ana leaders on Monday cheered the announcement that Facebook parent Meta is more than doubling the size of its mammoth Hyperion data center in Richland Parish, as the scale of the investment — and what it could mean for the state came into greater focus.
At a news conference hours after the tech giant released details of its planned expansion, Landry, who has aggressively courted new industrial development in the state, championed it as a moment that “Louisiana has been waiting for.”
“We’re building a foundation for the next generation of American prosperity,” he said during a presentation that included remarks from Meta executives and some Richland Parish leaders who welcomed the expansion.
Meta will now spend $50 billion on Hyperion, up from $10 billion just 18 months ago. Its footprint has more than doubled to roughly 5 square
Gov. Jeff Landry discusses the impact on the state’s economy Monday after announcing Meta’s plans to expand its Richland Parish data center
miles. And its computing power has doubled, making it one of the fastest, most sophisticated and power hungry data centers planned to date.
The project also will take longer to build and come online, meaning more workers will move into the area and more permanent jobs will
eventually be created, even as concerns remain about power, water usage and the return on the state’s investments via tax breaks.
Hyperion will be one of the first 5-gigawatt data centers in the U.S., and only a handful of others are in the planning stages or under construction. Oracle and OpenAI are building a more expensive data center in the desert of New Mexico with a $165 billion price tag, but it’s roughly the same size as Hyperion and, for now at least, is a planned 2.5-gigawatt facility
Since the project broke ground in January 2025, it has fueled a boom in Richland Parish, a tiny rural community of 20,000 full-time residents. Richland Parish Assessor Lee Brown has seen it in property tax collections, which he estimates will be up by 30% overall by years end compared with 2025, rising to $28 million or so from $22 million.
“You always want more taxpayers, not people paying more taxes,” he said in an interview Monday. “This gives us more taxpayers.”
ä See META, page 3A
24 hours in a metabolic chamber
Volunteers participate in study on obesity and burning calories
BY AIDAN McCAHILL Staff writer
For those seeking a no-frills, reclusive staycation in Baton Rouge, the second floor of the Pennington Biomedical Clinical Research Building offers a few unusual options. The stay is free; the only catch is unusually strict rules. Check-in begins at 6:45 a.m. with
a greeting from Christian Rodriguez, an affable postdoctoral research fellow The floor resembles a small inpatient unit, with bedrooms attended by registered nurses, dietitians and researchers. But there are no sick patients. Instead, those staying are paid volunteers in some of the world’s most advanced research on obesity and nutrition. With an operating budget just shy of $100 million, Pennington probes fundamental questions about human health and metabolism
“Pennington is strictly this place set up to do the coolest studies you can, because you have all the equip-
ment you could ever want,” Rodriguez said.
Perhaps the most striking features are its four “metabolic chambers” — sealed, climate-controlled rooms that double as sparse bedrooms. Costing upward of $1 million each, they let scientists track, in near-real time, how many calories a person burns while eating, sleeping or exercising.
A few brave volunteers stay in the chambers for several days at a time and can be paid thousands of dollars, depending on the nature and duration of the rest of the
More arrests not expected in BR mall shooting
‘To the best of our knowledge, he was the lone shooter’
BY OLIVIA TEES Staff writer
The Baton Rouge police chief said law enforcement is not looking to arrest anyone else in connection with the mass shooting in April at the Mall of Louisiana that killed one and injured five others. At the Press Club of Baton Rouge meeting Monday afternoon, Chief T.J. Morse confirmed that Markel Lee, 17, was a “lone shooter.”
“As of right now, we cannot put a gun in anyone else’s hand other than the person that we have already arrested,” he said. “To the best of our knowledge, he was the lone shooter, and he’s the one that’s going to be facing the consequences for that shooting.”
Lee was arrested April 24 and booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison on counts of firstdegree murder, attempted first-degree murder and illegal use of a weapon. He is being held without bail and will have a bond review on Aug. 20. At 1:22 p.m. April 23, gunfire rang out at the Mall of Louisiana in Baton Rouge when an argument between two groups of people in the food court escalated into violence, police said. High school senior Martha Odom, 17, of
U.S. begins new Iran strikes
Trump says ships will be charged to use the Strait of Hormuz
BY JON GAMBRELL, KONSTANTIN TOROPIN and WILL WEISSERT Associated Press
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates The U.S announced a new round of strikes on Iran on Monday hours after President Donald Trump said Washington is “reinstating” a blockade on Iran in the Strait of Hormuz and, in a seeming policy reversal, will charge other ships for safe passage.
All of that comes as Iran has insisted it actually controls the critical waterway, and as the new exchange of fire threatened a return to all-out war
U.S. Central Command announced on social media that the U.S. military had begun another round of strikes against Iran.
“These strikes will continue imposing a heavy cost on Iranian forces and degrade their ability to
ä See STRIKES, page 3A
STAFF PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS
Reporter Aidan McCahill works on his laptop while inside a metabolic chamber at Pennington Biomedical
STAFF PHOTOS By MICHAEL JOHNSON
Dina Powell McCormick, president and vice chair at Meta, talks about Meta’s commitment to Richland Parish and Louisiana on Monday
Feds turn over Good, Pretti shooting evidence
The Trump administration has turned over evidence long sought by Minnesota investigators in their ongoing probe into the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti during pitched protests against an immigration enforcement crackdown earlier this year, state prosecutors announced Monday
The progress came as a U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed a motorist in Maine on Monday, and Houston prosecutors complained the administration was still withholding critical information in their investigation into a fatal shooting by an ICE officer last week.
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said the evidence turned over by federal investigators included previously withheld hard drives containing statements, police body camera video and other materials in the Minnesota killings. They also turned over Good’s badly damaged SUV, she said.
“The wonderful thing now is we have all the evidence,” Moriarty said. “Any time the government is responsible in whatever way of taking the life of a community member we need to have a full and thorough investigation.”
Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, was shot and killed in her vehicle while leaving an anti-immigration enforcement protest in Minneapolis on Jan. 7. Her death and that of Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse shot and killed by federal officers just weeks later during a Jan. 24 protest, sparked outrage across the country and calls to rein in immigration enforcement.
The Minneapolis immigration crackdown, dubbed “Operation Metro Surge,” was billed as the largest immigration enforcement operation ever It ended in February after thousands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents withdrew from the state.
Police: Family targeted in Illinois mass shooting
EAST ST LOUIS Ill. Five people were killed in a “targeted mass shooting” against a family in southwestern Illinois, police said.
Two more people were wounded, and two teenagers, ages 15 and 16, were in custody, police said.
The shootings occurred primarily Sunday at three locations in East St. Louis, including a park. East St. Louis, population 17,500, is across the Mississippi River from St. Louis. It had 15 homicides in 2025, down from 34 in 2020, records show “It’s terrible. It’s evil. But it will not keep this city down,” Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly told reporters Sunday referring to the shootings. “The progress we have made will not be lost.” Troopers stopped a vehicle and arrested two teens, including one who is suspected of having a direct role in the shootings, Kelly said.
A motive remained under investigation, he said. The victims who died were 74 years old, 49, 25, 24 and 21.
Coalition aims to guard Europe from missiles
PARIS Ukraine and nine other countries announced Monday they were forming a coalition to protect Europe from ballistic missiles, utilizing Kyiv’s experience in fighting Russia’s full-scale invasion for over four years
“Our goal is to build a shared ballistic missile defense capability for Europe,” the 10 nations said in a statement in Paris at talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
He was asking two dozen leaders for help in developing measures against Russia’s missile attacks that have pummeled his country and made the rest of Europe wary of Moscow’s wider ambitions on the continent. Zelenskyy and the leaders of Denmark, France, Germany, Italy the Netherlands, Norway Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom said they recognized “the growing threat posed by ballistic missiles,” which are harder to stop than cruise missiles or drones.
Sister to fill Graham’s Senate seat
Special election for nominee set next month in South Carolina
BY MEG KINNARD and JEFFREY COLLINS Associated Press
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Lindsey
Graham’s sister, Darline Graham Nordone, has been named as her late brother’s temporary replacement in the U.S. Senate after his unexpected death over the weekend.
South Carolina Gov Henry McMaster announced at a news conference at the Statehouse on Monday that Nordone would serve the remaining months on Graham’s current term, which expires in January She’s expected to be sworn in this week, making her the first woman to represent the state in the Senate
“It is such an honor,” Nordone said, as dozens of Graham staffers and campaign advisers stood behind her, some with eyes glassy from welling tears “Lindsey has always been there for me. And now, I will be there for him.”
Graham died on Saturday night at age 71. He never married or had a family of his own, but Nordone was
often by her brother’s side for the political touch points of his career, speaking at events and appearing in some of his campaign ads.
After their parents died at a young age, Graham was left to raise his sister, for whom he later became legal guardian. They were very close, and she was there as he filed reelection paperwork earlier this year, along with her children and grandchildren.
“To Lindsey, I miss you more than I can even put into words,” Nordone said, emotion rising in her voice.
“But I’m going to do this. I got it.”
By ROBERT F BUKATy
Lawmaker: Man killed by ICE not target of warrant
BY PATRICK WHITTLE, LEAH WILLINGHAM and JACK BROOK Associated Press
BIDDEFORD, Maine The motorist killed by ICE officers in a Maine shooting Monday was not the target of the warrant the officers were executing, Sen. Angus King said Homeland Security Secretary Mullin told him.
It’s the second time in a week that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have used deadly force and at least the ninth since President Donald Trump began his immigration crackdown
Immigrant rights groups identified the man who was killed as a 26-year-old native of Colombia
King, an independent senator from Maine, said Mullin told him the officer opened fire after the man tried to use his vehicle as a weapon against officers in Biddeford, a coastal city roughly 15 miles southwest of Portland.
“He was in a vehicle — pulled out in the vehicle, and the term the secretary used was ‘weaponized’ the vehicle and was shot by an ICE agent,” King said.
King had initially said Mullin told him the man was the target of a deportation effort. Mullin later called King with new information he had received, a spokesperson for the senator said.
The Maine attorney general’s office which is investigating along with
the FBI and other agencies, said initial statements suggest the motorist was trying to flee in the direction of the agent The office said the agent who killed him has been placed on leave.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General did not immediately respond to a request for comment Messages seeking comment were left for ICE and the Maine Department of Public Safety.
Daniel Boucher said he looked out his third-floor window after hearing a “pop, pop, pop” sound and saw a small car “turned 90 degrees to the curb” with an SUV behind it. The driver was wounded and the car started moving down the street until the SUV hit it again, Boucher said.
“His face was bloody His head was bloody,” Boucher said, getting choked up. “I clearly heard the victim say, ‘I tried to stop’ — clearly heard him say that.”
Boucher said he saw an ICE officer bring a medical bag to where the man was lying before an ambulance and fire truck arrived. At one point, Boucher said, the agent who shot the man walked close to him.
“I was emotional and I just let him have it, and he looked at me and said, ‘He tried to run me over,’ or something to that effect,” Boucher said. “I don’t remember his exact words.”
Introducing Nordone, McMaster said the two had spoken in “in the wee hours of Sunday morning” after Graham’s death, and he asked her to serve.
“I had wondered what you would say, and I was humbled by your quickness to see the duty that you had to serve,” McMaster said. He added that President Donald Trump “thought it was a great idea” when he later told him of his pick. Trump announced his support for Nardone to fill the seat earlier Monday Nordone has worked as an optician and at various state agencies, including the
South Carolina Commission for the Blind and the Department of Employment and Workforce. She lives in Lexington, is a graduate of the College of Charleston and has a master’s degree in rehabilitation counseling.
A special election will be held next month to pick a new Republican nominee in the general election for Graham’s seat. He had been seeking a fifth term this year
The rare open Senate seat has ignited a scramble among South Carolina’s most ambitious conservatives, who have been eager to climb the political ladder
Republicans just finished a sprawling and bruising contest to figure out their nominee for succeeding McMaster, who is wrapping up his second term State Attorney General Alan Wilson won the nomination, overcoming a field that included Lt. Gov Pamela Evette, Rep. Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman — all of whom are now eyeing Graham’s seat following his death over the weekend. According to South Carolina law, a one-week filing period for a special primary election begins on the second Tuesday after the candidate’s death, or July 21. The special primary election would be held on the second Tuesday after that filing period closes, or Aug. 11. Any necessary runoff would follow two weeks after that, or Aug. 25. From that point, the new nominee would have just over two months to campaign for the general election on Nov 3. All of this is problematic according to federal law, which requires military and overseas ballots to go out 45 days before any federal election. For the special election primary, that would have been June 27. Federal Election Commission officials didn’t immediately return a message seeking clarity about the process.
Judge says Trump IRS lawsuit was filed for
Lawyer referred for possible discipline
BY ERIC TUCKER and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Associated Press
WASHINGTON President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over his leaked tax returns was filed for an “improper purpose,” a judge said Monday in a scathing decision that referred one of his lawyers for potential disciplinary action and characterized the $10 billion complaint as an exercise in self-dealing.
U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams accused Trump and his lawyers of having manipulated the court system when he sued a federal agency under his control, bypassing a requirement that parties in a lawsuit must have adverse interests and laying the groundwork for a settlement that granted him immunity from tax audits and created a fund to compensate allies of the president who say they were unjustly persecuted.
The judge stopped short of explicitly voiding the deal shielding Trump from tax scrutiny but said the government cannot claim that the agreement was the result of a legitimate legal process.
“Whether Executive Branch actors can privately agree to give themselves and their former clients blanket immunities and billions of dollars in tax monies for legally undefined grievances was never an issue advanced to this Court,” said Williams, an appointee of President Barack Obama “The question is whether the Parties could do so by claiming to be adverse and engaging the legitimacy of a court proceeding. The answer is a resounding ‘no.’” Though the practical impacts of the ruling may be limited since the lawsuit was withdrawn months ago and the administration had already abandoned the $1.776 billion “AntiWeaponization Fund” that came out of it the order nonetheless amounts to a
‘improper purpose’
scathing rebuke and tees up a politically uncomfortable line of questioning for Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche as faces the Senate Judiciary Committee for his confirmation hearing on Wednesday
“The nature of the suit itself and the conduct of the Parties and counsel from its filing make plain that this was an attempt to use the Court to provide some legitimacy to an agreement to confer immunity to people and entities affiliated with the President and to earmark billions of dollars from American taxpayers to redress grievances not defined in the law,” Williams wrote in her ruling.
She added: “The President may be the functional “dominus litus” of the Executive Branch, but as a party to a civil suit, he, as well as all the parties and lawyers before a court, are bound by the rules. Ensuring that our courts are used only for the express purpose created by the Constitution is the obligation of every judge and an obligation that this Court must discharge in light of the matter before it.”
The suit against the IRS and Treasury Department in January accused the federal agencies of a failure to prevent a leak of the president’s tax information to news outlets between 2018 and 2020.
Newly appointed interim U.S. Sen. Darline Graham Nordone, center, with South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, right, speaks Monday after being appointed of to fill the vacancy created by the death of her brother, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham at the statehouse in Columbia, S.C.
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO
Protesters gather Monday at a park near the scene of a shooting involving U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Biddeford, Maine.
MAINE
Meanwhile, Richland Parish schools Superintendent Sheldon Jones saidthat since the data center groundbreaking, Richland Parishhas worked closely with Meta Many teachers in Richland Parish got $50,000 bonuses this year owing to ashortterm increase in tax revenues fueled by the project.
“Meta’spresence has made atangibledifference in our classrooms,” he said. “This partnership is directly strengthening the educational experience for Richland Parish.”
Powerconcerns
Still, amid the staggering spending numbers and hopes from many local leaders and residents, there are also concerns. Some residents, advocacy groups and academics have raised questions about the impact of the projects on the environment andutility rates, the quality of life in the rural communities where they are located and whether big data centers can deliver longterm, sustainable economic growth.
“The academic research, peer-reviewed research has not been as optimistic about the benefit of data centers and job creation as elected officials are,” said Gary Wagner,aneconomist at the University of Louisiana in Lafayette. Speaking with reporters on Monday,Landry acknowledged that massive data center projects fueling the global artificial intelli-
STRIKES
Continued from page1A
attack innocent civilians and commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz,” the U.S. military said.
Moments after the military announced thenew strikes, Trump called it “another major attack.”
“We’re hitting them very hard. And it’ll continue, and we’ll see what happens,” he told reporters in the Oval Office.“We’re knocking out all of their offensivecapability andwe’re controlling the straits. We’re putting the blockade back.”
Trump also provided new details on his administration doing an about-face and suggesting it will charge tolls forships going through the strait, after previously suggesting that it wouldn’t.
“We’re protecting avery rich portion of the world,” he said. “We’re spending money.And so, whatwe’ve done is, we are going to be reimbursed for protection.
It’sachange in U.S. policy that, until now,said the strait should remainopento all without tolls —asitwas before the U.S. and Israel attackedIranonFeb.28. Any attempt by theU.S. or Iran to charge fees wouldviolate global norms on freedom of navigation and raise tensions, likely causing further economic disruption farbeyond the region.
The price for abarrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose7.8% to $81.92 abarrel on Monday still well below the nearly $120 reached at the height of the war
Earlier,Trump told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt that the agreement reached last month was “built to test” Iran, adding that “when you’re dealing with sleazebags don’tmean much.”
Trump said he questioned whythe U.S. wasentering into adeal to createa ceasefire with Iran rather than moving toward afull deal first. Trump last week declared the ceasefire was
SHOOTING
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Youngsville, was killed while celebrating senior skip day with her friends.
gence race bring challenges related to water usage and electricity rates. Buthe said the Meta project will enable Louisianatostrengthen its aginggrid
According to documents filed earlier this yearwith theLouisiana PublicService Commission, Entergy will build seven new natural gas plantstopower the Meta datacenter in addition to three alreadyunder construction
Meta officials said the companyispaying the full cost to build theplantand to payfor what itconsumes.
“What was announced todayfrom aMeta perspective was already run through the PSCand filed forbyEntergy months ago,” Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Susan Bourgeois said during the news conference Monday
Entergy LouisianaPresident and CEO Phillip May saidthe company is taking an “all-of-the above” approachtomeet thedemands of theproject.
That includesthe 10 power plants, six of which will be on-sitenearMeta’sfacility,hesaid. Entergy is also putting in 760 megawatts of batteries,increasing output at its existingnuclear plants and building 4,000 megawatts of solar power,hesaid.
Thoseplans for power generation will “cover the entirety of the scale” of the $50billionproject, create additional powerbeyond Meta’sneeds and improve the reliability ofthe grid, Maysaid.
“over.”
“Theydidn’thonor the test,” thepresident said Exchanges offire in recent days,sparked by Iranian attacks on ships, had already cast further doubt on the interim peace deal. Washington had lifted ablockade it imposed inmid-Aprilas part ofthatdeal, whichalso called for the strait to be fully reopened.
“Weare reinstatingthe THE IRANIANBLOCKADE,”Trump said on social media. “All other countries will havefair andopen use of theStrait.”
The president said theU.S would be “reimbursed” by 20% of thevalueofcargo to help cover “any and all costs necessary to do the job of providing safetyand security.”
TheU.S. militarysaidit will resume its blockade of Iranian portsTuesday at 3p.m.
Iranassertsithas the right to manage traffic through the strait and potentially charge feesinaccordance with theinterim peacedeal.
TheU.S. has disputed that Iran on Monday vowed to fight back againstany U.S. interference in the strait.
Iran’s ForeignMinister AbbasAraghchi mocked Trump onsocial media and used his supportfor tolls to legitimize Iran’sposition
“POTUS is absolutely right.Whoever provides secure and safe passage of commercialvessels through the Strait of Hormuz should be compensated forthis service,” Araghchi wrote on X. “Iran has alwaysbeenthe GUARDIANofthe Strait and will remain so FOREVER. 20% is of coursetoo much. We will be fair.”
The International Maritime Organization, theUnited Nations agency overseeinginternational shipping, said it was waiting to find out more aboutTrump’sproposalbut remained opposed to tolls for passagethrough international waterways. “Thereisnolegal basis through which tointroduce mandatory tolls simply to transit through astrait,” it said in astatement.
STAFFPHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON
look to.
Meta also hassaiditwill try to hire as manylocals for permanent jobs as possible.Tothat end, it donated $5 million to the local community college systemto help studentswithscholarshipsfor job trainingprograms
While elected officials have largely welcomed the project, residents have often voiced optimismcoupled with worries aboutwhat might be ahead. Shelbie Stephenson, whoruns afood trucknexttothe construction site, saidher business has tripled this year and she welcomes whatever Meta brings.
“But Iknow alot of people who arereally concerned
Meeting with Gulf leaders late last month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio had spokenforcefully against Iran charging fees fortransit through thestrait.
“That’sinternational waterway.There isn’tanation on Earth that supports havingtopay moneytogo through thestraits,” Rubio told reporters in Bahrain on June 25.
Rubio alsosaidthere was “zero supportamongthe Gulf countriesfor anysort of toll or fees or anything thatcharges for theuse of international waters. The president’smade it clear that’snot going to happen.”
Afifth of the world’soil and gas passed through the straitbeforeIran effectively shut it down at thestart of the war,driving up global prices of energy,fertilizer and other goods. Traffic had picked up after last month’s agreement but remained well below prewar levels.
The American military has tried to establish aroute through the strait along the coast of Oman that would be outside of Iranian control. Iran has attacked ships using thatroute, saying the U.S. is violatingthe interim peace deal. The U.S. has attacked Iran in response, drawing Iranianattacks on U.S.-allied Arab states.
The U.S. militarysaid it struck dozens of sites Monday, including air defense systems, radar sites, missile and drone equipment, and small boats in response to an Iranian attack on acontainer ship the day before. The U.S saiditused droneships for thefirst time to hit an Iranian ship maintenance facility and submarine on Sunday Missile alert sirens sounded three times MondayinBahrain, hometothe U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet. Therewas no immediate word on damage. Separately,Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry said its consulate in Iraq had been attacked. It didnot immediately blameanyone for the attack or disclose damages or casualties.
The oil-rich kingdom —home to severalU.S military bases—also con-
aboutwhatitisdoing to the quality of life here,”she said. “I’mlike, ‘It’schange andit’shere. Youhaveto embrace it.’
On theradar
For now, there are still questions about whether that short-term prosperity will be sustained through permanent jobs and spinoff industries, accordingto some economists andconsultants.
Wagner saidstudies have shown little long-term growth in states thathave subsidized data centers, though the boom is happening so quickly there still isn’t along recordthat economists and academics can
demned Iran and “its factions andmilitiasloyal to it in Iraq”for attacking what it described as “several borderpoints” anda maritime oil drilling platform that belonged to the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation.
“Evidence is weak at best that economic development incentivesfor data centers help income and job creation,” he said.
“It’shard to say,though, because data centers are so new,” Wagner added. “We just don’thavea lotofdata that looks 10 years out.”
Still, it appears that Meta’s investment has landed Louisiana on the radar of tech companies and real estate developers racingtobuild AI data centers, aconstruction boom expected to exceed $700 billion alone this year across the U.S.
Earlier this year,Amazon Webservices announced plans forasignificant,
In Jordan, the kingdom’s military said it shot down four Iranian missiles in an incident that “resulted in zero casualties or material damage.” Jordanalso hosts U.S. military forces and aircraft.
though muchsmallerAI data center,inBossierParish.That’sproof,Bourgeois said at thetime, thatMeta was helping attract other megainvestments to the state.
Michael Gucke, an economist with ConstructConnect, aconsultant to data center builders, said Louisiana’s regulatory environment, abundance of land and welldeveloped natural gas infrastructure are factors that makeLouisiana attractive to companies like Meta and Amazon.
Those advantagescome as states on the East Coast like Virginia, which have haddata centers for two decades, are running out of land andencountering greater pushback because of worries about water shortages, utility rate increases andother environmental concerns.
“Louisiana wasn’tinthe game in the past,” Gucke said. “But this is aforwardlooking business and Louisiana is in the gamenow because these companies are looking to the future.”
Email Stephanie Riegel at stephanie.riegel@ theadvocate.com.
In Iran, authorities reported attacks in Hormozgan, Khuzestan and Markazi provinces and said at least twopeople werekilled, accordingtostate-runIRNA news agency.Semiofficial Iranian media also reported strikesinthe eastern Sistan andBaluchestan province, which is on acoast of the Gulf of Oman. Those attacks on Iran raised the possibility that Gulf Arab states were retaliating. There were unclaimed attacksonIran on Thursday
“As they crossed paths, other people in thefood court beganrunning,as though respondingtoshots being fired,” investigators said. Police recovered one gun at the scene despite two differentgroups of people
Detectiveswrotein Lee’s arrest warrant that video shows “two groups of young Black malesubjects approacheach other” in the food court.
being involved. Originally, they believed therewas morethan one shooter,but after investigating the scene andrunning ballistics tests on thebulletsand gun, police concluded thatLee was theonly shooter Police said they have since identified everyindividual in the two groups.
study.Atleast one person has stayed aweek.
Ibarely made it 24 hours.
Booking areservation forjournalisticpurposes was difficult,given rising demand.For years, the chambers have supported federally funded projects aimed at answering basic questionsabout howthe body uses energy. Recently, pharmaceutical companies have used the chambers to test the effectivenessof drugs like GLP-1s,which are now widely usedfor weight control. Other GLP-1 studies at Pennington are trying to separate fact from fiction about side effects,suchas whether the drugscause muscle loss.
“Isthatjust arumor oris it just aperception, or is it true?” said Dr.Eric Ravussin, the lab’sdirector.“We don’thave the answer yet.”
Before entering the chamber,preparations include stripping into ahospital gown and stepping onto a platformofelectrodes to grip apairofmetallic handles. Because muscle and fat hold different amounts of water —agood electrical conductor—the machine can use electrical currents to estimate body composition.
“When you combine height, age, gender,itputs allthatanalysisin, andit can get aguesstimate on what your fat content is,” explains Annalee Campbell, aregistered nurse administering the test.
Ravussin briefly greets me, but there is little time for small talk: The chamber is calibrated and must be sealed by 8a.m. Sipping coffee from aStyrofoam cup, the tall, lanky physiologist grins, then shuts the door Chambermechanics
The chamber resembles a stripped-down hostel room: anarrow twin bed, adesk, asink, atelevision —and a toilet tucked behind athin, pullable curtain. Acamera records continuously for safety
The room is silent and sealed, but not entirely cut off. Awindow and telephone connect to the outside, where Campbell and biomedical engineer Isabella Reed can communicate and monitor everythingin real time. Reed explains the rules. No caffeine, nicotine or any other stimulants.No naps, pushups, gum, or anythingthatcould subtly shift metabolism. Usually, diets arecontrolled forthree days beforeentering.
Through aprocess called aerobic respiration, the bodyconverts— or “metabolizes” —nutrients from carbohydrates, fats and proteins into ATP, the molecules that power nearly every cellular process. That requires oxygenand produces carbon dioxide, and by measuring the two gases, researchers can determine how much energy the body is using.
Metabolic chambers are considered the gold standard for such measurements, Reed says.
The basic mechanics are simple. Fresh air,with a known concentration of oxygen and carbon dioxide, is continuously fed into the room through inlet ducts. It mixes with the air exhaled inside,thenisdrawn out through aseriesofceiling pipes.Asitleaves, analyzers —similar to ones used in mechanic shops—measure slight changes in the gas levels.
“By knowing the flow of fresh air going in and out, and knowing the difference in concentration, you can calculate O2 consumption and CO2 production,” Ravussinsaid. “Wecalculate minute by minute; it’s getting it as fast as it can.”
From those measurements, researchers candetermine how many calories are burned. They can also use the ratio of the two gases to tell whether aperson’s body is primarily using fat or carbohydrates for fuel. On the countersitsanorange jug to be used in lieu of the toilet. Urine contains nitrogen, abyproduct of protein metabolism. Measuring it allows researchers to gaugehow much protein
was broken downfor energy,completing the metabolic picture.
Discoveryscience
Ravussin, who sportsa white goatee and droll sense of humor, hasspent thepast 45 years researching how thehuman body converts food into energy.He enjoys discoveryscience, which isn’tdriven by specific hypotheses.
“It’s on the creativity of thescientist to address the question,” he said. “It’snot aquestion of is it good for society;it’strying tounderstand human physiology.”
It is fittingheoversees most ofthe studies conducted in Pennington’smetabolic chambers, given that he helped build the first one ever as aSwiss Ph.D.student in the 1970s. Afew years later, the director of the National Institutes of Health, the federal agency that leads biomedical and public health research, recruited himto design one in Phoenix. At the time, there were only two in the world, one in Switzerland, theother in Cambridge, England, he said.
Acentral through line in his career is the interplay between metabolism and weight gain. In one of his earliest studies, Ravussin tracked energy expenditure amongthe Pima tribeinArizona, findingthatthose with lower metabolic rates were more likely to gainweight over time. The work helped advance the idea that traits once advantageousduring famine may increase obesity risk in today’scalorie-rich environment.
“Caucasians would be the worstsurvivors in periods of famines,” hesaid Ravussin latertracked the metabolic ratesofcontestants on “The Biggest Loser,” ashow where overweightcontestantscompete to see whocan lose themost pounds. Successful contestants saw their metabolic rates drop sharply.Six years later,Ravussin said, their ratesstill hadn’t changed— aphenomenon known as a “metabolic adaptation.”
Together,those findings clarified afrustratingreality:Aspeople lose weight, their bodies become more energyefficient, burning fewer calories and making it harder to keep the weight off.
“Basically,you runona more efficient engine,” he said.
That dynamic now complicates thepromise of GLP-1 drugs likeOzempic, Wegovy,and Mounjaro, which have reshaped obesity treatment by mimickinggut hormones to curbappetite and improve blood sugar
“All the companiesare afraid of two thingswiththe GLP1s: It’saloss of skeletal muscle, andit’salsothis metabolic adaptation, which basically tries to pull you back,” Ravussin said. “Ifyou stop thedrug, yougainthe weight.”
So far,Ravussinhas published one study that showed Zepbound, adrug by Eli Lilly thatcombinesGLP-1 with anotherpeptide, did not reduce metabolicadaptation. Pennington is conductingseveral other studies examining the effects of combiningGLP-1s with other peptides. At least one will require participants to
spend 47 hours in thechambers. Duetoconfidentiality reasons, Ravussin declined to name the companiesinvolved.
Exercise vs.diet
At 8:30 a.m., Campbell opens an outsidelatch and slides breakfast through an airtight pass-through. Once she seals it, Iopen my end and eat aboiled egg, Cheerios, blueberries and milk, finishing everything within 30 minutes.
Campbell smilesand waves. The same routine is repeated fourmore times throughout theday.The end result:2,900 kilocalories consumed,and 2,869burned. Mostparticipants work remote jobswhile staying at Pennington,but I’mgroggy without my morning coffee and struggle to get anything done.At11a.m., a30-minute stationary bike ride bumps my metabolic burn rate—how fast calories are expended —from about 2 kilocalories per minuteto4 In general, exercise is beneficial for metabolic health but has lessclear effectson actual weight loss, Ravussin
said. Thesame uncertainty goes forits impact on tissues, organs and longevity.
“As soon as youexercise, youhaveastimulus of eating more,” he said. “There are some people who exercise and don’tbenefitvery much. Andthereare some people that benefit tremendously.”
To find what type of exercise has the most health benefits, and for whom,Ravussin is alead principal investigator in thelargest exercise study in human history:The MolecularTransducers of Physical Activity in Humans. More than 2,300 people have been recruited, about half sedentary and half athletes, to undergo endurance or resistance training. Everything from their genetics, gut microbiome, where they live andeducation level will be accounted for
Aseparate NIH-funded study at Pennington is approaching the same question from anutrition angle. Both aimatadvancingthe growing field of precision medicine.
Perhaps themost high-
profile study ledbyRavussin andPenningtonisCALERIE. In the mid-2000s, more than 200 healthy,average-weight Baton Rouge residents followed a25% calorie-restricted diet for twoyears. The protocol was replicated at TuftsUniversity in Boston and Washington University in St. Louis.
Follow-upstudies arestill assessing participants 15 yearslater,but initialresults were clear,Ravussin said.
Eventhough participants started outhealthy, nearly allbecame healthier after eating less.
“Ifyou look at their lipid profile, theirinsulin, glucose level, all these things were improved,” he said. “Less inflammation,theyhad a better quality of life. They all liked it much better.”
“I think caloric restriction has been very clearly shown to increaselongevity,” Ravussin added. For exercise, the “jury is still out.”
Obesogenic environment
For most of the day in the chamber,the hardest part wasstaving off sleep. As the chilly airwhooshedinand
out, Ispent my time scrolling social media, staring at thefluorescentlightsand wondering what the next meal would be: aturkey sandwichfor lunch, pasta andmeatballs fordinner. Thewhole thing felt like onelongairplaneride, with slightly better food. By 9p.m., Iwas tucked intothe twin bed. An hour later,the order came down to shutoff all screens. The sooner deep sleep was reached, the better the data. At 6a.m., the wake-up call came. After another hour of lyinginbed,itwas time to leave the chamber.Outside Pennington, motorists packed Perkins Road, many pulling into fast-food joints before work.
Around the 1980s, as both calories andcarsbecame more pervasive in American life, obesity rates began to climb, Ravussin said. He added the U.S., and Louisiana in particular,are among theworst environments for obesity.Accordingtothe Centers forDiseaseControl andPrevention, morethan twoout of five Americans areclassifiedasobese,a condition stronglylinked to arange of life-threatening diseases.
Despite new technology,exercise programs and wonder drugs, Ravussin believes obesity will remain a stubborn foe.
“Obesity is atotal disaster for public health …and it’s not going to improve,” he said. “The only thingwould be to reverse some of the obesogenic environment.” Ravussin recalledthe Pima study,where he compared obesity and diabetes rates between communities in Arizona and those in more remote parts of Mexico. ThePimainMexico had aboutninetimes less diabetes than those in Arizona. When he presented the data to thetribalcouncil in Arizona anddiscussed whether somehabits could be changed, thechief, responsible formaintaining the well-being of his tribe in the modern world, replied: “Do youthink I’mnot going to offeratruck to my son?”
us/j/81316004504? pwd=zGazLb4UZMlPzYA RJ86sbpkLKslwEh.1 MeetingID: 8131600 4504 Passcode: 431746 In accordance with Louisiana RS 38:2212 vendors maysubmit their bidelectronicallyat the websitelistedabove Bidders wishingtosub‐mit theirbid electroni‐cally must firstberegis‐tered within LCGVendor Accessatthe website listedabove.The regis‐tration processcan take sometime; therefore, LCG recommendsregis‐teringdaysinadvance of the time that bids are due.Itisthe sole respon‐sibilityofthe bidder to ensuretheir bidisdeliv‐ered(whether electroni‐cally viaVendorAccess inperson, or viamail) to the Purchasing Division prior to thescheduled dateand time of thebid opening.Vendors may request thebid package electronicallyfrom ThomasMetrejean at tg‐metrejean@lafayettela gov. Vendorssubmittingbids
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After several days of rain, allofSouthwestLouisiana is under either aslight or amarginal risk of excessive rainfall todaythat couldlead to somemeasure of flash flooding.Rainfallamounts of aquarter to ahalf of an inch are possible, so somethunderstorms couldbevery strong and result in minor flooding. With the cloud coverand the rainfall, temperatures will only risetothe mid- to upper 80s, and while rain chances are as high as theywere yesterday, theywill start falling tomorrowastemperatures rise.
‘JurassicPark’ actor SamNeill dies at 78
BY MARK KENNEDYand
CHARLOTTE GRAHAM-MCLAY Associated Press
WELLINGTON, New Zealand Sam Neill, the smoothlyelegant and versatile actor whose prolific career movedfromart films to blockbusters as he dodged velociraptors in “Jurassic Park” and played Holly Hunter’scruel husband in “The Piano,” has died. He was 78. In 2023, Neill disclosed he had been diagnosed with angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, arare type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. He died on Monday in Sydney,according to astatement posted to the actor’ssocial media page. His death was“sudden and unexpected,” the statement said, adding that he “remained cancer free” when he died. Acause of death wasn’tspecified. “Sam was surrounded by family and passed with the dignity that has characterized his whole life,” his family wrote.
hisown eyes out in the sci-fi horror “Event Horizon.”
He portrayed both saintlyand sinner: In “Omen III: The Final Conflict,” he played Damien the Antichrist, and he also played Cardinal Thomas Wolsey in “The Tudors.”
Theactor first came to the attention of international audiences in Armstrong’s1979film “My Brilliant Career,” which also introduced Judy Davis. He later appeared in PhillipNoyce’s “Dead Calm,” aclassy thriller setatsea andco-starring thethen-relativelyunknown Nicole Kidman. Neill twice co-starred with Meryl Streep, in Australian director Fred Schepisi’s“Plenty” and —again for Schepisi —in“ACry in the Dark,” afilm aboutthe sensationalized aftermath ofa dingo killing ababyinthe Australian Outback.
He earned an Emmy nomination forhis performance in the title role of the 1998 miniseries “Merlin” and another as narrator of 2017’s“Wild New Zealand.”
Tributes were paid by fellow actors anddirectors,including Steven Spielberg, who helmed the first “Jurassic Park” movie.
“I adored making all the‘Jurassic’ movies with him. Alongwith LauraDernand Jeff Goldblum, we will always have our Jurassic family and Sam willnever beforgotten by us or his many millions of fans around the world,” Spielberg said in astatement
Actor SharonLawrence wrote on Instagram: “Condolencesand appreciation for the immense joy and mastery Sam Neill brought our industry.” Neill was oneofahost of actors and directors who achieved international fame after an explosion of Australian films that began in the late 1970s, along with Paul Hogan, Mel Gibson, Geoffrey Rush, Russell Crowe,Jane Campion, Peter Weir and Gillian Armstrong. His range was remarkable, playing opposite Helena Bonham Carterin the Alan Ayckbourn comedy “Sweet Revenge” to chopping off Hunter’s fingerin“The Piano” to poking
Neill also earned three Golden Globe nods —for “Merlin,” “One Againstthe Wind” and “Reilly: Ace of Spies.”
Richard E. Grant, alongtime friend who co-starred with Neill in 2019’s“Palm Beach,” described himinapost on Instagram as “an officer and agentleman in the truest sense.” Grant said Neill had “guidedand helped me through averydifficulttime in my life.”
Perhaps Neill achieved his highest level of fame in “JurassicPark,” playing paleontologist
Alan Grant,who is summoned to an island off CostaRica where atheme parkhas been built to househerds of cloned dinosaurs.
Hischaracter was thoughtful and reasonable, ascientist who warned the mastermind of the theme park beforethe chaos: “Dinosaurs and man, two species separated by 65 million years of evolution havejust been suddenly thrownbackintothe mix together.How canwepossibly have the slightest idea what to expect?
Offshore LNGplant survives challenge
Court: Environmental groups lacked
BY DAVID J. MITCHELL Staff writer
Afederal appellatecourt has thrown out alegal challenge calling for anew environmental and public review for what would be the nation’sfirst offshore liquefied natural gas exportterminal, to be located off southwest Louisiana.
The ruling from thethree-judge panel came about amonth after the backers of theDelfin LNGterminal announced they were proceeding withaninitial $5 billion investment to buildthe firstanchorage and floatingLNG processingvessel, withplans to begin export by 2030.
The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appealsdidn’tdealwiththe meat of thechallenge, however,instead finding thatthe threeplaintiffs lacked the standing to bring thepetitiontocourt.
Thecourt found none of the plaintiff environmental groups the CenterofBiological Diversity, theSierraCluband theHabitat Recovery Project —showed they had memberswithaconcrete injury from the proposed terminal 40 miles off the coast of Cameron Parish.
“Petitioners have identifiedno memberwho has made thatshowing —noone who fishes near the port,boats beside it,works around it, or otherwise uses project-affected watersornearby areas in away the projectwould impair,” the13page opinion from Circuit Judge Don R. Willett stated. “Their concernfor the Gulf maybeheartfelt. Butconcern,without injury, is not standing.”
Willett was joined by Circuit Judges Jerry E. Smithand Irma Carrillo Ramirez.
Proposed for adecade, the Delfin LNGterminal has sparked concern thatthe port’sconstruction and subsequent vessel traffic would harm aquatic species, including theendangered Rice’swhale and rare sea turtles,and fisheries relied uponbythe seafood industry in Cameron Parish.
February explosion
In May 2025, the plaintiffsal-
leged theterminal’spermitting agencies,the U.S. Departmentof Transportation Maritime Administration and the U.S. Coast Guard, reversed themselves on an earlier planneddelay formorereviewafterthe projectwas revised. The alleged reversal followed President Donald Trump’s“Unleashing American Energy” order on his first day in office.
To establish standing, the plaintiffs cited members whoincluded arecreational andcommercial fisherman who plies Lake Calcasieu and theGulfasmuchas30miles offshorewho has seen aquatic species decline,scientists who study imperiledGulfspecies anda landowner living afew miles from the terminal’sonshore pipeline station who enjoys hunting, fishing and birding in the area.
The vastness of the Gulf’s 600,000 squaremiles of open water factored heavily in the circuit judges’ analysis to deny standing, finding those plaintiffs didn’tshow aspecificenough connectiontothe proposedterminal’slocationnor from its possibleenvironmental impact.
Thecourt also rejected broader concerns about continued oil and development on decliningGulf species andclimate change as too generalized.
In February,asection of the aged naturalgas pipelinethat Delfin plans to repurpose for the project exploded onshore nearJohnson Bayou during preparatory work, injuring one person.
The explosion blew open acrater, released 56 million cubic feet of gas andburned forhours. Delfin was later ordered by separate federal pipeline regulators to make corrections
The appellate ruling didn’tnote the explosion in itsanalysis of potential harm but did say that the MaritimeAdministration hadconcludedlast year that the modified terminal would have less impact than the earlier design.
Thenew design would have one fewer LNG vessel andmooring from four to three —with fewer pilings driven in the seabed, would use acooling system that no longer reliedonwaterout of theGulf and would be located outside the core range of the Rice’swhale.
Delfin Midstream andone of its attorneys didn’timmediately respond to arequest for comment on ruling.
‘It’scommonsense’
Attorneys with the Center for Biological Diversity said the public deserved to know moreabout oil and gas projects before they are approved.
“Wewere disappointed in the 5th Circuit’sdecision because it’scommonsense that harm from oil and gas activities extends far beyond any artificial border you draw around aproject,”saidKristen Monsell, the group’soceanslegal director.“The pollution doesn’t mind these borders, the whales and sea turtles migrate widely,and people who use theGulf waterswill experience harm from this LNG project.”
Theproject will include vessels anchored to the Gulf seabed that would receive natural gas through pipelines and then supercool and liquefy it fortransfer to docking ships Those ships would carry LNGto markets in Asiaand Europe.
The owner,Delfin Midstream, hopes to export 13.2 millionmetric tonsofLNG peryear at full buildout. Thefirst phaseannouncedin early June would produce4.4 million metric tons of LNG annually
The Maritime Administration grantedthe terminalits first permit in 2017 during Trump’sfirst term after areview that included an environmental document with more than 1,800 pages,but afterward, the project encountered slowdowns and then changed investors, ownership and project design.
By 2024, the Maritime Administration under then-President Joe Biden found the decision in 2017 no longer supported the modified project anddirectedDelfin Midstream to submit an amended application that would have triggered anew environmental impact statement. Thecompany neversubmitted the application.
Trump’sexecutive order followed the next year,telling the Maritime Administration to decide within 30 days whether the modifications were “likely to result in adverse environmental consequences that substantially differfromthose
sociated withthe originally
ated project,” according to
JanRisher
LOUISIANA AT LARGE
The prettiest rose andits namesake
Near the entryway of Peggy Martin’sGonzales home hangsa large yearbook-style photo of a teenage girl. Underneath it: “Prettiest Girl: Peggy Dupuy.”
Many know some versionof the Peggy Martin story: After Hurricane Katrina, she returned to what had been her home in Plaquemines Parish and found that one rose had survived.
For most of us, the story stops there —arose that lived when almost nothing else did.
These days, many are reminded of the story every spring when Peggy Martin roses bloom with wild abandon all over Louisiana. The rose is easy to grow,thornless and pink,and now sold widely
But the short version of the story leavesout much of what Martin, now 80 and still very much the “prettiestgirl,”told me as we walked through her garden early Friday morning. Like, for example, her middle name is Rose She and Imet early because she plays bourré at 10 a.m. every Friday around her kitchen table with the same four women. Back in 2005, her 82-year-old parents refused to evacuate theirhome in Phoenix, in Plaquemines Parish —even after she begged,pleaded and went back again for them. They did not survive the storm that her rose did.
Standing by her pool Friday and admiring her garden, Iasked if she swims often.
“No, and I’ll tell youwhy,” she said, looking at the pool. “My parents drowned. Iused to be on aswim team, but Iknow what I’m going to think of if Iput my head below the water.SoI just don’t go in.” Her parents, Rosalie andPivon J. Dupuy,were married 63 years. Pivon stormed Omaha Beach in World WarII.
Martin started collecting old gardenroses in 1974. By the time Katrina happened, she had 137 roses and more than 1,000 other plants covering her home next door to her parents. One rose, planted against afour-bay tractor shed between her house andher parents’, had grown 40 feet across and 30 feet deep.
In her home in Gonzales, just around the corner from her “Prettiest Girl” photo, she showed me her Rose Room. Some of her glass andporcelain rose pieces survived Katrina and now sit among her prized possessions on rosecolored carpet, arose bedspread and arose needlepoint chair
ABOVE: Attendees pose for aphoto in their bestpirate attire during the second Acadiana
The festival had food and craft vendors, artisans, games, asilent auctiontobenefi
Theway hishired lobbyists made it sound, Baton Rouge rapper Boosie Badazz wasall butguaranteed clemency last year througha presidential pardon from President Donald Trump. Butassentencing came for therapper’s federal felon in possession of afirearm conviction in January,noofficial pardon hadbeen signedbythe president.
Now, Boosie,whose legal name is TorenceHatch,has entered into arbitration with his formerrepresentatives in hopes they will refund him half of the $600,000 he paid as part of thecampaign for clemency
Targetedinthe disputeare attorneysJacob Wohl andJack Burkman, of theWashington firm JM Burkman andAssociates. The two previously pleaded guilty to telecommunications fraud in 2022 for operating an Ohio robocall scam discouraging people from voting by mail.
Accordingto Baton Rouge attorney Jill Craft, who’s representing Hatch in the arbitration, Burkman and Wohl strung therapper along with promisesthat hispardon was making its waythrough the capital’scorridorsofpower
“It was alot along the lines of ‘It’sinthe president’s office, it’s adonedeal.Don’t worry,you know we got this taken care of.’ Those types of things,” Craft said.
funds he paid the firm, should he not be pardoned by aspecific deadline.
Oddly,however,the contract’s setdeadline was Jan. 31, 2025 —afull ninemonths before Hatchcontacted the attorneys andpenned thecontract in the first place.That wasatypo, according to Craft, and the true date was supposed to be Jan. 31, 2026.
“Generally speaking, the law will provide that if folks getadate wrong in acontract or something like that, andit’s very clear from the terms of thecontract that that’swhat the parties intended,obviously then the contract can be reformed correctly,” Craftsaid.
In acopy of the pardon representation contract provided to TheAdvocate by Craft, both Hatch’sand Burkman’ssignatures are dated Sept. 30, 2025.
In the most recent filing, Burkman and Wohl’sattorneyCharlesCamp motioned
BY KRISTIN ASKELSON Staff writer
Boozie Badazz contract with lobbyists under scope Hatch ä See DRIVE, page 4B ä See PARDON, page 4B
At issue in the contract is a clause under which Hatch could requestarefund of half of the
Five Acadiana nonprofits are joining forces for aone-day donation drive aimed at making it easier forresidents to support multiple local causes at once. Catholic Charities of Acadiana, Gifting Grace Project, Goodwill Acadiana,Lafayette Habitat for Humanity and Second Harvest Food Bank will host the first Give Acadiana Day from 8a.m. to 2p.m. Aug. 8. The maindonation site will be underthe Cajundome portecochère, wherevolunteerswill collect items from donors. Satellite drop-off sites also will be available at Goodwill Acadiana locations in BreauxBridge,Crowley,New Iberia, Opelousas and Youngsville. Organizers said donors can drive
Floodwarning issued forVermilion River
Hotter,drier weather to return this week
BY JA’KORI MADISON Staff writer
The
Service has issued aflood warning for the Vermilion Riverasanother round of heavyrain and thunderstorms is expected Tuesday,bringing the threat of additional
ing beforehotter,drierweather returns later this
Forecasters said deep tropical moisture movinginland from the Gulf, combinedwith astalled front, willcontinue producing widespread showers and thunderstorms capable of heavyrainfall. Areas thatreceived significant rain Sundayand Monday could be especially vulnerable to flooding. Thefloodwarning forthe Vermilion Riverremains
low-lyingareas,including portions of Beaver Park and Vermilionville, according to theweather service. Rain chances remain high Tuesday,with showers and thunderstorms likely through the morning. Additional rainfall could lead to localized street flooding, particularly in low-lying and poordrainage areas. Conditions are expected to im-
prove beginning Wednesday as high pressure builds into the region, reducing rain chances. By Thursday,forecasters expect mostly sunny skies with afternoon highs climbing into the lower 90s. Theheat will continue to build through the weekend, with highs reaching the mid-90s andheat indexvaluespotentiallytopping 105 degrees during the afternoon. Residents are urged to avoid driving through flooded roadways andtomonitorforecasts for any additional weather advisories.
Attendees PennyRuthless, left, and Reaper Sterlingpose for aphoto at the second Acadiana Pirate Festival in Lafayette.
STAFFPHOTOSByBRAD KEMP
PirateFestival at The Sidecar on Saturdayin Lafayette.
tHearts of Hopeand acostume contest.
BELOWLEFT: Colby‘Zoro’ Trahan, back, pushes Bryson ‘Meldy’ Birdsong dressed in amermaidcostume during the pirate festival.
STAFF PHOTO By JANRISHER
PeggyMartin, 80, in the Rose Room of her Gonzales home, stands near glass and porcelain pieces she was abletorecover after Hurricane Katrina.
PeggyMartin rose
ä See RISHER, page 4B
OUR VIEWS
Meta’s investment in workforcehas impact beyond data center
Meta’sinvestment in amassivedatacenter in Richland Parishhas grabbed headlines for months. It seems that each new turnof the growing endeavor has major economic implications for the future of our state. Thisweek, the company more than doubled the size of the project, upping the sizeofits investmentto$50 billionfromthe $10 billion planned just two years ago.
As construction proceeds, theHyperion data center has already created an economic boom in acorner of ourstate that needed ashotin the arm. When finished, the 4-million-squarefoot data center will sit on 3,200 acres. Meta is spending $1 billion to upgraderoads and wastewater systemsinthe area. It is alsopaying for10new power plants Entergy is buildingto power the computing facility While that’sall impressive, today,we’d like to point out an investmentMetaismaking that will be even more transformative. Andthatisin Louisiana’speople.
In June, the company announcedthat Baton Rougewould be oneofthe four sitesinthe nation where it is launchingAmerica’s Workforce Academy.The other cities areColumbus,Indianapolis and Houston. The $115 million initiative is aimed at training people in the skilledtrades thatare directly linked to the datacenterboom —which requires more welders, fibertechnicians,electricians and plumbers. Applications areopennow for the four-tofive-week training thatrequires no prior experience and leads to aguaranteedjob with aMETApartner at the end. The participants getastipend while theyare training.
In Baton Rouge, the trainingthisfall will be held at the Associated Builders andContractors Pelican Chapter trainingcenter,which hasreceived thousands of applications. But that’snot the only investment in education Meta has made in our state. It gave$5millionto theLouisiana Delta Community College, whose main campus is in Monroe, to train residents for data center jobs, and alsodonated $250,000 to theNew Orleans Career Center to provide technical training to high school juniors and seniors. That’stosay nothing of thebonuses teachers in Richland Parish recently got,courtesy of surging sales taxrevenue due to the Meta project Forthe workforceacademy, recentgraduates career changers, veterans and newentrants to the workforce from all partsofthe countryare welcome to apply.Wesee noreason whyevery slot available shouldnot befilledcome fall with Louisiana residents leadingthe way. Make no mistake. Thisisagame-changerfor workforce development in Louisiana.Creating pathways to long-range stable employmentfor more people has long been agoal of the state’s economic development leaders. With Meta’s backing, that goal has never been more within reach. Economic development should exponentially benefit people,not just bottomlines. That’sreal power Louisiana can harness from the data centerboom.
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
Will it take an actofCongress to getcoastal restorationdone?
Those representing Louisianain Congress need to carve out exemptionsfrom the Jones Act and Foreign Dredge Act for coastal restoration projectshere in thestate of Louisiana. With thestate’sdecision to pull the plug on the long-planned Mississippi River diversion projects, the only significant alternative for coastal restoration projectsisdredging. However,under theJones Act and Foreign Dredge Act, all dredging in U.S. waters must be done by U.S. firms. These firms charge up to 60% more than foreign firms. Netherlands firms, in particular,are much moreefficient and much less costly With Louisianahaving already lost a
chunk of land equivalent to the size of thestate of Delaware and with no end in sight for continuing loss, we need to makeevery coastal restoration dollar go as far as possible. The choice is asimple one. What is moreimportant, thefuture of the 2.5 million people who live along the Louisiana coast,orthe profits of ahandful of U.S. dredging firms?
Ithink it’s us folks on thecoast, and Ithink our congressional representatives should show they believe the samebyamending the Jones Act and ForeignDredge Act to exclude land restoration work in Louisiana.
MICHAEL NUSBAUM NewOrleans
STEM camp at Southern continues to buildstrongerfuturefor ouryouth
As aproudSouthern University
alumnus and Louisiana legislator,I was encouraged to see thecontinued success of Southern University’s STEM summer camp and its commitment to preparing studentsfor theopportunities of tomorrow.Programs that introduce young people to science, technology,engineering and mathematics through hands-on learning areexactly thekind of investments that help build astronger future for our state.
Partnerships among SouthernUniversity,ExxonMobil, educatorsand community leaders demonstrate what is possible when industry and higher education work together to invest in young people. Theresult is astronger pipeline of future engineers, scientists, innovatorsand skilled professionals who will help drive Louisiana’s economy forward.
For Louisiana, initiatives like this
matter
Ourfuturedepends on developing aworkforce equipped to lead in energy,technology,manufacturing and other critical industries. By exposing studentstoSTEM education and real-world applications early,weare helping them develop the skills, confidence and curiosity needed to succeed in high-demand careers.
As aSouthern University alumnus, I know firsthand the difference educational opportunities can make. Southern has along traditionofopening doorsfor studentsand helping them realizetheir potential.
It is encouraging to seethattradition continue through programs that inspireyoung people to dream bigger,work harder and pursue careers that can makealasting impact on our state.
REP.KEN BRASS
Louisiana state representative, District98
Designsinsound wallsare hidden behind tall grass
Recently on atrip from Baton Rouge to theGulf Coast,Iwas apassenger and was able to notice thesound barrier walls along Interstate12. Iremember when they were installed, somewith murals embedded in the walls depicting our stateand history
The barriers are now covered with high grass and smalltrees, and they can’tbeseen. Why isn’tthe greenery being cut so that the designs can be seen? What a wasteifitisnot kept up.
PHYLLIS FERGUSON Baton Rouge
‘Prescriptions’for healthyfoods help patients manage chronicdiseases
As apharmacist with morethan 20 years of clinical experience, and as aNew Orleanian living with high blood pressure myself,I’ve seen both sides of the prescription pad. Ican counsel awoman on her medications all day,but if she can’t afford fresh produce or reach a grocery store, that prescription only does half its job. Here in Louisiana, where dietrelated chronic disease and food insecurity both run high, that gap costs lives.
That’swhy Isupport “Food is Medicine” policies.
The American Heart Association defines Food is Medicine as healthy food prescribed within ahealthcare setting to prevent, manage and treat diet-related chronic disease. Approaches such as produce prescriptions and medically tailored mealshave been showntoimprove outcomes and expand access to nutritious food.
Yes, Louisiana is ready.Arecent NewOrleans study funded by the association’sHealth Care by Food initiative, fittingly named “Makin’ Healthy Groceries,” showed these programsare feasible and promising right here, in our neighborhoods, in our language.
As amember of the Health Care by Food Lived Experience Patient Advisory Board, I’ve seen how lived experience shapes this work. Nowour policymakers must act by funding and implementing these programstoimprove health and reduce disparities statewide.
ALISHA REED Metairie
Birthrightcitizenship rulingsayscrime canpay
Ibelieve the birthright citizenship decision is the first timeinthe history of our country that the Supreme Court has rendered adecision which literally allows millions of people to directly benefit from the commission of acrime.
Women whoare in this country illegally are committing acrimeby their very presence in this country
RICHARD DERBES Baton Rouge
COMMENTARY
The fixationsofDonaldTrump
Steve Roberts
Donald Trump is fixated— even obsessed —with making it harder forAmericans to vote in November’s elections. Apresident who accused his rivals of “CHEATING!” in a recent social media post is trying to do exactly that. He is theCheater-inChief. In his most recentattempt at subvertingdemocracy,the president is pressuring Congressional Republicans to pass what he calls the SAVE America Act, aset of stringent new requirements for registering and voting that could disenfranchise as manyas21million citizens, according to astudy by the Brennan Center for Justice.
“The administration is doing asmuch as possible to inject chaos into theelection cycle,” Wendy Weiser,the center’s vice president for democracy,told the Washington Post. “A top priorityfor this administration is to try to interfere in this election.”
Moreover,the president’scampaign is based on alie: the accusation that noncitizens vote in vast numbers. In fact, every study has shown that the American electoral system is remarkably sound and that fraudisexceedingly rare.
Trump clearly knows that without his insidious intervention, Republicansare highly likely to lose at least onechamber of Congress this fall. Andheknows that the Democrats— afteryears of being bullied and bludgeoned —would use their power to make his lasttwo years in office as miserableaspossible. Trump also knowshecannot wina fair fight. He’seven saidthatwithout rigging the system, Republicans “will never win anotherelection.”
In 20 of the last 22 midterm contests, the president’sparty has lost seatsin Congress, and that trend is rooted in political reality.Magneticpresidential candidates like Trump energize marginal voters who stay home in off years. More seriously,all presidents make promises they cannot keep, leadingtoa certain amount of buyer’sremorse. And Trump is aclassic example. He won 49.8% of the popular vote in 2024, but withinflation rising and war raging,his approval rating stands at 39 5% inthe Silver Bulletin’saverage of reputable national polls.
That means that roughly 1in10Americans, and1 in 5Trumpvoters, have lost faith in the president. In thelatest Quinnipiac poll, for example, only 33% approveofhis handling of the economy, and64% disapprove, the worst rating he’s ever received on this critical issue.
Those grimnumbers have enraged thepresident and inflamed his tantrums. He hascalled passing theSAVE Act a“national emergency” and urged theSenate to end centuries of tradition andterminate the filibuster in order to enact themeasure.
Knowingthat won’thappen, he’scraftinga last-ditch strategythat would attach thebill to aspending measure that, underCongressional rules, could evade afilibuster.
TheSenate parliamentarian would probablyrulesuch chicanery out of order,and Trump has already demanded that Senateleaders fire her.Which they won’t
Not only is the SAVE Act based on afalsehood,italso violates one of the core tenets of traditional conservatives: that thestates, not thecentral government,shouldcontrol crucial functions like voting “When Iwas in office,” Trey Grayson, the former Republican secretary of state in Kentucky,told CNN, “the numberone principle of election administration was that the states run elections and Congress should be minimally involved. On theRepublican side, we really believed that. It was really,really important.”
The congressional measure is only one of many efforts by theCheaterin-Chief to violatethat principle. He pressured statelegislatures to defy convention and redraw congressional boundaries before thenext census, and experts estimate their actions could give Republicans anet gain of about 10 seats.
Trumpalso issued executive orders establishing anational database aimed at purging some voters from therolls and making it harder for others to cast ballotsbymail. Herehe’sbeen less successful.
Several federal courtshave recently rebuffed these orders, with U.S.District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan defiantly declaring, “The federal government has knowingly trampled on the privacy rightsofAmerican citizens in amanner that threatens the sacred right to vote. This Court cannot stand idly by while that happens.” Andjudge Indira Talwani ruled that Trump’sorders “unconstitutionally violate theseparation of powers.”
The Cheater-in-Chief has assaulted thesystem of democracy for his own political and personal benefit.He’swon somebattles and his chaos crusade will continue.
Buthe’slost many other fights, thanks to courageous lawmakers and judges who have stood up for the“sacred right”he’strying to trample.
Email Steven Roberts at stevecokie@ gmail.com.
Court limpsawayfromits campaign finance sins
Any adequate history of human shortsightedness, which would prettymuch encompass all of human history,would mention America’shalf-century dalliance with “campaign finance reform.” The Supreme Court recentlyissued another decision distancingitself, but not nearly enough, from its original 1976sin of notinvalidating limitson coordinated expenditures byparties when it invalidated expenditure limits on candidates.
Areyou chasing false gods?
Thisyear,the issue before thecourt was, incredibly,whether political parties can spendoncampaign activities in coordination with their own candidates With hairsplitting complexity disproportionate to the issue’ssimplicity, the court (6-3) said yes, reversing a2001 decision.
George Will
Academia hasbeen egregiousin diminishing the First Amendment, but this began in Congress. All campaign finance laws are written byincumbent legislators,and, unsurprisingly,servetheir interests. Ostensibly responding to Watergate, but primarily codifying its members’ interests, Congress imposedlimits on the quantity, contentand timing of political (campaign) speech, the First Amendment’score concern Limits on campaign contributionsand spending magnify the importance of incumbents’ many communications advantages. When achallenge to the law’sconstitutionality reachedthe court in1976, the court disallowed limits on campaign expenditures, all of which fund, directly or indirectly,the dissemination of political speech: advertising, voter mobilization, etc. But the courtallowed limits on contributions because they might“appear”problematic.
Limits on parties’ spending— on parties’ speech —survived. This caused contributions to flow to unregulated outside groups (PACs) that oftenhave narrowideological axes to grind, and away from parties, which specialize in coalition-building. In the 2024 election cycle, PACs raised more than $15.7 billion; parties raised $2.7 billion. Result: more polarization caused byshortsightedness.
Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, joined by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr andJustices Clarence Thomas,Samuel A. Alito Jr., Neil M. Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, noted that the court has heldthatthere is only one purpose that permits government torestrict campaignfinancing: preventing quid pro quo corruption (an official act done in response to aspecific campaign contribution)orthe “appearance” thereof. The majority held that modern technology(principally the internet) enables swift disclosure that deters “earmarking” (see below) without restricting a party’sorcontributor’scoordinated political speech. Justice Elena Kagan, joined in dissent by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson, made apoint that illustrates how thecourt continues to miss thepoint about political speech. She said that an individual’shuge contribution to aparty could be directed by theparty,with awink and anod, to the contributor’spreferred candidate. This “earmarking,” Kagan laments,would nullify, by circumvention,limits on contributionstocandidates.
But these should be nullified. The court’slong and still-incomplete limp back to conformity with theFirst Amendmentwill be incompleteuntil earmarking is considered protected unlimited —donors’ speech. The court has heldthatthe political debateshould be “uninhibited, robust,and wide-open.” Not merely as open as Congressconsiderspreferable.
Thecourt has hitherto ruledagainst limits on individuals’spending their own money.(Candidates cannot corrupt themselves.) Now thecourt belatedly
notes: “For nearly 200 years after the ratification of the First Amendment, parties could spend freely” to support, and in coordination with, their candidates. “Reformers” have long fretted about donors having “undue” influence on officeholders, and even, nonsensically, parties having “undue” influence on their candidates. This year,the court rattled on in favor of campaign regulationsthat are “closely drawn,”“narrowly tailored” and not “disproportionate.” Good grief. Campaign regulations and their rationales about “appearance” breed the sort of cynicism they are supposed to combat.Consider the following: The largest political spending today that could raise quid pro quo “appearance,” probably is by teachers unions, whose support goesalmost entirely to Democrats. Butdowewant corruption sniffers trying to establish where politics ends and corruption begins? Does arecipient’sopposition to school-choice programscause aunion’scontributions, or do thecontributions flow to therecipient because he or she opposes schoolchoice programs? Supporting aparty or candidate because one supports particular policies is called politics. Quid pro quo corruption has long been illegal. Restricting speech in order to deter such corruption also should be illegal. It is, under the First Amendment (“Congress shall makenolaw …”) properly construed. Actually,any doctrine that permits limits on contributions and spending for political advocacy is inconsistent with theconstitutional proscription of laws abridging freedom of speech. The court could have spared thecountry much trouble if in 1976 it had responded to Congress’sspeech-rationing regime with athree-word opinion: “You’re kidding, right?”
Email George Will at georgewill@ washpost.com.
My sadly departed friend, Frank, was a unicorn. He lived 89 years in the townhe grew up in, avillage on the Connecticut shore. Areporter at his local newspaper forover half acentury,hehad turned down offers to work formore glamorous publications, among them Sports Illustrated and The New York Times Frank had considered the priesthood in his youth. He stopped going to church and claimed he wasn’tpart of it anymore, but the church’smoral teachings clearly stayed put. Frank approached reporting as akind of ministry,spending much time talking with his “flock.” He showered equal interest in the rich, the poor,the Black, the White, the newcomers and the old-timers. Frank stayed put in his weathered little house. The Rowayton of his youth was amodest place, inhabited by artists, teachers and electricians. At acertain point, the hedge fund crowd decided it was their place. It had abeach on the Long Island Sound and aNew York commuter line. It wasnext door to the very affluent Darien. And it had little cottages that the finance bros could tear downand replace with suburban palaces. They bought the cottages from older residents forced out by rising real estate taxes.
Frank becameakind of spiritual leader to the new super-rich neighbors. He felt zero envy of them. On the contrary,hekeenly observed their discontent amid their plenty and diagnosed the reason. “They are chasing false gods,” he’d often say The phrase relates to the Old Testament story of Moses descending Mount Sinai with the TenCommandments, only to find the Israelites partying and worshipping gods of other peoples: Moloch, Baal, plus Aaron’s golden calf. Hence, the phrase “golden calf” meansanidol that people create when they lose faith. Note that the First Commandment is “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”
Frank wasnot necessarily attaching areligious meaning to the line. He interpreted “chasing false gods” as devoting one’slifeto ultimately unimportant things.
Someofthe false gods. Fame: It does not makeone safe. Pursuing youth: Everyone whoages eventually loses it. Money: It doesn’tprove superiority or provide security against suffering.
Frank recalls finding ayoung neighbor in his garage, hanging from arope over his Ferrari. True story
F. Scott Fitzgerald’sGatsby died in pursuit of false gods. He yearned forDaisy,not so much as awoman, but forthe wealth and status she symbolized. Daisy was Gatsby’s golden calf.
Frank’spresence preserved adesired vintage feel. He fit in with Rowayton’scharming, if increasingly fancier,main street. He represented continuity foryoung men who holed up at homemonitoring overnight trading on Asian markets. Frank wasone of the town’sremaining oaks. Basically,Frank just observed. Every morning, he would see young women jogging behind baby carriages, ponytails bobbing up and down. The older locals joked that the women “were working out like hedge fund wives.” Lose their looks, and they’d be replaced with something younger and slimmer (A lot of that wasgoing on.)
Rowayton is perched on the southwestern border of NewEngland. Many residents, fancying themselves upper class, dressed with Yankee understatement. This wasa place where “quiet luxury” hollered. Except forthe cars. Big, expensive German SUVs predominated. Abeaten truck or modest sedan parked in adriveway suggested atradesman wasthere to fix the airconditioning.
Frank died, his house wassold, and now there’sahulk built high to catch the water views. But the memoryofFrank’slifelessons goes on. Whenever Ichase false gods, and sadly Idosometimes, his voice comes rushing in —and Ireconsider
Froma Harrop on X, @FromaHarrop. Email her at fharrop@gmail.com
Froma Harrop
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JULIA DEMAREENIKHINSON
President Donald Trumpwalks to speak at alunch in the White House Rose Garden.
RISHER
In 2005, nearly three weeks passed before the National Guardand the Federal Emergency Management Agency cleared the highway enough for Martintoget backtowhat was left of her home.
“It looked like Hiroshima,”she said “You’ve ever seen pictures of Hiroshima? Black sticks and gray ash.” Walking the ruined property toward her parents’ house, Martin passed the old tractor shed and saw green leaves —the giant rose atop the shed, theone with no name, had survived.
“My parents knew Ineeded something to help me survive,” she said.
William C. Welch, alandscape architect and founder of the Texas Rose Rustlers, had seen the rose before Katrinawhen he and his wife went down for seafood off Martin’shusband’sboat. Welch said he had never seen anything like it After the storm, he returned forcuttings and pushed Martin to getthe rose into commerce. Years earlier,she had gotten the plant from herhairdresser’s family in New Orleans.Theythought it might be aSeven Sisters rose. It was not. SevenSisters is thorny, needs cold to bloom and has big leaves As Welch’swife, Diane,was dyingof breast cancer in the monthsafter Katrina, Welch called Martinlateone night He needed to tell her something important “Hesaid, ‘Something just overcame me It was like it was whispered to me.Name that rose Peggy Martin,’”Martin said She said she knew immediately who had done the whispering “My mama told him whattoname that rose,” Martin said.
The rose that carries Martin’snamehas sincespreadthrough nurseriesacross the South andbeyond.
Peggy Martin has become shorthandin gardening circles for resilience. In June, it became the official state rose of Louisiana, thanks to stateSen. Patrick Connick and state Rep. Jacob Braud Martin has never madeadime fromit. “It’safound rose,” she said. “SoIcan-
PARDON
Continued from page1B STAFF
to dismiss the arbitration on the grounds that the lobbyists had signedthe contract only after theexpiration date —the Jan 31,2025, dateCraft considers atypo—had already passed, making thecontractvoid. In aMonday statementtoThe Advocate, Burkman said the provision over the refund was neveragreed to by his firm “Boosie has no reason to be unhappy,” Burkman wrote. “In 30 years of lobbying, Idoubt we have ever donemore work and harderwork. …Wetried very very hard.” Burkman added that their campaign was made “much tougher” duetoHatch being arrested again in Houstonearlier this year —for allegedly striking anightclub security guard with ahookah.
Without the pardon,Hatch wassentenced to three years of supervised release, 300 hours of community service and a$50,000 fine forthe possession of a firearm conviction.
Following his newHoustonarrest, a California probation officer filed to revoke the above probation conditionsonJune23. Should ajudge agree to revoke Hatch’s probation, he couldface up to two yearsin prison, according to the filing. Burkman and Wohl provided Hatch and his defense attorney,Meghan Blanco,with
DRIVE
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notclaim it.”
Cline, Robert Delhomme FuneralHomeChapelof theFlowers at 11am
Obituaries
Cline,Dr. RobertW
Funeral services will be held on Tuesday, July14, 2026, 11:00 AM at Delhomme Funeral Home Chapel of theFlowers for Dr. Robert WilliamCline, 93, who died Thursday, July 9, 2026 at home in Lafayette, LA.Dr. David R. Westwillconduct theservices with music provided by Karen Broussard Visitation willbeobserved Tuesday, July14, 2026 from 9:00 AM to time of service Interment will be at Mount Calvary Cemetery, Eunice, LA at 2:30 PM,Tuesday July14, 2026.
Robert is survived by his wife, Gloria S. Cline, and many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in deathbyhis parents, Keller and AgnesMcCon Cline; his brothers, Earl (wife, Joanne), Clifford (Eva), and Carrol (Jo) Cline; his sisters,Alice Hudson RuthHaden(husband, Clinton), and Irene Malone (Calvin).
E.E. in 1969 at the U. of TXAustin andtaughtone year at theU.ofMiami, Coral Gables,FL. He returned to USLin1969 wherehespent therest of his career,retiringfromthe E.E. and Computer Engr. Dept.in 1996. Onehighlightofhis career occurred in 1982 when he developedand administeredthe first formal Telecommunication Option to anationallyaccredited BSEE programinthe U.S Theprogram achievednational recognitionresulting in over onemilliondollars in outside fundingfor equipment, scholarships, grants, summer internships and employmentopportunities for graduates. In 1988, theCenterof Telecommunications Studies (CTS) wasestablished with Dr.Cline as Director.Itcoordinatedall aspectsoftelecom education includingundergraduate andgraduate teaching, research, andcontinuing education.Asa partof CTS,Dr. Cline andDr. BenjaminLeonco-directed aBellsouthFoundation Grantin1988, leading to theLABoardofRegent's approval in 1991 of an interdisciplinary Master's Degree in Telecommunications program with both technical andbusinessoptions.
Annually from1983 to 1996, he was invited to majortelecommunication conferencesthroughout theU.S. wherehedeveloped contacts with industryexecutives. Using these contacts, he arranged numerousinternships for his students that often resulted in permanentjobswith major corporationsnationwide
What she getsinstead arrives in letters from strangers, photographs of blooms climbingfences and porches from people whosay they’d never managed to grow anythingbefore.
“It fills your heart,” she said. “People go gaga over this.”
Istarted packing up my notebook as thebourré ladies began to arrive, each bearing stacksofdollar bills and shallow Tupperware rectangles filled withcookiesand dips. They set up individual side tables for drinks and snacks.
“Wedon’t stop playing cards,” StephanieFrederic said. “You get your snacks, andyou putitright here, and you keep playing.”
Martin’s friends know her well, but they still appreciate that their hostess is, after all, “the” Peggy Martin. They told me about stunned cashiers who notice her nameonher credit card.
As thegame was about to start, Icould see the backyard and the rambling Peggy Martin rosethrough thewindow.Ithad long since finished itsspring show —but even in July’sheat, Ispotted two small pink blooms.
In myown backyard, Igrow Peggy Martin roses. Lastyear,Iwas propagating eight morewhen we had our house fire. Those cuttings were lost,but theolder plants survived. I’ll propagate more. And whenthey bloom, I’ll think of Rosalie and Pivon Dupuy and their“prettiest girl.”
Email Jan Risher at jan.risher@ theadvocate.com.
updates in early January that the rapper’s pardon had been endorsed by several MAGA influencers and GOP politicians, according to reporting by news organization NOTUS. Those who hadsupposedlysignedinsupportincludedErika Kirk,CEO of Turning Point USAand widow of Turning Point founder Charlie Kirk, and U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, of Benton Representatives for Erica Kirk and Johnson denied granting this support, NOTUS reported Monday.InErica Kirk’s case, arepresentative saidshe wasn’t even aware of who the rapper is.
Thepublicationfurther reported that Burkmanand Wohl gave repeated assurances that the pardon was moving through Washington with momentum, even messaging on New Year’sEve that the pardon was in Trump’s hand and “ready tosign.”
Blanco told NOTUS that days later,a White House aide said thatthey had not seen apardon application for Hatchatall. Blanco has since filed apardon application on Hatch’sbehalf. In March, after Hatch requested areturn of halfofhis money, Burkman reportedly sent the rapper atext message saying the firm couldnot deliver thefunds because it was near bankruptcy due to fines from the Ohio robocall conviction.
n Lafayette Habitat for Humanity: Appliances and furniture
Continued from page1B LOTTERY SUNDAY,JULY12, 2026 PICK 3: 3-7-9
Robert was born October 3, 1932, in Wooster, Ohio, and grew up in Youngstown, Ohio, where he graduated from South HighSchool in 1950. He served four years in the U.S. AirForcefrom 1952 to 1956. Upon beingdischarged fromactiveduty, he enrolled at Southwestern LA Institute (SLI, then USL, now ULL) where he received theB.S. in Elec.Engr. In 1960, after working for ayear with Westinghouse Elec.Corp., he returned to USL to earn hisM.S.E.E. He was employed as aGraduate Asst. and upon graduationin 1963 he became an Instructor in theUSL E. E. Dept.Thus begana 33-year career in teaching Elec. Engr. at ULL.During this time, he earnedhis Ph.D. in
Robert received anumberofhonorsand awards duringhis career.These included theUSL DistinguishedProfessor Award in 1974; the USLEloi Girard Professorship in Engineering, 1984-1987; elevation to Senior Member Gradebythe Institute of Electrical andElectronic Engineers(IEEE) in 1980; election to theNational EngineeringConsortium's University Advisory Committee,1988-1995; and the IEEE Region V OutstandingEngineering Educator Award in 1993. He wasa Registered Professional Engineerin LA, amember of Eta Kappa Nu,and Tau Beta Pi,engineeringhonor societies, andofPhi Kappa PhiHonor Society.
During hiscareer, Robert served as Faculty Advisor for thestudent Telecommunications Engineeringand Management Society (TEAMS). He took pride in theaccomplishments of hisstudents andalways made time for them when they returned to campus after graduation.
Robert wasa member of First Baptist Church and earlier wasactive in Northside Baptist Church serving for manyyearsas aSundaySchool teacher, deacon,and on numerous church committees. He wasa member of the Lafayette Camp of Gideons International as well. He wasa volunteerdriverfor theDisabled Veterans for several years. He wasan avidfan of ULLfootball andbasketballprograms. In retirement,heand his wife enjoyedtraveling abroad to Europeand Israel andthroughout the U.S. Active pallbearers includeStephen Stark, Carl Stark, Joel Stark, Ervin Ritter, Robert West and John Walker. Thefamilyrequests that anymemorial contributions be made to Hospice of Acadianaor charity of yourchoice Thefamilywould like to thank hiscaregivers who caredfor himduringhis extendedillness; Mary Broussard, SabrinaArdoin, Scrilda Duhon, Rebecca Senegal andRomona Semere. Personal condolences may be sent to thefamily of Dr.RobertW.Cline at: www.delhommefuneralho me.com
Dr.RobertW.Cline and hisfamilywerecared for andentrusted final arrangements to Delhomme Funeral Home, 1011 BertrandDrive, Lafayette, LA.
up, drop off items and mention Give Acadiana Day Each organization is requesting specific donations:
n Catholic Charities ofAcadiana: 25-foot professional-grade tape measures, 8-ounce foam cups and gallon-size containersofliquid laundry detergent
n Gifting Grace Project: Backpacks and school supplies
n GoodwillAcadiana: Clothing and household items
n Second Harvest Food Bank: Shelf-stable food, includingcanned and othernonperishableitems. Organizers said theevent is intended to bring several donation drives together under one initiative, allowing residents to support multiple organizations in a single day
“When local nonprofits collaborate, our whole community wins, and so do theneighbors each of our
organizations serve,” the organizations said in ajoint statement
startdealing the cards for bourré on FridayinMartin’skitchen in Gonzales.
PeggyMartin overlooks her backyard garden ather Gonzales home.
SPORTS
GUESSING GAME
SunBeltConferencepreseason predictionstougher than ever
The 2026-27 LSU athletic year wasalready overflowing with storylines.
Can Lane Kiffinlead the Tigers back to the College Football Playoff in his first season?
How good can men’s basketball be in the Will Wade 2.0 era?
Can LSU baseball bounce back foranother College World Series appearance?
Will KimMulkey have aUkranian (Kate Koval) and aRussian (Anna Mineava) on the roster as the Tigers try to return to the Women’s Final Four?
How manyperfect 10s will gymnastics’ Kailin Chio possibly have?
Last week, LSU added one more huge, off-the-field story line to the mix. News broke Thursday that Gov.Jeff Landry and LSU president Wade Rousse plan to host 40 top boosters at the governor’s mansion the first weekofAugust to discuss the financial future of the athletic department.
The newsimmediately sparked acouple of questions:
The guessing game that is predicting college football conference races each July continues to get more challengingeach year On Monday,the Sun Belt Conference released its preseason poll anditwas essentially arepeat of last year’sfinal standings. After all, what else is a voter to do? In an erawhere it’s commonplacefor teams to haveup to 70 new players on aroster,it’sawfully difficult to assess howthings are going to play out
Take James Madison,for instance. The Dukes were in the College Football Playoff last season and didn’t loseagame in Sun Belt play
But there’sacompletely new coaching staff with new coach Billy Napier and only three returningstartersonthe depth chart. So whileitmakes sensetopick James Madison to repeat as East champions, it reallyisa total guess basedon recent history Is the Dukes’ defense goingtobedominant again this season? Again, purelya
Powerhouse
SBCPRESEASON POLL
guess. We’ll see.
Lastyear’sdarling Old Dominion had quarterback Colton Joseph transfer to
NeitherFrancenor Spainhas trailedatthisyear’sWorld Cup, butonlyone canreach the final
BY STEPHENHAWKINS
AP sportswriter
ARLINGTON,Texas Kylian Mbappé and Francehaven’t trailed at all at this year’sWorldCup. Neither has Spain with teenage sensation Lamine Yamal and clutch goal-scoring substituteMikelMerino.
Spain vs. France.
2P.M.TUESDAy,FOX
Only one of those teamscan makeittothe final France and Spain are both playing attheir 17th World Cup, but have metonly once previously on soccer’sbiggest stage. They play Tuesday at the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys in the first of two powerhouse semifinal matches.
After entering this tournament as FIFA’stoprankedteam, France has outscored its opponents 142. Mbappé,the 2022 Golden Boot winner,has eight goals to match Lionel Messi for thescoring lead this time, and is one behindthe Argentina captain’scareer record of 21 at the World Cup.
“Weare focused,” France midfielderAdrien Rabiot said. “Weare confident,ofcourse, with the course we have done so far,and we have to be, but always with this humility that has characterizedus sincethe
Wisconsin and only returns one starter on offense, so it’shard to know if the Monarchs can continue that upward trend. Marshall looks like thesafest bet to be acontender anyway,depending on if the defense can improve at all. The Thundering Herd has the playmaking quarterback and nine returning starters overall with a second-year head coach.
In theWest, Troy has seven returning starters, including thequarterback, so it’s alogical pick to win,aslong as the Trojansfind away to protectthe quarterback better,after allowing four sacks per game last season.
The Ragin’Cajuns also makesense to get thethird-most votes with astarting quarterback returning, veteran coaching staff back and 10 returning starters.
Sun Belt newcomer Louisiana Tech could have been picked higher than fourth, but has even more unknowns coming from Conference USA.
Fewnew coaches
With so much uncertainty in preseason
beginning of the competition.”
The27-year-old Mbappé has20goals in his 20 World Cup matches, including one in the 2018 win over Croatia when he joined Pele as theonly teenagersto score in aWorldCup final. And the star striker for Les Bleus had saidheisfine despiteexiting in the77th minuteoftheir 2-0 quarterfinal win over Morocco after scoring agoal. Yamal, whoturned 19 on Monday,has already been part of two semifinal wins with Spain over France. He wasjust days shy of his 17th birthdaywhenhescored in a2-1 win during the 2024 European Championship semifinals, and Spain then won 5-4 in Nations League playlast year
“I believe if France has to fear anyone,itshould be us,inmyopinion,”Yamal said afterSpain’s
1. What will this future look like, especially since the letter LSU sent to the 40 madenosmall boast about “a first look at an alternative revenue generating opportunity” that could “quite possibly change the future of college sports in America”?
2. How do you feel if you’re
LSUBASEBALL
Tigers hold on to 16 of 22 playersdrafted
BY KOKI RILEY Staff writer
HowLSU didit
After losing eight signees to the draft last summer, LSUwas determined to keep moreofits recruiting classintact this year
Johnson
The 2026 MLBDraftwas an undeniable success forJay Johnson and LSU baseball. The Tigers were able to retain multiple toprecruitsintheir signing class, holding on to 16 of their 22 players during the draft this past weekend. That group joins astrong eight-man transfer portal classand acoreofreturning players, headlined by Steven Milam andCadeArrambide In an exclusive interviewwith The Advocate, Johnsonshared his thoughts on the class and where LSU’sroster stands after the draft. Here are the five biggest takeaways from that conversation.
The 2026 season was astruggle, and the smaller freshman class meant that the program needed to replenish its young talent. The Tigers accomplished that this weekend by getting the likes of Dominic Santarelli, Malachi Washington, Cooper Sides, Kolby Stringer and more through the draftand onto campus.
“Once aplayer signs with us andplays theirway intoadecision between college and professional baseball, at least at LSU, we don’tmake it acollege versus pro thing,” Johnson said. “Wejust make it apath to beingamajor league playerthing, andshow them how we feellike we can advance them to get to that point. Ithink we did agood job of that this year.”
Along with countless hours
STAFF FILE PHOTO By BRAD KEMP
Marshall quarterbackCarlos Del Rio-Wilson is brought down by ahost of UL defenders on Sept. 27 at Cajun Field.Del Rio-Wilson was voted the Sun Belt’spreseason offensive player of the
Kevin Foote
Scott Rabalais
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MARTIN MEISSNER Kylian MbappéofFrance celebrates after his team’s quarterfinal win against Morocco on Thursday in Foxborough, Mass.
MLB facing potential lockout
BY RONALD BLUM AP baseball writer
PHILADELPHIA Paul Skenes, Juan Soto and Bryce Harper are among baseball’s All-Stars who say players will never agree to a salary cap but maintain there’s plenty of time to avoid a conflict that could shorten the 2027 season. “Both sides kind of have their line that they’re not going to cross,” Skenes, the former LSU star and Pittsburgh Pirates ace who is also a member of the union’s eight-man negotiating committee, said Monday “Whether that results in missing games or missing a season, we’ll see.” Baseball’s five-year labor contract expires Dec 1 and MLB is expected to immediately lock out players. The more consequential deadline is in late February or early March, when Major League Baseball would announce whether it was postponing opening day Owners proposed a salary cap for the first time since the union fought off MLB’s cap plan with a 7 1/2-month strike in 1994-95 that caused the first cancellation of the World Series since 1904. Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred says a cap is needed to lessen payroll disparity
Soto, who signed a record $765 million, 15 year contract with the New York Mets as a free agent after the 2024 season, would be limited to a $265 million, six-year deal under MLB’s proposal.
“Yeah, that sucks,” Soto said. “It shouldn’t be there.”
MLB’s proposal would cap spending in 2027 at $245.3 million, using figures for luxury tax payrolls that include $20.1 million for benefits and the pre-arbitration bonus pool. It also would establish a payroll floor of $171.2 million, forcing some teams to spend more.
The Los Angeles Dodgers, baseball’s biggest spenders, had a $415.2 million payroll on opening day this year MLB has not made a proposal on how to phase in a cap, a process that would be key for high-spending clubs such as the Dodgers.
Los Angeles Angels outfielder
Mike Trout, at 34 in the eighth season of a $426.5 million, 12-year contract, said players are aware of the proposal’s intent.
“It’s trying to minimize the years and obviously the totals. For sure, we see that,” he said. “I think baseball’s in a good spot right now and we can’t mess this up.”
Harper, in the eighth season of a $330 million, 13-year contract
with Philadelphia, said he couldn’t conceive of any scenario in which the players’ association would agree to a cap.
“The opportunity for players to get paid is what this is all about,” Harper said, citing the union’s legacy of fighting MLB since Curt Flood helped unite players in the 1970s. “We owe it to the guys that have come before us to do the same thing.”
Harper, who signed his first major league contract at age 17, also vowed to fight MLB’s proposal to ban a player from signing until he was at least 20 years old by the Sept. 1 of his signing year and two years removed from the graduating year of his high school class. MLB says college baseball provides a better development path.
“If you’re in the top three rounds as a high school kid I think you should be able to do whatever you want,” Harper said. “It would really be tough for a guy like Jackson Holliday to not be the number one pick and not get the chance to go to the big leagues at 19 or 18 if he’s able to.”
Bargaining began in May and is expected to resume after the AllStar break. The union has asked for expanded free agency and salary arbitration rights along with
almost doubling the major league minimum.
Pirates pitcher Braxton Ashcraft viewed the early negotiations as “back-and-forth proposals that may or may not be unrealistic.”
Skenes, a 24-year-old righthander in his second full big league season, could see a sharp decrease in potential contract offers under MLB’s system. He currently is on track to become a free agent after the 2029 season and has a $1,085,000 salary in his last season before arbitration eligibility He also has earned nearly $5.6 million from the pre-arbitration bonus pool that started in 2022.
“MLB is kind of presenting their perfect-world offers and we’re kind of presenting our perfectworld offers,” Skenes said. “So there’s a lot of time before there’s any real movement, I think.”
San Diego’s Mason Miller, baseball’s top closer, also could become a free agent following the 2029 season. A 27-year-old righthander, he is earning $4 million this season.
“I still have some optimism,” he said. “The place that the game’s at right now, I think killing that momentum is kind of fruitless for everybody.”
Win helps Blaney close NASCAR points lead
BY CHARLES ODUM AP sportswriter
HAMPTON, Ga. — His thick mous-
tache wasn’t the only feature that made Ryan Blaney look like Richard Petty in a dominant performance at EchoPark Speedway
Blaney drove like NASCAR’s King while ruling the Cup Series race from qualifying through every stage in a weather-delayed victory which left the Team Penske Ford driver in contention for the points championship.
Blaney won every stage after starting on the pole and led 171 laps in his win. The race was delayed 3 hours, 9 minutes by rain and lightning and ended at 1:45 a.m. on Monday The 171 laps led are the most at a drafting-style track since Petty led 184 of 200 laps for his first Daytona 500 win in 1964.
As a result, Blaney is third in the NASCAR points race, only 65 behind leader Denny Hamlin Tyler Reddick is second.
Even Blaney was shocked to learn he is in the thick of the championship race heading into Sunday’s race at North Wilkesboro, North Carolina.
“Really?” Blaney asked when told he is only 65 points out of the lead
“Wow! Wow!”
It was a race to remember for Blaney and Team Penske Blaney’s dominance began when he won the pole while joined by Team Penske teammate Joey Logano on the front row He then survived the long weather delay to answer every challenge while winning Stage 1, Stage 2 and then surviving a three-wide battle on the final lap.
“I couldn’t ask for a better weekend,” Blaney said. “Sat on the pole, won both stages and won the race.
“My car was incredibly fast, leading. I could defend moves without having to throw, like, lowpercentage blocks. I just never really did that.”
Blaney knew he had the speed to recover if he briefly lost the lead.
“Some moves are kind of un-
beatable to defend as the leader,” he said. “I would just let people get to my inside. If they passed me, great, I think I can probably develop a run to get them back.”
Blaney’s crew chief, Jonathan Hassler, made the crucial decision to keep the No. 12 Ford on the track after Blaney brushed the wall with 29 laps remaining. Blaney worried he felt a “terrible” vibration following the contact with the wall but Hassler was able to quickly determine there was no serious damage.
“We were able to get some pictures really quick, see that the damage wasn’t too bad,” Hassler said. “Obviously we saw there was a little bit. We looked at it, there were 30 cars on the lead lap, not a lot of laps left. Our chance to win was to stay out, take a little bit of a risk. Fortunately it worked out for us.”
Blaney fought off challenges from Bubba Wallace and Christopher Bell, who finished second, on the final lap. Carson Hocevar and Ty Gibbs rounded out the top four
NCAA women’s tourney to seed top 16 teams
Beginning with next year’s NCAA women’s basketball tournament, the top 16 teams will be placed in the bracket in their true ranking regardless of conference affiliation.
In the past, the top four teams in a conference would be placed in different regions to protect them from playing each other until the Final Four For example, the tournament this past season had four SEC teams in the top eight overall seeds. Texas was third, South Carolina fourth, LSU fifth and Vanderbilt seventh LSU was dropped down to seventh and Vanderbilt eighth in the bracketing to avoid having them be in the same regions.
Now if that happened going forward, the teams would remain where their seeds should have them.
Struggling A’s dismiss pitching coach Emerson
WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Heading into the All-Star break on a brutal nine-game losing streak, the Athletics dismissed pitching coach Scott Emerson on Monday Emerson was a longtime staple of the A’s organization, joining as a minor league pitching coach in 2002 and coaching at several of the club’s affiliates for over a decade. He was hired as the A’s bullpen coach in 2014 and served in that role for three seasons before getting elevated to pitching coach in 2017. Many things have gone wrong for the A’s (41-55) in a stretch that has seen them lose 17 of their past 20 games.
As a starting staff, the 5.30 ERA posted by the A’s rotation also ranks 29th in MLB.
Case of Rams’ Jackson assigned for diversion
LOS ANGELES Los Angeles Rams left tackle Alaric Jackson, who was arrested on June 9 on suspicion of felony domestic violence, has the opportunity to avoid criminal charges.
Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office spokesman Ivor Pine confirmed in a statement to The Associated Press on Monday that Jackson’s case has been assigned for a pre-filing diversion available to eligible individuals. The City Attorney Hearing is an alternative to misdemeanor criminal prosecution.
Though charges will not be filed against Jackson at this time, the case remains open and can be re-evaluated if there are more developments.
Schwarber to lead off for NL in All-Star Game
PHILADELPHIA Kyle Schwarber of the host Philadelphia Phillies will lead off for the National League in Tuesday night’s All-Star Game as the replacement for designated hitter Shohei Ohtani, who is skipping the showcase to have a knee procedure ahead of the season’s second half. Detroit Tigers outfielder Riley Greene and two New York Yankees, first baseman Ben Rice and outfielder Cody Bellinger, gained American League starting spots because of injuries. Rice, third in the major leagues with 29 home runs behind Schwarber (32) and the Houston Astros’ Yordan Alvarez (31), starts at first because Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr is skipping the game to rest a bad back. Guerrero’s initial replacement, the Athletics’ Nick Kurtz, sprained a thumb.
Wallace was penalized for passing below the double yellow lines and finished 29th instead of second.
Blaney said he didn’t have the best-handling car but enjoyed being able to rely on his superior speed with the race on the line.
“That was kind of a fun dynamic of my car is really fast, handles a little worse than theirs,” Blaney said. “Their car handles better but isn’t quite as quick down the straightaway Fun how all that played out.”
Now Blaney will continue to chase the Toyotas of Hamlin and Reddick for the points lead. Blaney’s strategy is simple: “Just keep doing what we’re doing.”
Asked if he can win the championship, Blaney said “I don’t think it’s out of the question.
“We just have to keep doing what we’re doing. That surprises me we’re that close. I think before San Diego I was like 160 out. It shows you how quick things can kind of ebb and flow Never know when we can get there or not.”
The USWNT will play reigning champion Spain
PHILADELPHIA The U.S women’s soccer team will return to town in October for a game that will be about as big as a friendly gets. The reigning Olympic champions will face reigning World Cup champion Spain at Subaru Park on Oct. 13, three days after the teams open a two-game set in Washington. It will be the U.S. women’s team’s 16th all-time visit to the region, dating back to 1991, and its 10th game at the Union’s home Its last game at Lincoln Financial Field was soon after the team’s 2019 World Cup title, when it set an attendance record for a standalone friendly that the venue still holds. Various rounds
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MATT SLOCUM
Braxton Ashcraft, left, and Paul Skenes of the Pittsburgh Pirates arrive to speak with the media during All-Star Week on Monday in Philadelphia.
Spieth looking to recapture magic at Open
British Open champion has ‘blueprint’ for success
BY DOUG FERGUSON Associated Press
SOUTHPORT, England Jordan Spieth was four days shy of turning 24 when he delivered pure magic in the final hour at Royal Birkdale to win the British Open for the third leg of the Grand Slam. It was among the most astonishing finishes in a major championship. Perhaps even more astonishing? He has only two PGA Tour victories since. He has played in the final group at a major only once.
What hasn’t changed is his optimism that he can get back to his best golf, no matter how far away that looks for a player who is No. 51 in the world, who has not been to the Tour Championship the past two years, who has not been in the conversation at a major in five years.
“If you give up on reaching your ceiling, then I don’t see a point in playing anymore,” Spieth said Monday “So for me it’s always about I’ll do everything I can to be trying to be at the very best in the world, because I know that I can be. I have been. It’s nice to have the blueprint.”
The blueprint was nearly a decade ago the pursuit of the calendar Grand Slam that ended with a bogey on the 17th hole at St. Andrews in 2015, his British Open title two years later, and playing
in the final group at Carnoustie in 2018 as he tried to keep possession of the claret jug.
He feels he is on the right track and keeps getting a bad hand.
The analogy he used earlier this year was having a bad shoe at the blackjack table, staying put because as soon as he walks away, fortunes surely will turn.
He’s still at the table.
“I’m quite frustrated with the results considering I know where my game is at,” Spieth said. “It’s better than it was four or five years ago when I got back to top 10 in the world It’s without a doubt better than it was then. It’s just not quite showing up in results.
“At the same time, it’s a staythe-course mentality,” he said.
“Sometimes you get rewarded right away, like I did back then maybe in a bit of a lucky fashion, and I understand that sometimes it’s delayed. And that’s how it feels like it is right now So I’m just waiting for that opportunity.”
The return to Royal Birkdale at least allows him to remember how it felt to walk up to the 18th green with victory secure, sitting on the edge of a pot bunker with the claret jug as dozens of photographers captured the image of a
23-year-old often referred to then as “Golden Child.”
What he can’t relive is the finish. He lost the lead on the 13th hole even though his bogey felt like stealing a shot he took a penalty drop from a dune covered in high grass, hit a blind shot from the driving range and limited the damage with a chip-and-putt for bogey, just like always.
Then came the 6-iron he nearly holed on the par-3 14th and the 50foot eagle putt on the par-5 15th hole — “Go get that,” he famously said to caddie Michael Greller — and two more birdies.
“Maybe the best shot and best putt I’ve ever hit don’t exist anymore,” Spieth said with a smile.
The par-3 14th is gone now The R&A instead wanted the 15th hole to play as No. 14, and it built a new par-3 15th that measures 241 yards and has yet to get many positive reviews.
“Undecided,” Rory McIlroy said last week.
“As is always the case in par 3s, you have to wait until a tournament plays to see how the par 3 plays,” Tommy Fleetwood said on Monday
Perhaps the biggest change for Spieth are the conditions. It was wet and green and lush in 2017, the wind coming out of the opposite direction. Now it is mostly yellow, brittle and firm, and much
of England is coping with a heat wave.
Players were in shorts for the Monday practice round, which followed a “Last Chance Qualifier” that Joe Dean of England won with a 68 to secure his spot in the field.
“It’s going to play quite different than the last time we were here,” Spieth said “We’ve had an opposite wind, too, the last couple days. Holes that are close to being drivable become mid- to long irons, and just with the wind switch, the difference into and down are so dramatic over here that picking a
strategy is going to be key.”
A change of scenery might not be the worst thing for Spieth. He arrived over the weekend and relived some of those shots in the closing stretch, at least on the holes still there. But at this stage in his career, it’s more about looking forward.
“I’m always comparing myself a bit to myself at my best, but not to try to be the exact player, just more so that I know that I can do it,”
“I
England dreams of British Open-World Cup double victory
BY STEVE DOUGLAS Associated Press
SOUTHPORT England How’s this for a dreamy scenario for English sports fans on Sunday?
An Englishman becomes “the champion golfer of the year” by winning the British Open at Royal Birkdale.
Then, a few hours later, England’s soccer team wins the World Cup. “It would be mega,” said Matt Wallace, one of 21 English golfers in the field for the final major of 2026 taking place on the northwest coast of England starting Thursday
So, is this joyous sporting double a possibility? Sure.
A probability? That would be pushing it. It might be the most well-known fact in all of sports in these parts that England — where soccer is king — hasn’t won the World Cup since 1966. This year, the men’s team is into the semifinals and will face Lionel Messi and Argentina on Wednesday
excruciating for the golfers, too.
Indeed, since Jacklin, only one Englishman has won the Open, and that was Nick Faldo three times (1987, ’90 and ’92) and all of them in Scotland.
Local lad is fan favorite
Tommy Fleetwood might be England’s best bet this year and, boy, how the locals would celebrate a win.
As a kid, Fleetwood lived just around the corner from Royal Birkdale, which he’d sneak on when accompanying his father, Peter, on evening dog walks.
He’s the poster boy for this championship but is aware he’s sharing the limelight with the country’s more globally recognized soccer players this week.
at No. 3 — pleaded to be given a later tee time for the first round on Thursday. The England-Argentina game kicks off at 8 p.m. local time on Wednesday night and wouldn’t finish until close to 11 p.m. if it goes to extra time and penalties.
“If anyone’s listening, it would be nice if all the English lads were late/early,” Fitzpatrick said of the Thursday/Friday tee times. “That would be great. They weren’t so lucky Each of the first eight groups to go out in the first round on Thursday will contain an Englishman.
tainly evident around Royal Birkdale, which is a short drive from the soccer hotbed of Liverpool. Watching players on the practice putting green on Sunday was a young girl wearing an England jersey with “Bellingham” and “10” on the back — a nod to England star Jude Bellingham — and with a tattoo of the England flag on each cheek.
Less known is that no Englishman has won the Open Championship in England since Tony Jacklin in 1969.
Soccer fans call it six decades of hurt, and the wait is getting
“For those guys, they definitely carry a nation on their shoulders a lot more than we do,” the No. 9-ranked Fleetwood said. “They’ve been doing a great job.”
And yes, the soccer will be intruding on the golf.
On Monday Matt Fitzpatrick the highest-ranked English golfer
Matthew Baldwin, who was born a stone’s throw away in Southport, is a member at Royal Birkdale and came through qualifying to take his place in his home major He will have the honor of hitting the first shot of the championship at 6:35 a.m. on Thursday. That might mean having to wake up at 4 a.m. Will he watch the soccer?
World Cup effect
The World Cup effect is cer-
R&A chief executive Mark Darbon has said the final round of the Open could be brought forward to avoid a clash with the World Cup final, which begins at 8 p.m local time. The last round might not finish until around 6:30 p.m. — and that’s if there’s no need for a playoff.
Just imagine if it’s Fleetwood making that late-evening walk down the 18th ahead of collecting the claret jug and watching England in the soccer final.
“It would be outrageous,” said Roger Shutt, a 70-year-old Englishman who was one of the thousands of fans to attend Monday’s practice round. “If they coincide, it’ll be a holiday for everyone.”
Tommy Fleetwood waves after a putt at the U.S Open on June 19 at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, N.y
CLASH
quarterfinal victory over Belgium
“We were the ones that knocked them out before.”
The teen has only one goal while putting 10 shots on target after coming into this World Cup still nursing a left hamstring issue that forced him to miss the final weeks of the season for Spanish club Barcelona.
France defender Jules Koundé also plays for Barcelona, so he knows Yamal well and didn’t feel disrespected by those comments.
“For me he is a sign of confidence. He always does it with (Barcelona). He trusts a lot in his virtues, in the virtues of the team where he plays,” Koundé said in translated remarks. “So I see nothing as an extra motivation for him and that’s it, that’s all.”
Spain has outscored opponents 10-1 since a stunning scoreless draw against surprising Cape Verde to open group play but La Roja needed late decisive goals from Merino after he entered the last two games as a second-half substitute. All while goaltender
Unai Simón set a World Cup record of 650 minutes without allowing a goal until Belgium found the net in the 41st minute of their quarterfinal game.
“I think that from the first game until today, the team needed to catch the rhythm, we had been without seeing each other for a long time,” Spain midfielder Alex
RABALAIS
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No. 41 on the LSU athletic donor list? Has that person been glumly trudging away from the mailbox day after day, finding only unsolicited timeshare offers and some random coupons in there?
We’ll leave that last one for now Like you, I don’t spend a lot of time pondering the mental outlook of multimillionaires. The first question is of course highly intriguing, as no word has yet spilled as to what that “alternative revenue generating opportunity” could be. Initial thought naturally gravitates toward the notion that it could be some sort of private equity scheme. Southeastern Conference schools, in general, and LSU athletic director Verge Ausberry in particular, have not gone chasing after private equity capital like an edge rusher pursuing a quarterback, but they haven’t ruled out the possibility, either That said, a straight private equity deal wouldn’t live up to the hype in the letter of “quite possibly changing the future of college sports,” would it?
Private equity is a refuge of last resort for a wealthy athletic program like LSU. Yes, Louisiana the state may be poor, but its flagship athletic department generated more than $220 million in 202425. While PE brings piles of cash
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In their only previous World Cup meeting, France beat Spain 3-1 in a round of 16 game at the 2006 tournament in Germany
FOOTE
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Baena said, adding that with more games and practices “the better the team has been.”
Merino scored in the 88th minute for that 2-1 win over Belgium on Friday That came after the Arsenal forward’s goal in the first minute of second-half stoppage time for the 1-0 win over Portugal in the round of 16 at the same stadium where Spain’s semifinal match will be played
Quartet of past champions
This is the first World Cup since 1990 that each of the final four teams are former champions. Messi and defending champion Argentina, which beat France for the title in 2022, play England in the other semifinal match Wednesday in Atlanta. The championship match is Sunday at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford New Jersey across the river from New York City A third-place game will be played Saturday in Miami Gardens, Florida.
needed by everyone in this NIL era, it’s money that comes not with strings but giant oil tankersized mooring lines attached. Schools see their autonomy instantly eroded by these people who are mostly there seeking a return on their sizable investment, not because they love LSU or Whatever U. What if LSU’s big 40 donors are the ones asked to put up the private equity? That would be a group not only financially but emotionally invested in LSU’s athletic success. But the letter said the meeting is “not an ask for money It’s not a fundraiser It’s informational.” A timeshare pitch does come to mind once again, but maybe the letter is to be taken at its word LSU could also be looking to detach its athletic program into an LLC, but that’s not new either Kentucky, just searching within the SEC for an example, has already done that. It’s asking a lot to believe, but perhaps LSU’s hierarchy has come up with something truly novel. Rousse, it’s certainly worth remembering here, is an economist by trade and helped raise millions in new support while president at McNeese State, once was a research specialist for the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and founded what his LSU bio calls an “alternative investment company.” Another Rousse bio says the company specialized “in a market strategy with an objective of absolute returns.”
of phone calls and meetings with signees, Johnson added that LSU had a few of its current players help convince top recruits that college baseball was their best path forward.
“Some of our players have also contributed to that and shared their experiences,” Johnson said. “It helps when you get a Derek Curiel or a Jake Brown getting drafted as high as they did at LSU. Having five top-six overall picks in five years, we’re not selling something we don’t know something about.” After Curiel was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates with the No. 5 overall pick on Saturday, he spoke about what he’d tell LSU’s signees regarding their decision to go pro or head to LSU.
“I’d tell them, do what’s best for you and always bet on yourself,” Curiel said. “It could work out two different ways. I mean, Konnor Griffin (a former LSU signee) and I are on two completely different career paths.
“He was ready for the major leagues He was ready for the minor leagues right out of high school, and it showed For me, I wasn’t. I needed that development in college (and) it paid off. So it’s different for every person.”
Thoughts on Washington, Santarelli
Washington and Santarelli were the biggest names LSU mustered through the draft. Despite both outfielders getting picked in the 18th round, they confirmed on social media after the draft that they will be on campus for the 2027 season Santarelli hit seven balls over 114 mph with a wood bat at the MLB Draft combine last month. The top recruit from Wisconsin was a top-85 prospect in the draft, according to ESPN.
“Dom’s performance at the MLB combine was pretty well documented,” Johnson said. “And there’s not many people on plan-
Both teams have won the World Cup since then. Spain claimed its only title in 2010, and France won its second World Cup in 2018. France, which will be playing on its country’s Bastille Day national holiday, is trying to join five-time champion Brazil and four-time winner Germany as the only teams to make three consecutive World Cup finals. Brazil did it in 1994, 1998 and 2002 — winning two titles and losing to host France in the middle of that run. Germany’s championship in 1990 came after being runner-up in the previous two World Cups — all playing as West Germany at the time.
Argentina beat France in a penalty shootout in 2022 after playing to a 3-3 draw
Wrapping up in Dallas
AT&T Stadium in North Texas will be hosting its tournament-high ninth game, and in that one-month run there have been some soccer superstar moments in the building that has hosted a Super Bowl and NCAA championship games for football and men’s basketball.
Messi scored three goals in Argentina’s two group games, the first on June 22 when after missing a penalty kick he broke the World Cup career scoring mark with the first of his two goals in a 2-0 win over Austria. He added another goal as a late substitute in the group finale June 27 against Jordan.
Absolute returns are what LSU, and athletic departments across the country, could use right now I’m only speculating on what LSU might do, completely confident only in the knowledge that something must be done. It is a broken record of a statement by now, but the current trajectory of athletic spending is not sustainable. LSU has found millions to invest in coaches buyouts and funding for roster building over this past unprecedented year but it’s hard to imagine deep pockets are bottomless pockets. Despite the protests of studentathletes like incoming LSU women’s basketball point guard Jada Williams, and the SEC and Big Ten writ large, college athletics does need some sort of outside oversight like the Protect College Sports Act. Schools are clearly unwilling and/or incapable of policing themselves. If so, the money now earmarked for revenue sharing with athletes would eventually be workable as a budget line items for schools. But they insist on continuing to blow past it. Something like the PCSA must eventually come. Meanwhile, schools are looking for new revenue streams and or cutting back, as in cutting entire sports programs. That, to this writer is completely wrong thinking.
Meanwhile, I’m trying to think of what LSU may have up its financial sleeve. Word will come eventually How much impact it has remains to be seen.
et Earth that hit the baseball as hard as he does, and can impact the ball with authority, the way that he does.
“He’s also got really good strike zone discipline. He’s a phenomenal human being, great character. It’s what you hope to get It’s what pro baseball, oftentimes, doesn’t allow you to get from a talent standpoint.”
Washington has a chance to start in center field as an athletic power hitter with excellent speed. He also grabbed a spot in the top 85 of ESPN’s draft rankings.
“Just really uncoachable tools,” Johnson said, “Speed, power, solid hitting skills, plays with a ton of confidence. I’m very excited.”
Left-handed pitchers who can step up
LSU heads into next season with a deep stable of left-handed pitchers. The Tigers brought back Cooper Williams, Ethan Plog, Danny Lachenmayer and Jonah Aase, and added Lucas Nawrocki, Bradyn Cupit and Braxton Beaty from the high school ranks.
There’s talent within the group, but one could argue that the Tigers lack a reliable go-to option in tight spots. Johnson acknowledges that reality, but he enters this fall confident that at least one arm will emerge as a top option.
Johnson expects Williams to bounce back from a poor sophomore season after showing promise as a freshman Lachenmayer and Plog struggled in their first year, but Johnson believes both players will be better in 2027, going so far as to label their 2026 seasons an “acclimation year.”
“That kind of pocket of those three guys, I’m expecting a much better contribution out of,” Johnson said. “If I didn’t, we probably would not have brought them back, but I believe that they will be better.”
He also said he thinks highly of the three freshmen LSU got through the draft, and said Aase will be ready to throw again this fall after missing all of last year recovering from Tommy John surgery
“Braxton Beaty pulling out of the draft was a big deal,” Johnson said. “I don’t know
discussions in college football these days, there are two popular places to start in the search for stability The first one is the head coach and his staff.
This season, there are only three new head coaches in Billy Napier at James Madison, Ryan Beard at Coastal Carolina and Blake Anderson at Southern Miss.
Two of those three aren’t exactly new to Sun Belt football circles. Anderson and Napier enjoyed two of the best stints of success in the league’s history Anderson was 51-37 overall and 38-18 in league play in seven seasons at Arkansas State with three division titles and six topthree finishes in the Sun Belt West.
Napier was 40-12 in four seasons with the Ragin’ Cajuns, including 27-5 in league play UL won the Sun Belt West in all four of his seasons in Lafayette.
Napier is taking over the best situation in the league in terms of recent success in the Sun Belt standings and financial support from the university Anderson doesn’t inherit the huge budget in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, but does have a history of success on the field including the Sun Belt championship two seasons ago.
There’s a lot to like about Beard with two winning seasons in three tries at an upstart program at Missouri State, but it still figures to be a transition year in Conway Arkansas.
So in the West race, Anderson is the only new head coach. Louisiana Tech is new to the current conference race, but coach Sonny Cumbie is entering his fifth season. In the East, there are two new coaches, as well as a pair of second-year head coaches in Tony Gibson at Marshall and Dowell Loggains at Appalachian State.
QB watch
The second good indicator when seeking consistency is the quarterback picture. The West has the edge in that area. Overall, there are seven returning starters at quarterback in the Sun Belt on paper entering camp. Five of those seven are in the West with preseason Offensive Player of the Year Carlos Del Rio-Wilson at Marshall and Georgia State’s Cameran Brown being the only returning starters back in the East.
That’s a lot of quarterback battles to consider when trying to predict the finish in the East.
Many coaches profess open quarterback battles in July to enhance competition when there’s really a clear-cut favorite.
Georgia Southern lost JC French to Cincinnati and signed his replacement in veteran Max Johnson, who has battled injuries at LSU, Texas A&M and North Carolina in his muchtraveled career
where he would have been drafted, but I believe he’s really, really good.
“(Adding) Lucas is a big deal I mean, there’s plenty of ability there. You can look up the performance in high school You can look up the metrics from a pro side, and you can piece together what we believe he’s going to be capable of doing.”
Why Lucas Nawrocki will play both ways
LSU has added an abundance of players with two-way ability since Johnson took over the program. Paul Skenes, Jake Brown, Gavin Guidry and Casan Evans were all talented athletes who arrived in Baton Rouge as possible contributors on the mound and at the plate.
But Johnson decided to peg all of them to one side of the ball once their careers in Baton Rouge began. In fact, the only Tiger who’s been used as a two-way player under Johnson is Dalton Beck, who played a small role on LSU’s 2025 national championship team.
That trend, however is set to be broken this fall with Nawrocki, who Johnson says LSU would’ve recruited as an outfielder if he were just an outfielder or as a pitcher if he were just a pitcher
“He’s going to do both at LSU,” Johnson said.
So what makes Nawrocki different than, say, an eventual Cy Young Award winner in Skenes?
“Paul was a legitimate two-way player too,” Johnson said.
“The only way that changes is if it becomes in the best interest of the player (to play one side of the ball). And the difference there is that you have one year with Paul until he was going to be the first pick in the draft.
“With Lucas, we have three years now before (he gets drafted). And just as I thought with Paul, it’s a different body type, but a player that could be drafted on both sides of the ball. And there was serious consideration by teams to draft him on both sides of the ball.”
The other four enter August without a clear-cut leader at quarterback.
Things are different in the West where only Southern Miss and Arkansas State have voids to fill at quarterback. Jaylen Raynor left Jonesboro for Iowa State and Braylon Braxton graduated at Southern Miss.
Aidan Armenta has plenty of work to do to help elevate the UL-Monroe offense, but he did start 11 games last season.
Meanwhile, Blake Baker at Louisiana Tech, Lunch Winfield at UL, Bishop Davenport at South Alabama and Goose Crowder at Troy all return as playmakers.
Remaining signees help create depth
LSU’s remaining signees help fill up roster needs at multiple spots that needed insurance. On the mound, Coleton Brady, Sides and Stringer are a trio of right-handed pitchers who can start midweek games immediately and work their way into bigger roles as the season progresses. All three arms drew interest from MLB clubs as prospects. Stringer and Sides were top-110 players in the draft, per MLB.com, and Brady was a top-75 prospect in The Athletic’s rankings.
“I think (because of) the pro demographic of being scared off by high school righthanders,” Johnson said, “Major league teams benefited us in getting both of them (Stringer and Sides) onto campus. And I’m thankful for that.
“I think Coleton is incredibly mature, both physically and mentally I think he’ll get the benefit of (being) a three-year college performer.”
On the position player side, Johnson is excited to have added shortstop Parker Loew, third baseman Jordan Martinez, third baseman Luke Tucker and first baseman Dylan Minnatee as freshmen to a position player group that had already entered the draft with a strong lineup.
Johnson also mentioned using Martinez as a two-way player One scout had told The Advocate before the draft that he thought Martinez could be a pitcher in the future.
“Parker is a true true shortstop. He has elite, elite defensive ability I’m really excited about that,” Johnson said “Jordan’s got tremendous power He is also an excellent defensive player
“Luke Tucker is another one I’m really excited about (as a) left-handed hitting infielder On the first base side, Dylan Minnatee is a left-handed hitter and a tremendous first baseman.
“Very similar to Tre Morgan in terms of talent (and) ability.”
ASSOCIATED
Lamine yamal of Spain waves after his team beat Belgium on Friday in Inglewood, Calif.
“The Librarians,” adocumentary executive produced by SarahJessica Parker,isnominated for “Exceptional Merit In DocumentaryFilmmaking” at the78th Emmy Awards. The documentary features Amanda Jones, Live Oak Middle School librarian in Livingston Parish, as one of the librarians fighting against censorship in school libraries.
“I didn’teven know an Emmy wason the table,” Jonessaid.
She said the makersand stars of the film (schoollibrarians) are still on a group text together. Oneofthe producers, Janique Robillard, texted the news to everyone. Jones said everyone responded with shock and excitement.
“The Librarians” premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 24, 2025, was released in theaters around the United States on Oct.3, 2025, and premiered on PBS Feb. 9. Since then, the film has collected 31 accolades from film festivals, The New York Times and The Guardian.
The film, ajoint effort between Oscar-nominated director/producer Kim A. Snyder and executive producer Sarah Jessica Parker through herPretty Matches Productions banner, explores afour-year period of book bansunfoldinginschoolsacrossthe U.S. and the librarians confronting those restrictions.
“The recognition willbringmore people to the film and get more conversations started,” Jones said.“We hope people will go to our resource page on the website, not only to support Freedom to Read but also the mental health of librarians.”
The ExceptionalMerit In
ä See EMMY, page 6C
By AMANDAJONES Amanda Jones, LiveOaks Middle School librarian, is featured in the Emmy-nominated documentary‘The Librarians.’
Leavethe
GARDEN NEWS
GUIDED BYFAITH
BR artist listened andher journeytookadifferent path
BY ROBIN MILLER Staff writer
Ashli Ognelodh Curry doesn’tworry
about the direction of her artistic journey
She gave that to God along time ago.
She admitsitwas alittle scary.Maybe morethan alittle, because it tooka strong faithtogive up awell-paying potential banking career topursue a full-time career in art.Along theway, she moved from her native Atlanta to Baton Rouge and met and married her husband, photographer Jacquel Curry The couple moved into ahome in north Baton Rouge, which is equipped with studio space.
“My relationship withGod has played such arole in terms of just how I’ve grown up in my identity,” she said.
“And it’s not specific, as in being fully religious, but just in how Ioperate in a world that’sconstantly trying to humble me or makemefitwithin confinements that Inever even set for myself or never agreed to.”
So, her work takes adifferent path in relation toChristianity
“I tell people all the timethat as a Christian artist, Igot tired of seeing the sameimages of Jesus —Jesus with the peace sign, or Jesus on the cross,” Ognelodh Curry said. “I thought about what
leaves,curbuse of
Many people think back on their childhood summers andrecall eveningsspent chasing fireflies across afield, perhaps catching the insects in jars to admire their fascinating blinking patterns upclose. But across the United States, fireflies —known in some parts as lightning bugs —are an increasingly rare sight. While scientists have pointed to several reasons for the decline, habitat loss is widely considered to be aprimary driver “Oftentimes,fireflies only have one generation ayear,and if they lose that habitat,then we lose their population in that area,” said LSU AgCenter entomologistAaron Ashbrook.
Not only are more and more kids missing out on the joy of watching glowingfirefliesdance across the
night sky, there also are ecologically concerning consequences of firefly population loss
“Thepresenceoffireflies indicates that there is agood and balanced habitatnearby,” Ashbrook said. “When we’re not seeing fireflies, that would indicatethere might be someissues that need to be corrected.”
There are numerous firefly species, andsome are pollinators.
So fireflies aren’tjust entertaining. They’re much more valuable to the ecosystem than youmay have realized —sowhat can you do to help them out?
Providing habitat is agood first step. Depending on theirspecies, firefliesmay prefer open fields or forested areas. In general, however,firefly larvae are drawn to damp environmentssuch as leaf litter androtten logs. As long as theyare notcontributingtoproblems withinsect pests, Ashbrook suggestskeeping piles
of leaves and old logs in your yard rather than disposing of them.
“Itprovides habitat forlarvae as well as slugs and snails, which thelarvae prefer to feed upon,” he said. Light pollution, or excessiveartificial outdoor lighting, also harms fireflies. They rely on bioluminescence, achemical reaction that generateslight,todefendthemselves and reproduce.
“They use flashing signals to attract mates,” Ashbrook said. “If there’sexcess light,itcan interferewiththeir ability to lure in a mate andreproduce.”
To ensure it’sdarkenough for fireflies to see oneanother’ssignals,Ashbrook recommendslimiting theuse of outdoor lights. Timers andsensors make it easy to turn lightsononly when they’re needed. Youalso can change bulbs in outdoor light fixtures to amber or orange shades, which are less disruptive to fireflies.
it looks to have arelationship with God and what it looks like to exist in aworld with people whodon’tnecessarily understand that relationship but, at the same time, loving them,appreciating them and showing up forthem.”
This process also has generated some introspection as she incorporates her own experiences into her art.
Ognelodh Curry said she doesn’twant her experiences to only be restricted to traumatic moments.
“As aBlack woman, Ihave joy,” she said. “So, Itry to create workthat touches on that and encourages healing —work that showsmyown steps to healing.”
ä See GUIDED, page 6C
PHOTO PROVIDED
STAFFPHOTO By ROBIN MILLER
Ashli Ognelodh Curry sits in her home studio amongher paintings. She’salso painted publicmurals throughout the Baton Rougearea.
Dear Heloise: Years ago, when I wasgrowing up on an Iowa farm, my hair would dry out because I wasoutside so much of thetime. We also had what people called “hard water,” which would dry out each strand of hair
Hints from Heloise
Instead of buying an overpriced hot oil treatment, my mother would warm up some vegetable oil and use adisposable cotton pad to rub the oil on my scalp.Thenshe would combthe oil through my hair and cover it with aplastic showercap; theoil and cap were left on while Islept.
GUIDED
Ognelodh Curry was no stranger to Baton Rouge when she decided to make the big movefrom Atlanta in 2021. She oftentraveled to Louisiana’scapital city to watch her sister,star forward Ayana Mitchell, play basketball for LSU.
Atlanta may have been home, butshe was becoming more comfortable in Baton Rouge.
The city offered her peace by way of aslower pace.
“I fell in love with Baton Rouge,” Ognelodh Curry said “And during COVID, Atlantajust felt so aggressive. It was kind of overstimulating and overwhelming, and Iwould come down here andget so much peace.”
Besides, Ognelodh Curry knew herbusiness would easilymake the transition. She owneda “sip and paint” business at the time, where patrons couldpartake of beverages while painting.When Georgia issued astay-at-home order during COVID, sheshifted business from in-person tovirtual.
“The company did really well, virtually,soitafforded me the opportunity to move to Baton Rouge,” Ognelodh Curry said.“I never intended to stay here, but again, Ifell in love with it.Then Imet my husband here, andwe bought this house.”
The house wasn’toriginally built with an art studio in mind, but its configuration accommodatedOgnelodh Curry’sworks, most of which are large. When Ognelodh Curry wasn’tinthe studio, she was painting murals in the city.She also started the nonprofit Presence Fest in ScotlandvillePlaza.
Begins in childhood
Ognelodh Curry says she was alwaysartistically inclined.She began seriously drawing with charcoal pencils in high school,
ByThe Associated Press
Today is Sunday,July 14, the 195th day of 2026
There are 170 days left in the year
TodayinHistory: On July 14, 1789, in an event symbolizing the start of the French Revolution, citizens of Paris stormed the Bastille prison and released the seven prisoners held there. Also on this date:
In 1798, Congress passed the Sedition Act, making it afederal crime to publish false, scandalous or malicious writing about the United States government In 1881, outlaw William H. Bonney Jr., alias “Billy the Kid,” was shot and killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett in Fort Sumner in present-day New Mexico.
In 1912, American folk singer-songwriter Woody Guthrie was born in Okemah, Oklahoma. In 1933, all German political parties, except the Nazi Party,were outlawed by the government of Nazi Germany In 1945, Italy formally declaredwar on Japan, its former Axis partner during World WarII. In 1960, 26-year-oldJane Goodall first arrived at the Gombe Stream Reserve in present-day Tanzania to begin her study of the wild chimpanzees living there. In 2004, the Senate scuttled aconstitutional amendment banning gaymarriage
In the morning,I shampooed my hairasalways, making sure that Ilathered and rinsed twice, and I didn’tneed to use aconditioner It’sanold-fashioned method, but it worked wellonmyhair as well as mythreesisters’. Maybe this will help someofyour readers, just as many of your hintshave always helped me. —Gail N., in Iowa
No wasted water
Dear Heloise: Ihave awater container on the kitchen counter
All unusedwatergoes intothe container —leftover water from drinking glassesorcooking, unused coffeemaker water,dog bowl water …everything. I’m amazed by howmuchwater now goes into
the garden versus down the drain. Iappreciate all of your hints! MikeC in Manitou Springs, Colorado Plasticbag uses
Dear Heloise: Ihave to respectfully disagree witharecent hint from Paulabout using plastic grocery bags as trash bag liners. Living in windy Nebraska, loose trash in abin would often become litter when the garbage gets emptied into thegarbage truck or when thegarbage bin blows over during astorm.
Idotry to minimize my use of plastic bags and only put full bags of trash in our bin, but we must use full bags to prevent litter
Thanks! —E.M., in Nebraska
E.M., Iturn agrocery bag inside out and use them whenItrim the caps from strawberries for asmoothie or whenIpeel avegetable. If Ithrow out items from the refrigerator when cleaning the kitchen, theygoinaplastic bag, and Itie up the handles before tossing it in the trash. Idon’treally have toomany plastic bags around the house because Iuse cloth bags for so many purchases. It causes less clutter in our landfills. —Heloise BoyScout donations
Dear Heloise: Afriend of mine told us that she’scollecting plastic grocery bags forthe local Boy Scout troop. Apparently,these bags are collected in order to
OneofAshli Ogdnelodh Curry’s murals is
and sheofficially switched to paintingatage 18
“My high school teacher challenged me,” she said.“She said, ‘Have you ever considered painting?’ Isaid,‘No, Idon’tlike it.’
She said,‘Well, that’sbecause you never tried it.’”
OgnelodhCurry not only discovered alovefor painting, she realized that sheliked painting big.
She began painting murals at age 24, resultinginseveral in Atlanta, one in Jamaica and one in New York.InBaton Rouge, hermuralscan be found in Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport’s baggage area, theMary J. Lands Basketball Court, BREC’sHighland Community Park, Gus Young Park, Jackson Community Parkin Central and Zachary Community Park. She’salso painted murals in
TODAYINHISTORY
(Forty-eight senators voted to advance the measure 12 shortofthe 60 needed— and50voted to block it ) In 2009,disgraced financier BernardMadoffarrived at theButner Federal CorrectionalComplex in North Carolinatobegin servinga150-yearsentencefor hismassivePonzi scheme.(Madoff diedin prisoninApril 2021.)
In 2013, thousandsof demonstrators acrossthe U.S.protested aFlorida jury’sdecision oneday earlier to clear George Zimmerman in theshooting death of Trayvon Martin. In 2015, world powers and Iran struck adeal to curb Iran’snuclear programin exchangefor relief from international sanctions. In 2016, terror struck Bastille Day celebrations inthe French Riviera city of Nice as alarge truck plowed into afestive crowd, killing 86 people in an attack claimed by Islamic State extremists; thedriverwas shot dead by police.
In 2020, researchers reported that the first COVID-19 vaccinetested in the U.S.boosted people’simmune systemsasscientists had hoped; the vaccine was developedbythe National Institutes of Healthand Moderna Inc
In 2022, theNational Galleries of Scotlandsaid apreviously unknown self-portrait of Vincent VanGoghwas discovered behind another of the art-
local schools.
Butall of this happened only after she answered God’scall.
“I was in school for art,but I was also on thefast track in banking,” Ognelodh Curry said. “I was 21 years old, and Iwas doing really well in banking. Butwhen Iwas in church, the Holy Spirit was like, ‘I want you to quit your job and pursue art full-time.’”
‘Incredibly insane’
She admitsthat the thought seemed “incredibly insane” in thebeginning. She was making good money,which enabled her to live on her own while paying for school.
“But God kept bothering me,” she said. “And finally,Isaid, ‘Fine, I’ll quit.’ Iremember going to God, telling him Ididn’tknow
EMMY
ist’spaintings when experts took an X-ray of the canvas ahead of an upcoming exhibition.
Today’sBirthdays: Former football player and actor Rosey Grier is 94. Actor Vincent Pastore(TV’s“The Sopranos”) is 80. Music company executive Tommy Mottola is 78. Movie producer ScottRudin is 68. Singer-songwriter Anjelique tar D) is Haley Fox sician Oly boarder 55. Johnson sician Peas producer Br Dan Dragons) er
what this journey would look like. Ididn’teven ask him foranything.Isaid, ‘God, if this is what you’re calling me to do, let my parentsunderstand.’”
Andthey did.
Ognelodh Curry moved in with her parents while establishing her full timeart career.She started her “sip and paint” business, worked as aproject manager for theArt Basel MiamiBeach contemporary art fair,then accepted thesame position at the NewOrleans African American Museum after moving to Baton Rouge.
“And finally last year,when Iwas working at the museum, God spoke again and waslike, ‘I want you to solely focus on your practice,’” she said. “And it’sinteresting, because since I’ve been solely focusing on my practice, I
Continuedfrom page5C
Documentary Filmmakingaward is reviewed by a jury on the basis of the filmmaker’s vision, storytelling andcapacity to informand impact.
Theother nominee is National Geographic’s“The Tale Of Silyan,”adocumentary about aMacedonian
makeapark bench. Ihad no idea that this wasathing! FYI,ittakes 3,000 pounds of bags to makeone of these benches. So, check with your local Boy and Girl Scout organizations to see if they participate in something like this! —Joe, in Valparaiso,Indiana Cleaneyeglasses
Dear Heloise: Here’sasimple way to clean your eyeglasses: Take a spot of shaving cream and rub it on each side of the lens. Rinse it off with hot water and dry the glasses with asoft towel. They’re like new! —Larry S.,via email Sendahinttoheloise@heloise com.
started making the chairs.”
Ognelodh Curry refers to the interactive art chairs she creates to encourage and inspire viewers. She paints spiritually inspiring images of womenand families on the surface and invites viewers to take aseat.
The viewer’sweight then triggers an audio system configured by her husband that produces asoothing voice offering up a prayer of renewal and inspiration. But not just any prayer —a prayer that connects to the person in the seat.
“I’ve been able to produce work that’salittle moreintentional,” Ognelodh Curry said. “This is what Godwanted, and honestly, as an artist, I’ve been able to do someamazing things. There was one year,God allowed me to donate $15,000 to achurch.” Ognelodh Curry has learned not to question God’s voice.
As moreart projects come her way,she moves forward in faith.
Email Robin Milleratromiller@ theadvocate.com.
farmerwho nursesa white storkbacktohealthwhile contemplating the end of his farm
The only previous nomineeand winnerfor this award that featured Louisiana wasSpike Lee’s“When the Levees Broke: ARequiem in Four Acts,” adocumentary about the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, which won the award in 2007. “The Librarians” docu-
mentary is one of five nominations forPBS in 2026. TheExceptionalMerit In Documentary Filmmakingaward is handedout during the Creative Arts Emmy Awards on Sep. 5 and 6. The 78th Primetime Emmy Awards will be broadcast live on NBC on Sept. 14, and stream live on Peacock at 7p.m. from the Peacock Theater at L.A. Live in Los Angeles.
AshliOgnelodhCurry’s artchair, ‘A Seat at My Table.’When viewers sit in the chair, theirweight triggers an audiosystem, which offers aprayer.
PROVIDED PHOTOSByASHLI OGDNELODH CURRy
in the baggage area of the Baton RougeMetro Airport
cAncER (June 21-July 22) Help a cause you believe in, and it will rejuvenate you. The time, patience and love you offer will matter and personify how you can make a difference. Take the feel-good path to hope.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) Put your own unique twist into everything you do. Communicate with charisma, and you'll persuade others to join your team Scour the rules to ensure you are doing everything by the book.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-sept. 22) Rethink your path forward. Don't get caught up in someone else's dreams. Take the path that leads to your heart's desires. Reach out to those who share your concerns.
LIBRA (sept. 23-Oct. 23) Rethink your strategy. Set boundaries with people who take advantage of you. Be authentic when assessing, pursuing or offering advice, and follow through with actions.
scORPIO (Oct. 24-nov. 22) Haste makes waste. Assessing, planning and budgeting will encourage progress and longterm success. Don't let anyone talk you into something you don't need or want.
sAGITTARIus (nov. 23-Dec. 21) Stick close to home, and don't make promises you cannot deliver or that put you in debt. Look at the possibilities and the reasonable changes you can craft that will make a difference and serve you well.
cAPRIcORn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Point your thoughts and energy in a direction that is self-serving. Refuse to let oth-
ers take advantage of your talents and skills when it's you who needs to come out ahead.
AQuARIus (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Taking on too much or making unrealistic promises will require time and effort you may not be able to provide. You need to focus on what's happening in your personal life.
PIscEs (Feb. 20-March 20) Set rules, stick to your plans and use your voice to get your way. Let your powers of persuasion help get you where you want to be without jeopardizing your reputation or letting anyone outmaneuver you.
ARIEs (March 21-April 19) Don't play games; a direct approach will lead to answers that allow you to move forward with confidence and no regret. Connect with those traveling in a similar direction.
TAuRus (April 20-May 20) Keep your thoughts to yourself until you have figured out what's best to do. Listen to the opinions of experts, but formulate plans that will serve your purpose without overspending.
GEMInI (May 21-June 20) Turn up the volume, listen, discuss and create a plan that will help you reach your destination of choice. Take better care of your physical well-being and your relationships with those who look up to you.
Celebrity Cipher cryptograms are created from quotations by famous people, past and present. Each letter in the cipher stands for another.
TODAy's cLuE: s EQuALs I
CeLebrItY CIpher
beetLe bAILeY Mother GooSe And GrIMM
nea CroSSwordS
Sudoku
InstructIons: Sudoku is anumber-placing puzzle based on a9x9 grid with several given numbers. Theobject is to place the numbers 1to9 in the empty squares so that each row, each column and each 3x3 box contains the same number only once. Thedifficulty level of theSudoku increases from Monday to Sunday.
Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer
THewiZard oF id
BLondie
BaBY BLueS
Hi and LoiS
CurTiS
By PHILLIP ALDER
Agatha Christie said, “Itisridiculous to set adetective story in New York City. New York Cityisitselfadetective story.”
Littledidsheknowwhatwouldhappen aftershe wasgone. Butworking out the rightplayordefenseisoftenlikeadetectivestory.Therearenumerouscluesthat shouldbeused to find the solution. In this deal, South is in four hearts. Westleadsthediamond10:four,six,ace. Howshould East plan the defense?
South opens with atextbook weak twobid at unfavorable vulnerability: agood six-card suit and 6-10 high-card points. North knows game might have no play, but thevulnerable game bonus is very tempting. East shouldask himself whichhonors areheld by South. He has already producedthe diamondace andthe bidding stronglysuggeststhat he also has the heart king and queen. So he cannot have theclub king. As aconsequence, East can hope fortwo clubtricks,the heart ace and either adiamond trick or aclub ruff.
South immediately takes twoofdummy’s top spades to discard his diamond loser. Then he calls for the heart jack, feigningafinesseforthequeen.ButEast
Each Wuzzle is awordriddlewhich creates adisguised word, phrase, name, place, saying, etc. For example: NOON GOOD =GOOD AFTERNOON
Previous answers:
InsTRucTIOns: 1. Words must be of fourormore letters. 2. Words that acquire fourletters 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 wordsare not allowed TODAy’s WORD ILLusORy: ih-LOO-ser-ee: Deceptive.
Average mark14words
Timelimit 25 minutes
Can you find 23 or morewords in ILLUSORY?
yEsTERDAy’s WORD —REAMERs
loCKhorNs
marmaduKe
Bizarro
hagar the horriBle
Pearls Before swiNe
garfield
B.C.
PiCKles
hidato
mallard fillmore
BRIEFS
FROM WIRE REPORTS
Oil prices jump while AI stocks sink
NEW YORK Oil prices jumped Monday following aweekend of attacks in the Middle East,while more losses for computer chip companies and other winnersof the artificial-intelligenceboom dragged stock markets lower.
The price for abarrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard,climbed 9.6%to$83.30 after the United States and Iran each said the Strait of Hormuz is under its control. Fighting in the region haskept oil tankers from using the strait to deliver crudetocustomersfrom the Persian Gulf, which drives up fuelpricesworldwide.
Brent’sprice, though, remains well belowits wartime peak of nearly $120 per barrel for its most actively traded contract.
On Wall Street,the S&P500 fell 0.8%, coming off its fourth winning week in thelast five. The Dow Jones IndustrialAveragedropped 138points, or 0.3%, and the Nasdaq composite sank 1.6%.
Chip stocks like MicronTechnology helped lead the way lower.Micron fell 4.4%, eating into what had been astellar riseof 243.1% for the year so far
Real profits are behind the rise because the AI rush has created surging demand for computer memory and other computing building blocks. But worries are rising thatstock prices have shot too high and that the demand may not be sustainable if AI doesn’t deliver as much profit and productivity as expected.
Nvidia fell 3.5%. Because it’s the largeststock on Wall Street by value thanks to the euphoria around AI, it was the single heaviest weight on the S&P 500. The day’slosses began in Asia, where South Korea’sKospi index dropped 8.9%. That included a15.4%plungefor SK Hynix’sstock in Seoul, the worst since it began trading in 1997 EU chief weighs age limits on social media
BRUSSELS Atop European Union official on Monday called for limits to be placed on children using social media, as a special EU panel looking into the challenge recommended forbidding access for those under 13 until tech companies can prove their platforms are safe Growing awareness ofthe dangers social media posesfor young, developing brains has shown up in awave of newrestrictionsglobally. Australia, the U.K., Turkey,Indonesia and others have passed bans on kids under 16 or 15 from using platforms likeTikTok, YouTube and Instagram.
Laying out alist of her concerns aboutthe useof social media by kids, EuropeanCommissionPresidentUrsula von der Leyen—adoctor by training —said that children under 3should have no exposureto screens at all.
“I believe we need to consider phased and gradual accessfor different age rangesbecause childhood won’twait and once it’sgone, we can never give it back,” von der Leyen told reporters.
Volkswagen CEO says it’sworking to cut costs
BERLIN Volkswagen’sCEO indicated in comments Sunday that he’s trying to avoidclosing plants as he seeks to turn around the automaker’sperformance The Wolfsburg, Germanybased company faces pressure to cut costs at home and increasinglyintense competition in the lucrativeChinese market,in particular
Last week, Volkswagen said its “fundamental realignment” overthe past three years had reachedits next phase, announcing plans to streamline the model lineup by up to half. It didn’tprovide specifics, and questions remain over how else it will cut costs. There hasbeen renewed speculation about the future of several plants.
“There are more intelligent solutions than closing plants,” CEOOliver Blume told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper
THEADVOCATE.COM/news/business
BY WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS AP business writer
NEWYORK Twelve states challenged Paramount’stakeover of Warner Bros. Discovery on Monday,filing alawsuit that argues the $81 billion mega mergerwould “extinguish competition” in Hollywood and threaten jobs across the industry.
The officeofCalifornia’s attorney general, who is leading the case,saidthe states areasking Warner and Paramount to not
close their merger “until after the judicial process concludes” —and if thecompanies do not agree, the coalition will then file atemporary restraining order “The unlawful merger of these two entertainment behemoths would lead to higher prices, lower quality, and less content for film and television, harming movie theaters, basic cable distributors, and ultimately,audiences on every sofa and movie theater seat in the U.S.,” California Attorney General RobBonta said in astatement.
The additional states joining the suit include Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey,New Mexico, New York, Oregon and Washington.
Skydance-owned Paramount said Monday’s lawsuit “distorts settled antitrustlaw” andmaintained itsmerger wouldcreate a“stronger competitor against dominant streaming and technology platforms who have harmed the market fortheatrical exhibition and jobs in the entertainment industry.”
The company vowed to “vigorously defend” the transaction. Warner deferred to Paramount for comment.
AParamount-Warnercombo would mean putting HBO Max, cult-favorite titles like “Harry Potter” and even CNN underthe same roof with CBS, “Top Gun” and the Paramount+ streaming service. The states’ lawsuit could throw a
wrench in those plans, at least for now
The antitrust case arrives at a pivotal time forthe ParamountWarner transaction —which, after months of what becamea very public bidding warwith Netflix, receivedshareholders’ stamp of approval in April and then ablessing from theTrump administration just last month.
The U.S. JusticeDepartment isn’tchallenging the deal —and instead released an unusually lengthy statement in support, maintaining aParamount-Warner combo would “increase competitionacrossthe media andentertainment ecosystem, withbenefits forAmerican consumers and workers.”
MassiveAIbuild-out poses latest U.S. inflationthreat
BY CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP economics writer
WASHINGTON American consumers —and the FederalReserve —are being hit with another high-cost headache.
The gusher of investment in datacenters —likelytopping$700 billion this year —to power artificial intelligence has madememorychips, computer processors and other equipment, as well as electricity,more expensive.Economists expect it will continue to push up inflation at least throughthe end of this year
Whileitwon’tbeaslarge aspike as occurred in 2021-2023, when inflation peaked at 9.1%,massiveAIspending is likely to keep prices rising more quickly than the Federal Reserve would like. Such increasescould lead the central bank to lift itskey interestrate later this year to cool spending and bring down inflation.
Higher rates from the Fed often boost borrowing costs for auto loans, mortgages, and business loans.
Fedofficialswillclosely watchJune’sinflation report,tobereleased Tuesday,for further signsofAI’simpact on prices. Inflation last month likely cooled as gasolineprices have fallen after aceasefirewas reached betweenthe U.S. and Iran,thoughwhether that trendcontinues is nowunclear as theU.S and Iran haveresumed fighting.
Just four large tech companies —Google parent Alphabet, Amazon, MetaPlatforms, and Microsoft —are expected toinvest $720 billion this year,mostlyondata centers, including one in RichlandParish in Louisiana.
Those data centers use alot of semiconductors, and chip supplies have run low. As aresult, economists at JPMorgan Chase estimate that the cost of some computer memorychips will have soared by as much as 400% between 2024 and the end of this year
Americans are already seeinghigher prices fora range of consumer electronics, includinglaptops, smartphones, video game consoles, and computers. Electricity prices are also jumping as data centers absorb a growing share of new electrical capacity
In ahigh-profile announcementlastmonth Apple announced it was boostingprices for
BY FATIMA HUSSEIN and KEN SWEET Associated Press
WASHINGTON The Trump administration is takingadditional steps to prevent people living in theU.S. illegally from using the nation’s banking system, cracking down on financialinstitutions that are lending money to them.
On Monday,agroup of financial regulators were expected to issue guidance intended to remind banks and other financial institutions of their know-your-customer requirements with respect to credit risk management, particularly as it relates to borrowers whoare not authorizedtoworkinthe U.S. Thenewest warning is one of several measures the Trumpadministration has taken to discouragepeople in theU.S. illegally from interactingwiththe larger U.S
laptops andiPads by about15% to 25%. A topline MacBook will nowcost $1,999, up from $1,699.
Many analysts expect price hikes will come for iPhones next.
“The rapid expansion of AI data centers has created an extraordinary surge in demand for memoryand storage,” Apple said in astatement. “Wehave neverseen a componentprice increase this much, this quickly.”
On thesame day,Microsoft announced that the price of its Xbox video gameconsole will increase $100 by Aug. 1, citing higher prices for memory chips. Sony is also charging more for the PlayStation, while Dell Computer and HP have raised prices fortheir laptops.
A“wave of AI-related cost pressures spillingoverintoconsumer pricesisstill in the early stages of building,” analysts at investmentbank Evercore ISI recently wrote.
The impact on broader measures of inflationmay be relatively modest,with many economists forecasting that AI investment will boost core consumer prices, whichexclude food and energy,byroughly ahalf-
percentage point by the end of this year Still, that could be enough to offset declining prices elsewhere, as the impact of President Donald Trump’stariffs continues to fade andasrentalcosts cool. Core inflation according to theFed’s preferredmeasure, was 3.4% in Mayand some economists now expect it maydecline only slightly by the end of the year,remaining wellabove the Fed’s2%target.
The boost from AI may prove temporary, but it followsprevious waves of higher prices stemmingfrom tariffs and thegas price spike resultingfromthe Iran war. TheFed typically “looksthrough,”orignores,temporary price increases, rather than boosting ratestofight them, but an ongoing seriesof temporary price shocks could threaten to create more sustained inflation, which has alreadybeen abovethe Fed’s targetfor more than five years.
“Inisolation one or two such shocks is perhaps transitory,something they’rewilling to live with,” said Abiel Reinhart, an economist at J.P.Morgan. “A sustained series of shocks, or awiderrange of shocks, becomes more concerning to them.”
financial system. The measures, over the last nine months, are designedtostrongly encourage banks to remove themascustomerswhile not expressly mandating that the banks do so. Thejoint announcementwas planned from threeofthe nation’s
bank regulators: the Office of the Comptrollerofthe Currency,the Federal DepositInsurance Corporation, andthe National Credit UnionAssociation.The agencies saidthat banks should take into account that people in theU.S.illegally may notbeable to repay
aloan because of deportation. In short, they say,people working in theU.S.illegally pose overallrisk to the financial system. There is limited data on how many people in the U.S. illegally have bank accounts and have loans through the banks. This comes as part of President Donald Trump’sexecutive order signed in Maythatrequires banks and other financial institutionsto take acloser look at the citizenship of their customers. That order started the mostrecent waveof banking regulation changes, ordering bank regulators andgovernment departments to look for signs that people withoutlegal status are opening accounts or obtaining loans or credit cards. Among other things, the guidance advisesfinancial institutions to “identify,measure, monitor,and control these risks through safe and sound underwriting practices that assess aborrower’swillingness and capacity to repay according to the termsofthe credit obligation” according to anews release.
ASSOCIATEDPRESS PHOTOByDAVID ZALUBOWSKI Americans are alreadyseeing higher prices for arangeofconsumer electronics,including laptops, smartphones, videogameconsoles, and computers
