Twogallons, four. Sixgallons, eight. The store at Sinagra Family Dairy in Amite had just opened at 2p.m.,but ahalf-hour later,the cooler was close to empty One shelf, in particular “Mom, can you grab afew more gallons ofraw milk?” Miles Sinagra called from behind the register Just days before, the Louisiana Health Department reported that 11 peoplegot sick after drinkingunpasteurized milk from three operations. Twowere hospitalized. The department did not name the
operations and still hasn’t.
Still, at this Tangipahoa Parish dairy farm90minutes north of New Orleans, customers were clamoringfor raw milk. Lowtemperature pasteurized milk, too. One father grabbedfour gallons of chocolate milk, not justfor his two daughters.
“As crazy as it sounds,” Josh Simonsen said, getting close, “ifIgoout andmow fora few hours, I’ll come in and grab a bigglass.
Rawmilk outsold the others on this recent Monday afternoon, as it does most days when thefarm opens this bright little store on the land
ä See RAW MILK, page 10A
Blanche’srelease of the filesincomplete, some say
BY MARKBALLARD Staff writer
WASHINGTON Based largely on his tough cross-examinations of FBI Director Kash Patel last year,Jeffrey
Epstein’s“Minor Victim No. 1” is pressingU.S.Sen.John Kennedytooppose theconfirmation of Todd Blanche, President Donald Trump’snominee for attorney general.
“I feel like he’s somewhat, youknow,
starting to feel like that there’ssomethingmuch bigger going on here. And I thinkhewants to find out,” Marina Lacerda said of Kennedy,R-Madisonville, in an interview Palm Beach police beganinvestigating Epstein after hearing stories about hissexually exploiting and trafficking underage girls.Epsteinpleaded guilty
NILera comes to high school sports
BY ALYSE PFEIL Staff writer
Curtis
Nowthat student athletes are allowedtocashinontheir talent and make money off endorsement deals, teenagersinhigh school areincreasingly being drawn into the big business of sports, and coaches are raising concerns that young athletes and their families could be taken advantage of. Some elite high school students are nowgetting offersfor marketing deals to use their name, image and likeness, or NIL,similar to college players. The young athletes arebeing approached by people —including friends and family members —who put themselvesforward as sports agents but don’thave any experience in the industry,saidJ.T.Curtis Jr., footballcoach at John Curtis Christian School in River Ridge. “They might mean well, but they’re just not qualifiedto do well,” he said. “They’re notqualified professionally to be an agent.”
Curtis, who is Louisiana’sall-time winningest high school coach, said he started to see the problem crop up in high school sports several years ago, but in the past two to threeyearsit’s gotten “significantly worse.”
To counter the risks to students, Louisiana lawmakers this year began putting up guardrails. That includes mandatory registrations, background checks and training forsports agents.
ä See NIL, page 6A
Epsteinsurvivors pressKennedy to oppose AG nominee
in 2008 to state chargesofsolicitinga minorfor prostitution. He served 13 monthsunder acontroversial deal offeredbythen-U.S.AttorneyAlexander Acosta, of Miami, that gave Epstein immunity from federal charges. In 2019, after several of the now-adult
See NOMINEE, page 8A
STAFF PHOTOSByCHRIS GRANGER
CassieSinagra, center, maneuvers throughthe shoppers gathered in the Sinagra Family DairyinAmite as shetries to keep therefrigerator stockedonJune 29.
Jay‘Sandwich’ Stevenson milks cows on the lineat Sinagra Family Dairynear Amite on June 29.
Blanche
BRIEFS FROM WIRE REPORTS
Judge tosses remnants of Proud Boys case
WASHINGTON A federal judge has dismissed the remnants of the government’s landmark case against far-right Proud Boys members who were convicted of seditious conspiracy for plotting to attack the Capitol to keep President Donald Trump in the White House more than five years ago
The case’s dismissal late Friday became a foregone conclusion when Trump last year used his pardon powers to erase every case that the government prosecuted after a mob of his supporters stormed the building on Jan. 6 2021 The judge who presided over the Proud Boys leaders’ trial saw no basis to preserve the convictions after Trump’s sweeping act of clemency last year
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, whom Trump nominated during his first term, said there is “little mystery” about why the second Trump administration decided to abandon this case and every other Jan. 6 riot case.
“President Trump’s views about the prosecution of those who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6 — whether those views are based on fact or fiction are well known, as is his intention to extend clemency to them,” Kelly wrote.
The judge stressed that his order should not be mistaken as an endorsement of the Department of Justice’s decision to abandon the case. He referred to the Capitol riot as “a perilous event” and an assault on the constitutional imperative for a peaceful transfer of power between presidents.
“Moving forward, if this Nation’s experiment in self-government is to last another 250 years, the American people — no matter their partisan preferences will have to act together to preserve, protect and defend that miracle through our constitutional framework,” Kelly wrote
One runner gored at bull run festival in Spain
PAMPLONA, Spain A runner was gored in the face and many more were fortunate to not be seriously injured during a chaotic bull run at Spain’s San Fermin festival on Saturday
The six bulls and accompanying steers charged through crowds of thrill-seekers who packed the narrow street course in Pamplona. The huge animals knocked down bodies to the cobblestones, and stumbling runners caused several pileups during the two-and-a-half-minute run from the pen to the bull ring where bullfighters will kill the bulls later in the day
One runner was pierced by a horn in the face, while 12 more people needed medical treatment for an assortment of knocks, according to the University of Navarra Hospital
A black bull broke away from the pack early in the 957-yard run and plowed into a group of people, smacking one full in the side of the face with a horn. It was not clear if that was the moment of the goring.
Many runners appeared completely unaware when bulls were breathing down their necks and, instead of trying to gore them, just shoved them out of the way
U.K. police release man held in ex-MP’s killing LONDON British police on Saturday released a 26-year-old man arrested as a suspect in the killing of former politician and reality TV contestant Ann Widdecombe, as they revealed she was attacked in her home a full day before her body was discovered.
Devon and Cornwall Police said the man detained on Friday a few miles from the scene of the attack was no longer under investigation. The force said detectives are working at “at a significant pace” to find the killer and they don’t believe there is a risk to the public.
Widdecombe, 78, was found dead Thursday in her isolated rural home in the village of Haytor on the edge of Dartmoor National Park in southwest England. Police did not disclose a cause of death, saying only that she had sustained “serious injuries.”
Iran strikes ship, says strait closed
U.S. says it’s begun attacks in response
BY JON GAMBRELL, MICHELLE L. PRICE and WILL WEISSERT Associated Press
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates Iran said the Strait of Hormuz was closed once again after a warning shot fired by its military struck a vessel using an unauthorized route in the critical waterway, further jeopardizing the already tenuous ceasefire agreement with the United States.
U.S. Central Command said a short time later that its forces began a third round of strikes against Iran. There were explosions in Bandar Abbas and Sirik, two towns along the shores of the strait, Iran state media reported.
“The United States is imposing a heavy cost by continuing to degrade Iran’s ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial ships freely transiting the strait,” the American military said.
A Cyprus-flagged container ship was hit by Iran and suffered “significant engine room damage” and a civilian crew member is missing, U.S. Central Command said.
Senior U.S. officials had previously said in Wash-
ington that negotiations to further cement last month’s deal to end the war will be unable to progress without the strait being secure and even said they wanted Iran to offer public statements to that effect
Instead, the Revolutionary Guards Corps said multiple vessels “disregarded our warnings and instructions to correct their course and proceed along the approved route.” One of them “was struck by a warning shot and brought to a stop.”
Iran said that the strait would remain closed “until further notice” and said it would consider targeting “additional enemy bases in
the region” if it faced more attacks.
A little more than an hour later, the U.S. announced its own new round of strikes.
“Iran made a poor choice. Now they pay,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted on social media.
The latest flurry of shots from both sides followed Iran and Oman’s foreign ministers meeting on Saturday to discuss the strait that lies between them, after days of Iranian attacks on ships and U.S. retaliation that dealt a blow to the interim deal to end the war Iran’s new supreme leader, still unseen since the war began, also vowed in his
first statement since the funeral of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that Iranians would avenge his killing in the war’s opening strikes on Feb. 28. Such revenge “is the will of our nation and must certainly be carried out,” Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said in a statement carried on state television, hours after President Donald Trump threatened more missile attacks.
Oman said it and Iran agreed to keep talking about the Strait of Hormuz “at the technical and political levels.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said before
the new round of strikes that he met with his counterpart in Oman to discuss “appropriate mechanisms for ensuring the safe passage of ships.”
The world for decades has considered the strait an international waterway Iran has insisted that the strait now remain under its control and that it be allowed to charge ships moving through it, a stance it took after the war began. The U.S. urges mariners to transit on a southern route through Oman’s territorial waters.
About a fifth of all traded oil and natural gas passed through the strait before the war began. Iran’s grip on it during the war led to a global energy crisis, though oil prices have sharply dropped since wartime highs of $120 a barrel. Iran’s top diplomat also accused the U.S. of violating the interim deal by ending waivers allowing Iran to sell crude oil on the open market in U.S. dollars. Washington ended them in response to the attacks on ships in the strait.
“Reality check: There can only be mutual compliance,” Araghchi wrote on social media.
Trump said he’s personally been the target of an Iranian plot, and he said the U.S. military would automatically retaliate if he was killed.
Reporters subpoenaed after Air Force One stories
BY WILL WEISSERT and ASHRAF KHALIL Associated Press
WASHINGTON The Department of Justice has subpoenaed New York Times journalists after they reported on security concerns involving the new, Qatari-gifted Air Force One, marking a dramatic escalation of President Donald Trump‘s campaign against the media that has drawn condemnation for eroding a fundamental freedom of American democracy.
The new jet, a present from the U.S. ally that the administration spent $400 million on to retrofit and upgrade, entered service last week. But Trump used an older model Air Force One jet to leave a NATO summit in Turkey and later referenced threats against him made by Iran.
The subpoenas seek to force the reporters to testify before a federal grand jury in Manhattan this week, the Times said, adding that federal agents delivered some subpoenas
Air Force One carrying
to the reporters at their homes.
They were issued after FBI Director Kash Patel and other Justice Department officials met at the White House on Friday to talk about the matter, according to a person familiar with the discussions who was not authorized to discuss the issue publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The journalists subpoenaed included Julian E. Barnes, Eric Lipton, Tyler Pager and Eric Schmitt,
the Times reported.
“The appearance of federal law enforcement agents on the doorstep of news reporters should shock the conscience of any American who believes in the Constitution and the press freedom it protects,” David McCraw, a lawyer for the Times, said in a statement
Bruce D. Brown, president of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said Trump’s “war on the press is looking for another victim.”
KYIV, Ukraine Russian attacks on Ukraine killed six people, including a child, and wounded 29, officials said on Saturday, adding that Ukrainian forces damaged more than two dozen Russian tankers and other vessels in the Sea of Azov The exchange came as Ukraine’s drones have lately been hitting oil refineries and other infrastructure across Russia to undercut its war effort, triggering a widespread fuel crisis with gasoline shortages. Moscow has responded by intensifying its bombardment on Kyiv and other cities, exposing Ukraine’s vulnerability to ballistic missile strikes. Ukraine’s General Staff said 21 tankers used to transport oil and petroleum products were damaged overnight, in addition to four tugboats, two cargo ships and a dredging vessel. Russian officials said
one person was killed in the Ukrainian drone strikes and that only four ships came under attack
In Ukraine’s northeast Sumy region, four people were killed, including a child, and 17 people were wounded when two aerial glide bombs hit a crowded area where civilians were present, said Sumy regional head Oleh Hryhorov Eleven people, including one child, were wounded in missile and drone attacks overnight on Kyiv, the State Emergency Service reported. In the southern region of Odesa, two people were killed after a Russian missile struck a building, said regional head Oleh Kiper Another man was wounded by shrapnel. Explosions and fires were reported across Kyiv’s Solomianskyi, Darnytskyi and Dniprovskyi districts, the emergency service said.
Russia launched 12 missiles, including six ballis-
tic missiles, along with 121 drones against Ukraine overnight, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. He said most of the drones and some of the missiles were shot down, but the ballistic missiles reached their targets, reiterating Ukraine’s dire air defense gaps.
Ukrainian air defenses said they shot down or electronically suppressed two missiles and 111 drones. The air force said direct hits were recorded at 11 locations.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces targeted drone production facilities in Kyiv as well as the ports of Izmail and Chornomorsk in the Odesa region.
The ministry also said Russian air defenses destroyed 178 Ukrainian drones overnight over eight Russian regions, as well as over the Russianoccupied Crimean Peninsula and the Black and Azov seas.
He said in a statement that the subpoenas “break from long-standing Justice Department practice to protect the public interest and press independence by requiring prosecutors to only seek information from reporters as a last resort when all other avenues have been exhausted.”
The department said that “to be clear, reporters are not the targets, those leaking classified information are.”
Its statement said “we value and appreciate the important role that the press plays in this country, but DOJ also plays an important role to make sure that the people entrusted with our nation’s secrets do what they’re supposed to do with that information, which means not
sharing classified information.”
While recognizing “there may always be natural tension there,” the department said “we are not going to ignore the law and stop investigating the people who work in the administration and think it’s OK to leak classified information impacting national security.”
Issuing subpoenas represents further ramping up of Trump’s effort to threaten independent new organizations by leveraging the power of the federal government against them. It is also part of a systematic pattern by the Republican president to attempt to undermine press freedom in order to shield him from negative coverage.
Obituaries:
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ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By VAHID SALEMI
holding a child as a woman waves a religious flag on Saturday during a pro-government gathering commemorating the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at a square in Tehran, Iran.
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ABDULLAH GÜÇLÜ
President Donald Trump arrives Tuesday for the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey
BY PATRICK WHITTLE and TAMMY WEBBER
Associated Press
A widespread and dangerous heat wave was building across the U.S. on Saturday, with triple-digit highs expected in the Southwest and Great Plains next weekend before spreading eastward under a dome of high pressure that meteorologists say could trap oppressive temperatures for a week or more.
Forecasters advised people to stay hydrated and find places to cool off, warning of temperatures 15 to 25 degrees warmer than normal in many areas, including at night — especially bad
for people’s health because their bodies won’t have a chance to recover The heat dome was expected to affect as much as two-thirds of the continental United States.
“The heat doesn’t necessarily stop when it’s dark out,” said Josh Adam, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Bismarck, North Dakota, where temperatures will surpass 100 until Tuesday, a dramatic spike for a state where summer temperatures are typically in the 80s.
Tynika Smith of Bloomington, Minnesota, handed out frozen towels and wash cloths along with batteryoperated fans at encamp-
ments of homeless people in nearby St. Paul and will continue next week, when temperatures are forecast to climb into the mid- to high 90s. The residents put the ice packs around their necks and on their heads.
“They can’t get into a car with air conditioning or go into a house,” said Smith, who also distributed water, freezer pops, food and hygiene supplies The encampments are so secluded that it’s difficult for the residents to walk or bicycle to cooling centers, she said. There also is little outside shade, while the temperature inside their tents gets even hotter than outdoors.
“I can only do so much,” Smith said, “but at least I can help them stay cool for a little bit.”
The National Weather Service predicted that more than 90 U.S. local temperature records will be tied or broken through Wednesday — with two-thirds of those being overnight heat records. Temperatures were not forecast to drop below 80 at night in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Miami; Tampa, Florida; Galveston, Texas; and Charleston, South Carolina.
The heat dome formed when high pressure traps hot air while blocking cooling winds and rain — is one of the strongest to affect the
Dakotas in 25 years, said Chad Merrill, a senior meteorologist with AccuWeather Record triple-digit highs were forecast for the weekend in Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana and the Dakotas.
In Helena, Montana, where temperatures were expected to creep above 95, Last Chance Splash Waterpark & Pool was holding a swim meet for hundreds of swimmers.
The timing couldn’t be better, as it’s uncommon for Helena to get so hot, said Sean Swingley assistant manager
“It’s certainly a hot day, but the pool is nice and cool,” Swingley said. “Usu-
ally in the summer we have a couple 95 degree days, but it mostly hovers around 85 to 90 in June and July.” Nevada, a state accustomed to hot weather was even hotter than normal, said Andrew Gorelow, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Las Vegas. The temperature there was expected to hit 111 on Saturday, Gorelow said. Hydrating and finding cool spaces is critical, experts said. They also warned that the heat could spike fire risk in some parts of the country that already are dry, including the Rockies, where Merrill said dry thunderstorms could develop.
More than 200 at camp helicoptered to safety amid flooding
BY HALLIE GOLDEN and KRISTIN HALL Associated Press
One person remained missing in Missouri on Saturday after heavy rainfall battered parts of the state the previous day, forcing numerous emergency rescues and evacuations, including at a summer camp with more than 200 children.
Several other states also faced the potential for severe thunderstorms and flash flooding as the slowmoving storms moved southward.
The National Weather Service said the severe weather impacted a wide region stretching from the Ozark Mountains in southern Missouri eastward into much of the Ohio and Tennessee river valleys.
The service said the storms could bring damaging winds, heavy rainfall and scattered flash flooding to the multistate region, with some places seeing impacts into Sunday In eastern Tennessee, flooding closed some roads and downed power lines, and authorities from Kentucky to West Virginia told people to be ready to seek higher ground.
Missouri’s Emergency Management Agen cy warned that while the storms move south and out of the state, further thunderstorms could still bring additional flash flooding, especially in areas that have already received 6 and 12 inches of rain.
Friday’s drenching rains washed away roads around Camp Taum Sauk, trapping children and staff at the site in the small southeastern community of Lesterville, according Sgt Eddie Young, with the state’s highway patrol. The Army National Guard used Black Hawk helicopters to fly them to a nearby elementary school and reunite them with families, he said.
The camp thanked gency crews in a post Instagram, saying, “W beyond thankful for help keeping our camp munity safe.”
Meanwhile campe the Bearcat Getaway ground near the River, about 85 miles of St. Louis, climbed building to get away the raging waters but collapsed, Young said.
“Between the weight the constant waters neath it, it just gave awa them,” he said.
Three other people trapped on trees on Black River in Reynolds County and were re Young said.
There were no report major injuries or fatalities but a woman in Crawford County was missing after a house was swept from its foundation.
MISSOURI
another “It’s very, very popular place for recreation,” Matt Beitscher a lead meteorologist with the weather service office in St. Louis, said 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 a search and rescue team to assist. He said late Friday that hundreds of people were saved from floodwaters, trees, rooftops and stranded vehicles.
Several major roads were impassable due to flooding and damage, Kehoe said, warning that the Black Riv-
er continued to rise and was expected to crest at more than 28 feet near Annapolis in southeastern Missouri, which would be a record.
“As recovery efforts continue and additional rain is expected, I urge everyone in flood-prone and low-lying areas to stay weather-aware, have multiple ways of receiving alerts, and be ready to take protective action,” Kehoe said in a statement
Young confirmed Saturday that the woman, Faith Gregory, was the only person still unaccounted for in the county which is about 70 miles southwest of St. Louis. Family and friends said on social media that they had resumed their search and urged others to look out for Gregory and her dogs, who were also swept away The weather service had issued flash flood warnings for the area as thunderstorms piled on one after
PHOTO PROVIDED By KTVI Floodwaters rise on Friday in Lesterville, Mo.
Mexican builder fatally shot by ICE officer mourned
BY TIM SULLIVAN Associated Press
The builder got up every morning long before dawn, left home to pick up his construction crew and then headed out to work on yet another house somewhere across the sprawl of Houston.
Fourteen hours later, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo would return to the wife he’d met as a teenager in Mexico and the modest house he’d built for his family on the city’s east side. It’s what he’d done for decades, according to Ronaldo Salgado, his oldest son. He said his father built hundreds of houses over 35 years, creating a life for his family and watching as his three sons headed off to college.
On Tuesday a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot Salgado Araujo, 52, after he was pursued by federal agents driving unmarked vehicles while he was taking his crew to their latest job site. The shooting has outraged Houston leaders and renewed public scrutiny
do Araujo was driving said he was shot through a passenger window and that the ICE officer who fired was not in front of the van or even in danger a lawyer who has spoken with them said Friday
His family has also disputed the account from ICE. They said lawyers, who were helping him apply for a work permit, had explained how he should behave if immigration agents stopped him. Salgado Araujo was close to obtaining legal status when he was killed, they said.
immigration enforcement campaign.
Salgado Araujo entered the U.S. more than 30 years ago, settling in Houston with his wife where they raised their three children.
Education was a constant focus in the house, said Ronaldo Salgado, who is now a teacher One of his brothers is an engineer The other is in college studying engineering.
“I think it speaks volumes of the kind of person that he was,” Flores said, recalling how Salgado Araujo showed up for his son even after an arduous day of work.
Salgado Araujo’s wife, a relative said, is “inconsolable.”
over ICE and Trump’s immigration crackdown. Four Democratic members of Congress who represent the Houston area said at a vigil Saturday that they would push for an independent investigation into the shooting.
“We are never going to forget that his blood is on Donald Trump’s hands,” Rep. Christian Menefee said. “We are not at war Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was not a casualty He was a human being who was murdered by our
Whistleblower
BY NICHOLAS RICCARDI Associated Press
A Democratic senator on Saturday alleged that whistleblowers have detailed several problems stemming from rushed or improper reconstruction of the Kennedy Center, adding a new layer to the travails of the arts complex as President Donald Trump tried to seize control of it and its name. Sheldon Whitehouse, of Rhode Island, said in a release on Saturday that he had received a whistleblower disclosure from the Government Accountability Project, a nonprofit whistleblower protection group,
government.”
Federal agents were looking for someone else when they tried to stop Salgado Araujo’s white van, Garcia said, citing a briefing she receiving from ICE’s acting director The Department of Homeland Security has said an ICE officer fired at the van in self-defense after Salgado Araujo, who officials described as an “illegal alien,” rammed an ICE vehicle. They have provided no evidence. The three men that Salga-
“He knew what to do,” Ronaldo Salgado told reporters this week. “He knew not to sign anything. He knew that the first phone call he should make should be either to myself or to my mom. So that way we can get the process started of getting him out.”
He believes his father may have been scared that he was being followed by unmarked vehicles, worried someone was planning to steal his van or his tools.
The shooting in the heavily Hispanic neighborhood is at least the eighth death during the Trump administration’s
Several childhood friends of Salgado recalled that his father was kind and softspoken, always inquiring about his wife’s day and how his sons’ friends were doing after a long day at work.
“We didn’t really see him until the end of the day when he came home to have dinner, but that just shows how much of a hard worker he was,” said neighbor Jessica Alanis Magdaleno. “Everything they have now is thanks to the dedication to that.”
Josué Flores a friend of Ronaldo Salgado since their freshman year of high school, said he first saw Lorenzo Salgado Araujo at his son’s football game.
“She is very upset... angry, sad, disoriented,” Jose Torres Ramon, a nephew who lives in Mexico, told The Associated Press in a Facebook message.
Ronald Salgado, his oldest son, said at the Saturday vigil that he hoped he was making his father proud.
“I’ll keep fighting for him,” he said. His brother Lorenzo Salgado Jr said the shooting of his father was “a hard moment to be an American.”
“Even though my government, my federal government took away my father, we the people will bring justice,” he said. “We the people are America.”
After coming home in the evening, Salgado Araujo liked to listen to music on the porch and pet the family dog. His family has described him as a simple man of routine.
alleges construction problems at Kennedy Center
alleging that “the Center rushed a series of renovations driven by the president’s aesthetic whims and his desire to star in a series of televised events in December.”
The Kennedy Center did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump seized control of the arts and culture venue, named after former President John F. Kennedy, at the beginning of his second term. Trump ousted the center’s prior leadership and replaced it with a Board of Trustees that named him chairman and added his name to the building.
Democrats sued to remove it and a federal judge ruled Trump’s name must come off the venue, which had been wracked with boycotts by artists during the tur-
“The Center’s subservience to the President’s desires and its corner-cutting contracting practices have resulted in steel columns that are rusting through fresh paint, a reflecting pool that may have to be torn out and rebuilt, and a brand-new bathroom floor torn out over an offending tile color,” Whitehouse continued. “This is waste, and it treats a national memorial to President Kennedy as if it were a private renovation project.”
moil. He tried to close the center for two years, only to be ordered to keep it open by the court because only Congress could change its name.
Whitehouse released a letter he wrote to the center’s
executive director Matt Floca, demanding answers by July 23. He said the whistleblower report included “firsthand accounts of multiple former Center project managers, supported by contemporaneous documents and photographs.” He also included an 83-page appendix full of internal center documents, emails and photos of apparently shoddy construction.
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By Amanda McElfresh | amcelfresh@theadvocate.com
As parents fill theirfamilies’ summer calendars withvacations,campsandpooldays,anotheritem shouldmaketheschedule–anannualwell-child visitwithapediatrician.Whilemanyparentswait untilthefinaldaysofsummerbreaktomakewellnessappointments,itcanbemoreadvantageousto scheduletimebeforetheback-to-schoolrush
“Pediatricianofficesareslowerinthesummer thanatanyothertimeoftheyear.Appointments aremorereadilyavailable,thewaittimesareshorter andtherearen’talotofsickkidsaroundwhomay inadvertentlypassonsomethingtoyourchild,”said Dr.TracyLemelle-Christophe,apediatricianwhois MedicalDirector,ClinicalSolutionsatLouisianaBlue Morethanasimplephysicalexam,awellness visitprovidespediatricians with an opportunity totakeacomprehensivelookatachild’soverall health,emotionsand living environment. Dr Lemelle-Christophesaidevaluationsofgrowthand developmentarekey,includingmeasuringthechild’s heightandweight.Pediatriciansalsotestthechild’s visionandhearing,andlookforpotentialsignsof chronicconditions.
“I always encourageparents to bringa list of questions,”shesaid.“Wheneversomethingcomes tomind,jotitdowninanotebookorinyourphone Noquestionistoosilly.Iencourageallparentsto comewithanopenmind,comecuriousandcome readytohaveadiscussion.”
Thosediscussionsfrequentlyincludevaccines forconditionssuchasthe flu, measles, chicken poxandwhoopingcough.Dr.Lemelle-Christophe saidparentsoftenoverlooktimeswhentheirolder childrenneedboosters,whilesomehavequestions abouttheeffectivenessofcertainvaccines “Awellnessvisitisagreattimeforparentsto discusswithuswhichvaccinestheirchildneeds, when they need it andhow oftentheyneedit. A pediatricianshouldalwaysbeopentoanswering questions,addressingconcernsandexplaininghow avaccineworks.Thenationalrecommendationsand schoolrequirementsdosometimeschange,sothis isthetimetoaskaboutthose,”shesaid.
“Pediatriciansgetintothedetailsoffamilylifein awaymostotherdoctorsdonot,”shesaid.“Iwant toknowallthatIcanaboutthelivingsituationsoI canmakesureachildisinahealthyenvironment If they’renot,wecan take stepstoworktoward someremedies.”
“Thisisagreattimeofyeartogetkidsinvolved in age-appropriatechoresand tasksaroundthe house. Youcan turn thoseintolearningopportunities andfamilyevents,”she said.“Youcan also do family activities like jigsaw puzzles or movienights,ortakeeveryoneouttoarestaurant Ireallyencourage parentstoembrace this time whenschoolactivitiesareonpauseandtouseit tomakepositivememories.”
HOUSTON CHRONICLE PHOTO By RAQUEL NATALICCHIO
Community members hold signs reading ‘ICE Out’ on Saturday during a community vigil for Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston.
MajorprojectsacrossLouisiana aremoving from announcementtoreality.Morethan $111 billionincapital investment is creating over 70,000 jobopportunities,with averagesalariesexceeding $90,000 The work spans across energy,manufacturing, infrastructureand logisticstogrow Louisianacommunitiesstatewide
LeadingproducerofTidePods Procter&Gamble
Louisianasugar cane andtimber supply global biofuel
Authoritiessay U.S. citizentests positive forEbola in Congo
BY JEAN-YVES KAMALE and MONIKA PRONCZUK Associated Press
KINSHASA,Congo AU.S.citizen working for ahumanitarian organization in Congo has tested positive for the Ebola virus, theU.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday,asthe Central African country struggles to contain the swelling outbreak.
NIL
Continued from page1A
“There’sjust no real regulationthat protects the athlete, and that’swhat we’re trying to do at this point,” said Curtis,who served on Louisiana’sNIL Task Force and advocated for new laws.
Louisiana law now acknowledges that high schoolathleteshave aright to profitfrom their personal brands.
That right was originally enshrined in state law for college athletes in 2021, after the SupremeCourt ruled that they areallowed to make moneyfrom playing sports. In 2022,the Louisiana High SchoolAthletic Association, the governing body for high school sports, issued aformal policy acknowledging highschoolerscan also enter into NIL deals, thoughitwasn’tcodified in law
“There has always been abusiness ecosystem built around athletes at the high school level, as well as at thecollege level,” said state Rep. Rashid Young, D-Homer.“This is the firsttime in historythat athletes are able to participateinthe ecosystem that wasbuilt around them, and it’sreally important for equity.” Young, an attorney who chaired Louisiana’sNIL Task Force and aformer Grambling State University football player, this year
TheCDC said it wasworking with the person’semployer,U.S.agencies, the public health authorities and Congolese partnerstoprevent further transmission andidentify close contacts. It didnot provide any further details.
Earlier this week, theAfrica Centres forDisease Control and Prevention said that theoutbreak is thefastest-growing Ebola outbreakever recordedonthe conti-
sponsored Act 810, which ensures high school players canenter into NIL deals.
But the newlaw also puts some limitsonhighschool athletes. Parents must sign offondealsfor those under the age of 18, and high school players can’tmake money frommarketing deals for alcohol, drugs, gambling, tobaccoand weapons.
High schools can also prohibit students frommaking money from NIL deals during school or sports activities and from using the school’sfacilitiesand branding in those deals. And theycan block student NIL agreements if there is a“material conflict” with another agreement the high school already has in place.
Curtis, whotestified in favor of the new law this spring, warned about the perils accompanying the new financial opportunities.
“Wehaveheard eighth grade andninth grade students that arealreadybeing influenced and asked tobe represented by men that
nent,with1,830 confirmed cases in Congo, including 648 deaths. Cases have alsobeen confirmed in neighboring Uganda. In the first week of the outbreak, an American doctor working in Congo tested positive for thevirus and was transferred to Germany for treatment. Initially,Trump administration officials hadsaidthatthe United States was planning to send Amer-
are not qualified to count 1 to 10, much lesstonegotiateacontract,” Curtis told lawmakers.
Newsportsagentsrules
Over the past few years, Louisiana has run into problems withunqualified agents who see the lack of regulation as a “money grab,”said state Sen. Patrick Connick, RMarrero,who sponsored Act895, which expands and strengthens state lawsgoverning sportsagents.
“Onahighschoollevel and agrammar school level, we need to protect these young men andwomen from unscrupulous agents that are lookingout for themselves andnot forthe athletes,” Connicksaid.
Louisiana lawnow regulates agents representing high school and college players, not just those at the professional level.
Sports agents have to comply with new requirements and could face tougher penaltiesfor wrongdoing. They’re now also re-
for everyone at the Advocate Store!
icanswho are exposed to Ebola while abroad to anew facility in Kenya instead of flying them home. But theproject has been suspended after an order from aKenyan court.
The Congolese authorities declared afresh Ebola outbreak on May 15, after the disease had been transmitting for weeks without official detection, according to the WorldHealth Organization.
quired to register with the state Attorney General’s Office before they pitch theirservices to student athletes.
Attorney General Liz Murrill this month launched the newathlete agent registration system, which requires acriminal-background check.
The outbreak is caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus, which has no approvedvaccine or treatment. Efforts to contain the virus have also been hampered by afunding gap, attacks on health centers and an ongoing conflictineastern Congo,the epicenter of the outbreak. Lastweek,clinical trials for treatment began afterresearchers launcheda highly anticipatedstudy in the hope of fighting the virus.
“These young people are being told things, and theirparents are beingtold things that are not realistic,” Curtissaid.
For endorsement or NILdeals, the agent has to provide awritten form to the athlete disclosing theservices being provided, how he calculated the fees beingcharged, andany other parties making money from the deal.
Not following the rules could lead to finesofup $100,000, and athletes themselves can now sue agents for financialorreputational harms or losing eligibility to play as aresultof the representation. The AttorneyGeneral’sOfficecan block an agent’sregistrationfor not complying with state regulations.
Unqualified sports agents can exaggerate thebenefits they can deliverfor high school athletes and downplay the need to train rigorously and develop their skills on the field with their team, he said.
“When you present to a 15-year-old, 16-year-old kid that thefuture’sall mapped outfor you,”hesaid, “I thinktosome degree you begin to lessen theirunderstanding of what theyneed to do from acommitment standpoint as an athlete.”
More changesahead
Ethan Anderson, director of communications for LHSAA, said the high school athletics association backs the new laws and is working to educate schoolleaders on the changes.
He noted that, while some
people mayworry that NIL could affect theessence of high school sports, LHSAA doesn’texpect that to happen.
“High school sports is still the truest form of sports,” Andersonsaid. “It’sjust thatsense of community, that sense of school spirit, and the pride of wearing yourschool colors and playing in front of your fans.”
“Wedon’tsee NILcausing that to change anytime soon,” he said. But Curtis and lawmakers acknowledged the new forprofit marketplace of high school andcollegesports remains in flux, andthe laws passedthisyear are just astarting point.
“I think we can grow from here as the environment changes,” Curtis said. Young, the state representative, said Louisiana’s NIL Task Force, which held its finalmeeting in December,isweighing whether it needs to continue its work.
“The NILlandscape is evolving it seemslike every year,” he said.
Beyond Cargo: Avondale Global Gateway’s Vision forAdvanced Manufacturing
By Amanda McElfresh | amcelfresh@theadvocate.com
Sittinginhis office at Avondale Global Gatewaywitha largesitemap of thepropertyonthe wall behindhim,Presidentand ChiefFinancial Officer, MatthewMancheski sees more than abustling logisticsterminal. He sees a location that is primed to take thenextstep to help customersmanufacture,process and addvalue on site
“Avondalehas evolvedfroma dormant former shipyard to aCovid-era reconstruction projecttoone of thelargest terminalsof itskindinthe nation.I thinkthe next phasefor Avondalewillfocus on moving into advanced manufacturing,”Mancheski said.“We’renot only bringing in anddistributingcargo.We’re alreadystartingtosee customerstakethat cargo, addvalue to it on site andthendistributeittotheir customers. That’s really exciting to see.”
AnthonyCleveland,Avondale’sCommercial Director, said thesite’sextensive industrial footprint, warehousecapacityand multimodal connectivity position Avondale to supportthe next phaseofgrowthfor itscustomers. Rather than shipping rawmaterials elsewherefor processing or manufacturing, companiescan locate thoseoperationsdirectlyatAvondale, reducing transportationcosts andcreating amoreefficientsupplychain.For example, steelpipeimportedthrough Avondale could be coated or treatedonsitebeforebeing transported to itsfinaldestination.Cleveland said similaropportunities existacrossarange of commoditieshandled at thefacilityincluding base metals such as copper,aluminum, lead andzinc.
“I’vebeenwithT.ParkerHostfor 14 years andhaveworkeddirectlywithAvondalesince January2021,”Cleveland said.“Oneofthe things we talk abouta lotatT.ParkerHost is theservice circle. We invest in people and give them theability to be successful, then we
providegreat customer servicewitha personal touch. That leadstohappy customers, andthe circle continues. Ithinkthatpositions us well to help Avondale tenantstakethe next step in preparingtheir cargofor itsfinalusage.” Locatedatmilemarker108 on theMississippiRiver near NewOrleans,AvondaleGlobal Gatewayhas undergone adramatictransformation sinceits 2018 acquisitionbyT.Parker Host.Today,itisa multimodal logisticshub with direct accesstoglobalshippingroutes, sixClass Irailroads andmajor NorthAmerican highwaysystems.The site includes five deepwaterdocks andmorethanone million square feet of warehousespace,supporting over 200commodities
“Customersare always impressedatAvondale’s scaleand size.They’re notusedtoseeing that in NewOrleans,” Clevelandsaid. “You can seethe wheels turningastheythinkabout how this location wouldworkfor theirbusiness. As we have continuedtoscale ouroperationsin amodernway,we’re increasingly able to talk to them abouthow advanced manufacturing canalsohappenfor them at Avondale.” Mancheski, anativeofNew Orleans, said that whileT.ParkerHostisa 100-year-old companywitha strong trackrecordalong theGulfCoast,Florida andthe East Coast, Avondale marked itslargest commitment in Louisiana.
“I thinkthe community andcustomershave seen that we have astrongworkethic andthe initiativetodrive solutions. It’s averycollaborativeatmosphere. Theheart of thebusiness is here andready to providesupport as close to thecustomer as possible,” he said.“As more customershaveseenthatovertime, they have talked to us aboutother ways they canutilize thesite. We feel we’reinapositionnow to be aone-stopshopfor them.”
Murrill
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women went public with their allegations, federal prosecutors arrested and charged Epstein with sex trafficking minors out of his New York City mansion as well as his estates in Florida, New Mexico and a Caribbean island. Epstein killed himself while in detention
Lacerda is one of 20 Epstein survivors working to block Blanche’s confirmation as the nation’s leading law enforcement official.
Blanche has been acting attorney general since former Attorney General Pam Bondi stepped down April 2. Both Kennedy and Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, in March 2025 backed Blanche’s appointment as second-in-command of the Department of Justice.
As deputy attorney general, Blanche oversaw the organization and release of nearly 3 million files gathered by law enforcement looking into allegations that the wealthy financier recruited more than a thousand young girls for sex.
Blanche has said repeatedly that no evidence that adult men had sex with girls was found in the interviews, transcripts, notes and other materials gathered during the investigations into Epstein’s conduct, even though at least one accuser claimed she was sent to have sex with men in Epstein’s circle.
tions by failing to address the lawsuit’s allegations that a 13-year-old’s claims against Trump was withheld.
Trump repeatedly has said he ended his relationship with Epstein years ago and was unaware of underage girls being used for sex. No evidence has been revealed that Trump or Clinton had sex with underage girls.
Other opposition
The Epstein survivors aren’t the only opponents of Blanche’s nomination.
More than 1,200 former agents, analysts, immigration judges, lawyers and other staffers wrote to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday detailing why they are against making him the attorney general.
ton-based organization for department alumi, said in a statement. “That fealty led to the purge of thousands of experienced career employees.”
About 16,000 of the agency’s 40,000 employees have left since Trump’s second term began.
Some Democrats and Republicans also fret that Blanche will act more as the president’s representative than the nation’s top lawyer He represented Trump when, in March 2023, he was indicted in New York on 34 felony counts for falsifying business records to hide “hush money” paid to porn star Stormy Daniels, a Baton Rouge native whose real name is Stephanie Clifford. He was convicted on all 34 counts on May 30, 2024.
said, Kennedy challenged Patel, who said despite the legal issues raised by the 2008 federal nonprosecution agreement, all credible information” had been released and that nothing had been found to warrant further prosecutions.
“We can’t allow for this man to come in and gaslight in saying that there’s nothing here to look at,” Lacerda said. “There are things to look at.”
Lobbying to stop nomination
Lacerda and 19 other survivors wrote in a letter that they were concerned that Blanche was among senior administration figures who adopted a strategy of minimizing the Epstein files instead of choosing to pursue “investigative leads and try to figure out what actually happened. These revelations confirm our worst fears about the administration prioritizing political expediency over justice for survivors and truth for the American people.”
The survivors need one Republican senator on their side to kill Blanche’s nomination in the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will hear from the nominee on Wednesday and Thursday Kennedy is a member of that committee.
Survivors have focused their efforts on two GOP incumbents whose reelections Trump opposed: Sen Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. Kennedy who has a good relationship with President Donald Trump, was added to the list after survivors reviewed his questioning of Patel over several committee hearings late last year
“This issue is not going to go away I think the essential question for the American people is this: They know that Epstein trafficked young women for sex to himself. They want to know who, if anyone else, he trafficked these young women to And that’s a very fair question. I want to know that answer And I think you’re going to have to do more to satisfy the American people’s understandable curiosity in that regard,” Kennedy said. Patel responded, “I agree.”
Neither Blanche nor Kennedy responded to requests for comment
‘I was stunned’ Born in Brazil, Lacerda moved to New York City at the age of 8. Her immigrant family jammed into a small apartment and survived on instant ramen noodles. Lacerda took on small jobs to help out. A friend mentioned “a kind, older man” would pay $300 for young girls to massage him without wearing a top, she said.
Lacerda was 14 in 2002 when she first arrived at Epstein’s Manhattan mansion.
“The moment I walked into his house, I was stunned,” Lacerda said. “Luxury furniture, framed photographs on the walls of famous people, most of them I didn’t recognize but Bill Clinton was there (and) Donald Trump.”
The housekeeper led Lacerda to the third-floor massage room that was decorated with painted clouds and drawings of nude women, she said.
said. She dropped out of school to work for Epstein.
Lacerda, now 38, filed an anonymous complaint and prosecutors lined her up to testify in 2008, before the trial was averted by the plea bargain, and then again in 2019 before Epstein took his own life.
Lacerda said the release of investigation materials has been sloppy at best.
Blanche’s team struck out the names of wealthy and influential men associated with Epstein but left her name and her address in Florida exposed in at least 46 instances, she said, adding that she and other survivors have since received death threats.
questioned,” Lacerda said.
For instance, Lesley Groff, Epstein’s assistant for 18 years, told the panel in June that she did not know of his sexual predilections and had never met any of the underage masseuses.
“She’s lying. I have met her in the office plenty of times,” Lacerda said. “I was paid by Leslie. Fresh hundred bills that came in envelopes.”
Blanche testified on May 19 that the errors made while blacking out names were inevitable because of the strict timeline required. The Justice Department was careful not to make public uncorroborated information to avoid tarring innocents he added.
Investigations frustration
Lacerda says she and her fellow survivors are frustrated that only two people have been prosecuted by U.S. authorities Epstein in 2008 and his longtime girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell in 2022. Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence at a minimum security Texas prison camp that usually doesn’t house sex offenders.
Blanche interviewed her, then facilitated the move in August 2025 from a Florida penitentiary, where security is not as relaxed.
Consequences have been greater for Epstein associates in other countries. In the United Kingdom, former Prince Andrew lost his position as a British royal and was forced to move out of a palace owned by his family
Additiona lly, Groff’s desk was just outside the room that monitored activity throughout his New York City mansion.
“We were being watched 24/7,” Lacerda said. “We are wondering, as well, where are those videotapes?”
In late June, Blanche was scolded by a federal district judge overseeing a lawsuit claiming the Justice Department violated the law Congress passed in November that required the public release of the Epstein records.
Senior U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan, of Washington, said Blanche essentially admitted to the viola-
“Since his confirmation as deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche has shown time and again that his guiding star is fealty to the President, not the Constitution,” Stacey Young, executive director and founder of Justice Connection, a Washing-
“This is not about Trump. We just want those files to be released and people to be investigated,” Lacerda said.
Email Mark Ballard at mballard@theadvocate.com.
In particular, Lacerda
For the next three years, until Lacerda was deemed “too old” at 17, Epstein paid to sexually abuse her, she
Survivors also question why investigators aren’t following up on the information found in the files and revealed through sworn testimony at the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
“We’re forgetting about the people that we have just
ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By MANUEL BALCE CENETA Marina Lacerda, with Liz Stein at right, victims of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse, speaks outside the hearing room during the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s closed-door deposition of former Attorney General Pam Bondi at the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington on May 29
Patel Epstein Kennedy
where Miles’ father, Darrell Sinagra, has been raising and milking cows since 1997. The family has bet the farm on this model selling less-processed milk direct to consumers.
Since the state legalized the sale of raw milk in 2024, to a chorus of mooing legislators, some of that milk has been raw
There’s risk to that, said Miles, 26. “I’m not going to shy away from that It’s like eating a raw oyster. We’re in Louisiana, big raw oyster state. Now do we do everything we can to mitigate that, to decrease that risk as much as possible? Absolutely.”
As raw milk has become an elixir of the Make America Healthy Again, or MAHA, movement, some small family farms have seen it as a rare lifeline in a difficult industry dominated by large-scale operators.
But scientists have warned against skipping pasteurization. Raw milk is hundreds of times more likely to contain pathogens, such as listeria, E coli and campylobacter
The people sickened in Louisiana tested positive for campylobacteriosis, cryptosporidiosis or both, according to the Louisiana Department of Health.
Even as more states have legalized the sale of raw milk, few are testing it. Louisiana’s law requires labels that warn “not for human consumption.”
“I would call it the Wild West,” said professor John Lucey, director of the Center for Dairy Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison “It’s just completely unregulated, with every state doing their own testing and procedures and temperatures. God knows.”
No matter how careful the farmer cows get infections, including mastitis, might kick off the milking equipment and “literally poop everywhere,” Lucey said. These are “not just possibilities. They happen all the time.”
A drop in dairy farms
The customers arrived with empty ice chests.
A veteran who’d driven from Mississippi, where raw milk is prohibited. A Tickfaw man who’d seen the farm’s Facebook posts Neighbors who’d grown up on dairy farms not far from here, back when dairies dotted the region.
Miles remembered their orders:
“It’s Monday — aren’t you a Thursday man?” His father scooped their ice: “You in the silver? Want it in the back?”
John Bohning, who carries Sinagra milk in his grocery stores, stopped by with his wife and two kids, hoping for a tour
“Mommy,” their 3-year-old son pleaded, “I want to see the cowies.”
Clad in farmer chic — Red Wing boots, Levi’s jeans, a Timex watch
Miles grabbed a bag of alfalfa treats and brought them to an older, rougher building: the red milking barn, built in the 1970s. Schyler Bohning peered in, her 3-year-old on her hip.
“Has this always been your dream?” she asked.
Miles smiled, a story behind his
eyes. After college, he’d nabbed what he thought was his dream job at a conservative New York City think tank, the Manhattan Institute.
But six months in, he knew he’d made a mistake. He hated his cubicle and missed his farm. Worried his parents would sell the cows, he watched how farms in upstate New York were marketing themselves.
“I saw demand for this more nutrient-dense, less processed milk,” he said
So a few years back, he called home: “Dad, we need to buy a pasteurizer.”
Now 55, Darrell Sinagra had grown up working at dairies in the area, hopping fence after fence. But since the 1990s, the number of dairy farms in Louisiana has plummeted — from more than 1,200 in 1992 to fewer than 100 today
Darrell understands why. “I love taking care of cows,” he said. But costs have soared. His newest tractor is a 1981 model. He maintains 110 tires. You’d get more for a cow
selling it for meat than milk.
For decades, he sold the farm’s milk for commodity prices out of his control.
But in 2024, with Miles back home, they added a production building with wide windows to let customers see the low-and-slow pasteurization process. Their Facebook post about the farm store’s opening garnered more than 1,000 shares.
“I think we’re going to need more milk,” he told his dad.
They were doing both until May 31, when their milk processor notified them that because they were selling outside of their contract, the company would no longer buy and process their milk.
So now Sinagra is bottling, labeling and selling everything it milks at the farm store, as well as about 20 local groceries, health food stores and Farmer’s Butcher and Farmstop in New Orleans, where the warning “raw milk not for hu-
man consumption” is written in pretty script.
‘Just too scary’
Raw milk’s evangelists describe a host of health benefits, most of them not backed by scientific study But a growing body of research, much of it out of Europe, acknowledges the so-called farm effect.
It’s something Miles and his sister experienced: Being raised among the cows and in the fields, “My mom always says that we were never sick,” Miles said, bumping along in a four-wheeler across the family’s 250 acres Growing up on a family farm seems to protect kids from developing asthma and other allergies — not a small feat at a time when allergies have surged. (Almost a third of adults and children report having an allergy, according to the CDC.)
Some parents are buying raw milk with the hope that it could transfer some of those benefits, no hay baling required.
But scientists are still sorting the protections from the causes. They warn that giving children raw milk puts one of the most vulnerable groups at risk of injury or even death.
A recent study comparing the Amish and Mennonite populations in Wisconsin suggests that the protections could be “more about contact with animals early in life — maybe before the baby is born,” via breastfeeding said Lucey, the professor
“You’re taking such a risk with your kids — and you’re not clear you’re going to get the benefit from the milk at all.”
The Louisiana Department of Health has not released the names or locations of the milking operations it’s investigating. A spokesperson declined to comment beyond the department’s initial advisory According to the law
passed in 2024, the state’s agriculture commissioner has the power to “temporarily suspend the sale, distribution, or movement of any raw milk from a producer when the raw milk causes an outbreak of a contagious or infectious disease that poses an immediate threat to animal or public health.”
But as of last week, the Department of Agriculture and Forestry hadn’t gotten information from the Health Department, spokeswoman Jennifer Finley said.
“After reviewing this matter, we have not received an official report from the Louisiana Department of Health identifying the cause of the illnesses, nor have we been notified of the farms involved.”
A push to legalize, test
Even in high school, as part of a civics project called TeenPact, Miles Sinagra had “authored” a bill legalizing the sale of raw milk Growing up, “neighbors were constantly asking my dad if they could buy milk from him, and he would have to tell them ‘no,’” Sinagra said.
“And I just thought that was insane
“How is it that we’re producing this product that I grew up drinking, yet we can’t sell it?”
At King’s College in New York City, he wrote his senior thesis on the subject. “It is described as ‘nature’s most perfect food,’” it begins. And when he returned to Louisiana, he lobbied lawmakers to make selling raw milk legal.
But Sinagra had been pushing for a law that would allow human consumption — and include state testing.
Miles Sinagra pets a newborn calf as he gives a tour at Sinagra Family Dairy in Amite on June 29.
STAFF PHOTO By CHRIS
GRANGER
For now, it’s up to him He has employees set a timer for 15 minutes, never allowing milk to warm. He sends milk samples to Nebraska twice monthly to be tested for pathogens at $400 a pop. He has been talking with one employee, who has a degree in biology, about how they could test on-site for bacteria counts.
But it all starts in the barn, where employees wipe, sanitize and seal the cows’ teats
Just past 3 p.m. on a recent Monday Darrell Sinagra left the air-conditioning to round up the cows. During the day, the cows mosey around 125 acres, finding shade and water where they can. At night, they stay on 30 acres, so that when Sinagra goes looking for them at 4 a.m., he can find them in the darkness.
Once the cows were in the pens, the first six on the milking machines, Sinagra hopped off the four-wheeler and stepped into the barn. His tan, thick-knuckled hands grabbed the water hose. He took a swig.
“It’s a hot one,” he said. He checked the gauges, making sure the groundwater was flowing, quickly bringing down the milk’s temperature before it hit the bulk tank. For years, an 18-wheeler would back up to this barn to take the milk hundreds of miles away for processing and selling.
But today, Sinagra walked along the milk’s new route: 86 feet of pipe from the barn to the store where his wife was filling jugs and his son was ringing up customers.
Email Jenna Ross at jenna.ross@theadvocate. com.
LOUISIANAPOLITICS
Republicansdownplaying OneBig BeautifulBillAct
WASHINGTON —While this year’s July4 celebration in Washington, D.C., was highlighted by extreme temperatures and fireworks, last year’sceremonial focus was President Donald Trump signinginto law abill Republicans were sure would cement GOP majorities in the House and Senate after November’scongressional midterm elections.
Mark Ballard
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act included tax breaks and conservative bucket-list policies that leadership argued would persuade voters to overcometheir historical inclination to replace the ruling majority in the House and Senate. At nearly athousandpages, the law is a touchstone whenever House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Benton, andHouse Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson, talk about the upcoming election.
“Wejust celebrated oneyear of that great bill, the ‘Working FamiliesTax Cut,’ being signed into law on the Fourth of July,” Scalise saidTuesday on Fox News Channel’sHannity show, using the act’srebrandedname rather than the OBBBA name on the legislation.
“Forget about the Democrat Party leadership; most Americans still lovethis country.But there are alot of good things. It’s notjust the fact that if you’re an overtime worker,apolice officer, or ashift worker,you don’t have to paytaxes on overtime or tips Seniors get great benefits,” Scalise continued.
“Lower taxes, bigger refunds, and more money in the pocketsof hardworking Americans,” Johnson said at anews conference. “Wedid that intentionally, and that’sexactly what’shappening. Thanks to the ‘Working Families TaxCuts,’ Americans in all 50 states are benefiting from taxes
Legislatorsdecline to override vetoes
that are lower and simpler and fairer for their families.This legislation is so revolutionary because it is permanent.”
GOP leadership refers to the bill alot. Rank-and-file Republican candidates do not —orso says aseries of national news reportslast week,starting with The Washington Post. It appears that when counting thenumberofmentions on the campaigntrail and on social media, Democraticcandidates are relying on the measure as acampaign talkingpointfar more than Republicans do.
Capitol Buzz STAFF REPORTS
The Louisiana Legislature has decided not to hold asession to consider overriding Gov.Jeff Landry’svetoes of several bills fromthisyear’slegislativesession. The state constitution calls for lawmakers to hold an overridesession unless the House and Senate affirmatively vote to cancel it. In practice, they almost always do —with the exception of former Gov.John Bel Edwards’ second term, whenthe Republican-controlled Legislature metseveral times to overrule the Democratic governor Landry vetoed six bills, one sponsored by aRepublican and five by Democrats. He also issued line-item vetoes in several of the mainbudget bills, mainlyhalting projects in Democratic-leaning areas,especially in New Orleans. Landry’soffice said he was following through on his goal of rein-
Rolling back someregulations and easing tax burdens creates economic stability and spurs investments, Johnson and Scalise say The “no tax on tips” deduction wasclaimed by seven million taxpayers and 28 million used the “no tax on overtime” provision, according to the House Ways and Means Committee. Elderly taxpayers got abonus deduction that wasclaimed by about 32 million taxpayers.
But to payfor the package, Republicans added work requirements andchanged other standards forMedicaid, the statefederal health insurance forlowincome anddisabled individuals, as well as for those who rely on the SupplementalNutrition AssistanceProgramfor groceries.
The UrbanInstitute estimates more than3.5 million people have lost accesstofood assistancebecause of eligibility changesand stricter application processes.
The $1 trillioncut to Medicaid and$180 billionSNAP reduction actually strengthens the safety netprograms by reducing waste, fraud andabuse of the program, Johnsonand Scalise argue.
Calling it the“Big Ugly Bill,”
Democrats are frequently reminding voters of changes to Medicaid and food stamps that reduce availability for millions of participants, according to the Post. Democrats alsoare linking thebill to voter concerns about inflation and the higher cost of consumer goods. “Republicans have largely retreated from talking about the law by name, as they did more often earlier last year —opting instead to focus on the tax cuts under it,” the Postreported. That Johnson, Scalise and the
leadership team have rebranded OBBBA with another nameis an indication of the problem for GOP candidates. The legislation addressed all sorts of issues, including border security,transgender athletes, and environmental programs. Someofthe provisions are popular by themselves. But overall, theOBBBA polls poorly Johnson and Scalise focus on the parts thatkept taxes from increasing dramatically this year and lowered taxes for millions of households and businesses. Taxpayers savedabout $2,300 per filer
Strong majorities of Americans nationally viewprograms like Medicaidand SNAP favorably andare deeply concerned about the impactsofcuts, according to areportThursdaybyNavigator Research,aleft-of-center polling operationbased in Washington. Regardless of what it’scalled, the new law is unpopular,according to somepolls.
Only 33% of Americans view the One Big Beautiful Bill Act favorably,while 48% have an unfavorable opinion, according to Navigator.Those numbers include 53% of Republicans who have an unfavorable opinion of the new law
Email Mark Ballardat mballard@theadvocate.com.
Orgeron
inginstate spending on nongovernmental agencies; Democrats accused him of retaliating against them for opposing hisagenda Landry also vetoed House Bill 688, by Rep. JosephOrgeron, R-CutOff, which would classify Atlantic tarpon as asaltwater game fish, saying it was unnecessary and could lead to more regulations.
Thegovernor also vetoed House Bill 950 by Rep. Delisha Boyd, D-New Orleans, which would have created aprogram in the Office ofElderly Affairs to help protect retirees’pensions and retirement funds, and House Bill 1194, by Rep. Terry Landry, Jr., D-Baton Rouge,which would have created afinancing program to help build grocerystores in food deserts. His vetomessage for those twobills said lawmakers did not allocateany funding for the programs, so their responsibilities could not actually be carried out.
Landry alsovetoedSenate Bill
125, by Rep.Gerald Boudreaux, D-Lafayette, that would have increased the cap on compensation for people who are wrongfully convicted; Senate Bill 283 by Sen ReginaBarrow,D-Baton Rouge, that created new special taxing districtsinthe city; and Senate Bill 384 by Sen. Jimmy Harris, DNew Orleans, which would have created pilot innovation hubs with exceptions to government procurement rules.
La. students sought for ‘Patriot Games’
Louisianaislooking for high school studentstorepresent the stateinthe Patriot Games, an athletic competition that is part of thefestivities President Donald Trump’sadministration has organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States.
Onemale and one female athlete will be selected to “represent their home state or territory on anational stage as they compete in aseries of high-intensity challenges designed to test strength, speed, agility, teamwork, resilience, and leadership,” according to thewebsite for Freedom250,
which is organizing the event.
“Over the course of the competition,athletes will face aseries of demanding physical and mental challenges, culminating in the crowning of one maleand one female Patriot Games champion,” thewebsite says.
Each champion will receive $125,000 in scholarship funding, according to the website.
In apost on X, Gov.Jeff Landry welcomed Louisiana student athletes ages 14-17 to apply.Applicationscan be submitted online at freedom250.org/patriot-games.
The competition will take place from Aug. 9-11, with aprime-time special on ABC on Aug. 13.
In addition to submitting an application form, students need to
submit aone- to two-minute introduction video.
Funeral services scheduledfor Selders
The funeral forstate Sen. Larry Selders, D-Baton Rouge, will be held Tuesday,July 14, at Mt. Zion First Baptist Church, where he worshipped. Visitation will be from 9a.m. to 11 a.m., with services after Selders, 44, died Tuesday at his sons’ football practice of aheart condition that had hospitalized him in May He waselected last year to the Senate, replacing U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields, after five years in the state House of Representatives. Asocial worker,hewas knownfor his work on mental health and addiction issues.
Tributes to Selders and condolences forhis family continued to pour in from across the state.
“He didn’tsee public service as atitle; he saw it as aresponsibility,” Fields said in astatement.
Selders
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOByJ.SCOTT APPLEWHITE
Speaker of the House MikeJohnson, R-Benton, talks to reporters at the Capitol in Washington, D.C.
BY SUDHIN THANAWALA Associated Press
On Friday,agroup of retired judges stepped off a tour bus in aritzy Michigan suburb after three daysof barnstorming through corn fields, cities and coal towns in Ohio and Pennsylvania. They carried with them a message.
In courthouses andpublic squares, they have marked the nation’s250th anniversary with adire warning: The rule of law in America is in grave danger.They will deliver asimilar messageat alibrary in Grosse Pointe just outside Detroit —the last stop on an extraordinary tour to defend judicial independence andbolster trust in courts.
Americans’ confidence in the court system and democracy has dipped in recent years. The country is more polarized, and President Donald Trump has repeatedly cast doubtonthe fairness of the judicial system.
Some judges on the tour said in phone interviews this week that the United States was at aprecipice.
“Looking back in history, we have teetered,” former Ohio Supreme Court Justice Michael Donnelly said. “This is amoment wherewe can decide to reinstillthose beliefs that we are acountry of laws and not of men.”
The four-day tour through the Rust Belt is asharp departure for atypically reserved and insular branch of government. Federal judges in particular largely limit their comments to the courtroom and written decisions, focusing on the facts of individual cases But that restraint is loosening amid abarrage of attacksbyTrumpand other White House officials, the administration’s rampant
defianceofU.S.district court orders and itsexpansive view of executive power.Trump has called adistrict judge who ruled against one of his immigration moves“crooked” and suggested with no evidence that Supreme Court justices who struck down his tariffs were motivated by foreign interests.
Morefederal judges have recentlybegun talking about receiving death threats and profane messages, though they havenot blamed Trump or any other officials. Some have blasted administration policiesinsharply worded opinions that strayed beyondthe legaldispute before them. Even U.S. Supreme CourtChief Justice John Roberts hasweighed in In an appearancein March, Roberts said personal criticism of federal judges was dangerous and hadtostop. The rarerebuke fromthe head of the nation’stop court cametwo daysafter Trump’sremark about a“crooked” judge, though Robertsdidn’tmention Trump oranyoneelse by name. The U.S. Marshals Service reported 564 threatsagainst federal judges in the government fiscal year thatended
in September,upfrom 509 theyear before.
“I don’twanttosay we have moved into an era of lawlessness, but it sometimes feelsthatway,” said former U.S. District Court Judge Victoria Roberts, who was set to jointhe bus tourin Michigan.
Timothy Lewis, another former federal judge on the tour,saidhis concerns aboutthe politicizationof the judicial branch reached atipping point adecade ago, when Senate Republicans thwarted President Barack Obama’snomination of MerrickGarlandtothe SupremeCourt.Today,the rule of lawisfacing an “existential threat” from an ongoing breakdown of norms, according to Lewis, who spent sevenyears on the3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
“I have fundamental concerns,” he said, “about where we areheaded as a nation.”
The tour started Tuesday in the western Pennsylvania town of Greensburg —once thehub of athrivingcoal industry that now lures visitorsfrom nearby Pittsburgh for highland recreation and ahistoric downtown. Judges mingled with customers at acoffee shopbeforespeaking at thedomed,
ornate Westmoreland County Courthouse. Then it was off to Washington, also in western Pennsylvania. The town of 13,000 people,where about 15% of the population is Black, was akey stop on the UndergroundRailroad and aregional base for the Civil RightsMovement. Fromthere, the bus headed west for events Wednesday in Columbus,Ohio, and thecity of Wooster in Amish country.The judges stopped at aCrackerBarrel restaurant on theway.They spent ThursdayinCleveland beforecircling Lake Erie north to Michigan.
Thetwo groupsthat planned thetour— dubbed “JusticeinMotion” —say they wereinspired by a similarcampaign in Poland in 2021 after that country’s governing party took control of key judicial institutions. Independent Polish judges visitedscores of townsto
promote therule of lawand teach voters about the country’sconstitution. The U.S. tour also aims to educate people.
Maureen O’Connor, aformerchief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court, said judges risk ceding the narrative about their roles and motives to “voices of misinformation” if theydon’t speak up. Aletter she received years ago, and still keeps, reminds her of that danger.The writer accused O’Connor,aRepublican, of betraying her party when she repeatedly struck down Republicandrawn legislative maps as illegal gerrymanders. “There was just abasic misunderstanding of what my role wasasajudge,”O’Connor said.
O’Connor is among roughly 30 judges, including two former federal judges and a currentfederal judge,who
will participate in the tour One of the federal judges wasnominated by aDemocrat, the other two by Republicans. The state judges, someofwhom are also still on the bench, representboth parties. They have been joinedby former Pennsylvania Gov TomCorbett,former Ohio attorneys general and afew lawyers. The event was put together by the Democracy Rising Collaborative and KeepOur Republic, nonpartisan advocacy groups. Organizers say they chose stops that wouldget the judges in front of as many people as possible to build connections and trust. The judges have embraced that mission.
“The lifeblood of the judiciaryispublic confidence,” Donnelly, theformerOhio SupremeCourt justice, said. “If you lose that, it’svery difficult to get it back.”
PROVIDED PHOTO TimothyLewis, aformer federal appeals courtjudge speaks with visitors at the LeMoyne Community Center in Washington, Pa., on Tuesday.
La. teens helped to pass school safety law
Schools required to report threats, request
BY PATRICK WALL Staff writer
Beija Lopes-Morgan
excelled in high school, but occasionally her mind wandered during class. How hard would it be, she wondered, for a stranger to enter the building?
During a meeting of fellow student leaders from across Louisiana, she asked if anyone else had ever felt unsafe at school.
“Every single person raised their hand,” said Lopes-Morgan, who graduated from Mandeville High School this spring
The students were members of Louisiana’s Legislative Youth Advisory Council, or LYAC, which gives ambitious high schoolers an opportunity to work with state lawmakers on solutions to issues affecting young people. The teens decided to focus on school safety
Last year, they worked with Sen. Rick Edmonds, R-Baton Rouge, to establish a school safety task force. This year they partnered with Edmonds on Senate Bill 450, which requires schools to report threats to law enforcement and allows schools to request campus security assessments.
After the students testified in support of the bill, the Legislature passed it unanimously and Gov Jeff Landry signed it into law It takes effect next month.
Lopes-Morgan, who is headed to Harvard University this fall, recently reflected on the experience with two of her equally impressive peers from the council. Everett Etie, who graduated from Erath High School in Vermillion Parish, will attend the University of Texas
thing that goes through my head is that you don’t want to get used to the idea of it. You don’t want to sit there and just write it off as, “Well, bad things happen, and there’s nothing really we can do about it.” That’s kind of an easy mindset to slip into.
at Austin. Lincoln Trumps, who went to Lafayette High School, is entering Yale University.
The interview has been condensed and edited for clarity
Why is it important for students to be involved in policymaking?
Beija: As students, we are the eyes and ears of our school. So having students on the council, I think that representation and our stories really matter.
Lincoln: I think it’s important that you speak or else other people are going to speak for you. A lot of times, there’s a certain disconnect, where maybe people who are very well-intentioned don’t really know what’s going on on the ground
Everett: You get to be the voice of youth, and you get to speak with all these legislators and really make a difference.
Can you talk about your own experiences with school safety?
Beija: We had these portable outdoor buildings (at the high school) that are just in the parking lot. There’s no gates. There’s no locks. The ID scanners don’t work. I’ll be in class, especially in
WE’RE ASKING EXPERTS ACROSS THE STATE HOW TO TACKLE THE
the portable buildings, and I’m looking at all these cars outside, people walking, and I’ll think how easy it would be for someone to just walk in.
Everett: My freshman year my parish took some strides for safety and security I saw my school transform from people just walking out all the time — we didn’t have gates, we didn’t have singlepoint entry — to our districtwide safety officer implementing some of these things.
When I got on the council, I saw that not every parish is doing this. When you hear about school shootings or other acts of violence, how does that affect you?
Beija: I know for me, it just really hits home because I picture myself in their shoes. You know, why couldn’t it be me? Why couldn’t it be anyone? It also makes me worried for the younger generation. I think about kindergarteners, about first and second graders, our students in pre-K, who are the most vulnerable. I want them to live in a world where they feel safe at school.
Lincoln: A lot of times, the first
Everett: For me, it’s that you’re better safe than sorry I would rather do those (safety) drills every time and be prepared as a school than push that to the side and say after it happened, “Man, we should have.” That’s the two worst words: “should have.” What misconceptions do people have about school safety?
Beija: A lot of people say, “We don’t want to make schools look like a prison.” We hear that argument probably every day But I think it actually makes your experience at school better, and I think you feel more welcome when you feel that your school is secure.
Lincoln: There’s kind of an idea that most students aren’t really cognizant of the idea of school safety and I think that’s very untrue. It’s something that a lot of us really do experience that impacts us directly Not just in the abstract sense of “what if,” but also when we have lockdowns, when we have drills, when there is an act of violence in Louisiana. We spend the first 18 years of our life within school walls. Feeling safe and valued is something that really does matter to a lot of students What was it like helping develop this legislation?
Beija: This was definitely a long process. Last year, we passed (a resolution) with Sen. Edmonds, and that established the K-12
School Safety Task Force. SB 450 came out of the recommendations of that task force.
We also met with district safety officers in Florida. We met with national representatives from the Partner Alliance for School Security We had meetings with architects really everyone we could kind of think of that’s related to school security Everett: We’ve had superintendents come talk about what they’re implementing in their parish. My districtwide safety officer went to talk about what they implemented in Vermillion Parish.
What have you all learned through this process?
Lincoln: I’ve heard about how hard it is for kids to get involved in the policymaking process. And I think really the opposite is true. A lot of younger people don’t realize how accessible it is because people really, really want to hear your opinions.
I think that it’s important for young people who are interested in policy to know that people really do want to hear what you have to say and want you involved.
Everett: This council brings together some of the brightest kids in the state. Just to hear some of these kids, it grows you as a person. Beija: When I came in, I knew really nothing about the Legislature. I knew what I’d
Trumpsuggests ordertoattackIranifitkills him
ButVance would make thecall
BY WILL WEISSERT Associated Press
WASHINGTON President Donald Trump is suggesting he has left standing orders for the U.S. military to destroy Iran “at levels they’ve never seen before” if Tehran follows through on itslongstanding threats to killhim.
But the U.S. government has no way to create an automatic, preauthorized “dead man’sswitch” that would prompt immediate retaliation.
Instead, if Trump were killed, the transfer of power to his successor is governed by the 25th Amendment and the Presidential Succession Act of 1947. Vice President JD Vance instantaneously would become commander in chief and haveauthority for any retaliation.
Under such ascenario, Vance could do exactly what Trump called for,though there alsoisa chance he could decide not to follow his predecessor’sorders —or offer adirect response in a different way
“The U.S. has, for awhole variety of reasons, never utilized atechnical ‘dead man’sswitch, said Garrett M. Graff, author of “Raven Rock: The Story of the U.S. Government’sSecret Plan to Save Itself —Whilethe Rest of Us Die.”
The UnitedStates does have extensive contingency plansfor continuity of government in the event of a nuclear attack or other major catastrophe that wipes out most or all of Washington. But those plans also do not allow for immediately launching retaliatory strikes upon the death of apresident, even if that president had demanded that the military be ready to do so.
Trump nonetheless posted on his social media website Saturday that Iran had made threats “to assassinate,or
attempt to assassinate” him and he said1,000 “missiles areLocked and Loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran, with thousands more to immediately follow should the Iranian Government act on its threat.”
Iran’ssupreme leader,MojtabaKhamenei,said hours laterthat Iranians would continue to avenge the killing of his father,Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.The elder Khamenei died in theinitial U.S. andIsraelistrikesthat staredthe war in late February,and he was mourned in funeral eventsthroughout Iran this past week.His son said retaliation“is the will of our nation and must certainly be carriedout.”
“Wepledge to take revenge for thepure blood of youand all themartyrs of these two wars from the criminal and disgraceful killers,” he said on remarks aired on state television. “This revenge is thewillofour nation and must certainly be carried out.
The White HouseonSaturday did not immediately answer questionsabout what would becomeofTrump’s military orders should he be killed.
Duringthose recent funeral events, mourners repeatedly held postersor banners calling for Trump to be killed along with Israeli PrimeMinisterBenjaminNetanyahu.
The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Israel alertedU.S. officialstofresh Iranian plots to kill Trump. The White Househas refused to comment, but Trump appeared to reference to such threats in comments during last week’sNATOsummit in Turkey,saying, “They want to take out the U.S. leader— me.”
Sabrina Singh, former Biden administration deputy Pentagon press secretary, said “Iran wanting to target senior American leaders is somethingthat we know is happening.”
“You have to take these as credible threats,”Singh said.
should proceed with standard launch protocols,” Graff said. “There’sa lot of reason to doubt thelegality of such standing orders, since in the eventofapresident’s death the nuclear launch authority would immediately pass to the vice president or designatedsuccessor—and ultimately it would be up to him or her to determine whether to proceed.”
Trump’spost only refers to firing missilesatIran, which the U.S. has done scores of timesince its war with Iran began. He did notexpressly threaten involving nuclear weapons.
Trump was targeted in two domestic assassinationattempts during the2024 presidentialcampaign and saw agunmanstorm the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner he was attending in April.
The president flew part of theway back to Washington from Turkey last week aboardanolder Air Force
One jet rather anew Qatarigifted aircraft, raising fresh security questions aboutthe newer plane. Images of the jet, which was retrofitted at an estimatedcostof$400million, show it is not equipped with some of thesame missile detection and countermeasuresystems as earlier versions.
Theswap occurred as the U.S. and Iran once again begantrading strikes, jeopardizing last month’sinitial deal to endthe war.Asked about Iranianthreats, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, “I’m No. 1on their list.”
Graff said the U.S.prepared years of plans for how nuclear launch authority would devolve in theevent of asurprise attack. That included, during 30 yearsofthe Cold War, thecountry keepingfleets of airborne command posts flying 24 hours aday with ageneral aboard oneofthemwho could take
over nuclear launch orders in the event Washington was lost.
“WhatI believe Trumpis saying is that he’sleft standing orders to attackifhe’s killed, e.g., that the Pentagon
Graff said that, in addition to leaving standing orders in case of his death, Trump also might say “something to Vancelike,‘If I’mkilled, nuke Iran,’” andthatwould make “more sense andwould be absolutely legal.”
Washington receiving credible threats against the
president and top U.S. leaders from Iran and other foreign adversaries is not uncommon and is often disclosed via national security briefings or other classified means. But far less common is Trumpdeclaring publicly that he personally has been targeted by Iran. Still, this is notthe first time Washington hasthreatenedIranover threats against Trump. In 2022, the Biden administration warned Iran against attacking U.S. citizens afterthe JusticeDepartment’sdisclosure that amemberofIran’sIslamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had planned to assassinate John Bolton, Trump’sfirstterm national security adviser. Now aTrump critic, Bolton last month pleaded guilty to illegally retaining classified documents in a case led by Trump’sJustice Department.
thefuneral procession of the slain Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei beneath abillboard
THE GULF COAST
Seasideisbeach town that ‘feels pretty comfortable’
Idyllicvillage wasstar of ‘The Truman Show’
BY POET WOLFE Staff writer
Tanned cyclists recently pedaled along East County Highway in Seaside, Florida, passing pastel cottages, white picket fences and lush flower beds on brickstreets faded by years of sunshine.
Some rode down to the town square, where the line betweeneveryday life and vacation seems to blur.Window shoppers peeked at mannequins dressed in linen and polos. Goldendoodles tugged at leashes as people huddledbeneath palm trees for lunch and coffee before returning to the beach for another few hours. If the sun-bleached hair and swimsuits didn’talreadymake it clear this is abeach town, the punfilled signs hanging outsidehomes and driveways did:“Parking Is All That Smathers,” “Sandity” and “Here Comes the Sun. Every place has its own ethos. For New Orleans, it’sresilience; for Philadelphia, grit; for New York City,ambition. For Seaside, it’s escapism— an escape from life’shardships into apastel bubble of Gulf waters, bike ridesand manicured homes,where summer never seems to end.
That’swhat itsfounder, Robert Davis, intended after an eraof futurism concluded the American dreamcouldbefoundinspeed, technology and progress. Davis countered that philosophy,instead embracing new urbanism when he transformed 80 acres of land inherited from his grandfather into Seaside in 1981.
Inspired by his childhood vacationsalong Florida’sGulfCoast, he painted aportrait of smalltown America, where neighbors knew one another,where residents strolled through the town square instead of navigating winding culde-sacs andrarely reached for their car keys.
as polishedorperfect as it was showntobeinthe movie.”
Yetonarecentweekdayafternoon, its flaws faded into the background, with only the sunbleached streets revealing the passage of time. Signs of imperfection remained undetectable turning onto apalmshaded Natchez Street and approaching “The TrumanHouse” —the words painted in navy blue on the whitepicketfence. With a butter-yellow facade, coral trim anda lime green door,the home whereTrumanlives in thefilm was far morevibrant in real life than howitappeared onscreen
The rows of pastel cottages dwindled approaching the town square,where cream-colored commercial buildings and Airstream trailers converted into food stands circle around agrass field.
through Southern fiction books Cormac McCarthy, Eudora Welty, Ernest Gaines —surrounded by shelves that resemblehighwalls made up of paperbacks and hardcovers. Overlooking theroom is a portraitofFlannery O’Connorbeside her quote about life’sabsurdities: “Possibly the Lord just thinks allofthisisfunny.Itisfunny if youcan standit.”
Upstairs, at Central Square Records, theatmosphere shiftsfrom nostalgic to alternative, where teenagers fresh offthe beach sift through records beneath string lights as Radiohead plays in the background.
“Thiswas avision of personal mobility, isolated in comfort,”Davis said, “Andescapefromthe city to abucolic suburbwhere everyone would have agarden andlive in akind of splendidisolation. His vision is the reason why Seaside was chosen as the setting for the1998 film “The TrumanShow, directedbyPeter Weir andstarring JimCarrey as Truman Burbank, who discovers his seemingly ordinary life is areality television showthat’schronicled his every move from the timehewas afetus to, presumably, hisdemise.
The ones he loves most —his mother,wife, friend and neighbors —are paid actors, while the town he resides in,Seahaven, is acolossal soundstage. Beneath its idyllic facade and saccharine faces liesa world of control, surveillance and illusion,where every relationship and conversationiscarefully engineered for the audience’samusement
Thescript, Davissaid, originally envisioned aneighborhood in New
York City,until Weir’swife read a magazine article about Seaside while scouting locations for the film.Davis obliged, he said, adding that thecommunity “was so un-busy at the time thatwewere happy to have some activity.”
But he did have some concerns. Aside from the army of production crews that would descend on Seaside,heworried about “the reaction of thegreater world.”
The community had already been dismissedasa “lab-like place” by some architecturalcritics. Davis was concerned the film would reinforce thatimage —an oasisengineered to unreachable perfection —and he wasn’twrong. But when “The Truman Show” wasreleased in theaters, he didn’t take offense to howhis town was portrayed. He knewthat likeanywhere else, Seaside had flaws of its own “Anybody who was inspired by the movietovisit Seaside would realize that it wasn’tjust astage set,”hesaid, “Itwasn’tnearly
In one corner sits Modica Market, afamily-ownedstore operating in Seaside since 1989. Inside, Charlie Modica stood at the cash register, ringing up groceries as the lunchrushsteadily grewcloser to noon. At least three times a day,ashopper approaches him about his briefappearance in “The TrumanShow.”
Modica steppedaway from theregister and stood beside thewooden ladder where he was perched during his scene in the film. Across from him was a framed movie poster of agrinning Truman Burbank, hanging above black andwhite photos of his family’sgourmet grocery store from decadesago
He recalled what Seaside was before it transformed into Seahaven for the film —“asleepy village” where Modica Market was accompanied by abookstore and an ice cream shop.
“Seaside’schanged since the movie,”hesaid. “There’s alot of businesses, andtheyfinishedoff a lotofwhat Robert (Davis) wanted to have.A lotofthis wasn’there.”
Some of those longtime fixtures remain.
At Sundog Books, customers leaf
The shops filled with books and vinyls were areminder that character does exist in atown that lurestravelers with its picturepostcard beach, boutiques and cottages. Davis thinks families feel connected with Seaside because it brings back afree-range childhood— areturn to thedays working parents sent their kids to school withhouse keys strung around theirnecks.
“It’sbeen awhile since Americanswerecomfortable just letting theirkidsrun free,” he said. “But this is aplace where that feels pretty comfortable.”
It appeared thatway alongthe smooth-paved roads and into the town square, where kids biked and teenagers wandered, where parents bumped into other parents in moments of serendipity It was aplace where everyone seemed comfortable forgetting, if only for awhile,about theworld beyond Seaside For Truman, however,thatillusion is no longer enough. At the endofthe film, when he discovers his fabricated reality, he chooses to leave it behind, accepting the discomfort of real life —the heartbreak,fear anduncertainty. But the creator of the televisionshow believes the real world is simply toobroken, unlike his versionof paradise.
“The worldisthe sick place,” he said. “Seahaven is the waythe worldshould be.”
STAFF PHOTO By HANNAHLEVITAN
Secret journeyreturns Bayeux Tapestry to BritishMuseum
Artworkdisplaying
BY JILL LAWLESS Associated Press
LONDON After almost 1,000 years, the Bayeux Tapestry is back on English soil.
In sceneslikeaheist movie in reverse, the priceless medieval artwork was spirited into theBritish Museumlast week in the dead of night, after ahigh-tech, tight-securityoperation whereany slipup could have spelled disaster On loan from its home in France, the tapestrywill go on display at the London museum from Sept. 10 until July 2027. It’sapublic homecoming for avivid visual record of the 1066 Norman invasion, the last successful conquest of England.
The tapestry’sarrival in London hasbeenwidelyanticipated, but due to security concernsall details of when and how it would arrive were kept under wraps
“It feels extraordinary that after so much work and planning and care andthoughtthat it’s actually happening,” British Museum Director Nicholas Cullinan said ashe waited outside the museum in the dark.
“It’sthe first time in 1,000 years that such an important pieceof
British —French too —history is going to be on these shores,”he said.“It’sincredibly exciting.”
The230-foot tapestry was folded accordion-style in aclimate-controlledcasethatwas placed inside ashock-absorbing cradle. That went into atruckthat crossed from France onavehicle shuttle train through the Channel Tunnel.
Afteran11-hour, 350-mile trip,escorted bypolice,the truckbacked slowly into aloading bay at the museum, where workers gingerly eased the container,the size of a smallcar,tothe ground. Museum staff andBritish and French diplomats who had been watching in hushedsilence broke into applause
Thepriceless cargo will spend several days acclimatizing beforeit is carefullyunpacked and unfolded for an exhibition that the museum expects to be one of themostpopular in its 267-year history.Some 100,000 ticketswere sold in their first dayonsale this month.
“It was like trying to get tickets to Glastonbury,” Cullinansaid. “I don’ttakefor granted that people carethat much about a1,000-yearoldembroidery.I think that’san amazing thing.”
Stitchedinwool thread on linen fabric—technically an embroidery,rather than atapestry —the artwork depictseventsleading up to the Battle of Hastings in October 1066, when William, Duke of Normandy defeated King Harold’s
Anglo-Saxon army. The invasion ended Saxon rule, madeWilliam theConqueror the first Norman king of England and bound Britain and France moreclosely together
Historiansbelieve thetapestry was commissionedbyBishop Odo of Bayeux, William’shalf brother andwas probably sewn by women in England —possibly nuns —before being taken across the Channel.Ithas spent mostofthe last millennium in the townofBayeuxin northwest France, apart from two short periods at theLouvre in Paris.
Thetapestrysymbolizes the
sometimes fractious, intertwined histories of France and Britain, andsecuring theloan wasa highstakes diplomatic mission. It was announced during astate visit to theU.K. by French President Emmanuel Macron in July 2025. Theloan coincides with renovations at the museum in Bayeux that houses it.
In return,the BritishMuseum will loan treasures from the Sutton Hoohoard —artifactsfroma7thcentury Anglo Saxon ship burial —and otheritems to museumsin Normandy
Macron said in an article for the TimesofLondon that “our two countries are not merely lending each other artworks: they are sharing the great narratives of European history’sorigins.”
Retired British diplomat Peter Ricketts, who helped cement the deal as the U.K.’sspecial envoy for the tapestry,said “it’sanextraordinary markoffriendship andconfidence in the U.K. to entrust this object to us for ayear.”
“Macron, when he offered us the tapestry,Ithink he understood that it would have far more impact in the U.K. than it does in France, because it’smore fundamental to ournationalstory,” he said.“Everybody (in Britain) knows 1066.”
Thetapestryfeaturesmore than 620 people and 737 animals and tells itsstory in 58 scenes brimming withvivid andsometimes gory detail.There arescenesof hand-to-hand combat,mutilated bodies and the unlucky Harold, felled by an arrow through his eye.
“Ithas an emotional richness that is really difficult to get from written sources,” said Millie Horton-Insch, project curator for the British Museumexhibition.“It justbrings people closer to this history than any other object can. It’snot the same as reading atext. Youare looking at something that washandled by the people who livedthroughitand felt compelledtorecordthese events in this way.”
BY NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press
ROME Italy put on dis-
play one of the best known examples of Etruscanpainting, panels from atomb that it acquired for $17 million in the Culture Ministry’sbuying spree of big-ticketpieces of the country’scultural heritage.
The ministryannounced in May that it had acquired the fresco panels, datingfrom the 4th century,from members of the Torlonia family, one of Italy’sancient noble families whose vast collection of antiquity has long been kept out of the public domain.
The Francois Tomb was discoveredin1857 by the French archaeologist Alessandro Francois in Vulci, on land ownedbythe Torlonia family.The frescoes were detached from thenecropolis in 1863 and becamepart of the Torlonia privatecollection, while the contents of the tomb were divided up among Francois, colleagues and the family
The Italian government has been tryingtoget possession of the tomb since 1921, as part of its effort to bring back into the Italian public patrimony artifacts and antiquities that were acquired or looted during the boom of archaeological excavations in the 1800sand beyond.
The Etruscan Civilization occupied swaths of whatis today central Italy for centuries was amajor Mediterranean trading power.Much of it was destroyed by the
subsequent Roman Empire. Thetombisnow open to thepublicatRome’s Villa Giulia National Etruscan Museum. Alongside thefresco panels arejewels, Etruscan vases and other items that were discovered inside the tomb, now belong in museum collectionsaround theworld and were loaned to Italyfor the exhibition.
Thetomb marks the Culture Ministry’sthird major acquisitionthisyear of expensive, culturally important artworks.It paid $14.9million forAntonello da Messina’s“Ecce Homo” and around $35 million for a rare portraitbyCaravaggio depicting Maffeo Barberini, the future Pope Urban VIII. The fundshave come from the ministry’sannual budget for acquisitions, but Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli hasprioritizedbuyingfewer, bigger-ticket items ofcultural importancerather than smaller,lesser artworks and
antiquities, officials said.
“In recent months, the Ministry of Culture hasinvesteda great deal of money in acquiring masterpieces,” said Massimo Osanna, director general of Italianmuseumsinthe ministry Giuli has said the tomb is a“fundamental”part of Italian history thatwas now beingreturned to theItalian public to enjoy LuanaToniolo, director of the Villa Giulia museum, called the tomb one of the greatestmasterpieces of antiquity andEtruscanpainting, and one of thebest preserved. Among other things, the paintings depict the sacrifice of Trojan prisoners and battles of Etruscan heroes.
“Itisa vast book of stone andcolor that tells us about families, warriors, gods and heroes —both Etruscans andGreeks —and recounts Greek myths reinterpreted through an Etruscan lens,” she said.
‘The Sacrifice of the Trojan Prisoners,’a fresco dating from 330–310 B.C., is on displayatthe Villa Giulia Etruscan Museum in Rome.
Firm buys Brew-Bacher’s building
After fire, plans to
BY TIMOTHY BOONE Staff writer
rebuild never came to fruition
Landry embraces Trump plan for foster children
Survivor benefits will go to their account funds, he says
BY ALYSE PFEIL Staff writer
President Donald Trump officially launched Trump Accounts last week at an Oval Office news conference, and Gov Jeff Landry quickly threw his support behind the program, announcing the state is taking steps to bolster it. Louisiana will now put federal Social Security survivor benefits owed to foster children whose parents have died into Trump Accounts, Landry announced in a video posted to social media. He had lunch this week with Trump in the White House Rose Garden to talk about the new savings accounts. They were joined by Arkansas Gov Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a fellow Republican who said that state is also putting survivor benefits owed to foster kids into Trump Accounts
“What the president’s done is absolutely genius,” Landry said in an interview with Newsmax A spokesperson for the governor did not respond to questions about the initiative.
Trump Accounts are a new type of traditional individual retirement account, or IRA, that has special rules and can be set up by a legal guardian, parent, adult sibling or grandparent for children under age 18.
Before the child turns 18, anyone can put money in the account but there is generally a $5,000 annual limit on contributions, though that limit doesn’t apply to government contributions or rollovers from other accounts. The federal government will contribute $1,000 to Trump Accounts for children born from 2025 to 2028.
The money in the account can be invested in “certain exchangetraded funds and mutual funds tracking the value of stocks of U.S. companies,” according to a report from the Congressional Research Service
Once the child turns 18, Trump Accounts operate like any other traditional IRA, the report says.
“Children can, at the age of 18 and after, become very wealthy
ä See LANDRY, page 2B
SNEAKER HEADS
ABOVE: Mercedes Bias, right, places the price tag inside a sneaker while helping vendor Robin Ducote, center, set up her sneaker booth during the second annual Baton Rouge Sneaker Fest on Saturday
RIGHT: Vendor Jonathan Nance, left, chats with prospective customer artist Mighty Lee over a pair of sneakers.
Northdale alternative school set to move
Academy would be housed at former Belfair Elementary
BY CHARLES LUSSIER Staff writer
After three decades in the same place, one of Baton Rouge’s oldest alternative schools is likely to move out of its current home and relocate across town to a former elementary school whose facilities are in better shape. With little discussion, the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board on Thursday agreed preliminarily to move Northdale Academy 5 miles east onto the former campus of Belfair Elementary That property at 4451 Fairfields Ave., has been vacant for the past year since Belfair relocated to take over the Winbourne Elementary campus. Thursday’s vote was 6-0, with board members Mike Gaudet, Dadrius Lanus and Carla PowellLewis absent. A final vote is set for July 23. If approved, the move would take effect immediately, in advance of the start of the 2026-27 school year in early August. The old Belfair campus, built in 1951, is 17 years older than Northdale’s current home, the former Red Oaks Elementary School, which was built in 1968. Nevertheless, Belfair’s old home is considered in better shape since it underwent $3 million in renovations to its classrooms, infrastructure and school security in 2022. After the meeting, School Board
page 2B
STAFF PHOTOS By JAVIER GALLEGOS
Dolphin that rode out Katrina dies
She was relocated to Atlantis in 2006
BY MARTHA SANCHEZ Staff writer
A bottlenose dolphin that washed into the Gulf during Hurricane Katrina and was later brought to the Atlantis island resort in the Bahamas has died, Ceta-Base, a database that documents captive dolphins, an-
nounced this week. The dolphin, known as Michelle, or Shelly, died June 11, according to the nonprofit group, which estimated she was 41 years old. Bottlenose dolphins can live 40 to 60 years, and females typically live longer than males.
She gave birth to at least four calves between 1996 and 2012.
Her home in Dolphin Cay Atlantis was the end of a long journey. The dolphin was first cap-
tured in the Mississippi Sound in July 1988 for the Marine Life Oceanarium in Gulfport, CetaBase said. In 2005, she was being held in the park’s main pool when Hurricane Katrina’s 28-foot storm surge slammed the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Eight dolphins rode out the storm on the property, 4 feet above sea level, but were washed away into the Gulf waters. The group was later rescued
just off the coastline, the Biloxi Sun Herald reported They spent time rehabbing on the coast before being relocated together to the Atlantis resort in 2006.
Six of the eight rescued dolphins have since died of various causes, including respiratory failure, heart failure and old age, according to Ceta-Base records.
Two of the dolphins — named Elijah and Toni remain at Dolphin Cay Atlantis, the records show
Nonprofit wants to acquire battlefield site
$1M more needed for land related to Battle of New Orleans
BY LARA NICHOLSON Staff writer
As a group of tourists stepped off their paddle wheeler in St. Bernard Parish Wednesday afternoon to wander the 145-acre Chalmette Battlefield, park ranger Karley Nugent gathered the group to talk about “one of the most important moments in United States history.”
“The Battle of New Orleans and its overall significance in our nation’s history can’t be overstated,” Nugent told the room of visitors not far from where U.S. forces under Andrew Jackson beat back the British troops. “Yet the reality is seldom people know about it.”
The Battle of New Orleans took place along the Mississippi River at the conclusion of the War of 1812, and now as the nation celebrates its 250th anniversary, the historic site may receive a major expansion under a new initiative from a national nonprofit for battlefield preservation.
The American Battlefield Trust is raising funds to purchase 40 acres of land next to the battlefield for $3.6 million by September in hopes of further preserving the site where the Battle of New Orleans took place 211 years ago.
David Duncan, the organization’s president, said the purchase would provide access to land that was used by the British forces during the battle and offer historians a better understanding of the British forces’ actions during the fight, which resulted in a major defeat for the redcoats.
Duncan added they’ve already secured most of the funds through state and federal grants and early donations, but need about $1 million more to complete the purchase
“It’s very important to save these parts of our country’s history so that future generations can go there and learn what happened, why it’s important and hopefully become better citizens in the process,” Duncan said. The proposed land is current-
FIRM
Continued from page 1B
of renovation costs and the challenge of running three other very busy restaurants was a bit daunting. So, our family made the hard decision to sell and focus on continuing to build upon our current success at our remaining locations.”
Brew-Bacher’s has restaurants on Bluebonnet Boulevard, Drusilla Lane and in Gonzales.
Taylor Collins, president and owner of Grand Construction, said the building will become the new office for his company. Grand currently has its offices in a 1,800-square-foot building on Jeffery Drive, between Airline Highway and Coursey Boulevard The former Brew-Bacher’s building is about 3,600 square feet.
“We’re going to build out that corner and make it nice,” Collins said. “We’re a growing business, and this will help us plan for future growth.”
The plan is to move into the new offices in early 2027, Collins said.
LANDRY
Continued from page 1B
people — come into the world with essentially no money and end up at a very young age, be very rich,” Trump said last week at a news conference about the accounts.
Child welfare agency
Earlier this year, Landry issued an executive order prohibiting the Department of Children and Family Services, the child welfare agency that administers foster care, from using federal survivor benefits to reimburse the state for caring for children in state custody For decades, states routinely applied for Social Security survivor and disability benefits on behalf of foster children and used that money to help cover the costs of foster care services.
But over the last several years, that practice has started to change across the country due to pressure from child advocates who say it’s immoral and detrimental to foster children, because it exhausts funds that could have helped them transition to adulthood.
Now, under Landry’s order, Louisiana’s child welfare agency must invest the benefits into a savings account on behalf of the child.
ly zoned for industrial use and owned by Genie Holdings LLC based in Kenner according to parish assessor’s office records.
It sits between the Chalmette Battlefield and the St. Bernard Port Harbor and Terminal District’s Chalmette terminal.
Duncan said once American Battlefield Trust purchases the land, it will place conservation easements on the property that legally prevent future owners from building on it From there, Duncan hopes to see the parish or the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve, which operates the Chalmette Battlefield, take over the land as an educational site for the public.
St Bernard Parish President Louis Pomes said in a statement that he fully supports the organization’s efforts to expand on the historic site.
“The American Battlefield Trust’s proposed land acquisition in St. Bernard Parish represents an investment in preserving one of the most significant chapters of our nation’s history,” Pomes said.
Meredith Hardy, spokesperson for the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve, said the National Park Service was not involved in the land acquisition but that it “appreciates the interest many organizations and individuals have in protecting
resources associated with that (Battle of New Orleans) history.”
Over the past 25 years, the American Battlefield Trust has preserved nearly 63,000 acres of land from former battlefields across the country from the Revolutionary War, Civil War and War of 1812.
History
The Battle of New Orleans was one of the final conflicts in the War of 1812 between the fledgling United States and Great Britain, which started after Great Britain had taken thousands of American sailors to work for the Royal Navy through impressment and also allied themselves with Native Americans to oppose the United States’ westward expansion. The British sought to take over New Orleans and its port to block the United States from using the Mississippi River and therefore choke off its already fragile economy, Nugent said.
U.S. troops under Jackson, then a major general for the U.S. Army, set up a line of defense along a canal on the Rodriguez Plantation in Chalmette using weapons and other resources supplied by French privateer Jean Lafitte in exchange for a presidential pardon.
On Jan. 8, 1815, British forces led by Gen. Sir Edward Pak-
enham attempted to attack the American troops from multiple sides but were quickly devastated by gunfire.
In a matter of only 30 minutes, about 2,000 British soldiers were wounded, captured, missing or killed, including Pakenham, compared to only 71 U.S. casualties.
The Treaty of Ghent, which would end the war, had already been signed by the time the Battle of New Orleans took place, and was ratified a month later to formally cease hostilities.
The Chalmette Monument and National Cemetery were both built on the land decades later.
After the Civil War, a free man of color and New Orleans grocer named Jean-Pierre Fazende bought land in the middle of the battlefield and turned it into a thriving independent community for free people of color and emancipated slaves called “Fazendeville.”
However, the government decided in the 1960s to tear down the community to restore the battlefield to its 1815 appearance for war’s 150th anniversary
The Chalmette Battlefield later became part of the Jean Lafitte National Historic Park in 1978.
Email Lara Nicholson at lnicholson@theadvocate.com.
According to information provided by DCFS last week, up to $5,000 will be deposited into a Trump Account, and any remaining funds will be saved in a Louisiana START 529 education savings account, which can be used to pay for college expenses.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
SCHOOL
Continued from page 1B
President Shashonnie Steward said Northdale leadership is agreeable to moving.
“They want the space,” Steward said. She said that Northdale currently has space issues, particularly for the farm animals the school keeps on its campus. If the move is approved, the 10755 Cletus Drive campus where Northdale has operated for the past three decades would join several other vacant and sparsely occupied school facilities. The ranks of such facilities have grown during the tenure of Superintendent LaMont Cole, who pushed through the closure of nine schools in 2025.
Northdale is a school of choice for students in grades six to 12 who are looking for a smaller educational setting. Last year it had about 110 students. It opened in 1986 as a joint partnership between the school district and the local Chamber of Commerce. Its students live across East Baton Rouge Parish. About half live relatively close to the Fairfields Avenue campus, where the school would move.
Northdale students have had to move before. In 2016, the alternative school relocated temporarily to make room for students from Glen Oaks High, whose campus was inundated during historic flooding that August.
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The lot next to the Chalmette National Cemetery, the site of a proposed land purchase.
STAFF PHOTOS By ENAN CHEDIAK
Visitors walk around the Chalmette Battlefield in Chalmette on Wednesday.
New Orleans airport officials are preparing to knock downbig portions of the vacant south terminal, a significant step in the broader plan to upgrade infrastructure, expand parking, add hangar space and eventually build anothernew terminal over the next 20 years
Demolitionofthe concourses of south terminals Aand B, where passengers caught their planes for decades before thenorth terminal of Louis Armstrong New Orleans InternationalAirport opened in 2019, is expected to begin inthe next three months, according toairport spokesperson Tara Letort
Letort noted that aspecific start dateand cost estimate will come outafterthe demolition contract is awarded.
The McDonnelGroup, thegeneral contractor on the project,iscurrently seeking bids for the work, with responses due later in July
Portions of thesouth terminal willremain standing and will be used for servicing and repairing aircraft. The demolition will create space for anew hangar.Ata March news conference, Aviation Director Kevin Dolliolesaid cargo and private aviation terminals, alongwith aschool 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’saneffort that airport officials,parishand city leaders began workingonnearly three years ago and presented updatesonearlier this year
Several other infrastructure projects are beingcompleted at the airport, including an $84.5 million project to pave aconnectorroad for shuttles.
The south terminal, originally known as theMoisant International
Airport terminal, opened in 1959 and was built for$7.5million. Two additional concourses were added to the terminal in 1974 and allowed the airport to expand to 42 gates.
Whenthe $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. Occa-
sionally,movie andtelevision crews used the space as aset for filming. It’salso been used as askate park.
Demolishing the south terminal is only one part of thelarger master plan to expandthe airport. Theplan also includes adding more gates, expanding the security checkpoint area, building another parking garage and asecondterminal.
In July 2025, airport officials said they would needtoopena second terminal in the next sixyears to
senger
dipped nearly 9% in 2025, falling to 6.2 million passengers. The airport expects to see passenger growthreach 9.7
“enplanements,” or
St.Tammany mansuessheriff forwrongfularrest
He wasaccused in 6-year-old’s hit-and-rundeath
BY WILLIE SWETT Staff writer
ASt. 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 ahitand-run that killed ayoungboy Cody Beaudettewas arrested on Aug. 13, 2025, by the Sheriff’s Office on counts of vehicular homicide,hit-and-run and reckless operation in connection with thedeath of 6-year-old Jeremiah Ramirez. After 13 days in jail,Beaudette was released on bondand then,two
days later, with mounting pressure from family members andinvestigators who drew attention to exoneratingevidence, the Sheriff’s Office announced on Aug. 29, 2025, that new evidence showedthe vehicular homicide charge was “not supported” and Northshore District Attorney Collin Sims’ office announced it wasrefusing prosecution
Anotherindividual, Connie Estes, wasbooked that same dayon hit-and-run and obstruction of justice counts and has atrial scheduledtostart Sept.14inconnection with the death of Ramirez. Theboy 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 accusingSmith, who served as St. Tammany sherifffor nearly a
decade untilheresigned in June, and some of his employees of doing shoddy investigativework before Beaudette’s arrest and later ignoring exonerating evidence during his imprisonment
The complaint,filed in the EasternDistrict of Louisiana on June 18, accuses Smith of violating Beaudette’sconstitutional rights against unreasonable searches and seizures, and accuses ahandful of sheriff’sdeputies, some named andsome anonymized,ofillegal seizure,excessive force,false arrest and imprisonment and maliciousprosecution, amongother allegations.
“He suffered alot of mental anguish, him and his family,over the wholeordeal,” said Beaudette’s lawyer,Michael Raspanti, in an interview Suzanne Carboni, aspokesperson for the Sheriff’sOffice, said
she could not comment on pending litigation at this time.InAugust 2025, when the Sheriff’sOffice announced theywere no longer seeking the homicide and hit-and-run chargesagainst Beaudette, Smith said, “Webelieve in holding individuals accountable, but we also havea duty to correct course when thefacts demandit.”
Beaudette’scomplaint alleges thatthe affidavit in support of his arrest warrant wasbased on thin evidence andwas missing multiple crucial pieces of information. For instance, thecolor of the vehicle wreckageatthe scene of the hitand-run was adifferentcolor from Baudette’svehicle, the complaints state,and the wreckage at the scenedidn’tmatch damage to Beaudette’svehicle.
It alsoallegesthatevenafter multiple people showed the Sheriff’s Office evidence that contra-
dicted their earlier findings and showed Beaudette’sinnocence, they continued to detain him
“What is striking is that Beaudette’slittle sister, who is not a cop, not aprivate investigator shemanaged to acquireall the evidence to really determine who did this in amatter of two days by herself,” Raspanti said. The lawsuitaccuses Smithof encouraginga cultureof“disregarding the constitutional rights of individuals,” pointing to Smith’s office’s2019 arrest of formerfederal agentJerry Rogers, which a federal court found wasillegal. Thecomplaint wasfiled less than aweek before Smith pleaded guiltytofelonybattery in an unrelated case and resigned from his post.
Email Willie Swett at willie swett@theadvocate.com.
Family remembersCovington manwho drownedsavingchild
BY WILLIE SWETT Staff writer
The last time Ryan Rushing saw his cousin Chris was on his grandmother’s porch in Abita Springs.
“Wewere out there sitting on the porch, talking aboutthe basketball team,” recalled Ryan Rushing, a coach at Covington High School
Though they were first cousins, Ryan said he and Chris Rushing grew up like brothers.
“Chris wasrealdependable. He was awarming soul,” Ryan Rushing said.
“You ask Chris to help,he was more than welcome. A lot of the times you didn’t even have to ask him.”
Later that day,Chris Rushing, a38-year-oldCovingtonresident, went with familytoapopularfish-
ing and crabbing spotnear Bayou Lacombe.
While there,Rushing’s granddaughter fell intothe water on thewest side of Lake Roadbythe bayou, accordingtoa statement from the St. TammanyParish Sheriff’s Office on the July 1incident Rushing jumped in and tried to rescue her,the Sheriff’s Office said, but struggled and waspulled underwater. Afemale relative was able to save the young girl. But Rushing never resurfaced Firefighters who responded to the scene around 7:34 p.m. pulled Rushing ashore andattempted CPR. He later died at the hospital, according to Fire District No. 3Chief Michael Geissler.
The autopsyshowedit was an accidental drown-
ing, St. Tammany Coroner’s Office spokesperson James Hartman said.
Those whoknew Rushing, an employeeatCovington’s arts and cultural department whohelped organize over 100 events everyyear, said his attempt to help was an example of the altruism he practiced daily
“That final act of courage and selflessness wassimply areflection of theperson we all knew every day,” said Sarada Bonnett, the event department’s head. “Chris wasthe person I could always count on to be there, early,readytowork andwearing thatunforgettable smile.”
Ryan Rushing said he wasn’tsurprised that his cousin didn’thesitate to jump in.
“It’ssad for us who are still here. But us knowing
Chris, if he wasput in that situation100 times, he’s going to do whathedid every single time,”Ryan Rushing said.
Still, when Ryan Rushing thought back to thefinal moments he saw his cousin on his grandmother’s porch,hestarted choking up.
“If I’d known that was the last time, Iwould have told himhow much Iloved him, and how much he meant to me and our family,” he said. “I just wish I would havesavored that moment.”
Thefamilyplans to hold a funeralat10a.m. Saturday at the Community Church in Covington at 1148 N. Columbia St.
Email Willie Swett at willie.swett@theadvocate. com.
Chris Rushing,center,ispictured after surprising the grandsons of Covington cultural arts and events director SaradaBonnett with someballoons. Bonnett said Rushing’s granddaughter was at the sameschool as her twin grandsons.
PROVIDED PHOTO
Smith, Daisy Bethel Baptist Church in Livingston at 3:30 p.m
Obituaries
Alexander III, William H. 'Bill'
William "Bill"H.Alexander III passed away on June 28, 2026, at the ageof 78. Aresident of Baton Rouge, Bill graduated from Glen Oaks High School, was aproud LSU alumnus and also studied law at Tulane University. Billproudly served in the United States Army during the Vietnam War with the 101st Airborne Division, the legendary "Screaming Eagles". As an Army Ranger, he served in combat with courage, dedicationand unwavering commitment to his fellow soldiers. For his exemplary service and sacrifice, he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal, the Purple Heart and the Army Commendation Medal. Following his honorable discharge in 1971, he continued his service in the United States Army Reserve. While attending LSU, Bill started his own business as aphotographer, capturing weddings and special events. Later, he had asuccessful careerin the marine transportation industry working in oil and gas logistics. Driven by a lifelong passion for auto racing, Bill founded American Autosports Productions to celebrate the sport and its community. Under his leadership, the company launched the "Fun Ford Weekend" (FFW) series. What began as asingle event grew into the nation's premier all-Ford drag racing and car show series. Alongside his dedicated FFW team, Bill traveled across the country bringing enthusiasts together and building avibrant nationwide community united by ashared passion for Ford performance and racing. Bill's quick wit and natural gift for storytelling made him a friend to many. He loved LSU sports and enjoyed cheering on his beloved Tigers with friends, sharing laughs at the hunting camp as well as spending time on the golf course An avid reader and devoted history buff, he found great joy in working on his model railroad bringing his impressive Nscale train collection to life. He had a deep love for animals and approached the world with kindness, generosity and a welcoming spirit. Bill is survived by his wife of 42 years, Cheryle Alexander; his sisters, Marilu Ballow of Houston and Beth Alexander (Bill) of Shreveport; his nieces and nephews, Robin Lonchar (Mike), Renee Grimes (Bobby), Bart Alexander (Misty), Brooke Conley and Brannon Alexander (Hannah); his cousin, Lota Lamonica (John) and numerous great nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, William H. and Marielouise Alexander; his aunt and uncle, Hugh and Margurite Wagner; his aunt and uncle, Clarence and Mickey Wagner; his cousin, Gene Wagner and nephew, Joseph Ballow. Bill donated hi
Josep Ballow. Bill donated his body to the Bureau of Anatomical ServicesatLSU Medical School in New Orleans; afinal selfless gift to medical research, education and futuregenerations of physicians. Relatives and friends are invited to attend the Celebration of Life at 3:00pm on SundayJuly26, 2026 at ResthavenFuneral Home, 11817 Jefferson Highway, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Visitation will begin at 1:00pm. In lieuof flowers, memorialdonations may be made to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation or St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Family and friends may sign the online guestbook or leave apersonal note to the family at www.resthavenbaton rouge.com
Johnny (John) Marcus Ashley, Jr. wasborn on March 26, 1940, in Lufkin, Texas, and passed away on July 8, 2026. John retired from U.S.Steelafter 25 years of dedicated service before pursuing hispassion for aviation by establishing AshleyAircraft and A& PAirpark. He willbe rememberedfor hislove of flying airplanes andfishing, as well as his willingness to help anyone in need, especially when it came to mechanical problems. He nevermissed an opportunity to lend ahelping hand. He is survived by his belovedwife of 44 years, BarbaraLeBlanc Ashley; his children,Kim Ashley Arnold (Richard) and Johnny Bubba" Ashley III; his grandchildren, Amber CouvillionBourgeois (Kyle), Aaliyah Nazrallah (Saim Shahzad), Mary Williamson Clarke (Michael), Linsey Ashley, Johnny "Marcus" AshleyIV (Jodie Daze), and Tyler Ashley; and numerous great-grandchildren. In addition, he is survived by his stepchildren, CharlesHutto (Robin), Richard Hutto (Kris), and Ann Hutto Langlois (Eric); his step-grandchildren, Dr. David Hutto (Kaylee), Rachel Hutto Schmeidler (Joshua), Jacob Hutto, Macie Hutto, Sarah Langlois Doiron (Blake), and Dr.Adam Langlois. John was preceded in death by his parents, Johnny and Myrtle Peavy Ashley, and his step-grandson, Joshua Hutto. Visitation will be held at Ourso Funeral Home on Tuesday, July 14, 2026, from10:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m. Funeral serviceswill begin at 11:00 a.m., with interment immediately following at Hope Haven Cemetery in Gonzales, Louisiana. In lieu of flowers, the family kindly requests thatmemorial donations be made to Cancer Services of GreaterBaton Rouge. The family would also like to express their heartfelt gratitude to the nurses and staff of Clarity Hospice forthe compassionate care and support they provided to
comp support they provided to John and his family.
Joan ElizabethBradley Broussard died July 4, 2026 in her home at the ageof 91. She was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to James Daniel and Elizabeth C. Thistle Bradley. She is preceded in deathbyher two loving sisters, Elizabeth (Betsy) Devine and Lynne Bradley.
Joan is survived by her loving husband of 66 years, Warren J. Broussard, their six children and spouses, Brad Broussard (Larissa), Celia Gilstrap (Robert), David Broussard (Beth), Claudia Irvin (Montell), Nanci Charpentier (Troy), and Eric Broussard (Julie), 17 grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren with another on theway.
Joan was born of strong Irish heritage and throughout her life was surrounded by an abundance of family and friends. Upon marriage, her mother-inlaw taught her many Cajun delicacies and thus pots of gumboand etouffee were shared with many around our table.
Joan was educated at Convent of the Sacred Heart,Overbrook in Philadelphia and attended St. Joseph's Hospital School of Nursing earning her nursing certification and becoming aRegistered Nurse. It was during her time as anurse working in WhitePlains, NewYorkin 1959 that Joan traveled to Italy with girlfriends. It was in Venice where she met Warren who was on shore leave from his Naval ship. By February of 1960 they married and moved to Baton Rouge, where they shared their lives together. Her involvement in the Baton Rouge community has been extensive. She was part of the foundation, planning, and establishment of St. Patrick's Catholic Church in themid1970s, including the planning committee, first sacristan, training altar servers and cross bearers, alector, aeucharistic minister, fair committee ministry, home bound ministry, hospital ministry, and The Shannon Signal newspaper editor and writer. Scouting for her children was important.Her sons and daughters were involved from first grade through high school. Joan was Girl Scout Leader and advisor; led and instructed religious awardsfor both Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts, and theGirl Scout Gold, Silver,and Bronze Awards. She established and organized Ecumenical Retreats for Girl Scoutsofall religious backgrounds at Camp Marydale, though she never liked camping. She was arecipient of the St. Anne Medal by the Catholic Committee on Scouting, theSt. George Emblem by theBoy Scouts of America, and the Thanks Badges Iand II by Audubon Council Girl Scouts.
Raising her six children in Cedarcrest-Southmoor Subdivision, Joan was involved in the civic cia-
Subdivision, volved in the civic association and adriving force behind theneighborhood swimming pool, serving as president managing and maintaining this special place in our community for families to come together.
Having agreat appreciation for her Irish roots, Joan was dedicated and deeply involved in researching her extensive family genealogy. She traveled to Ireland withfriends and family to research, seeking out churches and cemeteries, and meeting distant relatives, all the while falling in love with the people and the places. One story involves word of mouthwhen their car needed repairs and in conversation they learned of "Old Patrick" that might be of help and learned they were distantly related.It has led to many happy stories, memories, and friendships.
Joan was amember of the Baton Rouge Irish Club. She and Warren traveled to New Orleans many times to enjoy liveIrish music.
Joan was agiver and a doer all of her life. Most important to her has been Warren, her children, grandchildren, and greatgrandchildren, instilling in all the commitment and dedication of our family to one another and to the community that surrounds each of us. Her round kitchen table, given to her by her father who was in the restaurant business, has been the gathering centerpiece of our family and many debates, arguments, jokes, and mostly truthful stories havebeen shared and retold many times here, blessing each meal and all who entered her home.
Special thanks to the people who supported and cared for Joan in recent months, including family, neighbors, attentivecaregivers, and dedicated nurses. You have each blessed Joan and her family.
You are invited to celebrateJoan's life on Saturday, July18, 2026 at St. Patrick's Catholic Church, 12424 Brogdon Ln., Baton Rouge. Visitationat9:00 am, Funeral Mass at 11:00 am, officiated by Fr. Eddie Martin. Burial to follow at Greenoaks Funeral Home and Memorial Park, 9595 FloridaBlvd., Baton Rouge. In lieuofflowers, please consider donating to The Hospice of Baton Rouge.
Kim Carr, age 68, passed away peacefully on July 1, 2026, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Born on September 3, 1957, in Petersburg, Virginia, Kim was abright light who truly loved life to the fullest.She possessed awarm, generous spirit and acontagious smile that could melt your heart and soul instantly. Aselfdescribed "Disney Adult" and child at heart,Kim found joy in the simple things, including the company of her beloved pet cats and fur babies, Zippy and Zoey. Her faith and community were central to her life. Kim was adeeply devoted member of Newsong Community Church in Prairieville, Louisiana, where she cherished her church family and served faithfully outh
family faithfully as ayouth program leader. She left a lasting impactoneveryone she met, andher warmth shined brightinher community. Kim was the unwavering backboneofher family, standing by her children at every turn. She is survived by her loving husband, David Carr of Baton Rouge, LA; herson, Stephen Carr (Christina) of Ooltewah,TN; herdaughter, Grace Carr of West Hollywood, CA; her sisters, Kathy Rivers of Wichita, KS, and Karen Watkins of Jarreau, LA; and her brother, Billy Watkins (Blanche) of Williamsburg, VA. She was adeeply proud grandmother to herfive grandsons—Trey, Scott, Gabriel, Christian, and Lucas Carr of Ooltewah, TN—who affectionately called her "Greya" and were truly her heart andsoul. She was preceded in death by her father, William (Bill) Watkins; hermother, Elizabeth (Betty) Watkins; her brother, Johnny Watkins; and her nephews, Tori Watkins andAaron Rivers. Visitation will be held on Wednesday, July 15, 2026, from 10:00AM-10:45AM at Newsong Community Church, located at 18465 Old PerkinsRd, Prairieville, LA 70769. ACelebration of Life servicewill follow at 11:00AM. Pastor Dustin Cole will be officiating the Celebration of Life. In honor of Kim's dedicated service and love for herfaith community, memorial contributionsmay be made to the NewsongCommunity Church youth program.
Cheryl Lynn Clarke, talented artist, caring teacher and beloved friend and kin passed away in Baton Rouge on June 26 at the age of 79.
Cheryl was born in Memphis to loving parents Bonnie and GeneClarke. After movingtoBaton Rouge in 1956 thefamily returned often to enjoy holidays with their Tennessee family. Cheryl cherished the memories of those times with amultigenerational housefulfrom her cousins to her grandparents that she oncerecalled in acharming article for the Advocate. She loved the reunionswith her cousinsinlater years, getting together in both Tennessee and New Mexico Agraduate of Lee High School in Baton Rouge, Cheryl wentontoearn a Bachelor's degree in Art Education and aMaster's degree in Fine Arts at L.S.U. She became abeloved and dedicated teacher and retired from West Baton Rouge Schools having served as Talented Art Teacher at Port Allen High, Port Allen Middle School, Brusley Elementary and Brusley Middle School.
Cheryl loved life and shared her humor, spirit and joie-de-vivre with everyone around her. She made life brighter and her novel perspectives, curiosity and sense of adventure were asource of joy to her many friends. She especially loved painting, i-
many espe-
cially loved painting, animals andspending time in Grand Isle. Shewas brave. She is survived by her mother Bonnie Clarke; sister ChristineSimmons; brother Mark Clarke and wife Lynn; hercousins Michele Barton, Duane Duffy, GlennDuffy, Becky Waldrop, Carl Welch, and Patsy Welch; sisters-in-law Becky Clarke and Stella De Sa Rego; nieces Deanna Simmons, Katie Kogler and Sarah De Sa Rego; nephews Mike Clarke and Paulo De Sa Rego; former spouse James Major anda close circle of devoted friends.Her dear friends Sheila Soniat and Van Wade Day cared for her with loving devotion during her illness. She is preceded in death by her father GeneClarke and brother Jimmy Clarke. Acelebration of life will be planned for the future. Cheryl will always be remembered with love anda smile and so many good memories of shared times together--the finest proof of alife well-lived.
Darensbourg,
formerly of Baton Rouge, passed away on July 6, 2026, at Ramsey Village, in Des Moines, IA. Visitation for friends and family will be held from 10:30-11:30 a.m., Thursday, July 16, 2026, at Iles Westover Chapel, 6337 Hickman Road, Des Moines. Amemorial service will follow beginning at 11:30 a.m. The service will be livestreamed. Please visit www.IlesCares.com, for the link to thelivestream, additional information and to leave online condolences. Private interment will be at Glendale
tery, Des Moines.
FrancesTurner Henry April 30, 1937 -June30, 2026. FrancesTurner Henry belovedmother,grandmother,educator, civic leader,and pioneering businesswoman, passed peacefully fromthisworld on Tuesday, June30, 2026, at theage of 89. BornonApril30, 1937, in Hodge,Louisiana, Frances wasthe daughterofArnold A. Turner andMaryElizabethEubanks Turner.From an early age, shedistinguished herselfasanexceptional student, graduatingwith honorsfrom Jonesboro-Hodge High School in 1955. Following high school Francesattended LouisianaTechUniversity where she earnedher Bachelor's Degree in Educationin1957 andher Master'sDegree in Education in 1958. Her lifelongdevotiontoeducation andpublic service wouldeventually lead to her beingrecogni da he isia
Broussard, Joan Bradley
Darensbourg, Rosalind Ann 'Roz'
Rosalind Ann "Roz"
77,
Ceme-
Ashley, Johnny 'John'
Clarke, Cheryl Lynn
Henry, Frances T.
Carr, Kim W.
nized as theLouisiana Tech University College of Education Alumna of the Year in 2019, oneofthe university's highest honors. In thespringof1958, Francesmarried her high school sweetheart,E.L "Bubba" Henry. The newlyweds moved to Baton RougeafterBubba's acceptance to LSU Law School.Frances supported their youngfamily by teaching school while Bubba pursued hislegal education. Upon his graduation, they returned to Jonesboro, where Bubba established hislaw practice and Frances continued her beloved work as an educator Throughout theirmarriage, Franceswas Bubba's greatestchampion. When he decided to runfor the LouisianaLegislature in 1968, shestood steadfastly by hissidethroughout his distinguishedpolitical career.During histwelve yearsoflegislativeservice, Frances balanced her responsibilitiesasa teacher and mother,oftendriving herselfand theirchildren to Baton Rougeonweekends when Bubba wasunable to return home. She also made Baton Rougea second homefor thefamily duringthe legislative summers.In1980, the family permanentlyrelocated to Baton Rougewhen Bubba wasappointed Commissioner of Administration under Governor David Treen. After more than twentytwoyears as an educator, Frances embarked on an entirelynew professional journey. She became one of thefirst successfulfulltimefemale residential general contractors in the Baton Rouge area,building arespected career that spanned threedecades and breaking barriers for womeninthe construction industry Frances' impact on Louisiana extended farbeyond her professional accomplishments. Apassionateadvocatefor education and public service,she served fortwo decades on theLouisiana BoardofRegents, whereshe played aninfluential role in shapinghigher educationpolicy, teacher quality initiatives, and systemic high school reform throughout thestate.Her expertise and dedicationtoeducationalsoled to seven years of service on President George W. Bush'sNoChild LeftBehind National Commission. For more than twenty years, Frances served as a member of theBoard of Directors of Blue Crossand Blue ShieldofLouisiana, including as chairofthe board. Through this work, shehelped advance the Foundation'smissionof improving thehealthand well-being of Louisianians, especially childrenand families. Above all, Frances was devoted to her family.She embodied grace, intelligence, perseverance, and generosity,leaving alegacy ofservice and love that touched countlesslives She waspreceded in deathbyher beloved husband, E.L. "Bubba" Henry,
andher eldest son, Preston Henry. She is survived by her son, Patrick E. Henryand daughter-in-law, Lydia L. Henry;her daughter, Lori H. Taylor and son-in-law, BrunsonTaylor; andher cherished grandchildren, Mary ElizabethGordon, Mona Taylor,Jacob McKenzie Henry, John Paul Shelton, JamesDavidShelton, and Eva Shaw,along with numerous extended family membersand dear friends.
Avisitationwill be held at RabenhorstFuneral Home,825 Government Street, BatonRouge, Louisiana, on Monday, July 6, 2026, from 6:00 p.m.until 9:00p.m Acelebrationof Frances' life will be held at Broadmoor Baptist Church, 9755 Goodwood Boulevard, Baton Rouge,Louisiana, on Tuesday, July7,2026, at 11:00 a.m In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to The Greater BatonRouge Food Bank.
Patterson,Clint Vincent
Peggie MarinoParker, native of Plaquemine, resident of Addis, born September 15, 1955, passedawayonThursday, July 9, 2026.MarriedtoJerry Godfrey Parkerfor 49 years. She is survived by her husband and children, JenniferTullier (Kacey), Nicole Miller(Eric), and JerryMatthew Parker (Michelle); 8grandchildren, TylerAlbert (Bryanne), Dexter Tullier, Chris Miller, Shawn Miller, AlexMiller,LoganParker, Landon Parkerand Lucas Parker; asister, Sylvia M. Hernandez(Claude);friend of 60 years, Denise D. Roberts; 2nieces, Marina H. Traylor (Chris) and Angela Kerne (Andy); greatnieces and nephew, Madison Brown, AshtonKerne and AddisonKerne. Peggie was preceded in deathby her parents, Charles "Bay" and Ruby Gisler Marino; brother,Charles Marino Jr.; father andmother-in-law, Jerry T. and Mary M. Parker;and afriend of many years, Karon M. Rasberry Peggie enjoyed crocheting in hersparetime and wouldgiftmany of her items to family and friends. Visitation will be at St. John the Baptist CatholicChurchinBrusly on Tuesday,July14th, from 10:30a.m. untilMassof Christian Burialat12p.m., celebratedbyRev.Jason Palermo. Entombment will follow in the church mausoleum. Pallbearers willbe her 8grandsons. The familywouldliketothank Ochsner Oncology Depart-
AngelaPatel passed away on Monday, July 9, 2026, at theage of 72. She wasborn on May5,1954, in Morganza, Louisiana, to Camilleand Joyce Laborde. Angelagraduated from MorganzaHighSchool in 1972. Following her graduation, she continuedher education at Louisiana StateUniversity, where she earnedboth aBachelor of Science and aMaster of Social Work.She then began her career as asocial worker, dedicating her time to helping those struggling with addiction. She is preceded in Death by her parents, Camille Noah Laborde and Joyce CalleganLaborde; her stepson, Jeremy Paul Patel; grandparents, IvyCallegan, Wilma Granier Callegan, S. Adolph Laborde, Lillian Byrd Laborde;uncle, Larry Callegan; and stepmother, DorothyL.Laborde.Angelaissurvived by her loving husband of 40 years, Jayant Shankerbhai Patel;her sisters, Jonna L. Fremin (Blair) and Melissa L. Morrison (John); nephews, Derek J. Fremin (Danielle) and Dustin J. Fremin (Angel),her aunts, JudyCalleganBurke (Jules) and MelodyCallegan,and cousins,Monte Burke Rachel Burke Minor, Missie Callegan, Bryne Callegan, Carla Callegan,and Nicole Callegan. Relativesand friends are invitedtoattend theFuneral Mass at 10:00 AM on Wednesday, July15, 2026, at St. George CatholicChurch, located at 7808 St. GeorgeDrive, BatonRouge,Louisiana. Visitation willbegin at 9:00 AM and continue until 10:00 AM. Familyand friends may sign theonline guestbook or leave apersonal note to thefamily at www.resthavenbatonroug e.com.
Clint Vincent Patterson passed away on June 17, 2026. He was abeloved husband, father, brother, uncle, and friend whose kindness and humor touched many lives. Clint was aProfessional Engineerwitha Master's degree in structural engineering. He took great prideinhis profession, and builta career defined by technical excellence. Throughout his career, he builtlasting friendships with coworkers and enjoyed mentoring talented teams throughchallenging projects. More than anything,hevalued thecamaraderie, laughter, and friendshipsformedalong theway.Clint was known for sharing his time and talents to help others in need. During his time at thehospital and at The Carpenter House, many coworkers visitedtoshare storiesofhow Clintwas always willing to help others and expressedhow deeply he had inspiredand impacted them. Clint loved his family.Providingfor them and ensuring his children received astrongeducationwere among his deepest commitments, a quiettestament to thevalues that guidedhis life. Clint was quick-witted, with asense of humor that couldlighten themoodin an instant. He found joyin spending time outdoors, fishing,and had aspecial love foranimals, especially thefamily pets who brought him so much happiness. Clint also loved cooking and was known for sharing meals with family,friends, and coworkers. Among his favorite disheswere seafood gumbo and shrimp and corn soup. He had acurious mind and lovedbuilding computers, helping with science fair projects, and trying out thelatest gadgets. He enjoyed learning new things and sharing thoseinterests with the people he loved. Clintis survivedbyhis wife, Gail Macalusa Patterson; children,Courtney, Cole, and Jenna Patterson; sister, Lisa Foley; as wellasmany nieces and anephew. He is preceded in death by his children, Bean and Blaine Patterson; mother, Verda
andeverynurse andCNA at TheCarpenterHouse for the loving andexceptional care they providedduring Clint's final days. Memorial donationsmay be made to St.Joseph'sHospice Carpenter House.Relatives andfriends are invited to celebrate Clint's life on Sunday, July 19, 2026, at ResthavenFuneral Home. Allwill be welcomed at 2:00 PM until servicesbegin at 3:00 PM.Familyand friends may sign the online guestbook or leave apersonal note to thefamilyat www.resthavenbatonroug e.com.
Russell, Stacie Hamburger
Stacie Hamburger Russell,49, was called home to thecomfort of her Lordinthe early morning hoursofTuesday, July 7, 2026, at home in Prairieville,LA, followinga courageous battle with Pancreatic Cancer. She wassurroundedbythe people and thesoundsshe loved, andshe left us with asmile.
Stacie was born on July 15, 1976, in Metairie, LA, to Larry andDebra(Barker) Hamburger. Stacie's mom preceded herindeathand undoubtedly was waiting forher withopenarms, alongside herbeloved Mimaw Stacie is survivedbyher son Trevor Russell and bonusdaughters Brittany Turner (Tyler) and Breanna Russell,all of Prairieville, LA; as well as two bonus grandchildren, Braelynn and Tyson.Stacie is also survived by herfather, Larry Hamburger, Sr., and brother, Larry Hamburger, Jr Stacie leaves behindin this worldcountless aunts, uncles,nieces, nephews, cousins, family, and friends.
Stacie attendedSaint
Catherine of SienaCatholic School in Metairiebefore graduating from Mount Carmel Academy in New Orleansin1994. Stacie attended Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge andgraduatedwith abusiness degree in 1998. Following graduation,she puther gift with numbers to gooduse by engaging in averylong career in accountmanagement.This gift also produced herattentiontodetail,preparedness (she always had anythinganyone needed),and impressive Excel spreadsheets. Most recently, she workedatAPTIM Obituarieswill often list everyaccomplishmentand accolade in one's life. WhileStacie hasmany, she wouldsay hergreatest contributiontothisworld is herson Trevor.Stacie wasalways presentto cheerhim on,encourage, guide, advise, andcomfort. Sheraised akind, intelligent,and accomplished young man whogivesto hiscircleoffamilyand friends in the same way hismotherdid Andthrough thepast 7 months of hercancerbattle, thebeauty of thelife Stacie lived became the center of herfinal days. Hundreds of people came to visit, share stories,and tell herwhata tremendous impact shehad on their lives.Oftentimes, these stories andmemories were very similar in theirinception:"Iwas new, and Stacie introduced herself, andwebecame family." Lives were forever changedfor thebetterbecause Stacie shared her welcoming,kind, andlovingnaturewith everyone she encountered. Herlove waspowerful andselfless. Thelove she shared broughtpeople together whoare committedtocontinuing herlegacyoflove andfamily. Theloss of hershort life on this earth is aloss felt by all.Her memory will live throughthe impact shehad on so many. Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 12:30 pm on Tuesday, July 14, 2026, at St.Catherine of SienaParish,105 Bonnabel Blvd.inMetairie, LA. Friends andrelativesmay visit with thefamilyfrom 10:30 am to 12:30 pm prior to the mass. Contributionsinmemory of Stacie may be donated to The American Cancer Society.
See more DEATHS page IN LOVINGMEMORYOF Janet Curtis Jul12, 1961 -
Patel, Angela
Parker,Peggie Marino
OPINION
OUR VIEWS
Tulane deal gives ‘Big Charity’ newlease on life
When it was built nearly 90 yearsago, the structure that housed CharityHospitalinNew Orleans wasn’tjust the largest hospitalinthe state, it was the second-largest in thenation. The hulking art deco structure withits 20-story central column and 13-story wingswas,like so much of Louisiana’siconic infrastructure,first conceived under the administrationofGov Huey P. Long, with funds from theNew Deal’s Public Works Administration.It opened in1939, anew locationfor the hospital establishedin 1736 by aFrenchsailor and shipbuilder. In addition to welcomingpatients fromacross the region who couldleast afford care, “Big Charity,” as the site was affectionately known, served for decades as atraining ground fortens of thousands of doctors in Louisianaaspart of the LSU and Tulane medical schools.Then Katrina struck, and the site, once knownasa center of healing, became etched on thepublic mind as ahouse of heartache. It never reopened after the storm. At the time, it wasthe secondoldestcontinuously operating hospitalinthe country.Only Bellevue Hospital in NewYorkis older Butnow,thanks to alonglist of visionaries and philanthropists, this storied history won’t be lost. In an agreement unveiled last month, Tulane University announced it’s taking over a project to revitalize the building that hadlong languished amid disputesand mountingcosts Aconsortium called 1532 Tulane Holdcowill oversee the multimillion-dollar renovationdesigned to anchor agrowing medical districtin downtown New Orleans. Two-thirdsofthe buildingwill become the new home of Tulane’s Celia ScottWeatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and theTulane Innovation Institute. In addition, apartments,offices and retail space are planned for thesite. It is expected to open in 2029.
We cannot stress how much this projectcould be transformative for the cityand the entire region. As we look to attract new industriesand highly skilled workers to our state, thebiosciences offer aprime opportunity. Tulane said it envisions bringing around700 scientists, researchers and others to thedistrict, whichcould serve as acatalyst for arebirth of downtown street life in New Orleansoutside of the French Quarter
While much remains to befinalized, we applaud Tulane and all those who joined with the universityinmoving this project forward once again. The Goldring Family provided thelead privategiftfor the project,and Tulane said it is workingwithotherpublic andprivate partners to secure funding.
It’satremendous vote of confidenceinour future by Tulane, and it is what we like to seefrom ourlargest employers andnonprofits. Thereare few institutions that meant more to ourstate than Big Charity.Now it has achancetolead the wayfor generationsto come.
LETTERSTOTHE EDITOR ARE WELCOME. HERE AREOUR
GUIDELINES: Letters are published identifying name, occupation and/or title and the writer’scity of residence
TheAdvocate |The Times-Picayune require astreet address andphone number for verification purposes, but that information is not published. Letters are not to exceed 300 words. Letters to the Editor,The Advocate, P.O. Box 588, Baton Rouge, LA 70821-0588, or email letters@ theadvocate.com.
TO SEND US A LETTER, SCANHERE
Theauthentic meaningofAmerica
Forthe fourth anniversary of the Supreme Courtdecision that ended Roe v. Wade, Ifound myself over an hour away from the George Washington Bridge, at aconvent hidden within aprotective shield of greenery.Marycrest is the home of theParish Visitors of MaryImmaculate, and Mother Maria Catherine there has me thinking about Abraham Lincoln. In his second inaugural address, Lincoln famously began his conclusion with “With malice toward none, withcharityfor all ...”
which may achieve and cherish ajust and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”
That sounds like an American calling, doesn’tit?
Fifty years of legal abortion doesn’t reflect that idea of malice toward none, from whereI’m standing. Nor do some recentpostures toward refugees seeking asylum in theUnited States.But thereisstill time to reflect on what it means for apresident to talkabout the“mystic chord of memory,” as Lincoln did in his first inaugural.
Regarding charity,inhis second inaugural, Lincoln said: “Withfirmnessinthe right as God gives us to see theright,let us strive on to finish thework we are in to bind up thenation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne thebattle and for his widow and his orphan —todoall
The commemoration of our country’s250th birthday this year has prompted much reflection on our historyand what it means today
We launched aseries of guest essays that explore this question as well as seek to enlighten readers about Louisiana’struly unique role in our country’s history.Ihope you have been enjoying this series as much as Ihave.
We are surelyanation of walking wounded. Depending on how you look at it, we could even be considered anationatwar not just with Iran, though there is that debacle —but with ourselves Over by the George Washington Bridge back in New York lie most of the remains of Mother Francis XavierCabrini. She died in 1917.Mother Tallon, thefounder of Parish Visitors of Mary Immaculate, diedin1954. Both women concerned themselves with orphans —Cabrini more materially,bycreating homesfor orphans. Tallon’smission focusedonspiritual orphans, seeking to be an instrument of revitalization of faith. Were it not for charity,noneofus would be here.
That’swhy Mother Cabrini had a dedication to theSacred Heart of Jesus. Mother Catherine does,too —she even moved her position in the chapel recentlysoshe could have abetter view of the embrace of Jesus signaling to her from one of the statueson theside of thealtar.The statue sits above the humble tomb of Mother Tallon. Now that the fireworks and cage
mentofcrisis for our country.Sometimes it is hard to see the common ties that bind us as anation, but looking at our history shows that we have faced and survived difficult moments before.
fights areover, we could afford to see the synergy between acalltofirmness fromLincolnand the first U.S.born pope,Leo. Just aftervisiting the birthplace of MotherCabrini in the Lombardy regionofItaly,the Chicago-born Leo emphasizedthe need for auniversal contemplation. He said that such an activity is notreserved for monks, but forall people of faith. Contemplation, Leosaid, “helps us to have amorefirm andconscious faith, andconsequently to be credible andfreedisciples, men and women capable of reflecting the light of the Gospel in everysetting and every situationoflife,and of bearing witness to it even where its value is not understoodoraccepted.”
Americahas been abeacon for freedomseekersbecause we knowwhat we arestewards of.
Whenwelosethis —this knowledge of ourparticipationwith the eternal, even as we face White House ballroom construction, critiques of Usha Vance’sOld Navy maternity wear discounts, midterm elections and everything. We arehere because of and for charity.That’sthe point of being alive.Therein liesthe solutiontoour sorrows andhealing of ourwoes Email Kathryn Jean Lopez at klopez@ nationalreview.com.
The wealth of information from historians and scholars has certainly taught me much Ididn’tknow It also made me look at our history in new ways. That to me is thebiggest reason why we commemorate such milestones. It’s always good to takestock and see how far we’ve come.
Butseveral of you have also written to say that you worry that this is amo-
Ihope you have taken the time to participate in someof thecommemorations and special events around the state for the250th.
There have truly been awide varietyofactivities to enjoy As ahistory buff myself,I am especially impressed by the offerings at museumsaround the state. It’s truly remarkable what they have on display Turning to our letters inbox, Ican give you thenumbers forthe end of June. From June 11-18, we received atotal of 42 letters. That’ssomewhat down from our average of 60 letters aweek.
No statewide or national topics stood out. The topic that drew the mostletters wasthe plans forCity-Brooks Park in Baton Rouge. We received six letters on the issue.
For the week of June 18-June 24, we received 49 letters. Again, there was no standout topic. We received three letters on the U.S. Senate race, twoletters on the teacher pay raise plan and twoletters on the climate study about NewOrleans.
For the week of June 25-July 2, we received 50 letters, and naturally,the America 250 anniversary was foremostonyour minds. We received 10 letters on the subject. The next most popular topic was the Senate race, with twoletters received.
Arnessa M. Garrett is Managing Editor |Opinion. Email her at arnessa.garrett@theadvocate.com
Arnessa Garrett
Kathryn Jean Lopez
COMMENTARY
La.prosecutorpersecutes‘factuallyinnocent’ man
When aman serves 28 years on death row for acrimehealmost certainly didn’tcommit, and then two courtsfind him “factuallyinnocent” under a law passed five years ago by aconservative, toughon-crimelegislature, he shouldn’tbesubjected to yet another trial. Indeed, anew trial could be unconstitutional. So why is aprosecutor in Monroe saying he intends to charge and try the managain?
to convict Duncan was based on junk scienceand that several other evidentiary claims were extremely dubious —including the very notion that the girl had been sexually assaulted, with medical analysts nowsaying otherwise.
On June 29, the Louisiana Supreme Court unanimously upheld alower-court ruling thatJimmie “Chris” Duncan had been wrongly convicted on ahorrid charge of raping and murdering his girlfriend’s23-month-olddaughter in 1993. To be clear,this decision didn’tinvolve letting Duncan off on some procedural technicality; this was aslew of judges finding the original conviction itself was factually mistaken.
Iwrote about this case for the first time one year ago this week, when the trial-court judgefound that “bite mark” evidence used
Suffice it to say that by now,the near-certain truth is what Duncan has claimed all along: The little girl,who had ahistory of seizures, had another seizure and drowned while briefly left alone in apartially filled bathtub.
As state Supreme Court Justice CadeCole wrote for the unanimous court,“Hadthe ‘new’ evidence, in light of all relevant evidence, been presented at trial, no rational juror would have found Duncan guilty of thefirst degree murder of Haley beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Cole, by theway,isfar from a judicial leftist: He was the Louisiana College Republican state chairman and amember of the Federalist Society Nonetheless, Steve Tew, the
district attorney for Ouachita and Morehouse parishes,told Kaitlyn Maness of theOuachitaCitizen on Wednesday that he wants to retry Duncan for murder,although he isn’tsure which “degree” of murder he wantstocharge.
Yes, that is within Tew’sauthority under Act 104 of the 2021 legislative session, through which Duncan secured his postconviction release based on being “factually innocent.”
That act explicitly says anew judgment in the convict’sfavor “shall not prevent (him) from being retried for the offense.” And Louisiana’slegal definition of forbidden “double jeopardy” says double jeopardy doesn’tapply when “judgment has been arrested” on the convict’s“own motion.”
Well, I’m no expert on strange wrinkles in “double jeopardy” jurisprudence, but this idea of retrying someone whom multiple courts have found to be factually innocent seems to violate the letter of, and certainly the spirit of, the U.S. Constitution’sFifth Amendment.Toquoteit: “Nor shall any person be subject for
thesame offence to be twice put in jeopardy of lifeorlimb.”
Either way,why is Tewhellbent on further punishing Duncan?
The man had no criminal record before thetragic event; eight judges decided the mostessential “evidence” against him is junk and theother supposedly incriminating testimony has been convincingly refuted. And all the relevant familymembers of the victim,including the child’smother,believe Duncan is innocent.
Surely no jury,33years after little Haley Oliveaux’sdeath, would find Duncan guilty of anythingworse than somesort of manslaughter charge based on carelessness. Louisiana law says themaximum prison term for “negligent homicide” is 10 years. Duncan has already served three times that long, mostofitunder a deathsentence.
Again, what’sthe point?
There’sacrucial principle at play here, oneatthe heart of modernAmerican conservatism. Namely,the American framers’ whole pointindesigning so many “checks andbalances” in gov-
ernment is that safeguards and redress always should be available —because all government officials, including prosecutors, can makemistakes. That’sthe essence of conservatives’ desire to limit government’spower: to protect citizens from government’s error or abuse.
That, too, is whyLouisiana’s conservative lawmakers this very decade passed Act 104: to give convicts achance to show that newly understood facts now exonerate them.
The legislators got the policy mostly right, and all the judges on the state SupremeCourt got the facts and law right. Chris Duncan has suffered long enough for leaving achild unattended while he washed dishes in anearby room
Let this man finally live free without further persecuting him —and perhaps amend the law to remove the chance forprosecutors to retry men already found factually innocent.
Email Quin Hillyer at quin hillyer@theadvocate.com
An improved Essencedeservesfinancial investment
The early reports about the Essence Festival of Culture are in, and the multiple-eventwas farbetterthanthe 2025 fest. Generally,I catch parts of aday or two of the fest, mostly because joining thousandsand thousands of my family members, friends, people Imeet and people I don’tmeet, but love seeing, can be overwhelming. This year,for the first time, Iattended dayand night, eachday.IfIcount the official Essence Festival media kickoff and an offsite, Essence-adjacent event, thatwas another day,making atotal of four daysand four nights.
It was alot. Awhole lot.
Once the doors opened, Essiesquickwalked in, most of them pausing to get their dance on as aDJhit the ones andthe twos of popular contemporary songsthat made it hard to keep going withoutshaking your head to the beat, or shaking your juttingposterior from side-to-side and front-to-back and back-to-front.
It was that way each day
Thousands of people visited, oftentimes on multiple days, it seemed. According to New Orleans &Co., more than 350,000 visitors were in the city during the threeday event, up by 40,000 in 2025. Louisiana visitors were up 25,000, and visitors from Alabama,Georgia and Mississippi were up, too. Amazingly,with Coca-Cola as the ongoing major sponsor,Target as asignificant sponsor and other brandscontinuing to support the Essence Festival, nearly all daytime activities are free.
Ispent most of my daysatthe Global Black Economic Forum stage, theSuede men’sstage, the Authors Showcase andthe Food and Wine Festival. Idon’tusually get caught up in some largerentertainment
Visitorstakea selfieduring the Essence Festival of Culture at the NewOrleans Ernest N. MorialConvention Center in NewOrleans on July 3.
and music spaces and stages, but Coke’s SpinCity washard to ignore. Members of theGrambling StateUniversity WorldFamedTiger Marching Band closed out SpinCity with aparade-style march into the space andanupbeat music set The night concerts were well-produced. Overall, the acts were strong. Therewere some unexplained pauses, but the shows started on time or close. Icaught mostof the performances. Iamchronologically gifted,and thelong days wore me out. I didn’tlast until the last noteswere played any night.
After more-than-usual complaints
about last year’sfestival, mostly on social media, it was good to see some wellestablished and emerging businesses at the fest.
Youmay have heard of some and not others, but Essence Festivalexposure was wonderful for some Louisiana businesses that participated in the New Voices Foundation’sNew Voices xESSENCE Festival, the Makers Studio and the We Love Us Marketplace, which had more than 230 vendors.
Compere Lapin chef and owner Nina Compton curated the Essence Food& Wine Festival for asecond year.The
James Beard Award winner based in New Orleans’ Warehouse District took the opportunity to include other chefs —from Dooky Chase, Lil’ Dizzy’s, Orleans Brothers and WowTurkey She also included New Orleans-based artist-photographer L. Kasimu Harris, whose work is now in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City Community Book Center was the festival’sofficial book partner and the designated bookseller for Essence Authors. Mama Vera Warren-Williams has operated the store for more than 40 years. She was the official bookseller for the first 14 years of the festival. One of the best things about her participation is that though the festival has ended, there’sanongoing benefit —she will now be included among the official booksellers that contribute to the data determining which books make the highly valued The New York Times Best Sellers list. It’ssafe to say thatthere aren’tmany Black-owned bookstoresthat contribute to that list.
“I appreciated the opportunity,” Mama Vera told me after the festival ended. “Things went well, really well.” The more Essence and Sundial Media show acommitment to New Orleans and Louisiana businesses and culture, andthe more the event has asolid economic impact, the more there are good reasons for local business, city and state investment. The existing agreement expires in September.Essence wants to build out an Essence 365 approach, something like what Isuggested ayear ago. That’sunlikely to happen without asignificant investment. The NFL Super Bowl comes every few years. It gets millions. The Allstate Sugar Bowl is here each December.Itgetsmillions.
Why not the Essence Festival?
Email Will Sutton at wsutton@ theadvocate.com.
JusticeinMurrill saga requires an open courtroom
Irrespective of the legal merits of the recent New Orleans grand jury’sindictment of Attorney GeneralLiz Murrill, one thing is beyond question: What transpired in the courtroomand hallway before and duringthe proceedings was unacceptable. That’swhen court security —Orleans Parish Sheriff’s deputies —hustled journalists and the public out of the courtroom.Some time later,the deputies ordered them to leave the building. WWL-TV producer Danny Monteverde objectedtothe directive to go outside —apart from the reporters, no other members of the public were asked to leave —and was handcuffed and detained for several minutes. An attorney with him was also cuffed. Ostensibly,clearing the court-
room was necessary to maintain the confidentialityofgrandjury proceedings and to protect the identitiesofthe grand jurors. That’s what New Orleans CriminalDistrict Court Judge Leon T. RochéII argued in afiling to the Louisiana Supreme Court after Murrill sought astay and then arecall of the indictment “The Court was appropriately concerned with the protectionand safety of the grand jurors. Outofan abundance of caution for the grand jurors’ safety and anonymity,the Courtadmonished the media not to speak with or film any grand jurors, then instructed the deputy sheriffs to clear the courtroom when the grand jurors were entering the courtroom,” Rochéwrote. He also said members of the
media had parked in thejurors’ parking lot and that some of them were wandering around the basement wherejurors meet. Rochésaid he had nothing to do with the handcuffing or detaining, however In astatement, aspokesperson for OPSO saiddeputies “acted in accordance with the directives they received and worked to ensure an orderly conclusion to the proceedings.” Whatever thejustification, and whoever is ultimately to blame, thewhole thing should never have happened. Membersofthe media and thepublic should have been able to be in thecourtroom to hear thecharges read aloud. The officersofthe court,including the judge, should have known better Their oaths obligate them to uphold theU.S. Constitution and thelaws of Louisiana. Both are
unequivocal in their protection of the public, including journalists, andthe requirement that court proceedings, except in rare circumstances,beconducted in theopen.
That last fact was rightly seized uponbyLouisiana Supreme Court justices, amajority of whom referred to reports of “what appear to be extraordinary proceduraldefectsand improprieties,” in how the indictment was handled.
Specifically,theycited Article383 of the Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure,which requires thatgrand jury indictments be handedupin“open court.”
“By all public accounts the Orleans Parish CriminalDistrict Courtviolatedexpress provisions of statelaw requiring that grand jury returns occur in the public eye,‘in open court,’”the
Supreme Court wrote. In otherwords, whatwent down in thatcourtroomand hallwayshould never have happened.
Secret court proceedings are badenough, but whenthe case at hand is aminefield of political intrigue,like this one, it’seven more important for it to be conductedtransparently
About 20 minutes after deputieshad slappedthe cuffs on him, Monteverde wasfreed and walked outofthe courthouse. There,hewas askedhow he was feeling.
“I’m angry,” he responded. He’s notthe only onewho should be. Reporters being cuffed and courtrooms being closed are a badway to begin ournext 250 years.
Email Faimon A. Roberts III at froberts@theadvocate.com.
STAFF PHOTO By ENAN CHEDIAK
Faimon Roberts
Quin Hillyer
Will Sutton
Stacie's familyand friends want to extend special gratitude to all of Stacie's care angels, to Dr. Georgios Constantinou, Dustin Denicola, all of the nurses and medical staff with Hematology and Oncology at Our Lady of the Lake, as well as the care team at Audubon Hospice. Online condolences may be left for the familyat www.greenwoodfh.com
Rutzen, Christopher
Christopher Richard Rutzen, affectionately known as Chris, of Prairieville, Louisiana, passed awayonMonday, June 29, 2026, at the age of 48, in Baton Rouge. Chris was born on Monday, July 18, 1977, in Palos Heights, Illinois. Chris was aproud alumnus of Louisiana State University, where he earned his J.D., as wellas Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University, where he completed his R.N. and Louisiana TechUniversity, where he earned his B.S He served as the Executive Director of Renal Associates of Baton Rouge, where his expertise and compassion made adifference in thelives of many Adedicated memberof Trinity Lutheran Church, the University Club, and theLouisiana State Bar Association, Chris was actively involved in his community. In his leisure time, Chris enjoyed the simple pleasures of life. You could often find him cooking,attending live music shows, and cheering on his favorite sporting teams, including the Tigers, Chicago Cubs, Arsenal, and Dutchtown Griffins. Chris never missed an opportunity to watch his boys play sports He was an avid golfer, lifelong learner, devoted family man, beer enthusiast, and BBQ competitor- notably crafting an awardwinning pork shoulder.
DEATHS continued from belovedfamilyand friends. He is precededindeath by his parents, Julia Pudlewski, Richard Rutzen, and LamarJohnson. Chris is survivedbyhis belovedwifeof20years, Allison MillerRutzen;sons, Oakley Rutzen and Wyatt Rutzen; mother, Gayle Johnson; sisters, Carolyn Rutzen Johnsonand Lelia JohnsonThrasher(Derrick); brothers, Angelo Bovara and BillyJamesJohnson;nieces and nephews, Julia Johnson Gillespie, Lillian Johnson, CalliJohnson Eudora Heflin, Ella Thrasher, and LucasThrasher; and mother and father in law, Gayle and Bill Miller. The family wouldlike to extendour sincerest gratitude to the many family, friends, coworkersand medical professionals that have helpedusnavigate this past year. We wouldliketoinvite allwho knew and loved Chris to join us as we commemoratehis life. AVisitation willbeheld at Trinity Lutheran Church, 15160 S HarrellsFerry Rd,inBaton Rouge, on Saturday, July 18, 2026,from2:00 PM,until Celebration of LifeCeremonyat4:00PM, by Pastor Bill Crowe. In lieuofflowers, Memorial gifts may be made to TrinityLutheranChurch, 15160SouthHarrell'sFerry Road Baton Rouge, LA 70816, at: tlcbr.org/giving
Swetnam, Jill Claire
Jill Claire Swetnam, of Baton Rouge, passed away of natural causes on June 25, 2026,at68. She was born in Detroit, Michigan on November 13, 1957
Above all, Chris cherished time spent sharing laughter and love with his
Agiftedflutist anddevoted teacher, Jill shared her love of musicwith audiences and students for more than four decades Sheearned herbachelor's degree in music education
and master's degree in music performance from LSU. For 35 years, she served as second chair flute with theBaton Rouge Symphony Orchestra, becoming abeloved fixture of theensemble. For morethan20years, she taught and directed thebands at The Runnels School, where hergreatest joywas helping young peoplediscover their musical potential. Jill nurtured youngbeginners with patience and encouragement,and many stayed in touch long after leaving her classroom, atestament to ateacher who shaped not just how her students played,but who they became. She also shared her music for many years at JeffersonBaptist Church, whereher flute became acherished part of worship Jill is survivedbyher brother, Joel Swetnam, his wife, Lisa Swetnam, and her nephew, JaredSwetnam. The family held aprivate burial at Resthaven Gardens of Memory. Memorial donations may be madetothe Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestraatbrso.org.
Family and friends may sign theonline guestbook or leave apersonal note to thefamily at www.resthav enbatonrouge.com
Baton Rouge,LASophia "Sophie"Louise White was born in Baton Rouge, LA on July10, 1933 to theunionofWilbert Michael White,Sr. and Louise Decuir White. Sophieentered intoeternal life on July9,2026, surrounded by family and friends.
Sophie was averyactivemember of St.Francis XavierCatholicChurch.
She attended St. Francis XavierCatholicSchool, McKinleyHigh School, XavierUniversity of Louisiana, and received her Master's Degree in Art fromNew York University.
After completing her education, Sophie beganher teaching career at St. Francis XavierCatholicSchool. She laterserved as a school principal in Lucy, Louisiana, before transferring to McKinley Elementary in BatonRouge. Following integration, she taught at UniversityTerrace. Sophie eventually retired fromeducationinordertocare forher parents. Sophie traveled extensively around theworld including thePhilippine Islands, Italy, France, Chile, and Thailand, just to name afew.Sophie liveda very activelifeand enjoyed Pilates, Yoga, and weight lifting at theYMCA. She especiallyloved theartsand lovedattending art exhibitions, festivals, and music events with her companion, Randell Henry.
Sophie is survivedby her siblings, Wilbert White, Jr.(Geraldine)ofAtlanta, GA,Arthur LeonWhite,Carl White,and J. Darrell White, allofBaton Rouge, and a host of cousins, nieces, nephews, and godchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents, her sisters, Josephine"Joann" White, and Betty White Chambers, and her brother, Michael Wayne White,and nephew Carlus Michael White Visitation at St.Francis XavierCatholicChurch, 1150 S12thSt, on Tuesday, July14thfrom 9:30am until Mass of ChristianBurial at 11:00am. Rosaryat 10:30am. Interment at Roselawn MemorialPark Cemetery. Arrangements entrusted to Desselle Funeral Home.The family wouldliketothank the staff at Clarity Hospice of Baton Rouge for their exceptional care.
Ms. Hilda Gregoire Wood (89), alifelong Louisiana resident and beloved mother,grandmother, great-grandmother,and friend, passed away peacefullyonThursday, July 9, 2026.
Born on March 10, 1937, in Carville, LA, Hilda made herhomeinGonzales, LA, whereshe wasknown for herkindheart,love of family, andappreciation for life'ssimple pleasures. She foundgreat joyingardening, spending time shopping,and,above all,makingmemories with her belovedgrandchildrenand growingfamily.
Sheissurvived by her loving children,LauraElisar (Wayne), Pam Andermann (Fran),DebraBraud, andRonnieWood(Christine); sister,AgnesG Bercegeay; 8grandchildren,17great-grandchildren,and onegreat-greatgrandchild,all of whom will cherish hermemory andthe love she shared throughout herlife.
Hilda wasprecededin death by herdevoted husband, Raymond Wood; parents, Adam John Gregoire
and Lillian Dill Gregoire; brothers, NedRodriguez, Adam "Coke" Gregoire, Peter "Blackie" Gregoire, William Gregoire, Roger Gregoire, and Louis "Sonny"Gregoire; sisters, Lillian Whitehead,Louise Duck,and NoraGregoire; andson-in-law, Wallace Braud. Familyand friends are invited to attendthe visitation beginningat10:00 a.m. on Monday, July 13, 2026, at First Baptist Church in Gonzales, Louisiana. Afuneralservice will follow at 12:00 p.m. Intermentwill take place afterward at Hope Haven in Prairieville, Louisiana. Thefamilyextendstheir heartfelt gratitude to The Parcand Southern Grace Hospice forthe compassionate care,kindness, and support theyprovidedto Hilda andher familyduring herfinal days.
Hilda'slegacylives on through thefamilyshe lovedsodeeply. Shewill be remembered for her gentle spirit,her love of gardening,and thejoy she foundineveryvisit, every shoppingtrip, andevery moment spent withthose she held dear. Shewill be deeply missed and forever remembered.
Wood, Hilda G.
White, Sophia Louise 'Sophie'
Etienne on top, but rest of room fluid
BY LUKE JOHNSON Staff writer
Back in 2017, Mark Ingram tallied his second consecutive 1,000-yard rushing campaign for the New OrleansSaints, leading apotent ground attack that included Offensive Rookie of the Year Alvin Kamara
That was the last time the Saints had a 1,000-yardrusher.They are oneofthree teams tied for the longest active drought in the NFL when it comes to aplayer crossing that statistical milestone, joined by theKansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers. Maybe that changes this year
The Saints ponied up this offseason to sign Louisiananative Travis Etienneto be their new lead back.Etienne arrived as oneof eight running backs to have at least three 1,000-yard rushing seasonsinthe lastfour years
This is about morethan nice, round numbers. New Orleans didn’t sign Etienne to snap adry spell but rather to add some juice to arunning game that has lacked itfor several years now.What goes on behind Etienne —particularly concerning the long-running Kamara drama —isanyone’s guess, but there’snodenying who is at the top of the pecking order going into the2026 season. Depth chart(name, height, weight, experience) n Travis Etienne,5-foot-10, 215 pounds, 6 years
n Alvin Kamara, 5-10, 215, 10 n Devin Neal, 5-11, 213, 2 n Audric Estimé, 5-11, 227, 3 n Kendre Miller,6-0,220, 4 n Ty Chandler,5-11, 205, 5 n C.J. Donaldson, 6-1, 230, R
Number to know:7
That is how many runsof20ormoreyards Etienne tallied last year, afigure that included touchdown runs of 71 and 45 yards and does not include a45-yard touchdown catch Why doesthat matter?Because it’s one
ä See SAINTS, page 3C
PiratestakeCurielatNo. 5
BY KOKI RILEY
LSU center fielderDerek Curielwas taken by thePittsburgh Pirates with the No. 5overall pick in the first round of the2026 MLB Draft on Saturday Curiel was thefirst LSU playeror signee selected in this year’sdraft
Theslotvalue of thepick is worth $8.34 million.
“Togotoanorganization like the Pittsburgh Pirates means the world (to me),” Curiel said on aZoom call with reporters after he was selected.
“I know alot of guys (over) there
now, so I’m excited to get to
and go compete with those guys and go win some ball games.” He is the fourth LSU player to be picked in the top five of the draft in as many seasons, joining Paul Skenes (No. 1overall in 2023), Dylan Crews (No. 2overall in 2023) and Kade An-
derson (No. 3overall in 2025).
Curiel never played with Skenes, but he did spend his freshman year with former LSU star Jared Jones, whoPittsburgh took in theninth round of last year’sdraft.
“Togoout there and play again with my guy Jared Jones,wewon a national championship together,” Curiel said. “Last timeweplayed, we hit back-to-back in the lineup.So, can’t wait to play with him again.”
He’s also joininganorganization that selected former LSU
Shough to foot bill forteammates on California excursionthatincludesBrees
NoahFant has conducted summer throwing sessions with multiple quarterbacks during his NFL career,everyone from Joe Burrow to Geno Smith to Drew Lock.
So when Tyler Shough reached out to the veteran tight endearlier this year andasked him to participate in passing workouts with teammates in SanDiegothissummer, it wasn’t unusual. Fant was all in —especially when Shough told him he was footing the bill for an estimated group of 18 teammates that includedairfare, hotel rooms, meals, etc. Considering Shough’srelatively modest rookie salary,it’saneyebrow-raising gesture, atestament to the Saintsquarterback’scommitment to servant leadership. Shough, after all, earns less than most of his veteran teammates “It’s really cool of him,”Fantsaid. “He hasn’t
reached asecond contract or anything, and he’sputting his neck out there for everybody to come and get better.That says alot.”
Starting Monday,Shough will lead agroup of Saints receivers and tight ends for five days of workouts and passing sessions in Del Mar,California, just north of San Diego. And they’ll do it under thewatchful eye of Drew Brees, who plans to attend at least some of the sessions.
Brees conducted similar workouts in the area near hishomeduring his Hall of Fametenure with the Saints. The Saints will even work out at the same facility run by Brees’ longtime performance coach, Todd Durkin. “It’spretty sweet out there,” Shough said. Fantand veteran wideout Chris Olave are the only Saints players to say they plan to attend the sessions.
ä See DUNCAN,
STAFF FILE PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER Saints running back Travis Etienne runs across the field during minicampdrills on June 16 at the team’sindoor practice facility in Metairie.
South Africa World Cup midfielder dies at 25
JOHANNESBURG South Africa midfielder Jayden Adams, who played at the World Cup, has died. He was 25.
His death was confirmed by Gayton McKenzie, South Africa’s minister of sport, arts and culture, in a statement on Saturday
“It is with profound shock and a heavy heart that I have learnt of the passing of Jayden Adams, midfielder for Mamelodi Sundowns and Bafana Bafana, at the age of 25,” McKenzie posted on X.
Noskova rallies to win Wimbledon
21-year-old
BY ANDREW DAMPF Associated Press
LONDON Linda Noskova is the latest in a long line of Czech women to win Wimbledon.
The 21-year-old Noskova recovered from a second-set meltdown in which she wasted five match points to overcome Karolina
Muchova 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 in an allCzech final on Saturday for her first Grand Slam trophy
When Noskova finally won it with a service winner on her sixth match point, she covered her face and dropped down to the grass on her back.
“It’s never easy to get the last point,” Noskova said. “Karo, you really made me work for it.”
Noskova became the third Czech woman in four years to win the grass-court major, after Marketa Vondrousova in 2023 and Barbora Krejcikova in 2024.
Muchova and Noskova played doubles together at the 2024 Paris Olympics and finished fourth
“I am so glad that I could play my first Grand Slam final with you,” Noskova told Muchova during her victory speech. “We made history today I believe that all our Czech fans at home are proud of us, so no matter the result today I think it was a good day for both of us.”
Petra Kvitova, who won Wimbledon in 2011 and 2014, was in attendance, as was the greatest Czech-born player of them all, Martina Navratilova — who won a record nine singles titles at the All England Club.
Navratilova looked on from the Royal Box, where she was seated next to Kate, the Princess of Wales, who presented the Venus Rosewater Dish trophy to Noskova Noskova grew emotional during her victory speech when she mentioned her mother who died two years ago
“I definitely would not be standing here without her, so thank you,” said Noskova, who then looked up and blew a kiss to the sky Navratilova wiped away tears listening to Noskova’s tribute to her mother Moments earlier, Muchova began her runner-up speech by calling Noskova “my ex-friend.
“I’m kidding, obviously,” Muchova quickly added. “You’re so young and this was your first final of a Grand Slam and the way you handled it was really unbelievable. You deserve it.”
It was the 29-year-old Muchova’s second Grand Slam final after getting beat by Iga Swiatek at the French Open in 2023
In the men’s final on Sunday, top-ranked Jannik Sinner will attempt to defend his title against
French Open champion Alexander Zverev Wasted chances
Noskova led 5-2 in the second set before she lost five straight games to send it to a third. When Noskova wasted a chance to serve it out at 5-3 in the second, she placed fingers in both ears to drown out the crowd noise on the changeover Then she draped one of Wimbledon’s strawberry-red towels over her head after she dropped her serve again to give Muchova a 6-5 lead and a chance for her opponent to serve it out — which Muchova did.
It’s Noskova’s second grass title of the season after beating Jessica Pegula in the Berlin Open final three weeks ago.
But as this match displayed, it hasn’t been all straightforward. Noskova saved a match point in the third set of her third-round match against Sorana Cirstea.
The 12th-ranked Noskova will climb to No. 7 — a new careerhigh — when the next rankings are released on Monday Now Noskova is the youngest woman to win Wimbledon since Kvitova was also 21 in 2011. And it marks the second consecutive Grand Slam won by a player 21 or younger after Mirra Andreeva claimed the French Open at 19 last month.
It’s the first time that’s happened for Roland Garros and Wimbledon in the same year since Justine Henin and Serena Williams, respectively, claimed those titles in 2003.
Sinner practices on hard court to regain timing
BY ANDREW DAMPF Associated Press
LONDON Jannik Sinner was still struggling to rediscover his rhythm a month after his meltdown at the French Open, and Novak Djokovic was lurking in the Wimbledon semifinals.
Sure, Sinner had won his opening five matches of his title defense at the All England Club. But none of those performances resembled the way that Sinner awed the tennis world earlier this year during a 30-match winning streak.
So how did the top-ranked Sinner suddenly rediscover the form that enabled him to completely overwhelm Djokovic the seven-time Wimbledon champion — during Friday’s highly awaited encounter on Centre Court?
The answer lies in a return to familiar ground. Instead of continuing to toil away on Wimbledon’s grass courts, Sinner spent Wednesday practicing on an indoor hard court, the top-ranked player’s team said.
Hard courts are the surface where Sinner has won three of his four Grand Slam titles and the indoor setting was reminiscent of where Sinner learned to play while growing up in a small Alpine village in the Italian Dolomites.
The decision by his two coaches, Darren Cahill and Simone Vagnozzi, enabled Sinner to regain the timing that has made him the
strongest and most feared baseline player in the sport.
“He’s reminded himself just how much that ball can explode off his racket,” said Andre Agassi, who was also coached by Cahill in his career Agassi noted how Sinner was “swinging with a full conviction” against Djokovic. The improvement displayed against Djokovic was a stark contrast from Sinner’s opening five matches.
Sinner twice had to come back from a set down in a five-set marathon against Miomir Kecmanovic in his opener; he was pushed to two tiebreakers by 48th-ranked
Nuno Borges in the second round; dropped his serve twice against Jenson Brooksky in the third round; had to play another tiebreaker against Japanese qualifier Shintaro Mochizuki in the round of 16; and was also tested by Jan-Lennard Struff in the quarterfinals. Against Djokovic, Sinner led 4026 in winners, committed only 15 unforced errors to Djokovic’s 23 and saved the only break point he faced with an ace. “Was a good old blowout,” Djokovic acknowledged. Djokovic had beaten Sinner over five sets in their previous meeting in this year’s Austra-
lian Open semifinals. This time, Djokovic never really threatened and it was finished in three sets.
“He was just a level or more better than I was,” Djokovic said, adding Sinner was the “much better player” and a “dominant force.”
Sinner hadn’t displayed that much confidence since the opening two sets and six games of the third set against Juan Manuel Cerundolo in the second round of Roland Garros in late May — before he wilted in a Paris heat wave and was eliminated in stunning fashion. Now, he’s favored to seal his second straight Wimbledon title against French Open champion Alexander Zverev in Sunday’s final.
Zverev is ‘a different player now Zverev, whose breakthrough at 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.
But Sinner has won nine straight meetings with Zverev and 14 consecutive sets against the German.
“You can’t underestimate anyone, especially in a Slam final,” Sinner said. “His victory at Roland Garros really helped him.
He’s playing very aggressively He’s a different player now.”
“South African football has lost one of its brightest young talents, and our nation mourns alongside his family, his teammates and the millions of supporters.” Adams helped South Africa reach the World Cup knockout stage for the first time. Further details were not given.
Johnson shoots 63, leads at rain-softened Firestone
AKRON, Ohio Zach Johnson shot a 7-under 63 on Saturday at Firestone Club to take a four-stroke lead in the Kaulig Companies Championship, the fourth of the five major tournaments on the PGA Tour Champions.
“It was for the taking today,” Johnson said. “It was wet. It was pretty much point and shoot and stop.”
The 50-year-old Johnson has two victories in eight senior starts this season. He skipped the U.S. Senior Open last week to play in the PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic, where he tied for ninth.
Reigning champion Miguel Angel Jimenez was second after a 62. The 62-year-old Spanish star shot his age for the first time.
“Every time you can shoot your age is great,” Jimenez said.
Fitzpatrick, Thorbjornsen lead foggy Scottish Open
NORTH BERWICK, Scotland The notorious Scottish haar off the North Sea brought two fog delays Saturday, leaving Matt Fitzpatrick and Michael Thorbjornsen atop the leaderboard with a long final day ahead to finish the Scottish Open and move south to England for the final major of the year Thorbjornsen birdied his last two holes to reach 11 under through 13 holes, while Fitzpatrick missed the green on No. 8 and failed to save par before play was stopped.
At stake Sunday for Thorbjornsen and perhaps a dozen other players is getting one of three spots left for the British Open for leading finishers not already exempt.
The third round was to resume at 7 a.m., followed by the final round of threesomes off the first tee.
Khosia family to purchase Seahawks for $9.612B
The Khosia family ownership group, including Vinod Khosia, has entered into a formal agreement to purchase the reigning Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks, according to the estate of Paul Allen.
The sale price is $9.612 billion, according to a person familiar with the deal.
The Khosia family will become the team’s controlling owner, according to a social media post by the Seahawks on Saturday
“We are honored to be entrusted as the next stewards of the Seattle Seahawks,” Vinod Khosia said in a statement. “We look forward to building on the winning legacy Paul Allen created and to earning the trust of the Seahawks organization and fans everywhere.”
A’s All-Star 1B Kurtz goes on IL with thumb sprain CHICAGO Athletics slugger Nick Kurtz, who was set to start at first base for the American League at next week’s All-Star Game, went on the 10-day injured list Saturday with a right thumb sprain. The move is retroactive to Friday Kurtz did not play in the Athletics’ 14-1 loss to the White Sox in Chicago. Neither Kurtz nor Athletics manager Mark Kotsay was available to speak to reporters. Kurtz is batting .266 with 20 home runs, 66 RBIs and a leagueleading 76 walks. The 23-year-old was the AL
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By KIRSTy WIGGLESWORTH
Linda Noskova poses with the Venus Rosewater Dish trophy after defeating Karolina Muchova in the women’s singles final at Wimbledon on Saturday in London.
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By BRIAN INGANGA
Jannik Sinner returns the ball to Novak Djokovic in their men’s singles semifinal match at Wimbledon on Friday in London.
The other attendees are unclear Shough said he prefers to keep the list of participants private to honor his teammates’ privacy and maintain the solidarity of the mission.
“It’s an investment, but for me, it’s just the shared time to go, the quality time, the bonding, and then you’re also getting in the work,” Shough said. “It’s something that I want to do every single year, whether that’s Del Mar or another place, just go spend time with guys outside of the facility and go get some work in. The memories there are awesome.” Summer throwing sessions are common around the NFL. Saints coach Kellen Moore said they’ve been an annual tradition since he was a player in the 2010s and have continued since he moved into the coaching ranks. Shough conducted similar workouts with Saints receivers — including Juwan Johnson and Ja’Lynn Polk, among others at Tulane University earlier this year and in Oregon last summer He plans to make the sessions an annual event now that he’s become entrenched as the starter The week will involve more than just football. Shough has mapped out a daily itinerary that includes golf and beach outings along with nightly dinners.
“Tyler does it at such a first-class level, as far as getting it really well organized, being able to spend some time together, get some really good work,” Moore said. “And tying it in with Drew obviously is an
“It’s an investment, but for me, it’s just the shared time to go, the quality time, the bonding, and then you’re also getting in the work.”
ously his longevity here and his success, but early on his career it wasn’t necessarily perfect.
Ryu sets LPGA record for best major round
The Associated Press
EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France
Haeran Ryu set the scoring record for LPGA majors on Saturday with an 11-under 60, giving the South Korean player a three-shot lead in the Evian Championship as she goes for a second straight major
awesome opportunity for him and for our guys. And so it’ll be perfect for them.”
The sessions are a byproduct of the burgeoning relationship between Shough and Brees, a connection that began when Shough was serving as the backup to Spencer Rattler a year ago Since then, Shough has picked Brees’ brain about his preparation habits, conditioning regimen, recovery techniques and legendary weekly routine.
“Last year when I was still a backup, I got to talk to him about his daily routine and also his mindset whenever he was a backup,” Shough said. “A lot of times people see him as the G.O.A.T and the upper echelon of New Orleans Saints’ history because of obvi-
“For me, it was really cool to kind of talk to him about just his preparation, regardless of the circumstances or regardless of what people think of you. And that was big for me because shortly thereafter I got an opportunity to play and it was just kind of hit the ground running and go from there.”{/span}
So far, so good. The throwing sessions in California should enhance Shough’s growing reputation as a team leader
“I’ve been telling everybody, he’s such a good leader, which is somewhat uncommon for a guy that (inexperienced) in the league,” Fant said. “He’s very authentic. He wants to be one of the guys and to connect on a deeper level (with his teammates). He just wants to be great and lead this team. I think everybody in the locker room really loves him.”
Even more so after the all-expenses-paid trip to Del Mar
SAINTS
Continued from page 1C
fewer run of 20 or more yards than every Saints running back has managed — in the last four seasons combined
That is correct. From 202225, Saints running backs have tallied just eight runs of 20 or more yards New Orleans had been leaning on quarterback Taysom Hill for its explosive plays in the run game (during that span, Hill accounted for nine such runs, while other quarterbacks and receivers accounted for six). Kamara has not hit a big chunk since November 2024. It’s a big part of why New Orleans wanted to get Etienne, whose proven homerun ability should add another layer to its offense.
The lowdown
Why does a team that has not made the playoffs for five years go out and make a splashy free agent signing at running back, of all places?
Just check out the team’s recent history during its playoff drought.
Here are the Saints’ recent NFL rushing rankings (yards per game/yards per carry).
n
n
seasons have the Saints finished in the top half of the league in both rushing yards per game and yards per carry — Klint Kubiak’s lone season and they’ve finished as one of the NFL’s four worst teams in yards per carry three times in that span
Simply put, running the football has been a problem for too long, which explains why the team invested so heavily in fixing it this offseason by signing Etienne and offensive guard David Edwards.
Now take a look at some of head coach Kellen Moore’s best offenses during his time as a play-caller He’s called the offensive plays for four teams that finished the season as a top-10 scoring offense, and each of those teams featured a top10 rushing offense. Whether it was Saquon Barkley or the 1-2 punch of Zeke Elliott and Tony Pollard, a strong run game has served as the foundation of a healthy Moore offense.
If Etienne can carry over his successes from his time in Jacksonville or if the Saints can coax even more out of him as a lead back it should allow the entire offense to flourish.
Potential camp battle
This position group has the potential to be the most volatile during training camp. Before New Orleans can think about slotting players
into tidy slots on the depth chart, it is going to have to answer some questions.
And that big, blinking light above Kamara’s head is the first one that needs to be addressed.
Will Kamara be on the roster? The Saints have had about a dozen opportunities to give a straightforward answer regarding the status of one of the best playmakers in franchise history, and they’ve declined every single time. That in itself should give people pause when writing Kamara’s name on the roster in ink.
He’s not the only one that comes with some questions, though. Former third-round pick Kendre Miller may not be ready to contribute for Week 1, as he is still working his way back from a torn ACL suffered last October. If he doesn’t start the season on the physically unable to perform list, can the Saints afford to save a roster spot for a player who has never appeared in more than eight games in a season?
Then there are players such as Devin Neal and Audric Estimé, who both showed flashes late last year after Kamara’s injury but are both still relatively unproven, and Ty Chandler, whose return ability may give him an inside track for a spot.
Email Luke Johnson at ljohnson@theadvocate. com.
Two weeks after winning her first major at the Women’s PGA Championship, Ryu birdied four of her last five holes at Evian Golf Resort. She had a chance at tying the LPGA scoring record of 59 but settled for a lengthy two-putt birdie on the closing hole.
Ryu didn’t know what she had done until she looked at the scorecard and counted all the subpar holes — nine birdies and an eagle and realized it was a par 71.
“But after the putt and I counted my score with my caddie,” she said. “Oh my God, it’s 11-under par today It was so amazing. My caddie says, ‘Yep.’ I’m so happy right now.”
Her 60 broke by one shot the record for lowest round in an LPGA major Leona Maguire and Jeung-eun Lee6 in 2021, and Hyo Joo Kim in 2014, each shot 61 at the Evian Championship, which was designated an LPGA major in 2013.
The lowest round in a men’s major is 62 by four players — Branden Grace at Royal Birkdale in the 2017 British Open, Xander Schauffele and Rickie Fowler in the 2023 U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club, and Schauffele and Shane Lowry in the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla.
Next up for Ryu is to finish it off. Her record day put her at 18-under 194 another LPGA major record — for a three-shot lead over Aki Iwai of Japan, who shot 65.
The next closest players to Ryu were seven shots behind Brooke Henderson (64) and Mao Saigo of Japan (67).
Lottie Woad of England, who began the third round with a one-shot lead, struggled to a 72 and fell nine shots off the pace.
Ryu picked up birdies on both par 3s on the front nine, and then holed out for eagle with a 7-iron from 155 yards on the par-4 sixth hole
“That hole is a little tricky because little narrow and the green is little hilly So that’s why I just want to make par on that hole,” Ryu said. “I hit 7-iron there and then it’s pretty good shot there. I just walking towards (the green) and it’s going in. So it was so happy and surprise there.”
Only one of the three previous players to shoot 61 at the Evian — Kim — went on to win, and Ryu realizes she still has work left. Iwai
already has made 21 birdies this week to offset some of her mistakes and is three behind — the same margin Ryu faced at the start of the day “Last year I missed the cut, and so I want revenge,” Iwai said. “Really optimistic tomorrow I just keep going.”
Ryu had minor back surgery after a runner-up finish at the Kroger Queen City Championship, returning just over a month later to win her first major in the Women’s PGA at Hazeltine. Now she has a chance to join Nelly Korda, who missed the cut at Evian, as a double major winner this year Two majors in three weeks was a lot for her to digest.
“That is amazing, amazing dream,” Ryu said. “So I just want that one to come true, but we have one more day and Aki is pretty good player and everybody is so good player, so I just doing pretty well.”
STAFF FILE PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER
Saints running back Alvin Kamara throws the ball during minicamp at the team’s outdoor practice field on June 17 in Metairie. Kamara’s status on this year’s Saints roster remains unknown.
ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By MIKE STEWART
Saints quarterback Tyler Shough looks to make a pass against the Atlanta Falcons on Jan. 4 in Atlanta.
TyLER SHOUGH, Saints quarterback
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By CHRIS CARLSON Haeran Ryu, of South Korea, reacts on the 18th green after a putt during the final round of the Women’s PGA Championship tournament at Hazeltine National Golf Club on June 28 in Chaska, Minn.
MLBdraftsthree LSUplayers,three signees
BY KOKI RILEY Staff writer
LSU baseball had threeplayers and three high school signees taken on the first day of the 2026 MLB Draft on Saturday, whichcovered rounds 1-4 of a20-round draft
Star center fielder DerekCuriel went No. 5overall in the first round to the Pittsburgh Pirates, before the Cleveland Guardiansselected LSUsigneeLoganSchmidt with the No. 59 overall pick in the second round. The Seattle Mariners took right fielder Jake Brown at No. 65 overall in the same round
The only Tiger to come off the board in the third round was LSU signee Jensen Hirschkorn, who was taken with the No. 84 overall pick by the Atlanta Braves. In the fourth round, the Miami Marlins selected signee WessleyRoberson with the No. 115 overall pick, and right-handed reliever Deven Sheerinwas taken by the Philadelphia Phillies with the No. 128 overall selection.
The low number of LSU high school signeesselected was asurprise, especially since theTigers enteredthe draft with theNo. 2recruitingclass in the nation and had multiple top-200 draft prospects who were left on the board
Those top prospects include outfielder Malachi Washington, outfielderDominic Santarelli andfirst baseman Will Adams. Santarelli and Washington were top-100 players in the draft, accordingtoESPN, while Adams was the No. 57player in The Athletic’sdraft rankings.
The draft resumes beginning at 10:30a.m. on Sunday on MLB.com.
Signeesselected Schmidt, aleft-handedpitcher was the first Tiger signee taken in the draft. He attended Ganesha High in Pomona, California, and
LSU right fielder JakeBrown swingsata pitch forasingle against Kentucky on March 29 at AlexBox Stadium. He wasselected by theSeattleMarinerswiththe 65thpick of the MLB draft on Saturday.
was the top high school signee in LSU’sclass, according to draft rankings.
He was the No. 45 player in MLB. com’sdraft rankings andatop-60 prospect in ESPN and The Athletic’srankings.
“You can say it’sone of thebest left-handed fastballs in the class with aclean delivery and astarter’sframe,” one scout toldThe Advocateonthe conditionofanonymity.“The concern is that he doesn’t have ago-to second pitch quite yet. But he hasthe ingredients to get there.”
Schmidt was followed by Hirschkorn, aright-hander and fellow Californianwho attended KingsburgHigh. At 6-foot-7 and 205 pounds,Hirschkornhas afastball that’sbeen up to 97 mphand pairs it witha sliderand achangeup He’salso knownfor his effortless delivery and major league-ready
WhiteSox hope first pick Cholowskyspellssurething
BY DANGELSTON AP sportswriter
PHILADELPHIA Expected to go as thefirst pick in the amateur draft, Roch Cholowsky submitted avideo to Major League Baseball with the correct pronunciationofhis last name. For the record, the name ispronounced chil-OW’-skee.
Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred still botched the pronunciation at the podium Saturday when the Chicago White Sox madethe UCLA shortstop the No. 1pick of thedraft No harm done, Cholowsky insisted.
“I didn’thear it get butchered, Cholowsky said. “I heard Roch and kind of lost it.” Cholowsky burstinto tears at a draft party far from the Philadelphia site of the draft. He led off the lineupofMLB draft prospects who did not show up at the city’sconvention center, just afew miles awayfrom Citizens BankPark, the home ofTuesday’s All-Star Game. MLB saidFriday that no amateur players were scheduled to attend the draft, just like last year Cholowsky wasthrilled he’ll be headed to Chicago,where he enjoyed afruitful predraftmeeting with team officials and mingled in the clubhouse of ateam that has been perhaps the biggest surprise in baseball and entered Saturdayin first place in the AL Central.
“It really felt like to me like acollege clubhouse,” Cholowsky said.
“It’sjust adifferent feel in there.”
A6-foot-2 right-handedhitter, Cholowsky was aGolden Spikes finalist at UCLA and had a1.088OPS with 21 homers and 60 RBIs in his junior season. He was theBig Ten Player of the Year White Sox general manager Chris Getz said in astatement that Cholowsky “is aleader on the field as well as in the clubhouse.Hehas more than lived up to very high expectations, and we cannot wait to get him into our organization, get started and see him continue his growth and success.”
The next two picks went as widely predicted.
TampaBay selectedTexashigh school shortstop Grady Emerson with the second pick and Minnesota took Georgia Tech catcher Vahn Lackey third.
Just 18 yearsold, the 6-3, 185-pound Emerson bats left, throws right and is widely considered the best all-around player in the draft. AUniversity of Texas commitment, Emerson transferred to Fort Worth Christian for his senior year, whenhe played under head coach RustyGreer,a nine-year MLB veteran who spent
AP FILE PHOTO By KyUSUNGGONG
UCLA’s Roch Cholowsky reacts after hitting ahomerun during agame against TexasChristianonFeb.20 in Los Angeles.
nine seasons with the Texas Rangers.
The21-year-oldLackey didn’t receiveany Division Ioffersuntil his senioryear of high schooland has since blossomed into oneof thetop catching prospects in the draft out ofGeorgia Tech.The 6-2, 215-pounder showed some versatility by also playing third base.
San Francisco selected righthanded pitcher Jackson Flora out of UC Santa Barbara with theNo. 4pick. ThePirates took outfielder Derek Curiel from LSU with the fifthpick. Louisvilleoutfielder Zion Rose went sixthtoKansas City,and OakGrove High School (Mississippi) outfielder Eric Booth went seventhtoBaltimore
The Athletics drafted Georgia Tech outfielderDrew Burress with theeighth pick,AtlantatookVirginiaoutfielder AJ Graciawith the ninth pick and Coloradoselected KentuckyshortstopTyler Bell 10th
There were just three pitchers selected among the first 20 overall. Phillies fans cheered the 34th overall pick when the White Sox drafted high schoolstar Landon Thome
TheNazarethAcademy (Illinois) infielder is the son of former Phillies, White Sox and Cleveland great and baseball Hall of Famer Jim Thome. Jim Thome helped changed the perceptionofthe Phillies from longtime losers to championship contenders when he left Cleveland andsignedasix-year,$85 million contract with Philly ahead of the 2003 season
The18-year-old Thome went two picks before thePhilliesdrafted California high school shortstop TylerSpangler with the36th pick —and sent the bulk of the fans fleeing for the exits
frame.
“It’sa big-time arm. Imean, it’s up to 97, (he’s)6-foot-7,”one scout told The Advocate. “This is where the first round (and) second round arms come from. He’sathletic, he (throws)iteasy. If he wants to sign, he’s going in the top two rounds.” Roberson, an outfielder from Georgia, was thenextLSU signee off theboard. Few expected himto be oneofthe first LSU signees taken in the draft, but two scouts told The Advocatethat he was willing to sign for arelatively low number. One scoutsaid hisnumberwas as lowas$500,000.
LSUplayers
Curiel was thefirst Tigerofany kind selected in the draft, becomingthe fourth LSU playertobe selected in the topfive in as many seasons. Brown was taken60picks af-
ter Curiel, following aseason in which he blasted16home runs with a1.047 on-base plus slugging percentage as ajunior
He finished his three-year career in Baton Rouge witha .304 battingaverage anda .951 OPS andbecamealeader for LSU afterwinning anational championship with the purple andgoldin 2025.
“I think he plays hard; he’spassionate,” one scout told The Advocate. “I think he can move the ball when he needs to, hit for power when he needsto.
“He can play defense, and he can run. He candoalittle bit of everything. He’sa fun player to watch and be agood player for somebody to draft for sure.”
LSU SIGNEE BRADY PULLS OUTOFDRAFT
LSUsigneeand right-handed pitcher Coleton Bradyhas decided to takehis nameout of the2026 MLB Draftand come to school, he announcedonsocial media Saturday.
Brady’sdecision comesafter he wasnot taken in the firstfour rounds of the draft on Saturday LSUhad threesignees picked on Saturday, including right-hander JensenHirschkorn, left-hander Logan Schmidt and outfielder WessleyRoberson.
BradyattendedTNXL Academy in Ocoee, Florida, but is fromNorth Collins, Newyork. He’sthe No.178 playerinMLB.com’sdraftrankings and the No.71playerinThe Athletic’srankings. He doesn’t turn 18 until this fall.
He has afastball that’sinthe low 90s withasliderand achangeup. Along withbeing ayounger player in the class, he also projectsasa starting pitcher in the future thanks to his 6-foot-5,215-pound frame.
—Koki Riley
Thefinal LSUplayer picked was Sheerin, who returned to the mound thisspring after missing all of last year with atorn ACL and posted a4.78 ERA in 372/3 innings. Despite the high ERA, Sheerin wasone of LSU’sbestrelief pitchers this season. He struck out 33.7% of the batters he faced and earned five saves.
“He missed the entire year,the yearbefore,”one scout told The Advocate,“andhe’sjustsortof trying to find his footing with his season-long conditioning again.”
Pelicans snap 12-gameSummerLeague losing streak with victoryvs. Hornets
BY RODWALKER Staff writer
The New Orleans Pelicansended their Summer League miserySaturday in Las Vegas.
The Pelicans, who trailed by as many as 18 in thegame,useda late fourth-quarter rally to beat the Charlotte Hornets 95-91.
The Pelicanswon aSummer League game for the firsttime since2023, snapping a12-game losing streak in Vegas.
HunterDickinsonled theway with 21 points. Thesecond-year center knocked down a3-pointer with 50 seconds left that gave thePelicans their first lead of the game.
“Weknewhewas going to be in adeepdrop,” Dickinson said.“I work on that every day. So Ijust went out thereand executed.”
Dickinson played in just five NBAgames forthe Pelicansasa rookie, averaging 2.4 pointsand
LSU
Continuedfrom page1C
signeeKonnor Griffin withthe No. 9overall pick in the 2024 draft.Griffinand Curiel came up in the same recruiting class.
“He actually texted methis morning,”Curiel said. “Hesaid, ‘Good luck today,bro.I’m praying for you.’ Andhesaid, ‘God’sgot a plan.’ We got to compete together on the U-18 USA team in Taiwan.”
Curielhad two fantasticseasons at LSUafter turning down MLB the first time as apotential high school draftee. As afreshman, he wonanational championship and became afirst-team freshmanAllAmerican,hitting .345 with a.990 on-base plus slugging percentage.
He delivered asimilar season as asophomore thenext year, posting a.353 batting average, 13 stolenbases and aslugging percentagethatroseto.526 despite playing with abroken left ankle at thebeginning of the year
“It was myback foot,and it was kind of hard to load into my back foot,” Curieltold104.5-FM after this season came to aclose.“
Peoplewere saying Iwas pressing and trying to hit home runs. That’snot me. Inever try to hit a home run. I’m trying to hit abackside single, abackside double.
“Everyoneonour team gotinjured at one point,and it was just very unfortunate. Ihurt my ankle in mid-November.Ican’tsay how Idid it, but it was notagood reason. Butthat happened, and that’s why theseason started out how
one rebound. He spent mostofthe year with the Birmingham Squadron, the Pelicans’ GLeague team He averaged 18 points and 10.8 rebounds in Birmingham. The Pels trailed 56-45 at halftime. “Coach toldusathalftime that we needed to be more physical,” Dickinson said. “Wejust had to be tougher.Obviously on the glass, but also on defense. The guys really responded out there.”
ThePelicanstrailed89-80 with 4:13 remaining before closing out the game on a15-2 run.
Dickinson shot 9of18from the floor,including 3-of-6 on 3-pointers.Healso had three rebounds and three assists.
KobeBufkin, who had30points in the Pels’ SummerLeague open-
it did.Ifeltlike Ishowedsome toughness being able to progress through that.”
Curiel was also astandout defender in twoseasons in Baton Rouge. He didn’tcommit an error on 98 total chances in left field as a freshman. He then shifted to center field as asophomore, improving his route-running and making multiple diving catches. His prowess in center field quieted some critics whowere skeptical of his ability to play the position at the major-league level.
“He hitthe ball harder this year andshowed he could playcenter,”one scout, who spokeonthe conditionofanonymity,toldThe Advocate before the draft. “He puts good at-batstogether, andI would say he’sprobably just kind of proved overallthathecan do all of those things.”
Curiel is the sixth LSU player to be taken in the first round of the draft since coach Jay Johnson arrivedoncampus, joining Jacob Berry,Skenes, Crews, Ty Floyd and Anderson.
Berrywas selected by theMiami Marlins with the No. 6overall pick in the 2022 draft. He is in Triple-A and has yet to makeitto themajor leagues. Skenes, Crews and Floyd were allselected in the 2023 draft. The Pittsburgh Pirates selected Skenes, who wonthe Cy Young Award last season. The WashingtonNationals picked Crews, who wentNo. 2overall, and he made his major-league debut in 2024. Curiel eventually became Crews’ successor in center field, but he had always looked up to Skenes.
ing loss to theMinnesota Timberwolves on Thursday,scored 19 points. He also had six rebounds, fiveassists and four steals. He shot just 1for 7on3-pointers, though. Jaron Pierre cameoff the bench and scored 12 points, despite missing all five of his 3-point attempts. Pierre, the NewOrleans native and formerSt. Augustine High standout, played 25 minutes. He played just 12 minutes in the opener.His playonthe defensive enddown the stretchSaturday waskey in the comeback.
Jalon Moore scored 13 points for the Pelicans, who won despite getting outrebounded 49-30. They made up for it by committing just seven turnovers.Meanwhile, Charlotte committed22turnovers. The Pelicanswill playSunday againstthe Phoenix Suns.Tipoff is set for 2p.m EmailRod Walker at rwalker@ theadvocate.com.
The two usedtotrain together in California when Skenes was 14 and Curiel was no older than 10.
“I remember he would be lifting in his cowboy boots with his shirt off,” Curiel said. Floyd wasselectedbythe Cincinnati Reds with the No.38overall pick in the competitive balance portion of the first round. Injuries have limited him to just 10 starts since he wasdrafted.
Anderson was pickedbythe Seattle Mariners last year.He’sbeen dominant since making his professional debut thissummer, posting a 1.36 ERAin14starts in Double-A. Curiel took arisk twoyears ago when he decided to take his name outofthe draft andattendLSU
He even admitted on Saturday that he never thought he’d play college baseball until his senior year of high school, whenhemade his final decision. But after winning anational championship, becomingthe D1Baseball National Freshman of theYearand winninga Gold Glove, it’ssafe to say he madethe right decision.
“It’sbeen everything Ican dream of andmore,” Curielsaid. “I didn’tknow what to expect, going to Louisiana, playing in the Southeastern Conference. I(had)new teammates; we had like twoCaliforniaguys. They wereall older than me.Iwas the only incoming freshman who was an outfielder
“I think that just made me better,being around guys whohave more knowledge than me, who have more experiencethanme, pushedmetobebetter. And they showed me what it took.”
STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON
OUTDOORS
New fish regulations ahead for area waters
BY JOE MACALUSO Contributing writer
Growing concerns about bass and sac-a-lait populations in the Atchafalaya Basin prompted a move in the state Legislature to limit the take of these two species.
Senate Bill 111 turned into Act 460, and new limits and size restrictions will become effective Aug. 1 in the basin and “nearby waterbodies in south-central Louisiana,” according to the new rules posted by Wildlife and Fisheries.
Areas of “nearby waterbodies” also include highly fished areas in the Verret Basin.
For bass, which includes largemouth bass, Florida bass, spotted bass and their hybrids, the new minimum size for a “keeper” fish will be 12 inches with a daily creel limit of five fish.
For sac-a-lait, the new minimum length limit will be 8 inches with a daily creel limit of 25.
Wildlife and Fisheries also clarified the extent of the waterways affected by the new regulations: “Major waterbodies within the area of regulation change include, but are not limited to, Henderson Lake, Grassy Lake, Lake Verret, Lake Palourde and the majority of the Atchafalaya Basin.
“The area covered by the new regulations is within the area south of U.S. 190 from the West Atchafalaya Basin Protection Levee to the intersection of Louisiana 1 and U.S. 190 due north of Port Allen, east of the West Atchafalaya Basin Protection Levee from U.S. 190 to U.S. 90, north of U.S. 90 from the West Atchafalaya Basin Protection Levee to Louisi-
ana 20, north and west of Louisi-
ana 20 from U.S. 90 to Louisiana 1 in Thibodaux, south and west of Louisiana 1 from Louisiana 20 to U.S. 190.” State regulations on bass is 10 per day and 50 per day for sac-alait with no minimum length limits on either species.
The new regulation also stipulates that anglers launching into the basin must hold to these new limits, no matter where the fish were caught.
Red snapper
Through June 21, the private recreational red snapper take is up to 288,649 pounds. It showed an increase of 22,229 pounds from the previous week and is near 33% of our state’s 882,439-pound annual allocation for the private recreational sector
It’s going to be interesting to see what the four-day Fourth of July increase to five-snapper-per-day limit will have on LA Creel’s landing estimates The season returned to a four-per-day limit Monday
A veto
House Bill 688 passed without opposition from both houses in the recent legislative session but was vetoed by Gov Jeff Landry The target was to give tarpon gamefish status in our state, a move that would have initiated some forms of conservation and management measures on this species.
The Louisiana Wildlife Federation railed against Landry’s veto:
“With this veto, Louisiana remains the only state that does not for-
mally recognize tarpon as a recreational gamefish and this continues to impact management efforts for a declining species,” LWF executive director Rebecca Triche said.
Triche said Wildlife and Fisheries’ marine fisheries staff has labeled tarpon a “species of greatest conservation need,” meaning the species would fall into the State Wildlife Action Plan, which would trigger more advanced research, population monitoring, habitat assessment and possibly a management plan.
Dry Water
On-the-water Fourth of July patrols by Wildlife and Fisheries enforcement agents, the Coast Guard and State Police resulted in the arrest of 13 boaters across the state for operating a vessel while they were allegedly intoxicated.
Three identified among the 13 were 20 years old. If convicted, all face the loss of not only boating privileges but also driver’s license suspension and fines up to $1,000 and jail time up to six months.
Amberjack
Wildlife and Fisheries’ marine fish managers are continuing their push for state management of greater amberjack similar to existing state management criteria for red snapper
The plan, outlined earlier this month, will seek an exempted permit period to further study this reef fish. The agency’s deputy secretary Chris Schieble said the current 30-day season isn’t long enough for biologists to study the effects on a species federal fisheries managers have declared as overfished and undergoing overfishing.
MONDAY RED STICK FLY FISHERS PROGRAM: 7 p.m., Bluebonnet Regional Library, 9200 Bluebonnet Blvd., Baton Rouge. Open to the public. Email Brian Roberts: roberts.brian84@ gmail.com. Website: rsff.org
WEDNESDAY FLIES & FLIGHTS: 7-9 p.m, Rally Cap Brewing, 11212 Pennywood Ave., Baton Rouge. Casual fly tying. Open to public. Email Chris Williams: thefatfingeredflytyer@ gmail.com
THURSDAY
ACADIANA FLY RODDERS PROGRAM: 6 p.m., Pack and Paddle, 601 E. Pinhook, Lafayette. Open to public. Email Darin Lee: at cbrsandcdc@gmail.com. Website: acadianaflyrodders.org
FRIENDS OF NRA/SOUTHWEST LA
BANQUET: 6 p.m., Riverside Bar & Grill, 3748 Louisiana 3059, Lake Charles. Call Brack Cole 337-9121620. Email: jbcoleair@yahoo.com
ONGOING
STATEWIDE TOURNAMENT & ANGLERS RODEO/S.T.A.R.: Through Sept. 7, Coastal Conservation Association’s summer-long fishing event. Tagged redfish, coastal/ offshore species categories & youth division. CCA membership required. Website: ccalouisiana. com/star
LOTTERY HUNTS
DOVE/TEAL: July 27 application deadline for dove hunt on Elbow Slough Wildlife Management Area and teal hunt on White Lake Wetlands Conservation Area. Website applications only on Wildlife & Fisheries/Louisiana Outdoors License, Permits and Tags webpage. Fee $8.50. Details: dove hunt, David Hayden at dhayden@ wlf.la.gov; teal hunt, Lance Ardoin at lardoin@wlf.la.gov
AROUND THE CORNER
JULY 21 — LAFAYETTE KAYAK FISHING CLUB MEETING: 6 p.m., Pack and Paddle, 601 E. Pinhook, Lafayette. Call 337-232-5854. Website: lafayettekayakfishing.com
JULY 21-22 — GULF COUNCIL SHRIMP COMMITTEE MEETING: Gulf Council office, 4107 W Spruce St., Tampa, Florida. In conjunction with Scientific and
JULY 23 — ACADIANA BUGS & BREWS: 6 p.m., Pack and Paddle, 601 E. Pinhook, Lafayette. Casual fly tying and local beers provided. Open to the public. Email Darin Lee: cbrsandcdc@gmail.com. Website: packpaddle.com
JULY 23-25 — INTERNATIONAL GRAND ISLE TARPON RODEO: Grand Isle Marina & Otto Candies Pavilion, Grand Isle. Website: tarponrodeo.org
JULY 24-25—BASSMASTER JUNIOR
CHAMPIONSHIP: Kentucky Lake, Paris, Tennessee. Website: bassmaster.com
JULY 26 — SOUTH LOUISIANA HIGHPOWER CLUB MATCH: 8:30 a.m., Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Range, St. Landry Road,
BY CHARLES ODUM Associated Press
HAMPTON, Ga. — EchoPark Speedway may be the perfect setting for Tyler Reddick to reclaim his momentum in the NASCAR Cup Series points race.
Reddick won five of the first nine stops on this year’s Cup Series schedule, including at EchoPark Speedway on Feb. 22, one week after winning the Daytona 500, to take a dominant lead in the points race.
Reddick’s points lead has disappeared in recent weeks. Denny Hamlin who co-owns 23XI Racing with Michael Jordan, enters Sunday night’s race leading Reddick by 44 points.
Overall, Reddick has two wins in three starts on drafting tracks this season in his 23XI Racing Toyota,
giving him reason for optimism.
Reddick said Saturday he is “extremely” confident he can enjoy more success in his return to the track formerly known as Atlanta Motor Speedway
“In my opinion, we’re stronger when we come back here in the summer race,” Reddick said.
“We’re still plenty good in the spring, but what we do well at EchoPark Speedway really shows up in the summer Our strength typically is handling and I feel like the more that’s in play the better I do with these kind of races.”
Hamlin was third while Reddick
finished 36th in last week’s race at Chicagoland Speedway won by Chase Briscoe Reddick has fin-
ished 25th or worse in four of the past five Cup Series races.
“For us to still be second in points all things considered I
think most people with a race car would do anything to have that,” Reddick said.
Larson looks to end 2 droughts
Kyle Larson is trying to end a 43-race winless streak and also claim his first Cup Series win at the 1.54-mile oval track in Atlanta. He finished third in February 2025. The winless stretch is his longest since joining Hendrick Motorsports in 2021. His last win came at Kansas in May 2025. Larson, who won Cup Series championships in 2021 and 2025, finished 34th after qualifying second last week in Chicago. He was in the top five before losing several laps following a spin in Stage 2. Larson said he feels his Hendrick Motorsports team has been making gains each week.
“I feel like we’ve noticed each week, I feel like Hendrick as a whole has gotten just a little bit better and closed the gap a little,”
Larson said. “I think it feels like a large chunk still left to get, but I feel like in this sport you’re probably closer than it really feels out on the track.”
Chase Elliott, Larson’s teammate at Hendrick Motorsports, won last summer’s race at EchoPark Speedway to end a 44race winless streak. Despite his streak, Larson is sixth in the points race, only one point behind Elliott.
In-Season Challenge continues The second year of NASCAR’s In-Season Challenge continues with the third round. The winner of the five-race, bracket-style tournament will earn $1 million. A compelling matchup is Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Hamlin and Christopher Bell.
“I guess probably we’ll be the underdog against Christopher,” Hamlin said before adding “whoever doesn’t wreck” has the advantage.
FISHING/SHRIMPING
SHRIMP: Spring inshore season
season closed.
LDWF UPDATES n Closed: Roads on Pomme de Terre, Richard Yancey & Bogue Chitto WMAs (flooding) n Drawdowns: Saline Lake (Natchitoches/Winn parishes through Oct. 5); Iatt Lake (Grant Parish through Oct. 5). n Hope Canal Road/boat launch (Maurepas Swamp WMA, levee construction) EMAIL: jmacaluso@theadvocate. com
Collins, 17.0. Cobia: 1, Jason Guitreau, 42.4. 2, Troy Donaldson, 38.2. 3, George Donaldson, 36.6. Grouper: 1/2, Garret Bible, 10.8, 9.4. 3, Mike Aucoin, 8.4. Jack Crevalle: 1/2, Troy Donaldson, 26.2. 26.2. 3, Mike Aucoin, 26.2. Mangrove Snapper: 1/3, Chandler Beck, 11.4, 10.6.
WORLDCUP 2026
Bellingham powers England
Star midfielder’s twogoals toomuch forNorway
BY ALANIS THAMES AP sportswriter
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. Jude Bellingham locked arms with teammate Harry Kane as Englandfans belted out the Beatles’ “Hey Jude.” Bellingham certainly earned the serenade.
He scored twice on Saturday an equalizerinthe firsthalf and thego-ahead goal in the third minute of extra time —tolift England past Norway 2-1 and into the World Cup semifinals for the first time since 2018.
The Real Madrid star has now matched Kane withsix goals in this tournament, two behind France’sKylianMbappé andArgentina’sLionelMessiand one shy of Norway’sErling Haaland,who was held scoreless by England. Bellingham also scored twice in the round of 16 as England beat co-host Mexico.
England, winner of the 1966 World Cup and facing pressure to return to the titlematch, is now one win awayfrom getting there.
Not everyone was thrilledwith England’sperformance.
“Wemade life very,very difficult for ourselves today,” coach Thomas Tuchel said in acontentious interview with FoxSports “The result is fantastic. We’re in the last four.It’samazing, but not happy with the performance in every sense.”
Bellingham seemed to disagree with his coach’scritique after England prevailed in the heat and humidity of SouthFlorida, with temperatures reaching 92 degrees at the start of warmups.
“Well, whatever,” Bellingham said, shaking his head. “It’sdifficult out there. It’sa tough shift. My thoughts and appreciation goes to the players outthere who put in agreat shift.”
Andreas Schjelderupscored in the 36th minute for Norway,a squad that reached its first quarterfinalsand took theinternet by storm with its “Viking row” and the charisma of Haaland, their fearsome 6-foot-5 striker Haaland was kept off the scoresheet for the first time in this World Cup. The Manchester
City star sat dejectedly on the bench after he wassubbed out for Jorgen Strand Larsen in the second half of extra time Norway nearly went ahead 2-1 in the56th minute when Torbjørn Heggem puta rebound past goalkeeper Jordan Pickford after a corner kick.Following avideo review,the goalwas disallowed because of afoul by Haalandinthe box. Haaland was also denied by Pickfordonapoint-blank header in the first half.
Schjelderup, making just his second start of the tournament, fired ashotthat caromed off the right post and into the nettostun an Englandteam that haddominatedpossession to that point. Bellingham’sequalizer from close range elicited aroarfrom that crowdthatincluded Mick Jagger and England great David Beckham Schjelderup, who setupbothof Haaland’sgoals in Norway’sround of 16 win over Brazil, celebrated by stretching hisarms wide and looking at thecrowd as his team-
QUARTERFINAL
Thursday France2,Morocco
mates liftedhim onto theirshoulders. Meanwhile, Kane sat near midfield, grabbing his leg and looking towardthe officials. No foul was called.
Moments before Bellingham evened the score, aNorway goal kickresultedinthe ball appear-
ing to make contact with an aerial camera cable before landingatthe feet of England’sElliot Anderson. The ball was eventually played to Bellingham, who beat Ørjan Nyland with alow shot to the farpost.
By rule, if the ball had been noticed hitting the cable, play would have stoppedand adropballwould have been utilized to determine possession. FIFA later said the sensor in the ball indicated it did nottouch the cable. There was abrief moment of silencebefore thematch in honor of Jayden Adams, the 25-year-old midfielder forSouth Africa whose deathwas announcedearlier Saturday
BY JAMES ROBSON AP soccer writer
ATLANTA— Germany officials have held talkswith Jurgen Klopp and bothsides are confident he will take over as coach, the national soccer federation said Saturday FormercoachJulian Nagelsmann resigned after histeam failedtomakethe round of 16 for thethird World Cup running.
Klopp, aserial trophy winner with Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund, was quickly identified as the favorite to succeed him
The German federation said talks were held in New York on Friday with Klopp, who is currently in an executive role as head of global soccer for the RedBull group.
“In theconstructiveexchange, an understanding was reached on essentialkey points of apotential contract,” it said.“Both sidesare confident that the negotiations, subject to an agreement with Klopp’scurrentemployer Red Bull, can ultimately be successfully concluded.”
Klopp has been working as apundit on German TV at the World Cup, even taking part in postgame interviews with Nagelsmann at theside of the field.
He hasnot been acoach since leaving Liverpool in 2024 after winning afull set of trophies with the iconic club, including theChampions League and Premier League.
“About two years ago Istopped at Liverpool and said that Ilacked the energy for another job or for
another year with Liverpool. Since then I’m morethan recharged, I’m ready,”hetold German broadcaster Magenta TV last week. Germany hasrepeatedly failed at the WorldCup since winning the trophy for the fourth timein2014. Since then it was eliminated at thegroupstage in 2018 and2022. Germany advanced beyond the group stage at this year’sexpanded 48-team format, but was knocked outbyParaguay on penalties in the newly-introduced round of 32. Kloppheldtalks with German federation president Bernd Neuendorfand vicepresident Hans-Joachim Watzke. The59-year-old hasbeenregarded as oneofthe game’stop coaches
sincebreaking Bayern Munich’s dominance of German soccer by winning two league titles with Borussia Dortmund. He took over at Liverpool in 2015 and ended the Merseyside club’s 30-year waitfor an English league title in 2020. He also won the Champions League among seven major trophiesduring his time at Anfield. He might have wonmore if not for the fact he wascompeting against adominant ManchesterCity under Pep Guardiola. There has been speculation about whether he would return to coaching and, as recently as March, he deniedclaims he’d join Real Madrid.
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By REBECCA BLACKWELL
England midfielder Jude Bellingham celebrates after scoring agoal during aWorld Cupquarterfinal match against NorwayonSaturday.
ASSOCIATEDPRESS PHOTOByMARTALAVANDIER
England midfielder Jude Bellingham, second from left, scores against Norway goalkeeper Oerjan Nyland as Norway players look on during theirWorld Cupquarterfinal match on Saturday in Miami Gardens, Fla. England won2-1
ASSOCIATEDPRESS PHOTOByMARTIN MEISSNER Former Liverpool coachJurgen Klopp looksonthe pitch side priortothe WorldCup quarterfinal match between Franceand Morocco on Thursday in Foxborough, Mass.
PatMire continues Cajun mission
Independent film director’s latest is murdermystery
Bobby Boucher still getsa laugh. The awkward dimwit with the exaggerated Cajun accent remains an icon from the1998 movie, “The Waterboy.”
Sure, actor Adam Sandler was just playing acharacter in a comedy.But Boucher feeds into old stereotypes about Louisiana. People love us as much as they don’tunderstand us.
I’ve had to explain that NewOrleans is not Cajun country.Drive two hours west on Interstate 10 for that.
HEALING ARTS
Yes, Louisianahas roads and bridges and is not overrun with swamps and alligators. Istill remember thelook of disbelief from the personItold that Lafayettehas an airport.
I’ll have to start suggesting that the uninitiated watch “Pointe Noire,” the latest from independent film director Pat Mire. The murder mystery is now available for rent or purchaseinthe United States and Canada on Amazon Prime, Apple TV,Google Play, DISH and Vimeo VOD.
AFrench-speaking native of Eunice and Lafayette resident, Mire has spent 30 years telling compelling stories in settings filled with Cajun traditions and culture. HisCinema on the Bayou event stands as the state’ssecondoldest, annual international juried film festival.
“Pointe Noire,” filmed throughout St. Landry Parish and the surrounding area in southwest Louisiana, is the story of Louis Leger,afilmmaker and crawfish farmer played by Roy Dupuis. He and attorney Dolores Arceneaux (Myriam Cyr)try to save Joel Richard (Michael Bienvenu), a wrongly convicted inmateon Death Row Leger and Arceneaux uncover secrets related to rice farmer Nathan Smith, portrayed by Scott native and French musicicon Zachary Richard. But the revelations may be too late to prevent the surprise ending. True to his career mission, Mire carves another story that reflects his native Cajun culture. Elements of the traditional Courirde Mardi Gras, rice fields,traiteur (faith healer), hand-fishing, LA31 Beer (brewed in Arnaudville) and the Whirlybird dance hall in Opelousas fuel the narrative.
The film offers an introduction to Tay-Sachs disease, afatal nerve disorder that affects Acadian descendantsand the Jewish population Characters with familiar surnames of Mouton, Richard, Touchet and Arceneaux float in and out of English and Cajun
BR singer returnshomewithopenheart andready to sharea
BY JOYHOLDEN Staff writer
Baton Rouge native SariahSizemore was sittingina hot spring pool in Cañon de Guadalupe in Baja California, Mexico. Ayoga teacher asked her if she wanted to trya differenttypeofbreath work— asimple three-part breath and Sizemore said, “Sure, I’ll try it.”
“All Iknow is that my heart opened, shesaid.“Iwas crying and releasing all this pain that Iwas holding. It was this beautiful kind of physical, spiritual experiencethat Ihad never had before.”
Sizemore had found asafe space.
She spent the next decade figuring outhow to share therelief andhelpshe found with others.
After morethan 20 yearsinCalifornia,Sizemorereturned to her hometown in 2022 to bring herbreathwork and meditation to her fellow Louisianans. She founded Ritual Work, ahealingand coaching wellnessbusinessthat offers private sessions and group workshops.
She’s working to bring thekind of healing sheexperienced andstudied on the West CoasttoBaton Rouge, without asking anyone to give up the faith they cherish
Since her return to Louisiana, Sizemore has used her training as acertified life coach, counselor and yogateacher to hold healing and coachingsessions at her house for clients dealingwith anxiety, chronic pain, stress and other ailments. She creates apersonalized plan for clientssothey can practice self-care rituals on their own time.
“Part of theirhomework is to go out on awalk everyday and connect with nature,” Sizemore said, “or they getjournaling prompts or letterwriting exercises to heal and letgoofenergy thatthey might have withother people.”
safe space
LauraKearns,ofPrairieville, was struggling with chronic pain when she wenttoone of Sizemore’sworkshops at The Red Shoes. Kearns saidthe breathing practice that Sizemore taught herhas helped.
“In the very first class Itook with her, she did this fire belly breathingthatgave me so much relief,” Kearnssaid. “I was abletobreathethroughsomeofthe pain, and so Istarted seeing heronaregular basis.”
This summer, in partnership withthe Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge, Sizemore is providing afour-part immersivewellnessseries for artists, entrepreneurs, professionals and anyone feeling stuck. The Healing Arts series takes place in theVirginia and John Noland Black Box Studio at the Cary Saurage Community Arts Center and is designed to help peo-
ple reconnect with their creativity,clarityand purpose through expressive arts. Expressiveartshavebeen asteady part of Sizemore’s life. The daughter of thelate Baton Rouge bluessinger Lisa Hofmeister, Sizemore brings her strong voice to her Healing Arts workshop series through singing simple choruses during meditation times.She also uses agong and sound bowls as well.
“In the very firstclassI took withher, she did this fire belly breathing that gave me so much relief Iwas able to breathe through someofthe pain, and so I startedseeing her on aregular basis.”
LAURA KEARNS, of
Sizemore sings over participants with aclear,lullabylike tone. Workshop attendeesspreadout over thefloor,seated or sometimes lying on matstostretch and breathe through meditation exercises. Sizemore uses the arts to reach people through herimmersive sound and visual performance with her partner,
ä See HEALING, page 4D
Herman Fuselier
STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON
Sariah Sizemore stands nexttoa massagetable she uses during healing sessions in her home.
PHOTO By KIM ASHFORD
Taylor Matherne, left, and Sariah Sizemore playand sing at their immersivesound and visual experience, HoneyGold Experience, at the Old State Capitol on June 25.
PHOTO By KIM ASHFORD
Participants takepartinthe HoneyGold Experience at the Old State Capitol on June 25.
Prairieville
ä See FUSELIER, page 4D
COMMUNITY
Baton Rouge Radio Club
Members of the Baton Rouge Radio Club hosted a 24-hour radio disaster training exercise on June 26 at the Highland Road Park Observatory. Shown are, from left, Steve Irving, Jon Reise, Russ London, St George Mayor Dustin yates, Jerry Clouatre, Joe Roppolo, club president; and John Krupsky.
Baton Rouge radio club hosts 24-hour training exercise
Operating from the Highland Road Park Observatory, members of the Baton Rouge Amateur Radio Club participated in the American Radio Relay League’s North American training exercise, using batterypowered transceivers and wire antennas strung from trees.
Joining more than 30,000 amateur radio
COMMUNITY GUIDELINES
operators across North America, the Baton Rouge club reinforced its commitment to emergency communications as participants contacted stations in more than 45 states and six Canadian provinces during the 24-hour event June 26-27. Club member Dana Browne planned and led the exercise, which involved more than 35 radio operators and welcomed more than 40 members of the public as observers and participants.
The Community column runs Sundays in the Living section and accepts submissions for news of events that have taken place with civic, philanthropic, social and religious auxiliary organizations, as well as academic honors.
Submissions should be sent by noon Monday to run in the upcoming Sunday column. Because of space limitations, organizations that meet monthly or more are limited to one photo per month. If submitting digitally we prefer JPG files 300KB or larger If taking a photo of a group, have them stand or sit shoulder-to-shoulder If more than six people are in the photo, arrange them on multiple distinct rows.Avoid strong background light sources.
Identify those pictured by first and last names as viewed from left to right, row by row.We prefer emailed Community column submissions to features@theadvocate.com.We also accept submissions by mail at P.O. Box 588, Baton Rouge LA 70821.A phone number must be included.
Children’s museum is open seven days a week
Knock Knock Children’s Museum, 1900 Dalrymple Drive, has expanded hours this summer to provide more opportunities for learning through play Typically closed on Mondays, the museum will be open seven days each week, including Monday, from 10 a.m to 4 p.m. until Aug 3. Christina Melton Knock Knock’s executive director, says the expanded hours will help parents “beat the heat” and expose children to literacy building, STEM skills, arts, culture and career opportunities. Updates regarding hours, special pop-up activities and exciting programs can be found on Knock Knock’s website and social media pages.
To learn more about museum admission and memberships, visit knockknockmuseum.org/admission or stop by the museum and speak with a staff member
Sip & Shop at Perkins Rowe on Wednesday
Sip and shop from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m July 15 at Perkins Rowe. Participating retailers will offer featured drinks and exclusive promotions inside their spaces.
Play Sip & Shop bingo to win a $500 shopping spree by getting a Sip & Shop card stamped in each store.
Each bingo completed earns one entry to win There are 13 chances to bingo.
Each sip is meant to be enjoyed inside the store where it’s served. No to-go cups. Must be over 21 years old to consume alcoholic beverages.
Kueleza
Literary Club
Members of the Kueleza Literary Club celebrated their 30th anniversary with a turnout of four other book clubs, numerous authors and friends at a June 27 event at the home of founding member Effie Carter The event included entertainment by the Michael Foster Project brass band Shown are, from left, seated, Kathy Bryant, Antoinette Pierre, Coleta Anderson, Brenda Hatfield and Evelyn McWilliams; standing, Sylvia Winder, Cleo Joffrion Allen, founding members Carter and Ruby Williams, Rachel Emanuel and Marilyn Seibert Not shown is Katie Fluker
River City Jazz Masters celebrates 20th season
The Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge marks two decades of world-class jazz at the Manship Theatre with a four-concert anniversary season. The performances celebrate the diversity of jazz from an Afro-Cuban piano virtuoso to a New Orleans trumpet legend to a jazz vocalist to a Grammy-winning New Orleans musician.
n Alfredo Rodríguez Band featuring Pedrito Martinez: Oct 7 (Cuban virtuoso, Quincy Jones protégé)
n Wendell Brunious & The New Orleans Legends: Nov 11 (Preservation Hall’s first musical director)
n The Tierney Sutton Band: Jan. 14 (nine-time Grammy nominee)
n Delfeayo Marsalis & The Uptown Jazz Orchestra: April 7 (NEA
Jazz Master, Grammy winner) Full-season passes are on sale now, and individual show tickets will go on sale July 16.
Arts Council members save an additional 20% on tickets this season. To apply the 20% member discount to a season subscription, members can call the Manship Theatre box office at (225) 3440334. Tickets are available at manshiptheatre.org or by calling the box office.
For season and membership information, contact the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge at (225) 344-8558 or visit artsbr.org.
Donation presented to EBR Council on Aging
The Daughters of the British Empire presented a donation of $44,498.50 to the East Baton Rouge Council on Aging at the Lotus Center on July 10.
Garden Discovery Series
Peggy Martin presented her program, ‘Survival of the Peggy Martin Rose,’ at the June 30 Garden Discoveries event at the Main Library at Goodwood. The talk was co-sponsored by the Baton Rouge Botanic Garden Foundation and the library. A tour of the garden followed the presentation.
PROVIDED PHOTO
For over 100 years, the Daughters of the British Empire has been a common bond for women of British or Commonwealth of Nations heritage living in America. Members unite through sisterhood and volunteering to preserve cultural heritage and support charitable causes in their area, focusing on senior care. The donation will directly support programs that help seniors access essential resources, maintain independence and stay engaged with their community Rescheduled Juneteenth picnic at Main Library
The Unity Festival has been rescheduled to 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. July 19, at the Main Library, 7711 Goodwood Blvd., Baton Rouge. There will be live music, food, games, activities and community resources.
PROVIDED PHOTO
PROVIDED PHOTO
TRAVEL
MountMagazineworth exploringinArkansas
Find stunning views, outdooractivities andwine
BY REBECCA DELATIN Contributing writer
At The Lodge in Arkansas’ Mount MagazineState Park,the in-houseSkycrest Restaurant with large south-facing windows,a twostory stone-cladfireplace andtimber beams is acharming place to take advantage of the views over the southern bluff of the mountain.
Because of the restaurant’s location within adry county, alcohol purchases at the bar and restaurantcan only be madebymembers of Skycrest’sprivate club
Thankfully,becoming amember is free and easy —just sign up at the hostess stand.
The Arkansas River Valleyarea hosts wineries, wildflowers, valley vistas and hiking opportunities for all. Located two hours west of Little Rock, Mount Magazine State Park, with its grand lodge, cliffside cabins and campgrounds perched around the highest point in Arkansas.
The Lodge at Mount Magazine, which celebratesits 20thanniversary this year,offers sweeping views of the Petit Jean River Valley and Blue Mountain Lake.It boasts an indoor heated swimming pool, game room, conferencecenter,gym and gift shop to suitall creature comforts
Flanking the lodge are 13 cabins thatoffer wood-burning fireplaces, full kitchens and covered porches overlooking the valley,each with rocking chairs and ahot tub. There are several campsite offerings that range from simpletentcamping to those equipped with full hookups for RVs.
State park interpreters routinely provide guided hikes and educational programs for kids and adults, most of which are free. Those interested can check out upcoming events and programs by visiting the lodge’sfront desk or ArkansasStateParks.com
Since Magazine Mountain is a flat-topped mesa, the beautiful
TRAVEL TROUBLESHOOTER
By ChristopherElliott
views are accessible to almost anyone via several hiking trails on the mountaintop
Signal Hill is ashort 1.4-mile hike that starts near the lodge and takesparticipants to Arkansas’ highest point.The marker reads 2,753 feet in elevation.
North Rim Trail is amoderatehike that starts at TheMount Magazine Visitor Center,whichis agreat place to explore before hitting the trail. There’sagift shop andeducational displaysabout local flora and fauna. Winter storms have atendency to strip leaves and upper branches from the trees, bringing sunshine to theforest floor,creating aburst of wildflowers in the spring. Alocalfloral favorite is Dutchman’s Breeches, named for the flower’s resemblance to tinypantaloons.
Butterflies are acommon sight flitting among the flowers. Lucky hikers might glimpsethe dazzling Diana Fritillary,ablue-and-
First-classticketvanishes,
black speckledspecies rarely seen outside the Arkansas River Valley ecoregion. Join conservation efforts to protect Arkansas’ state butterfly by logging photos andsightings on iNaturalist.org. (Learnmoreatthedianaproject. org).
Overlook Drive —a one-way loop with pull-offs and paved paths leading to stunning views of the cliff sides androlling hills below —can be tackledonfoot, bike or by car Travelers looking for more daring adventureshavelots of options, too.
There are sites designated for horsebackriding, mountainbiking, rock climbing and rappelling. There’seven asite for thrill-seeking hang gliders to launch offinto the valley between Cabin 7and 8. The experience is thrilling to watch, even for those who would prefer to keep their feet firmly planted on solid ground.
It may be tempting to spend all your time at Mount Magazine State Park, but just an hour’s drive away is Altus, Arkansas, where visitors will find St. Mary’sMountain and picturesque vineyards andwineriesestablishedbyGerman and Swiss immigrants nearly 150 years ago.
Weidekehr Wine Cellars continues to be run by the third and fourth generations of the Weidekehr family.Enjoy classicalpine dishes like schnitzel and bratwurst by cozy candlelight at The Weinkeller Restaurant, which is housedina hand-dug wine cellar dating back to the 1880s.
The nearbyPost Winery offers alarge tasting room with awide variety of winestosample and purchase.Their most popularoffering, Blue Parachute, is alightly sweetand slightly effervescent muscadine wine.
Mount BethelWinery offerstastings of its wines served in aquaint converted wine cellar.The hosts are happy to share family and vineyard history while you sip. In the spring, the pink dogwood in the courtyard puts on ashowagainst the dark wooden barn and rolling green hills that surround the winery
Christopher Elliott
Ibooked two first-class, round-trip tickets through the Hawaiian Airlines appfor my wife, Linda, and me to travel from Honolulu to Haneda. Ireceived written confirmations for both tickets almost immediately.Both were purchased, one after the other, using the same credit card. When we arrived at the Honolulu airport, an agent told me that Ihad aticket, butmy wife’shad been voided. No one could tell us why. Her seat hadalready been sold to someone else.The agent told us that to getmywife on alater flight, Iwould have to buy her acompletely new ticket.The new ticket cost $575 more than the original Ihad already paid for.I wasassuredatthe airportthat Icould contact the customer relationsdepartment for arefund.
HawaiianAirlines first insinuated that my credit card wasdeclined. Ihavespoken at lengthwith my credit cardissuer, and it is adamant that it didnot decline the charge formywife’s ticket. (Whywoulditdecline one ticket andnot the other,purchased on the same card at the sametime?) Then, Hawaiian triedtodeflect blame to athird-party booking channel,even though Ibooked directly on its app and had the confirmationtoprove it. In another email, arepresentative admittedour tickets were being treated asa Hawaiian Airlines direct booking Since neither Chase nor Itook anyaction to void my wife’s ticket, the fault lies with Hawaiian.The airlineshouldnot be able to takeadvantageofits own mistake, hold me hostage in Honolulu,and forcemetopay an additional$575. Ionly want reimbursement forthe extra amountI wasrequired to pay. Can you help?— James Phillips, Kailua Kona, Hawaii
Hawaiian Airlines should have honored your wife’sconfirmed ticket. Full stop. When an airline’ssystem suffers aticketing error —which this obviously was —itshould have twoimmediatepriorities. First, alertthe passenger.Second, fix the problem at no costtothe customer
What an airline should not do is void aconfirmed reservation without notice, sell theseat to someone else, and then charge you apremium to get her on another flight.
The airline’sresponsetoyou was even worse.Blaming anonexistent “third party” or,even more absurdly,your credit card, was a classic runaround. Youdid exactly what Ialways recommend: Youkept ameticulous paper trail. Your documenta-
tionwas flawless. When acompany gives youanonsensical answer you mustcontinue to push for a logical one in writing —which you did. When front-line customer servicefails, the next step is to appeal to the executives. Ipublish the executive contacts for Hawaiian Airlines and many other companies on my consumer advocacy site,Elliott.org.
Basedonthe correspondence you shared, it looked as if Hawaiian Airlines was doubling down on itsmistake. So, we took atwopronged approach. My advocacy team and Idecided to contact the airline on your behalf. We presented your clear documentation and asked for areview.You also filed a complaint with the Department of Transportation. That worked. Iheard back from
asenior resolution coordinator at Hawaiian Airlines, who apologized and admitted that the previous agent’sresponses “did not provide afair resolution,” adding that the agent was “coached regarding this case.” Hawaiian Airlines admitted that its system canceled Linda’sticket by mistake. It refunded the entire fare difference and issued both you and your wife each a$250 travel voucher
This is atextbook case of why you should never accept acompany’sfirst “no,” especially when it defies logic.
Christopher Elliott is the founder of Elliott Advocacy,anonprofit organization that helps consumers solve their problems. Email him at chris@elliott.org.
PHOTOSByREBECCA DELATIN
The sun setsatthe bluffs along Old LodgeTrail near The Lodge at Mount Magazine in Arkansas.
Alocal floral favorite is Dutchman’sBreeches, named for the flower’s resemblance to tinypantaloons.
From wild flowers to silksand everything in between
BY YVONNE BAHRYCABALLERO
Contributing writer
Talents used in the past canbe recalled, especiallywhenyour granddaughters are involved
Human Condition
Once upon atime, Ibecame a licensed florist to complementmy husband’s funeral business. The journey involved attending afloral design school in New Orleans, then passing state boardtesting for alicense. The next step was setting up amakeshift work area in the garage of the funeral home.
What was neededto begin the business and accommodatemy oneand only client? Acitybusinesslicense, aused cooler from aformer business venture of my dad’s, and connecting witha wholesale floral company fordelivery of fresh cut flowers. Sooner than expected, the business outgrew the garage location and was moved to asmall shop in downtown Donaldsonville. Next came the move to the buildingadjacent to our home.
Throughthose doors, we created floral arrangements for proms, weddings, holidaysand other special occasionsaswell as funerals for 12 or more years until The Flower Boutique was sold. That was manyyears ago. Fastforward to the wedding of my
Dadneeds to make better health choices
granddaughter Katie, who lives in California. She planned the event fora natural settinginthe hills of the Golden State, so travel was involved.
Once we were settled into our cabins, we gathered around an outdoor fire for an evening of vis-
iting. Early the next day,wedding day,wepicked wild flowers and fashioned them into bouquets for thebride andher maidofhonor, and boutonnieres forthe groom and his best man The bouquets fit perfectly into thenatural, outdoor setting. Several yearslater,for the wedding of my granddaughter Blake, fresh flowers were purchased from awholesale florist and fashionedinto bouquets and boutonnieres forthe wedding party.Mypastskills were called upon to make these floralaccents for awedding venue overlooking theMississippi RiveratBaton Rouge. Next came the wedding of my granddaughter Taylor,who chose silk flowers from alocal craft store. We fashioned these into bouquetsfor the bride, maidof honor,bridesmaids, and her partner,best lady and bridesmaids. The flowers blended well into theloft-like setting forthe Baton Rouge ceremony. Lastly,mygranddaughter Hailey also purchased silk flowers that we fashioned into aloose
nosegay.Her vision of “going into the garden and picking the flowers” forher bouquet came together.The informal bouquet was perfect forher plantation wedding in Plaquemine. The groom’s boutonniere followed this natural pattern.
Iwas probably in my late 50s when we picked wild flowers in California, then late 60s for Blake’swedding. Iwas an octogenarian forTaylor and Hailey’s weddings.
From wild flowers in California to fresh flowers in Baton Rouge and silks forplantation nuptials, it wasasheer delight to revive old skills and play this part in these special chapters in my granddaughters’ lives.
—Caballero lives in Baton Rouge.
Advocate readersmay submit stories of about 500 wordstoThe Human Condition at features@ theadvocate.com or The Advocate, Features, 10705 Rieger Road, Baton Rouge, LA 70809. Thereisnopayment, and stories will be edited. Authorsshould include their city of residence.
Harriette Cole SENSE AND SENSITIVITy
DEAR HARRIETTE: My fatherisalittle larger anddoesn’tproperly take care of himself, and Ibelieve it’sstarting to affect his health. My family and Itried walking around NewYork City,and after15minutes, we had to stop at apark bench.He was panting, and Igenuinely thoughthe might have been having aheart attack He hashighblood pressure, is prediabetic and drinks at least three Monsterenergy drinks aday.Mymom and Ihave both tried telling my dad that we’re worried about him and his health, and he brushes it off as a joke. His own mother has tried sayingsomething, and he still refuses to make better life choices. Is there anything else we can doto help him realize he needsto make some health changes, or is that something he’ll havetodealwith alone? —Concerned Child
DEAR CONCERNED CHILD: Youhave every reason to be worried while having no power overyourfather to make him change. Youcan appeal to his lovefor you.Be directwith him. Tell him you think he will die if he doesn’tmake some changes in his life. Point out the things that concern you. Remind him that you lovehim and need him to be healthy andpresent for years to come. Ask him if he will at least go to the doctorand get aphysical. Basic diagnostic tests will give him information on the status of his health,after which he can make decisions about how to take careofhimself.
DEAR HARRIETTE: Iwas recently asked out to dinner by aguy,and Ihappily accepted.The evening was going amazingly until the bill came. To my surprise, he paid for his meal and drinks and asked the waiter to give me aseparatebill. I was shocked, especially since he was the one who asked me out. Growing up, Iwas taught that if aman asks you out,hepays for your meal. Iasked him if he was being serious, and he said yes. He told me it was unfair for me to expect someone to buy my meal without even knowing them. Am Iinsane? Am Igoing crazy expecting the guy who askedmeout to pay for my meal at the restaurant he selected? —Confused Date
DEAR CONFUSED DATE: Youare not crazy What’sstrange these days is that the old rules of dating have mostly gone out the window,but there arenoclearnew rules. Yes, it used to be customary thata man would invite awoman out for adate and pay for the meal. Currently,roles areunclear among heterosexual couples and surely in the LGBTQ+ world. So it’s best to speak up about your expectations. Awkward? Perhaps, but clarityis refreshing. Let me add that if someoneinvitesyou out to eat at arestaurant of their choice, it is common for the expectation to be that the one extending the invitation pays thebill.That’strue even if youaren’ton adate. My recommendation is that in the futureyou ask whether the person doing the asking is going to pay.Also, always be prepared to pay for your meal. In terms of whether someone is date-worthy,that will depend on whether you share values. If you want adate who expectsand wants to cover at least that first date, let thatbe known.
Send questions to askharriette@ harriettecole.com or c/oAndrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City,MO64106.
Continued from page 1D
Taylor Matherne. The two-hour experience, called Honey Gold, includesSizemore’s singing, Matherne’sinstrumentation and avisual production.
Mathernesaid the collaborative performance evolved from oneofSizemore’sworkshops at The Red Shoes last year
He and Sizemore partnered with the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge and held theirfirst performance in the Black Box Theater
Creating safe spaces
The first workshop of the series occurred June 13, withthe theme, “Release the Pressure.”
Thesession focused on letting go of stress, burnoutand emotionalweight that keeps people stuck.
Kearns attended the June workshop andbought tickets for thenextthree as well. She
said Sizemore’sdeep breathing, journal prompts, meditation time and optional share time were effective, but her favorite part was asection where everyonestood up and danced around, releasing pent-up energy “I’m more or less dipping a toeinthese waters,” Matherne
said. “I can tell other people are similarly notaswellversedin thatsort of work, but shemakes it veryaccommodating and comfortable and loving.”
Future interactiveworkshop dates are: n July 18, ReclaimYourEnergy
n Aug. 1, UnlockYour Creativity
n Oct. 10, Vision, Purpose and Momentum.
“It’sgoing to be all about recognizing how we focus and the thoughts we think —and the impulse to not feel,” Sizemore said. “Whenour energy is zapped, it’s hard to focus on getting things done and be creative.”
Eachworkshop in the Healing Arts Series can be attended as a standalone experience for$40. Tickets can be purchased at eventbrite.com/e/the-healingarts-series-the-virginia-andjohn-noland-black-box-studiotickets-1988810572961.
“I like creating safe places where people can come and have an experience of letting go,having their feelings and releasing all the stuff that they’re carrying,” Sizemore said. “Welive in avery tense environment, and people need support.”
Email Joy Holdenatjoy holden@theadvocate.com.
French greetings and conversations. Subtitles included, although you may recognize acurse word or two.
Viewers used to Hollywood’s obligatory shootings, explosions, car chases and sex scenes may get drowsy during “Pointe Noire.” But those whostay with the unfolding mystery will appreciate Mire’songoing, cinematic salute to his heritage —minus Bobby Boucher HermanFuselier is executive director of the St. LandryParish Tourist
PHOTO By KIM ASHFORD
Taylor Matherne and Sariah Sizemore lead the HoneyGold Experience at the Old State Capitol on June 25.
PROVIDED PHOTO
RoyDupuis and MyriamCyr star in PatMire’s‘Pointe
PROVIDED PHOTO
Sariah Sizemore leadsa workshop at the BerkeleyShambhala Center in Berkeley, California.
AT THE TABLE
Turkey bone gumbo utilizes ‘liquid gold’ for flavor
friends, and neighbors the day after Thanksgiving,” then simmers the bones for a broth that he uses, “along with any leftover meat, to make a delectable gumbo, which he serves to his friends while they play poker.”
Even in July, Michael DiResto is thinking about making broths. Here he shares his take on a recipe inspired by Ronnie Foreman from “Cooking up a Storm: Recipes Lost and Found from the Times-Picayune of New Orleans.
BY MICHAEL DIRESTO
Contributing writer
Nearly five years ago, the newspaper did a story about my ramen recipe, the cornerstone of which is a bone broth that I simmer for 27 hours, inspired by “Ramen Heads,” the 2017 documentary about Japan’s top ramen chefs. Due to the article, I became briefly and mildly famous as the “Super Stock Guy,” based not only on the fact that I combined beef, poultry and pork bones in the same pot but also because, at any given moment, I have a collection of all those bones in my freezer ready to be deployed for a fresh batch — once I run out of the gallon-sized freezer bags of broth that are also present in the freezer at any given moment.
The “super” power of this liquid gold also derives from an almost inexhaustible number of ways it can be included in recipes
Partly because of that experience, and also because I grew up in a household with very frugal parents, I also developed a fairly fanatical devotion to leftovers — more importantly, to making something different or even better with whatever remains from the original meal.
It’s a message I preached in my April column and recipe for fried rice. So, when it came time to select my second recipe from the book “Cooking up a Storm: Recipes Lost and Found from the Times-Picayune of New Orleans,” choosing Ronnie Foreman’s “Turkey Bone Gumbo” was a no-brainer, as it combines two of my favorite obsessions in one meal: bone broth and leftovers.
In “Cooking Up a Storm,” the introduction to the gumbo recipe informs us that for years, “Foreman has gathered turkey carcasses from family,
A man, and a meal, after my own heart!
Minus the poker-playing, my family — just like many in Louisiana, I suspect — has done almost the exact same thing going on 15 years now, or long enough for our annual Carcass Party to become just as much of a family tradition as Turkey Day itself.
I’ve even been known to accept bones and carcasses from neighbors for an even richer broth, although this recipe calls for just one carcass
In the early years, we would host the Carcass Party either on Friday or Saturday after Thanksgiving, depending on when LSU football was playing, turning it into a watch party too. Friends and family were invited to bring leftovers, their own folding chairs and beverage of choice, and we would gather around folding tables in the street in front of our house (with orange cones set up to divert traffic.)
One of my favorite memories was the year my New Yorker parents were in town for the Carcass Party and got to take part in this perfectly Louisiana form of hospitality and festivity
Following a COVID respite, in more recent years, we have hosted our Carcass Party in our renovated kitchen and dining room, with guests overflowing onto our back patio. On a couple of occasions, we have served gumbo for up to 60 friends, family and neighbors — meaning that the recipe that appears alongside this story has, on occasion, been tripled (or more) in size.
These days, I typically get started on the bone broth during the evening of Thanksgiving itself, then let it simmer covered on the lowest possible heat overnight, so preparations for the gumbo can start in the morning for a Friday afternoon or evening party
There’s nothing quite like waking up to the aroma of liquid roast turkey wafting through the whole house. And there’s nothing quite as heartwarming as opening our home to scores of friends and family for piping hot bowls of gumbo, served with good bread.
Turkey bone gumbo is inspired by
Found from the Times-Picayune of New
Turkey bone gumbo
Serving size 1 cup (as a side or starter) or 2 cups or more (as an entree)
Recipe inspired by Ronnie Foreman from “Cooking up a Storm: Recipes Lost and Found from the Times-Picayune of New Orleans”
For the turkey broth: Bones from 1 leftover turkey carcass
3.
PHOTO By MICHAEL DIRESTO
Ronnie Foreman from ‘Cooking up a Storm: Recipes Lost and
Orleans.
SHUTTERS IN THESWAMP
Photographer’sbooktakes readersalong foraLa. ride
BY LAUREN CHERAMIE Staff writer
Andy Crawford, born and raisedinsouth Louisiana, spent more than 20 years in the outdoor industry as awriter. After that, he turned to photography full-time.
He has photographed locations across the United States, but Louisiana’sswamps have always been his firstlove. Recently,hehas traded his motorboat for akayak, paddling through cypresstreesand photographing sunrises, sunsets, landscapes, wildlife and more. He hosts annual “Intothe Swamp” photographic kayak tours through areas that are largely inaccessible.
In his first photo book, “Into the Lost World,” which was released in April, he takes readers along for the ride. Thebook was published by Schiffer
This interview was edited for length and clarity
In the introduction of “Intothe Lost World,”you write that Louisiana’sswamps are “one of the best-kept secrets inthe world,”with agoal to make peoplefallin love with andappreciate them. Do you think the book accomplishes that?
If you talk to most people outside of Louisiana, theyknow Louisiana has swamps. Idon’t think the picture they have in their mind is necessarily beautiful. The swamp is aharsh place,but Ithink the book takes the viewer inside the swamp and shows the beauty that we all know is there. It even helps those whohave grown up in it see it in adifferent light, because you can get lost in the complexity and chaos of it. In the book, I’m looking for those scenes that encapsulate the swamp. Ithink the book does agood job at letting readers, even locals, come away with afuller picture of just how beautiful the swamp is How do you know when you’ve gota
meaningful photo with astorybehind it?
Italked about getting lost in thechaos ofthe bigsceneofit.
Amentor,James Overstreet, andIwould goshoot together while we were on theroad. We might be shooting an old house, and I’d come back with abarn and anice scene. He would come back with a light fixtureor theporch. It alwaysdrovemeinsane. Icomplained andcomplained, andhesaid,“Crawford, the whole is made upofpieces Your job is to find thepieces.” His words runthrough my head all thetime.
They havehelped me when I go out paddling. I’m looking for piecesinthe chaos
Sometimesinspiration happens by accident.Sometimes it’safeeling,like an aha moment.Sometimes it’s aculmination of planning avision I’ve got
in my head. If you were to takeareader out to the swampfor the day, where would you go?
LakeVerret, the queen of the Louisianaswamp. There’sjust a character to it. There’ssomuch Spanish moss, sheetsofit, and thetrees comeout where you can work. It’sshallow enough. I thinkit’sthe prettiest swamp. Youmention in the introduction that you didn’tgive Louisianaswampsmuch thought at first.What has working in the swamptaught you? Iknew that they were beautiful. You’ve got to be blind not to see that,but Iwas mostly fishing in theswamp. Spending so much time therehas taught me that we’retoo easily accustomed to what we are surrounded with. We takethat natural beauty for granted. Ithink everybody does that. The people who live in Jackson
Hole might wake up and go, “Oh, look, there’samountain,” and shrug their shoulders and go to work. There’slittle natural beautyinthe United States prettier than the swamp. The swamp taught me to not be so fixated on going somewhere else but learn what’s beautiful about your home. Did it teach you patience?
Well, Idon’thave any.I don’t know that it’staught me patience. It’staught me to slow down and enjoy themoment. My wife will tellyou that Ihave atendency to get lost behind thecamera, but behind thecamera is my happy place. When Iget behind the camera, everything goes away,because I’m focused on what’sinfront of me. Youcan drive up to alot of places, get out,pull out your camera, hold it and shoot. You can’tdothat in the swamp. A Louisianaswamp is largely inaccessible, so you have to boat. Youhave to take your time. So, it has taught me to slow down, because when you speed up is when you drop the camera or misssomething. Do you see this bookasyourown way of working toward conservationefforts? Ihope. Again, Ithink that swamp’staken forgranted far too much. Ihope people look at it and say,“This is worth protecting.”
Partofmy goalistoput it in front of people so that they understand the value of it and understand the beauty and worthiness of protection. Because thingshappen. Once they’re gone, they’re gone. Ialso love how the book shows how interwoven the swampiswith our lives. What would we be without the swamps? We’d be like everybody else.
Email Lauren Cheramie at lauren.cheramie@ theadvocate.com.
Danny Heitman
We’ve reached the midpoint of the year,which can be agood time to ask how all those NewYear’sresolutions we madelast January are panning out. As this year opened, Iresolved to record the nameofevery book Iread. The idea came after Iwrote about my friend Linda Lightfoot, who’skept such areading journal since 2005. I was also inspired after visiting with Tricia Day, aBaton Rouge woman whose late mother,Kitty Day, kept a reading journal from 1937 until her death in 2007.
The stories Ishared about Lightfoot and Daysparked anice conversation about how reading journals have shaped the lives of other book lovers. Jamie Freeman, owner of TBR Books &Tea in Baton Rouge, mentioned that she stocks afew reading journals in her shop, though she prefers another method to track her own reading.
“I personally keep my reading ‘journal’ digitally,with the Goodreads and Fable apps,” she told me. “I have tried keeping aphysical journal in the past, but I’ve found that I’mmuch morelikely to keep up with it if Ican update it from anywhere.”
Freeman also enjoys the social aspect of her reading apps.
“With Goodreads, Ican keep up with what my friends are reading and enjoying,” she noted. “And Ilike Fable because it provides me with somegraphs and insights about my reading. That’swhat Ienjoy most about keeping ajournal —tracking the number of books Iread each year,but also being able to look at the different types of books, authors, genres, etc. There were afew years awhile back when Icreated and utilized my own Google form that linked to aspreadsheet with lots of charts about the types of books Iwas reading. That wastoo cumbersome to keep up with, though!”
But forthose whoprefer paper reading journals, Freeman gives customers someoptions.
“Wehave afew different versions,” she said, “including apocket-sized version, which Ithink is adorable.” Reader Steve Gagnon told me that he’sbeen keeping areading journal since the 1990s.
“It’snearly 600 books, mostly fiction,” he said. “Every once in awhile, Ienter the list into aspreadsheet.” Reader John Berry told me about his own twist on reading journals.
“I love to read, like manyothers,” Berry said. “But instead of journaling my finished reads, Idothe opposite: keeping alist of books, poems, films, plays, music and other such interesting itemsthat Ihave not yet enjoyed. This is my memoryassistant, which Idepend on to safely keep up with all the itemsI wanttoenjoy in the future.”
More than six months in, how am I doing with my own reading journal?
It’s been abit of an adventure. In another column soon, I’ll let you know how it’sbeen going.
Email Danny Heitman at danny@ dannyheitman.com
PHOTO By ANDyCRAWFORD
Agreat blue heron stalks Louisiana’sLakeDauteriveswamp on afoggy morning
PHOTO By RICK BERK
AndyCrawford stands waist-deep in theblack waters of Lake Maurepas as he photographs the swampduring asunrise.
By The Associated Press
Today is Sunday,July 12, the193rd dayof 2026. There are 172 days left in the year
TodayinHistory:
On July 12, 1979, as an angry reactiontothe popularity of disco music, the Chicago White Soxheld the “Disco Demolition Night” promotion,inwhich acrateofdisco records was blown up on the field betweengames of adoubleheader;the ensuingriotand damage to thefieldcausedthe WhiteSox to forfeitthe second game
Also on this date:
In 1543, England’sKing HenryVIII marriedhis sixth and final wife,Catherine Parr
In 1812, U.S. forces led by Gen. William Hullentered Canadaduringthe Warof1812 against Britain.(Hull retreated shortly thereafter to Detroit.)
In 1862, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln signed abill authorizing the Army Medal of Honor In 1909,the House of Representatives joined the Senate in passing the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, allowing for afederal income tax, and submittedittothe states. (It was declared ratified in February1913.)
In 1962, the Rolling Stones playedtheir first show, at the Marquee ClubinLondon
In 1967, rioting erupted in Newark,New Jersey, over the police beating of aBlacktaxidriver; 26 people werekilled in the five days of violencethatfollowed.
In 1984,Democraticpresidential candidate Walter F. Mondale announced hischoice of U.S. Rep.Geraldine A. Ferraro of New York to be his running mate;Ferraro was the first woman to run for vice president on amajor-party ticket.
In 1991,Japanese professorHitoshi Igarashi,who had translated Salman Rushdie’s“The Satanic Verses,” was foundstabbedtodeath, nine days after thenovel’s Italian translator was attacked in Milan.
In 1994, President BillClinton, visiting Germany,went to theeastern sector of Berlin, the firstU.S. president to do so since Harry Truman.
In 2003, the USS Ronald Reagan, the first aircraft carrier named foraliving president, was commissionedinNorfolk, Virginia.
In 2012, ascathing report by formerFBI Director Louis Freehsaidthe late JoePaternoand othertop Penn State officials had buried child sexualabuse allegations against Jerry Sandusky more than adecadeearliertoavoid bad publicity
In 2022, Twitter sued Elon Musk to force himtocomplete the $44 billion acquisition ofthe social media company afterMusk said he was backing off his agreement to buy the company. (He would eventually become Twitter’sowner three months later.)
Today’sbirthdays: Writer Delia Ephronis82. Singer Walter Egan is 78. Writer-producerBrian Grazer is 75.Actor Cheryl Ladd is 75. Singer Ricky McKinnie (The Blind Boys of Alabama) is 74. Singer Sandi Patty is 70.Actor Mel Harrisis70. Boxer JulioCesar Chavez is 64. Rocksinger Robin Wilson (Gin Blossoms) is 61. Actor LisaNicole Carsonis57. Olympicgoldmedalfigure skaterKristi Yamaguchi is 55. Actor Anna Friel is 50. SingerTracieSpencer is 50.Actor Topher Grace is 48. Actor Michelle Rodriguez is 48.Singermusician Kimberly Perry (The Band Perry) is 43.Actor Natalie Martinez is 42. Actor Ta’Rhonda Jones is 38.ActorRachelBrosnahan is 36.Olympic goldmedal gymnast Jordyn Wieber is 31. NobelPeace Prize laureateMalala Yousafzai is 29. NBA guard ShaiGilgeous-Alexanderis28.
Dear Miss Manners: Ibelieve what I buy at the grocery store is myown business, whether it’scarrots and onions or products whose purpose would be embarrassing if explained. Iwish supermarketswould train their staff not to comment on customer purchases, no matter how benign thesentiment. (“Oh,Ilike those cookies!”)
Questions about relevant issues areOK. Mostly, though, Ijust want topay thestore what they’re due and escape with my bags.
GentleReader: Wouldn’tthat be nice. Unfortunately,the problem is that thestaff are probably being trained to participateinthis intrusive banter Apparently theweather is just too banal.
However,just for fun, Miss Manners suggestsyou treat their comments as though they were weatherrelated anyway.Asin, “Yes, it does look like it might rain” in response to any of your grocery items being needlessly approved.
Dear Miss Manners: Why do so many people thinkit’sacceptable to lick their fingers while eating when napkins are readily available? Ifind this disgusting, especially when they do it in public places. They’re spreading germswhen they touch things without washing their hands afterward.AmIthe one with a problem?
GentleReader: Youwill be when those germsfind their waytoyou.
Dear Miss Manners: My husband and I got asave-the-date card forthe wedding of his cousin’sdaughter.Itwas out of state, so they gave awebsite with names of hotels and prices. Because of the high prices, long travel and my husband’spoor health, we would not be able to attend, but we didn’ttell anyone. As theyear went by,I never got an invitation for her bridal shower, which was odd, and we never got an invitation to the wedding!
Weeks before the wedding, Icalled his cousin tofind outwhat happened, and was given an excuse that the guest list had gotten too big and too expensive so they “made cuts”! No other family member was cut except us. Iasked if it was because
my husband’ssister would be there and he’snot speaking to her,but was told no. Idon’tbelieve that because it madenosense —when planning a wedding you know how manyguests you’ll invite and what the cost will be.
Thank goodness Ididn’tbuy a shower giftorbook ahotel —we could have been out hundreds of dollars!
Gentle Reader: And as you weren’t planning to go, they could have gotten away with inviting you without having to count you in their bloated guest list.
Indeed, save-the-date cards are binding on the hosts’ part, but not on the guests’. So they wereatfault. But fortunately,you had not intended to go anyway,orMiss Manners thinks you might be prone to hold agrudge against them. Phew All you missed was the opportunity to decline, even to the shower,which is not an automatic add-on forwedding guests.
And the chance to not speak to your sister-in-law
Sendquestions to Miss Manners at dearmissmanners@gmail.com.
Dear Heloise: To open abottle of nail polish that’sstuck, place acup of water in themicrowave for 1 minute. Then remove thecup from themicrowave and place thebottle inside of the cup. Wait about aminuteand remove. Presto! —Marty R., via email Nail polish removerhint
Dear Heloise: Regarding stuck-onnail polish lids, when Inotice that abottle cap feels difficult to open,Iapply nail polish remover toacotton ball and clean off the bottle top. Ithen pour a little remover intothe screw top,let it sit for aminute, then wipe it off with acottonball. This preventsstuck lids. —Jean H., in Pleasant Prairie,Wisconsin Tiny holesinT-shirts
Dear Heloise: I’m wondering if anyone has an answer tothis mystery.We wear shirts made of T-shirt material every day in our family.Yet, after ashort while, they end up withtiny
holes in thestomach area. Male or female, belt or no belt, it doesn’tmatter;these tinyholes suddenly appear Anyidea where they come from?
Monica T.,via email
Monica, thetiny holes are usually caused by alowerquality of fabric, from rubbing against ahard surface (suchasthe buttononapair of jeans), or from standing against ahard stone surface. Generally speaking, they are most often found around the belly button region. —Heloise Scalyshowerdoors
Dear Heloise: The best remedy for scaly shower doors is prevention. For years, after every shower,I’ve sprayed my shower doors with this concoction, and they look like they did on the day they were installed: n 3cups water n 1/2 cup rubbing alcohol n 1/2 cup hydrogen peroxide n 1tablespoon dishwasher rinse aid n 1teaspoon dishwashing liquid.
—Martha C., in Sapulpa, Oklahoma
Smelly dishwasher
Dear Heloise: When Iopen my dishwasher,ithas anasty smell. Is there agood way to remove it? —L.W in
Richmond,Virginia L.W., thisisasignthatbacteriahas started to build up in your dishwasher The best waytoget ridofthe odor is to useacommercial dishwater tabletdesignedtoclean outthe “gunk” that has built up in thedishwasher’sdrainand innerworkings. Youcan probably pick up abox of these tablets or powderin your local grocery store. —Heloise DIYhankies
Dear Heloise: This may sound weird, but Ihave aproblem with aconstantly runny nose. So, unfortunately,I can end up using alot of tissues. Having anumber of old T-shirts etc. that Isaved to use as rags, Irealized that Icould also cut them up and use them as hankies. —Louise W.,via email
Sendahinttoheloise@heloise.com.
‘Little House’ series keeps heart, community in mind
BY ALICIA RANCILIO Associated Press
It’s a story with covered wagons and one room schoolhouses, but showrunner Rebecca Sonnenshine says the “Little House on the Prairie” remake for Netflix still speaks to today’s American dream.
The show, which debuted Thursday and set in the late 1800s, follows the Ingalls family led by Charles and Caroline and their two daughters Mary and Laura — as they settle in the American frontier It’s adapted from a series of semi-autobiographical books written by Laura Ingalls Wilder about her own family’s pioneer life. In 1974, Michael Landon co-created the TV series based on the books where he played Pa alongside Melissa Gilbert as Laura. It aired for nine seasons. In the new version, Luke Bracey plays Pa and Alice Halsey is Laura.
Sonnenshine says the same frontier spirit from back then is baked into how Americans see themselves, even today
“This idea of rugged individualism is the cornerstone of American mythos,” Sonnenshine says. “It’s still manifesting in our lives constantly We’re real gogetters.” In “Little House,” we see the Ingalls family seeking land and opportunity as they move west. In real life, Sonnenshine says, those settlers often didn’t understand what they were part of.
“There was no CNN or upto-date newspapers, telling you” what was really happening, she says “They did not understand the politics of land ownership or these treaties that have been made or these reservations,” she said. In the show, we see Charles begin to grasp the politics at play as the family encounters the Osage Nation and their new neighbors and keeps some of that to himself. Sonnenshine says “it’s not out of malice, exact-
ly” but because “knowledge did not flow as freely as it does now.”
Key events a priority
As the Ingalls family builds their new life, we’re introduced to various neighbors who help them do it. That includes an Osage family adjusting to their own new way of life as settlers claim parts of their land. Laura strikes up a friendship with an Osage girl, and there’s a mutual respect among Charles and the Osage family patriarch.
“A lot of what this show is about is getting to know people that are not like you, all kinds of different people, because once you get to know people, that’s where all the change happens,” said Sonnenshine.
Mr Edwards, a fan favorite from the books and series, helps Pa build the family’s cabin He’s a rugged Civil War veteran with a heart of gold grieving the loss of his own family, finding a new one in the Ingalls.
from
BY JAMI GANZ
New york Daily News (TNS)
NEWYORK There’s a trashy development in the Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce nuptials as garbage from outside the couple’s wedding venue, Madison Square Garden, is now being sold to obsessive fans. Artist Justin Gignac’s New York City Garbage which brands itself as “100% authentic. Hand-picked from the fertile streets of NY, NY”— is selling waste, collected in a transparent box stamped with “JUST&T MARRIED! 7/3/26.”
Staying true to characters like Edwards and including key events from the source material was a priority for Sonnenshine.
She and her writers made a list of “iconic moments” with a checklist to follow “We just crossed them off as we went along ‘OK, we’ve found a way to incorporate this’ or ‘Ma gets a chair,’ which is very important, or ‘great Pa builds a door.’” Building a door, says Sonnenshine, is “a whole chapter in a book.”
Trip Friendly, whose father Ed co-created the series with Landon and was an executive producer, controls the overall rights to the Laura Ingalls Wilder stories. He’s an executive producer on the remake, and Sonnenshine says Trip is “very passionate about telling the story of the books.”
Pa is good but not perfect Landon’s portrayal of Pa made him arguably one of the most popular TV dads in the history of the medium.
He was a devoted family man with strong morals and compassion for others.
Bracey had never watched the original which he says was beneficial to creating his own interpretation of the character “I didn’t feel that burden,” said Bracey “The intimidating factor has come after making it. When I’ve told people what I’ve done, and I’ve been told how important it is to them. That’s where it’s got intimidating.”
Bracey said it’s refreshing to play a genuinely good person, who makes mistakes, but is good.
“There’s very few really good people in television and movies. I feel lots of times they have to have a dark secret or a checkered past or whatever,” he said.
Crosby Fitzgerald, who plays Ma, says that goodness is present off-screen too. “Working with Luke is incredible. He actually is like Pa in person. Just really lifted me up all the time. It’s impossible to work on a set like this, especially with
this legacy and not be uplifted by the vibe.”
Sonnenshine says Season 1 is also about Laura learning that neither of her parents are perfect, particularly Pa. She comes to understand that “he does make mistakes and that’s OK.’ And even Charles talks about that. I think that’s a more honest portrayal of fatherhood.”
Adding Laura’s rival Sonnenshine most recently wrote the adaptation for the hit film “The Housemaid” starring Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried and is writing its sequel. She was also a writer on “The Boys,” which was known for its explicit language and sex and graphic violence. It’s not an exaggeration to say that writing for “Little House,” even on a streaming platform, is different.
“This is the first time I’ve ever written without using any curse words,” said Sonnenshine “I’ve usually done, like much darker material. So I always say, well, I’m in my family era right now.”
Filming on the show’s second season is underway. Netflix recently confirmed the addition of another popular character from the originals. Willa Dunn has been cast as Laura’s rival Nellie Oleson, whose father owns the general store “She’s here and she’s acting up a storm,” said Sonnenshine. “It’s really fun. People love that character I think we’re doing a slightly different take on the character, which is also really fun. The book is our sort of touchstone and then building upon that for her and her family has been — it brings a new dynamic to the Ingalls family.”
When you’re comparing plans
The Grammy-winning singer and Super Bowlwinning Kansas City Chiefs tight end, both 36, held their wedding Friday at the World’s Most Famous Arena joined by more than 1,000
The electronic billboards outside The Garden famously also flashed “JUST&T MARRIED” in the immediate aftermath of the ceremony “There’s garbage on the floor after the party,” reads the description for the $25 mini cube of trash, in a nod to the start of Swift’s 2017 song “New Year’s Day” — which opens with, “There’s glitter on the floor after the party.”
guests, including many fellow A-listers. Gignac donned “a full tuxedo,” too, the day of the wedding as he collected the trash outside The Garden, picking up “a variety of left behind items like cigarette butts pieces of a rainbow fan, straws, utensils a ring pop, and one left AirPod.”
dental work canwear out.
Even if you’ve
Treatment is expensive especially the servicespeople over 50 often need.
Consider these national average costs of treatment. $274for acheckup $299 for afilling $1,471 foracrown.3 Unexpected bills likethis canbea
NETFLIX PHOTO
From left, Crosby Fitzgerald as Caroline Ingalls, Luke Bracey as Charles Ingalls, Skywalker Hughes as Mary Ingalls, and Alice Halsey as Laura Ingalls star in ‘Little House on the Prairie.’
HARSHINGTHE
BY RICH COLLINS Staff writer
Colorful cans of Louie Louie Strawberry Spritz, Crescent 9Passion Punch and Driftee Tangerine Ginger Seltzer are acommon sight these days in Louisiana stores and bars.
In fact,commercial THC drinksofall types have becomesoubiquitous that it’seasy to forget that they didn’t debutlocallyuntil three years ago, after federal andstate laws created a new category of consumable cannabisproductsdesigned to create feelings of relaxation or euphoria for people who drink them.
The instant popularity of the newbeverages has sparked a$1billion-plusnationwide market that is the fastest-growing segment of amuch larger industrythat includes gummies, supplements and other products
In New Orleans, acity famous forits drinking culture, several THCbeverage startups have risen to the occasion —and they’ve quickly grown beyond mom-and-pop status.
Crescent Canna, which by some metrics is the country’stop-selling brand, grosses at least $2 millionmonthly,according to companyco-founder and CEO Joe Gerrity.Basin Street Beverages, maker of Louie Louie,reports several million in annual revenue, as does the THC beverages division of UrbanSouth Brewery
In 2024, Louisiana sales of all THC-infused products —including gummies, topicals and tinctures —reached about $33 million, generating about $4.3 million in state tax revenuesfromabout 2,500 licensed retailers.
But amid the boom,the upstart industry is facing an existential crisis in the Pelican State and nationwide.
The country’sentire sector maynot survive the year after Mitch McConnell, Kentucky’ssenior senator,spearheaded legislation eight months ago that bans certain types of THC products beginning this fall.
Industry boosters are hoping for alast-minute reprieve, but so far,nohelp has come from state or federalleaders. The uncertaintyisalready causing repercussions in Louisiana,where several companies have laid off employees, canceled
ä See THC, page 2E
AI hallucinations causingheadaches in state’scourtrooms
BY STEPHANIE RIEGEL Staff writer
In acase that made headlines
earlier this year,anattorney with Dudley DeBosier was cited by aBaton Rouge statecourt judge for including afabricated quote in alegal pleading drafted with the help of an artificial intelligence tool. In awritten apology to the court, the attorney saidhefelt “surprise, confusion, shame and regret” over the incident, explaining that the firm had recently begun using anew AI platform for lawyers called EVE.
“I cannot be sure if the mistake involved the EVE AI soft-
ware or if this was my personal mistake,” RossLeBlanc wrote in his March apology to 19th Judicial DistrictCourt Judge William Jorden. “Either way, the mistake is ultimately mine.”
The incidentwas oneofmore than adozeninLouisiana state and federal courts since last August in which lawyers have been fined or sanctioned for citinginaccurateorfabricated quotes —calledhallucinations —inlegal pleadingsthat have beendrafted with thehelp of AI
It’s aproblem that is causing headaches in the legal system andreshaping theway lawyers andcourts dosomeofthe most basicfunctions of their job.
“Courts are getting increasingly exhausted, saying it’s not an excuse anymore forlawyers to say they didn’tknowchatbots could make up cases,” said attorney Andy Lee, apartner with Jones Walker whohelps companiesdeal with legalissues around the use of AI. “But lawyers are still doing it.” Louisiana lawyersare not alone. Morethan 1,700 incidents of hallucinated content in legal briefs have been flaggedby courts aroundthe world since 2022, the year that OpenAI introduced the first generative AI platform, ChatGPT. More than 70% of those in-
The 19th Judicial District Court buildingislocated in Baton Rouge. Louisiana judges are crackingdown amidthe increased use of artificial intelligence tools in courtbriefs leading to inaccurate or fabricated quotes referred to as hallucinations.
STAFFFILE PHOTOBy MICHAEL JOHNSON
STAFFPHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER
Four-packs of LouieLouie THC seltzersare packaged by Spencer Boudreaux at Port OrleansBrewinginNew Orleans.
FILEPHOTO
Hemp-derived THCbeverages are on displayat Total Wine in Metairie.
5rules to follow if you’re askedtobepartofa pricey wedding
I’ve long stood up for the friends and family members whosesavings would be strained by accepting an invitation to participate in an extravagant wedding. Toooften, they don’thavethe heart to say no, even knowing therequest will demand outlandish spending.SoI’ll say what they often can’ttothe couple:Stop being selfish.
Many engaged couples fail to take into account how much they’re asking peopleto payfor the privilege of joining the wedding party.The event can entail lavish bachelorette and bachelor parties spanning aweekend, and other pre-wedding and postnuptial festivities that you are expected to help fund.
If there’sany pushback, couples may be inclined to protest that it’s their “big day.”
Your wedding isn’taBurger King commercial where you“have it your way” becauseyou rule with no financial consideration for the people you profess to care about. Here’sacomment from abridesmaid Ionce interviewed: “I don’t think couples do the mathonhow much the bridal party is spending, and Ifelt (the) couple let the vision
AI
Continued from page 1E
cidents occurred in the U.S. And the numbers are growing fast, according to Damien Charlotin,aresearcher and writer who maintains adatabase of AI hallucination cases.
“Pre-2025, there were two or three hallucination incidents amonth,”he wrote in ablog post on his website in November.“Now, that’sthe daily average.”
He attributed the surge to the increased availability of large language models like ChatGPTand Claude andtogreaterpublicawareness of AI tools.
‘Madeupmorestuff’
The technology has already touchedall types of lawinLouisiana, from billboard attorneys and bankruptcy lawyers to old-line firmsthat specialize in real estate deals and government lawyers.
In March, afederal district judge in the U.S. Eastern District of Louisiana fined two assistant cityattorneys in New Orleans for including nine AI hallucinationsinpleadings they filed in acase alleging civil rights violations, court records show The city did not respond to arequest for comment.
In April, afederal bankruptcy judgeinLafayette fined an attorney $2,750 for filing “false and misleading pleadings” that she admittedto drafting with help from ChatGPT According to court records, federal bankruptcyJudge John Kolwe, for the Western District of Louisiana, said he hoped the fine would “serve as awarning to all attorneys and personspracticing in this court,” addingthat future finesfor AI hallucinations would not be so “lenient.”
In May,afederal districtjudge in Alexandria sanctioned apersonal injury attorney for using hallucinated quotes in alegal brief generated by the AI platform Claude. Court records from the U.S.District Court for the Western District of Louisiana show that alaw clerk initially caught the faulty quote before the brief was filed and notified the attorney,who then “entrusted” Claude to fix it.
“Instead, Claude just made up more stuff,” District Judge Jerry Edwards said in court documents. The lawyer,Paul Wilkins, also with Dudley DeBosier,apologized to the court andvowed that ahuman clerk would double check any future pleadings he filed with the court. Still, Edwards finedhim $1,000, saying,“Ignoranceofthe risks of AI usage is no longer an excuse.” Wilkins did not respond to arequest seeking comment. LeBlanc, the Dudley DeBosier attorney cited in the Baton Rouge case, declined to comment.
Dudley DeBosier founding partner Chad Dudley acknowledged the firm has had trouble with AI platforms and is working to address them.
“Weare always looking for ways to use technology to get betterresults for our clients and have successfullyimplemented theuse ofAI in anumber of ways over the past 18 months,” he said. “Wedid have issues with its use in case research and case citations. We take those issues very seriously and immediately implemented an AI usage policy for our attorneys.”
of the wedding theyboth grew up wantingcloud some wisdom on howmuchthis vision was costing everyone involved, including themselves.”
If you’ve been asked to be a bridesmaid or groomsman, here aremysuggestions for what to do beforeand after you accept the invitation.
1. Don’ttreat the invitation likeit’sa subpoena.
It’simportant to show up for special events. It’swhat forges good relationships.Soit’sunderstandable that youmay feelyou can’t say no whensomeone youlove asksyou to be part of thewedding celebration.
The pressure can be intense. It seems wedding partyproposalsare athing. It’shardtoturn downthe invitationtobeinthe wedding party when you’ve received apersonalized bridesmaid box.
One bridesmaid’sTikTok video wentviralaftershe showed off aproposalbox with gifts totaling more than$400
Or,there’s the guilt factor.It’seither said or heavily implied by the couple ortheir inner circle: “You can’t put apriceonfriendship.”
Except you actually can, because affordability matters. Youhave to live out your financialtruth, which means recognizing when arequest is outside your budget
Fear factor
Experts say the use of generative AI in thelegal field is inevitable becausethe technology is advancingtoo quickly and is already too widespread to ignore.
For all its faults, Lee said, AI can be “extremely useful” for brainstorming, distilling hundreds of pages of material and transcripts and coming up with novelarguments in legal proceedings.
Problemsarise when attorneys or theirstaff become overly reliantonthe technology without checking the cites and quotes it pulls up, according to Loyola University law professor Dane Ciolino.
Just as dangerous, he said, is the tendencytoignore the technology for fear of using it incorrectly and gettingintrouble.
“I see so many lawyers who read the reports of thehallucinated case sanctions levied against other lawyers andsay,‘I’mgoing to stay away’ and that is not acceptable,” Ciolino said. “This is a very powerful tool that lawyers notonlycan andshould but must be using for the benefits of their clients.”
Thekey to successfully using AI tools in alegal practice is to understand theway it worksand becomewell versed in the limitationsand thepotential advantages of thetechnology
“It is notalaw library,” Lee said.“It is apredictive mechanism and apeople pleaser,set up to be asycophanttoits user.”
That’swhy phantomquotes or hallucinations pop up in pleadings, Lee said. The technology is trying to support the legal argumentinthe most effectiveway possible, even if that means fabricatingsomething
Ciolino said it’sthe user’sresponsibility to safeguard against that possibility by carefully prompting the platform: limiting which sources it can research, telling it where to look anddirectingitto assess itslevel of certainty in the sources
Lee advises telling AI “not to suck up butto be critical andfind whereyourargument has holes or problemsand to tell youwhat the other side is going to attack.”
It’salso critical, he said, that attorneys read everythingfor themselves, essentially doublecheckingAI’swork.
“There are safeguards forlawyers who are using it responsibly,” Lee said. “But theyare not fail-safe, and lawyers get busy.”
Bravenew world
Thecontroversy generated by the recentsurge in AI hallucinationsinthe legal fieldunderscores larger and more profound shifts that thetechnologyisalready foretelling.
AI, usedcorrectly, can also make firmsmore efficient. Ultimately that may mean that firms will be able to do more with fewer researchers, clerks,paralegals and attorneys.
“No doubt it is going to affect howyou stafflaw firms,”Lee said. “The lawyers who resist and do not adapt are going to lose business as aresult. But it doesn’t mean thebusiness goes away.It willgotothose whoare adapting.”
Email StephanieRiegel at stephanie.riegel@theadvocate. com.
For instance, when theinvite comes and the couple says it’s a destination wedding, you have the righttoconsiderwhether you can affordthe airfare and hotel expenses
If you know that being part of the wedding party would be afinancial burden, it’sOKtodecline the invitation. Amaturecouple will accept your decision withgrace.
2. Don’tsay yes to the dress until you know the cost. It’s not just about the required attire
Frequently,bridesmaids and the matronormaid of honor are expected to pay for not only the dress but also matchingshoes and styling, including hair and makeup. Youmight also be responsible for expensive dress alterations. By theway,groomsmen, don’t assumeyou’reonthe hook just for atuxedo.
Afriend requested advice after being asked to be agroomsman in his brother’sLas Vegas destination wedding. Between the airfare, a sharedhotel room, food, the bachelor party,agolf outing and the tux rental, he was looking at more than$1,200. He just didn’thave it
“Tell the truth,” Itold him He ended up attending as a guest, and his brother was perfectly fine with it. Get theline-item details of what you’re expected to
buy before you commit. It’sbetter to know whatyou’re getting into thantoregret the price tag later
3. Don’tgointo debt. Take arealistic look at your financial situation.
Amajority —53% —ofAmericans don’thave enough liquidity or cashonhand to cover a$1,000 emergency expense, according to Bankrate’s 2026 Emergency Savings Report. Nearly 3in10adults have morecredit card debt than theyhave in emergency savings. Agrowing numberofAmericans are maxed out on plastic, with serious delinquency (90 days late) creeping up in the first quarter of 2026, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. If joining the wedding party means racking up credit card debt thatwill take you months, if not years, to pay off, factor that into your decision.
Iwouldn’tdoit, but if you decide to proceed, at least make sure you have aplan to pay down the debt.
4.Youdon’thavetoattend everything Weddings have gone from asingle day to multidayevents, often requiring participants to share the expenses
People fear aGroom- or Bridezilla breakdown if they elect to skip any of the activities. If the events —out-of-town bachelorette or bachelor party, bridal tea, spa day,post-wedding
Continuedfrom page 1E
expansionplans,slowedproduction and pivoted to new products. For pioneersinanindustry promisingrelaxation,it’sbeen theultimatebuzz kill.
Anew,and booming, industry
The story of Louisiana’s newest mood-altering beverage industry began eight years ago, when thefederalgovernmentlegalized hemp, aformofthe cannabis plant with only trace amounts of the chemical compound THC thatcan createthe feeling of being “high.”
“The market was created almost by accidentbythe 2018 Farm Bill, which legalized hempaslong as it had less than0.3% of psychoactive compounds,” said Jacob Landry, owner of Urban SouthBrewing Co., which added the THC drinks Driftee and Stratus to itslineup three years ago. “Capitalists soon realized they could just usealot of hemp to getenough compound to give it psychoactive properties.”
In 2022, Louisiana made theproductslegal within its borders, and a year later,the state’sTHC beverage industrywas in full swing.
Crescent Canna, a7-year-old venture, releasedits first drinks that year andhas sincegrowntodistributein20states, eventually becoming the No. 1selling THC beverage brand in U.S.stores, accordingto themarket intelligence firmNielsenIQ. The company, headquartered on Magazine Street, manufactures its products at afacilityinNorth Carolina.
Also in 2023, BasinStreet Beverages debuted the Louie Louie brand of THCseltzers. Thestartup, founded by married couples Michelle and Eric Becker and Marie La France and Ken Jackson, manufactures and packages its products at aNew Orleansbrewery and ships directly to customersin37 states while distributing to retailers, bars and restaurants mostly in the South. In Louisiana alone, Basin Street sells about2,500 cases each month, according to La France.
Urban South, the decade-old New Orleansbrewery knownfor Paradise Park and other beers, unveiled its own lines of THC beverages in late 2023 and now sells in 16 states withafocus on the Gulf Coast Landrysaid THC beveragesprovide roughly 20% of his company’s distribution revenue.
Other Louisiana businesses, includingParish Brewing Co., Indigo, Fleur de Leaf andCypressHemp, also sell their own takes on THCinfused drinks.
‘Deals were putonice’ Louisiana THC drink makers have respondedtolast year’s“November surprise” in different ways Crescent Canna has shifted the focus away from raising money, seeking partnerships and getting products into newstores. Instead, it is prioritizing maintenance of existing accounts, which remain robustand profitable, according to Gerrity
“As soon as the ban was made official, all fundraising conversations stopped, and all potential new distribution deals were put on ice,” he said. In June, the company took more dramatic action, laying off 20 employees, nearlyreducing its work-
brunch —are out of your budget, say so. Youhave achoice. Be clear and upfront about what activities you can afford to attend. It’syour timeand your money
5.Your presenceisyour present. OK, you’ve resigned yourself to ponying up the money to participate in the wedding party.Then you wonder: “Do Ialso need to give awedding present?”
Did youget agift for the engagement party? What about the bridal shower,bachelorette and/or bachelor party?
If you’re traveling out of town or attending adestination wedding, you’ll have to spend money on transportation, ahotel room and meals, right?
Will you have to take time off work, whichwill cut into your available vacation time?
While etiquette maydictate gifts from wedding guests, wedding party attendants should be exempt from the expectation of giving a present.
If you feel you can’tgoemptyhanded, anice card with aheartfelt note should be plenty It is an honor to be asked to be part of the wedding party.But the couple should also recognize that your presence is agift.
EmailMichelle Singletary at michelle.singletary@washpost. com.
force by half.
BasinStreet Beverageshas made similar moves, cutting four out-ofstate,part-time sales rep positions, leaving ahalf-dozenemployees plus contractors. And the company is experimenting with apivot to its first non-THCproduct, due fora September release.
Andrew Godley,ofParish Brewing Co.,located in Broussard, said he’s winding down productionof hisyear-old THC beverage Veri so he can sell through inventorybefore November
“The revenue we will lose from stopping productionand sales, we will makeupwith additional beer sales,” he said.
While all this is going on, some Louisiana companies are sticking withplans to release new products.
CrescentCanna debutedits Crescent 9PassionPunch this summer, and Urban South will releasea pair of THC-infused sodas under the “NolaCola” brand name this month.
“We’re smalland nimble enough to hold justenoughinventory,and we keep ourdistribution footprint tight,”Landry said. “We’ll make sure we’re notgetting ahead of our skis.”
And, notably,the looming ban is nothurting business,according to La France. “Weare up quarter over quarter so I’mnot sure when the falloff would happen,” she said.
Hoping fora reprieve
Despite the layoffs and modified business plans, most of Louisiana’s THCbeverage entrepreneurs are holdingout hope foralastminute rescuefromCongressor theTrump administration— and they’recounting on consumer support to make it happen.
“We’re operating under the assumption that the industry goes away Nov.12, but we’re very hopeful thatitdoes not,” Landry said. Some industry insiders have identified two Republican lawmakers—Kentucky representative
Andy Barr,who’sPresident Donald Trump’spicktoreplace McConnell, andSam DimesinTexas —aspotentialsaviors. Others arehoping Congress’songoing continuing resolution process might provide aremedyorthatanexecutive order from Trumpcouldprotect the industry.But nothing has sparked as muchoptimism as aJune 24 lettersignalingsupport forthe hemp industry from Trump Cabinet member Russell Vought to House Speaker Mike Johnson. Congress should revise “the Federalregulation of hemptoensure the fair treatment of hemp products,” Vought wrote in adocument laying out the administration’s funding priorities.
“That news set off jubilation in the industry,knowing that the WhiteHouse wants asolution to thisand doesn’twant the industry to go away,” Landry said.
In Louisiana,the lobbying has been mostlybehind the scenes, butLaFrancesaid they willbe “shouting from the rooftops” if the deadline gets closer and help hasn’t come.
Some of the efforts already underway have made allies of THC beverage makers and their distributors, who often also work for beer, wine and liquor companies.
Monica Olano, founderofthe Cali Sober Market in Metairie and owner of Mélange,anonalcoholic bar in the Faubourg Marigny,said those partnerships with “big alcohol” couldbebad forthe hemp-derived THC industry overall.
“Only5%ofthe entire industry is beverages,” Olano said. “And when we just focus on them, we kind of throw the rest of the industry under the bus.Wehavetotalkabout the tinctures, the edibles and— though Louisiana banned it —the flower.”
As the politics play out and the deadline nears, most in the industry aretrying to maintain the status quowhile preparing fordisruption.
The9-year-old,Baton Rougebased company Cypress Hemp sells hemp-derived cannabis wellness products —including aseltzercalledHiatus —toretail and wholesale customersnationwide The business hashad to adapt to changing stateand federalregulations several times, according to its wholesale sales director,Anthony Foreman, who expects that trend to continue.
Said Foreman: “We’ve learned to stay the course until the change occurs and then create products that fit the new guidelines.”
EmailRich Collins at rich. collins@theadvocate.com.
PROVIDED PHOTO
Urban South Brewing Co. owner Jacob LandrysaidTHC beverages nowaccount for 20% of the NewOrleans-based brewery’s distribution revenue.
STAFFPHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER GabbyPhillipsand Troy Davispackage four-packs of Louie LouieTHC seltzers at Port OrleansBrewing in NewOrleans
TALKING BUSINESS
ASK THE EXPERTS
Contractor bringing south Louisiana mall back to life
BY ADAM DAIGLE Acadiana business editor
When Jacoby Landry bought the old Northgate Mall in Lafayette a year ago, he walked inside the anchor space that had recently housed a Planet Fitness.
This, he thought, could be a starting point.
In order to get a revenue stream going, he created his own anchor tenant when he opened Xtreme Health Club with a goal of getting 500 to 600 members Membership is now at 950, and the mall rebranded as The Hub — has gone from 14 tenants to 36 with increased foot traffic on the weekends.
It’s been a long 12 months since Landry, a contractor based in nearby St. Martin Parish bought the 56-year-old mall from longtime Brothers Food Mart owners Imad “Eddie” Hamdan and Ziad “Z” Mousa, of New Orleans, for $2.8 million. Landry admitted banks did not want to take a chance on the project.
Addressing lots of deferred maintenance was Landry’s first step. One tenant, he said, had been without air conditioning for 10 years.
Now he said the mall has gone from collecting $15,000 a month in rent from tenants to $60,000.
Several vacant spaces remain, but there is progress He’s dividing many of the larger spaces to make it more attractive to smallbusiness owners while turning the mall inside out.
“This is the hardest thing I did in life,” Landry said. “It was real hard. We had some months that we were struggling early on, but we were able to overcome that. I’m overwhelmed with the amount of tenants we’ve got today.”
In this week’s edition of Talking Business, Landry shares how much work was needed on the 250,000-square-foot building, the rooftop bar and urgent care clinic that are planned and how mentor
Q&A WITH JACOBy LANDRy OWNER OF THE HUB
Monte Anderson of Dallas, helped along the way
This interview has been edited for clarity
When you bought the mall, you talked a lot about the number of leaks in the roof and air conditioners that did not work. Have all those issues been addressed? Right when I came in here, I was bleeding capital like crazy
No tenants had HVAC A lot of these HVAC problems were small, simple problems. We got the roof under control. We did a little painting on the façade. But the majority of the capital that was spent went into that health club. I
took a gamble with it, and it paid off. Tell me more about the health club and how it’s been able to create an income stream for you.
It has me in a position where now I’m going to go to the bank and get more banking and finish the project. Nobody believed in the health club, and people’s minds are just blown away I did it on my own. I’m a risk-taker I knew to complete this task wouldn’t have been easy Before I bought this place, I had a blueprint and I said I’m sticking to it
You got approved for the restorative tax abatement earlier this year In the overall picture, it’s not a huge deal. But it is significant, right? The property tax is right around $30,000, under $40,000 with city and (Lafayette Parish). It’ll freeze that for five years and give me
time to fully develop this so I can afford a higher rate. It’s significant, man. It’s going to be significant after you start adding up the property tax and especially when you start throwing millions of dollars into the property The property value is going to shoot up. The rooftop bar project that you announced last year along the mall’s north side months ago — how is the progress on that?
He’s been working on it for a while. He does subdivisions and they had other projects they were working on. But they’re working hand in hand with the engineer, the architect and the other engineer Probably in the next two weeks or so, they’ll start back on construction. They’re starting on the outside, and I think they’re going to do something in the future on the inside. The outside is
maybe like 4,600 square feet. It’s my next big tenant that’s coming.
You have an urgent care clinic coming in between the gym and the rooftop bar What’s the story behind that?
It’s a private practice. She’s local and real good friends with my sister, who has the med spa inside the health club. I believe in this so much. There’s nothing around there. Everything is there (on the south side of Lafayette). This property is just so accessible. With the gym, we’ve got people who drive in from Rayne and Opelousas.
You’ve had help along the way from lots of people, including Monte Anderson, of Dallas, who mentored you through the Elevate North Lafayette program.What kind of impact has he had on your vision for this project? It all started with Monte. Monte was like, “Hey man, just try a shopping center.” I was like, I own one in Breaux
STAFF PHOTO By BRAD BOWIE
Jacoby Landry, center, bought the Northgate Mall in Lafayette a year ago and has rebranded it as The Hub. With him are Andrea Knott, left, and Dona Knott, who work at stores inside the mall.
ACROSS THE REGION
Former GM plant fully occupied 14 years after closure
BY LIZ SWAINE Staff writer
For the first time since Shreveport’s General Motors plant closed 14 years ago, the owners of the 3.5 million-squarefoot facility said it is 100% occupied.
The company that has pushed occupancy to “full” is SLB, once known as Schlumberger SLB’s footprint at the plant has now expanded to 3.1 million square feet
As recently as December, Louisiana Economic Development was in Shreveport to co-host an announcement touting SLB’s additional investment in 2 million square feet of space, along with plans to add 600 new employees to its current roster of 660 by the end of 2027 The growth has been fast.
“We’ve done an amazing job here. The progress has been unbelievable,” said Stuart Lichter, president of Industrial Realty Group, which owns the building. “I think a lot of people were disappointed that this took us a while, but that was our expectation when we went in, because I love Shreveport, but it’s not the center of the universe, you know, as far as where companies’
first choices would be to locate.” SLB was drawn to Shreveport to build modular infrastructure used in data center construction, specifically power distribution and cooling equipment because of the former GM plant’s size and amenities, said Andrew Johnston, SLB’s director of data centers.
“It’s an industry that’s growing rapidly, and we’re here to capitalize on that growth,” he said in December Other tenants using the additional 400,000 square feet are the U.S. Postal Service, which has a mail sorting facility and Hyundai Glovis, which finishes out Kia and Hyundai cars before going to the dealerships. A 2017 news release from the office of then-Gov. John Bel Edwards stated that Glovis’ “inland distribution center” would create 150 direct jobs.
By 2027, IRG says 1,400 full-time
employees will work at the site, now known as Shreveport Business Park. The majority of them will be employed at SLB.
Manufacturing was the goal
The plant became vacant in the aftermath of General Motors’ 2009 Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the largest industrial bankruptcy in U.S. history In 2012, the automaker shuttered its Shreveport plant, a facility that — over its 31 years in production — had turned out nearly 4.9 million trucks and sport utility vehicles.
By JILL PICKETT
The factory was best known for its Chevrolet S-10 and Colorado trucks, GMC Canyons and Hummer H-3s. At its height, the plant had about 3,000 full-time employees. In 2011, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court established the Revitalizing Auto Communities Environmental Response Trust to handle the environmental cleanup of GM-owned properties and position the properties for redevelopment RACER Trust took control of the Shreveport facility In 2013, Caddo Parish, through
the parish’s Industrial Development Board, purchased the plant for $7.5 million. Lichter’s IRG contracted with the board to manage, develop and/or redevelop the site.
In August, IRG officially took ownership of the plant and the 530 acres it sits on through an Act of Conveyance for “benefits derived and other good and valuable considerations.”
“The original transaction was the lease with an option to purchase, so actually we exercised the option,” Lichter said.
Included in the conveyance were three buildings: a 1 millionsquare-foot general assembly and stamping plant facility, an 842,000-square-foot building that was also part of the old stamping plant and a 1.5 million-square-foot building that was the former paint facility
In addition to the square footage, acreage and rail spur, the plant had 18 miles of conveyor line, on-site water treatment, steam generation and a 35,000 explosion-proof containment area.
What he wanted in the huge facility, Lichter said, was more manufacturing.
“This was going to be on an industrial, primarily, tenant that was doing things in the space, because it’s not considered to be a great logistics location for warehousing so you know, getting a big warehousing company in here would be a bit of a reach, so we were waiting for a manufacturer or people doing something in the space, and all of our tenants fit that category,” he said. “While that takes longer to accomplish, it’s better in the long term, because they’re a lot stickier than just a warehouse who can leave very easily.”
What’s next?
Lichter said building a facility like the GM plant now could cost $700 million or more.
“We have a huge amount of confidence as an amazing long-term value, because the cost to replace a building with this infrastructure is enormous,” he said.
With all the land, he said, there are options.
“We’re looking at the possibility of adding a building or two, so evaluating, you know. In other locations around the country,” he said, “we’ve gone into a rail transloading business; at some point we might do that here. Right now, one of our tenants uses most of the rail, so it’s a limited opportunity, but we think over the long term that’s an opportunity, but over time, we will do more on the land.”
North Louisiana Economic Partnership President and CEO Justyn Dixon said it is surprising to him that many people still believe the facility is vacant.
“When I came here five years ago, it was 95% empty And to be able to fill it up completely with a great company like SLB doing great work in the data center field, with thousands of employees now, it’s just fantastic and hopefully it’ll be a way that we can turn that final page.”
they’re seeing more Americans sticking closer to home this summer,trading overseas travel for road trips, choosing daylongsojourns over extended beach stays, and cooking instead of eating out while on vacationtosave money
The reported boost to domestic tourism, though anecdotal, comes as higherairfares andgasoline priceshave made vacationsmore expensive. The FIFAWorldCup soccer tournament and celebrations of the nation’s250th birthday have given some U.S. residents additional incentives to create summer memories withoutgoing far Ameaningful reduction in summer globe-trotting mighthavean upside for businesses that depend on tourists, said Tarik Dogru, an associate professor at Florida State University’sDedman College of Hospitality.Fewer U.S. residents headingabroadorflying across the country means more of theirvacation budgets are stayinglocal too, Dogru said.
“The current economic and tourism dynamics are likely to redirect spending toward small businesses, such asregional restaurants, local attractions, Airbnb hosts, and roadside businesses along drive routes that serve budget-conscious and close-tohome travel,” he said.
cordingtothe National Travel and TourismOffice.
Morgan Kain, ateacher in Baltimore, said herfamily is amongthe ones keeping their travel bugs in check for financial reasons. Kain, her husband and three children usuallytakemultiple tripseach summer,including aweeklong stay at aVirginia lake house.Last year, they spent six weeks traveling around Italy
“This summer,we’re still doing acoupleovernights and the lake house,but nothing else,” Kainsaid.
“Things are crazy expensive, from travel costs to food costs to gas.”
Around Lake Tahoe, which straddles California andNevada, several businessesreported spotting more visitors driving in from cities along the West Coast.
RonWilliams,who owns Tahoe Sports,saidheworriedatthe beginningofthe season that customers might not show up to rent boats andJet Skisdue to economic concerns.Like the gasoline that powers cars, the price of boat fuel went up during the Iran war
But Williams so far is “pleasantly surprised with howwell the business is doing across the board.”His
“We’re definitelyseeing alot of locals, so to speak. Peopleare maybe skipping the long drive to thebeach this year, and they’re kindofdoing just something close by so that they cansavealittle money and stillenjoy afamilyouting.”
If the trend holds through the summer and the rest of theyear,itcould reduce atravel and tourism trade deficit the United States has run since the COVID-19 pandemic. Each year since 2020, Americans spent more on foreign travel than international visitorsspent on travel-related goods and services in the U.S., ac-
future bookings are 10% higher compared with the same time last year, he said
“I think people areprobably sticking closetohome, and being in Lake Tahoe,wehave such ahuge drive-up market,” Williams said. Increased demand forthe three
LakeTahoe area rental properties that Jerry Bindel manages for PyramidGlobalHospitalityalsocame as arelief. Ski season bookings peteredout along with the snow during an unusually warm winter, but “wejust sawthatflip”with thearrivalofhiking and boating weather,hesaid Bindel, an area general director forthe property management company,said he spotted apossible sign of Tahoe visitors watching their spending: moreofthem skipping restaurants andusing the kitchens in theirrental units or outdoor barbecuegrills to prepare their own food
“We’reseeing alot of additional useonthose itemsthissummer,” he said. In Asheville, North Carolina, small-business ownershavehoped tourism would rebound sinceHur-
ricane Helene and flooding from days of torrential rain caused widespread destruction to the city’s landscape, buildings andinfrastructure in September 2024.
Aubrey Anderson, who owns a river tubing outfitter in Asheville, reduced her summer staff from 100 people to 25 after Helene. After reservations picked up earlier this year andshe noticed“alot new people coming into town,” Anderson feltencouraged enough to hire 50 workersfor Zen Tubing’scurrent season.
Theunfamiliar faces include day-trippers driving in from South Carolina, Tennessee and other parts of North Carolina to spend several hours floating down the French Broad River for around $30 per person, Anderson said. After tubing, customers from aroundthe region often grab ameal, stop at a brewery,shop or visit other local
attractions before heading home, which is “a win for Asheville as a whole,” she said.
“We’re definitely seeing alot of locals, so to speak,” Anderson said. “People are maybe skipping thelongdrive to the beach this year,and they’re kind of doing just something close by so that they can save alittle money and still enjoy a family outing.”
Factory tours offered by French Broad Chocolate have surged this summer,according to Jael Skeffington, the Asheville chocolate maker’sCEO and co-founder.Tourtakers often stop in the on-site cafe forice cream or coffee and buy a box of chocolate bars or bonbons before they leave, she said.
“So it’sgood for business, but it also seems to be what people are looking for is something to do, not just something to eat —something to experience.” Skeffington said.
People cheer at awatch partyJuly1 for aWorld Cup soccer match between the United States and Bosniain Washington at the FIFAFan Zone on the National Mall.
Staff report
SouthLouisiana businesses and nonprofit groups recently announced the followingpromotions, new hires and resignations.
BatonRouge
Scott Patterson hasbeen named president of LandSource Inc., where he will oversee allday-today operations. Patterson rejoin ed LandSource as aproject manager in 2020 after previous stints with CSRS and MR Engineering.
Don Boyd has been promoted to regional vice president
Fool’sTake: Accent on Accenture
of CumulusMedia, where he will oversee th ec ompany’sradio stations in Baton Rouge,Lafayette, New Orleans and Mississippi’sColumbusStarkville region. Boyd, a25-year company veteran, will also continue to lead Cumulus’brands in Mobile, Alabama.
Dr.I rv ing Arevalo has joined the staff at Neuropsychology Center of Louisiana. Arevalois alicensed neuropsychologist special-
izing in the evaluation and treatment of adults with a wide range of mental health concerns. He is accepting newpatients following the retirementof Dr.DarlyneNemeth,who servedthe communityfor 50 years.
NewOrleans
CappyJohnson has been named partner at MetairiebasedDelta Fi na nc ia l Advisors.
Jo hn so n, who previously worked for Orl ean s CapitalManag emen t, has morethan two decades of experience providing investmentadvicetohighnet-worth individuals,foun-
dations and endowments.
Shannon Bryant has been hired as director of nursing at Magnolia Community Services. Bryant previously worked as anurse at Children’s Hospital and in aleadership role at River OaksHospital.
Fi de lity Bank announced the appointment of three new senior vice presidents JayGarrett, whopreviously worked for Hancock
Whitney Corp. as cybersecurity operations risk officer,isseniorvicepresident for informationsecurity Michael Franklin,who hasled technological improvement initiatives for Fidelity, is senior vice president for project ma na gement and product development.
Brett Means, who previously worked for Synergy Bankand Bank of America, is Fidelity’scommercial relationship manager seniorvicepresident.
Resource Bankannounced two newbranch manager appointments, including one promotion and one new hire. La’VekaWoods hasbeen promoted to branch manager of thebank’sMetairiebranch, while Mark Cutrer becomes branch manager of the bank’sLa. 21 branch in Covington.
Do you havepersonnel changes to share or
Shares of tech consultancy Accenture(NYSE:ACN) were recently down more than 50% over the past year,pushing the stock into bargain territory for long-term believers. It’snot that the company isn’t growing: In the third quarter of fiscal year 2026, Accenture’srevenue rose 6% year over year to $18.7 billion, while diluted earnings per share jumped 9%. What investors didn’tlike was that management lowered near-term expectations while announcing three cybersecurity investments totaling$4.18 billion.
Accenture is buying full or partial control of three specialists in operational technology security.It’sall about protecting the physical stuff that keeps modern life humming along: power grids, pipelines, manufacturing facilities —and data centers. The company is making asecurityfocused play on the massiveboom in artificial intelligence-oriented data center construction.
CEO Julie Sweet putitbluntly on theearningscall: “Wecannot have an AI revolution without critical infrastructure, and you cannothave those without OT security,whichiswhere the world today is most vulnerable.”
Accenture’sstock is attractively priced, with arecent forwardlooking price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 9.3, well below its fiveyear average of 23.3. Better still, Accenture’sdividend recently yielded4.75%
It’sbeen buyingback billions of dollars’ worth of shares, too. (The MotleyFool recommends and ownsshares of and options for Accenture.)
Fool’sSchool: Balancesheets
To be asavvy(andpotentially moresuccessful)investor in individual stocks, learn what abalance sheet can tell you. (Not all of us have this interest and energy, though; if youdon’t,just sticking with low-fee, broad-market index funds canbequite effective.)
The balance sheet is one of three main financial statements— along with theincome statement and cash flow statement —that publicly traded companies are required to issue at leastquarterly
The income statement and cash flow statement show how a company performed over aperiod, such as aquarter or ayear; in contrast, thebalance sheet reflectsthe company’sfinancial healthatone point in time —often theend of aquarter or year
The balance sheet has three main sections: assets, liabilities and shareholder equity.Assets are set equal to —that is, they balance —liabilities and shareholder equity. Rearrange that relationship, and you can stateit another way: Shareholder equity equals assets minus liabilities. Think of it like apersonal net worth exercise: Addall your assets (such as house, cars and financial accounts) and subtract your liabilities (including mortgage, car loans and credit card debt)toarrive at your net worth.
Acompany’sassetsmay include “cash and cashequivalents,” “prepaid expenses” (such as insurance paid for ahead of time), “investments”and/or “property, plant and equipment.” Somesuch assets may not be as valuable as they appear,though. For instance, “accountsreceivable” reflects money from sales that thecompany hasn’tyet received —and may not receive. And“inventory” reflectscash tied up in materials
that haven’tbeen sold yet, some of which may end up not sold.
Liabilities often include shorttermand/or long-term debt. Debt isn’tnecessarily bad, but it’soften good for abusiness to have relatively little of it. Another liability, “accountspayable,” represents invoices thecompany hasn’tyet paid.
Shareholder equity,then, is the difference between assets and liabilities. It’s the portion of acompany’svalue that its shareholders can claim.
Ask the Fool:Ticker symbols, explained
Can you explainstocks’ ticker symbols?
—E.M., Hackensack,New Jersey
Sure. Every companylisted on a United States stock exchange has aunique abbreviation to identify it, called astock symbol or ticker symbol.
Traditionally,symbols forcompanies listed on theNew York Stock Exchange (NYSE) were usually three or fewerletters, while their Nasdaq Stock Market counterparts were four or five letterslong. For example, the NYSE has long been hometoCoca-Cola (KO) and Merck (MRK), while Amazon.com (AMZN) and Apple (AAPL) are on the Nasdaq.
Times have changed, though, and these days, ashort ticker symbol might trade on the Nasdaq, and afour-letter one might be on the NYSE. Somecompanies have moved from one exchange to another,too. For example, Micron Technology (MU) and PepsiCo (PEP) are now Nasdaq stocks, while Oracle (ORCL) is now on the NYSE. Also, companies with several classes of shares can have multiple ticker symbols, such as GOOG and GOOGLfor Alphabet. And modifiers are sometimes tacked on, such as aQifa company is in bankruptcy proceedings or aYif it’sbased outside of the U.S. To find acompany’sticker symbol online, visit awebsite such as Fool.com and type the company nameinto the search box. It’s important to get your ticker symbol right when investing, lest you accidentally buy shares of the wrong company!
TryJohn C. Bogle’s“The Little Book of Common Sense Investing: The Only WayToGuarantee Your Fair Share of Stock Market Returns” and “I Will Teach YoutoBe Rich: No Guilt. No Excuses. Just a 6-Week Program That Works” by Ramit Sethi.
Motley Fool
BY THE NUMBERS
La. ranks last in Tulane’s first ‘State of the States’
But report authors see signs for hope
BY JONAH MEADOWS Staff writer
Louisiana landed on the bottom of a new comprehensive ranking of U.S. states across dozens of metrics — the latest in a long line of comparative reports pointing out the Bayou State’s shortcomings in key health, education, economic and quality of life indicators.
The first State of the States report from Tulane University’s Murphy Institute analyzed 31 measures dating back to 1990. The purpose was to come up with a progress report of every state that could be used to help inform policy debates.
It ranked Louisiana 51st out of all states and the District of Columbia.
But the report, which goes deeper than many other comparative rankings by including trends and relative improvements or declines, also found reasons for hope in Louisiana and noted a couple of areas where the state is outperforming the national average.
Among them: improved test scores and self-reported measurements of well-being.
“There’s something happening in terms of social goods in Louisiana which is very, very positive,” said Anna Lembke, a Stanford University psychiatrist and a member of the board behind the study “It’s a weak and subtle signal, but it’s definitely there.”
Following the trends
The State of the States report builds on the State of the Nation report produced last year by the same research team, which compared the United States with other countries. According to its authors, the goal of the project is to establish a shared set of objective facts about personal, economic and social outcomes that can serve as a foundation for public policy decisions.
Tulane economics professor
Douglas Harris, director of the project, put together a bipartisan board of more than a dozen experts in a range of fields, including advisers from the last five presidential administrations, to determine what measurements were worthy of inclusion. Approval of 75% of board members was needed to make the cut.
The report compiles data from federal agencies, nonprofits and academic researchers and includes indicators of health, economics, education, violence, trust and life satisfaction.
“The idea is to make sure everybody’s working off reliable, trustworthy information,” said Frederick Hess, a board member and education expert at the American Enterprise Institute a conservative think tank
Collecting state-level data turned out to be significantly more
difficult than nationwide numbers, sometimes requiring special permission to access. A pair of research assistants then crunched the numbers to produce individualized reports for each state — a total of about 3,700 pages.
Some of the report’s findings were unsurprising. It ranked Louisiana 50th or 51st compared with the national average in categories including the share of young adults employed or in school (85% vs 89%), children born with low birthweight (11.2% vs. 8.6%), children living with single parents (40.7% vs. 29.9%) and overall poverty rate (18.7% vs. 15.2%).
“I wasn’t happy to see that, obviously, living in Louisiana, but we tried to let the data speak,” Harris said.
The report compared data for each state in three different ways: its current national ranking, the direction it’s trending and how that
Beyond.
Beyond isn’t aplace —it’samindset. Andit’sa belief that haspowered us forover80years.Weare Jones Walker LLP,afirm driven by an entrepreneurialspirit, a deepsense of community, andafierce determination to deliverexceptional serviceand valuefor our clients.
Since1937, our firm hasbeencommitted to working with communityleaders to develop business opportunitiesacrossthe state. We aresteadfast in continuing our dedicationtogobeyondinadvising clientsand supporting initiativesand organizations that make Louisiana abetterplace to live andwork.
compares with national trends. That gave researchers a more nuanced picture of the state’s performance and one that was not entirely negative.
It showed, for instance, that Louisiana’s labor-force participation rate is improving faster than the rest of the nation, though its hourly earnings growth is worsening faster than in other states.
And it showed that the state clearly trending better than the nation as a whole when it comes to academic test scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as the “nation’s report card.” Over the past decade, Louisiana eighth graders have narrowed the gap with the national average by roughly half in math and by about 85% in reading, where Louisiana students’ scores have improved even as they’ve declined nationwide.
“Louisiana seems to be doing a
remarkably good job over the last half-decade or more,” said Hess. Louisiana also ranked high in the freedom of the press category, as measured by the U.S Press Freedom Tracker, though it shared the top spot with the 20 other states that did not record any press freedom “violations” in 2024. The rankings do not take into account more recent legislative changes that have expanded exemptions from public records laws and secrecy surrounding economic development projects.
‘Relatively happy’
Data from every state tells a similar story: Income is going up, but life satisfaction is going down. That mirrors the findings of the nation-level report, which found that measurements of economic progress and subjective well-being are moving in opposite directions in the U.S.
“Here we are, wealthier than ever and getting wealthier, and yet more depressed, more anxious, more likely to die by a drug overdose, more likely to end our own lives,” said Lembke. “What is going on there?”
No state is doing great when it comes to self-reported measurements of well-being. But that’s one area where Louisiana is doing comparatively well, with depression rates for adults (11th) and youth (12th) both below the national average.
“People in Louisiana are relatively happy considering everything else,” Harris said, explaining that the state-level data follows a theme that has emerged from the project’s research — the disconnect between income levels and overall well-being.
“Louisiana is an extreme case of that, where the economic measures are really not good, but yet depression is pretty low, our life satisfaction is middle of the pack, and our suicide rate is also middle of the pack,” he said.
Email Jonah Meadows at jonah. meadows@theadvocate.com.
Drivingregionaleconomicgrowththrough legalknowledge,strategic guidance, and industry-focused relationships.
Ourfirm is confidentinLouisiana’s economic future.Asone of thestate’s largest lawfirms, we counselbusinesses navigating complex transactions andregulatory landscapes across theenergy,healthcare, and technology industries,amongothers.
Louisiana’s oiland gas industry remainsacornerstoneof growth,whileemergingmarkets fornatural gas, lithium, andbiofuelscreatenew investment opportunities. We strongly believeinleveragingAItosupport thedevelopment andsuccess of Louisiana businesses,withdatacenter construction underscoring itspotential forlarge-scale economicgrowth. As healthcare continuestoadvance, we also seeexponential growth forits digitalsector.
With strong momentum andexpanding opportunities, Louisiana is poised forsignificant economic growth andweare proudtohelpleadthe wayforward
STAFF FILE PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER
The State Capitol can be seen from chemical plants in Baton Rouge. Louisiana fell last of all states and the District of Columbia in a report compiled by Tulane University’s Murphy Institute that measured key health, education, economic and quality of life indicators.
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ASPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION |SUNDAY, JULY12, 2026 Inside thisissue of BayouBloom:
Healthy Eating,Healthy Aging
Get Comfortable with Technology ✜ Volunteerism AfterRetirement
TheNew Face of Senior Living
And More
Eating Aging Healthy Healthy
Thefoods seniors eat provide the fuelneeded to stay active, maintain strengthand recoverfrom exercise or daily activities.
Without proper nutrition, energy levels candecline, making it more difficult to participate in activities that supporthealthy aging.
WHY NUTRITION
MATTERS MORE WITH
AGE
Nutritionalneedschangeaspeopleget older.Seniors need specificnutrients to help maintain muscle mass, bone health,heart health andhydration,aswellastohelp manage chronic conditions such as diabetes or highblood pressure.
Seniors often need more protein, fiber, calcium, Vitamin Dand potassium. Consult with alocal nutritionist,dietitianorhealth care provider aboutthe diet that’s rightfor you.
LOCALRESOURCES SUPPORTINGHEALTHY EATING
Looktolocal farmersmarkets forfresh produce.Local grocerystoresmight offer seniordiscounts or delivery.You caneven grow your ownproduce in acommunity garden.
Seniorcenterlunch programs andMeals on Wheels programs also helpseniors access healthyfood.
COOKINGFOR ONEOR TWOWITHOUTWASTE
Many seniors facechallengeswhencooking smallerportions, as they maybeusedto cooking fora large family
Cookingand freezingmeals in batches canbehelpful.Get into thehabit of buying smaller portions,and choose simple,nutritiousrecipes to avoidwasting ingredients.
You canuse meal prep containers to portionout mealsfor severaldaysfroma largerbatch.Consider usinga vacuumsealer to keep produce or meatsfresh longer
MANAGING DIETARY RESTRICTIONS WHILE STAYINGACTIVE
Many olderadultslivewithchronic health conditions such as diabetes, highblood pressure,heart diseaseorosteoporosis, making nutritionanimportant part of managing their health.
Becausemanyseniors take medications that canaffectappetite, digestion or nutrient absorption,itisimportant to discussdietary changeswithahealthcareprovider or registered dietitian
Get with Technology Comfortable
Seniors areincreasinglyusing technology in their day-to-daylives.
The AARP’s 2025 technologysurvey putthe trendintofocus.Smartphone ownershipamong seniors soared from 55% in 2016 to 90%in2025. Textingisnow theleadcommunicationmethodamong adults age50-plus; ninein10use social media, andeight in 10 stream videoweekly.
Today’sseniors were born before theage of digitalnatives. Whiletheymight nothave grownupwithtoday’s advanced electronics andmight feel overwhelmedorintimidated, that doesn’t mean they can’tharness the poweroftechnology, whichhas become an essentialpartofeverydaylife.
Seniors aregainingdigital literacy to usetechnologyfor everything from communicatingwithfamilytomanaging healthcare appointments andfinances to learningnew hobbies.
WHY IT MATTERS
Technology helps seniors maintain
reduces isolationand improves access to essentialservices.
Thiscan includevideocalls with family, onlinebanking andshopping, telehealth appointments,prescriptionmanagement, accessingcommunity information, educationand more.
WHERE TO LEARN
Agrowing number of localbusinesses, libraries andcommunity organizationsoffer supportdesignedspecificallytohelpolder adults confidently usesmartphones, tablets, computersand onlineservices.
In your community,lookfor technology workshops at your locallibrary or senior center, community collegeorlocal tech repair andsupport businesses.
Lookfor patient, hands-oninstruction tailored to beginners, as well as afocus on theimportanceofprotectingpersonal information online
SKILLS TO MASTER
Seniors should aimtomasterahandful of basic skills to help them feel more comfortablewithtechnology. This includes password management,smartphonesettings, onlinescamand phishingprevention, videoconferencing, downloading apps,understandingupdates andusing notifications.
USING TECHNOLOGY EVERY DAY
Once you’ve masteredbasic skills, it’s time to applywhatyou’velearned in your daily life.
To getstarted,practice usingtelehealth services, settingmedicationreminders, operating smarthomedevices such as lightingand security andschedulinggrocery andprescriptiondeliveries.
Before long,you’ll find that digital lifewill b f d il lif
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Mary,Baton Rouge, LA
ACTNOW TO PUT YOUR PLAN IN PLACEINJUST 7-8 WEEKS
Yes, knowledge is power, andthe choiceisyours.But youMUST ACTNOW to put your estate plan in place. It allstarts by attending oneofLaura Poche’s free educational events which makes it clear thatregardlessof your net worth, if youwanttopreserve your hard-earnedassetsorhave people in your lifeyou needtoprotect or have causes thatyou want to promote, EVERYPERSON NEEDS ALEGALESTATEPLAN. LetLaura Poche andher professional andknowledgeable staff make thisprocess as easy as possible so youcan livewith PEACE OF MIND
Allpeoplewho attend will receivea FREE copy of the updated2nd edition of Laura Poche’s Book,“Estate Planning
WritingYour NextChapter
STARTS HERE
Learnabout programs, services,and opportunities from theEast BatonRouge Parish Library
Writing Your Next Chapter Starts Here. At every stage of life, the East BatonRouge Parish Library offers opportunities to learn, create, connect and grow.Exploreenriching programs designed foradults and seniors—from book clubsand reading groups to computer classes, genealogy workshops, arts and crafts, gardening programs and more.Whetheryou’rediscovering anew hobby,strengtheningyour digital skills or connecting with others who shareyour interests, the library is wherelifelong learning and communitycometogether.
Discover Something New
Oneofthe greatest gifts of this stage of life is the freedom to keep learning.
At the East Baton Rouge Parish Library,adults can discover book clubs, author talks, genealogy workshops,gardening programs, local history events, arts and crafts, writing groups and educational presentations throughout the year.Library staffalsooffer computerclassesthat make everyday technology feel moreapproachable, helping patrons confidently use email, smartphones, online resources and more.
Create Without Limits
Your library card opens thedoor to much more than books. Library Makerspaces provide access to equipment like Cricut machines,laser cutters, 3D printers and other creativetechnology, withstaff availabletohelp you learn at your own pace. Prefer creating from home? Free digital resources include Creativebug,Craftsy,ArtistWorks and GalePresents: Udemy,giving patronsunlimited access to thousands of classes in art, music, photography,crafts, wellness, technology and more.
Stay Connected
Theheart of ahealthy community isn’t justthe buildings we share—it’s the relationshipswebuild inside them. Throughout the parish, library branches host activities likechair yoga, tai chi, line dancing, games,lectures and wellnessprogramsdesigned to keep both mind and body active. Digital resources such as Hiveclassalso allow patrons to enjoy fitness andbrain-health activities from homewhenever it’s convenient.
ShareYour Story
Some of the most valuable stories aren’t found on library shelves—they’rethe ones our community carries withthem. TheEast Baton Rouge Parish Library celebrates lifelong learning by helpingpatrons preserve familymemories, research genealogy,writepersonalhistories and discover thestories thatshaped our region. Whether you’re documenting your family’slegacy for futuregenerations or simply learning moreaboutwhereyou came from, the library offers resources that helpevery story live on.
TheLibrary Goes WhereYou
Sometimes writing yournextchapterstartsfrom your favorite chair at home. With your free library card,you caninstantly access eBooks, audiobooks, magazines, movies, online courses and trusted research databases from your computer,tablet or smartphone. The Digital Library is available wheneveryou are—day or night. And for those who can’t easilyvisit abranch, outreach services and the Library Bookmobile help bring books, resources and programming directly into neighborhoods and seniorlivingcommunities throughout the parish, ensuring thateveryonehas access to the joy of learning and reading.
Manyviewretirementasan opportunity to give back to their communities throughvolunteering.
Many view retirement as an opportunity to give back to theircommunities through volunteering
Older adults continue to play an important role in strengtheninglocal organizations andmentoring youngergenerations, while stayingactive, connectedand purposeful. Awide varietyoflocal organizations— includingschools,hospitals, nonprofits, churches, andcivic groups —relyonolder volunteers andvalue theexperience and stabilitytheybring
WHY VOLUNTEER
Thepersonalbenefits of volunteering after retirement caninclude feelinga senseof purpose, stayingconnected socially, mental stimulation, improved emotionalwell-
After
beingand physical activity.
adults. Retirement Volunteerism
Retirement no longermeans slowing down formanyolder
Retirement canbeatimeofreinvention. Volunteering allows seniors to explorenew interests.
In addition,volunteerismhelps strengthen community connectionsacrossgenerations, as youshare lifelongskillsand knowledge with youngerpeople.
Volunteerroles often offer flexible schedules andallow youtomeetnew friends whoshare similarinterests.
WHERE TO DONATE YOUR TIME
No matter what talents andexperience you have to share, youwill find an opportunity to volunteer. Becauseseniors aretypically reliable volunteers whooffer patience and professionalexperience,manycommunity organizationsactivelyrecruit retirees for leadership andvolunteer roles.
Checkwithlocal schoolsand libraries foropportunities to read with students. Nonprofitmentoring programs often depend on older adults to help shapeyoung minds. If you’re interested in care-giving, consider volunteeratalocal hospital
Food pantries arealwayslooking for assistance,and church outreach programs canallow youtoshare your faith.
Museum docents canshare their love for history, culture, science or art. Pass on your love of animalsbyvolunteeringatananimal shelter, or help fellow veterans through veterans organizations. Community theaters, historical societies andenvironmental groups areother places to offer your services. Retirement todayisincreasinglydefined notbysteppingawayfromcommunity life, butby findingmeaningful newwaystostay involved
Charlie’sPlace helps families navigate Alzheimer’s with love, purpose and patience
For nearly 50 years, Jeanne andDwayneChapman builta lifecenteredonfaith,family andunwaveringdevotion. Throughcareers,raisingthree children andwelcomingeight grandchildren, they shared countlessjoys. In lateryears,theyworkedtogethertoface Dwayne’s battle with Alzheimer’sand otherhealthconditions. Here,Jeannetalks aboutthe momentsoflove, laughter andpurpose sustainedthemuntil Dwayne passed away in April2024.
Dwayne startedhavingcommunication issues. Iwould askhim aquestion,but his answer wouldbeunrelated.Wethought it wasahearing problem, andhedid need hearingaids. As things gotworse,our son Casey foundaneurologist. Dwayne was diagnosedwithprogressive aphasia,which is alossoflanguageatthe beginningof dementia.
Dwayne wasalsodiagnosed with cancer in 2020 andhospitalizedfor 11 days with Covid in 2021. Beinginthe hospital reallyseemed to advanceeverything.
In late 2021, my daughter-in-law Kristin told us aboutCharlie’s Place.Dwaynebegan goingthere soon after.Itisasafe place with people whoare kind,well-trained and compassionate. It’s aplace of soft voices and smilingfaces. They acceptedDwayne’sneeds –everythingfromhim carrying aropetotie anduntie knotstomedicationfor hisfood-
relatedimpulses.
Dwayne always lovedmusic andhad a beautifulvoice.Heloved Marcia’s Melodies at Charlie’s Place.Hesangparts of songsand sometimesgaveMs. Marcia the‘speeditup’ signal!
Charlie’s Place wastruly aplace of joyfor Dwayne anda respitefor me.Ilearned about home safety,medical alertdevices andhow people with Alzheimer’s understand and reacttoothers. They also gave Dwayne an importantjob –wipingdowneverything after meals. He took this very seriouslyand
important andpurposeful.
When Dwayne sometimesreached outand held my hand whilewewatched TV,IknewI wasdoing theright thing.
Charlie’s Place Activity andRespite Centers in BatonRouge,Gonzalesand Bakeroffer cognitivestimulation andsocialinteraction forpeoplewithearly to mild Alzheimer’s anddementia-related disorderswhile giving caregivers amuch-needed break. Activities includemusic andpet therapy,gardening, arts andcrafts, live entertainment, exercise, spiritualactivities andmore.
Alzheimer’s Services of theCapital Area also holdsamonthly Care Partner Book Club whereloved ones read and discussbooks in awelcoming, supportive environment. Throughsharedstories and conversation,participantsgaininsight, encouragement andconnectionwithothers whounderstandthe caregiving journey.
Visitto alzbr.org to learnmore.
did it at home. This made him feel
Thisstory is brought to youbyAlzheimer’s Services of theCapital Area.
SeniorLiving NewFace of The
Today’sretireesare lookingfor active, engaging lifestyles rather than simplycareand maintenance.
Modernretirementand assisted living communities nowemphasize independence, wellness,learning andsocialconnection. In addition,residents maintain independence andquality of life.
Here’s alookathow today’sseniors are reshapingexpectationsfor retirement living.
RESORT-STYLE AMENITIES
Modernseniorlivingcommunities now featureamenities once associated with resortsorupscale apartments.Examples include fitnesscenters,walking trails,pools andspas, fine diningoptions,coffee shops andlounges, beauty salons or barbershops andtransportationservices.
WELLNESSPROGRAMS
Rather than just traditionalmedical care, seniorlivingisincreasinglycenteredaround preventive wellness.Atmodernseniorliving communities, you’ll find yoga andstretching classes, wateraerobics,nutrition counseling, mental health support, on-site health care partnerships andfallpreventionand
mobility programs.
Theseprogramshelpseniorsremainactive longer andimprove social engagement
Maintainingcognitive health is agrowing priority forolder adults.Accordingto McKnightsSeniorLiving, Alzheimer’s diseaseisthe fifth-leading causeofdeath amongAmericans age65and older.In response,manysenior living communities areplacinggreater emphasis on brain-health programs,memory-enhancingactivities andwellnessinitiatives designedtosupport cognitivefunctionand helpresidentsremain mentally engaged.
LIFELONG LEARNING ANDTECHNOLOGY
Learning helpsseniorsstaymentally engagedand socially connected, and technologysupport helpsresidents stay connectedwithfamilyand health care providers.
Many seniorlivingcommunities nowoffer educationalopportunities andenrichment programs forresidents.Seniorscan expect to find guestlectures, artand musicclasses, book clubs, technologyworkshops and
online learningopportunities.
Facilities sometimespartner with local colleges, libraries, museumsorcommunity organizationsfor even more programs. If your center doesn’t have an education programyou’d like to see, just ask. Senior living communities areeager to attractand retain residents with diverseofferings.
SOCIAL ACTIVITIES AND COMMUNITY CONNECTION
Senior living communities areputting a growingemphasis on creating places where residents buildfriendships andremain active participants in locallife. Keepinga busy social calendar helps seniorscombat lonelinessand improvetheir emotionalwellbeing.
Activities caninclude groupoutings, volunteeropportunities, game nights, gardeningclubs, travel groups, holiday events andthemeddinners.meaningfulnew ways to stay involved.
SENIOR LIVING FOR EVERYLIFESTYLE
TheQSLM family of communities caterstoavariety of lifestyles, with home-style meals,vibrantactivity programs,housekeepingservices, andthe perfectlevel of care,nomatterwhat season of life you’re in.Read more to see what our Baton Rougecommunities have to offer:
BarclayHouseofBatonRouge’swarmandwelcomingatmospheretrulymakesyoufeel likea part of thefamily. ThiscommunityoffersbothAssisted Living andMemoryCare, taking care of theday-to-daystressesand givingour residentsthe freedomtotruly make themselves at home.
GlenncrestatSiegenistrulyahaven,focusedoncreatingapeacefulatmosphereforour residents. Both residents andtheir families canbreatheeasyknowingthat ourcare team is prioritizingtheir needsand working aroundthe clocktoensurethat their lifestyle is joyful andfulfilling.
WhealdonEstateshasthefeelingofhomethatBarclayHouseisknownfor,butwithanextra sparkofexcitement.Ourindependentlivingcommunityoffersassistancewiththedaily chores andmaximizes ourresidents’ freedom to pursue theirinterestsand choose their ownhappinesseveryday
At Pearl Dental Group, ourAll-on-XDental Implants do more than replacemissing teeththey restoreyourabilitytoeat,speak,and smile with confidence. Unliketraditional dentures, All-on-X implants aresecurely anchoredtoyour jawbone, providing astable, natural-looking smile that feels likereal teeth. They also help preservebone and facial structure, preventing thesunkenappearancethatoften occurs after toothloss. Using advanced 3D technology, Digital Smile Design, and ourin-house laboratory, we create beautiful,customzirconiateeth designed specifically foryou.WithAll-on-X Dental Implants,manypatients canleave with anew smile in just one dayand enjoyrenewed confidence, comfort,and qualityoflife.
OurLouisianaroots rundeep
Fornearlytwo centuries our dailynewspapers have been Louisiana’s most trusted sources forlocal news. Our dedicated team of over 500 workstirelesslytodeliver timely,trustworthy reporting on the state’smostcritical issues.
Communitysupport provides funding to grow andaugmentour news teams and enhances coverage of stories that matter to you.
Whyitmatters
The Advocate operatesfive newsroomsthroughout the state,publishing dailynewsand information. Our local newsrooms focus on critical issues importantto Louisiana. Coverage of school boarddecisions, local elections, public safety, business growth and community events does not come from national newsrooms. Theseare the storiesonlywetell.
Your Support Enables
•Morereporters across the state
•Coverageofissuesinunderserved parishes in Louisiana
•Storiesthatleadtoreforms–improved accountability
•Freeaccesstoour stories to the members of the LouisianaPress Association
Learn more about howwecan makeadifference together.Goto: Louisianajournalismfund.org
TO PUT YOUR PLANINPLACE IN JUST 7-8 WEEKS
Yes, knowledge is power, and thechoice is yours. But you MUST ACTNOW to put your estate plan in place. It all starts by attendingone of LauraPoche’sfree educational eventswhich makes it clear that regardless of your networth,ifyou want to preserveyourhard-earned assetsorhavepeople in your life you need to protectorhavecauses that youwanttopromote, EVERY PERSON NEEDSALEGAL ESTATE PLAN. Let LauraPocheand her professional and knowledgeable staffmakethis process as easyaspossible so youcan livewith PEACEOFMIND.
BATONROUGE
Monday, July 20 Poche LawOffice 4960 Bluebonnet,Ste.C 2:00pm -4:30pm REFRESHMENTSPROVIDED AFTER
BATONROUGE
Tuesday,July 21 Mestizos
2323 S. Acadian Thruway 11:00am -1:30pm LUNCH PROVIDED AFTER
BATONROUGE
Wednesday,July 22
Poche LawOffice
4960 Bluebonnet, Ste. C 5:30pm -8:00pm DINNER PROVIDED AFTER
LAURAPOCHE INVITES YOUTOATTEND AFREE WORKSHOP TO LEARN ABOUT:
• Howcan Ikeep the governmentout of my estate settlement?
• What arethe twobiggest andmostexpensivemistakesfamiliesmakewhen trying to avoidnursing home poverty?
• Howcan Ikeep my not-quite perfect son-in-law and my over-controlling daughter-in-law from having influenceovermyestatesettlement?
• Howcan my family avoid estate tax, and other taxestheymightfacewhen Ipass away?
• HowdoIstart the five-year look back period fornursinghomeswithout having to giveeverything away to my family whileIamalive?
• Whydomostlawyerslove Probate, and want my estate to go through it?
• Should IhaveaWill or Trust(or both)?
• Canmypatchwork quiltofWills,Powers of Attorney, Living Wills, and Beneficiary Designations actually be atime bomb waiting to explode?
• HowdoIensurethat my estate won’tincur legal expensewhen Idie,preserving 100% of my assetsfor my family?
7STUPIDESTATEPLANNING MISTAKES TO AVOIDIN2026
If youhaveeverwantedtoeliminate worry becauseyou don’t haveaprogram in placetoprotect your estate andfamily, without aslewofuntimely legal and taxproblems,then this will be one of the most important workshopsyou ever attend. Iamgoingtoshowyou howtobulletproofwhat youhavetoday, and what youleaveyourkids tomorrow. You’ll be abletotakeadvantage of my estate planning legalstrategieswithout youoryourlovedoneshavingtodeal with Succession Courts,long estate settlementdelays,Medicaidliens, nursing home poverty, and death tax. ButbeforeIdothat,let me tell youa story of how we helped Mary.
MARY’S STORY
“Asacouple withanonly child, we thoughtaWill wasall we needed. WRONG! My husband died,and Ihad to go through Probate- anightmare, and very costly.Italsotook over9 months.I didn’twantour childtogothrough that, so Igaveher an ad to aPoche’ LawFirmworkshop, and sheand her husband were impressed. They hadLauraset up aparticular kind of Trustthat took care of their estate planning,but what about me?Idecided to go to aworkshop, and made my appointment.Laura answered all of my questions,and even gotmyfinancialadvisor in on aconferencecall. Icould nothavebeenmore pleased and relievedthat my estate planisnow in order. KudostoLauraand her professionalstaff.I highly recommend her forall estate planning needs.”
Mary,Baton Rouge,LA
IMPORTANTGUIDELINES FOROUR WORKSHOPS:
Workshopsare open to FIRST-TIME ATTENDEES ONLYand aregeared towardspeople who want or need your legal estate plan in placequickly Pleasehaveyourpersonal calendarhandy at the workshop so youcan choose to startyourplan NOW! If married, both spouses mustattend a workshop to ensurethat alldecision-makersare involved in your family’scoordinated plan.
All people whoattendwill receiveaFREE copy of the updated 2nd edition of LauraPoche’s Book, “Estate Planning AdvicebyaWoman forLouisiana Women: AGuide forBothMen and Women About Wills,Trusts,Probate, Powers of Attorney, Medicaid, Living Wills and Taxes.”
LOUISIANA
BY MARGARETDELANEY Staffwriter
Wireless. Wireless. Wireless.
Listening to music hands-free while squatting weights or plucking weeds or running errands became easier with wireless headphones
No longer did music lovers have to swat away cords in their face or detangle wires for two minutes before jumping on acall.
Along the way,skepticism grewabout the health consequencesofBluetooth and wireless devices. The main potentialculprit: radiation. Bluetooth devicesemita type of electromagnetic radiation that can come from bothnatural and man-made sourceslike cellphones,X-rays andthe sun.
Electromagnetic radiation comes in two forms, ionizing and non-ionizing.Ionizing radiation has enough energy to potentiallydamage cells and increases therisk of cancer.X-rays and the sun, for example,emit different levels of ionizingradiation. Bluetooth, however,emits non-ionizing radiationand has lessenergy to effect people.
A2024studyof600 participants reported an association between prolonged Bluetooth
WIRELESS WARNINGS
Doctorsdiscuss risks of Bluetoothheadphones
headset use(more than three hours aday)and a higher incidence of thyroid cancers. The study, conducted as aself-reported questionnaire from WenJuanXing in China, had manylimitations including alack of diversity,not using age as acontributing factor and potential bias that can occur in self-reporting.
“Thus, future research should employmore precisetrackingtechnologiesfor usageduration to enhance the objectivity and reliability of the data,” the studystated.“These metrics do not inherently imply causality.”
Current scientific consensus, supported by agencies like the U.S. Food and DrugAdministrationand theWorld Health Organization, indicates thatlow-level non-ionizing radiation does not carry enough energy to directly damage DNA,making adirect causal link to cancer “biologically implausible.”
The more immediate concern for headphones,according to doctors, aretheir effects on hearing.
Dr.Duncan Hanby,anear,nose and throat physicianand section head at OchsnerHealth’s The Grove, said it all comes down to volume.
ä See HEADPHONES, page 3X
Doulas work to lowerLa.’s high maternal mortalityrate
BY RACHELMIPRO Contributing writer
Doulas, house visits, wellness
checks:InLouisiana, theseare someways advocates are looking to improve thestate’sconsistently low ranking in the U.S. for maternal health.
Between2020 and2022,Louisianasaw 222 deathsrelated to pregnancy, accordingtothe Pregnancy-Associated Mortality Review
Blackwomen were more than twice as likely to die compared with White women, according to thereview,and 84% of these overall deaths were deemed preventable.
A2026 study conducted by Tulane University’sNewcombInstitute found asimilarly dire state of maternal care; 29.6% of Louisiana parishes are maternity care des-
erts, where it more is more difficult to access obstetrics, gynecologists andhospitals with obstetric services.
“Weare in amaternal health crisis across the state of Louisiana,” said Dr.Stacey Holman, division director of Women andChildren’s Services at Touro Infirmary.“I think that we are seeing lots of barriers to accesstocarefor obstetrics and forpostpartum care.”
Grassrootsorganizationsand community partnerships are attempting to bridge thegap.In New Orleans, ahome-visit pilot program hasbeen addressing postbirthneeds since 2023.
Family Connects New Orleans is acity health department partnershipwith OchsnerBaptist andTouro hospital.Inthe program,which hasbeenadopted in severalother states, trained nursesprovide
free in-home visits in the metro area Orleans for parents who had theirbabies at OchsnerBaptist or Touro.
During home visits, nurses conduct acomprehensive assessment on mothers’ mental and physical state, andcheck to seeifthe family needs any resources.
The visits are key to finding health issues post-birth and other factorsthatcontribute to mortality chances.
“Weknowthatthe postpartum period is where moms fall offin terms of getting access to care,” Holman said. “They have anew baby to takecareof, so they’reless concerned about getting to their own appointment.”
Katherine August-Autry,Touro’sclinical manager for Family
ä See DOULAS, page 2X
PROVIDED PHOTO
Community Birth Companion started out in 2012 with the missionof lowering infantand maternal mortality rates in St. Landry Parish.
STAFFPHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON
Dr.Duncan Hanby, an ear,nose and throat physicianand section head at Ochsner Health’sThe Grove in Baton Rouge, holds amodel of an ear in an exam room at the complex.
Mental health challenges can linger for cancer survivors
BY NATALIE KREBS
Iowa Public Radio, KFF Health News
The cancer diagnosis
came as a shock, disrupting Morgan Newman’s plans for launching her life. It was 2015, and she was working as a dental assistant in Des Moines, Iowa, while studying to become a social worker
After an abnormal result on her Pap smear, her doctor brought her back in to check the tissue for signs of cancer Newman wasn’t that concerned at first. She was only 24 years old.
“I didn’t think anything of it,” she said. Friends had received abnormal results, she recalled, “and they turned out to be OK.”
But during the follow-up examination, she started bleeding so heavily that the doctor stopped the exam and immediately referred her to a gynecologic oncologist. Newman soon learned she had cervical cancer She had just moved into her own apartment for the first time.
An increasing number of Americans are getting — and surviving — cancer
There were more than 18 million cancer survivors in the U.S. in 2025, and the National Cancer Institute estimates that number will grow to 22 million by 2035. But long after completing treatment, many survivors face lingering mental health challenges that go unaddressed.
Newman underwent six weeks of radiation and chemotherapy Her scans after that were clear until the six-month mark, when her doctors found suspicious nodules in her lungs.
Newman endured additional chemotherapy which had more side effects. It was physically exhausting. But she was also struggling psychologically as she watched her friends hit significant adult milestones.
“My friends were getting
married, they were having children, you know, progressing in their lives and their careers, and I just felt stuck,” she said.
Newman had done therapy before, for anxiety and depression. But after she got sick, she had to quit. Therapy was too expensive now that she had her other medical bills. And amid the doctor appointments, college courses, and her full-time job, she didn’t have the time.
Newman’s cancer treatment ended, and the scans remained clear By 2017, she had a new job with better health benefits. So she decided she could go back to therapy.
She worried that every ache and pain could be the cancer coming back. At times, it was emotionally difficult to spend time with her friends who had kids, because the radiation treatment had damaged her reproductive system, leaving her unable to have her own children
Now, almost 10 years later, Newman remains free of cancer, and cancer prevention has become her passion. She started a new job in December as the Iowa grassroots manager for the lobbying arm of the American Cancer Society, and she has served on the boards of other cancer organizations in Iowa.
But she continues to go to therapy to deal with the lingering anxiety, as well as the lingering effects of her treatment, such as her infertility
“The fear of the unknown really takes over and can physically impact your body, as well as your mind,” she said. That question kept circling: “What if the cancer is back?”
Cancer’s ‘silent’ impacts
Studies show cancer survivors experience anxiety and depression that can last years after they finish treatment.
The advocacy group Cancer Nation surveyed patients nationwide last year It found that about a third of those who had finished treatment reported anxiety about their cancer potentially coming back, as well as problems with not feeling like their “old self.” Only 1 in 5 of the surveyed survivors reported seeing a mental health professional.
Finding therapists who understand how cancer can affect people physically and emotionally can be a challenge, especially in states like Iowa. According to the Iowa Cancer Registry, the number of Iowans living five years after their diagnosis has increased about 0.4% each year since 2000, and the state has the second-highest rate of new cancer diagnoses Researchers aren’t sure why but the University of Iowa scientists who run the reg-
istry are taking a deep dive into the issue in a two-year state-funded project.
Iowa is also largely rural. Some of the counties that have the highest cancer rates also have the fewest mental health workers. Newman went through several therapists before she was able to get an appointment with Julie Larson, a Des Moines-based therapist who works with a lot of cancer survivors.
“I just felt like I needed something more specific to what I was going through,” Newman said.
In Larson’s practice, it’s common for clients like Newman to start therapy months or even a year after finishing treatment, when they realize they aren’t feeling how they expected to feel.
“Physically people’s bodies have changed,” Larson said. “And they are reconcil-
HEALTH NOTES
ing loss and grief. And those experiences are a little bit more silent, a little more invisible, and friends and family don’t often fully understand or grasp that.” Larson said cancer survivors often seek her out because she understands cancer and the different forms of treatment people may have experienced.
“I’m not a doctor, but I’ve done this a long time. So I know what happens when people have Adriamycin. I know the treatment protocol for carboplatin,” she said, citing chemotherapy drugs.
Oncology, mental health
When it comes to treating cancer the field of oncology often neglects mental health, said Patricia Ganz, an oncologist and professor at the UCLA School of Public Health who has spent decades doing research on cancer survivors and their
lingering challenges.
“We know how to give pills. We know how to give pain medicine, sleep medicines. But we’re not really schooled in the antidepressants,” she said.
There’s an increasing awareness about the need to screen for psychological distress in cancer patients and the need to provide mental health services for cancer patients and survivors, Ganz said, but expertrecommended screenings and referrals don’t always happen to the extent they should.
The MercyOne Richard Deming Cancer Center in Des Moines has started offering services such as counseling, music therapy, and mindfulness sessions to reduce stress for those in and out of treatment.
“You get cared for intensely when you’re getting treated for cancer,” said Richard Deming, the medical director at the clinic named for him. By contrast, he said, when people com pl ete treatment, the care typically shifts: “It’s almost like, ‘You should feel fo rtun ate that you’re cancer-free and just get on with your life.’”
To treat cancer comprehensively, Deming said, doctors need to pay attention to far more than just physical symptoms. That requires a shift in the way doctors treat patients, he said.
“Every step along the way, whether it’s through diagnosis or treatment or follow-up, we have to ask, ‘What are the issues you’re experiencing?’ ” Deming said. “Not just: ‘Do you have cancer? Did we get rid of the cancer?’”
This article is from a partnership that includes Iowa Public Radio, NPR, and KFF Health News.
Ochsner Children’s in New Orleans begins Summer Toy Drive
BY MARGARET DELANEY Staff writer
Ochsner Children’s has launched its annual Summer Toy Drive, collecting new toys to help brighten the hospital experience for patients throughout the year
The community is invited to donate items at designated drop-off locations, helping ensure children have access to comfort, play and moments of joy when they need them most.
Accepted donations include brand-new toys in original packaging as well as books, games, puzzles and craft kits for infants through teens. To protect the health and safety of patients, the program cannot accept stuffed animals or cloth items. For New Orleans donation locations visit ochsner.org/toydrive.
BR children’s hospital names president
Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System-Our Lady of
DOULAS
Continued from page 1X
Connects, estimates that nurses have made around 2,000 initial visits to families — helping identity a range of issues, including high blood pressure, lactation and breastfeeding challenges, physical recovery complications and mental health changes.
“We’re just ensuring that (a mother) is well-informed, well-educated and knows that she’s not alone,” August-Autry said. “There’s support out there.”
In northwest Louisiana, Devine “Divine” Bailey-Nicholas focuses on the pre-birth side of the issue. Bailey-Nicholas can’t put a number to the number of mothers she’s helped. She’s been a doula for over 50 women and offered many more counseling through her organization, Community Birth Companion, where she is executive director Community Birth Companion started in 2012 with the mission of lowering infant and maternal mor-
the Lake Children’s Health named Dr Shaun Kemmerly as its new president, following a national search. Kemmerly has more than three decades of pediatric care and physician leadership experience.
Kemmerly has served in several leadership roles, bringing clinical leadership, operational experience and a deep commitment to advancing pediatric care across Louisiana.
North Oaks Health welcomes ENT
Dr Erik Rasmussen joins the North Oaks ENT & Allergy Clinic in Hammond. He specializes in Inspire Therapy, an FDA-approved surgical implant that treats sleep apnea in patients who cannot tolerate CPAP machines.
Rasmussen earned his undergraduate degree from John Brown University in Siloam Springs and his medical degree from the University of Arkansas in Little Rock.
He completed his otolaryngology (head and neck surgery) residency
PROVIDED PHOTO
Devine ‘Divine’ Bailey-Nicholas of Opelousas was honored with a 2025 Angel Award from the Louisiana Blue Foundation for her work supporting pregnant mothers and breastfeeding mothers.
tality rates in St. Landry Parish. “I wanted to support mothers and families in the way in which I wished I was supported in my first two pregnancies,” Bailey-Nicholas said. “I knew that it was a maternal health crisis among women in general and Black women specifically in this country, and I wanted
at the University of Louisville in Kentucky
Tulane cardiologist named physician of the year
The American Heart Association honored Tulane cardiologist Dr Keith C. Ferdinand with its 2026 Physician of the Year Award on June 23 at the association’s National Volunteer Awards ceremony in Irving, Texas. The award recognized Ferdinand, the Gerald S. Berenson Chair in Preventive Cardiology and director of clinical cardiology at Tulane University School of Medicine, for his dedication to preventing heart disease, improving lives and ensuring more people, especially patients in under-resourced communities, have access to cardiovascular care. Ferdinand was born and raised in New Orleans’ Lower 9th Ward, a neighborhood where a career in medicine was not often seen as an option. But he was encouraged by his family and teachers, who saw
to work toward a change in a positive direction.”
Over the years, Bailey-Nicholas expanded her roles; she now holds certificates as a professional midwife, lactation counselor, maternalchild community health worker and doula trainer
Although the research on Louisiana’s maternal care can be negative, it’s “an opportunity where we can really build up communities with doula support and midwifery support,” Bailey-Nicholas said “We have work ahead, but I’m hoping that we are growing a solid workforce that is going to be able to make some changes.”
Community Birth Companions has trained over 20 people to become doulas since its founding. Bailey-Nicholas said she’s seen a shift in perception of doulas since then.
“It was for some people seen as a luxury,” she said. “A lot of folks felt like they may not need a doula because they have an aunt or a friend, but I think people are understanding now that doulas are trained specifically.” Louisiana passed legislation in
in him the ability to make a difference.
“I was pleased to have the opportunity to work at Tulane, and it has always been rewarding for me to serve communities,” said Ferdinand.
Pennington study to eye women’s diets
Pennington Biomedical Research Center is launching a LEAP study to examine the impact of a diet high in fresh lean pork, compared to a plant-based diet, on cardiovascular function in perimenopausal women who are overweight or have obesity and who are experiencing menopause symptoms.
To qualify for this research study, participants should:
n Be a female, 40 to 55 years old
n Have a BMI of 28 to 45
n Be experiencing irregular menstrual cycles (e.g., not having a period every month) but have not gone longer than 12 consecutive months without a period
2025 requiring Medicaid-managed care organizations to reimburse doula services. Since the change, Bailey-Nicholas said she’s seen more awareness of doula services as an option for mothers seeking help in these healthcare deserts. She takes a nuanced view of maternal health in the state.
n Be experiencing severe menopause symptoms daily (hot flashes, excessive sweating during the night, fatigue, frequent urinary tract infections, etc.)
n Be doing less than three hours per week of structured exercise. Compensation of up to $600 is offered for the completion of this study with provided meals.
New therapy at Ochsner
LSU Health in Shreveport North Louisiana patients with leukemia, lymphoma or multiple myeloma can receive CAR T-cell therapy, a treatment that reprograms a patient’s own cells to fight cancer, in Shreveport at Ochsner LSU Health — Feist-Weiller Cancer Center For more information, visit ochsnerlsuhs.org/fwcc.
Health Notes is an occasional listing of health happenings around Louisiana. Have something you’d like to share? Contact us at margaret. delaney@theadvocate.com.
“I would like to reframe it in a way that even though I can feel discouraged, I know that it’s joy there,” Bailey-Nicholas said. “I know that we are making connections, that we are having some great partnerships, and we’re identifying people within the hospital system and with other community organizations who are really working just like we are to better the outcomes for mothers and families.”
WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU
The Louisiana Health section is focused on providing in-depth, personal accounts of health in the state.This section looks at medical innovations, health discoveries, state and national health statistics and re-examining tried and true methods on ways to live well.
Health editions will also profile people who are advancing health for the state of Louisiana. Do you have a health story? We want to hear from you. Email margaret.delaney@ theadvocate.com to submit health questions, stories and more.
IOWA PUBLIC RADIO/KFF HEALTH NEWS/TNS PHOTO By NATALIE KREBS
Morgan Newman was diagnosed with Stage 3 cervical cancer at age 24 but has been cancer-free for a decade. She says she still deals with lingering fears of the cancer returning
RATESOFINDUCED LABORRISE IN LOUISIANA, ACROSS THEU.S.
Rates of induced labor in United States are increasing,and have been for decades. Laborwas induced for more than one-third of all singleton births in 2024 (34.5%), an increase of 39% from 2016.
Birthcertificate data showthat labor was induced in fewerthan 1in10births in 1989 compared with more than 1in4 births in 2016,according to data released by the Centers forDisease Control and Prevention.
Inducinglaborbymedical or surgical means instead of waiting for the spontaneous onset of labor can helpprotect maternal and perinatal health by reducing the complications of continuing the pregnancy, but it mayalsocarry risks.
In Louisiana, labor inductionrates increased by 33%ineight years,from 28.4% in 2016to37.7% in 2024.
These states hadthe highest percentageincrease in labor induction in singleton births, from2016to2024:
n California with a 106% increase, from 14.6% to 30.1%;
n Massachusetts with a 77% increase, from 19.5% to 34.5%;
n Hawaii with a 68% increase, from 18.3% to 30.7%;
n Pennsylvania with a 68% increase, from 23.8% to 39.9%;
n Maine with a 57% increase, from 25.8% to 40.6%;
n Minnesota with a 54% increase, from 23.8% to 36.6%;
n Colorado with a 53% increase, from 22.2% to 33.9%;
n Nevada with a 53% increase, from 21.6% to 33.1%;
n Michigan with a 50% increase, from 22.5% to 33.8%;
n Virginia with a 48% increase, from 19.1% to 28.2%
These states hadthe lowest percentageincrease in labor induction in singleton births,from 2016to2024:
n NewMexico with aslight decrease,from 35.1% to 34.6%;
n Tennessee with a 4% increase, from 34.5% to 35.9%;
n West Virginia with a 12% increase, from 40.2% to 45.2%;
HEADPHONES
Continued from page1X
‘Don’t putitatmax’ Earbuds themselves are not necessarily harmful, but how they are used can be. The biggest concernislistening at high volumes for extended periods of time. Over time, repeated exposure to loud sounds can damage the delicate hair cells insidethe inner ear that are responsible for hearing. Once those cells are damaged, they do not regenerate.
“The biggest problem right nowisthatkids wear these headphones,and parents don’trealize howloud they’re listening to things until they’ve been doing it for years,”hesaid.“Sometimes theyhave hearing damage already.”
According to the American OsteopathicAssociation,hearing loss linked to headphone usage is increasing. About 1in5teenagers will experience some form of hearing damage, which is about 30% higher thanitwas 20 yearsago Agood rule, according to
Dr.Janet Choi, an otolaryngologist with Keck Medicine at the University of Southern California, is to put headphones at 60% volumefor 60 minutesata time.
“T her e’s no cl ea r guidancefor recreational noise exposure at this point,” Choi said. “But we don’twanttoput headphones at maximum volume.” Choi treats many Los An-
Percentchangeininduction of labor, by state, from 2016 to 2024
n Arizona with a 13% increase, from29.7% to 33.6%;
n Georgia with a 13% increase, from24% to 27.2%;
n Utah with a 14% increase, from15.8% to 18%;
n Delaware with a 20% increase, from32.4% to 38.9%;
n Idaho with a 24% increase, from30.1% to 37.4%;
n NewJersey with a 24% increase, from24.1% to 30%;
n Oklahoma with a 20% increase, from33.2% to 39.8%;
n South Carolina with a 24% increase, from29.1% to 36%;
n Texaswith a 24% increase, from24.8% to 30.8%.
Thereportisbased on birth certificate data fromthe National Vital Statistics Systemreported by the CDC.
geles-areamusicians who are often exposed to loud volumes at concerts, rehearsals and practice spaces. She recommends “high fidelity earplugs,”orhi-fi’s, to reduceloud noise exposure at an even decibel level without distorting or muffling sounds.
Hanby,who primarily sees patientsinthe Baton Rouge area, also recommends ear protection for hunters.
“Going on just one hunt without ear protection can permanently damage your hearing,”Hanby said. “And once it’s gone, it’s gone.”
There are some issues with headphoneswithmoisture and infection in the ear canal, according to Hanby Headphones and earplugs need to be sanitized often as bacteriaislikely to build up over timeand after repeated use.
“Wipe the headphones on a regular basis with an alcohol swab,” Choisaid. “Especially if there is ahistory of ear infections, like in swimmers.”
Some headphones even have replaceable tips that can be asecondary option to keep up with earpiece hygiene.
Here are someearly signs to look out for that indicate hearing loss: n Frequently asking people to repeat themselves; n Difficulty following conversationsincrowded settings; n Turning on thetelevision or phone volume up higher than others prefer; n Feeling like people are mumbling; n Trouble hearing highpitchedsoundssuchas birds, alarmsorchildren’s voices; n Ringing, buzzing or humming in the ears.
BRO UGH TT OY OU BY Molly Kimball RD,CSSD
Carethat fitsyour schedule
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Palmetto Island State Park is nestled in the swamplands on Bayou Vermilion, south of Abbeville.
BY CATHERINE S. COMEAUX
LOUISIANA
BAYOU
AmasterplancametoBayou Vermilion’srescue
decadesago.Those wholoveitnow look ahead.
BY CATHERINE S. COMEAUX | Contributing writer
ATthe Vermilionville performance center this spring in Lafayette, citizens gathered and put sticky notes on maps withmessages.
“Weneed more places to relaxand have a drinkonthe bayou.”
“More ecotourism, please.”
Ayellownote said, “What about ariver walk?” and was countered withapink one, “Don’t
The Bayou Vermilion quietly flows throughLafayette Parish for 33 miles Wildlife and residents depend on it in many ways, for habitat, recreation, irrigation and drainage —not to mention it musthandle thetreated wastewater of thousands of flushing toilets daily Waterways across the globe facethe challenge of maintaining their ecological integrity whilebeing so heavily used. To meet that challenge, the waterway itself needs an advocate. In Lafayette Parish, that’sthe BayouVermilion District.
Funded by atax millage, the district’s original, spiral-boundmaster plan, published in 1985, contained practical ideas. But it also dreamed big, envisioninga cultural center,hotels and horsebackriding along the bayou.
Aworkinprogress
Partsofthatplanhavebecomereality.The organization monitors water quality,regularlyclears trash from the bayou, manages seven boat/paddle craft launches, provides educational opportunities and operates Vermilionville —abayou-side living historymuseum and culturalcenter Since its creation and aided by the Teche-VermilionFresh Water District, the goalhas been to helpimprovewaterquality.In 1982, theTeche-Vermilion project beganoperating pumps which reestablished ahistorical connection betweenthe Vermilionand the Atchafalaya Basin, whichhad been cut off by levees. Thatchange andinfluxesoffresh water allowed the Bayou Vermilionto more readily flush pollutants and debris.
ä See BAYOU, page 2Y
overdevelop likethe San AntonioRiverwalk!”
In 1984, when dead livestock still floated the bayou waters, theLegislature created theBayou Vermilion District as apolitical subdivision with three purposes: improve water quality,create economic developmentand do “anyand allother acts” to improveBayou Vermilion By theend of theyear,the organization is getting arefresh with anew master plan, coordinated by consultants with Frees and Nichols, whowere on hand to gather input.
ABOVE: Reenactor KevinRees stops to chat with outof-state tourists as they explore the Vermilionville Living History Museum and Folklife Park in Lafayette. LEFT: Blacksmith Sean Hayes lightsthe forge
STAFF PHOTOS By
LESLIE WESTBROOK
Interview leadsto original angel
For the third summer in arow, our daughter Piper has moved to anew spotinDenver.When she sent me the new address last month, Ilooked it up, the way amotherdoes.I realizeditwas barely ablock from East High School,whichmade me think of Mary Nell Barringer Ihad gone on awalk with and written astory aboutBarringer in April. At 82, she takesdaily walks, picks up bits she finds alongthe wayand makesbug art from the unsuspected treasures. Partwaythrough our interview, she mentionedshe grew up in Colorado.Itoldher our younger daughterisa teacher in Denver
“At East High School?” Barringerasked. Itoldher thatwasn’tPiper’s school,but Iwas familiar with it andthatIthought it to be such a beautiful campus.
“My grandmotherwas the originalangel,”Barringer said. Ihad no ideawhat she meant andaskedfor an explanation.
The short version: In 1886, the high school’s architect wanted ayoung girl’sface carvedinto the entryway, akind of keystone. Thousands of local girls were considered. A6-year-old named Ella Catherine Matty won. The child’sface andsculpture were so lovely thatthe school’s students were referred to as angels, even becoming the East High Angels as their official mascot.
Ella Catherine went on to graduate from East High in 1898. Her granddaughter, born decades later, was the womanacross the table frommeinBaton Rouge, telling me aboutthe magic she works turning notebook spirals andold flip phonesinto butterfliesand cicadawings.
Having walked East High’s campus on my way to Tattered Cover, abookstore I’ve loved for decades,Iwas amazed by Barringer’sstory.She told me that the sculpture still exists on campus —and Ifiledthat tidbit away until Isaw ourdaughter’snew address.
As Piperwas moving to her newapartment andvisiting the nearby weekly farmers market with her boyfriend, Itexted and askediftheywould walk the campus andlook for an angelic sculpture of alittle girl’sface. I thought it would be afun adventure for them, anditseemedeasy enough. It wasn’t.
PHOTO
STAFF PHOTO By JANRISHER Piper Naudin, left,and Jan Risher stand by the plaque that tells the storyofhow Ella Catherine Matty Orman became the original East High AngelinDenver.
Couple creates safe place for youths to ride ATVs
BY IYAHNNA CARTER
Contributing writer
When Louis and Stephanie Allen saw a story about young riders navigating illegal ATVs across Baton Rouge’s Mississippi Bridge, it sparked an idea.
The Baton Rouge couple owned 35-plus acres of undeveloped property in Scotlandville and had been looking for creative ways to use it
Maybe creating a safe space for the youths to enjoy their off-road vehicles could be it.
“And so we said, ‘You know what? We have the skills to do it. We have the property to do it Let’s do it,’” said Stephanie Allen
That was the beginning of the Throw Dat Dirt ATV Park & Trail in 2022, a venture that has expanded far beyond recreation. The Allens provide safety training and are helping to boost the economy in an area that has been overlooked for new development.
By drawing visitors from outside the neighborhood to the park, located at 11890 Gibbens Road, the couple says they are bringing new dollars into the community.
“We get to redevelop an area of the city that struggles for development dollars and for new businesses to come in and stay afloat right?” Allen said.
The ATV park only strengthened what the couple had already begun. They had established a teaching garden on the property, where they educate young people on farming and land literacy
The ATV park became another form of what they called “creative land use,” a way to make unused
BAYOU
Continued from page 1y
This, along with the organization’s actions have contributed to a reduction in the fecal coliform bacteria from 1984 levels of 3,000 colonies/100mL down to 530 colonies recorded in 2022.
The Bayou Vermilion District works to improve water quality in a highly visible way with boats, grapples and a trash trap located on Coulee Mine In 2025 they removed 1,806 barrels plus 71 tires from the main bayou and 120 cubic yards on Coulee Mine.
But, improving water quality involves more than getting the litter out.
The organization also regularly monitors water quality indicators like dissolved oxygen, temperature, pH and fecal bacteria. This water quality data alerts the Bayou Vermilion District to situations that need urgent and ongoing attention — often necessitating action by agencies with code enforcing powers.
“Water quality is the center of the Bayou Vermilion District’s mission as evidenced by our commitment to a community-driven master plan, our Water Quality Task Force and our most recent initiative to educate Lafayette students on all aspects of our watershed,” said Karen Hail, president of the Board of Commissioners which governs the organization
Since its creation three years ago, the Water Quality Task Force has prioritized reducing high fecal bacteria counts by working to strengthen regulations and enforcement related to home septic systems and privately managed mid-size wastewater package plants.
Along with pet and agricultural waste, these systems contribute to high fecal bacteria when they are not properly maintained
High bacteria counts are the main reason why swimming in the bayou, while refreshing, is a bad idea. They affect whether the bayou receives the DEQ’s primary or secondary (or neither) status. Waterways with primary contact status are considered swimmable. Secondary contact recreation status allows for safe paddling, fishing and boating but is a tentative status affected by fluctuations in bacteria counts, influenced by heavy rains washing pollutants into the bayou.
Commissioner Sam Oliver says the task force has done important work, particularly in coordinating activity between code enforcement agencies like Lafayette Consolidated Government and the Department of Environmental Quality
“Making sure there is clear communication between these agencies is a big step,” Oliver said. “The master plan will build on that, now that we’ve deepened these partnerships.”
No matter the technical reported status of the bayou, there has been an ongoing improvement not only in water quality but
Trail in Scotlandville, conducts an
and her
space functional while investing directly into the community
“The learning curve is very
steep,” she said. “A lot of challenges, and then just the maintenance on it. We definitely bit
off a chunk. But we are, I feel like we’re the most prepared to do it.”
Tourists who come to ride ATVs and explore the area often ask where to eat, where to stay and what else is happening nearby, the couple said.
In recent years, safety has become a major focus of their work.
After discovering that ATV safety training was nonexistent locally and that people were traveling as far as Texas for such training, the Allens became certified instructors through the ATV Safety Institute.
Now, they offer training sessions designed to teach both youths and adults how to ride responsibly
“There was nowhere close that offered safety training,” Stephanie Allen explained. “So, we stepped in to fill the gap.”
In June, the park offered free training to community members during ATV Safety Week and OffHighway Vehicle Training Week. The couple hopes to expand access year-round, especially for younger riders.
One of their biggest needs moving forward is securing more youth-sized ATVs, which can be just as expensive as full-sized models. With additional partnerships or funding, the couple said they hope to broaden their programs and reach younger participants.
At its heart, this is not just a business — it’s an extension of the Allens’ life and values. They describe themselves as “serial entrepreneurs,” combining their individual business experience into shared efforts that benefit their family and neighborhood.
They’ve raised two sons but say their impact goes far beyond their household. Neighborhood kids regularly gather at their home and on the property participating in projects, learning skills, and building relationships.
“As far as we’re concerned, they’re all our sons,” she said. “They come from everywhere. They eat together, work together and grow together.”
From constructing trails to growing their garden, the Allens say every project is designed to connect young people with practical skills and real-world applications.
“Our primary goal is to make this a place where people can live, work and play,” she said.
For now, the couple plans to continue expanding their safety programming and community partnerships, encouraging residents and visitors alike to stay connected through their website and social media for updates on upcoming training events.
But their mission remains steady: invest in the next generation uplift the community and prove that even neglected spaces can be transformed into something meaningful.
This story was reported and written by Iyahnna Carter, a journalism student at Louisiana State University, with the support of the nonprofit Louisiana Collegiate News Collaborative, an LSU-led coalition of eight universities funded by the Henry Luce and John D. and Catherine T MacArthur foundations.
PROVIDED PHOTO Entrepreneur Stephanie Allen, who co-owns
STAFF FILE PHOTO By BRAD KEMP
Paddlers meander down Bayou Vermilion during the 2024 Bayou Fest and Boat Parade.
STAFF PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK
Reenactor Emily Duplechain stands on the front porch of the Boucvalt House at Vermilionville in Lafayette.
STAFF FILE PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK
River
Workingshiftsatfoodbankhelps with theirsobriety
BY VIOLET BUCARO Staff writer
Calandria Robinson droppeda canofcorn into acardboard box andwatched it inchdownanassembly line, where more groceries gotstuffedinand it headed to the back of adelivery truck.Her first day volunteering at Second Harvest Food Bank back in late 2024 became amonthly field trip —it helps her stay sober
Walking into the large warehouse in Harahan feels like you’ve entered amore industrialized Costco or Home Depot. Conveyor belts, stacks of food —“Theyrun like awell-oiled machine,” Robinson said, and at first, “It’s alittle daunting.”
When Second Harvesttrucks pass by on the highway,Robinson likes to think her box is in there, on its way to the hands of someone hungry
She has overtwo years of sobriety since completing the addiction treatment program at Avenues Recovery Center.She started avolunteer initiative at Second Harvest for patients and alumni to complete their court-mandatedcommunity service hours andpractice the last step of 12-step programs: helping others.
In Louisiana, Avenues Recovery has clinicalfacilities in Metairie, Covington and Baton Rouge. It offers aftercare groups forits alumni to continue recovery involvement and encouraging what some may feel is impossible to achieve in sobriety: Having fun.
About once amonth, Robinson andAvenues fellows gather at Second Harvestinmatching blue smock vests to, as Robinson puts it, “help improve the community and improveourselves allatthe same time.”
The foodbank delivers food to 500communities across 23 parishes in south Louisiana and distributes approximately 40 million pounds of food each year. It’satall order,requiring help from several volunteers and groups in the region.
Robinson said she has seen manypeople in addictionface food insecurity,one of thereasons Second Harvest is meaningful place for people in recovery to
program for the Avenuesgroup
give back.
“It’sone that strikes very dear to most of us,” she said. “At theend of ashift,tosee how many boxes we packed, how many families we were able to affect, is alot. It’s meaningful and we wear it likea badge of honor.”
Gettingout of ‘self’
Avenues alumni coordinator Jacie Plaisance, said her five years of sobriety is achieved through acts of service. Shejoined the alumni association in 2021 and later came back to be an employee at the facility.Without giving back, she said shequestionswhethershe would be abletostay sober
“Theentirepoint of recoveryis getting out of ‘self’and helping somebody else,” Plaisance said.
As the group sets up at stations packing, weighing,carryingand boxing, Plaisance noticed the peopleshe hadseen come through the doors to detox from drug abuse were now smilingand laughing in afriendly competition to fill as many boxes aspossible.
“It’sthe community whowins.
We win,” Robinson said. Lessthan10peopletotaled a high score of 800finished boxes in just afew hours.
“It’ssuper important to me to show them that they can have fun and recoveryand have fun doing
TwoAvenues Recoveryalumni build boxes during volunteer work at Second Harvest Food Bank of Greater
service work,”Plaisance said. She recalled atime apatient approached herafter ashift andsaid, “The whole timeI’ve been here, I have not thought about adrink. That’sthe entire point, she said.
“It just warms my heartsomuch because not toolong ago we were either on the streets, or manipulating, or lyingordoing godawful things just to, youknow, drink,” shesaid. “It’sjusta shiftinperspective and we get to see that in real time.”
Offthe clock, Plaisance will go on thefieldtrips just because it fills her spiritualcup. “It does something to me,” shesaid.
Plaisance said when arecovery facilitylike Avenuesgivesback to volunteer forcharitable groups, clientsfeel like it’s easier to approach servicework for themselves andcontinue to volunteer after they leaveAvenuesand reintegrate intothe world sober “Somanypeople stay in addic-
tion because theydon’t see away out,” she said. “The more youget outside of ‘self,’ the better your recovery will be.”
What volunteering canachieve
John Sillars, chief strategist at SecondHarvest, said the Avenues helps pack for the Commodity Supplemental Food Program, boxing shelf-stable groceries for senior residents.
Roughly 14% of seniors 60 yearsand olderare foodinsecure in Louisiana, possibly the country’shighestrate. SecondHarvest deliversfood boxesmonthly to 19,000 senior residents in the region.Abox provides about 20 meals.
Sillars said theirprograms must meet aquota of 1,500 meals per day,with thousands of residents relying on daily distribution.
Last year,Second Harvest tallied 86,000 volunteer hours, which equates to 42 full-time employees.
Sillars said it would be financially impossible to distribute food withoutvolunteers.
“Just putting acan of beansin every box that passes by them, that work is feeding the seniors,” Sillars said.
It is estimatedthatover 800,000 people in Louisiana face food insecurity,and 300,000 are children. Whenschoolsare outfor the summer,theydon’t close shop.
Second Harvest pledges to provide thelargestfood supply of free meals for children in its Southern region. This year, thesummerfeeding program prepares 10,000meals aday for 10,000 kids,saidJon Toups said, the group’sCEO. That’stheir largestorderyet
Sillars said he believesvolunteering goes beyond the box. It is agreat place for friendship.
Gabriel Garrido Jr.isinhis first year of sobriety and attended Avenues’ recovery programinFebruary.Hesaid the people he’smet volunteering at Second Harvest have stayed in his friendship circle andwill frequently meet up to go bowling or tube down the river
“There’snothing like knowing your helping another person,” he said. “It helps me sleep at night.”
After yearsspent battling the disease of alcoholism,Garrido saidherealized if he wantsto be of value he must do valuable things.
“Focusonothers and the rest is takencareof,” he said.
That sentiment is shared by manyrecovering alcoholics and addicts. For Robinson, helping others as shewas helped allows hertokeep the life she’sbuilt.
“In ordertokeep it, youhave to give it away,” Robinson said. Volunteer opportunities at SecondHarvest canbefound at nohunger.org. People who are seeking support forrecovery canvisit Avenues Recovery Center at avenuesrecovery.com or by phone at (866) 530-6842.
Email Violet Bucaro at violet. bucaro@theadvocate.com.
“I
am honored and excited to take on this newrole.Shell Norcoisanimportant site with alonghistory and areputation forhavinggreat people and astrongculture.” AlexMarkos, ShellNorco VP
Shell NorcoWelcomes AlexMarkos, VP
ShellwelcomesAlexMarkosasthe newlyappointed Vice President of theNorco site. Markoshas worked in severalcountriesinavariety of roles. Most recently,his leadership at Shell Polymers MonacainPennsylvania andthe Sarnia Manufacturing Centre in Canada prepared himfor balancing thedemands of large-scale operations with theimportanceofculture, trust, andvisible leadership.AtNorco,he steps intoaworkplace widely recognized within Shell forits strong culture.“There’sa real sense of pride here,”hesays. “People care about thesite, about each other, and about doingthingsthe rightway.You can feel that immediately.”
At thecoreofhis leadership philosophyisthisprinciple:safety comesfirst. “Nothing is more important than making sure everyperson who comesto work goeshomesafely,” he says.His focus alsoincludesenvironmental performance reliability, and developing thepeople who keep thesite running. “You have to deliver today while preparingfor tomorrow.”
ShellNorco is one of themostimportant sitesinShell’sU.S. operations. Theonly Shell refinery in thecountryintegratedwith chemicals manufacturing, Norcoplaysa centralrole in thecompany’soperationsand remains astrongeconomic engine forthe Gulf Coast.
NewOrleans.
Calandria Robinson, left, and a Second Harvest staff member embrace in ahug duringawork shift in 2024, the year she started thevolunteer
Garrido
Older instructors finding their groove
Playing hip-hop or Doris Day, exercise teachers can speak their peers’ language
BY DONNA BLANKINSHIP Associated Press
SEATTLE Bengie Santos was a dancer and choreographer for 30 years before reaching an age when most artists hang up their dancing shoes and take a seat in the audience. But she wasn’t ready to sit back and enjoy the show So Santos began her third act as an exercise instructor
Now 72 and in her 14th year teaching at the YMCA of Greater Seattle, Santos has an almost cultlike following of older adults — many in their 80s and 90s who come to stretch, dance and lift weights multiple times a week.
From Doris Day singalongs to hip-hop routines and country line dances, the classes get people kicking, popping and spinning.
Some of Santos’ students say younger instructors — however great — don’t quite “get them” in the same way And Y organizers and other experts say many older instructors can be role models, speaking their peers’ language in a way that makes exercise more fun.
Building social connections
Sharon Ruff, 81 was attracted to Santos’ classes by the eclectic mix of music, and loves the instructor’s energy and enthusiasm.
Before she retired from her job as a teacher she had never exercised regularly “I didn’t really like it, because it wasn’t fun,” she says.
Her friend Ann Kashiwa, 91, often stays for two hourlong classes in a row She started taking Santos’ classes during the pandemic, and has stuck with them through treatment for pancreatic cancer
“She is not only a fantastic teacher, but she gets people together,” says Kashiwa, whose Y friendships have helped her through tough times.
Santos says inspiration flows both ways. Her students inspire her to keep going, she says, and “I’m hoping I inspire them to keep going.”
What older instructors can offer Exercise and being with people are crucial for healthy aging, so finding incentives to do that is important.
“Everybody has to figure out what their barriers are” and come up with strategies to make physical activity rewarding, says Daniel E. Lieberman, an evolutionary biologist at Harvard and author of several books, including “Exercised: Why Something We Never Evolved to Do is Healthy and Rewarding.” Finding someone to get you moving, whether an instructor or a friend, can help overcome that natural resistance.
“People who stay active as they get older are important role models for everyone,” Lieberman says.
Harry King, an 83-year-old personal trainer in Greenville, South Carolina, agrees that motivation
RISHER
Continued from page 1y
They walked the grounds twice. No sculpture, not one that matched what I had described and they had pictured. What they didn’t know yet, and neither did I, was that there wasn’t much of a sculpture left to find. The original had worn down over more than a century of Denver weather, until barely a face remained.
The next day, they went back with better information and found a plaque instead of a statue, marking a spot on the grounds where the eroded original still sits. The fuller likeness, they later learned, was inside the school. I filed away that success too. I arrived last week in Denver to help Piper move into her new place. On my first full day there, she and I walked over to East High together She led me straight to the small garden that continues to pay homage to the school’s original angel. There it was the face of a young girl who looked, in fact, a lot like an angel. I stood there taking it all in, connecting the dots and doing the math. Ella Catherine Matty was 6 years old when Grover Cleveland
“We know it’s more than just fitness for the majority of our active older adults. It’s also the mental and emotional aspect.”
KERRy ASHBy,yMCA program executive
to take that first step is tough for many people, and becomes even harder as their mobility weakens.
King had always been active — kayaking, hiking and playing basketball but when he retired from his job as an insurance executive and business coach, he felt a pull toward a comfortable chair in front of the TV But that got boring fast, so when he saw a Help Wanted sign at Planet Fitness, he applied and worked his way up to become a trainer
Most of his clients are 50 or older
“I’ve heard people say I set a good example and I try to,” he says. “At my age, if I can exercise, why can’t other people too?”
Recruiting older instructors
The YMCA in Seattle is mindful of the value of having an older instructor leading a senior class.
“We don’t put an age limit on our applicants,” says program executive Kerry Ashby, who started there as a younger instructor for the Active Older Adults program.
The Y does recruit from within the older adult classes, and a lot of instructors are former participants.
“We know it’s more than just fitness for the majority of our active older adults,” Ashby says. “It’s also the mental and emotional aspect.”
Tom Kleinecke, 67, has been a member of the Y for 18 years and has sampled many different classes. Younger instructors, he says, tend to teach their classes, while Santos leads and inspires.
Kleinecke says his fitness and endurance have improved noticeably since he started taking three of Santos’ classes a week. Although he’s fit, he says, it’s challenging to keep up with her
One of the classes includes a faster-paced dance class not designed for older students. At first,
parts were tough to follow, he said, but before long, he knew all the steps, from mambo to moonwalk.
“If you’re worried about being out of sync and uncoordinated, don’t worry about it because nobody is paying attention to you,”
Kleinecke says. They’re all watching the instructor Now, he and his wife go out dancing on the weekends.
Looking forward to working out
Santos says she considers the ages and backgrounds of her stu-
East
dents when choosing the exercise class soundtrack.
“I always tell other instructors it isn’t your class, it’s their class,” she says. She also teaches smaller classes in three senior living facilities. Those students range from 80 to 102.
“The caregivers wheel them out. I play their music. It triggers their memory,” from Judy Garland to Louie Armstrong, Santos says.
“When they see me they think they’re going to party.”
Some even waltz in their chairs.
governor’s son. Her granddaughter remembers
When Barringer was growing up in Pueblo, her family
and
Today
are the
grandchildren.
wouldn’t have known about this particular angel without meeting a woman in Baton Rouge who makes beetles out of bottle caps. I wouldn’t have gone looking for her without a daughter who happened to move a block away And I wouldn’t have appreciated any of it without one offhand sentence in the middle of an interview
Those are the moments that make the world feel stitched together
Email Jan Risher at jan.risher@ theadvocate.com.
STAFF PHOTO By JAN RISHER
April, Mary Nell
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOS By LINDSEy WASSON
Instructor Bengie Santos, 72, at front, leads an exercise class for older adults at the Dale Turner Family yMCA in Shoreline, Wash.
Bengie Santos, 72, collects small exercise balls between portions of her exercise class for older adults
SUNDAY, JUlY 12, 2026
CURTIS / by Ray Billingsley
SLYLOCK FOX / by Bob Weber Jr
GET FUZZY / by Darby Conley
HAGAR THE HORRIBLE / by Chris Browne
MOTHER GOOSE AND GRIMM / by Mike Peters
ZIGGY / by Tom Wilson
ROSEBUDS / by Supr Dee
ZITS / by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman
SALLY FORTH / by Francesco Marciuliano & Jim Keefe
PEARLS BEFORE SWINE /byStephan Pastis
grams
directions: Make a 2- to 7-letter word from the letters in each row Add points of each word, using scoring directions at right. Finally, 7-letter words get 50-point bonus. “Blanks” used as any letter have no point value All the words are in the Official SCRABBLE® Players Dictionary, 5th Edition.
word game
instructions: 1. Words must be of four or more letters. 2. Words that acquire four letters by the addition of “s,” such as “bats” or “dies,” are not allowed. 3. Additional words made by adding a “d” or an “s” may not be used. 4. Proper nouns, slang words, or vulgar or sexually explicit words are not allowed.
todAY's Word — HieroGLYPH: HY-rohglif: A character used in a system of writing using pictorial characters.
Average mark 42 words Time limit 60 minutes Can you find 67 or more words in HIEROGLYPH?
ken ken
instructions: 1 -Each rowand each column must contain thenumbers 1through4 (easy) or 1through6 (challenging) without repeating 2 -The numbers within the heavily outlinedboxes, called cages, must combine using thegiven operation (inany order)toproduce the target numbersinthe top-left corners. 3 -Freebies: Fillinthe single-boxcages withthe numberinthe top-left corner
instructions: Sudoku is anumber-placing puzzle based on a 9x9 gridwith several given numbers. The object is to placethe numbers 1to 9in theempty squares so that each row,each column and each 3x3 boxcontains the same number only once. The difficultylevel of the Conceptis Sudoku increases from Monday to Sunday
directions: Complete thegridso that numbers 1–132 connect horizontally, vertically or diagonally
Sudoku
wuzzLes
How many goats?
Today’s deal is from a match between a team from the USA and a team from Poland, featuring two of America’s greatest players. South at this table was Jeff Meckstroth He won the opening heart lead with dummy’s king and led a club to his ace. A spade to the queen won, and Meckstroth cashed three more club tricks. West had to make two discards and shed one low diamond and the nine of spades. Meckstroth led the jack of spades to the king and ace, and exited dummy with a heart to West.
West realized that he would be forced to lead away from his king of diamonds after running his heart winners. Trying desperately to get off this endplay, West led a low heart and Meckstroth had nine tricks.
winners, Hamman discarded his two low diamonds, baring his king. Now when South tried to endplay him, Hamman was able to cash all his hearts and exit with the nine of spades to defeat the contract. Stars on parade!
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
super Quiz
Take this Super Quiz to a Ph.D. Score 1 point for each correct answer on the Freshman
SUBJECT: EVENTS OF 1984-1999
(Example: 1984: The Bhopal disaster took place in a pesticide plant in this country Answer: India.)
FRESHMAN LEVEL
1999: The U.S. turned over administration of this canal to the country’s government.
Answer________
1998: The Good Friday Agreement ended troubles in this part of the U.K. Answer________
1997: This princess was killed in a car
At the other table, West was TGBH The Great Bob Hamman. The bidding was different, with the Polish South opening one club and Hamman overcalling one heart. The final contract was the same, and the play proceeded the same way except when declarer cashed his club
ventures, going into debt or buying into someone else’s dream.
to take a
those trying to get
Stick to what and who you know best, and use your intelligence to navigate your way through any sticky situations you face LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) Turn limitations and setbacks into something fresh, exciting and uplifting. It’s up to you to generate the type of life you want to live Surround yourself with positivity
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Take the high road. Refuse to let anyone lead you astray or take advantage of your vulnerability Avoid joint
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) Take flight, experience life, discover what’s possible and start the process of change. Let go of what’s not working for you anymore and replace it with a little excitement and adventure.
SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 22) Communication will help you gain access to new possibilities. Refuse to let negativity or anger stand between you and something or someone you want in your life.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23-Dec. 21) Listen, negotiate and change only what’s
necessary and affordable. Back away if someone tries to use emotional manipulation. Take hold of whatever situation you face.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) It’s OK to take a break, reflect and find your happy place. Opportunity comes from doing what’s best for you. Someone you encounter will push emotional buttons.
AQUARIUS (Jan 20-Feb 19) Choose a diverse course of action. Change may be necessary, but so is security Don’t promise more than you can deliver. Having integrity and keeping a positive attitude will bring hope for a brighter future.
PISCES (Feb 20-March 20) Home is where the heart is Enjoy your space; fill it with the people you care about, host an event and be the one to bring people together Personal satisfaction is derived from doing the right thing.
ARIES (March 21-April 19) Don’t settle for less than what you want. Express your concerns if opposition surfaces. Having a positive attitude and being willing to compromise will help you put your plans in motion.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20) Pay attention to what’s unfolding around you. Don’t take an unnecessary
risk. Avoid crowds, scammers and those trying to mistreat you. Stick close to home and take care of unfinished business.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20) Put more effort into learning and expanding your interests. Don’t be tempted by lofty offers or those trying to talk you into overindulgence. Focus on self-improvement, not destruction.
The horoscope, an entertainment feature, is not based on scientific fact.
SCORING: 24 to 30 points —congratulations, doctor; 18 to 23 points—honorsgraduate; 13 to 17 points —you’replenty smart, but no grind; 5to12points —you really shouldhit the booksharder;1point to 4points —enroll in remedial courses immediately; 0points who reads thequestions to you?
Saturday's Cryptoquote: Youdon't passuparide to space. —Victor Glover
1. Panama Canal. 2. Northern Ireland. 3. Diana, Princess of Wales. 4. Afghanistan. 5.O.J. Simpson. 6. SouthAfrica. 7. Bill Clinton. 8. European Union. 9.Indira Gandhi. 10.Chile 11.Beijing. 12. Channel Tunnel. 13.Israel and Palestine. 14. Challenger.15. Titanic Crossword
