Issuu

TRUMPIMPOSES50% TARIFF ON MOST CANADIAN GOODS 2A

SouthLouisiana bracingfor storm

Tropical depression is drifting erraticallyinGulf

From staff, wire reports

Atropical depression that formed in the Gulf overthe weekend is expected to become Tropical Storm Bertha before it heads inland oversoutheast Louisiana later this week, prompting preparation efforts in parishes across the region ahead of incoming stormy weather The system, however,is notexpected to have agreat impact on Lafayette and Acadiana.

Rainfall is expected to start in south-

central Louisianaasearly as Tuesday, accordingtothe National Weather ServiceinLakeCharles

Thelatest forecast track had Bertha making landfall south of New Orleans in PlaqueminesParishlateWednesday or early Thursday morning.ForecastersMonday said they were notentirely certain of the system’spotential path, as it was moving “erratically.”

As of 4p.m.Monday,the tropical depression wasabout 105 miles south of Panama City,Florida, slowly drifting northwestat3 mph. It wasproducing

maximum sustainedwinds of 35 mph, just shy of the 39 mph minimum required for tropical storm classiﬁcation.

Atropical storm watch is in effect from theOchlockonee RiverinFlorida westward to southeastern Louisiana at theJefferson and Plaquemines parish line. The systemisexpected to bring rainstormsand ﬂash ﬂooding across much of the Gulf Coast through Friday.In Louisiana, areas south of Interstate 10

A‘ghosttown’ no more Amtrak line, financialinvestmenttransformingPascagoula

developerJoe Cloyd stands in the old Pascagoula train station in 2025.

BY MARTHASANCHEZ Staff writer

PASCAGOULA, Miss.— Thechanges transforming this coastal Mississippi city are easy to spot. Where alot sat vacant, aboutique hotel is now welcoming visitors. In a building that oncehoused an old bank, young professionals are moving into modern apartments with arooftopbar

Where atrain depot long languished in disrepair,anelegant new brew pub justopened.

“There’sa lotofneatthingsgoing on,” said Joe Cloyd, who developed the brew pub project, called Chandeleur Depot. “The vibesin Pascagoulaare good.”

It is astriking contrast to the downtown Pascagoula of 10 years

BYJON GAMBRELL Associated Press

ago, which residents and developers called a“ghost town.” Most storefrontswere vacant. The streets emptied by evening as thousands ofemployees at Ingalls Shipbuilding and anearby reﬁnery drove home to Alabama or elsewhere in Mississippi.

But yearsoftargeted efforts are now turningdowntown Pascagoula into ahub of trendy businesses designed to lure newcomers and visitors— includingfrom Louisiana —whose numbers aregrowing across the Gulf Coast region.

Chandeleur Depot opened in Juneand is brewing beer and serving meals, including steak frites and Korean friedwings to Pascagoula residents and the 15

ä See PASCAGOULA, page 4A

of Hormuz. Therenewed bombings followed the deathofanother American service member,and came afterIranlaunched attacks on American allies Kuwait, Jordan and Bahrain, home of theU.S.Navy’s5th Fleet.

Anew Amtrak signisplaced at the old Pascagoula, Miss., train station in 2025. Amtrak trains began running between NewOrleans and Mobile, Ala., in August.

U.S.Central Command said on social mediathat the latest strikes “are designedtofurther degrade Iranian military capabilitiesusedtoattack commercial shipping” in thestrait. Evenasthe U.S. andIraninch

closer to all-out war again, glimmers of hope appeared on the diplomatic front, as Iran’sinterior minister traveledtoPakistan, a keymediator in the conﬂict, for talks. The interim deal signed last month that wasmeant to end the

Catholic Charities CEOgets meeting with pope

BY KRISTIN ASKELSON Staff writer

Catholic Charities of Acadiana CEO Kim Boudreaux metwith Pope Leo XIV during aprivate audience at the Vatican as part of her serviceonthe Catholic Charities USA BoardofDirectors, ofﬁcials said.

The meeting took place May4 and included Catholic Charities USA board members and leadership.

During the audience, officials said Pope Leothanked Catholic Charities agencies across the United Statesfor theirwork serving people in need, including the poor,vulnerable and marginalized.

“You seek to find solutionsto inhumane situations, alleviate the suffering of individuals and families, and relieve the burden of those weigheddown by hardship and strife,” Pope Leo said. “The practical assistance you offer allows thoseyou serve to experience God’slove.”

fighting has crumbled. Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz —avital supply route for world energy supplies—has largely stalled. And as ﬁghting intensiﬁes, both sides have targeted civilian

CO IN T MI EAST NFLICT HE DDLE AST ä See STRIKES, page 6A

SUN HERALd FILE PHOTOSByHANNAH RUHOFF

Chandeleur depot opened in the building in June.

PHOTO By MARIO TOMASSETTI

Catholic Charities of Acadiana CEO Kim Boudreaux meets with Pope Leo XIV on May4during aprivate audience at the Vatican.

ä See POPE, page 4A

ä See STORM, page 4A

TheGulf

Projected path of Bertha

Trump to fly old Air Force One for a month

WASHINGTON The White House says President Donald Trump will be returning to an older Air Force One plane for about a month as the new, Qatari-gifted jet undergoes “additional upgrades and enhancements.”

Trump’s use of the new red, white and navy blue aircraft has faced much scrutiny not only because it was gifted by a foreign government, but also because it appears to not be equipped with some of the same missile detection and countermeasure systems as the older jets.

But it came under deeper scrutiny this month when he left the NATO summit in Turkey on the older, baby blue Air Force One and made a previously unscheduled stop at a base in the United Kingdom. Trump then swapped back onto the new Qatari-gifted plane at Royal Air Force Mildenhall.

“The new Air Force One is perfectly safe for the President’s travels, but will receive additional upgrades and enhancements in the fall which will take approximately one month to complete,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday “During that time, the President will ﬂy on the old Air Force One.”

The statement from Leavitt elaborated on a comment from the president as he returned to Washington on Sunday night, when he told reporters that the new plane will be sent to be “maxed out.”

Trial date set for man in Reflecting Pool case

WASHINGTON A judge in the nation’s capital has set a trial date in September for a former Olympic canoe racer charged with deliberately damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, the site of a troubled multimilliondollar renovation project championed by President Donald Trump.

D.C. Superior Court Judge Todd Edelman scheduled the Sept. 28 trial date for David Hearn during a hearing on Monday It was Hearn’s second court appearance since a grand jury indicted him on a felony count of property destruction.

Hearn, who pleaded not guilty to the charge on July 9, has asked the court to dismiss the case. In a court ﬁling, his attorneys argued the government has failed to properly preserve important physical evidence from the Reﬂecting Pool.

At least three other people have been charged in the same court with misdemeanors for allegedly removing pieces of paint from the Reﬂecting Pool. The felony charge against Hearn which accuses him of causing at least $1,000 in damage to the pool, carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years upon conviction.

Trump ordered the pool’s renovation work ahead of the country’s 250th independence celebrations, but the project has been plagued by problems. Trump initially suggested that pool renovations would cost $1.5 million, but the cost of the project has exceeded $16 million.

Flash floods kill at least 20 in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan Flash ﬂoods in eastern Afghanistan have killed 20 people, injured about 80 more and left more than 100 missing, Afghan authorities said Monday.

The floods struck the eastern province of Nuristan, said Yousaf Hammad, spokesman for the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority, adding that a search and rescue operation was underway to locate the missing.

“Unfortunately, severe ﬂoods today in Parun city and several other areas of Nuristan province have caused heavy loss of life and property among our fellow citizens,” Hammad said, adding that the ﬂoods had caused extensive damage to people’s homes, agricultural land and public facilities.

“We urge all citizens to stay away from flood-prone areas and zones at risk,” he said Afghanistan is highly vulnerable to extreme weather events, with snow and heavy rain that trigger ﬂash ﬂoods, often killing dozens, or even hundreds, of people at a time.

Trump imposes 50% tariffs on Canada

President cites disputes over autos, alcohol and cheese

BY JOSH BOAK Associated Press

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump on Monday imposed 50% tariffs on most Canadian goods, declaring that Canada has unfairly discriminated against American autos, alcohol and dairy products.

The move could unleash a new wave of economic chaos, with risks of higher inﬂation and further fraying of relations between two nations that had been closely woven together before Trump’s return to the White House. The administration ofﬁcial previewing the action said that Canada was one of the only nations other than China that retaliated against Trump’s previous tariffs and must be held accountable.

The ofﬁcial insisted on anonymity on a call with reporters to preview the president’s actions and said that Trump signed three proclamations to launch the tariffs under Section 338 of the 1930 Trade Act. Several Democratic lawmakers last year proposed repealing the section because they said Trump could use it to destabilize the economy

The new 50% tariffs would exclude energy products, potash, ﬁsh and critical minerals, but they would include goods that had previously been protected from import taxes by the United States-MexicoCanada Agreement, or USMCA. That 2020 trade pact was not renewed by the U.S., triggering a

cial said the president had also requested that his aides look into additional tariffs on Canada because its wildﬁres hurt air quality in the U.S. He had publicly threatened to do so in social media posts.

At the World Cup ﬁnal on Sunday

Trump watched the game with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who has openly challenged the U.S. president and has sought to expand Canada’s trade relations with other nations. The Trump administration ofﬁcial said their time together at the game was not a working visit to discuss trade and tariffs.

new set of negotiations that could run until 2036.

The White House said in a fact sheet that the tariffs would go into effect in 30 days and cover “products ranging from wine to hockey sticks to cement.”

The new tariffs carry serious political and economic risks for Trump ahead of the November midterm elections for control of Congress. His “Liberation Day” tariffs last year in April provoked a ﬁnancial market meltdown over concerns about inflation and a recession, prompting him to walk back the rates for a period of negotiation.

The Supreme Court ruled this February that Trump had lacked the legal authority to impose the tariffs by declaring an economic emergency, causing the adminis-

FDA still focused on lettuce supplier as source of parasite

Probe continues despite faulty test

result

BY MATTHEW PERRONE AP health writer

WASHINGTON Federal health officials said Monday they remain focused on lettuce from Taylor Farms as the source of a multistate outbreak of a diarrheacausing parasite, despite inaccurate test results that the government brieﬂy publicized over the weekend.

Food and Drug Administration officials on Monday said a laboratory test incorrectly identiﬁed a positive result for cyclospora on a sample of lettuce from Taylor Farms. The FDA posted the ﬁnding to its website on Saturday but then said Sunday that the result had been a false positive.

Federal and state authorities have been investigating a rise in cases of the parasite, initially linking the outbreak in five states to lettuce served at Taco Bell locations. On Saturday, Taylor Farms announced it was recalling 25 shredded lettuce and salad mix products sold under eight different brand codes. The products are used by a number of U.S. food chains and suppliers.

“FDA’s traceback investigation and the outbreak data continue to converge on shredded iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms’ locations in central Mexico,”

FDA’s acting food chief, Donald Prater, told reporters on Monday

In addition to tracing the supply chain of lettuce, FDA staff have begun testing samples of produce coming across the U.S. border

FDA ofﬁcials on Mon-

day said the false positive result came from a rapid test used to screen for traces of cyclospora.

The sample that initially appeared positive for the parasite came from Taylor Farms but was not part of the company’s lettuce recall. FDA ofﬁcials said they felt compelled to alert the public to the ﬁnding.

But a subsequent quality control check showed the positive ﬁnding was an error FDA officials notiﬁed Taylor Farms of that on Sunday

The company touted the updated test results on social media and claimed “FDA apologized to us.” Agency ofﬁcials said there was no ofﬁcial apology

Cyclospora is a microscopic parasite that infects food that has come into contact with human feces, most commonly when produce is irrigated or washed with contaminated water

When ingested, the parasite causes intestinal illness marked by “frequent and sometimes explosive bowel movements,” according to the CDC.

In 2026, cyclospora has sickened at least 1,645 people in the U.S. and hospitalized 141, according to the FDA and CDC. The agencies are investigating five separate clusters of illnesses, including the one traced to Taylor Farms.

FDA’s acting commissioner, Kyle Diamantas, said health ofﬁcials have continued to see new cases associated with the latest outbreak, including some as recent as last week.

“Which means it’s imperative for us to take action to ensure that contaminated product is not making its way to the market,” Diamantas explained.

As of Friday, foot traffic was down at a number of dining chains compared with the dayof-the-week averages between Jan. 1 and July 6, according to Placer ai, which tracks people’s movements based on cellphone usage.

tration to ﬁnd alternative ways to raise import taxes based on a series of legal authorities.

Tariffs are taxes on imports, which companies can then pass along to consumers in the form of higher prices. The president maintains that the costs created by tariffs will cause manufacturing to relocate to the U.S., though there is little evidence of that in the economic data.

The latest import taxes could worsen Trump’s weak ratings on the economy He promised voters when running for the presidency that he would bring prices down, but the annual inflation rate has risen since he became president because the tariffs and the war in Iran are pushing up oil prices.

The Trump administration ofﬁ-

Trump claims in the proclamations that Canada discriminates against American autos, alcohol and cheese relative to other nations, but his argument rests in large part on retaliatory actions taken by Canada after the U.S. president imposed tariffs on Canada under the pretext that it should do more to stop fentanyl smuggling.

Trump noted in his autos proclamation that Canada maintained, starting in April 2025, a 25% tariff on the imports of U.S motor vehicles that did not qualify for preferential treatment under the USMCA.

The White House said regarding alcohol that all but two Canadian provinces and territories halted the purchase and retailing of American alcoholic beverages beginning last year, which was also a response to Trump’s tariffs and taunts of making Canada the 51st state.

But Trump has long objected to Canada’s treatment of U.S. cheese, saying in his proclamation that Canada discriminates against the U.S. compared to Europe on dairy products.

FBI: Ex-soldier started fire, fired pellet gun at N.Y. federal building

BY MICHAEL R. SISAK and JAMIE STENGLE Associated Press

NEW YORK A former U.S. Army soldier set off fireworks lit a fire and fired a pellet gun in front of a New York building housing an immigration court and other government offices Monday morning an FBI official said.

Andrew Arrabaca, who was a mechanic on Patriot missile systems, is in custody and has been interviewed, said James Barnacle, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s New York ﬁeld ofﬁce. No charges have been announced yet against Arrabaca, and it was not immediately clear if he has a lawyer

“Mr Arrabaca was looking to injure people and harm people,” Barnacle said at a news conference.

Arrabaca was tackled by a security ofﬁcer and taken into custody about 8:20 a.m as ﬂames erupted outside an entrance to the building at 26 Federal Plaza, which has become a focal point for demonstrations against the immigration policies of President Donald Trump’s administration.

Barnacle said Arrabaca, 43, “came armed with bad intentions” and had various weapons, including a pellet gun, knives, axes, a hammer and a machete Arrabaca fired five to seven pellets from an airsoft rifle toward the building, he said.

“He is an anti-American, anti-government extremist,” Barnacle said.

He said Arrabaca had a cart with “anti-ICE literature” on it and “yelled derogatory terms” toward Immigration and Customs Enforcement as he was being arrested. New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Arrabaca had a sign afﬁxed to his cart that read “ICE off our streets” and was wearing a military style helmet

“In that post-arrest interview, he did say he was targeting the building and he was OK if he hurt or killed people going in and out of the building, whether they were federal employees or civilians,” Barnacle said. Barnacle said three

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CANAdIAN PRESS FILE PHOTO By AdRIAN WyLd

From left, French President Emmanuel Macron, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and President donald Trump arrive for the family photograph during the G7 Summit on June 16 2025, in Kananaskis, Alberta. Trump on Monday imposed 50% tariffs on most Canadian goods.

PHOTO PROVIdEd By ROBERT SULLIVAN Black smoke and flames rise Monday in front of 26 Federal Plaza in lower Manhattan in New york. people had minor injuries: one civilian and two government employees. DHS said a bystander was grazed by the ﬁreworks, and the security ofﬁcer who tackled the per-

son sustained minor injuries, the agency said. The New

ASSOCIATEd PRESS PHOTO By PATRICK AFTOORA-ORSAGOS

Attempt to save swimmer leaves 5 dead at Ohio river

By The Associated Press

POWELL, Ohio

Five people have died on a river in Ohio after several of them went into the water to help another person who was struggling to swim, authorities said Monday.

A motorist called 911 after spotting a frightened child who had been with the group and was running on a nearby road, Delaware County Sheriff Jeffrey Balzer said at a news confer-

ence Monday Two children under age 10 have been placed in the care of family services, the sheriff said, including the child who ran for help

The group had gathered Sunday along the Scioto River in the Columbus suburb of Powell when one of them went into the river to go swimming “And that’s when the tragedy started to occur,” Balzer said, as the others who jumped in to help also began struggling.

Rescue crews searching the water on Sunday found two women, who were pronounced dead at a hospital, Balzer said. The bodies of three men were found in the river on Monday, said Tracy Whited, a spokesperson for the Delaware County Sheriff’s Department.

The tragedy occurred two days after five members of a family were killed in southern Utah after a flash flood swept through canyons during a hiking trip.

Darline Graham to run for full term in late brother’s Senate seat

BY MEG KINNARD Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Sen. Darline Graham said Monday she’s running for a full term to replace her late brother Lindsey Graham’s Senate seat.

“I’ve made a decision,”

Darline Graham told Fox News Channel host Sean Hannity, according to a clip released of an interview set to air later Monday “I’m in.”

The entrance of Darline Graham — sworn in last week to fulﬁll the remaining months of her late brother’s term, which expires in Janu-

ary — into the Republican scramble to select a new Senate nominee further complicates an already rushed process following Lindsey Graham’ s death earlier this month.

Graham

A weeklong filing period opens Tuesday for the special Republican primary, which will be Aug. 11. On Friday, President Donald Trump said that Darline Graham had his “Complete and Total Endorsement” to seek the

nomination, adding, “RUN, DARLINE, RUN!”

Last week, Gov Henry McMaster appointed Darline Graham to serve the remainder of her brother’s term, which ends in January

In his announcement, McMaster made no reference to Darline Graham as a placeholder or symbolic appointment, although a person familiar with McMaster’s thinking but unauthorized to speak publicly said the governor, in selecting Darline Graham, had never contemplated that she would run for the seat herself.

Senators demand ICE answers and body cameras after 2 fatal shootings

BY REBECCA SANTANA Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Dozens of Democratic U.S. senators and the independent senator from Maine pushed for more details Monday from Immigration and Customs Enforcement about the agency’s vetting practices for new agents and how officers conduct vehicle pursuits, even as they demanded that body cameras be swiftly rolled out to all ofﬁcers The demands came in a letter spearheaded by Maine’s Independent Sen. Angus King, signed by 38 Democratic senators and sent to the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE. The demands follow two deadly shootings in

which ICE ofﬁcers shot and killed immigrants in Houston and Maine.

The Associated Press reported last week that the ICE ofﬁcer in Maine who opened fire and killed a man from Colombia had a history of violent behavior toward family members that was detailed in family court records.

His first ex-wife, Ashley Brouillette, told AP he was physically violent with her, including once throwing boiling water at her while she was holding their child.

His second ex-wife, Lucinda Brouillette, sent a statement over the weekend alleging “a persistent pattern of abuse, intimidation, manipulation, fear, and control.”

“Throughout our marriage and in the years that followed,

I have feared for a long time that his anger, aggression, and escalating behavior would eventually result in severe, life threatening violence, and I often believed I would be the one on the receiving end of it,” she wrote. Hundreds of pages of family court documents describe their turbulent marriage, and the years after. Lucinda Brouillette told the court he had stalked and harassed her and physically and verbally abused his daughter, according to multiple requests for temporary protection orders. Brouillette tackled his teenage daughter and smashed spaghetti in her hair, and during another outburst, he dragged his daughter around the house as she cried, she said.

After arrest, Tate brothers fight extradition to U.K.

Pair face rape, sex trafficking counts in Britain

BY DAVID FISCHER Associated Press

MIAMI Social media inﬂu-

encers Andrew and Tristan Tate will ﬁght extradition to the United Kingdom where the brothers are accused of rape and sex trafﬁcking, their lawyer said Monday, suggesting their arrest in Miami was politically motivated without explaining why

The Tates appeared in federal court Monday for the ﬁrst time since their arrest on Saturday and are being held in federal detention. In the coming weeks, a U.S. district judge will consider whether they meet the conditions for extradition. U.S. Magistrate Lauren Louis set another hearing for Monday July 27.

The brothers, through their social media empire promoting wealth, male dominance and misogyny, are among the world’s most polarizing internet personalities.

Normally photographed in tailored suits and fitted shirts, they wore tan jail uniforms and handcuffs during the brief hearing. Neither brother said a word.

Their attorney Joseph McBride, insisted they should remain in the U.S.

“We are of course objecting to extradition because Andrew and Tristan are innocent,” McBride said after the hearing. “They’ve never done nothing wrong. They shouldn’t be extradited for crimes they did not commit.”

The brothers were surprised when they were arrested, McBride said, adding that the attempt to have them extradited was politi-

cally motivated. “There’s no question about it,” he told reporters.

He suggested the Tates’ case “had a lot to do with” former British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s decision to step down, without providing any details, and said it was no coincidence that the brothers were arrested after meeting “friends in Washington, D.C.”

“We went to see our Congress people in D.C. and now we’re getting arrested. This feels political,” McBride said. He didn’t specify who the pair met with or what was discussed.

On Sunday, McBride said he was conﬁdent the extradition request would be denied.

Prosecutors in Britain said the new charges relate to four new victims and were brought after authorities received evidence from Bedfordshire Police in southeastern England. The allegations, spanning 2010 to 2017, include rape assault, trafﬁcking and offenses relating to “indecent images of a child and extreme pornography.” McBride said none of the latest accusers have been identiﬁed, adding “we’d like to know who’s accused An-

drew and Tristan of what.”

The brothers are already charged with rape, bodily harm, human trafficking and controlling prostitution for gain relating to three other alleged victims in the U.K. between 2012 and 2015. Their lawyer said in a statement Saturday that he believed the arrests were “greenlighted by a low-level functionary” at the Justice Department without input from leadership. The Justice Department told The Associated Press that the arrests were approved by leadership of its Criminal Division The new allegations are the latest in a long-running international legal saga involving the Tates that has spanned the U.S., Britain and Romania. The brothers have repeatedly denied wrongdoing.

The dual U.S. and British citizens moved to Romania in 2016. They were arrested there in 2022, accused of participating in schemes to lure women for sexual exploitation. They denied those allegations and the Romanian case hasn’t gone forward because of legal and procedural problems. Last year, they were allowed to leave Romania and ﬂew to Florida.

BY JILL LAWLESS and BRIAN MELLEY Associated Press

LONDON Andy Burnham took ofﬁce Monday as Britain’s new prime minister, promising a 10-year plan to restore political stability and revive the economy while acknowledging that six other U.K. leaders have tried and failed to do so in the past decade. Speaking outside 10 Downing St minutes after being formally appointed by King Charles III, Burnham pledged to ease the cost of living for ordinary people, decentralize political power, revitalize industry and end street sleeping by homeless people. He said he would de-

liver a “circuit breaker” for a system that has taken wrong turns since the 1980s, when public services and utilities were privatized and local government eroded.

“We will take power out of here and carry it into every post code in the land so that they can do more and in doing more, build a new economy where we put life’s essentials back under stronger public control to make them affordable to you again,” he said. Burnham said he was “acutely conscious” of the political revolving door he

was walking through.

“This is a moment for reﬂection and new resolution,” he said. “It requires my generation of politicians to raise our game and rise to the new challenge. Britain needs to show the world that we can regain our stability once again, and that is our challenge to make politics work, to make it work better.”

One of Burnham’s

PROVIdEd IMAGE By LOTHAR SPEER

In this courtroom sketch, Andrew and Tristan Tate appear Monday with their attorneys before Judge Lauren Louis in Miami federal court in Miami.

STORM

are most at risk for heavy rainfall, according to the National Weather Service in NewOrleans.

“It is expected to have the biggest impact on us here in southeast Louisiana on Wednesday,” NOLA.com senior meteorologist Damon Singleton said.

“(It’s) moving pretty slowly due to the fact that it’skind of sandwiched betweentwo highpressure systems. We’re expecting this thing to pick up speedover thenext couple of days and to get alittle bit stronger,” he said.

Storm surgesofupto4feetcould occur in portions of the Louisiana and Mississippi coastlines, the hurricane center said, warning therealsocould be an isolated tornado or two possible over the Florida BigBendregion this week Areas of ﬂash ﬂooding will also be possible through Friday along the coast,fromwestern Floridatomiddle Texas, the weatherservice said. It added that rainfall could reach 3-5 inches along the Louisianacoastline, with higher amounts expected in some areas,notably south of Lake Pontchartrain.

Bertha would be the secondnamed storm of the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season, after Tropical Storm Arthur dropped severalinchesof rain and caused minor ﬂooding last month. The system should beginto weaken byThursday.

PASCAGOULA

Continued frompage1A

or so passengers who wander in off the city’snew Amtrak stop each day. The brew pub’sacclaimed chef, Austin Sumrall, has earned nods from the James Beard Foundation and the Michelin Guide. The setting includes chandeliers and signature cocktails with names like “Train Station Smash” and “Box Car Paloma.” “Wewanted to be elevated,” Ridge Chambers, the general manager,said.

Nearby,amixed-use propertycalled City Centre opened several years ago and includes 28 residences,ofﬁce space and arooftop lounge with panoramic views calledThe Hancock Bar.Down the road, the boutique Hotel Whiskey opened in 2024. Between 2020 and 2025, according to the nonproﬁt economic development group Main Street Pascagoula, 39 new downtown businesses opened and created 114 new jobs.

Ramsay Taylor,aPascagoula nativewho developed the Hancock Bar and several other properties in downtown Pascagoula, lists dozens more new spots. A pizza place. Aclothing store. Abutcher shop. Pascagoula even has aPilates studio now “It really was just kind of like abowling ball,” Taylor said of the investments. “Other people started taking notice.”

Luring development

Pascagoula is ablue-collar

POPE

Continued from page1A

Boudreaux described the meeting with the pope as a meaningful experience. “It was aprofound and grace-filled experience to meet ourHolyFather,” she said in astatement. “His words of support and encouragement for the mission of Catholic Charities were deeply meaningfuland will remain with me.”

Pope Leoconcludedthe audience by offering his apostolic blessing to the staff volunteers and clients of Catholic Charities USA. Catholic Charities of Acadiana has served the region for more than 50 years through programs addressing hunger,homelessness, poverty,disaster recovery andother communityneeds Boudreaux has worked with the organization for the past 25 years. Pope Leo, born Robert Francis Prevost, is the ﬁrst U.S.-born pontiff. He also has deep ties to Louisiana. New Orleanian Catholics have laid claim to Pope Leo basedonlineage that can be traced back to the 7th Ward. On his mother’sside, Pope Leo’sheritage can be traced back to St. Landry Parish Historians believethe

city of about21,000 people, and many who work in its powerfulindustries still leavefor Ocean Springs, Mississippi, or Mobile, Alabama, by the end of the day

TheU.S. Census Bureau estimates the city as awhole has lost about 600 residents over thepast ﬁveyears —a decline of about 3%.

But leaders say the changes are significant forthe small city.Mayor Jay Willis said downtown Pascagoula had no living optionsfive years ago. Now, he added, there are almost 100 residential unitsand allhave been leased.

By 2010, most of Pascagoula’sdowntown businesses hadbeen drawn away from thecitycentertoa nearby mall or acommercialstretch of U.S. 90, abusy thoroughfare that cuts across theMis-

pope’sfamily leftNew Orleansaspart of theGreat Migration, aperiod starting in 1910 when more than six millionBlack peoplemoved from the JimCrow Southto more tolerant northern and western states.

Pope Leohas been outspokenonthe topicofcharity, especiallyinthe face of the turbulent political climate in theUnited States

“As was the case with the apostles andwith the early church, the proclamation of theGospel through caring for the poor and for those most in need will always present certaindifﬁculties on both thepersonal and the institutional levels,” he said duringthe meetinginMay

“These include ﬁnding sufficient resources, demonstrating to others that this type of service is an integral part ofauthentic Christian living, and notgiving way to discouragement, particularlywhen we meet those whom we cannot help in the way that we would like. Iam fullyaware that theCatholicCharities agencies in the UnitedStatesofAmerica arebynomeans immune from thesechallenges that continuetomanifest themselves inour own day.”

EmailKristin Askelson at kaskelson@theadvocate. com.

sissippi coast. Then thecityusedmore than $16 million in public funding, including from the BP oil spill settlement, to offer incentives to developers

through agroup calledthe Pascagoula Redevelopment Authority

Developers whorehabilitateddowntowneyesores began applying for thatfund-

ing aboutﬁve years ago to receive up to 25% of theirproject’stotal cost. The city says that tactic lured more than $51 million in private investment andled to atotal of $67.5 million invested in downtown redevelopmentprojects.

“It’sworkedbeautifully,” Willis said. “It’sgiven the residents, the citizens and the people that work here a totally different perspective of what Pascagoula is and can be moving forward.”

The city also sought advice from young professionals whoworked in Pascagoula but didnot livethere. Cloyd said he attended afocus group severalyearsago in whichlocal leaders asked a group to list amenities that might convince them to move to Pascagoula.

Pascagoula is still quieter than many popular spots along the Mississippi, including Bay St. Louis and Ocean Springs. Some groups of professionalsstrolledthe sidewalks one recentweekday or stopped at Chandeleur Depot. It wasnot crowded.But down theroad fromthe brew pub, as anearby train whistle echoed off the buildings, Tobie Decoteau rang up afew customers at Lee Tracy Boutique. She said she has been hearing new accents in the store ever since Amtrak servicereturnedtothe Gulf Coast last summer.Many are from Louisiana and Mobile. “It’sagreat thing,”Decoteau said. “We’re so happy that all this is new and developed.”

Many wanted moredowntownapartments. Another idea, Cloyd said, was the brewery Cityleaders and businesses now say they are noticing more visitors who getoff the Amtrak trains for lunch and shopping. Developers say many of the new apartments are rented by professionals whoworkatIngalls andthe Chevron reﬁnery Willis said when he goes downtown for dinner on Fridays andSaturdays now, he often ﬁnds no place to park. AndCloyd andothers say moredevelopment is coming.

NOTICE ADVERTISEMENT FORBIDS 2026 –2028 ROADWAY STRIPING FOR THECITY OF YOUNGSVILLE, LOUISIANA Sealedbidswillbere‐ceivedbythe City of Youngsville at anytime orday priorto, butno later than August 11, 2026 centralstandard timeon 11:00 am forthe above listedproject Theproject scopein‐cludes pavement striping in variousareas of the City of Youngsville on an as needed basisfor a three-year period of time.The initialstriping consists of more than 40,000 linear feet of com‐bined4”, 8” and12” yel‐lowand white striping Theworkshall also in‐cludeasidentiﬁed sym‐bols andlettering Bidsmay be mailedto CityofYoungsville,Attn: NicoleGuidry, Municipal Clerk,201 Iberia Street Youngsville,LA70592, or delivered between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:00p.m.onany working day priortothe bidopen‐ing Complete Biddocuments may be obtained from McBadeEngineers & Consultants locatedat 327 Iberia Street,Suite 5, Youngsville Louisiana, 70592, phone337-4515823 at acostof$50 with checksmadepayable to McBadeEngineers & Consultants.Bid docu‐ments mayalsobe viewed, downloaded,and submitted online at www.centralbidding.com untilthe deadline listed below Therewillbenomanda‐torypre-bid conference Allbidswitha properly executedenvelope, will beopenedpublicly, and readaloud on August 11, 2026, at 11:00 am in theCityof Youngsville City Hall,lo‐cated at 201 Iberia Street Youngsville,Louisiana The construction cost es‐timatewillbereadaloud uponopening of bids TheOwnerreservesthe right to reject anyand all bidsfor just cause; such actions will be in accor‐dance with Title38ofthe Louisiana Revised Statutes. No bidder maywithdraw his/her bidwithinfortyﬁve (45) days after the actualdateofthe open‐ing thereof. TheContractorshall ob‐

which appearonthe U.S. Trea‐suryCircular570, li‐censedtodobusinessin the StateofLouisiana,in the amountsand forthe purpose stated andsub‐jecttothe Owner’sap‐proval. 1. BIDBOND:

PUBLIC NOTICE NOTICE TO BIDDERS Notice is hereby given thatsealedbidswillbe receivedeitherelectroni‐cally at https://lafayet tecsdgovla.tylerportico com/va/vendor-access/ registration or in theof‐ﬁce of thePurchasingDi‐visionatthe Lafayette ConsolidatedGovern‐mentBuilding, locatedat 705 West University Av‐enue,Lafayette Louisiana,until 11:00 a.m.Central Time on the 2nd dayofSeptember 2026 forthe following: 167118.5.2710 COM‐PRESSEDAIR

andwill, shortlythere‐after,beopenedand readaloud in aroom lo‐cated at 705 West Univer‐sityAvenue,Lafayette LA. Bids received after the abovespeciﬁed time for openingshall notbe consideredand shallbe returnedunopenedto the sender.Bidders are encouragedtocallinto the bidopeningsatthe following link https:// us02web.zoom.us/j/ 88394856961?pwd=XT3 UTkl8P5jzXQspFiQTEoL OE4Xtao.1 ScopeofWork: The scope of Work shallcon‐sistofall engineering, design, fabrication,test‐ing,packaging anddeliv‐ery of aCompressedAir Equipment andits acces‐soriesand

the deposit (lessactualcost ofreproduction) will be refunded upon return of the documentsnolater than ten(10) daysafter i f bid h ill

p some time;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.Ofﬁcial BidDoc‐umentsare availableat VendorAccess (https:// lafayettecsdgovla.tyl erportico.com/va/ vendor-access/ registration). Forques‐tions relatedtothe elec‐tronicbidding process, pleasecallthe ofﬁce of Purchasingat337-2918258. Biddersmay re‐quest theelectronicbid package from Dabne Dover at dabnedover@ lafayettela.gov

Bidderssubmittingbids electronicallyare re‐quiredtoprovide the samedocuments as bid‐derssubmittingthrough the mail as soon as avail‐able.

Bidderssubmittingbids electronicallyshall in‐clude alldocuments in one (1)combinedPDF file withbookmark(s)and are required to provide one (1)hardcopy through themail. Bidders providing bids my mail shall includeone (1)hard copywithall documents inone (1)combinedPDF file with bookmark(s) and arerequiredtopro‐videanelectroniccopy inone (1)USB flashdrive SUBMISSIONOFCONFI‐DENTIAL,PROPRIETARY ORTRADESECRET INFOR‐MATION(SEELA. R.S. 44:3.2(D) As apublicentity, Lafayette Consolidated Governmentissubject to the LouisianaPublic Records Law, which may require submissionsof Bidders to be apublic record. Pursuant to La R.S.44:3.2(D),Bidders who submit documents orinformation they be‐lieve to be proprietaryor trade secret must clearly markeachpageorpiece ofinformation which is, inthe Bidder’s opinion, proprietary or tradese‐cretand must also sub‐mit with such informa‐tiona coversheet that reads as followsinbold type: DOCUMENT CONTAINS CONFIDENTIALPROPRI‐ETARY OR TRADESECRET

bidding documents shallbedi‐rectedtoDabne Doverby email at dabnedover@ lafayettela.gov Within one(1) week upon receipt of theInvitation toBid,Bidders areen‐couragedtoconﬁrm in‐tenttosubmita

"Invita‐

sent by Dabne Dover(dabne‐dover@lafayettela.gov). Biddersare requestedto attend anon-mandatory pre-bid meeting, which willbeheldonAugust10, 2026 at 10:00 a.m. CSTin the EngineeringConfer‐enceRoom 2atthe LUS OperationsCenterlo‐cated at 1314 Walker Rd Lafayette,LA70506. Bid‐dersunabletoattend the pre-bid in person canat‐tendbyjoining through ZOOM usingthe follow‐ing link:https://us02web zoom.us/j/82085357214? pwd=qUMiZFxAm6y9Dac dxFYhxpsdbL3JDk.1 Al‐ternatively,a meetingin‐vitecan be forwardedto you viaemail by contact‐

SUN HERALd FILE PHOTO By JACKSON RANGER Chandeleur depot brewpub in Pascagoula opened to customers in June.

STAFFPHOTO By dAVId GRUNFELd

ChristianMosley-Richardson, left, helps Johnisha West fill sandbags MondayatMorrisFXJeff Sr.Park in Algiersahead of the expected arrival of atropical stormacross south Louisiana.

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STRIKES

Continued from page1A

infrastructure relied on by millions of people.

Anew potential threat to world energy markets emerged Monday after Iran-backed rebels in Yemen said they planned to preventSaudi Arabia from shipping in the Red Sea, an alternate routefor oilexports during the war

The escalation has pushed oil prices higher in recent weeks. Benchmark Brent crude traded Monday above $88 abarrel and regular gasoline in the U.S. climbed to an average of $4 agallon, keeping pressure on Americans’wallets ahead of midterm elections this fall.

The U.S. military identiﬁed two soldierswho were killed in Jordan in attacks that left athird person missing.

Separately,the military confirmed another death in Iraq on Saturday during the “controlled detonation” of adownedIranian drone.PresidentDonaldTrump took to social media on Monday to warn that “Every time Iran kills an American Soldier they will pay for that killing many times over!” Trump was planning to attend aceremony on Tuesday evening at Dover Air Force Base, where at least one service member’sremains were due to arrive.

U.S. targetsstrategic sites

U.S. Central Command said Sunday’sairstrikes targeted “Iranian military command centers, air defense and coastal surveillance sites, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launchsites and communications networks.” Last week, the U.S. struck bridges and atower at an Iranian port Iran’sstate-run IRNA news agency reported that the Americanstrikes killedatleast oneperson around Tabriz, anorthwestern city about325 milesfrom the capital, Tehran. Tabriz is believed to host underground missile bases run by Iran’sparamilitary Revolutionary Guard.

U.S. strikes likely also hit Bandar Imam Khomeini in Khuzestan province, Sirik and Jask in Hormozgan province and Konarak and Chahbahar in Sistan andBaluchistan province, IRNA reported The British military’s United

Kingdom MaritimeTrade Operations center said Monday evening that asecondshiphad been attacked aday earlier in the Strait of Hormuz, this one off thecoast of the United Arab Emirates.

Theother vessel caught ﬁrein the Strait of Hormuz after being hitby a projectilenear thecoastline of Oman.The crew abandoned thevessel, which was adrift and still ablaze hours later,the UKMTO said.

The route around Oman hasbeen theone theU.S.militaryhas encouraged shipstotravel to avoid Iran’scontrol.The Guardlater claimedit was targeting tankers in the strait. Tehran also hit U.S.-allied countries throughout the Middle East.

Kuwaitsaidits air defenses ﬁred at an incoming barrage,and Jordan’sarmed forces said Monday evening they had shot down three Iranian missiles, adding that there had been no material damage or casualties. Therewas no immediate word from Iran.

Bahrain’sForeignMinistry condemned Iranian dronestrikes targeting thecountry’sair trafﬁc systems,saying they endanger travel for civilians.

Strait of Hormuz remainskey Anew pressure point could emergefor worldenergymarkets as Yemen’s Houthirebels announced on Monday amaritime embargoagainst SaudiArabia. The Houthis, who are backed by Iran, said they would block shippingbetween the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden in response to an attack on SanaaInternational Airport last week that they blamed on Saudi Arabia. With the Strait of Hormuz blocked up, Saudi Arabia has been relying on apipeline to the Red Seatoget millions of barrels of oilout to market.The Houthis earlierdemonstrated theirabilityto disrupt shipping therewhenthey targetedships for months over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, with over 100 vessels attacked.

Therewas no immediate response from Saudi Arabia. Trump hasthreatened to target Iran’s powerstations andbridges to try to compel Tehran to loosen its hold on the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-ﬁfth of world oil supplies wereshipped before the war.Recentattacks suggest the U.S. military is carrying out that plan.

The U.S. in the past week reimposed anaval blockade on Iranian ports to halt its shipments of crude oil. The military says it has redirected sevenships anddisabled one since then.

Aglimmer of hope fordiplomacy

Pakistanhas intensifieddiplomatic efforts in recent days to resuscitate the interim ceaseﬁre reached last month that called for resolving remainingissuestied to the warwithin 60 days. The truce unraveled after both sides resumed attacksoneach other’s militaryinstallations and other infrastructure.

IranianInteriorMinister Eskandar Momeni arrived in Islamabad on Monday for two days of talkswith PrimeMinisterShehbazSharif andothers. Momeni’s counterpart, PakistaniInterior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, expressed optimism.

“God willing, we will have good news,” Naqvi said.

On Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters thatthe U.S. is still open to negotiating with Iran but that “it has to be real.”

“If the door opens to diplomacy —ifthe guys that want to do something productive forIran win and take control of that system, or take control of thenegotiations— that’ll be averypositivedevelopment,” Rubio said. “That’snot where we are tonight, unfortunately.”

Iranian authorities on Sunday said at least 50 people have been killed and 517 wounded in the latestrounds of U.S. strikes. Since the war beganonFeb. 28, 17 U.S. service members have been killed.

ASSOCIATEdPRESS PHOTOByAMIRHOSEIN KHORGOOI People stand on abridgedestroyedafter astrikeinHormozgan province, southernIran, on Saturday.

JanRisher

LOUISIANA AT LARGE

Stumbling sidewaysin friendships

Rebecca DeLatin represents one of the silver linings of the ﬁrethat destroyed our home last August. When we ended up in arental, we neverdreamed of the impact our new neighbors would have on our lives. The DeLatinshave been the perfect combination offun, smarts,kindnessand humor during this strange temporary time andplace of our lives. They’re the kind of neighbors who make life better.Isuspect that they will be a part of our lives for years to come On Sundayafternoon, withher children spending the week with their grandparents in Acadiana, DeLatin told me she was looking forward to an afternoon of cooking and going to her Cookbook Club that evening. Itold her that I’ve been wanting to be apartof acookbook club, and within minutes, Iwas invited to join Since DeLatin was taking three dishes, Ihad afeeling there would be agracious plenty —and Iwas not wrong. Darian Graivshark and Kos Kovtun hosted the event. The cookbook for the night was Molly Baz’s“Cook This Book.” Adrian Owen Jones recommendedthe book. As avegetarian, she says Baz’sdishes areusually greater than the sum of their parts.

“It’ssohard to ﬁnd vegetable dishes that aren’tboring,” she said. If nonboring vegetabledishes are the goal, she hit the jackpot Sunday night. The seven of usenjoyed 12 dishes. It was afeast Baz also has aknack for naming dishes:piri-ish chicken, pimentoish cheese, one-pot chicken with schmaltzy rice, gingerysquash and lentils, smooshed andcrispy potatoes with salt-and-vinegar sour cream. Five women started this cookbookclubinthe spring. They meet every other month,choose abook, cook from it and eatwhat they made together

Iwent expecting that DeLatin would be the only person Iknew and wasdelightedthat Owen Jones was there,along withJamee Blink, whom Ihad also met brieﬂy at one of my husband’s art

inspiration cookbook for the Baton Rouge-based Cookbook Club to host itsSundaymeal.

Lafayetteactivates coolingcenters

BY CLAIRETAYLOR Staff writer

With heat indexes expected to surpass 100 degrees this week, the Lafayette Parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness hasactivated anetwork of coolingstations forresidents to stay safe.

Thestations will be operating through Fridaytohelp mitigate heat-related illnesses.

The National Weather Service in Lake Charles estimated that this week it will feel like temperatures are in the 100s, as high as 113 in Lafayette.

Thecoolingcenter locations in Lafayette include:

n Girard Park pavilion, 500 Girard ParkDrive. Fansand water available from 10 a.m. to 5p.m.

n Dupuis Recreation Center, 1212 E. PontDes Mouton Road. Fans and water available from 2p.m. to 5p.m. at the covered entryway

n Heymann Recreation Center pavilion, 1500 S. Orange St. Fans and water available under the pavilion from 2p.m. to 5p.m. Otherplaceswhere residents can seek relief from the heat include:

n LafayetteParish public libraries during normal business hours.

n Oak Street Health Primary Care, 2001 MossSt., Suite1200,

Lafayette,8 a.m.to5 p.m. Indoor cooling foradults 55 and up. Water available.

n St.Joseph Diner,613 Simcoe St., Lafayette, interioropen from 7a.m. to 5p.m. Water available.

Lafayette TransitSystem bus fares are suspended through Fridayfor anyone traveling to a designated cooling center

The emergency agency will continue to monitor weather conditions in coordination with the National Weather Service andwill adjust cooling center hours or locations as conditions warrant, ofﬁcials said.

ContactClaireTaylorat ctaylor@theadvocate.com.

GRANd FINALE

HEAT SAFETY TIPS

n Stayhydrated. drink regularly evenifyou don’tfeel thirsty

n Limit outdoor activities, especially during peak heat hours, 10 a.m. to 4p.m.

n Wear lightweight,light-colored clothing and takefrequent breaks if workingoutdoors

n Check on elderlyrelatives and neighbors, young children and anyone without reliable air conditioning

n Neverleave childrenorpets unattendedinparked vehicles.

Hundreds mournlossofNolan Wells

BY POETWOLFE Staff writer

Hundreds gathered on asunny Mondaymorning in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, to give their ﬁnalgoodbyes to Nolan Wells, an 18-year-old footballstar found deadonHorn Island earlier this month.

Residents and lovedones, many dressed in black and blue —the colors of Wells’ high school football team —stood outside the entrance of Center Pointe Church. By 9:20 a.m., the line surged withpeople embracingeach other,silently waiting to get inside the service. Near thefront door,aportrait of Wells smiling in ablack suit was surrounded by white roses and hydrangeas. Twotelevisions displayed aslideshow portraying momentsofhis life in pho-

Both woreblack and ababy blue pinbearinga photograph of Wells and held each other close.

His parents sat in the front with Crumpand ﬁlmmaker Spike Lee. Sharptonthentook the stage,said aprayer and called forjustice. “Somebody knowssomething,” Sharptonsaid of the circumstances surrounding Wells’ death. “Let every stone be rolled back and every veil be torn asunderand let truth pop out of the ground like a ﬂower.”

Forweeks, the small Mississippi coast town has mourned the death of Wells, who disappeared while on aFourth of July trip to Horn Island.

tographs, from his birthday to prom and graduation.

Accompanied by high-profile

attorney Ben Crump and civil

rightsactivist the Rev.AlSharpton,Wells’ parents —Elmore and Christine Wonsley —walked into thevisitation room at 11:15 a.m.

Wells, whowas Black, had traveledtothe island —apopular Fourth of July destination with agroup of friends from high school, all of whomare White. He did not return with themtothe mainland that evening, ofﬁcials said. His body was found two

ä See WELLS, page 4B

Baseball tournament walksbackruleagainst watercoolers

Acadianaevent faced backlash afteremail caused concern

BYJOEL THOMPSON Staff writer

The upcoming NationalAll-Star baseball tournament being hosted in Acadiana faced controversy this week after an email communication suggested that players and fans would be barred from bringing water coolers to the venues. The email

scheduled forthe tournament,writingto registrants, “Park management has informed us that coolers of any kind —team coolersorpersonalcoolers— arenot allowed insideany ofthe tournament parks.”

The invitation-only tournament, which includes to top-ranked Little League playersfromacrossthe nation, is scheduled take to place between July 29 and Aug.2,with temperatures in Lafayette currently projected in the 90s with heat indexes nearing 100 degrees Many parentsand prospective attendees took tosocial media to express frustrationover the policy BrianDelaney,ofAlabama, the parent of achild participating in thetournament,said he believed

thepolicy would endanger lives if unchecked.

“I do notbelieve it is hyperbole to statethat this policy will endanger people’slives at theevent,” Delaney said. “Weare genuinely worried aboutmyparents’health in the heat without access to water or cold ways to reduce body temperature, let alone the players themselves who will be enduring the heat across multiple games each day during theevent.”

“Weknow this isn’t thenews any family wants to hear in themiddle of aLouisiana summer,” USSSA’s email statement read. “Weunderstand the frustration —keeping kids cool and hydrated is on every parent’s mind, ours included.

Tournament ofﬁcials have since walked back the email, withUSSSA Baseball Administrative Coordinator Maria Hannaseck stating thatthe policy has been amended. The full nature of the amendmentwas not clariﬁed, and it is not clear whether any restrictions on coolers will remain in place for the tournament. Hannaseck said the changes were madeafter USSSA further discussed the policywith each of the venues. The venues scheduled forthe eventinclude the Youngsville Sports Complex, Broussard Sports Complex, Pelican Park in Carencro, Graham BrownMemorial Park in Lafayette andthe Tony Robichaux Sport Complex in Crowley

Several of thevenues, including Youngsville and Broussard, have stated policiesontheir websites that permit andencourage park guests to bring personal coolers to stay hydrated. The Youngsville Sports Complex responded to theAcadianaAdvocate’srequest for comment on the matter,with assistant director Josh Smith saying, “Ourrules have neverchanged, and personal water coolers or team coolers with cups for players are not only allowed, but encouraged.”

None of the contacted venues confirmed responsibility for the policyexpressedinUSSSA’s initialemail communicationtoparticipants.

PROVIdEd PHOTO

Molly Baz’s‘Cook This Book’was the

STAFFPHOTO By BRAd KEMP

Spain and Argentina soccer fans watch the WorldCup final Sundayfrom under tents during ablock partyinthe 400 blockofJefferson Street in Lafayette. Spain defeated Argentina 1-0.

STAFF PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER

The parents of Nolan Wells, Elmore and Christine Wonsley, left, stand onstagewith attorneyBen Crump, center,and the Rev. Al Sharpton during amemorialservice for their son MondayatCenter Pointe Church in OceanSprings,Miss.

Wells

Don’tlet NIL machinekill high school sports

Many of us have fond memories of playing sports in high school.Whether you were astate champion or not, sports taught important lessons around teamwork, disciplineand overcoming obstacles —lessons thatlast intoadulthood. Now,however,somehigh school athleteswill have to learn how to navigate anew terrain,as aLouisiana law willsoon fully open the world of name,image and likeness—which hasalready upended college athletics —toa youngercohort. Act 810 by Rep. Rashid Young, D-Homer, passed last session by theLegislature,goes into effectAug. 1. It bars high schools frompreventing student athletes from making money through endorsement deals.

We can see that lawmakers took care to seta few guardrails around these NIL deals,including prohibiting athletes from endorsing alcoholic beverages, drugs, gambling,weapons or adult entertainment. They also stipulated that parents must sign off on the deals for those under 18 and that high schools can bar studentsfromdoing NIL-related workduring school hoursoron school property

The law came after extensivestudy by Louisiana’sNIL Task Force, madeupoflegislators, coaches lawyers, athleticadministrators and the student athletesthemselves.

Another law,Act 895, by state Sen.Patrick Connick, R-Marrero, requires anyonewho wants to be anagent for high school or college athletes to register withthe state. Attorney General Liz Murrill launched aregistry this month that requiresanyone who wants to bean agent to undergo acriminal background check. Thelaw also stipulates that theagent hastogive any athlete represented awrittendisclosure of the details of the NIL or endorsementdealthat includes the services provided, fees charged and anyone else beneﬁting from the deal.

Theseare good steps.Werecognize that allinvolved have taken athoughtful approach to how to protect high schoolers from unscrupulous actors. And though we wish there were serious discussion of whetherNIL should beallowedto invade sports at this level, perhaps the current legal landscape makes it inevitable.

That’swhy it’simperativeweeducate these young peopleand their parentsaboutthe business they are getting involved in.Weare happy to see some high schoolsalready offering information sessions on NIL. We would hope the Louisiana High School Athletic Association would alsobeactively involved in providing guidance.

Those who say NIL won’t change the game forthese athletes andschools arebeingnaive We have already seen how an NILarmsrace has changed the face of collegeathletics.High schoolathletes have enoughontheir plates,and their youth and inexperience can beexploited by some who see them just as cash cows. Butthe memories that high school sports can create are priceless. We should ensure that this new generation of student athletes hasa chance to develop alove of the game before anything else. That is what will sustain them through the years.

GUIDELINES: Letters are published identifying name, occupation and/or title and the writer’scity of residence TheAdvocate |The Times-Picayune require astreet address andphone number for verification purposes, but that information is not published. Letters are not to exceed 300 words. Letters to the Editor,The Advocate, P.O. Box 588, Baton Rouge, LA 70821-0588, or email letters@ theadvocate.com. TO SENd US A LETTER, SCANHERE OUR VIEWS

250th anniversary was celebrated to musicofLa.

There are moments when anation looks toward its own reﬂection, moments when celebration becomes a mirror,revealing the soul of apeople.

During our country’s250th anniversary festivities, that reﬂection shone witha distinct Louisianaglow

From Boston to Nashville, from Disney’sgrand stages toCBS’sGreat American Block Party,Louisiana’ssons and daughters carried our story to the world. Lainey Wilson stood before the Boston PopsOrchestra, her voice rising like awarm Southern wind through therafters of one of America’smost storied venues. Trombone Shorty,our own pied piper of brass, lifted his trumpet and reminded thenation that joy can be asound, and that sound often begins right here on the banks of the Mississippi.

TimMcGraw,raised in the quiet ﬁelds of Start,Louisiana, brought our small-town grit to anational celebration.Lauren Daigle sang before 400,000

people, her voice aprayer woven from bayou rootsand cathedral reverence. AndJon Batiste, ever the ambassador of New Orleanssoul, lit up CBS with theelectricity only aLouisiana musician can summon. If you drifted from channel to channel, it felt as though every screen carried apiece of Louisiana. Each performance was afamiliar note, areminder of who we are, as Louisiana’sspirit echoed across thenation We should be proud. Proud that ourmusicians continue to shape the soundtrack of this nation.Proud that our culture, born of porch steps, church pews, second lines and Saturday night dance halls, still rises to the biggest stages in the world.

Proudthat when America celebrated its 250th birthday,Louisiana’svoice was among the loudest, the brightest and the most unforgettable. GREG BUISSON Metairie

Storyofjudge,rescued kitten wasgoodnews

Iwould like to thank The Advocate forthe beautiful and heartwarming story about Baton Rouge Judge Beau Higginbotham’s rescue of an injured kitten from thebarrier wall near the College Drive overpass.

In today’sapathetic and vitriolic climate, it is moreimportantthan ever to be madeaware of acts of loving kindness. Ialso wanted to share that Ihad athree-legged cat who ﬁlled our home

with gratitude and funfor 18 years. Andeven though Boudin only had three legs, she never missed an opportunity to rompwith ourGerman shepherd. So, congratulations, Judge Higginbotham,and thank you forreminding us to loveunconditionally and say yes when we are offered opportunities to makeour world abetter place.

CATHERINE ALTAZAN Baton Rouge

Reporter’s rantsfailtobring thecitytogetherasfans

Iamwriting concerning the rantings of your new sports writer,Jon Blau

Let me start by saying Iamatransplant to New Orleans, residing herefor 15 years. Idid not attend LSU, but Ohio

University

Recently,Ihave read two of his columns that really put fans on the defensive. Do readers really need to read

about Urban Meyer’sopinion on football or fans at LSU? Blau’s articles read as offensive and hostile. Sportsunitethis fair city and bring us together.Blau’scommentary does not achieve this outcome. Aword to the“wise” is sufﬁcient.

MARYANN KAUCHAK NewOrleans

Governor treats thecitizensofNew Orleansasadversaries

MinnesotaGov.Tim Walz has often said he is thegovernor of all Minnesotansand respectsthose who voted for him and those who didn’t. President Donald Trump, on the other hand, treats any American who disagrees with him or didn’tvote for him as an enemy of the United States. The majority of voters in Orleans

Parishcast their ballots forsomeone other than Gov.Jeff Landry.It is shameful, but not surprising, that Landry is following the lead of the president and treatingthe citizens of New Orleansasadversaries instead of constituents.

MARK WEBER NewOrleans

despiteall the cheering,La. students still woefullybehind

While the Louisiana Department of Education and media rave about the educational gains in the state, the bottom line is that only slightly morethan athird of the students in the state (36%) perform at or above the basic minimum of the state’sstandards.

And our governor and legislators continue to refuse to assist ﬁnancially to help this dire situation, but instead simply use sleight of hand techniques to shiftthe same amount of money from one funding pot to another

Additionally,while they completely avoid dealing with the education deﬁciencies in the state, they push forincreased funding forprogramslike the LA GATOR Program, which is nothing more than aprivate and parochial school welfare program

The emphasis on education reform in this state was ofﬁcially enacted with LEAP legislation in 1986, and after some40years, approximately 64% of our children are still performing below the state’sminimum standards.

It is obvious the state is still failing our children. The reality is that Louisiana is the third-least educated state in the nation, followed only by Mississippi and West Virginia, according to aWalletHub analysis, which compared the 50 states on educational attainment and quality of education.

The report further found that Louisiana ranked 47th out of 50 in percentages of residents with high school diplomas, 49th in percentages of residents with associate degrees or somecollege experience, and 47th in percentage of residents with bachelor’s degrees and 45th in percentage of residents with graduate or professional degrees.

So, when are Gov.Jeff Landry and our legislators going to really deal with this problem,which has serious implications forthe economic growth in our state —something Landry claims is one of his top priorities?

Maybe Landry and his crew ought to add another commandmenttothe list posted in public schools, namely,“Thou shalt adequately address and fund public education in Louisiana.”

JIM ANDERSON Ponchatoula

ON THE RECORD WITH MARK COOPER COMMENTARY

‘FEMAisnot goingaway’

Ithink it was agood reset,not only for hurricane season, but to say: OK, we’re back (after) all those thingswewere talking about, gettingrid of FEMA.

Bossier City native Mark Cooper led the Governor’sOfﬁce of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparednessunder Gov Bobby Jindal and served aschief of staff for Gov John Bel Edwards. Now aconsultant based in Baton Rouge, Cooper was amember of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)Review Council, which issuedits recommendations in May He sat down recently with columnist Stephanie Grace to discuss the review council’sreport and theagency’sfuture.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity

Grace: What can you tell us about Cameron Hamilton, President Donald Trump’snomineetohead FEMA —who was acting administrator before he was ﬁred last year?

Cooper: Imet him at aNational Emergency Management Associationconference.And Iknew thestory about when they were talking about getting rid of FEMA —that’swhat the president wanted to do —and he spoke at acongressional hearing andhe said, no, Ithink there’s arole for FEMA, and then he got (makes cutting motion). Ithink with that he gained alot of respect. So when Ifoundout he wasselected, it was kind of asurprise, but it was agood surprise, because here’ssomebody thatobviously understands FEMA.

Aneededreset

Grace: Youattended ameeting with FEMA leadersand the socalled hurricane states in New Orleans in June. How did it go?

Cooper: Ithink it was extremely productive,becausetheysaid: Firstofall, there’s not going to be many changes for this hurricane season. But we did hear what their concerns were, some things that could change. And the other thing is that becauseofthis meeting here in New Orleans, now we’re talking about doing onefor thewildﬁre states.

Grace: That’sthe fear,right? We’ve been through ayear and a half of hearing things that sound very scary in Louisiana, and then they cameout and they said no change, we are ready.Ayear ago, we were hearing from inside FEMA that they weren’tready.So how’d we getherefromthere?

Cooper: How longhas (Homeland Security Secretary) Markwayne Mullin been there?

Ithink alot of it started under hisleadership.They started hiring people back. Cameron is the nominee;he’scertainly given input, and Ithink putting Bob Fenton there (as acting FEMA administrator)isthe moststabilizing thing you could possibly do. He represents blue states; he’s FEMA Region 9,that’s California, Hawaii, Arizona and Nevada. He was on the review council too, and he was handpicked by thepresidenttobeFEMA acting administrator.SoIthink that was just acalming influence, versus some of these other folks they hadput in there. When Iwas at GOHSEP,(theGovernor’sOffice of HomelandSecurity and Emergency Preparedness),hecame in as thefederal coordinating officer during Gustav,sohe’sgot ahistory with Louisiana.

And there’sthe fact that the council’sreport was not draconian; it was notgetting rid of FEMA. Imean,I triedvery hard. Iwas worried too. I’ve worked with FEMAsince my time in Los Angeles during thecivil unrest andsoIknewits role. I’m sure there need to bechanges. Isaw some of the frustrations,workingwith Gov.Edwards when he wouldhaveanidea and have to go up through thebureaucratic chain,but the regions have alwaysdone agreat job. When I was told Iwas being considered, Iwas nervous, because if it had beenahatchet job, then Idon’t knowwhatIwould have done. ButIsaw thepeople that were on there, and Iknew that there was no way that this group was

going to even start the process —even though Secretary (Kristi) Noem, in the first meeting, talked about it —ofpossibly getting rid of FEMA. Youhad people from states like Florida and Texas, who, even though they are very self-sustained, they rely on FEMA, just like Louisianadoes. Butthen theother part of it was, theplan was that we would meet in D.C., but early on Isaid, “No, we’ve got to go out.” It’s the first meeting, and Isaid, “You know,wegot the Hurricane Katrina20-year anniversary,which was the first meetinginNew Orleans.” Andthen Istill had contacts in Los Angeles from the wildfires. We needed togothere, and then we needed to go to Puerto Rico; we obviously needed to go to North Carolina. We wanted this to be abipartisan process,so we went to New England and New York.

Grace: Andthen thehorrible ﬂood in Texas happened last summer

Cooper: Right.Ithink that changed the trajectory for SecretaryNoem. That was very sobering for her and madeher realize, wow,there needs to be arole for thefederal government. We even went to Fort Worth for one of our meetings, and we did aﬂyover of Camp Mystic. That impacted all of us, because, again, you know, being in Katrina, it’s one thing to read it or see it,but when you live it really has an impact on you. Which is why Ithink people had so much angst about gettingrid of FEMA. …They can’tdothis on their own.

Katrina’slessons

Grace: Idoremember what it was like after Katrina. People who came kept saying “I didn’t know,Ididn’tunderstand.”

So you were in Louisianafor Katrina?

Cooper: Iresponded to Katrina. That’swhat brought me home. I was with the Los Angeles County FireDepartment, and Gov.(Kathleen) Blanco had madeanemergency managementassistance request to Gov.(Arnold) Schwarzenegger,because up to that point California had had themost disasters —wehad the civil unrest,

we had major wildﬁres, we had theNorthridge earthquake. The plan was for us to come in and help Mayor (Ray) Nagin begin gettingessential services started. We came aweek after the levees broke. It didn’tgovery well because of all the politics going on. The Emergency Operations Center really hadn’teven been set up, so we were able to help them get it set up. If you recall, there wasa problem with body recovery,so then we took on that role. Ithink we werehere atotal of six weeks. Iremember the Los Angeles County Sheriff’sDepartmentdoing aﬂyover,and there was still water in alot of places. I had alwaysthought about coming back to Louisiana, but there never was an opportunity.SoI remember going back and talking to my wife, saying, “You know what, I thinkitmay be time.” Then when Bobby Jindal got elected, Isent him my resume. Andhere’sthe other thing. When Iwent back to California, it was like, “Oh, you need to tell us how bad it was.” Let me tell you something. If we would have had thesame magnitude-type of earthquake in California, there would have been the exact same issues. This country wasn’tready for something like that. So Louisiana happened to, luck of the draw, get that catastrophic disaster AndIguess my fear is, Ireally thinkLouisiana is moreprepared than California is right now

Cost concerns

Grace: Let’stalk about the FEMA Review Council’sreport. What do you thinkisthe headline? Cooper: Ithink the mostimportantthing is that FEMA is not going away. And then morethan anything, it’sgetting the funding quicker to the states and getting rid of the bureaucracy

Andsoifthe states are not waiting sometimes years to get their funding, or having projects held up in D.C. because it’ll go to one person andthen that person will leave and then what that person told them is different from the new person coming in. …It’sjust very frustrating.

For individual assistance, the recommendation is to makeitone or two programsand consolidate it, and focus moreoncatastrophic events versus somebody that loses shingles or maybe has some minor damage.

The other thing is ﬂexibility Even with public assistance (to governments), get that money out up front within weeks and then come back ayear later —which would still be quicker than with the old system.And if it’stoo much money,don’ttake it back; let them use it on hazard mitigation to reduce risks.

But also, the thought is that the states would take morecontrol. That’sgoing to require the states to think: Do we have the stafﬁng to do that, or do we need to engage anonproﬁt to take that over?

Grace: Aconcern you hear is whether all of this will add up to feweroverall resources forstates coming from the federal government? Or not necessarily?

Cooper: Youknow,that wastruly not part of the discussion.

There’salot of discussion about cost savings in D.C. and ﬁring folks. Well, during COVIDthe headquarters had, like, tripled in size, but in the regions where the rubber meetsthe road, they had the samenumbers. It created all these levels of bureaucracy, So we’re talking about streamlining it; you may need more people per region, but you’re not going to get the samenumber in D.C. And if there are cost savings, don’tsend that money to another agency,give that back to the states to build their capabilities.

Grace: So the idea of shifting responsibility when it is not something catastrophic to states, that’s real?

Cooper: And the federal governmentwould have moreofa role in aKatrina-type event.

Small tornadoes destroy neighborhoods. They’re never going to get federal assistance, they may get SBA loans, but forthose individuals, that’stheir Katrina because their lives are uprooted. So states need to take on that role. Email Stephanie Grace at sgrace@theadvocate.com.

STAFF PHOTO By ENAN CHEdIAK

Mark Cooper, amember of the FEMA advisorycouncil, speaks to Times-Picayune |The Advocate columnist Stephanie Grace, left to right, at The TimesPicayune’soffice in NewOrleans.

Stephanie Grace

LSULakes revivalontrack to be finished by endofyear

BY HALEY MILLER Staff writer

Three years ago, the LSU Lakes averaged only 2.5 feet deep, with layers of silt accumulated at the bottom of thelake ﬂoor

Algae bloomed across the murky water

Every summer,fish died en masse from lowoxygen levels.

“They weren’tattractive,” said Mark Goodson, project manager for the multi-agency effort to restorethe lakes. “They weren’ta healthyenvironment or ecosystem. The key improvement that had to be made was making the lakes deeper so that you could restorethe healthto the lakes.”

Now,the $81 million facelift on ﬁve of the six lakes near the LSU campusis almost at an end, with all funded work, including dredging, landscaping and the reconstruction of nearby May Street, on track to be done by the end of the year, Goodson said.

Whilethe project —a joint endeavor between the state, LSU, the city-parishand

RISHER

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shows.

Lately I’ve been thinking about how adults make new friends, inspired by watching my 20-something daughters build lives in new cities. Isuspect the best friendships happen sideways. Follow agenuine interest, and you’ll ﬁnd people who share it. Maybe that works because it requires the time, energy and honesty to ﬁgure out what each of us is passionate about.

Even though Ihad just met the majority of people there, Ifelt comfortable enough to share my question of the day for everyone to answer.The question was simple. What’s the best piece of advice anyone ever gave you?

We went around the table and learned something more about each person there. Sharing ameal sets the table, so to speak, for that kind of magic.

One person said the best advice she ever got came in the form of aquestion:“Do you want to be right, or do you want to be effective?”

Another sharedagrandfather’sadvice: “The right thing is usually the hard thing, not the easy one.”

Aparent said hers comes from somewhere in the parenting-advice ether: “They’re not giving you a hard time. They’re having ahard time.” Sometimes people are doing the best they can with whatever they’ve got in that moment. Another shared the phraseshe now lives by: “It’saprivilege to pay life taxes.” Missed ﬂights, rude emails, astranger who cuts in line —all of it ﬁled under the tax owed for get-

WELLS

Continued from page1B

BREC —began in summer 2023, it can be traced back to amasterplan sponsoredby the Baton RougeArea Foundation in 2016.

Thatplan called for creating “a robust and scenic natural amenity”inBaton Rouge that would serve as ahabitat for birds and wildlife, increasesafetyfor pedestriansand cyclists and motivate people to go outside andget active.

Community members, particularlythose living nearthe lakes, have been vocal about theproject and what they see as deviations from the BRAF plan

The intent of the project to revive thelakes —hasn’t changed in its final form, Goodson said. In fact, it’s expanded to include flood control, hesaid “The desired outcomes going back to the 2016 plan and today still are to make the lakes healthier, to make ahealthier ecosystem,to make it safer andmoreaccessible for the people who want to enjoy it,” Goodson said. “Oneofthe key beneﬁts that we unlocked, if you will, as we started work-

ingonimplementation of the planisthatwhile they weren’tinitially constructed to help with ﬂood mitigation, they did have the ability to do that.”

The project has also run intocomplications in developing an agreement for future maintenanceonthe lakes. BREC, the city-parish and LSU all have ownership claims along the shorelines where work has been completed, Goodson said.

“We’re working withthose sameentities, BREC, LSU and the city-parish, to create asustainable solution fordoing that, whether it is througha dedicated nonproﬁt that can take over the maintenance of the system long termorjust some sort of bettercoordinationbetween thosethree entities,” Goodson said. “Butitisabsolutely on our radar and something we’retrying to ﬁgure out very soon.”

Lakesprogress

The restoration is focused on making the lakes deeper, landscapingthe shorelines and cutting achannel between City Parkand Univer-

sity lakes,which requires building abridge over it on May Street, Goodson explained.

So far,hesaid, dredging is complete for City Park, Lake Erie and College Lake. That process is still underway for UniversityLake and Campus Lake, with the former scheduled to be ﬁnished at the end of July and the latter in October

Theproject also made changes to the existing weir —atype of dam —atStanfordAvenue,allowingthe gate to be opened to drain the lakes and create room for stormwater,Goodson said.

Landscaping along the shorelines of thelakes is at varying degrees of completion. The process involves building up “living shorelines” with native plants to clean stormwater runoff as it enters thelakes, Goodson said.

Someresidentsexpressed concern at recent communitymeetings that renovated shorelines were already looking unkempt.

“Weare well aware that someofthose new shoreline

areas have becomeovergrown andare unsightly,” Goodson said. “We’re workingonwaystoaddress it Once thelandscaping gets installed, they will look better.”

He said he’soptimistic that May Street will be reopened by the end of theyear Workers on the project are currentlydriving pilesinto theground forthe planned bridge, he said.

When the street reopens, it will feature 14-foot paths forpedestrians andcyclists —part of the larger goal for increased safety and less conflict between vehicles and other modes of transport around the lakes, Goodson said.

“Those intersections will be made safer,” Goodson said.“Ideally, we’llhavenew paths all the wayaround the lakes eventually as more fundingbecomesavailable.”

What comesnext?

Dredging, shoreline improvements and the May Street reconstruction encompass all the work that is currently funded for the project, Goodson said.

ting to liveafulllife in the ﬁrst place. Ishared the best adviceI ever got, which goes back to Reno, Nevada, where I lived in my 20s. One night, in atiny apartmentwith an even tinier television that Ialmost never turned on,I caughtthe end of acomedian’s bit Iwish Iknew the comedian’sname, butI don’t. He told astory abouta manin SanFrancisco whofound a parking ticket on his Jeep Cherokee. The man stood on thesidewalk ranting, raving, yellingand cursing, ﬂailing his arms with the ticket in hand. Askateboarder was comingdown the hilltoward him. As the skateboarder rolled past, he said, “Acknowledge,

days later off the island’scoast Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter said initial interviews suggested Wellschose to stay on theislandand that hisfriends believed he would get aridewith someone else. The friends were cooperating with investigators, according to the sheriff. As of Monday morning, investigators were stillawaitingthe resultsofboth an independent autopsy and one conducted by the Jackson County Coroner’sOffice. Authorities have notidentifiedany evidence of foul play But the still-unknown circumstances leadingtoWells’ disappearance have fueled rampant online speculation and galvanized leaders in the Black community,including some who haveexpressedskepticism about the independence and transparency of the investigation. Well-knownfigures have since stepped in, including Sharpton and filmmaker Tyler Perry,who covered funeral costs. Former NFL football player Colin Kaepernick contributed to the independent

man,and moveon,”and kept going.

Iwas 26, and that one sentence rearranged somethinginme.

Why stew in yucky things? I’m going to get over them eventually anyway.Why not now?

We lost alot of things in a house ﬁre last year —that story is its own column, for another day.What we didn’t lose was any of this: friends made by accident, advice traded over atable crowded withgood food and the reminder that mostpeople aredoing the bestthey can withwhat they’vegot.

Acknowledge it.Move on. Passthe potatoes.

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

The

and

and charred corn salad withsalted almonds and quesofresco; peachand tomato salad with sizzled halloumi; smooshed and crispypotatoes withsalt-and-vinegar sour cream; and blueberry cornflake crisp withvanilla ice cream

Sharptonoffereda $50,000 reward for information to anyone who reaches outtoCrump’sofﬁce with information that would lead to an arrest.

Perry,who Sharpton said was watchinga livestream of the funeral, offered thesamereward, doubling the total to $100,000. The crowd began to stand and cheer Elmore and Christine WonsleyjoinedSharptononstage and thanked God forthe 18 yearsspent with their son.

“Wewill miss everything about him,” Christine Wonsley said tearfully as her husband gently rubbed her arms. “Fromhis quiet nature to his corny jokes. His gentle smile. The way he madeeveryone around feel comfortable, lovedand at ease.”

His parents shared memories aboutWells —when he picked up abasketball forthe ﬁrst time, how he helped other children and how he one daywanted to have daughters of his own namedSophia, Charlotte and Olivia.

An additional $20 million awardedtothe city-parish fromFederal Emergency Management Agencywill be put toward renovating Corporation Canal and Lake Crest.

Looking ahead,hesaid, the goal is to continue to enhancethe pedestrian and bicyclingexperience around the lakes, creating more paths safe from vehicles. “There are alot of conﬂict pointsaround the lakes where it’sjust unsafe for those three groups to coexist,” Goodson said. “That’s thepriorityaswemoveforward, is to fund more bike and pedestrian improvements off-street.”

For Goodson, the significanceofthe projecttothe community is never far from mind. There hasn’t been aday in the last six years that he hasn’tbeen asked aquestion about the lakes, he joked.

“Arguably,they’re the greatest quality of life asset that we have in Baton Rouge,” he said. “They’re sort of synonymous with Baton Rouge.”

Saxophonist Plas Johnson dies at 94

BY ANNAKATEFREELAND Staff writer

autopsy commissioned by Crump, who is representingthe Wonsleys. In hiseulogy, Sharpton urged those followingthe case to withhold judgment until more information becomes available. But he also questioned whyWells’phoneand

keys were found withhis friends, whytheyhad notimmediately called police after realizing he was missing and why local ofﬁcials appeared so quick to dismiss thepossibilityoffoul play While speaking at the funeral,

“The constant lectures from me abouthaving character,selfrespect, self-discipline and perseverancereally hit home for (Wells) at an early age,” Elmore Wonsley said.

Donaldsonville native and legendarysaxophonist Plas JohnsondiedWednesday, six days before his 95th birthday Johnson died in Granada Hills,California.Hewas best known as the original saxophonist on the “Pink Panther” themesong. Johnson and his pianist brother Ray first recordedas the Johnson BrothersinNew Orleans in thelate 1940s. Thepair moved to LosAngelesin 1954, and he soon began sessionrecordings as afulltimemusician, backing artistssuchasB.B.King and Johnny Otis.

Recruited for CapitolRecords in the mid-1950s, Johnson also played on records by PeggyLee,Nat “King” Cole, Glen Gray,Frank Sinatra and the Beach Boys. Throughout his career, Johnson also performed with jazz and swing bands, joined thestudioorchestra for“The Merv Griffin Show,” recorded for SheffieldLab andConcordRecords, toured with the Gene Harris Superband and appeared at jazz festivals around the world. His contributions to music have also beenrecognized in his hometown, where his nameismemorialized in the Jazz Plaza alongRailroad Avenue in downtown Donaldsonville.

Near the endofthe visitation speeches, Crump took the stage and once again called for afair transparent investigation.

“Until we get answers, until we get the truth, untilweget justice, we’re going to stand up, and we’re going to keep ringing the justice bells forNolan Wells,” he yelled. The crowds rose to its feet and chanted in unison: “Nolan’slife matters.”

The Associated Press contributed to thisreport. Email Poet Wolfe at poet.wolfe@ theadvocate.com.

LOTTERY SUNDAY,JULY19, 2026

PICK 3: 6-1-0

PICK 4: 7-2-2-5

PICK 5: 0-0-3-7-2 Unofficial notification, keep your tickets

STAFF PHOTOSByJAN RISHER

AdrianOwenJones, Janelle O’dell, Jamee Blink, darian Graivshark and Kos Kovtun finish preparations and takephotos of The Cookbook Club’smeal Sunday in Baton Rouge.

Johnson

Cookbook Clubdishes included piri-ish chicken; pimento-ish cheese; one-potchicken with schmaltzyrice, gingery squash

lentils;farro

STAFF PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER

The Rev. Al Sharpton, left, consoles Nolan Wells’ parents, Christine and Elmore Wonsley, duringa memorialservice Monday honoring Wells at Center PointeChurch in Ocean Springs,Miss.

TAKE THELEAD

TAMPA, Fla. The Southeastern Conference is fond of reminding everyone about how great it is. How big it is. Howgreat big it is. Even the passwordtoaccess the internet at this week’sSEC media days includes an acronym for the league’snow ubiquitous catchphrase: “It just means more.” More, however,does not mean all.

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey spent part of his opening remarks here Monday morning extolling the achievements of his highly successful conference. Those includedwinning aconference-record13NCAA championships in 2025-26 and averaging 80,000 fans per game in football, the most of any sporting league in any sport in the entire world.

Those are numbers any conference would envy,with good reason. Still, those 13 national titlesdonot include one in football. For the thirdstraight yearin2025, the SEC watchedasthe Big Tenlifted the College Football Playoff trophy.OhioState thenMichigan then, of all teams, Indiana— college football’sformer doormat of doormats Hoosiers scaling the heights or not, the SEC is clearly still acollegesports superpower.Itisnot THE ONLYsuperpower,though, and the SEC needs to remember that.

SEC sabers have been rattling over NCAA governance issues since May at the SEC spring meetings, with people as prominent as Georgia president Jere Morehead and Georgia football

BY MATTHEWPARAS Staff writer

In back-to-back drafts, the New Orleans Saints have invested in the interior defensive line on Day 2. This year,the Saints selectedGeorgia defensive lineman Christen Miller in Round 2; last year,New Orleans tookTexas defensive lineman Vernon BroughtoninRound 3. Both moves set up apotential changing of the guard forthe Saints, but it hasn’thappened just yet. No position on the roster arguably will have amore competitive training camp when practices begin later this month. Miller and Broughton are vying forstarting spots, butthe incumbents may have something to say aboutthat The Saints got goodproduction out of Bryan Bresee, Davon Godchauxand Nathan Shepherdayear ago, and they all have something to prove heading into next season Godchaux and Shepherd,for instance, are entering contract years. And Bresee, whohad his ﬁfth-year option picked up in May,could be in store for amajor paydayif he has abreakout season. The battle for one of the deeper positions on the roster should

be ﬁerce.

coachKirby Smart publicly expressing support for the SEC potentially breaking awayfromthe rest of the NCAA.

“If we can’tﬁnd rules that everybody plays by,then we should playonour own,”said Smart, who takes the podium here Tuesday

Asked about theidea of abreakaway SECbeing areal prospect or an attempttoleverage thedirection of NCAA governance as awhole, Sankey said this:

“They’re real,” he said. “People have talkedabout that. They’ve opined about the frustrations that bring themtothe point ofsaying we should look at something signiﬁcantly different. Idonot believe that is aleverage point.I think that’sjust honest communication.

“What Ithink is important is those comments represent ahigh level of frustration withthe circumstance in whichweﬁnd ourselves. We have regulated ourselvesmoreprogressivelythan other colleagues by choice, across our league. We’ve had different academic eligibility restrictions in the past. We have had different transfer restrictions in the past.”

Sankey, now in his 11th year as com-

Number to know:387

That’show many snaps the Saints played in their basedefensewhen all three interior defenders shared the ﬁeld. AccordingtoNext Gen Stats, those387 reps were the sixth-most in the NFL— representing36.7% of theSaints’ defensive plays In Year 2under defensive coordinatorBrandon Staley,itwill be interestingtomonitor whetherhe relies on asimilarly heavyusage. There are reasons to believethatit might not stay thesame. For one, the Saints often match their personnel to thelook the offense presented, and last year,New Orleans faced manyteamsthatpreferred to deploy heavier personnel, such as the San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks, BuffaloBills andLos Angeles Rams. The game situation also dictated what defensesStaley deployed. In 2025, the Saints faced the thirdmost rushing attempts —inlarge part because they trailed in many of their games and that allowed op-

missioner, is not arashman. As the leader of one of the twomostpowerful entities in college athletics —the SEC and the BigTen, which stepped into the vacuum of leadership theNCAA largely has vacated —heiscircumspect in mostrespects Sankey and the SEC do rightfully have frustrations over the escalating costs surrounding college athletics and alaundrylist of other issues. That part is understandable. But it’swrong for the league to talk about taking its ball and just playing ball with its 16 members.

An SEC championship means alot, but what would it mean to win the SEC and not compete in the CFP? Or the NCAA basketballtournaments?Orthe College World Series? Perhaps the SEC is serious, but is it really going to break up the band?

New Kentucky coach Will Stein stood at the podium in the main media room afew hoursafter Sankey and repeated the mantrathe SEC often promotes about itself

“This is wherethe best players and coaches come to play football,” Stein said. “If youwant to competeagainst the best, you come to the SEC. Youjust do. It’sthe closestthing to the NFL. I love it.”

Despitenot even playing for the CFP title the past threeseasons,the SEC is still toptobottom exactly what Stein boasted about the conference. From one to 16, it’s tougher thanthe Big Ten.

Drinkwitz backs

BY JON BLAU Staff writer

TAMPA, Fla. Lane Kifﬁn wasn’tinthe room Monday when one of the ﬁrst eyebrow-raising comments of SECmedia days wasoffered,but Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz credited the LSU coach as the leader of the opposition party What they have opposed is the SEC moving to anine-game conference schedule.

“Coach Kiffin has been somebody who’s been,whether publicly or privately,the one on theforefront,” Drinkwitz said, “saying, ‘Guys, Idon’tthink that this is the right play for us.’ ” But it’sthe play that’s been made. The SEC is moving from eight conference games to nine ahead of the 2026 season, hoping an enhanced strength of schedule will get more teams into the College Football Playoffasitcontinuestoexpand. Trouble is the CFP hasn’t expandedsince it tripled to 12 teamsfor the 2024 season. While SEC commissionerGregSankey proudly proclaimed Monday that his league has the “most demanding sets of football schedulesinall of college football,” SEC coaches aren’texactly pleased with howthose slates compare with other conferences.

Especially sincethe SEC requiresits schools to add aPower Four opponent in nonconference play while theBig Tendoesn’t. And SEC partisans such as Drinkwitz believe their conference is deeper and their stadiums are tougher for road teams.

“I think yesterdayFIFAworld championshipwas in front of 80,000. That’s 25,000 shortofsomeofthese stadiums we playin, DeathValley, Athens,”Drinkwitz said. “Knoxville, that’sawhole different deal. And there’snothing you can do to remove 20,000 people from agame. That’s atremendouschallenge foranybody to walk into.”

There’salso the musical instruments.

“Hey,wegotta play Starkville at night this year,” Drinkwitz added, “with those

ponents to maintain control on the ground. If the Saints can stay more competitive in contestsand force teams into more obvious passing situations, that will limitthe likelihood that allthreeinterior defenderssee theﬁeldtogether

Whatisset to be acompetitive training camp would be even more intriguing if, effectively,onlytwo spots areupfor grabs instead of three.

Thelowdown

The Saints’ injection of youth on theinterior isn’tthe only way that the positionhas changedoverthe

last few years. Last offseason, New Orleans acquired Godchaux from theNew England Patriots.And by switching to a3-4 scheme, the Saints asked their linemen to have differentresponsibilities than they hadina 4-3. But the changeswerefor the better.Notably,the Saints were much improved at stopping the run in 2025. New Orleans went from allowing 141.1 rushing yards pergame (second-most) in 2024 to 120.6 rushing yards per game last season. The latter still ranked 19th,but in terms of rushing EPA

allowed per play,the Saints had the third-best rate (-0.10). In simple terms, teamsweren’t very efﬁcient in running theballagainst the Saints. There’salot of depth in this group, even beyond the recent draft picks and veteran starters. The Saints re-signed John Ridgeway to atwo-year,$5.7 millioncontract when free agency opened and that was because the team values what Ridgeway can contribute in stopping the run. Former sixthround pick Khristian Boyd also has shown promise, while former Jaguars lineman MylesColereceived ﬁrst-team reps on occasion during OTAs.

The positionissocrowdedthat one can’thelp but wonder whether general manager MickeyLoomis might make another trade before cutdown dayinAugust. Last year the Saints traded veteran defensive tackle Khalen Saunders for center Luke Fortner —adeal that proved to be very importantfor the Saints.

Potentialcampbattle

Only Bresee— who startedevery gameheappeared in last year

STAFF FILE PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER Saints rookie Christen Miller runs across the field during minicamp at the Saints’ indoor practice

Drinkwitz

Kiffin

commissioner Greg Sankey addresses

Spain succeeds with tactics, talent

BY TALES AZZONI Associated Press

Spanish soccer has reached a level of its own.

Spain’s World Cup victory on Sunday added to the nation’s long list of recent triumphs across men’s, women’s and youth competitions, highlighting the dominance of a system that has stuck to a tactical identity and the development of collective talent.

The men’s team is also the current European champion, the Olympic gold medalist and has reached the Nations League final twice — winning it once. The women’s squad is the reigning World Cup champion and a twotime Women’s Nations League winner It also reached the ﬁnal of the 2025 European Championship Spain is the ﬁrst nation to hold the men’s and women’s World Cup titles at the same time and is the only country with two men’s World Cup triumphs this century The nation also has won several youth tournaments in recent years with the men’s and women’s teams.

The men’s senior squad has been racking up titles since it was gradually revamped after the demise of a golden generation that won the nation’s ﬁrst World Cup in 2010 with the likes of Andrés Iniesta, Xavi Hernández, Sergio Ramos and Gerard Piqué. Players such as Lamine Yamal, Pau Cubarsí, Rodri and Ferran Torres — the goal scorer in the 1-0 win over Argentina in Sunday’s ﬁnal now are the ones representing a new generation that has taken La Roja back to the top.

“I’m very emotional looking back,” Spain coach Luis de la Fuente said. “We’ve talked about it with the players; we have won everything, it’s wonderful. It’s a generation of players that has been an example for Spanish sports, for young Spaniards, for Spain. Together we are stronger.”

Spain hadn’t gone past the last 16 of the men’s World Cup since winning the title in South Africa in 2010. It has been in contention in nearly every competition it has played since De la Fuente’s arrival in 2022, and its 38-match unbeaten streak is the longest in men’s international soccer Collective talent

Despite a talented group of players, it has been Spain’s collective performance that has impressed

the most, and the team hasn’t had to rely on star players. It also has been thriving defensively, with a solid backline and a relentless pursuit to regain possession.

“We played against the best national squads in the world, but we were the best team in the world,”

De la Fuente said. “I’m very proud of this generation of players. They have grown with this idea, they’ve been loyal to this idea, they have given us an example of a group, of a team, of a family I’m very proud of them It’s been an honor.”

Youth-system success

The recent wave of success can be tracked to the surprise hiring of De la Fuente to replace Luis Enrique following the team’s elimination against Morocco in the round of 16 of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar De la Fuente was relatively unknown at the time, but the Spanish soccer federation knew him well.

By hiring him, Spain was actually betting on its youth system as De la Fuente had been coaching Spain’s younger national teams for some time.

He was well versed in the soccer federation’s process of instilling a tactical identity at all levels,

from the bottom up and across men’s and women’s squads, allowing players from youth teams to go through a seamless transition to the main squads. It was the case for players such as Yamal, Cubarsí, Nico Williams, Pedri and Gavi, who are among the youngsters set to keep Spain’s men’s team thriving for some time.

“When you look at everything that we’ve gone through, you realize how this process was important,” De la Fuente said. “Certainly we wouldn’t have been able to do what we did today if we hadn’t gone through this process with these players. And it’s not something that happened during this World Cup it has been happening for several years.”

Tactical identity

Spain’s “tiki-taka” style of valuing ball-possession and focusing on quick passing, which led to the 2010 World Cup title and victories at Euro 2008 and Euro 2012, had come under attack after the national team began to struggle.

Some said the style lacked efﬁciency, and a few coaches made some changes to it over time. But Spain never fully abandoned the idea of controlling ball possession

to dominate games.

Part of De la Fuente’s success stemmed from his ability to get his squad to successfully mix ball possession and efﬁciency And it showed, as Spain led this year’s World Cup in both passing and attempts on goal.

Coaching prowess

De la Fuente’s recent success quickly put him in the group of Spanish coaches who have been leading national teams and helping clubs thrive across the globe.

Pep Guardiola, Luis Enrique, Mikel Arteta, Unai Emery, Xabi Alonso and Roberto Martínez are among the successful coaches spreading Spanish tactics everywhere — another sign of the nation’s prominence in global soccer “We are exactly where we want to be,” De la Fuente said. “We are privileged to represent a wonderful national team with exceptional players. But the real merit we have is to seek good travel companions, people with values and principles who make our lives easier and at the same time are very talented. We’ll enjoy this now, because it’s historic, and then we will start thinking match by match again.”

Biggest World Cup featured stars, drama, tech

BY JAMES ROBSON Associated Press

ATLANTA The World Cup ﬁnal between Spain and reigning champion Argentina marked the end of the biggest tournament in the competition’s history. At the ﬁnal whistle in New Jersey on Sunday, a record 104 games had been played across almost six weeks and three countries.

The supersized tournament delivered thrilling action on the ﬁeld, with upsets, dramatic comebacks, spectacular goals and standout performances by the biggest stars of the game. It also generated controversy, from political tensions surrounding Iran’s participation to criticism against innovations such as hydration breaks, which were unpopular among many fans.

Here are some key takeaways from the World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

More teams, more drama

A newly expanded 48-team format raised concerns about lopsided matches and a lack of jeopardy in the group stage.

Tell that to Cape Verde, Congo and even Curaçao, which all made history and won new fans.

Cape Verde held eventual champion Spain to a draw in its opening game, advanced to the round of 32 and gave Argentina a scare before losing 3-2 in extra time in a World Cup classic. Cape Verde’s goalkeeper Vozinha became a breakout star at 40, gaining millions of followers on social media.

Congo also advanced beyond the group stage and pushed England before eventually losing, while Curaçao was still in with a chance

of making the knockouts going into its ﬁnal group match.

FIFA opened its door to more teams, and they proved they could compete on soccer’s biggest stage. Nonetheless, it was top-ranked nations Argentina, Spain, France and England — all former champions that made it to the ﬁnal four

The big stars delivered

The race for the golden boot became a who’s who of the world’s top players with Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé, Erling Haaland, Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham

ﬁring on all cylinders.

Mbappé led the way with 10 goals in the tournament and a record 22 career World Cup goals.

Messi had eight at this World Cup and 21 in total.

Cristiano Ronaldo couldn’t lead Portugal to success in what he said was his last World Cup, while Spain’s teen sensation Lamine Yamal star of the Euros two years ago — had to work his way into the tournament after an injury.

Big tech, big complaints

Video reviews known as VAR were at the center of a number of contentious decisions, ruling out huge goals for Germany, Croatia and Egypt

Egypt coach Hossam Hassan launched a furious tirade after Argentina staged a spectacular comeback from 2-0 down to win 3-2 in the round of 16.

“We have suffered injustice,” he said after Egypt had a goal overturned when the score was still 1-0.

Fitted with sensors, the high-tech

ball in use at the tournament cost

Croatia a late equalizer against Portugal in the round of 32 when it detected the slightest of touches

from Igor Mantanovic and ruled Josko Gvardiol’s goal offside.

“All these decisions take the joy out of football,” said Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic, who has since stepped down.

Fans endure exorbitant prices

There were concerns going into the tournament that FIFA’s introduction of dynamic pricing would make game tickets unaffordable for average fans. Some critics accused FIFA of a “monumental betrayal.”

Ofﬁcial ticket prices on general sale ranged from $140 to $2,735 for group stage matches and up to $8,680 for the ﬁnal, far beyond the prices at the previous World Cup in Qatar in 2022. After criticism, FIFA said it would offer $60 tickets for every game to the 48 national federations participating.

FIFA’s resale market place allowed sellers to list tickets for massively more than face value, including ones for the final for just under $2.3 million. FIFA didn’t control resale pricing but took a cut from sales.

For all the criticism, fans still turned up in big numbers, even for games that didn’t feature marquee teams or players.

After a shaky start when there were empty seats for the game between South Korea and the Czech Republic in Guadalajara, stadium after stadium reported full houses.

Hydration breaks a turnoff

FIFA’s new hydration breaks midway through each half — a novelty for this World Cup — prompted loud jeers from fans inside the stadium, while former players were also critical.

Twins All-Star OF Buxton returns after hip injury

CLEVELAND Byron Buxton thought he would be back on the field when the Minnesota Twins returned from the All-Star break.

The All-Star outﬁelder is hoping the couple of extra days he took to recover from a right hip strain will beneﬁt him for the rest of the season. Buxton was activated from the 10-day injured list before Monday night’s game against the Cleveland Guardians. The Twins went 5-4 while he was sidelined.

“Those extra couple days didn’t hurt me to make sure I got everything right before we got here and started this big series. I think we are all in a good spot as far as going forward and everybody understanding what we got going on. So it’s going to be fun,” Buxton said. Buxton is fourth in the AL and sixth in the majors with 25 home runs, including six leading off.

Dodgers acquire RHP Halvorsen from Rockies DENVER Colorado Rockies general manager Josh Byrnes orchestrated a trade with his former team

Monday, sending right-hander Seth Halvorsen to the Los Angeles Dodgers for two minor leaguers. Halvorsen is eligible to come off the 15-day injured list after being placed on it earlier this month with inflammation in his right shoulder He is 0-1 with a 4.74 ERA across 21 appearances this season. As part of the deal, Colorado picked up right-handed pitcher Nick Frasso and outfielder Landyn Vidourek from the Dodgers. Byrnes knows the Los Angeles farm system after spending more than a decade in the front office with the team.

Players urge NFL to keep World Cup’s grass fields

NEW YORK The World Cup is ﬁnished, but NFL players hope grass ﬁelds are not.

After football venues swapped synthetic turf for natural grass for the global soccer tournament, some players urged the NFL to stick with grass.

“Grass looks great at MetLife! Can we keep it that way @NFL?? Would appreciate it thanks,” the San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle wrote on social media as he attended Sunday afternoon’s World Cup ﬁnal in East Rutherford, N.J. Grass is more expensive to maintain than turf, and the latter offers stadiums more versatility to host events such as concerts.

But the NFL Players Association has long advocated for grass, contending it is easier on the players’ bodies. In May, NFLPA executive director JC Tretter said 92% of the approximately 1,700 players they polled preferred grass to turf.

“We’re in America, right? So, it’s like it is a timeout,” former Ireland international Roy Keane said on The Overlap podcast.

The breaks were introduced to help players deal with the summer heat, but FIFA stipulated they would occur regardless of the weather, venue or location.

Coaches used them like timeouts to pass on in-game tactical instructions. Broadcasters, meanwhile, used them as an opportunity to take commercial breaks.

It is unclear whether FIFA will implement hydration breaks at future World Cups, but the English Football Association said they were unlikely to be in place for the 2028 European Championship, co-hosted by England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.

Iran participated despite war

It’s not unusual for politics and sport to intertwine at the World Cup. This time, the biggest political tensions surrounded the national team of Iran.

The war in the Middle East raised doubts about whether the Iranian team would show up at all. It did, but only after moving its base camp from Arizona to Mexico.

Its participation was overshadowed by visa issues, with the U.S. refusing visas to several members of Iran’s delegation. The Iranians also complained about travel restrictions, including having to leave the U.S. immediately after each match.

When Iran was eliminated at the group stage, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin made his feelings clear “I’m just glad they’re done and they’re not coming back,” he said.

Packers DL Wyatt agrees to 3-year, $57M extension Green Bay Packers defensive lineman Devonte Wyatt has agreed to terms on a three-year, $57 million contract extension with a $20 million signing bonus, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press on Monday Wyatt had six tackles for loss and four sacks in 10 games last season. His season ended after he broke his ﬁbula and tore ankle ligaments during a Thanksgiving win at Detroit. Even though he missed much of the season, Wyatt still ranked third on the team in sacks and tied for fourth in tackles for loss. Wyatt has spent his entire NFL career with the Packers, who selected him out of Georgia with the 28th pick in the 2022 draft.

Free-agent F Thybulle signs one-year deal with Lakers Unrestricted free agent forward Matisse Thybulle has signed with the Los Angeles Lakers in a oneyear deal reportedly worth around $3.3 million, a person with knowledge of the agreement said Monday. Thybulle, 29, has spent the last three-plus seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers. He averaged 5.8 points and 2.0 rebounds in 30 games with the Blazers last season, when he was limited by thumb and knee injuries. A ﬁrst-round draft pick in 2019, Thybulle is a seven-year NBA veteran. Before joining the Blazers, he played for the Philadelphia 76ers. Thybulle also won a bronze medal with the Australian national team at the Tokyo Olympics.

ASSOCIATEd PRESS PHOTO By MANU FERNANdEZ

Players from Spain’s national soccer team celebrate on Monday at Cibeles Square in Madrid after Spain defeated Argentina in the World Cup final in East Rutherford, N.J., near New york.

SEC MEDIA DAYS

THREE AND OUT: SCOTT RABALAIS’ TOP THREE TAKEAWAyS FROM dAy 1 OF SEC MEdIA dAyS IN TAMPA, FLORIdA

UK’S TED LASSO

1

First-year Kentucky coach Will Stein bears an uncanny resemblance to actor Jason Sudeikis of “Ted Lasso” fame. He also shares the fictional football coach’s surprising confidence he can make a mediocre program a winner Asked why he believes he can win at UK, whose last SEC title came 50 years ago, the former Oregon playcaller said: “Because of me, to be honest. I know what it takes. I’ve seen it at the highest levels.” LSU plays at Kentucky on Oct 10

2

THE BOOK ON ELI

Missouri coach Eli drinkwitz’s name was prominently mentioned for the LSU job before it hired Lane Kiffin. drinkwitz, the SEC’s second-longest tenured coach behind Georgia’s Kirby Smart, has made Mizzou productive, going 30-10 during the past three seasons. But his Tigers are 0-16 against SEC teams with winning records in his seven seasons overall. Can bringing in former Ole Miss QB Austin Simmons and former Michigan offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey change that? Patience in Columbia grows thin.

3 LOVE AND FOOTBALL

Sometimes it’s important to remember the real people under the football helmets and shoulder pads. One of those people is Arion Carter The Tennessee linebacker made headlines last month after he shaved off his long hair in support of his girlfriend, Mariah Bryant, who was losing her hair from chemotherapy for Stage 2 breast cancer Carter was happy to report Monday that Bryant is now in complete remission. LSU plays at Tennessee on Nov. 21.

Heupel wants Vols fans to stock up for Kiffin

BY JON BLAU Staff writer

Tennessee coach Josh Heupel hopes his fan base hasn’t “cooled off” in its animosity for former Volunteers head man Lane Kiffin In fact, Heupel hopes Knoxville is well-stocked with a couple of items when Kifﬁn and LSU pay a visit on Nov 21.

“Whether it’s the grocery stores being fully stocked with mustard, or our sports stores making sure that they got reinforcements on the golf balls,” Heupel said Monday at SEC media days, “hopefully Knoxville’s ready for his arrival.”

Heupel was alluding to Kifﬁn’s last trip to Neyland Stadium in 2021, which resulted in a golf ball and mustard bottle being tossed at the then-Ole Miss coach.

Kiffin had been gone for 12 years, but Volunteer fans hadn’t forgotten how he bolted from Tennessee after just one 7-6 season because he wanted to lead the Southern Cal program Kifﬁn was ﬁred during his fourth season leading the Trojans.

Heupel was in his ﬁrst season as the Tennessee coach in 2021, and a 31-26 loss to Ole Miss was one of six he suffered that year The Volunteers improved to 11-2 in 2022 but the Vols fell back to 8-5 last season.

Kiffin kept the golf ball and mustard bottle from that Knoxville visit in his football ofﬁce at Ole Miss, and he threw out a golf ball instead of a baseball for the ﬁrst pitch of an Ole Miss-Tennessee baseball game in April 2022.

Kiffin left Ole Miss for LSU ahead of a 2025 playoff run, which was another SEC bridge burned by the head coach. LSU-Ole Miss on Sept. 19 is expected to be one of the more heated matchups of this college football season, but Heupel’s comment was a reminder that LSU at Tennessee could be

Continued from page 1C

cowbells.”

LSU has the good fortune of not playing Mississippi State on the road, but the Tigers will have to travel to Ole Miss for arguably the most anticipated game in college football this upcoming season. They also have to visit Auburn (88,000 capacity) and Tennessee (nearly 102,000).

ESPN ranked the strongest schedules in the FBS ahead of the 2026 campaign, and all 16 SEC schools ranked in the top 20 LSU was judged to have the 11th-hardest slate.

Kifﬁn has made moves to lighten LSU’s opening weeks in future schedules lining up Northwestern State and UL-Monroe for openers in 2027 and 2028, though the Tigers are still slated to face ACC member SMU in a

RABALAIS

Continued from page 1C

eventful as well.

Kifﬁn is slated to speak at SEC media days on Thursday.

Stein storming the field

A win over LSU would hold some nostalgia for Kentucky coach Will Stein

Stein, the former Oregon offensive coordinator, is the son of ex-Kentucky defensive end Matt Stein. The 36-year-old grew up going to Wildcat football games, and Will Stein stormed the ﬁeld with his fellow fans when Kentucky beat LSU in triple overtime, 4337, in 2007.

“To come back to the Bluegrass State, being a fan of Kentucky football, is truly surreal,” Stein said. “These ﬁrst 230 days have been a complete whirlwind.”

There’s another Stein-LSU connection: He hired Joe Sloan the former LSU quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator under Brian Kelly, to help him run the Wildcats offense. Sloan was at quarterback Jayden Daniels‘ side for his Heisman Trophy season in 2022.

“He’s a phenomenal teacher, especially at the quarterback position. I’m talking about mechanics,

neutral-site 2029 opener

Tulane is set to open 2030, and LSU’s home-and-home series with Big 12 program Arizona State in 2029 and 2030 has been canceled, according to a report from On3.

The Tigers will complete a home-and-home with Clemson in this year’s opener, which is anything but an easy win. Kifﬁn doesn’t love that LSU has to then play nine SEC games, which he acknowledged during spring practice.

“I understand there’s always things that go into decisions besides the way I think,” Kifﬁn said.

“I’m sure there were financial reasons for it, but I don’t think, now that they’ve kind of seen how (CFP) selections have gone, there’s value in that from that standpoint.

“You’re going to continue to have, in my opinion, this threshold — until they go to more teams or a different system — that 10-2

quarterback reads, protections,” Stein said. “I think he’s one of the best in the country Elite communicator.”

While Stein’s predecessor, Mark Stoops, posted a couple of 10win seasons during his tenure, the Wildcats were thoroughly mediocre in his ﬁnal four campaigns, posting a combined 2327 record.

Stein was asked why he believes Kentucky, which plays host to LSU on Oct 10, could be the next Cinderella story like fellow “basketball school” Indiana.

“Because of me, to be honest,” Stein said. “You just got to believe, man. You just got to put the ball down and play There’s really nothing else to be said.”

Hardy’s return

Ahmad Hardy the former UL-Monroe running back who starred at Missouri last season, has been medically cleared to return from a gunshot wound suffered this offseason, according to coach Eli Drinkwitz Hardy, who rushed for 1,649 yards and 16 touchdowns as a sophomore, was shot in the upper

is in, 9-3 is out. So you just got some more losses in your conference and beat yourself up more, which is different than any other conference from a toughness standpoint.”

Given the Tigers play the likes of Alabama, Texas and Texas A&M, a 9-3 record is far from improbable for Kifﬁn in his ﬁrst year at LSU.

Kiffin, who would have been tied for the second-longesttenured SEC coach at the same school if he hadn’t left Ole Miss, hasn’t been afraid to express this opinion in conference meetings.

Drinkwitz, who is now the second-longest-tenured SEC coach with seven seasons at Missouri, was far from hesitant to rehash the subject at media days Monday Kentucky ﬁrst-year coach Will Stein, on the other hand, wasn’t going to protest too much.

“There’s still gonna be a kickoff time. We’re gonna put the ball down and we’re gonna play

That is true leadership. Sankey gave tentative support for the bipartisan Protect College Sports Act currently being hammered out in Congress, though expressing the need for a number of signiﬁcant changes. Neither the SEC nor the Big Ten is interested in pooling its media rights with other leagues, currently a major plank in the legislation. Perhaps that can be worked around. No one is likely to get exactly what they want from the bill, but college athletics has proven incapable of governing itself. Legislation is needed, compromise legislation. Sankey said the SEC doesn’t “have to bat a thousand.” Not on governance and not on CFP expansion, where the SEC remains the only conference yet to endorse an

leg while attending an outdoor concert in Mississippi on May 10. Drinkwitz said Hardy’s returnto-play protocol could take 5-8 weeks.

“At the end of the eight weeks, we still don’t know what his recovery will be from a ‘Is he the same Ahmad Hardy (from) last year?’ My anticipation, what I’ve seen, the way he’s attacked his rehab, he’s going to be a better Ahmad Hardy than before,” Drinkwitz said.

Drinkwitz hopes Hardy, an avid horse rider will refrain from that activity over the next several weeks.

“But hell, John Wayne rode after he had been shot. He turned out all right,” Drinkwitz said. “Ahmad Hardy is trying the same approach.”

Back to Music City

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey announced Monday morning that the 2027 SEC media days will return to Nashville, Tennessee, and take place from July 12-15.

The conference last held its football media days in Nashville in 2023.

the game So, I mean, I don’t control any of that. It’s what you sign up for,” Stein said. “‘It’s not changing this year and probably not gonna change in the future. And I’m sure it’s gonna continue to go up.”

In fact, the SEC slate has been reduced in comparison with the COVID-affected 2020 season where conference members played only each other in a 10game schedule. Drinkwitz found some perspective when he was asked whether he had any words for his ﬁrst-year self back then.

“I would inverse that. I would have the first-year head coach tell the seventh-year head coach to quit complaining about nine games,” Drinkwitz said. “It’s manageable, and it’s doable. Don’t get caught up in looking too far ahead. There’s a way to win every game.

“You just got to find it. And that’s got to be the mentality and the approach that we take.”

expansion from 12 to 24 teams. Politics, Otto von Bismarck once said, is “the art of the possible, the attainable — the art of the next best.” College athletics is right there right now In this contentious climate, the SEC should be leading the push for the next best, not threatening to push the button on a nuclear option.

AUBURN

LAST YEAR: 5-7 (1-7 SEC)

COACH: Alex Golesh (1st year)

PLAYERS: dB Champ Anthony, QB Byrum Brown, K Alex McPherson

THE BUZZ: The Tigers flopped in a make-or-break year for Hugh Freeze, so Auburn started a coaching search and found South Florida coach Alex Golesh. His job? Revive a proud program that’s seeking its first 10-win season since 2017 and its first Iron Bowl victory since 2019. Auburn fans have higher expectations.

GEORGIA

LAST YEAR: 12-2 (7-1 SEC)

COACH: Kirby Smart (11th year)

PLAYERS: OL drew Bobo, QB Gunner Stockton, LB Raylen Wilson

THE BUZZ: Much has been made about the fact that the SEC hasn’t put a team in the national title game in three seasons. Georgia is one of the programs that can end that drought.The Bulldogs aren’t just bringing back their quarterback but they’re also projected to have the most returning starters in

SOUTH CAROLINA

LAST

THE BUZZ: Is South Carolina about to make a coaching change? The question usually gets floated after a program has a four-win season under a fifthyear coach. It might be now or never for Beamer’s Gamecocks, who will almost certainly lose both Sellers and star edge rusher dylan Stewart to the NFL after this season.

VANDERBILT

LAST YEAR: 10-3 (6-2 SEC)

COACH: Clark Lea (5th year)

PLAYERS: RB Sedrick Alexander dL Issa Ouattara,WR Junior Sherrill

THE BUZZ: Vanderbilt enjoyed its best season ever, then it lost diego Pavia but gained five-star quarterback Jared Curtis. Perhaps Curtis’ surprising move is a sign that 2025 wasn’t an anomaly for Lea’s ascending program, which is expected to hold a preseason quarterback battle before it settles on a successor to Pavia.

— Reed Darcey

SAINTS

Continued from page 1C

— can be comfortably penciled in as a starter But that’s as long as he proves to be the three-down player he was in 2025, which wasn’t the case through his ﬁrst two seasons.

Elsewhere, can Miller and Broughton unseat Godchaux and Shepherd?

Godchaux saw his playing time dip toward the end of last season, but he remains a reliable nose tackle. Do the Saints view Miller as physically big enough to ﬁll that spot? Interestingly Shepherd was working with the thirdstring unit when he reported to mandatory minicamp after missing OTAs. But the 32-year-old had a productive 2025, playing 63.2% of the team’s snaps — the most among Saints interior defensive linemen.

The Saints like to rotate their defensive linemen throughout the game, so there should be opportunities for those who don’t earn a starting job. But as of now, it seems like the coaching staff will have its hands full in determining that speciﬁc order

PHOTO PROVIdEd By SEC

Tennessee coach Josh Heupel speaks at SEC media days on Monday in Tampa, Florida.

LSU AGCENTERPHOTO By OLIVIA McCLURE Goldsturm, aRudbeckiafulgida cultivar,isa2026 Louisiana Super Plant. It does well in our climate and is attractiveto pollinators —likethis bee

“Having

aprofessional level division hasbeenalongtime dream for us at Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre, and the time is right to make

it happen.”

JONNA COX, Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre co-artistic director

When LSU AgCenter horticulturists sit down to choose plants worthy of induction into the Louisiana Super Plant program, their goal is to identify contenders that are tough enoughtohandle our challenging growing conditions and stilllook good doing it. That combination is atall order.But it’s no problem for Rudbeckia fulgida, a2026 Super Plant selection. Also known as black-eyed Susan, this plant blooms from late May until fall. Youcan’t help but smile when you see its sunny,daisy-like ﬂowerswith golden-yellow rays and dark centers.

Rudbeckia fulgida has smoother leaves thanother rudbeckia species, which tend to have hairy leaves. Many of these species sport larger blooms, but unfortunately they are prone to rotting in our rainy summers.

By contrast, Rudbeckia fulgida is native to the southeastern United States and well adapted to Louisiana’sclimate. This species is easy to grow and droughttolerant once established Although rudbeckiaisin full bloom right now,planting during summer canbechallenging unless you are willing to keep it well watered through establishment. If you can wait, plant when temperatures are cooler in the fall or next spring for the best results. Give it full Bright blooms, stayingpower of rudbeckia make it a SuperPlant

ä See PLANT, page 6C

As the schoolyear starts,we’re thinkingabout thepeoplewho stand at the front of the room, who open classroom doorswith asmile. Sometimes astranger in August becomes the person a student never forgets. Certain teachers saysomething on arandom October afternoon and studentsrepeat it for decades to come —orateacher mayleadbyexample and give in waysthat changes lives.

We invite readers to tell us about thatteacher who made all the difference: write aletter directly to the teacher and send it to us. Or tell the story plain:a name, aclassroom andthe moment that stuck. We’relooking for the lessons that have outlasted the chalkboard(or the dry-erase board,as the case maybe). Send your letter or story,including the name of the teacher, name of school, city and year to jan.risher@ theadvocate.com by 2 p.m.July 28. Photos of theteacherare also welcome.

2026-27 season.

REACHING HIGHER

BY ROBIN MILLER Staff writer

Chaney

BatonRouge Ballet Theatre hasentered anew realm, which co-artistic directors Rebecca Acosta and Jonna Cox are calling anew level of professionalism For the ﬁrst time, thecompany has put aprogram in place to hire professional artist-inresidence dancers.

“This is big for us,” Acosta said. “The New OrleansBallet Association has asmall residency program, and that’sprobably theclosest placetoBaton Rouge that you’llﬁnd one.” This marks theﬁrst time professional dancers have been hiredtodance principle roles for theentiretyofthe season.

“We’vealwaysbeen a semiprofessional company in thatwepay our college and older dancers in thecompany a little stipend,” Acosta said. “But we’venever had artiststhat we pay And when Isay ‘small stipend,’ we paythemasmall fee for ashow.But we never paidthem for rehearsal time or any kind of stipend for their shoes or other things.So, with this program, we’re going to pay themfor all of this.” Which meansdancers in this program will be able to focus on their craft.

Threedancers chosen

Threedancers, Elliana

ä See BALLET, page 6C

Patrick Jefferson, right, will be one of three professional artists-in-residencedancing with the Baton RougeBallet Theatre in the 2026-27 season. Here, Jefferson and dancer Zoey Francis rehearse and warm up before the the 2024 production of the ‘Creole Nutcracker’ at the Heymann Performance Arts Center in Lafayette.

Localchapter of 100Black Menearns national honors

Niles Haymer II, a 16-year-old student at Baton RougeMagnet High School, wonthe first-placeprize of the firstOratoricalContest competition conducted by thenational 100 Black Men of America Inc.

PROVIdEd PHOTO

Staff report

Members of 100 Black Men of MetroBaton Rouge chapter were awarded major citations at the nationalorganization’s recent conferenceinNew York City in June. Niles Haymer II, 16-year-old student at BatonRouge Magnet High School, won the ﬁrst-place prize at the ﬁrst oratorical contestcompetition conducted by thenational 100 Black Menof

America, Inc. Local 100 Black Men member Stan C. Savage, thelocal chapter’svice president of finance, received the Jesse Swanigan Award, one of the national organization’shighest honors, recognizing his leadership and dedication to ﬁnancial literacy.Hewas also appointed as thenational organization’sMid-South district representative.

STAFFPHOTO By BRAd KEMP

FILE PHOTOByJOHNOUBRE

Leah Coxisshown here as partofBaton RougeBallet Theatre’syouth Ballet 2016 librarytour production of ‘Graduation Ball.’Cox will nowdance as aprofessional artist-in-residence forthe companyinthe

Whithercivility? Best to exercise civicduty

Dear Miss Manners: Since some political ﬁgureshave demonstrated and encouraged boorish behavior,what was once seen as good breeding is now eschewed as unnecessary or unmanly.Isthere stilla place in such aworld for civility?

Many cringeworthy statements are applauded by a(thin) majority of people in the U.S.

treated civilly.Miss Manners is oftenasked what can be done to makeour leadersbehave in what usedtobecalled astatesmanlike way It’scalled voting.

removeitfrom thecooking fork before eating.

Judith Martin MISS MANNERS

Gentle reader: Well, that’s the problem: voters who think that rudenessand vulgarity are signs of strength,and that dignity and the willingness to cooperate in order to get things done are signs of weakness. And yet people crave to be

Dear Miss Manners: My boyfriendisgoing to be taking me out to afondue restaurant for our anniversary What is the etiquette for eatingfondue?

Gentle reader: Mostly to avoid strings of cheese trailing across your chin or onto thetable. It helpstotwirl the coated breadoverthe pot of hot cheese to cool it before returning it to your plate.And Miss Manners advises usingyourdinner fork to

Dear Miss Manners: Ireceived a bridal shower invitation indicating the date and location (an hour’sdrive away) for aday of food, fun and drinks. It also stated to RSVP,which Idid.

Twenty days later,Iwas informed thecost per person was $260 and that full payment was due within 48 hours, as the deposits for transportation, food, etc., had already been paid by thehost.

Iwaited till the 48th hour,then sent acourtesy email indicating Iwould no longer be attending. Istated that it had nothing to do with the cost itself, just theprinciple. Ifelt it was poor etiquette and classless to request RSVPs,

BALLET

Continued from page5C

Chaney,Leah Cox and Patrick Jefferson, have been hired for the 2026-27 season, each with Baton Rougeconnections.

“Elliana just graduated from high school,and she’s going to LSU,” Acosta said.

“She’salovely dancer,and we want to keep her,because for most of ourdancers, once they hit college, they don’tcontinue dancing because it’ssuch atime commitment. Youhave to come to class to stay in ballet shape and keep working on your technique.”

Chaney has dancedleading roles in several Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre productions, including Myrtha in “Giselle,” the soloist in Joan Rodriquez’s“NosOstros” and the Azalea Fairy in “The Nutcracker —ATale from the Bayou.”

Leah Cox, aformer dancer for Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre, returns to the company after earning her bachelor’s degree in ﬁne arts in dance from the University of Louisiana in Lafayette.While at UL, she was strongly featuredinthe college’sproductions, worked with such choreographers as Fabio Liberti and Norbert de la Cruz III and created choreography of her own.

“I began dancingwith Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre as acompany member when I was 13 years old, and to say that Iamlooking forward to joining as aprofessional residentwould be an understatement,” she said. “I am

excited for this opportunity to showthe BatonRouge area what Ihave learnedat ULL asadancer,performer andchoreographer.”

Acompany alumnus

Jefferson also is acompany alumnus.Hereceived additional training at UL and danced in the Dance Theatre of Harlem’s summerprogram.

“I teach at Baton Rouge High School, andPatrickactually started dancingwith me at the school during his senioryear,” Acosta said. “Hewas atrack runner, but he really liked ballet. So, he gave up track andstarted comingto the Dancers’ Workshop in the evenings. He trained with us for several years.”

Jefferson danced professionally withBallet North Texas and Ballet Frontier, bothinthe Dallas area. He hasreturned to Baton Rouge Ballet as aguest artist, most recently in the company’s April production of “Rapunzel.”

“What I’m looking forward to the most is givingback to my community whatI have learned in my time away,” Jeffersonsaid. “I’m excited to share this knowledge with the next generation of dancers and hopefully inspire more of the community to getinvolved with theartsin the Baton Rouge area.” Coxpointsout that dancers often havetowork extra jobstosupport their artistic careers.

“It’sreally hard tolive as an artist and make money,” she said, noting that Jefferson also works in personal training.

Eventually,the company hopes to addthree more professional dancerstothe roster

“We’d like to add another male,” Acosta said. “Ideally we’d like three male professional dancersand three femaleprofessionals. We’re hoping to attract dancers from other places, but we’re really excited for these three dancers andthatwe’re able to offer this to them.”

From her own experience, Acosta knows thatthese dancerscan inspire the upand-coming dancerswithin thecompany

“WhenI was growing up, we alwayshad older dancers that stuck around,”she said. “They would go off and establish their careers, but they still wanted to dance. Jonna Cox(associate artistic director), Christine Perkins and Iall danced into our 40s, andwewere able to have other careers and be moms and continue dancing —and the youngerdancers looked up to us.”

With this in mind, Acosta believes theprofessional artist-in-residence program will provide the company’s younger dancers withmentors.

“Having aprofessional leveldivisionhas been a longtime dream for us at BatonRouge Ballet Theatre, and the time is right to make it happen,”Jonna Cox said. “That Baton Rouge can provide aplace for professional danceartists to call home is ensuring the future of amazing dance in our city.”

Email RobinMiller at romiller@theadvocate. com.

sun and decent drainage and this plant willreward you with dense clumps of bright, cheery ﬂowerscome summertime.

You’ll be doing agood thing for wildlife and the environment, too: Rudbeckia’s seeds are nutritious for birds, and the ﬂowers provide nectar for pollinators. Rudbeckia is versatile in the landscape, working

well as aborder plant,in beds and in containers. Its foliage often staysattractive into the winter,lending color to thelandscapewhen many plantsare dormant. As aperennial, rudbeckia can beenjoyed for many years to come. It spreads gradually viaunderground rhizomes, and clumps can be dividedinfall or spring. The AgCenter pickedtwo Rudbeckia fulgida cultivars to share theSuper Plant title: Goldsturm andEarly Bird Gold. Goldsturm,which was

introduced by German nurseryman Karl Foerster in 1937, can reach 24 to 36 inches tall and 18 to 24 inches wide. Likemost rudbeckias, it is inﬂuenced by day lengthand is triggered to ﬂower when the long days of summer arrive. ButEarly BirdGold, which was found in 2005 at Dupont Nursery in Plaquemine, is day-neutral —soitstarts blooming abit earlier and continues longer than other cultivars. It’s also shorter,topping out at 18 to 24 inches tall.

yet omit anyindication that there would be acost to attend. The “bait and switch” tactic doesn’tsit well with me. I’m also not invited to the destination wedding. What are your thoughts on this?

Gentlereader: Are you surprised not to be invited to the wedding? Did you suppose they would take achance on your scolding them if you didn’tlike the arrangements?

Mind you, Miss Manners agrees with your indignation at this fraudulent maneuver.Ifthe couple is selling the opportunity to honor themselves, they should have alerted theirpotential customersup-front.

The surprise charge gave you theopportunity to pull out. How-

By The Associated Press

Today is Tuesday,

July 21, the 202nd day of 2026. There are 163 days left in the year

Todayinhistory:

On July 21, 1925, the so-called “Monkey Trial” ended in Dayton, Tennessee, withJohn T. Scopes found guilty of violating statelaw for teaching Darwin’sTheory of Evolution. (Theconviction was later overturned.)

Also on this date:

In 1861, during theCivil War, theﬁrst Battle of Bull Runwas fought at Manassas, Virginia, resulting in a Confederate victory

In 1944, American forces landed on Guam during World WarII, capturing it from theJapanese some three weeks later

In 1954, theGeneva Conference concluded with accords dividing Vietnam into northern and southern entities.

In 1969, Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin blasted off from the moon aboard the ascent stage of the lunar module for

ever,itdid notgive youlicense to be rude to them. All you had to saywas thatyou found you could notattend afterall. They would have hadnodifﬁculty ﬁguring outwhy.Orjust do notpay the bill, in whichcasetheywould doubtless remove youfromthe guest list.

Chastising them,insomething you quaintly call a“courtesy email,” was uncalled for.

Sendquestions to Miss Manners at herwebsite, www missmanners.com; to her email, dearmissmanners@gmail.com; or through postal mailtoMiss Manners, Universal Uclick, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City,MO 64106.

docking with the command module.

In 1970, construction of the Aswan High Dam in Egypt was completed.

In 1972, the Irish Republican Armycarried out 22 bombings in Belfast, Northern Ireland, killing nine people and injuring 130 in what becameknown as “Bloody Friday.”

In 2008, former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, one of the world’s top warcrimes fugitives, wasarrested in aBelgrade suburb by Serbian security forces. (He wassentenced by aU.N. court in 2019 to life imprisonment after being convicted of genocide, crimes against humanity and warcrimes.)

In 2011, the30-year-old space shuttleprogram endedasAtlantislanded at Cape Canaveral,Florida,after the135th shuttleﬂight

In 2012, Turkish-American Erden Eruc became the ﬁrst person to complete asolo, human-powered circumnavigation of the globe; his journey lasted morethan ﬁve years.

In 2024, President Joe Biden dropped his bid for reelection following adisastrous campaign debate with Donald Trumpthat raised doubts about the Democratic incumbent’s ﬁtness forofﬁce. (Trump would go on in the fall to defeat Vice President KamalaHarris, whotook Biden’splace in the presidential race.)

Today’sbirthdays: Singer Yusuf Islam (also known as Cat Stevens) is 78. Cartoonist Garry Trudeau is 78. Author Michael Connelly is 70. Comedian Jon Lovitz is 69. Retired soccer player Brandi

PROVIdEd PHOTO By BATONROUGE BALLET THEATRE

Elliana Chaney, center,was featured in Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre’sApril 2026 production of ‘Rapunzel.’

CANCER (June 21-July 22) Disillusionment regarding your status quo or skills will lead to overestimating or underestimating situations that require more thought and a mental adjustment to ensure you aren't compromised.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) Embrace life wholeheartedly. Look beyond the norm, and you'll find something or someone of interest. A change is overdue, and finding ways to assist others will help you appreciate all that you have.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Take the time to hear what others have to say. What you learn about yourself will help you use your attributes more effectively. A heated discussion will change how you feel about someone.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) You can learn the easy way or the hard way. Don't limit your chances by neglecting what's expected of you. The more you do, the moreyou'llgetback.Stepbackfrompersonal relationships that confuse you.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 22) Problems you encounter will result from overreacting due to emotional pressures and concerns. Take a deep breath and use your rationale to decide how to proceed.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23-Dec. 21) Back up your plans with a little cash and plenty of energy to see matters through to the end. The effort you put in will help you gainpointswiththoseinapositiontohelp you get ahead.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) You are in a better position than you realize. Don't let an outsider lead you to believe you

are at a disadvantage. Keep in mind that overdoingandoutperformingarenotthe same thing.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Put pressure on yourself to bring about change. Complaining without acting won't help you resolve emotional issues. Revisit your dreams, put a plan in place and don't be afraid of failure.

PISCES (Feb. 20-March 20) Socializing, attending networking events and stepping into the spotlight will put you front and center and invite new friendships and the help necessary to make a difference.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) Having an open mind will lead to a fresh start. Pay attention to what others say and do, but take the path that offers peace of mind. Doing for yourself will help eliminate interference and criticism.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) Stop putting pressure on yourself. A pick-me-up will help you get back on track. Don't lose sight of your goals or let anyone challenge you.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) Refuse to let anger set in when focusing on yourself and your health. Sign up for activities that allow you to blow off steam, and recruit people who make healthy decisions or who can help you put the past behind you.

Andrews McMeel Syndication

FAMILY CIrCUS

Celebrity Cipher cryptograms are created from quotations by famous people, past and present. Each letter in the cipher stands for another.

TODAy'S CLUE: A EQUALS C

CeLebrItY CIpher

For better or For WorSe

SALLY Forth

beetLe bAILeY

Mother GooSe And GrIMM

SherMAn’S LAGoon

roSebUdS

Sudoku

InstructIons: Sudoku is anumber-placing puzzle based on a9x9 grid with several given numbers. The object is to place the numbers1 to 9inthe empty squares so that each row, each column and each 3x3 box contains the same number only once. Thedifficulty level of the Sudoku increases from Monday to Sunday.

Yesterday’s PuzzleAnswer

THe wiZard oF id

BLondie

BaBY BLueS

Hi and LoiS

CurTiS

BY PHILLIP ALDER

AnneFrankwrote,“Wealllivewiththe objectiveofbeinghappy;ourlivesareall different and yet the same.”

Today’sdeal looks similar to yesterday’s,butthecorrectdeclarerplayisdifferent. As in yesterday’scolumn, South is in sixspades and Westleads the heart queen. Howshould declarer continue? When North had just enough to raise two spades to three spades, South bid what he hoped he could make.

If declarer were asked immediately to statealineofplay,hewouldprobablysay that he would take two diamond finesses, gettingtothedummyoncewiththespade queen and once withaheart ruff.

Yes,thatisa76percentlineofplay,but loses with this layout. However, there is an even betterstrategy. Do you seeit?

Dummy has few values, but itsthree honor cards canall be used with effect After taking the first trick with his heart ace, Southshould cash his spade ace, club ace and heartking. Then he ruffs histhird heart on the boardand leads the club queen.

If East can cover with the king, South ruffs, plays aspade to dummy’s queen, and discards adiamond on the club jack. Here,though,whenEastplaysalowclub, declarer pitches his diamond 10.

Supposethat West winswithhis king and leads hislast trump. South takes the trick in the dummy and throws his diamond queen on the club jack. He loses onlyone club and winssix spades,two hearts, one diamond, two clubs and the heartruff.

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 VIRGuLE: VER-gyul: To criticizecuttingly.

Average mark18words

Time limit 25 minutes

Can you find 23 or morewords in VIRGULE?

YEsTERDAY’s WoRD —LIcoRIcE

NEA,Inc., dist. By Andrews McMeel Syndication

Bridge

loCKhorNs Only

Lord canfill

emptinessofthe human heart. Read

Bible. G.E. Dean

marmaduKe

Bizarro

hagar the horriBle

Pearls Before swiNe

garfield

B.C.

PiCKles hidato

BRIEFS

FROM WIRE REPORTS

Wall Street drifts as AI stocks hold steadier NEWYORK— Wall Street drifted to aquiet ﬁnish Monday after stocks of chipmakers and other winners of the artiﬁcial-intelligence boom trimmed some of their recentlosses.

The S&P 500 dipped 0.2%, coming off its ﬁrst losingweek in thelastthree and just its third sincethe endofMarch.The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 307 points,or0.6%, and theNasdaq composite was basically ﬂatafter slipping by less than 0.1%

Nvidia added 0.2% and held ﬁrmer following its drop onFriday, when it wasthe heaviest weight on theS&P 500. Sandisk climbed2.7% after tumbling 29% last week.

Advanced Micro Devices

rose 1.6% after announcing an expandedpartnership where Microsoft will use its products for AI, including its new Helios product starting in the second halfofthe year

Such stocks have been under pressure forweeks on worries that their prices shot too high in theeuphoria around AI. On one hand, companies are making billions of dollars in revenue as customers pour money into AI chips and data centers. But all that spendingmay ﬁzzle out if AI doesn’tproduce as much proﬁt and productivity as promised.

EU hits AliExpress with a fine over goods

THE HAGUE, Netherlands TheEuropean Commission on Monday finedChinese online marketplaceAliExpress $629 million for failing to adequatelycrack down on the sale of unsafe and counterfeit products on its site

The ﬁne, the biggest ever imposedfor breaches of the27-nationEuropean Union’sDigital Services Act, comes just months after another online retailer Temu,was ﬁned 200 million eurosfor similar breaches.Last year,Brussels issued a$120 millionpenalty for Elon Musk’s social media site X.

“The spread of counterfeit clothing, unsafe toys, dangerous cosmetics and other illegal and harmfulproducts is not an unavoidable cost of shopping online —itisafailure by AliExpresstocomply with itsobligationsunder the Digital Services Act,” Henna Virkkunen, the commission’sexecutive vicepresident for tech sovereignty, security and democracy,saidin astatement

“Scale is not an excuse; risks must be identified and addressedsystematically to ensure consumers can safely shop online. Today,weare holding AliExpress to this standard and request it to take action,” she added. In acomment emailed to The Associated Press, AliExpresssaidthat since the DSA cameinto force the company “hasbeen, and continuestobe, firmly committed to meeting ourobligations and we have invested substantial resources in risk assessment and mitigation, product safety and consumer protection.”

Demand for China’sAI model over capacity

HONG KONG The new,powerful Chineseartificialintelligence model Kimi K3, which has caused astir in the U.S. techindustry, has suspended new subscriptions aftera ﬂood in demand overwhelmed capacity within days of the launch. The development highlighted challenges faced by Chinese AI models in serving agrowing user base at home and abroad at atime the U.S.-China tech race is heating up. Chinese open-source, lowercost advanced AI models, includingDeepSeek’s latest V4, have been movingfast in gaining global attention. In early 2025, DeepSeek shook world markets and helped China to be recognized as aserious competitor to theU.S., where Chinese frontier AI models are largely open source, meaningthey are made accessible for people to examine and buildupon.

BY WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS Associated Press

NEWYORK U.S. gas prices jumped back to $4 agallon on average Monday,asWashington’slatest

ﬁghting with Iran renews strain on theﬂow of fuel worldwide. According to motor club AAA, the national average for agallon of regular gasoline is now just

above the $4 mark. That’sabout 13 cents more expensive than it was aweek ago, andfar higherthan where prices at the pump stood at this time last year,whenAmerican drivers could ﬁll up for about $3.14 agallon on average.

The U.S.and Israel’swar with Iran plunged theworld into aglobal energycrisis, notably as thecost of crude oil —the main ingredient in gasoline —soared due to supply chain andproductiondisruptions across the Middle East.

Energy prices cooled last month

when Washington and Tehran reached an interimagreement aimed at permanently ending their ﬁghting andreviving trafﬁc in thekey StraitofHormuz. But that peace deal has now crumbled —with the U.S. on Monday only intensifying airstrikesagainst Iran, which has respondedbylaunching its own attacks on American allies in theregion. Andoil flows are largely stalling again. Many eyes are on the White House. Before co-launching the war in late February,President

Donald Trump once bragged about keeping gas prices low— andexpressed frustration about them not falling as quickly as the cost of crude oil last month. If prices continuetorebound,expensive gas will likely be at the top of voters’ mindsduringthe midtermelections this November California on Monday continued to seethe most expensivegas,with an average of nearly $5.50 agallon —followed by almost $5.42 in Hawaii and $5.01 in Washington state, per AAA.

BY BRIAN SLODYSKO,MICHAEL BIESECKER and JOSH BOAK Associated Press

WASHINGTON— President Donald Trumpand hisWhite House have enthusiastically promoted the Freedom Fuel Network, achain of star-spangled convenience stores selling gasat$3.47per gallon in honor of the 47th president.

Untangling exactly who is behind the Philadelphia-area venture has proven difﬁcult.Records indicate thechain,which was launched last month, is run by adisparate collectionofbusinessmen that includes an NFL kicking coach, aGOP fundraiser and a New Jersey entrepreneur who this year was ordered,along with hisbrother, to paycivil damages for unlawfully takingmorethan 200,000 gallonsoffuel.

How the stations got Trump’sattentionremains amystery,and thefour businessmen declined to —orcould not be reached for comment.

What is clear:Trumploved the idea of cheapergas.The presidentcelebratedthe network’sgas prices just before the busy July 4travel periodasconsumers were grappling with higher oil prices sparked by thewar with Iran.

“I am pleased to announce that aVERY smartRetailer, located throughout the Northeast, is steppingup,”Trumpwrote aboutthe company on his Truth Social platform on July 1. “America has never been stronger than it is now,and Gas Prices will soon be back to the Record LowPrices Americans enjoyed at the pumpbefore our very successful ‘excursion’ in Iran.”

The White House followed up with apost on Xa few days laterthat heraldedthe openingofthe ﬁrst Freedom Fuelstationand producedavideo showing patrons waving wads of cash and thankingTrump for reducing the pricesoutsidea store festooned withAmericanﬂagsand agolden eagle logo.

Thatstation, located in Dresher,Pennsylvania,isowned by asubsidiary of Blue Owl Capital, an investment ﬁrm, records show. Trump hasowned up to $25 million worth of Blue Owlstock,thoughhis most recent ﬁnancialdisclosuresayshehas sold almost all of that stake.

TheWhite House deniedTrump had any personalconnectiontothe venture, butdeclined to say how theproject was developed. It acknowledged having discussions with individuals who set up the network of gas stations.

“The Administration is not involved in the company,nor has the Administrationgiven the company any funding. There is no other entity or person subsidizing thelower gasoline costs,”the White House wrote in astatement Blue Owl owns about athirdofthe FreedomFuel properties, though the company said itleases the stores to independentcon-

tractors and “is notinvolvedinthe tenant’s operations or business decisions.”

Fourteen stationsinthe 25-locationnetwork are controlledbycompanies linked to Shamikh andSyedKazmi,two brothers who have been dogged by astring of civil misconduct accusations, includingfraud, records show Shamikh Kazmiisleasing eight of those stations from Blue Owl, according to state records andpeople familiarwith the businesses who spoke on condition of anonymity to discussthe matter.The Associated Press was able to link the brothers to six other Freedom Network locationsthrough records thatshow theylisted those stations’addresses as headquarters forother ventures or supplied those locations with fuel.

AWhiteHouse ofﬁcial, who insisted on anonymitytodiscuss the project, said that no oneatthe White House whowas in conversationswithFreedom FuelNetwork hadspeciﬁcally spoken or worked with Syed Kazmi, aclaim that indicatesdiscussions occurred with the other brother,Shamikh.

The Kazmishavemarketed themselves as “top tier” petroleum distributors and gas station operators, with over 75 years of experience andadeep well of corporateafﬁliations, according to an archived version of the website for one of their companies.

Public recordsoffer amore nuanced portrait, showing the Kazmis have been repeatedly sued by companiestheyhad dealings with.

Thebrothershavelegal issues

Legal ﬁlings detail aseries of judgments against the Kazmis, who failed to comply with acourt order and have been accused of obscuring their ﬁnances anddodging service processors as agrowing list of former suppliers and franchisors sought payment.

In February,afederal judge in New Jersey

ordered the Kazmis to pay over $600,000 to afuel supplier that accused the brothers of stealing gas. The supplier alleged in court filingsthat it cut thebrothers offafterthey refused to sign anew contract. But the Kazmis exploited asecurity lapse andgained access to thesupplier’sfuel depot. Over a ten-day period in August2021, tanker trucks absconded with more than 230,000gallons of fuel, according to the supplier’scourt filings. Ajudge ruled in the supplier’sfavor,finding the brothers unlawfully took the gas. The fuel supplier says it has yet to receive payment.

Syed Kazmi was hit with a$380,000 judgment two years ago in asuit brought by 7-Eleven, the convenience chain, whichaccused him of “dishonest, unethical, immoral” conduct while operating afranchise in Lawrenceville, NewJersey,that wasﬂagged for unsanitary conditions that included trash issues and arodent infestation. The company also said “tens of thousands of dollars” of cigarettes ordered from 7-Eleven on credit had gone missing.

Afederal judge held acompanyoperated by Shamikh Kazmiincontemptin2022ina trademark case brought by BP America.

Though BP had severed ties with Kazmi’s Diwan Petroltwo years priortothe legal action, the corporation’ssignage hadnot been removed from the gas station despite acourt order to do so. The judge authorized U.S. Marshals to accompany BP workers to remove it.

Aman who answered acalltoanumber listed for the Kazmi brothers said he was not the right person to talktoand instead directed inquiries to the Freedom Fuel Network’swebsite. But that website has no contact information, phonenumberormailing address. Arequest for comment submitted through an online contact form was not answered.

BY WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS Associated Press

NEWYORK— Afederal judge on Monday ordered Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery to halt their $81 billion merger for at least two weeks, allowing states that are challengingthe deal more time to seetheir case through in court. Twelvestates, led by California, sued to block Paramount’s pending buyout of Warner last week —allegingthatsuchacombination would “extinguish competition” in Hollywood and lead to fewer choices forconsumers, particularly moviegoers and cable customers

acrossthe U.S. The states’ top prosecutors called on Warner and Paramount to not close thetransaction until after acourt had time to fully evaluate their claims. Andwhen the companiesrefused, they ﬁled for atemporaryrestraining order —which is what District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguíngranted on Monday. That opens thedoor to apotential preliminary injunction that the states are also seeking to effectively block thedeal.

“Thisisa critical ﬁrst wininour case to ensure this megamerger neverseesthe lightofday,” California AttorneyGeneral Rob Bonta

said in astatement Monday.“History tells the tale of what happens when afew people have great power over markets that are central to Americans’ lives: feweropportunities for morepeople,worse products and services for all people.”

AWarner-Paramount tie-up would bring together two of the ﬁve last legacy studios in Hollywood as wellasahost of TV networks, titles ﬁlling streaming libraries and news operations. Warner’sHBO Max, fan favorites like “Harry Potter” and even CNN would come under the same roof of Paramountowned CBS, movies like “Top Gun” andthe Paramount+ streaming service.

Paramount, whichwas bought out by Skydance just last year,has vowed to vigorously defend itsacquisition —and touts regulatory greenlights the deal has received elsewhere,including from President Donald Trump’sadministration last month. On Monday,Paramount said the states’antitrust arguments“are without merit” or “any basis in modern marketrealities” —and maintained that its merger with Warnerwill benefit consumers and workers alike. Timing fornext steps also falls in line with the company’sprevious requests.