not only lived it, but she told other people that it was OK,” Bennett shared with the class.

He warned that Jezebel and her followers will be judged.

“We forget who we’re messing with,” Bennett said. “We think just because folks in the world get away with sin, we can get away with sin. (Jesus) says,

5CN

Louisiana duo returns to TV food competition scene on ‘Pitmasters’

BY JUDY BERGERON

Staff writer

PROVIdEd PHOTO FROM FOOd NETWORK

Louisiana mother-and-son barbecue team Leslie Roark Scott and Jacob Scott are one of nine teams on the first season of Food Network’s ‘Pitmasters.’

When Leslie Roark Scott and her son, Jacob Scott, “go the whole hog,” they mean it literally.

The dynamic barbecuing duo are fourth- and fifth-generation pitmasters and Yazoo City, Mississippi, natives who moved south last year and immersed themselves in life in New Orleans’ Marigny neighborhood.

“I like to say the same river (the Mississippi), different swamp,” Roark Scott said Monday on a phone call shared with her son/grilling partner.

Viewers can see the Scotts in action starting Monday on Food Network’s new competition series “Pitmasters,” not to be confused with the network’s 2009-15 show “BBQ Pitmasters.” ä See FIRE, page 6C

ä See FAITH, page 6C

10 0 states still to go for 22026 Postcard Project

BY JAN RISHER

seum in Iowa.”

From tiny Grand Coteau, the Blanchards kept it simple: “PreEight weeks in, and the count cious lodging, cute shops, lovely E sta ands at 142 postcards from 40 homes, good food — great experista ates and 14 counence.”

Michele Snyder trie es. ä The invitation stands. wrote from Little They keep arrivT Send postcards to: Rock, Arkansas, ing g — from Grand Cotteau, from Chica- Jan Risher,The Advocate with a New Orleans history lesson on a go, from Ireland and 10705 Rieger Rd. poiints beyond.

Baton Rouge, LA 70809. postcard, explainJohn James Makeing that Sicilian immigrants landed in la took the chalnge of making his own postcard, New Orleans in the late 19th and len in k keeping with part of this year’s 20th centuries and left their mark the eme. He sent his interpretation on the produce trade — fruit, oysof C Cathedral Rock in Sedona, Ari- ters — and on the city’s table, from the muffuletta to the St. Joseph alzon na.

The McGovern family went on tar tradition.

T an unconventional pilgrimage to Ten states remain unclaimed: Iow wa.

Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachu“ My mom worked for John setts, Nebraska, Nevada, New Dee ere,” Mr. McGovern wrote. “We Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoalw ways have to bow our heads when ma, South Carolina and Vermont. we see a Deere tractor. So, of course, The 2026 Postcard Project ends on we had to visit the John Deere Mu- Labor Day. Stafff writer

So far we have received 142 postcards from 40 states and 14 countries.

6C ● Saturday, July 11, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

lll

Job hunter too focused on negativity

DEAR HARRIETTE: I recently applied for and interviewed for an internship in the city. I felt like the interview went well, and I was told I met the requirements and qualifications for the role. The company ended up going in a different direction, and I am Harriette at a loss. I normally Cole get everything I SENSE ANd want and apply for, SENSITIVITy and I have never faced rejection before. I don’t know what to do. I feel down about it and like I have let myself and my family down.

I always aim to be the best, and now I’m not. I’m writing to see if you have any words of encourage-

ment or advice to help get me out of this post-interview funk. — PostInterview Funk DEAR POST INTERVIEW FUNK: There’s a saying: Don’t put your eggs in one basket. What does that mean?

I have another friend who just experienced this same thing. He applied for one internship, was over-the-moon excited about it, and then he was crushed when he didn’t get it. Plus, he didn’t have a pivot because he hadn’t even looked at other opportunities.

That is crushing, but as hard as it seems, you have to pick yourself up and look for something else.

Of course, rejection sucks. But the good news is there are lots of choices out there. You just have to go out and find them. Look around, ask for help and don’t

give up. It stings, but it’s OK. That wasn’t for you even though you wanted it.

So, what’s next? The best way to get out of your negativity is to double down on finding something else. Get up every day and search for opportunities. Stop talking about what didn’t happen for you and focus on what you want. Say out loud what you are looking for.

Tell other people, and invite the universe to help you manifest a job.

DEAR HARRIETTE: I have been going out with a guy for the past five months. He attends military college, and every chance he got this past semester, he would travel an hour to spend time with me in the city. When we weren’t seeing each other in person, we were

texting and FaceTiming all day and night. I recently came home for the summer, and everything has changed. Our conversations slowly started to fade, and then out of nowhere, he texted me saying that he wanted to take a pause on our relationship and pursue someone else. I’m hurt and confused by this, especially since the day before, he told me how much he missed me and yearned to see me. I’ve spent the whole day crying, and I feel like I have done something wrong. Why doesn’t he want me? Why am I suddenly no longer good enough? How do I get past this rejection and the relationship? — Rejected and Gutted DEAR REJECTED AND GUTTED: Being abruptly sidelined for no apparent reason can be devastating. It’s

Nut allergy scare occurs with beer

Dear Heloise: My daughter gave up cigarettes and took up vaping! She went from bad to worse as far as I’m concerned, but she keeps saying that vaping is harmless. Is it harmless? — Andrea K., in Iowa Andrea, no, it’s not harmless.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, many vaping devices contain more nicotine than cigarettes. They also have cancercausing chemicals and heavy metals, and they can irritate the lungs. The use of an e-cigarette isn’t safer than cigarettes, but many young people believe that they’ll quit before there is any real danger — or that they won’t be affected by vaping. — Heloise

Have medical info ready Dear Heloise: When someone calls emergency services and rescue personnel comes to your house, you may not be able to give them the facts that they’d need to take care of you. This is why I have vital medical information on one sheet of paper, which I have laminated and affixed to the back of my front door. It includes my full name, date of birth, age, my primary care physician with their phone number, emergency contacts with their addresses and phone numbers, allergies, important highlights of my medical history, medications and supplements, surgeries, etc.

I also indicate that I have a cat and include the name of their veterinarian and the vet’s phone number. This information could save your life if you’re unable to speak to the rescue personnel. — Hannelore R., in Omaha, Nebraska

Toothpaste tablets Dear Heloise: Regarding the different ways to squeeze the last bits of toothpaste from a tube, I have a “greener” solution: Purchase toothpaste tablets! I buy these in bulk at a sustainable shop in Webster Groves, Missouri. Toothpaste tablets take a bit of getting used to, but they clean teeth just as well as “regular” toothpaste. According to Nature.com, toothpaste tubes take 500 years to decompose. — Jan, in St. Louis Jan, in all honesty, I’ve never seen toothpaste tablets in any store. Still, it’s an interesting idea.

— Heloise Send a hint to heloise@heloise. com.

Send questions to askharriette@ harriettecole.com or c/o Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.

TODAY IN HISTORY

By The Associated Press

Dear Heloise: This is a warning/tip for adults with a nut allergy. My 40-year-old daughter was at a craft brewery with friends enjoying a beer when she began having a mild reaction, as she has with her allergy to several nuts. She took the appropriate steps immediately and is fine. She called me the next day asking “what are the chances?”

When I went on the brewery’s website, this particular beer had already been removed, so we couldn’t even check the ingredients.

Hints from So, this is a word Heloise to the wise. Apparently, beer ingredients needn’t be listed on the label. If you have a nut allergy, ask before you drink. — J.D., in St. Louis J.D., thanks for the warning. I found out that mangos were a first cousin to poison ivy after I ate one. They’re a delicious fruit, but they’re not for me. — Heloise

Vaping isn’t harmless

no wonder you are upset. Sometimes you cannot understand a person’s motivations. Clearly, he met someone else and wants to see where that may lead. While that is painful, be glad he told you rather than either just ghosting you or cheating on you.

Give yourself time to mourn this loss, but also get up and go out. Don’t allow yourself to wallow in the pain. The season of sunshine is here. Go out and enjoy it.

Get in touch with friends and do some exploring of your city. Keep busy as you heal your heart.

PROVIdEd PHOTO By KIM RAFF/FOOd NETWORK

Host Andrew Zimmern, second from left, gathers with ‘Pitmasters’ judges Ernest Servantes, from left, Jess Pryles and Moe Casen in the Utah mountains.

FIRE

Continued from page 5C For the new one, “teams of the world’s most elite pitmasters push live fire cooking to its limits as they compete in a non-stop weeklong battle for BBQ glory. … Bold flavor, innovation and mastery of the pit is the name of the game,” according to a show synopsis.

It’s not the first rodeo for either Jacob Scott or his mom.

“So this is going to be my third appearance on Food Network,” the recent Chef John Folse Culinary Institute graduate said. “I did ‘Kids BBQ Championship’ back in 2015. I was 12 then, and then a year later when I was 13, I did ‘Chopped Jr.’ And then me and Mom did a show called ‘Stove Tots,’ where we worked together.

“So this is kind of us revisiting that. And getting a chance to yet again be a duo on TV,” he said.

For “Stove Tots,” Scott, now 22, was the main cook while his mom was sous chef. She was required to stand back and watch, unless her son used a lifeline to call her in for assistance.

His mother, 53, has competed on “BBQ Pitmasters,” appeared a few times on “Chopped” and one episode of “Beat Bobby Flay.”

“And I didn’t beat Bobby. I mean, who beats Bobby? It’s impossible,” she said.

Roark Scott squared off against veteran chef and Food Network personality Flay with each’s take on barbecue wings.

FAITH

Continued from page 5C ‘When I judge her, the church will wake up and realize that we can’t compromise (and) we can’t tolerate sin. We got to call a spade a spade.’”

The Lunch and Learn series

The Scotts’ latest barbecue adventure, “Pitmasters,” was a different kind of competition, they agreed.

“We were in the mountains in Utah, and it was as far from sea level for me and Jacob than it could have possibly been.

It was just such a different environment,” Roark Scott explained. “All I’ll say is everyone was equally equipped, and the show did a really good job at showing that barbecue isn’t just one thing. We had pitmasters from all over the place.

Everybody with their own styles and methods. Each team that you watch, they’re gonna be doing something completely different.”

The Scotts have been part of New Orleans’ Hogs for the Cause charity event since its third year.

She operated a restaurant for 20 years, still caters, and also appears at events such as upcoming demonstratons for Royal Oak Charcoal at Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Her great-grandfather started the family’s barbecue tradition, and handed it down to her grandfather, who would share his special barbecue sauce with the neighbors.

The family eventually started bottling and selling the sauce, called Ubons, which is still available, along with a bloody mary mix.

The mother-son team have wanted to cook on TV side-byside again for a while.

“Just because it’s something that we do so well,” she said.

“But just getting to be on a team with Jacob and watch him work

reflects what Bennett calls the “new energy” that Belfair continues to enjoy since relocating in 2023 to the more visible Mid City location at 5550 Florida Blvd. The church spent its first 50-plus years on Fairfields Avenue.

“The church is going well,” said Bennett, who answered his call to ministry at age 21 and was

so hard. This was a grueling competition, truly.

“I’ve been doing barbecue competitions overnight, starting as a kid where you’re on site at 4 a.m. and you’re done at 7 p.m. — this was even more than that. This was 24 hours a day. This was super intense, and I wouldn’t have done it with anybody else,” she said.

Her son expressed similar sentiments.

“I was catching side-eye from the competitors, not because of who I am and them trying to get a jump on me, but it was because I think I had a lot of people jealous of me because I got to do this with my mama,” he said. “And so we were a team to make everybody jealous.”

The six days of almost 24-hour cooking challenges, with very limited time for showers or rest, ran the gamut as far as weather conditions — warm, sunny days, contrasting with quite cool mountain nights.

“I’d pack my stuff up and do it again right now,” Roark Scott said.

Starting with Monday’s premiere, all nine teams will be presenting their finished dishes to a panel of judges including Andrew Zimmern, Jess Pryles, Moe Cason and Ernest Servantes.

The winner will receive up to $50,000.

“Pitmasters” will air at 8 p.m.

Mondays on Food Network and will stream the following day on HBO Max. Email Judy Bergeron at jbergeron@theadvocate.com.

named pastor of his childhood church at 23. “We see a lot of visitors here at the church. Our members are serving in a lot of different ways. There are lot of needs in the church, and the members are rising to the occasion.”

Contact Terry Robinson at terryrobinson622@gmail.com.

Today is Saturday, July 11, the 192nd day of 2026. There are 173 days left in the year.

Today in History: On July 11, 1995, the U.N.designated “safe haven” of Srebrenica in Bosnia-Herzegovina fell to Bosnian Serb forces, who subsequently carried out the killings of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys.

Also on this date: In 1798, the U.S. Marine Corps was formally reestablished by a congressional act that also created the U.S. Marine Band.

In 1804, Vice President Aaron Burr mortally wounded former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton during a pistol duel in Weehawken, New Jersey. (Hamilton died the next day.)

In 1859, Big Ben, the great bell inside the famous London clock tower, chimed for the first time.

In 1864, Confederate forces led by Gen. Jubal Early began an abortive invasion of Washington, D.C.; the raid was turned back the next day.

In 1914, Babe Ruth made his Major League baseball debut, pitching the Boston Red Sox to a 4-3 victory over Cleveland.

In 1921, fighting in the Irish War of Independence ended with a truce.

In 1960, Harper Lee’s novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” was published.

In 1972, the World Chess Championship opened as grandmasters Bobby Fischer of the United States and defending champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union began play in Reykjavik, Iceland.

(Fischer won after 21 games.)

In 1979, the abandoned U.S. space station Skylab made a spectacular return to Earth, burning up in the atmosphere and showering debris over the Indian Ocean and Australia.

In 1991, a Nigeria Airways DC-8 carrying Muslim pilgrims crashed at the Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, international airport, killing all 261 people on board.

In 2006, eight bombs hit a commuter rail network during evening rush hour in Mumbai, India, killing more than 200 people.

In 2022, President Joe Biden revealed the first image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, the farthest humanity had ever seen in both time and distance, closer to the dawn of the universe and the edge of the cosmos.

Today’s Birthdays: Actor Susan Seaforth Hayes is 83. Actor Bruce McGill is 76. Actor Stephen Lang is 74. Actor Mindy Sterling is 73. Actor Sela Ward is 70. Reggae singer Michael Rose (Black Uhuru) is 69. Singer Peter Murphy (Bauhaus) is 69. Actor Mark Lester is 68. Saxophonist Kirk Whalum is 68. Singer Suzanne Vega is 67. Rock guitarist Richie Sambora (Bon Jovi) is 67. Actor Lisa Rinna is 63.

Author Jhumpa Lahiri is 59.

Wildlife expert Jeff Corwin is 59. Actor Justin Chambers (TV: “Grey’s Anatomy”) is 56.

Actor Michael Rosenbaum (TV: “Smallville”) is 54. Rapper Lil’ Kim is 52. Pro Football Hall of Famer Andre Johnson is 45. Pop-jazz singer-musician Peter Cincotti is 43. Actor Serinda Swan is 42. Actor David Henrie is 37. Actor Connor Paolo is 36. R&B/pop singer Alessia Cara is 30.

The Acadiana Advocate ● theadvocate.com ● Saturday, July 11, 2026 ● 7C

lll

FrAnK And erneSt

roSebUdS

zItS

For better or For WorSe

zodIAC cAncER (June 21-July 22) Opportunity requires doing your part to investigate what's possible. Waiting for someone to do the work for you leads to unfulfilled dreams and disappointment. Be your own bestie.

LEo (July 23-Aug. 22) Test the water, focus on what's favorable and head in a direction that makes you feel content and happy to be alive. Surround yourself with people who make you think.

VIRGo (Aug. 23-sept. 22) Take a second look at what's available to you before you take a leap of faith. You may want to redirect your energy into something more stable and reassuring regarding your lifestyle.

LIBRA (sept. 23-oct. 23) Taking advantage of opportunities that lead to interesting partnerships or encounters with those doing something that you see yourself participating in will encourage you to go the distance. scoRPIo (oct. 24-nov. 22) An observant attitude will prompt you to improve your standards, qualifications and prospects. Dig into what's trending, and apply your skills and experience to ensure you stay ahead of challenges. sAGIttARIus (nov. 23-Dec. 21) Confront what isn't working for you. Concentrate on your lifestyle, and ensure you find peace of mind from your surroundings and those you hang out with. cAPRIcoRn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Take better care of yourself. Don't follow the crowd or give in to temptation. Impul-

sive actions will lead to regret. When in doubt, take a pass. Pay attention.

AQuARIus (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) A change of scenery will give you back your spark and reunite you with your dreams.

Don't be too quick to let outside influences step in and take over. You must satisfy your needs.

PIscEs (Feb. 20-March 20) Take a break, venture out, find your circle and enjoy your day. Focus on health and your emotional well-being. A spa day or an activity that brings out the best in you will help you put your life in perspective.

ARIEs (March 21-April 19) Dream it, believe it and follow through. Actions speak louder than words. Put your plans in motion, and stop worrying about what others think, say or do. tAuRus (April 20-May 20) Stick close to home, and turn your place into a comfort zone where you can relax, formulate your next move and feel free from the stress and tension that outside influences have on you.

GEMInI (May 21-June 20) Send a message to those you want to back away from and those you want to spend more time with. How you use your time is instrumental in getting what you want out of life.

The horoscope, an entertainment feature, is not based on scientific fact. © 2026 by NEA, Inc., dist. By Andrews McMeel Syndication

WonderWord

peAnUtS

SALLY Forth

beetLe bAILeY CeLebrItY CIpher Celebrity Cipher cryptograms are created from quotations by famous people, past and present. Each letter in the cipher stands for another.

toDAy's cLuE: H EQuALs R

Mother GooSe And GrIMM

SherMAn’S LAGoon FAMILY CIrCUS

dooneSbUrY

8C ● Saturday, July 11, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

CurTiS

Hi and LoiS

lll

Sudoku InstructIons: Sudoku is a number-placing puzzle based on a 9x9 grid with several given numbers.

The object is to place the numbers 1 to 9 in the empty squares so that each row, each column and each 3x3 box contains the same number only once. The difficulty level of the Sudoku increases from Monday to Sunday.

Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer

BaBY BLueS

BLondie

THe wiZard oF id

nea CroSSwordS

La TimeS CroSSword

The Acadiana Advocate ● theadvocate.com ● Saturday, July 11, 2026 ● 9C

lll

B.C.

Bridge

By PHILLIP ALDER Jimmy Carter, in his farewell presidential address, said, “Our American values are not luxuries, but necessities — not the salt in our bread, but the bread itself.”

Bridge is full of rules that need to be taken with a large pinch of salt. Always treat each deal on its own merits; do not thoughtlessly assume that the “textbook” play will be right.

How does that apply to this deal? South is in three no-trump. West leads his fourth-highest heart. South takes East’s 10 with his king and runs the diamond 10.

What should happen after that?

South did not like to open one no-trump with two unstopped suits, but he had no more accurate sequence available.

The books recommend returning partner’s suit in no-trump — and it is true that that will be right much more often than not. (In a suit contract, shifting will be better a lot of the time.) But if East does that here, South will take the trick with his heart ace and drive out West’s diamond ace. West may shift to a club, but declarer plays low from the dummy and loses only two diamonds and two clubs.

Instead, East should pause for thought at trick three. Surely West has the diamond ace, because if South had that card, he would have cashed it before trying the diamond finesse. And if West is about to

garfield

Pearls Before swiNe

hagar the horriBle

gain the lead, East should see how to defeat the contract. At trick three, he leads his club three.

South wins with his 10 and continues diamonds, but West should take the trick and lead his second club. Then East gets three tricks in the suit to defeat the contract. © 2026 by NEA, Inc., dist. By Andrews McMeel Syndication

wuzzles Each Wuzzle is a word riddle which creates a disguised word, phrase, name, place, saying, etc. For example: NOON GOOD = GOOD AFTERNOON

PiCKles

Previous answers:

mallard fillmore

word game InstRuctIons: 1. Words must be of four or more letters. 2. Words that acquire four letters by the addition of “s,” such as “bats” or “dies,” are not allowed. 3.

Additional words made by adding a “d” or an “s” may not be used. 4. Proper nouns, slang words, or vulgar or sexually explicit words are not allowed.

toDAy’s WoRD — conVERsE: kun-VERSE: Talk.

Bizarro

marmaduKe

Average mark 31 words Time limit 55 minutes Can you find 48 or more words in CONVERSE? yEstERDAy’s WoRD — MAtRons manor mart mason mast matron moan moat morn most arms arson

atom tarn taro torn tram trans transom tsar ransom rant roam

roan roast roman oast osar norm santo smart snort soar sonar

sora sort star storm

loCKhorNs hidato Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer

today’s thought “Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivers from death.” Proverbs 11:4

What do you value? Think it over. G.E. Dean

10C ● Saturday, July 11, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

lll

Redesigned + reimagined.

Best app ever?

Best app ever.

Y’all see Stephen Marcantel’s new story?

We did! On the new Acadiana Advocate app!

Wait, you’re reading it on the app?

We are!

Best app ever?

Best app ever!

DOWNLOAD

HERE