Issuu

Maggard steps down at UL

Athletic department head returning to Missouri after 9 years with Cajuns

BY KEVIN FOOTE Staff writer

The University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s athletic department is looking for a new leader after Tuesday’s announcement that Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Bryan Maggard is returning to Missouri as deputy athletics director and chief operating ofﬁcer Maggard has been at UL since 2017 will remain with the university for another month to ease the

transition.

During eight years leading the Ragin’ Cajuns, Maggard hired football coaches Billy Napier and Michael Desormeaux, oversaw a $65 million stadium renovation, led the department’s largest fundraising campaign and guided one of the most successful periods in school history before navigating deep budget cuts in recent years. UL’s Deputy Athletic Director Trey Frazier will serve as the interim athletic director during the

ä Kevin Foote: Is the timing of Maggard’s departure good for UL? PAGE 1C

transition.

“Ragin’ Cajuns Athletics, the University, and Lafayette, Louisiana will forever hold a special place in Kerry and my hearts,” Maggard said in a statement. “We always knew it would take something extremely special for us to leave this place we called home for

nearly a decade.” Maggard and his wife, Kerry, recently welcomed a new granddaughter in Missouri.

“With the birth of our granddaughter and a tremendous opportunity provided by Mizzou, we simply could not pass up the chance to return close to family,” Maggard added.

Over the past two years, Maggard’s tenure was burdened by

HELPING HANDS

Carencro High School football players fill sandbags for residents preparing for Tropical Storm Bertha

TOP: Carencro High School football players Mason Roger left, and Jermany Arceneaux fill sandbags Tuesday behind the Carencro Community Center ahead of potential tropical weather this week.

ABOVE: Carencro High football team members tie up filled sandbags for residents preparing for Tropical Storm Bertha. ä Bertha bears down on coastal Louisiana, Page 7A

Lawmakers

are

eyeing AI regulation

Bills that didn’t pass this session could return

BY MEGHAN FRIEDMANN Staff writer

During Louisiana’s recent legislative session, a slew of bills restricting the use of artiﬁcial intelligence stalled after President Donald Trump’s administration said it wanted to create a national regulatory framework around the technology — and threatened states’ federal broadband funding if they acted on their own.

Noncontroversial bills, including ones that toughened penalties related to AIgenerated child pornography, did pass. But proposals that entailed more dramatic changes — such as restrictions to how insurance companies and employers can use AI died on the vine despite bipartisan support.

Yet Democrats and even some Republican lawmakers, including the Senate president, have expressed a desire to revisit the bills in 2027. That could set the stage for a ﬁght in the Legislature next year, depending on where Gov Jeff Landry stands and what happens at the federal level.

In May Senate President Cameron Henry, R-Metairie, said he told the White House that Louisiana would hold many AI bills this year but move forward with them if Congress does not create national regulations by the time the next regular session arrives.

“We’re going to hold those for a year, and then next year at this time if they haven’t taken any action, then we’ll pass the bills that we would have liked to have passed this year,” Henry said.

The Senate president did not specify which of the many AI bills filed this year he favored. Henry did not return

Hegseth estimates Iran war has cost $37.5 billion at fiery hearing

BY LISA MASCARO AP congressional correspondent

WASHINGTON Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth faced ﬁery questions and protests Tuesday over the U.S war with Iran, which he estimated has cost $37.5 billion so far, as Republicans prepare a $95 billion GOP budget package to fund the military along with other White House priorities. Hegseth provided the new estimate, up from earlier assessments, during a combative Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, which came days after the Pentagon announced that three more American service members have died in the conﬂict, bringing the death toll to 17, and that more than 100 have been injured since early July Several times protesters interrupted his opening remarks

Hegseth said the supplemental war funding is an “urgent, necessary” injection of money, and with President Donald Trump’s proposed $1.5 trillion defense budget, a generational investment in the military “Without these funds, we face critical shortfalls,” Hegseth testiﬁed. But Sen Patty Murray, the top Demo-

ä See HEGSETH, page 4A

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth testifies at a Senate committee hearing on Tuesday.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO

STAFF FILE PHOTO By BRAD KEMP

Bryan Maggard has led the UL athletic department for eight years.

STAFF PHOTOS By LESLIE WESTBROOK

BRIEFS

Man stabs, wounds

tourists near Acropolis

ATHENS Greece A man stabbed and wounded two tourists Tuesday morning near the ancient Acropolis in Athens, Greece’s top tourist attraction, police said, in what appeared to be a random attack.

The assailant, identiﬁed only as a 60-year-old Greek man, attacked a Greek American couple with a knife on a pedestrian street near an entrance to the archaeological site and near the entrance to the Acropolis Museum, which lies at the foot of the Acropolis hill.

The 53-year-old male victim suffered a serious wound to his arm which required a tourniquet to be applied, while the 48-year-old woman was more lightly wounded in the leg, police said. Both were transported by ambulance to a nearby hospital Neither of their injuries was reported to be life-threatening.

The attacker was detained at the scene and was to appear in court before a prosecutor later Tuesday to be formally charged, police said.

Authorities did not provide further details on his identity, in line with Greek law regarding the identification of suspects.

The motivation for the attack was not immediately clear, but police said the assailant appeared to have been suffering from psychological problems.

Blast at plant leaves 12 dead, 13 missing

GUWAHATI, India A suspected gas explosion collapsed part of a tunnel under construction at a hydropower project in India’s northeastern Himalayan state of Sikkim, leaving at least 12 people dead and 13 missing, ofﬁcials said Tuesday Rescue teams with oxygen gear raced to find survivors Tuesday as toxic levels of gas were detected at the disaster site in Samardung village near the Chinese border

The blast had ripped through the tunnel Monday while 21 laborers were inside working on the 500-megawatt Teesta hydroelectric project, officials said Two of them managed to escape. Six power utility officials later entered the tunnel to help in the rescue, but became trapped themselves, officials said

The explosion was believed triggered by a buildup of methane, said State Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang, who visited the site Tuesday Survivors told authorities they heard a loud explosion before debris came crashing through the tunnel, civil ofﬁcial Anupama Tamling said.

Officials had recovered 12 bodies on Tuesday while rescuers from the National Disaster Response Force raced to reach the 13 people believed to be still trapped

“We found toxic gases such as methane, carbon monoxide and hydrogen sulﬁde inside the tunnel,” NDRF ofﬁcial Nitin Kumar said at the scene.

150 migrants dead or missing off West Africa

NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania The United Nations refugee agency said Tuesday it is “extremely saddened” after nearly 150 people died or went missing from boats off Mauritania last week while trying to make their way to Europe.

The agency said 144 people were dead or missing after two incidents between July 14 and 18. It said 387 people were rescued.

Mauritania’s coast guard has said 122 people went missing off the coast near the capital, Nouakchott.

It said the boat carrying 160 people from Gambia toward the Canary Islands ran out of fuel and was stranded at sea for 25 days. In a separate incident, the coast guard said it rescued 179 people who had boarded a boat from Senegal on Saturday

The difference in the numbers given was not immediately clear

Mauritania’s waters have become a major route for people from sub-Saharan Africa seeking a better life in Europe as economic opportunities remain scarce at home.

New UK prime minister assembles Cabinet

Starmer supporters are pushed away

BY JILL LAWLESS Associated Press

LONDON New U.K. Prime

Minister Andy Burnham gathered his Cabinet for its ﬁrst meeting on Tuesday and vowed to take a “oneteam approach” despite purging allies of predecessor Keir Starmer from the government. Burnham told his top team that he would lead a “cost-of-living government” focused on easing the economic burden felt by millions of people.

“We need to think every day, what can we do just to take that little bit of pressure off people’s shoulders, to give them that little extra sense that help is coming, so they can have that bit of hope that things are

getting better,” Burnham said. He made a small down payment on that pledge by announcing a tax cut on domestic electricity bills that will save the average household about $60 a year The cut will take effect Oct. 1, Burnham said, with the funding coming from scrapping a plan for digital ID cards announced by Starmer

The former mayor of Greater Manchester entered Downing Street on Monday after replacing Starmer as leader of the governing Labour Party becoming Britain’s seventh prime minister since 2016. Starmer resigned just two years after winning a landslide election victory forced out by his party after missteps and U-turns.

a time of rising threats. In an interview after he quit, Healey called the Treasury “a dead hand on dynamic government” and “in denial.”

In his first speech as prime minister, Burnham pledged to ease the cost of living, decentralize political power, revitalize industry and end street sleeping by homeless people — a tall order, especially given Britain’s sluggish economic growth in recent years.

Burnham acknowledged at the Cabinet meeting that the government would have to make difficult financial decisions and “take a really hard look at what our priorities are.”

U.S. sends food aid to Cuban residents

Island’s government still under pressure

BY DANIEL KOZIN and DAVID FISCHER Associated Press

MIAMI A Cuba-bound cargo plane carrying food and hygiene kits left Miami on Tuesday under U.S. efforts to give direct assistance to the island’s residents while continuing to pressure their government. The flight carrying 700 packages is meant to bypass the Cuban government, with the items distributed directly to the Cuban people by Catholic groups in Cuba, according to the U.S. State Department.

Tuesday’s shipment is a $60 million first tranche of a total of $100 million the U.S. offered to Cuba some time ago. It comes after months of intensified U.S. pressure on the Cuban government and government-related institutions that has focused mainly on imposing significant sanctions against the country’s military and intelligence apparatus. The imposition of an energy and oil blockade has practically paralyzed the Cuban economy and the daily lives of people on the island.

Man

The latest iteration of this was a lengthy document released by the State Department on Monday accusing Cuba of running a vast espionage and left-wing inﬂuence operation in the U.S. over the past ﬁve decades.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a son of Cuban immigrants, has taken a personal interest in pushing Cuba to make changes to its socialist system, while President Donald Trump has on several occasions suggested that the U.S could take military action to topple the island’s communist government Jeremy Lewin, the State Department’s senior ofﬁcial for foreign assistance, humanitarian affairs and religious freedom, said the partnership builds upon a program that last year delivered $9 million in support following Hurricane Melissa He said challenges have included convincing the Cuban government to allow the aid’s distribution and agree not to intercept and take it for themselves. Lewin said that since local priests and Catholic groups are distributing the assistance directly, “there’s very little, if any, opportunity for the regime to interfere with the delivery of the assistance.”

thrown by bison says hitting ground was worst part

BY MEAD GRUVER Associated Press

Bison that appear to be grazing peacefully are able to accelerate into a terrifying pace, making them among the most dangerous animals in Yellowstone, where one of the giant bovines recently charged at and tossed a grandfather Carl McDaniel, 65, suffered multiple bone fractures in the July 10 attack at the national park but lived to tell the tale, as seen in a video he recorded a few days later from his hospital bed in southern Montana.

“He wasn’t showing aggression or anything like that until it picked a target. That target happened

from in a hospital bed after he was thrown by a bison in yellowstone National Park.

to be me,” McDaniel said in the video posted on Instagram on Saturday

McDaniel was on a stroll with his grandson when the attack happened at Bridge Bay Campground near Yellowstone Lake.

“They move faster than you could ever imagine. He just kept coming,” he said.

Bison can run up to 35 mph, faster than the men’s world record in the 100-meter dash. They stand up to 6 feet tall, weigh up to 2,000 pounds, and are North America’s biggest land animal.

Yellowstone records on average a couple of bison attacks every year At least two people were attacked in the park in 2025.

Bozeman Health emergency department Dr Eric Lowe said in the video that McDaniel suffered fractures in multiple places. McDaniel said the hardest part wasn’t the creature’s horns.

“I didn’t get bruises from him launching me in air,” he said. “It was the landing that became the problem.”

After taking ofﬁce Monday, Burnham set about remaking the government. Starmer’s finance minister, Rachel Reeves, was ousted, replaced by John Healey, a former defense secretary who resigned in June and accused the Treasury of failing to spend enough on the military at

Healey has said defense spending, due to be 2.6% of GDP next year, should rise to 3% by 2030. Now he will have to ﬁnd the money Wes Streeting, whose resignation as health secretary in May helped topple Starmer, took over the defense portfolio. Other key Cabinet appointees include Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, Housing Secretary Angela Rayner and Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds, who has an expanded brief that includes innovation and science. Louise Haigh, a key Burnham ally who helped engineer his rise to the top, was named First Secretary of State and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, effectively the deputy prime minister

Zelenskyy fires top military chief

BY HANNA ARHIROVA Associated Press

KYIV Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday ﬁred Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi as commanderin-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces following days of mass protests in Kyiv, the country’s capital, and other cities nationwide demanding his removal. Zelenskyy appointed Mykhailo Drapatyi as the new army chief, according to a statement on social media.

Syrskyi

“Our shared wish is one victory over the enemy and conditions at the front and in pressure on Russia that would force Russia toward peace,” Zelenskyy said.

It was the second major reversal Zelenskyy has made under street pressure, after protests last summer forced him to undo a law weakening Ukraine’s

anti-corruption watchdogs. The Ukrainian leader said he made the decision to appoint the new army chief after a series of meetings with military commanders. They began shortly after protests broke out demanding the reinstatement of former Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, seen by demonstrators as a driver of military modernization, and the removal of Syrskyi, who they said embodied the army’s old, Soviet-style command culture.

Zelenskyy thanked Syrskyi for his achievements in Ukraine’s fight against Russia and praised him for the defense of Kyiv and for operations in Kharkiv and Kursk.

“I am grateful to Oleksandr Syrskyi and to every one of our warriors for Ukraine’s strong front-line positions,” he said.

GET IN TOUCH

Customer Service: HELP@THEADVOCATE.COMor337-234-0800

News Tips /Stories: NEWSTIPS@THEADVOCATE.COM

Obituaries: 225-388-0289• Mon-Fri9-5; Sat10-5; ClosedSun

Advertising Sales: 337-234-0174•Mon-Fri 8-5

Classiﬁed Advertising: 225-383-0111 •Mon-Fri 8-5

Subscribe: theadvocate.com/subscribe

E-Edition: theadvocate.com/eedition Archives: theadvocate.newsbank.com

PROVIDED PHOTO

Carl McDaniel speaks

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By EDDIE MULHOLLAND

Britain’s Prime Minister Andy Burnham, center, attends his first cabinet meeting as prime minister at 10 Downing St. in London on Tuesday.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By LyNNE SLADKy

People load pallets containing food and hygiene kits for a humanitarian assistance flight to Cuba organized by the Trump administration on Tuesday in Miami.

U.S., Iran attacks overshadow efforts to keep diplomacy alive

Strikes continue as attempts to salvage ceasefire go on

BY JON GAMBRELL and MUNIR AHMED Associated Press

ISLAMABAD The U.S. military

said it launched an 11th night of strikes on Iran early Wednesday as attacks across the Middle East overshadowed diplomatic efforts in Pakistan to salvage an interim ceaseﬁre deal that has collapsed U.S. Central Command did not immediately reveal the targets being struck in the latest wave, which comes after President Donald Trump telegraphed that strikes would be intensifying Before the newest barrage, Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni visited Pakistan, a key mediator in the conﬂict seeking to revamp diplomacy But it was unclear what new arrangement might be reached to end the war, which lately has become a battle for control over the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway vital to world energy supplies.

Speaking from the Oval Ofﬁce on Tuesday, Trump gave a dim view on possible talks, saying the U.S had “no interest in meeting.” He signaled that U.S. forces could soon target an area of Iran close to one of its main sites for enriching uranium.

With negotiations and shipping through the Strait of Hormuz largely stalled, both sides have sought to gain leverage by targeting civilian infrastructure in the region relied on by millions.

A barrage of U.S. strikes hasn’t loosened Iran’s grip on the strait, through which about one-ﬁfth of the world’s crude oil and natural gas was shipped before the war

The U.S. continued its airstrikes on the Islamic Republic Tuesday, and Iran attacked a tanker in the strait, forcing the crew to abandon the ship. Iran also kept up attacks against U.S. allies in the region. Sirens in Bahrain and Kuwait warned residents of incoming projectiles.

Islamabad, Pakistan, on Tuesday

The escalation pushed energy prices higher.

The international benchmark for crude oil traded Tuesday above $91 a barrel and regular gas in the U.S. climbed to an average of $4 a gallon.

The number of wounded U.S. personnel in the Iran war has grown to well over 500 troops, a U.S. ofﬁcial told The Associated Press. The total is higher than the Pentagon’s ofﬁcial tally on the Defense Casualty Analysis System, which currently shows 482 wounded.

The U.S. official, who was not authorized to discuss the matter with the media and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the system has a significant lag in reporting injuries. The official said that was a function of its design and not intentional In the Red Sea, Iran-backed Yemen’s Houthi rebels have opened a new front against Saudi Arabia by declaring a naval blockade of the kingdom, threatening the flow of global oil supplies and trade.

With the Strait of Hormuz blocked, Saudi Arabia has been relying on a pipeline to the Red Sea to get millions of barrels of oil out to market.

A news agency in Yemen that is run by the Houthis, SABA, said Tuesday that six ships in the Red

Sea were forced to reroute after they received warnings from the rebel group. The Associated Press could not conﬁrm the claim.

Three Houthi ofﬁcials said the group warned international shipping companies on Monday to avoid transiting through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the gateway to the Red Sea on the opposite side of the Arabian Peninsula from the Strait of Hormuz

The ofﬁcials spoke on condition of anonymity, saying they weren’t authorized to speak to journalists.

Momeni, Iran’s interior minister met Pakistan’s army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, according to two ofﬁcials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door negotiations. Momeni later met Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

In a statement, Sharif expressed deep concern over the recent U.S.-Iran escalation, and urged all sides to exercise restraint and avoid actions that could further destabilize the region. Pakistan’s political leadership and Munir, who serves as both the chief of army staff and defense forces, played a key role in brokering last month’s interim agreement between the U.S. and Iran. Islamabad has been working to persuade both sides to return to the negotiating table.

U.S.-Lebanon flights can resume, president says

Trump pledges help for country after meeting its leader

BY KAREEM CHEHAYEB and WILL WEISSERT Associated Press

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump pledged to help Lebanon “a lot” during a White House meeting on Tuesday with the country’s leader, Joseph Aoun, who came to push for long-term calm after months of war between Israel and the Iranbacked Hezbollah militant group.

The U.S. has championed peace in Lebanon but has been increasingly distracted by new escalation of the war in Iran, which has destabilized much of the Middle East. Trump says he now has little interest in talks with Iran’s leaders to end the war In the meantime, Lebanon and Israel have held rare direct talks mediated by Washington.

“It’s been a very badly treated place and country, and we’re going to have it properly treated and treated with the respect it deserves,” Trump told Aoun during a meeting which wrapped the Lebanese leader’s four-day visit to Washington.

“We’re gonna help it a lot,” he said of Lebanon, without giving concrete details.

Hours later, Trump made the surprise announcement that he’d allow American carriers to resume direct ﬂights to Lebanon for the ﬁrst time in 40-plus years after the U.S. suspended the route.

“I am hereby directing my Administration to allow all U.S airline carriers to ﬂy directly to Lebanon so that Americans can easily visit this beautiful land,” Trump said on social media after Aoun had left the White House.

It is highly unlikely U.S. carriers will want to fly into Lebanon in the near future, however, as the situation in Iran disrupts larger air traffic and questions about Hezbollah’s influence in parts of the country remain.

Direct ﬂights between the U.S. and Lebanon were suspended in 1985 by the Reagan administration

following the hijacking of TWA Flight 847.

Lebanon hopes the Washington talks result in Israeli troops withdrawing from large swaths of southern Lebanon that they currently occupy, and the Lebanese military receiving support to assert full control in areas where Hezbollah militants had held sway Trump said of Israel’s army withdrawing from Lebanon, “They’re in the process of doing that,” but didn’t elaborate.

Aoun told Trump, “Your vision is peace,” calling it Trump’s “legacy.” He also said Trump was a “great president.”

Trump responded by joking, “I do agree with that” and said Aoun was handsome and “knows how to get to me,” adding “Now he can have anything.”

Lebanon and Israel announced a “framework agreement” on June 26, setting a plan for Israeli forces to withdraw and for the disarmament of Hezbollah, which for decades had a strong presence in southern Lebanon. The deal’s implementation was to begin in small “pilot zones.”

The U.S. State Department said Monday that operations in three villages of one pilot zone had begun.

Two of them — Froun and Srifa — were not under Israeli military control to begin with, and the Lebanese army was already present there, while Israeli forces were at one point in a part of the third village, Zawtar al-Gharbieh.

BY MATTHEW LEE AP diplomatic writer

WASHINGTON The State Department has informed Congress that it plans to move ahead with the potential reopening of the U.S. Embassy in Libya, proposing to allocate nearly $41 million to restore America’s formal diplomatic presence in the North African nation after a near 14-year absence.

The department told lawmakers on Monday that the money would cover “a range of security-related activities associated with plans for the potential phased resumption of embassy operations in Libya,” according to a copy of the notiﬁcation obtained by The Associated Press

The move to reopen the embassy “is essential to advancing U.S. national secu-

rity interests,” it said “The United States must remain engaged in regions where near-peer competitors and other adversarial actors are actively expanding their inﬂuence.”

“Libya’s strategic location on the Mediterranean and its role in regional security, energy markets, and migration ﬂows make it vital to U.S. interests,” it said. “The country’s instability has drawn increased involvement from near-peer competitors, notably Russia, which threatens U.S and allied objectives in North Africa.”

Libyan officials representing both the western and eastern regions of the country that have been in conflict for more than a decade have recently met with top Trump administration officials, including Secretary of State

Marco Rubio and the senior adviser for Africa, Massad Boulos.

The State Department had told Congress in March that it was looking to begin preparations for a potential reopening of the embassy in Tripoli, which was shuttered in July, 2014, as conﬂict enveloped the country Since then, U.S. diplomats assigned to Libya have been based in neighboring Tunisia and the Mediterranean island of Malta.

But, until Monday, the department had yet to program any money to support that effort. The new funding will be used to vastly expand the security posture at a satellite ofﬁce in Tripoli that currently handles short visits by U.S. diplomats and other ofﬁcials and set the stage for a permanent presence.

PROVIDED PHOTO

Iran’s Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni, left, meets with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, right, in

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO President Donald Trump greets Lebanese President Joseph Aoun at the White House on Tuesday in Washington.

crat on the panel, warned of “another forever war.”

“This war is nowspiraling out of control again,” Murray said in her opening remarks.

Trumphas said repeatedly that “a deal is near,and the war will be over soon,” she said. “But now,he’sasking for $70 billion more —and for us to just trust him it’ll all work out ﬁne.”

Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint ChiefsofStaff, and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins were also testifying before the panel. The proposed budget package includes $60 billion and $12 billion for other national security needs, along with $10 billion for farm aid and $10 billion for voting law changes.

Before the hearing, the White Houseissued astatement urging supportofthe budget resolution,“without modiﬁcation —immediately.” Warfunding makes up the bulk of the GOP’snew budget proposal, one last priority package the Republicans hope to launch before lawmakers recess to campaign for the midterm elections. The package aims to help farmers struggling under Trump’stariffsand to pay for voter law changes, none of it paid for with offsets.

Most Americans continue to disapprove of how Trump is handling Iran, according to an AP-NORC poll. Gas prices have spiked as Iran works to controloil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. munitions are running low from the onslaught of American missile strikes, and Trump has shifted away from his own campaign promise notto

MAGGARD

Continued from page1A

auniversity-sidefinancial crisis, causing the athletic director to cut his department’sstaff by 25%.

In recent months, there wasa high-proﬁledismissal of longtime football coach and administrator Troy Wingerter after astate audit uncovered protocolirregularitiesinthe program’s recruiting budget.

Early in his stint at UL, Maggard oversawthe rise of the football program to top 25 status for the ﬁrsttime in school history.Steady bowl appearances began priorto Maggard starting in 2011, but the program enjoyed eight consecutivebowl appearances under his leadership —something only six other programs nationally have achieved.

“I am extremely proud of the many accomplishments that were made as aresult of the hard work and dedication of so many people,” Maggard said. “I will always be grateful to the amazing coaches, student-athletes, andstaffthat Ihad the privilege to work alongside over

draw the U.S. into prolonged military conﬂicts.

Nevertheless, Trump has shown no signs of backing offthe war,and theRepublicans have largelyrefused to confront his strategyor use Congress’ power of the purse and war powers authority to haltthe conﬂict.

“The commander in chief and the whole Department of Warare working very hard to bringthistoa resolution,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Benton, at hisweekly news conference Tuesday

Questionsoverleadership

Hegseth appearedbefore the panel facingatorrentof questionsabout notonly the war,but hisown leadership of thedepartment.

Sen. SusanCollins, the Republicanchair of the committee, opened the hearing saying it’s“deeplytroubling” thatthe Pentagon

thepast years. “I wantto thank Dr. Joe Savoie for taking achance on aﬁrst-time AD, andPresidentRamesh Kolluru for hislong-standingfriendship and support, both as acolleagueand now asour leader.Kerry and Ileave with lifelongfriendships,amazingmemories, anda forever fondness of southern Louisiana andthe Cajun culture.” Maggardisbest known for his head coach hirings. First,hehired Billy Napier to lead the football program,followedbyMichael Desormeaux

After the tragic passingof baseballcoach Tony Robichaux,MaggardhiredMatt Deggs, who hasled theCajunstoNCAA regional campaigns in four of thepast ﬁve seasons

He also hired Gerry Glasco to run thesoftball program. He kept UL in the nationalspotlight for seven seasons, before going to Texas Tech where he was the national runner-upfor two seasons.

Maggardalsooversawthe biggest fundraising campaignindepartment history by raising $30 millionand pulling off the $65 million OurLadyofLourdes Stadi-

has blocked or denied promotions to variousofﬁcers, particularly women and minorities.

murred.

“I can’tanswer thequestiononwhat it will cost,be-

cause theenemy hasa vote,” Caine said.

Kennedyseeks answers

Sen. John Kennedy,RMadisonville,was among several senators demanding answers over the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, asking if Iran will impose tolls on whathistorically has been an open waterway vital to the ﬂow of oil.

Caine said, “That’sahypothetical question, and Idon’t know the answer to that.”

ButKennedy retorted:

“Guys, we need straight answers.”

Tensionsexploded toward the end of the morethan three-hour hearing.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, DN.Y.,told Hegseth ﬂatly that his war claims don’tadd up.

Hasthe U.S. obliterated Iran’snuclear capabilitiesor not? she demanded to know

“We’re staying laserfocused on the objective,” Hegseth responded, “and you’re trying to make campaign commercials.”

Sen. JonOssoff, D-Ga.,

probed Hegseth’spast assessments of the war,including the secretary’sclaimsof Iran’ssurrender WhenDemocratic Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan said theadministration’s war strategyhas been a complete “failure,” Hegseth erupted.

“Shame on youand others whocallthis aquagmireand afailure,” Hegseth said. Peters told the secretary, “You, sir,are the failure.” The senatorsaidit’snot the U.S. troops whoare failing, but their leaders. “You don’thaveastrategy,”Peters said.“Youdon’t have a long-term plan to actually winthis war.” Hegseth said Democrats have “Trump Derangement Syndrome” andwon’t give him the money he needs. Peters said it’snot about money,“but aquestionof leadership.”

This week,the Senate will consider another war powersresolution, havingvoted nearly adozen times to try to halt the conﬂict.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire questioned why Hegseth is asking for moremoney when the department has not yet spent about half the $150 billion Republicans providedthe Pentagon in lastyear’sbig budget bill.

“Why are youasking the American people to absorb the cost of awar they don’t support?” asked Shaheen.

When Hegseth started describing the“historic nature” of Trump’smilitary strategy,she cut him off.

Hegseth later explainedthat therest of last year’sbudget package would be spentby September

When GOPSen. Mike Rounds wanted to know if this funding request would be enough to “get the job done,” thegeneral de-

um renovation project

In addition to family in Missouri, Maggard spent over twodecades in Columbia,South Carolina. It’s where he gothis doctorate and later workedasa professor and in theathletic departmentprior to becoming the athleticdirector at UL on Feb. 1, 2017.

“Weare deeply grateful to Dr.Bryan Maggard for his leadership and unwaveringcommitmenttoLouisiana Athletics,” Kolluru said in astatement. “Under Bryan’sleadership, our program reached remarkable milestones,including eight consecutive bowl appearances, fiveSun BeltFootball Championship Game appearances, two Sun Belt football championships, and six College Football Playoff rankings.

“Theseachievements reflect hisvision,dedication, and the excellence of the student-athletes, coaches, and staff he led. We thankBryan and his wife, Kerry,for their service to ourUniversity and wish them every success and happiness as they begin this next chapter.”

Email KevinFooteat kfoote@theadvocate.com.

Appointments arefirst come, firstserved, and everyservice is 100% free. Simply call one of our offices to reserveyour spot.

Audibelis NOW Offering...

•Hearing aids at NO COST to those who qualify!•

• That’s Right...No Co-Pay!NoExamFee! No AdjustmentFee! If youhavethiscard, youmay qualifyfor free hearing aids! Call today to verifyyour benefits.

y Consolidated Govern‐ment Building,located at 705 West University Av‐enue,Lafayette Louisiana, until 3:00 pm CentralTimeonthe 6TH dayof August 2026 for thefollowing: POLYMERSMOOTHCOR DUAL WALL STORM SEWERPIPE andwill, shortlythere‐after,beopenedand read aloudinCityHalllo‐catedat705 West Univer‐sity Avenue,Lafayette LA.Bidsreceivedafter theabove speciﬁed time foropening shallnot be considered andshall be returned unopened to thesender. Bidders are encouraged to attend the bidopening virtually by

LCGrecommendsregis‐tering days in advanceof thetimethatbidsare due. It is thesolerespon‐sibility of thebidderto h i bid i d li y ensure their bid is deliv‐ered (whether electroni‐callyvia Vendor Access, in person,orvia mail)to thePurchasingDivision priortothe scheduled date andtimeofthe bid opening. Vendorsmay requestthe bidpackage electronically from Thomas Metrejeanat tg‐metrejean@lafayettela gov. Vendorssubmittingbids electronically arere‐quired to providethe same documentsasbid‐ders submitting through themailassoon as avail‐able.Onlya bidbond, certiﬁed checkor cashier’scheck shallbe submittedasthe bidse‐curity Electronic copies of both thefront and

Tropical StormBerthabears down on Louisiana

From staff and wire reports

Southeast Louisiana bracedfor Tropical Storm Bertha as it meandered toward an expected landfall Wednesday,but forecasters’ predictions that its heaviest effects could remain offshore left residents hopeful of escaping serious damage. Parts of coastal Acadiana are under atropical storm watch as the storm becomes better organized, with sustained winds of 60 mph.

Forecasters sketchedout ascenario expected to limit Bertha’spower Wind shear and dry air from the northeast would likely slice at the disorganized storm’sstructure, preventing it from intensifying. The shear was alsoexpected to push Bertha’sconvection to its south and keep much

REGULATION

Continued from page1A

multiple follow-up request for comments this month

Other Republican lawmakers have expressed interest in moving ahead with Henry’splan.

“I agreewithCameron (Henry) —you know,ifCongressdoesn’t actwithinthe next year,the states aregoing to have to do something,” said state Rep. Vincent Cox, R-Gretna, who unsuccessfully sponsored two AI-related bills. “I don’tsee (Congress) doing anything right now.”

Meanwhile, it appears unlikely that Gov. Jeff Landry would green-light legislation in deﬁance of the Trump administration. Landry,who has the powertoveto most bills, is aclose friend of the president “Weagreewith the Trump administration that these decisions are best regulated at the federallevel,” said Kate Kelly,a spokesperson for Landry.“The Trump administration issued the national policyframework in March of 2026. They also issuedan executive order on June2 We will use thosetwo documents as guiding lightsgoing forward.”

Trump has generally been reluctant to curb the useof AI, arguing that restrictions wouldhinderU.S. advances in the technology In March, the Trump administration released its AI policy agenda, which says Congress should block state AI laws that “impose undue burdens,” all with the goalof ensuring“aminimally burdensomenational standard” to promoteAmerican dominance in the technology Butthe frameworken-

of therainfall over theGulf. Theriskoftornadoes spinning off from Bertha’s winds also appeared relatively low,officials said,but thepotential for heavyrain, flash floods and troublesome storm surge in some areas remained concerns.

Atropical storm watch is in effect from Morgan City to around theVermilion/ Cameronparishborder, according to theNational Hurricane Center Included in thetropical storm watch are portionsof lower St. Mary,Iberiaand

Vermilion parishes National Weather Service forecasters said Bertha wasexpectedtogradually weaken Wednesday through Friday as it moved alongthe coast toward Texas.

Stormsurge couldrise to up to 4feet in some coastal

areas, whichcould pose problems, particularly if it occurs at high tide.

Damon Singleton, The Advocate.com’ssenior meteorologist, said it seemed “most of the rainfall is going to be over the Gulf.”

“I’m still expecting showers and stormsacross the area,” he said.“Ithink this is going to be an all-dayevent foryour Wednesday.You’re going to notice the winds picking up and the showers and maybe even sometropical downpours at times.”

Berthaisnot expected to be aproblemfor Acadiana.

The bulk of the clouds are to the south of the storm, over the Gulf, so there should be little rain or wind in the Lafayette area.

Stateprepares

The New Orleans area was among abroad swath of the regionunder atropical storm warning. In additiontotropicalstorm-force winds, theregionwas expecting between 2-4 inches of rainfall, and potentially 6inches in isolated areas,

through Thursday In southeast Louisiana’s coastalcommunities, officials and residents monitored the incoming storm but said they weren’tfazed by the looming weather Grand Isle Mayor David Carmardelle declinedtoissueavoluntary evacuation for his town, located on a barrier island offLouisiana’sGulf Coast. He said on Tuesday he saw both residents and visitors for the annualTarpon Rodeo out on the town’sbeaches and campgrounds as normal.

“We’regoing to monitor thestorm, batten down the hatches,the stormwill come through and it’ssupposed to be sunshine thenextday,” Carmardelle said. The TarponRodeo, a three-day party and important tourism event for the island, delayed its Thursday kickoff by severalhours in anticipation of thecoming storm. The Jefferson Parish Council relocated its annual Grand Isle meeting scheduled forWednesday to Gretna.

dorsed regulations that would protect childrenfrom thedangers of AI, such as sexual exploitation andselfharm linked to chatbot use.

And inJune, the president took asmall step toward creating more restrictions aroundthe technology,signinganexecutive orderthat established afederal framework for reviewing the risks AI systems pose to national security.Participation by developers wouldbevoluntary,accordingtothe order Theorder also stressed theimportanceoflawsthat prevent AI from being used to commit crimes.

Louisianabills that failed

In thespring, numerous bills filedbyRepublicans and Democrats alike lost their shot at moving forward amid opposition from the Trumpadministration.

One of the many bills on thetablewouldhave requiredhumans to review health insurance claim denials made using AI. Another proposal would have required employers to do the same for decisionsto hire, ﬁreand promote employees.

Cox voiced frustration that his two bills, which included the bill regulating employers, HouseBill 421, “didn’tget achance to pass.”

Thestate representative’s other proposal, House Bill 157, attemptedtoprotect Louisiana musiciansby making it illegaltouse AIgenerated content of another person’slikeness or voice for commercial purposes without that person’spermission.

Coxpulledboth bills upon learning from the Landry administration that Trump threatened to go after federal fundsused toexpand broadband access if states passed certain AI regula-

tions. That could have put millionsofdollars that Louisiana was slated to receive on the line, though it was unclear how much power the Trump administration actually had over the funding.

Cox recentlyvowed to bringHB157 back next year; he said he is less certain about whetherhewill move forward with HB421, whichwould be more controversial.

Thehealth insurancelegislation —Senate Bill246 —was sponsored by state Sen. Jay Luneau, aDemocrat from Alexandria, who also parked his bill out of concern for the broadband funds but promised to sponsor it again next year

“My plan allalonghas been to bring my bill back, and the reason for that is because it really is avery commonsensical bill,” he said. “It’snot unreasonable, certainly,and Ithink awhole lot of people want to see that.”

SB246 received earlysupportfrom state Sen. Adam Bass, aRepublican from BossierCity, whohelped shape the legislation. The teamwork between Bass and Luneau was unusual, considering the two senators often clash on insurance issues.

Bass didnot return arequest for comment

What didpass

Measures that did pass included laws toughening criminal penalties around theuse of some AI-generated pornography,regulatingthe useofAIinpolitical advertisements andrequiringhealthcare workers to disclose when they record patient visits forAItranscriptions.

Forexample, Act 806 by state Rep. Mandie Landry, D-New Orleans, requires political advertisements to

disclosethe use AI to imitate acandidate in some cases

Act 782 by state Rep.Bryan Fontenot,R-Thibodaux, made it acrime for minors to “possess, sell or maliciously disseminate” AI-generated pornography “with theintent to coerce, harass, or intimidate another person.” It also requires schools toeducate kids about AI-generated pornography laws

AndAct 211 by state Sen. Heather Cloud, R-Turkey Creek, made it acrime to use achild’simage to train AI to generatepornography

The child pornography laws passedthanks to the Trumpadministration’s sup-

port of AI laws protecting children.

But other bills in that vein did not moveforward.

HB734 by state Rep. Josh Carlson, R-Lafayette, one of the most conservative voices in theHouse, would have establishedanAIconsumer bill of rights and requiredparentalpermission for AI chatbot interactions with children. Carlson did notreturn requests for comment.

Chatbots have caused growing public concern after several high-proﬁlecasesin which they have encouraged people in mental health crisestoharmthemselves. Some users died by suicide.

State Rep. Laurie Schlegel, R-Metairie, who did not sponsora chatbot bill but has helped shape state technology regulations, said she agreed it would be best to have oneset of national AI restrictions in place. But she, too, expressed interest in pursuing state AI regulations, especially when it comes to child protection —and she said she believed Trump’spositiongives“leeway” forsuch policies.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Email Meghan Friedmann at meghan.friedmann@ theadvocate.com.

thoritywiththe bidshall because forrejection of bid Copies of thebidding documents areavailable atthe office of Purchas‐ing &PropertyManage‐mentATTN:Dabne Dover (337-291-8262) locatedat 705 W. University Avenue Lafayette,LA70506. Bid Documents shallbe available until twentyfourhours before thebid opening date.Questions relativetothe bidding documents shallbead‐dressedtoDabne Dover atdabnedover@ lafayettela.gov or 337291-8262. Contractorsare re‐quested to attend anonmandatory pre-bidmeet‐ing,which will be held on July30, 2026 at 10:00 AM atthe Ambassador Caf‐ferySewer Treatment Plant locatedat4112 Am‐bassadorCaffery Park‐way,Lafayette,LA70503 Bidders unable to attend the pre-bidinpersoncan attend by joiningthrough ZOOMusing thefollow‐ing link:https://us02web zoom.us/j/83112120106? pwd=hdRDFrQjg0V6xoc qga5qv4KPXfH9k6.1. Al‐ternatively,a meetingin‐vitecan be forwardedto you viaemail by contact‐ing DabneDover at (337) 291-8262 or dabnedover@ lafayettela.gov Each bidshall be accom‐paniedbya certified check,cashier’s check, orbid bond payableto the Lafayette Consoli‐dated Government,the amount of which shallbe five percent(5%)ofthe basebid

Complaint requests investigation into Touchet

Claim alleges school workers paid for days off

BY CLAIRE TAYLOR Staff writer

A Lafayette Parish resident has filed a complaint asking the District Attorney’s Office to investigate Lafayette Parish schools Superintendent Francis Touchet for paying some school employees for days they didn’t work. Suzanne Higginbotham filed the complaint Monday with the District Attorney’s Office in the 15th Judicial District in Lafayette and said she plans to file a complaint with the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s Office as well.

ELECTION

H H H H H H

Davis seeks to stay on pace with Letlow’s funds

2 facing off in U.S Senate race

BY ALYSE PFEIL Staff writer

While U.S. Rep Julia Letlow, RBaton Rouge, still has a big fundraising advantage in the contest for U.S. Senate, Democrat Jamie Davis’ campaign is touting a haul of $1.6 million as evidence he can run a competitive race. Davis raised that amount between April and June, according to the latest campaign ﬁnance disclosures. That brings his total amount raised to just under $2 million; his campaign has $479,000 cash on hand as of June 30.

“The people are showing they want to hear about our vision for a Louisiana we can all afford,” Davis said in a statement. “The smart money said a farmer from Tensas Parish couldn’t do this. The people of Louisiana just proved otherwise.” Davis’ campaign said the money came from 60,000 donors in all 50 states.

ä See FUNDS, page 4B

Races shaping up for 5th, 6th districts

Candidates raising funds ahead of qualifying

BY ALYSE PFEIL Staff writer

State Sen. Rick Edmonds, R-Baton Rouge, is so far the only major candidate to declare he’s running in the newly drawn 6th Congressional District, and he’s got $317,000 to spend, according to the latest campaign ﬁnance records

But state Sen. Blake Miguez, a Republican from the Acadiana region, is still a wild card. He hasn’t said whether he’ll run — and he has just over $2 million in a campaign account. Also looming in that Baton Rouge-area race as well as the contest for the 5th District seat based in Monroe — is whether President Donald Trump will back any of the candidates.

ä See CAMPAIGN, page 4B

The complaint asks for an investigation into Touchet’s implementation of the 2026 summer work schedule and whether Touchet exceeded the authority granted him by the School Board, resulting in the unauthorized expenditure of public funds and pos-

sible violation of Louisiana law, board policy and boardapproved employment terms. To uchet was not available for comment. Spokesperson Tracy Wirtz sent the following instead:

“The Lafayette Parish School Board voted unanimously during its April 16 meeting to authorize the superintendent to establish summer operating hours and work schedules for June and July 2026. The action was consistent with School Board Policy GBAA, which states: ‘The Lafayette Parish School Board reserves the right to change or modify work hours it determines are in the best interest of the Lafayette Parish School System.’ Should either agency request information or assistance, the district will cooperate fully.”

The statement does not answer fundamental questions like were employees paid for days they did not

Opelousas native brings Cajun spirit to X Games

Wyatt Fontenot to compete this weekend with Mardi Gras-themed

BY JA’KORI MADISON Staff writer

Riding a Mardi Gras-themed bike with a custom alligatorskin seat cover, Opelousas native Wyatt Fontenot is bringing a piece of Louisiana to the 2026 X Games Championship in New Orleans this weekend.

Fontenot will return to his home state to compete in the grand finale of the inaugural MoonPay X Games League Summer Season, taking place July 24-26 at the Caesars Superdome. Live music will be part of the three-day experience, with artists such as Metro Boomin and Subtronics set to perform.

Competing in front of family and friends adds another level of motivation, Fontenot said.

“It’s cool that I’m able to express myself being that I’m from Louisiana,” Fontenot said.

“People know me as the Ragin’ Cajun, and it’s cool. I’m proud of where I’m from.”

Earning his first X Games medal — a bronze in the Best Whip competition at X Games Sacramento in June — has only added to his motivation. Having one of action sports’ biggest events in his home state makes this year’s competition even more special.

“When I saw it would be held in Louisiana, I was like, ‘Pinch me. Is this a joke?’” Fontenot said.

Marking the first time an X Games event has been held so close to his hometown, Fontenot will compete in the Moto X Best Whip competition inside the Superdome, which is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday

Those competing in the best whip challenges must throw

ä See GAMES, page 4B

Iberia, Vermilion parishes cited for budget violations

State audits find several funds in 5% or more deficiencies

BY JOEL THOMPSON Staff writer

Audits released this week found both Iberia and Vermilion parishes to be noncompliant in their maintenance of several budget funds. The Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s Office released both documents Monday which show that the respective parish gov-

ernments received less revenue than anticipated in various funds. Governmental bodies are required by state law to introduce amendments to the budget when a budget’s actuals are off by more than 5%, either in excess or in deﬁciency According to the audits, the Vermilion Parish Police Jury’s general fund and public works maintenance fund both reported a 5% deﬁciency from anticipated numbers, while the 1978 sales tax fund, royalty

comparisons. The Police Jury audit also found multiple material weaknesses relating to monitoring of fund for capital projects and federal grant activity, as well as incorrect reconciliation of ﬁnancial records. The audit of Iberia Parish government states that the general fund, public building maintenance fund and the economic develop-

ment district fund each came back with deficiencies greater than 5%.

Iberia ofﬁcials said several measures are being taken to correct the budget errors, including the initiation of monthly budget-to-actual reviews, and monthly review of project-related revenues. Ofﬁcials said they expect all corrective measures to be fully in place by Dec. 31. Iberia’s audit also uncovered material weaknesses relating to inaccurate capital asset records and the preparation of documents relating to federal award expenditures.

PHOTO PROVIDED By X GAMES Wyatt Fontenot displays his first medal, a bronze in the Best Whip

PHOTO By PEARCE ADAIR

Wyatt Fontenot, an Opelousas native, will be competing in New Orleans for the 2026 X Games Championship

Davis

Letlow

ä See COMPLAINT, page 4B

Touchet

VIEWS

Thanks to Doug Thornton, theSuperdome exec whobrought theiconback afterKatrina

When longtime Superdome executive Doug Thornton steps down in afew weeksafter29 years at the forefront of New Orleans sports management ,hewill leave one of the greatest legaciesofcivic achievement in the state’shistory.Indoing so, he not onlyensured professional sports wouldremain in Louisiana,but thrive even after Hurricane Katrina ripped the roof off the stadium while it was packed with evacuees. Thornton, 68, will be sorely missed, and we wish him well.

Back in 1988, Thornton was onthe ground ﬂoor of discussions as the Young Leadership Council of New Orleans helped to spearheadcreationof an entity called the Greater New OrleansSports Foundation, designed to coordinate the city’s sports-hospitality efforts.

Within avery short time,Thornton becamethe foundation’spresident andCEO. He helped make it the driving force behind what seemed like a wild dream of securing theOlympic trials for track and ﬁeld; and it also led the hosting efforts for the Junior Olympics,the National Gymnastics Championships, both men’sand women’s NCAA basketball Final Fours and more. Thornton left the foundationin1997tobecome general manager of the Superdome and the thenNew Orleans Arena. In that role and subsequent jobs (still working from aSuperdome ofﬁce), Thornton was the proverbial“essentialman” as the Dome cemented its status as thenation’s most storied and treasuredbig-sports-event facility Saints fans should particularlythank Thornton for his key role in securing the team’slease extension with the Superdome in 2001. The negotiations were highly contentious, with owner Tom Benson threateningtosellthe team or move it to Mississippi, but Thorntongot itdone. Then, heroically,Thorntonremained in the Dome during the nightmare of Hurricane Katrina and, afterward, somehow managedwithin asingle year to lead the stadium’s850-worker rebuilding effort to repair $336 millionindamages in time for the next year’sNFL season. It was an epic accomplishment, culminating in the unforgettable reopening homegameinwhich our Who Datstrampledthe AtlantaFalcons

In 2009, it was Thorntonagain who capped three years of negotiations with Saints executive Dennis Lauscha —this time,with both sides determined to be cooperative despite daunting challenges —byconcocting acreativeleasearrangement that satisfied all sides and kept the Saints firmly committed for the long haul. And there’ssomuch more to the story of the myriadwaysinwhich Thorntonhas showncivic leadership and successfully worked forthe bettermentofnot just the city,but the wholestate that benefitsfrom the tourism and sporting events he has courted for so long andsowell. Thorntonsurely has greatnew chaptersto be part of, but finally now without the pressure cooker that for 29 years has been hisvocation. Massive thanks are due to him, fromastate much better through his efforts.

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

OPINION

An‘all-of-the-above’energy

strategy needed forLa.’s future

Louisiana’senergy future is changing rapidly.Major datacenter investments, industrial expansion and growing electricity demand are reshaping thestate’s energy landscape. These projects promise billions in investment and thousands of jobs,but theyalso require new power generationand grid infrastructure. Meeting this demand will require an “all-of-theabove” energy strategy that prioritizes reliability,affordability and American energy production.

Recognizing thesechallenges, the Louisiana Legislatureadopted Act279, creating astatewide permitting frameworkfor utility-scale solar while preserving local authority through aparish opt-out process. Since then, parishes across thestate have reviewed renewable energy ordinances,tackling issues such as setbacks,buffers, decommissioning, emergency planning, road maintenance and agricultural compatibility.These areimportant local concerns, but regulations should protect communities without imposing unnecessary requirementsthatdiscourage responsible investment

Louisiana’senergy future should not be framed as one energy source vs. an-

other.Natural gas and nuclear energy will remain essential for grid reliability, while utility-scale solar and battery storage can be deployedmore quickly to meet rapidly growing demand and reducestrain during peak periods. Alongside transmission upgrades and infrastructure modernization, these resources can help ensure the state remains competitive as energy needs grow Preparation, not reaction, must guide Louisiana’spath forward. By sharing best practices, learning from neighboring parishes and working collaboratively withindustry, utilities and local stakeholders, communities can develop balanced policies that protect local priorities while encouraging investment. At Energy Right and America First Energy Project Louisiana,wework to provide factual information, model ordinances and technicalresources so everyparishcan make informeddecisions thatrespect private property, strengthenlocal economiesand ensure Louisiana has thereliable, affordable energy needed to power its future.

JEFF ARNOLD executivedirector,AmericaFirst Energy ProjectLouisiana Metairie

Napoleon’s misadventuresled to La.Purchase

Further to Nancy Landry’srecent guest column on Napoleon, titled “An inconceivable offer,” an important footnote should be added.

Napoleon had just been beaten badly on the island of Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti)

Napoleon invaded the island, tricking the leader of theslave insurgency, Toussaint Louverture, into aFrench prison. Louverture was intentionally maltreated until he died in captivity. Despiteoverwhelming numbers of soldiers and tallships, Napoleon’sarmy

was soundly defeated on the island, and by 1803 was in total retreat.

The fighting, bloodshed and chaos on the island forced many thousands of refugees to flee, first to Cuba, then to the Orleans Territory.These Creoles arrivedvia theMississippi River to New Orleans,changing New Orleans, Louisiana and the United States forever However,Napoleon’sthirst for money and blood continued unabated, et voila, the Louisiana Purchase happened.

CHARLES DEAN DOMINGUE Baton Rouge

Stricter rulesare needed to stop fraudulent

voting

than endless politicalsniping

As America celebrates the 250th anniversary of our nation’sfounding, we should remember that our Founding Fathers built arepublic not on unanimity,but on principled debate mutualrespect and ashared commitment to the commongood. That lesson is especially important today

The ongoing public back-and-forth between Louisiana’sstate leaders and New Orleans’ elected ofﬁcials has become an unnecessary distraction. Healthy disagreement is part of democracy.Personal attacks, political theater and endless sniping are not.

The people of Louisiana deserve better

Taxpayers expect their elected leaders to focus on public safety,education, infrastructure, economic opportunity and improving the quality of life for every citizen —not wasting valuable time and resources on avoidable conﬂict. Leadership is not measured by who wins the latest political argument. It is measured by who solves problems, builds consensus and puts the public interest ahead of personal pride or political advantage.

We can disagree without being disagreeable. We can defend our convictions while respecting those with whomwediffer.That is the essence of statesmanship.

Louisiana and New Orleans are blessed with extraordinary people, rich history,vibrant culture and tremendous opportunity.Weshould be united by our shared commitment to serve the citizens who entrusted us with public ofﬁce.

Ioffer asimple appeal to every elected ofﬁcial: Choose leadership over division. Choose respect over rhetoric. Drop the bullying. Dropthe personal attacks. Drop the unnecessary charges and sniping.

Work together where you can, disagree respectfully where you must and never lose sight of the people you were elected to serve.

ColumnistSteve Roberts repeats the Democrat mantra, saying that studies show evidence of voter fraudisrare. He is correct. If voter ID andproof of citizenshipare not required, there will be little or no evidence of nonresidents voting. If nonrequested ballots are mailed to everyone on the voter rolls, harvestedand submitted by “volunteers” andthencounted withoutstrict validation, therewill be scantevidence of deadpersonsand non-residentsvoting. France, for one, ceased most mail-in ballots precisely becauseoffraud. If police areprohibited fromusing radar andsobriety/license checkpoints, there will be little or no evidenceofpeoplespeeding while drinking anddriving withoutalicense.Itisremarkable how hard Democrats ﬁght to stopsolutions to problems they insistdonot exist.

The American experiment has endured for 250 years because leaders understood that freedom requires responsibility

The people deserve your very best. Let’sprove we are worthy of their trust.

ADRIAN BRUNEAU chairman, Orleans Parish Republican ExecutiveCommittee NewOrleans

DALE MORRIS Destrehan

NolanWells’death speaks to only Blackpersoninthe room

Nolan Wells has been laid to rest, but the court of publicopinionisnot at rest.

There’slittle knownabout why he is dead, and what little we know is disturbing

I’ve watched this real-life drama unfold for weeks. Ayoungman went offfor aFourth of July day of funwith friends and went missing.Atthat point, it wasn’tmuch of anews story

His picture was released as law enforcement ofﬁcials, his family and others lookedfor him

His friends’ pictures were published. He was Black.

They are White.

Graham’s critics swarmed to hislight, buttheydon’t know him

COLUMBIA, S.C. It is often said that if you’re not disliked, you haven’tdone anything notable during your Earth cycle.

Victor Hugo warned of this in his essay “Villemain,” published in 1845: “You have enemies? Why,itisthe story of every man whohas done agreat deed or created anew idea. It is the cloud which thunders around everything that shines. Famemust have enemies, as light must have gnats.”

LikeNolan Wells, I’ve been the only one too manytimes to count. This is whysome of us go to all- or mostly-Black high schools and universities. It’swhy someofusjoin Black fraternities and social clubs. It’swhy some of us join Black nature, ski and snow groups. Anything can happen, but it feels safe.

Will Sutton

If you think race doesn’tmatter,consider why this became an international story.Why? Becauseracematters.

As Iwatchedthe Nolan Wells service online, Iwas pleased to see Black and White mourners.

If you’ve neverbeen theonly one, you don’tknow how that feels. If you’ve neverbeen the only Black person in agroup, you don’tknow how it feels. If you’ve never been the only Black friend, you don’tknow howit feels.

Nearly everybody who knows me knows I’m aproud Black man.I am proud of my ethnicity and my race.I’m also proud to be an American

My grandfather,aproud Black man,was the only one working at arural Mississippi hotel. With an eighth grade education, he was nice to the White people and did his job to feed his family.Iimagine he hidhis grimaces and was happy when he could smile. Better to feel safe.

My father,aproud Black man,ﬁnished high school at Alexander High School in Brookhaven, Mississippi, because his Monticello high school didn’t have what he needed to advance. His mother sent him away to something that was nothing like aboarding school; it was aroom in anice woman’shouse, aplace to study andsleep and return to school the next day.Fortunately,he made lifelong friends with some proud Black men,men Igot to know.Each went to historically Black colleges and universities. Each earned doctorates. Each becameuniversityexecutives. Twobecame university presidents, includingmyfather

With all of that success, they often found themselves as the only one in the room,and the only one among friends. They would talk about what it was like being theonly one in the room My dad taught me to be aproud Black man He taught me to be agood human. He taught me to be proud and appreciate others. As alongtime member of a multi-racial church, an active member of anational organization of Christians and Jews and amember of boards on which he was one of afew,one of two or the only one, he taught me to accept all people. Still, race was and is afact of life. No matter the group, we want to be safe.

Beforethis, Nolan Wells’ parents hadnoreason to distrust their son’s friends, but Wells not having his keys or his phone, and the deletion of data on friends’ phones —and on his phone —raises serious concerns and questions.

When something like this happens ayoung man going missing —alot of us proud Black men wonder whether he was Black When we hear friends were involved, we almost always ask, “Black or White?”

Email Will Sutton at wsutton@ theadvocate.com.

3reasons nottovisit Europe this summer

For some reason, many Americans seem convinced they havetotourEurope this summer —despite the heat, oppressive crowds and high prices all descending on the continent. And if anyone needs afourth reason, it’sto recognize the growing resentment among many Europeans as the tourist hordes turn their town centers into trinketmalls, eroding their way of life and,in the process, stripping what made those places worth visiting in theﬁrst place. The mystery remains whysomany Americans insist on their grand tour when they,too, are made miserable by the big three discomforts. Theheathas become especially brutal. Paris traditionally enjoys atemperateclimate This year,aheat wave has pushed temperatures there wellabove 100 degrees. Even now,there isn’tmuchair conditioning in Paris. Spain seems the current ground zero forlocals trying to get throughthe rampart of tourists as they go about their day.Barcelona has become the main battleground for overtourism. The city now has acommissioner for “sustainable tourism.” He sayshis goal is to keep the numbers down, especially among the (unruly) brigades thereto party rather than absorbthe local culture. The city,hesays,stillwelcomes foreigners coming on business.

Barcelona’sLaBoqueria was considered one of Europe’sgreatest food markets. It offered abounty of vegetables,ﬁsh and meat that the locals would buy to cook at home.Vendors selling street food to touristshave taken it over,causing many residents to stop going there.

Froma Harrop

This dry,hot summer has set off walls of ﬂame now engulfingparts of Spain, Portugal andGreece. There are many deaths. In Spain alone, over adozen retirees, mainly Britishand Belgian, have gone missing.Yet the tourists keep pouring in.

Three years ago, we foundourselves in Parisfor afamily wedding. The wide plaza fronting Notre Dame Cathedral was so clogged with tourists, we had to walk by in the street. The crazy part was that Notre Dame wasn’teven open then. It was still closed for reconstruction following adevastating ﬁre several years before. That reminded me of an unhappy hour oncespent waiting in the hot Roman sun to gain entry to the Colosseum. It was afabulous thing to see, but thediscomfort of getting in was as memorable as the place itself.

TheEuropean Union now has aprocess at theborder called the Entry-Exit System. What it does is subject non-EU visitors to amore exhaustive identity

process.The goal —tostop foreigners from sneaking into the Schengen visafree travel area —isunderstandable. Butitends up subjecting visitors from theU.S., Britain and other nonEU-countries to endless waits to get through passport control. Onesurvey found that negotiating thelongest airport lines took over three hours. (Then it’soff to baggage claim.)

The post-pandemic inﬂation that Americanscomplained about was worse in much of Europe, and that’s reﬂected in the prices for restaurant meals,hotels and airfare. Making it still moreexpensive is adollar that has weakened against theeuro. Its buying power is down about 4.2% from two years ago. Back home, we have shade trees, a bedofzinnias and cardinals splashing in the birdbath. Life outdoorsisgood or at least not miserable. When the temps pass 90, we retreat intothe AC. Iwas once determined to visit part of Europe every year or two. It’snow been three since I’ve been back. Sure, I’d like to see Barcelona. ButI’m going to do myself and the Barcelonans afavor by not going, even though I’m anice person and can speak Spanish. Save themicrowaved paella for someone else.

Froma Harrop is on Twitter,@FromaHarrop.

Lindsey Graham, the longtime Republican senator from South Carolina, had barely drawnhis last breath before the gnats swarmed and the clouds thundered. His death Saturday from a“brief and sudden illness,” later determined to be an aortic dissection, brought out the best and worst of our humanity.Graham’s adoption of his sister after their parents died when he was 22 and she was 13 was the ﬁrst hint of the kind of man he was and would become—generous; caring; afriend to all, including his political foes; and acheerfulwarrior whose witcould makeamannequin laugh. He wasalso amilitary lawyer and retired as acolonel in the Air Force Reserve after serving for33years.

Unapologetically hawkish, Graham had just returned to Washington Saturday after ameeting in Ukraine with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Ileave conspiracy theorists to their delusions while also reminding them,along with Graham’s critics, that death imposes agrace period out of respect forthe late and the bereaved. We once knew this as anation, but social media has no patience.

Graham’scolleagues seemed to agree that if you didn’tlike the senator,you didn’tknow him Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey told MS NOWthat Graham wasthe kind of guy whowould ﬁght ferociously in public, but “when the spotlight was off, he was like, ‘Hey Cory,can we talk and try to ﬁgure out is there a way to makeadeal?’”

Even the media liked the quippy Graham especially during the 2016 presidential primarydebates when he was relegated to the undercard “kids’ table,” from which he reigned hilariously,usually at Donald Trump’sexpense. His manymemorable quotes on and off the stage haunted him as he morphed into Trump’s trusted sidekick.

In recent years, countless people have asked me, “What in the world happened to Lindsey Graham?” They couldn’twrap their minds around the Graham whoonce seemed to despise Trumpand the Graham whowas Trump’s gleeful golﬁng pal. The answer is that Graham was above all apragmatist. He could either be in the room and play arole in history,orwhat? Continue to snipe and becomeirrelevant? Graham decided he could do moreonthe inside than on the outside.

Not only washeinevery room,hewas often there before anyone else.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, served on the Senate Judiciary Committee with Graham and worked with him as part of the GangofEight to reform immigration policy.Durbin recalled seeing Graham at the NATO summitthis month in Turkey When Durbin and other members of the House and Senate arrived, Graham was already working the room of 50 or 60 people, “walking them through, one at atime, his vision on how we could end the warinUkraine and the legislation we needed to accomplish that. Typical of Lindsey Graham,” Durbin said.

SupremeCourt Justice Elena Kagan, appointed by President Barack Obama, gave Graham credit forclinching her conﬁrmation by giving her achance to show her sense of humor.During aSenate hearing, he had asked her where she was at Christmas. Kagan answered: “Like all Jews, Iwas probably at aChinese restaurant.”

Like everyone, Graham wasn’tjust one thing, and his legacy should be judged eventually by the entirety of his lifeand work. The short version is that he was aSouthern gentleman who loved his country and would rather hold ameeting of the minds than agrudge, even if he had to ﬁght to get there.

Provocateur,diplomat, humorist, warrior compromiser and friend, Graham devoted his lifetohis country.May he rest in peace, and may we heed Hugo’sadvice on how to regard one’scritics: “Donot bother yourself about it; disdain. Keepyour mind serene as you keep your lifeclear.”

Kathleen Parker is on X, at @kathleenparker

Kathleen Parker

STAFF PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER

Family andfriendsofNolan Wells pause in front of his casket during amemorial service at Center PointeChurch in Ocean Springs, Miss., on Monday.

Letlow raised slightly less than Davis in the second quarter, bringing in about$1.5million,according to federal campaign finance records. But shestill hasa major moneyadvantage.

In total, Letlow has raised$6.2 million. That includes money totaling roughly $4 million from Letlow’sHouse campaignfund and other PACs. At the end of June, her Senate campaign had $1.4million in cash on hand.

“This campaign has always been about ﬁghting for our families, our values, and the future we leave to our children,”Letlowsaidina statement. “I will continueworking every day to earn their trust andsupportasweheadtoward November.”

To be sure, Letlow enjoys several significant advantages. She hasPresident Donald Trump’sendorsement, which helped her oust incumbent Sen. Bill Cassidy,R-BatonRouge, in theprimary And she is running in asolidly red state: theGOP currently holds all statewide elected ofﬁces andhas supermajorities in theLegislature

and Trump overwhelmingly won Louisiana in thepastthree presidential elections.

But Davis’recent fundraising which drew on contributions from acrossthe country —suggests a broad optimism about Democrats’ prospects, giventhatthe conditions are favorable for them to succeed in themidterm electionsthisfall, said Robert Hogan, aprofessor and chairofPolitical ScienceDepartmentatLSU.

“It is asurprising amount of money that he’sbeen able to raise,” Hogan said. “That’s asigniﬁcant haul for aDemocratic candidate.”

Some hadquestionedwhether

Democrats could ﬁeld acompetitive candidate after none of the party’sestablished political ﬁgures —like former Gov.JohnBel Edwards —signed up to run. Hogan said Davis’ fundraising does appear to show somedegree of strength,but he also acknowledged that GOP candidatestypically prevail in major races in Louisiana.

“I think that that’stapping into an enthusiasmfor Democrats nationwide that may not necessarily reﬂect therealityofthe party’s prospects in the state,” he said.

Email Alyse Pfeil at alyse.pfeil@ theadvocate.com.

Before redistricting this spring, Miguez had Trump’sendorsement foracongressional bid in the 5th District, even though he didn’tlive there. But since then, lawmakers approved anew map that turned the 6th District from amajority-Black, Democratic leaning district to a mostly-White, Republican-leaning district centered around Baton Rouge. The5th District is now more solidly focused in the northeast cor-

GAMES

Continued from page1B

their motorcycles sideways in the air, with competitors judged on style and how dramatically they can rotate the bike before bringingitbackunder controlfor the best landing.

While each run only lasts afew seconds, Fontenot said it takes years of practice to get to that point.

“I’ve been working on a few things for this weekend,” he said. “So, Imean, it’sgame time.”

Fontenot’slove for dirt bikes beganatanearly age. Growing up in Opelousas, he was surrounded by rodeos thanks to his father,who worked as ahorse trainer and horseshoer. But it was watching his cousin and neighbors ride dirt bikes that sparked his passion.

“Once Igot my ﬁrstoppor-

COMPLAINT

Continued from page1B

work and were not charged annual leave days?

That April 6vote, Higginbotham wrote, did not waive board policies and rules, work schedules or laws.

Touchet remained obligated “to act as aprudent steward of publicfunds entrustedtothe schoolsystem,” Higginbotham wrote. On June 2, she wrote, Assistant SuperintendentMark Rabalais issued amemo signed by Touchet to central ofﬁce staff saying many employees would only work 32 or 36 hours per week in June and July but would continue to be paid for 40 hours aweek.

The employees were not charged annual leave time for the days they were paid but didn’twork, Higginbotham said.

Calendars submitted with her complaint to the Dis-

nerofthe state. Miguez has stayed quiet on whether he’ll run again in the northeast Louisiana district, attempttowin the BatonRouge seat instead, or stay out altogether.Hedid notrespond to arequestfor comment Tuesday If Miguezdoes enter either race, he wouldhavemoremoney in the bank thanany of his potential opponents. In total, he’slent his campaign $3 million, thoughhealready paid back $1 million of thatpersonal loan In themeantime, thatleaves Edmonds to runinthe Baton Rouge district. Baton Rouge Democrat Cleo

Fieldscurrently holdsthe seat.He said Tuesday he will notseek reelection andinstead run foranopen seat in the Louisiana Senate. 5thCongressional District

The race for the northeast Louisiana 5thCongressional District has already drawn ahandful of serious candidates.

State Rep. MichaelEchols, R-Monroe, has been in therace for months He has raised morethan $500,000 and has $1.6 million in outstanding personalloans to his campaign. He has $1.1 million left in the bank. Misti Cordell, afriend andally

tunity on adirt bike around 10 years old,that was it,” he said.

Initially,Fontenot competed in traditional motocross racing, eventually reaching the professionallevel before discovering freestyle motocross, wherecreativity and style are just as important as athletic ability

“I mean, every rider has adifferent style ofdoing

trict Attorney’s Ofﬁce show six Fridays in June andJuly where central office staff did not have to work at all and three Fridays where they only worked half-days, from 7:30 a.m. to noon Publictax dollars, Higginnbotham wrote, paid central ofﬁcer employees for time they didnot work The Louisiana Constitution 7:14(A) states,“The funds, credit, property,orthings of value of the state or of any political subdivision shall not be loaned,pledged, or donatedtoorfor anyperson, association, or corporation, public or private.”

Higginbotham saidthe issue is whether the superintendent possessed lawful authority to authorize the expenditure of public funds for public payroll without express approval of the SchoolBoard or authorization under existing board policy or state laws.

Board policy, she wrote, “does notauthorize reduc-

things, and we’re all kind of unique in our own way,” he said. “For me, I’mknown for having theCajun vibe.”

In 2022, he movedto Temecula, California, wherehenow trains and competes professionally But he comes backtovisit Louisianawhenever he can. Unlike motocross racing, where speed determines the winner,Fontenot said

ing the minimum number of workdays required by the salary schedule,creating paid administrative leave througha modiﬁedsummer schedule nor does it allow a reduction of central office business hours.”

Higginbotham’scomplaint argues the arrangement could constitute payroll fraud, though no charges have been ﬁledand the allegations have not been substantiated.

ContactClaire Taylor at ctaylor@theadvocate.com.

LOTTERY

MONDAY,JULY20, 2026

PICK 3: 4-2-8

PICK 4: 3-9-8-9 PICK 5: 9-9-6-7-6 POWERBALL: 2-9-4453-59 (8)

of Gov.JeffLandry,isalso running. She has raised $344,000, lent hercampaign$207,000, andhas $144,000 leftinthe bank. StateSen. Stewart Cathey,R-Monroe,and state Rep. Gabe Firment, R-Pollock, also announced bids this month andhavenot hadasmuch time to fundraise. Cathey’scampaign has $5,000 while Firment has no money in the bank, federal campaign ﬁnance reports show The qualifying period forthe U.S. House races runs Aug. 5-7.

Email Alyse Pfeil at alyse.pfeil@ theadvocate.com.

Wyatt Fontenot flies high over an XGames ramp during arecent competition. Fontenot will compete this weekend in the 2026 XGames Championship in NewOrleans.

By X GAMES

freestyle motocross is rewarded based on originality and style.

Fontenot said his confidence is higherthan ever after earning his ﬁrst medal.

“Ohyeah, I’m hungry,” he said. “I don’twant abronze. Iwant more than abronze. Especiallybeing in my home state, Ideﬁnitely want

to do this forLouisiana.”

After New Orleans, Fontenot planstocontinue competing, including returning to South Africa to defend his King of the Whip title after winning the event last year.He’llalso competein Big Hill Jam,where he has ﬁnished runner-up multiple times,and hopestocontinue building his career When asked what messagehewanted to share with those who have supported himthroughouthis journey,Fontenot said he is grateful.

“I love you guys,” he said.

“You’re all thereason that I’m here and the motivation Ihave. I’msoproud of beingfromLouisiana.I couldn’thavea better support group.”

Email Ja’kori Madison at jakori.madison@ theadvocate.com.

PROVIDED

Maggard’stimingcould beneﬁt UL

There’snoquestioning the timing of Bryan Maggard ending his nine-yearstint as the UL athletic director to assume therole of deputyathletic director and chief operatingofﬁcer at Missouri.

As seamlessly as Maggard and his wife Kerry ﬁt into Cajun Countrysince hishiring on Feb.1, 2017, this wasn’t homefor them.

TheMidwest is home. The Kansas State graduate got his doctorateatMissouri and spent

over two decades there as astudent professor and athletic administrator before coming to Lafayette.

The couple have children in Missouri, including a newborn granddaughter

AndMaggard has known current Missouri athletic director

LairdVeatch going back to Veatch’splaying days at Kansas Stateinthe 1990s. It doesn’ttake amaster detectivetoconnect all of those dots.

The pertinent question now is how awfulisthe timing forthe UL athletic department?

The truth is the last twoyears have been extremelytrying times for theathletic department. College athletics is undergoing huge changes across the country.High

‘BRIGHT’ TROLL

Georgiacoach Smartriffs on LSU’sKiffin, whom he praisesfor hisoffensive mind

BY JON BLAU Staff writer

TAMPA, Fla. Georgia coach

Kirby Smart is well-versed in manythings.

He’sanexpert at motivating football players. He’sa genius at drawingupsuffocating defensive schemes.He’salso an enjoyer of the FloridaStrawberry Festival, reminding reporters at SEC media dayson Tuesday that he’sanativeof Plant City,Florida.

“If you don’tknow,you don’t know,” Smart said. “Andifyou know, you do know.”

What Smart doesn’tknow as well is the deﬁnition ofcertain words.

Like “troll,” which areporter used to describe LSU coach Lane Kifﬁn, afellow assistant at Alabamafrom 2014-15 who remains in Smart’stext-mes-

saging group chats.

“People say that allthe time.

Canyou deﬁne what a‘troll’ is forme, please?” Smart quizzed hisquestioner

He was told it means Kifﬁn likes to “stir the pot”and “poke fun” during hisin-personand social-media interactions.

“Yep,” Smart deadpanned. “That’shim.”

Kiffincertainly stirredthe SEC pot this offseason, jumping from Ole Miss to LSUbefore theRebels’ season ended.

He hasn’tposted to social mediamuchlately, whichis perhaps asign the 51-year-old is maturing. ButKifﬁn did toss aline to Vanity Fair about the difﬁcultiesofrecruiting Black players to Mississippi, which added fuel to thebridge he left burning behind him.

He’s known at anational level as achaos agent, but Smart

other as coordinators under NickSaban for twoseasons at Alabama.

has an understanding of Kifﬁn that’sa bitmore nuanced He knows Kiffin’spride as a father of three, including his son Knox, who is now aquarterback at University High in

Baton Rouge. He knows Kifﬁn’slove forhis late father,Monte, the legendary Bucs defensive coordinator

school and college athletes alike have agents and are going to the highest bidder

The things needed forsuccess at this level when Maggard arrived in Lafayette nine years ago are very different than they are today

Much of the newapproach has been traversed underMaggard’s leadership over the last fewyears.

TAMPA, Fla. This timelastyear,Idelighted in poking abit of eye-rolling fun at Auburn for suddenly claiming seven morenational championships than the two it’shistorically credited with(1957 and 2010)

BY REED DARCEY Staff writer

Oneofthose new “championships” is actually from 1958, the year 9-0-1 Auburn ﬁnished No. 4inboth major national polls —AP’smedia and UPI’scoaches —behind 11-0 LSU. That’sbecause it was declared the champs by two previously,ahem, unheralded selectors: the Howell Ratings and the Montgomery Full Season Selector Would thatbethe Thurston Howell III Ratings and the Montgomery,Alabama, Full Season Selector? Those would be just as legitimate. College football’shistory is litteredwith mythical national championships. Anaysayer could argue againstLSU’s1958 title because it was won long before theBCS/ CFP era, so let Auburn have abit of mythical fun. Iexpect Auburn will be rolling the trees in Toomer’s Corner for those 1910, 1913 and 1914 claimed titlesany day now There’snoquestion no one at Auburn is claiming any national championships from the past ﬁve seasons. Five straight losing seasons, mind you, the program’sworst such streak since 1946-50. Aprogram that is hometothree

That familiar,gravel-toned voice had been bouncing around the room for afew minutes when its Cajun-born source pointed to a projector screen in the corner Ed Orgeron spokelikehe’sgiven this presentation many times over the years. The version he gave to theLouisiana High School Coaches Association on Tuesday, though, was alittle extra special. It was his ﬁrst public appearance since he began his second stint at LSU—the program he once led to one of the best seasons in college football history

“All right, here we go,” Orgeron said. “I want to talk to you today about pass rush.” And then Orgeron spent the next 45 minutes guiding aballroom of high school coaches at theCrowne PlazainBaton Rouge through acrash course on pass-rushing techniques,strategiesand

This was Orgeron back in his element. Energetic. Jocular.Focused on the three things he’sbest known for: his recruiting chops, his Louisiana rootsand his pass-rushing expertise. Orgeron,64, broughtaslideshow deck withhim, along with old practice footage and game ﬁlm. He crouched into different stances,mimicking opposingoffensivelinemen,thenasked a coach from the front row to stand up and show the crowd howtobest attack each one. He also sprinkled

staffinMay

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By HUNTER DAWKINS

Georgia coach KirbySmart discusses theupcomingseason at SECmedia days on Tuesday in Tampa,Fla.

Kevin Foote

Scott Rabalais

STAFF FILE PHOTO By BRAD KEMP

UL athletic director BryanMaggard is returning to Missouri, where he will be deputy athletic director.

STAFF PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS

LSUassistant coach Ed Orgeronspeaks duringa lecture at the Louisiana High School Coaches Association summer coaching cliniconTuesdayat the Crowne Plaza in Baton Rouge

Lafayette makes Little League state final

BY MIKE COPPAGE Contributing writer

Before Monday’s state tournament semifinal game against East Bank Little League, Lafayette coach Charlie Babineaux acknowledged his team was the underdog. East Bank, based in Jefferson Parish, had won consecutive state titles and captured the Little League World Series crown in 2019.

Babineaux had the answer, however in pitcher Co’en Onezime who threw a complete game with nine strikeouts in a 4-1 victory that sent Lafayette into the championship on Wednesday at St. Julien Park in Broussard.

“He’s a special talent,” Babineaux said of Onezime. “He knows how to compete, for sure.” East Bank struck first when Dominick Palermo hit an insidethe-park home run in the bottom of the fourth inning The ﬁrst hit of the game for East Bank was a line drive that the Lafayette outﬁelder just missed snaring with a spectacular diving catch. The ball rolled to the fence as Palermo rounded the bases

“It made me feel a little down, but I had my teammates at my back,” Onezime said. “I knew we were going to win.”

Onezime led off the next inning with a double down the left-ﬁeld line and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Onezime and Sam Tasman, who reached on a ﬁelder’s choice where Onezime evaded a rundown between third and home, each scored on Harry Sturlese’s grounder to third.

“Our offense had timely hits, and they kicked it around a little bit,” Babineaux said. “We were able to use our speed on the base paths.” Lafayette, which added another run in the ﬁfth when Deano Babineaux’s RBI single scored Sturlese, tacked on an insurance run

in the sixth with two outs. Mason Breaux walked and reached third base on a wild pitch before coming home on another wild pitch.

“We have a great team, a group of hard-working 12-year-olds,”

Babineaux said. “They put in the time this summer More than the work, they’re just good kids.”

Onezime, who struck out the side in the third inning, used his breaking pitch when he got behind in the count.

“That pitch, I work on it every day,” he said. “It’s very easy for me to throw.”

Breaux, the leadoff hitter, had a hit and walked twice. Jack Fontenot and Mason Fontenot, who

hit second and third in the lineup, each coaxed a walk. Mason Fontenot, Sturlese and Eli Vidacovich all singled. Breaux also made two excellent catches in center ﬁeld.

Lafayette will face the East Bank/Ascension Parish winner at 4 p.m. Wednesday in the championship round The team that advances from the other side of the bracket will have to beat Lafayette twice.

“Having a day off is crucial,” Babineaux said. “You can feel the heat coming off the turf. Not only do we get a day off, but we put them back in the heat.”

East Bank used four pitchers

on Monday, with starter Collin Johnson working two innings with three strikeouts.

“I know all the boys on their team,” Onezime said of East Bank. “It felt very, very good to win. I felt accomplished.”

A Lafayette/East Bank rematch could be in the cards. Last year, East Bank won the state tourney and ﬁnished as runner-up in the Southwest Region in Waco, Texas.

“They’re big and strong,” Babineaux said. “East Bank has some of the better arms in the country at this age. They’re a phenomenal organization with a legendary coach (Scott Frazier) who does this full-time.”

Women’s World Cup is up next in Brazil

BY ANNE M. PETERSON

AP soccer writer

It’s the women’s turn now

The next World Cup, the women’s edition, is set for next summer in Brazil. Just as Spain won the men’s trophy in the recently concluded tournament, that nation’s women were the champions three years ago. Currently the top-ranked women’s team in the world, Spain topped England 1-0 in the 2023 Women’s World Cup ﬁnal in Sydney That squad was loaded with talent, including Ballon d’Or winners Aitana Bonmati and Alexia Putellas, as well as young star Salma Paralluelo.

In a television interview following the men’s ﬁnal, Spain star Rodri paid Bonmati the ultimate compliment: “I’m trying to see if I can get to her level.”

The memories of 2023 aren’t so sweet for the United States, which was knocked out of the tournament in the round of 16 by Sweden. Still, the U.S. has won four World Cup titles and is currently ranked No. 2 in the world

The United States will host Spain twice in October, serving as a tuneup for CONCACAF qualifying to start in late November in Texas. The friendly matches against Spain could provide a glimpse of what both teams might look like next summer

“We know Spain is an amazing team, and I think we’re just really looking forward to having this prep. Especially before qualifying,” said U.S. midﬁelder Lily Yohannes. “And yeah, I think it will be a really great opportunity for us. Playing these players, I played against them in the Champions League, and I know how great they are.”

The road to Brazil

Qualiﬁcation for the World Cup is well under way, with 14 teams already securing berths Brazil, which has an automatic spot as host, has never won the women’s tournament.

“Some time ago the opportunities for men and women were not equal. But that’s changing. This World Cup has tremendous potential to make that change truly happen,” said former Brazil defender Aline Pellegrino, now executive director of legacy and stakeholder affairs for Women’s World Cup in Brazil. “So there’s a great deal of excitement and expectation that we’ll have the best possible atmosphere in our stadiums, just as we recently saw in the two matches between the Brazilian national team and the United States. FIFA, together with the federal government and the host cities, have been working very hard to ensure that we’ll have full stadiums and that everything runs as efﬁciently as possible.” The biggest question around

the Brazilians is the status of veteran captain Marta, the nation’s all-time leading scorer with 122 goals. Marta retired from international play following Brazil’s 1-0 loss to the United States in the gold-medal match at the Paris Olympics, but returned the next year for the Copa America Femenina. She will be 41 when her nation hosts the World Cup.

The United States visited Brazil for a pair of matches in June, falling 2-1 in Sao Paulo before a 1-0 victory in Fortaleza. U.S. coach Emma Hayes said the team needed to embrace those “moments of chaos” in a hostile environment.

Who’s in so far?

Australia, the Philippines, Japan, North Korea, China, South Korea, Argentina, Colombia, New

Zealand, Germany, France, Spain and Denmark are among the nations that have qualiﬁed. Germany the 2003 and 2011 world champions, are ranked No. 3 globally Brazil previously hosted both the men’s World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016. All eight cities that will host women’s matches next year also hosted men’s games in 2014: Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Belo Horizonte Brasilia Fortaleza, Porto Alegre, Recife and Salvador Next year’s tournament will be the last with 32 teams before jumping up to 48 teams like the men’s tournament The 2031 Women’s World Cup is expected to be hosted by the United States, Mexico, Costa Rica and Jamaica. The formal decision will likely be announced in November

LB Brooks agrees to 3-year extension with Dolphins

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Jordyn Brooks has agreed to a three-year contract extension with the Miami Dolphins, ensuring the veteran linebacker remains a core piece of the team’s rebuild, a person familiar with the deal told The Associated Press.

ESPN first reported the deal, which said it is worth $51.3 million with $35 million guaranteed. Brooks was an All-Pro selection for the first time in his career last season after leading the NFL with 183 tackles, including 99 solo tackles. He was a bright spot in an otherwise disappointing season that saw general manager Chris Grier and coach Mike McDaniel fired. Brooks, a 2020 first-round pick by Seattle, signed with Miami in free agency ahead of the 2024 season and has become a leader

Panthers RT to miss start of season due to blood clot CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Carolina Panthers right tackle Taylor Moton will miss the start of the regular season after being diagnosed last month with a blood clot in his lung.

The Panthers announced Tuesday that Moton and cornerback Jaycee Horn will be placed on the reserve/non-football injury list, the day before the start of training camp. Horn is sidelined after cutting his foot while running and requiring stitches. The Panthers anticipate Horn returning early in camp.

Moton was placed on blood thinners after his diagnosis and is being monitored by the team’s medical staff. He’s expected to return at some point during the regular season.

Back-to-back stage victories by Evenepoel in Tour de France THONON-LES-BAINS, France Time trial world champion Remco Evenepoel was fastest Tuesday as he won the 16th stage of the Tour de France to shave 28 seconds off Tadej Pogacar’s commanding lead. Evenepoel completed the 26.1-kilometer individual time trial in 32 minutes, 19 seconds, more than a minute faster than Mattias Skjelmose, the previous quickest, before the Belgian rider waited to see Pogacar cross the line with the second-best effort of the day It is the third year straight that Evenepoel has won a time trial at the Tour His parents and family members were present on Belgium’s national holiday to see him take back-to-back stage victories after winning the 15th stage on Sunday Monday was a rest day

SafeSport Center to begin publicizing banned list

The U.S. Center for SafeSport began making public announcements of people placed on its disciplinary database Tuesday, a move designed to increase transparency and bring more attention to what the center believes is one of its top tools in the ﬁght against sex abuse.

The center, in charge of combating abuse in Olympic sports, has long published what it calls its Centralized Disciplinary Database. But without publicizing who lands on the list, people had to access the database and know who they were looking for to learn about banned and restricted people in their orbit. Now, the center will share weekly updates about people added to the list; the updates will include cases taken to arbitration that have reached a decision.

LIV Golf suffers setback as Asian Tour joins alliance

LIV Golf suffered a potential setback Tuesday when the PGA Tour, European tour and Asian Tour announced a strategic alliance aimed at global collaboration that is likely to affect the partnership the Asian Tour had with LIV In an alliance that takes immediate effect through 2029, the PGA Tour and European tour will partner with the Asian Tour to help provide commercial and playing opportunities and establish a path for Asian Tour members to join European circuits. The

and

STAFF PHOTO By BRAD KEMP

Lafayette Little League third baseman Deon LeBlanc throws to first for an out against East Bank Little League during their game in the state Little League baseball tournament at St Julien Park on Monday.

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By ALESSANDRA TARANTINO

Team Spain celebrates with the trophy after winning the Women’s World Cup soccer final against England at Stadium Australia in Sydney, Australia, on Aug. 20, 2023.

who was just as revered for the relationships he built as the plays he called.

Kifﬁn often brings up atext message he received from oneofhis dad’s best players, HallofFame linebacker

Derrick Brooks, who stillhad Monte on his mind all these yearslater

“You gotta have agroup to share that with to get your self-worth and your motivation.Ithink him, sharing those things, reminds me alot of times of my dad,” Smart said. “You want somebody to appreciate what your dad did. Youdon’thavehim to share that with.”

Kifﬁnhas put together quitea career himself. He wasﬁred by both the Raiders and SouthernCal before he revived his career as an Alabama assistant, climbing theladderas a head coach again with FloridaAtlantic and then Ole Miss.

Smart respects Kifﬁn becausehe not only helped Nick Saban win national titles but also pushedanoldschool coach to rethink his offensive philosophies.

“He made coach Saban uncomfortable,” Smart said. “Let’sjust say what it is: He helped revolutionize that offense and bringitalong and (do) some really good things in aday and age when people weren’tdoing them. But he doesa great job. He’s hard to play.”

Smart doesn’tthink Kiffingets enough credit for the team he built around Jaxson Dart, who amassed 10,000-plus passing yards with Ole Miss after transferring in from Southern Cal. He became afirstroundpick of the Giantsin2025.

Kifﬁn just builtaplayoff team led by former Ferris Statequarterback Trinidad Chambliss, whothrew for 3,937 yards and22scores last season.

“Thisguy (Chambliss) wasnot even spoken about at this time last year.Nobody knew who he was and he got his opportunity by way of injury.Whatifhedidn’t?”Smart said “He’smade players successfulinhis system just as easy as the players can make him successful.”

Smart will have to face OleMissand Chambliss this season, but he won’t game-plan against Kifﬁn unless LSU andGeorgiamatchupinanSEC title game or the College Football Playoff. But this week offered an opportunity for some verbal jabs to be thrown.

Tennessee coachJosh Heupel joked Knoxville should load up with golf balls and mustard bottles for Kifﬁn, who left for Southern Californiaafter just one seasoncoaching the Volunteers and had those items tossed at him during a2021 return to Neyland Stadium as the Ole Miss coach.

Smart called Kiffin, who hasbecome ahot yoga aﬁcionadoinrecent years, “the Adonis of college football coaches”because of his increasingly toned physique. In self-deprecating fashion, Smart said his own appearance couldbecompared to atroll. And yes, Kifﬁn could be described as one, just in adifferent sense “But he is very bright,”Smart said “He does an incredible job of evolving college football.”

Email Jon Blau at jon.blau@ theadvocate.com

RABALAIS

Continued from page1C

Heisman Trophy winners —Pat Sullivan in 1971,BoJackson in 1985and CamNewtonin2010 has lost its way.The misguided hires of Bryan Harsin (ﬁred midway through his second season) and Hugh Freeze (ﬁred midway through his third) left Auburn with acombined 27-35 record, including the wreckage of a3-13 Southeastern Conferencemark the past two seasons. Enter Alex Golesh, 42, who left Tampa’spalm trees after three seasons at South Floridafor the plains of east Alabama and another shot at areclamation project.

Golesh, who Ifeel safe in say-

ORGERON

Continued frompage1C

in afew anecdotes from the 2019 season and, in the middle of one of his demonstrations, widened his eyes, looked up at the crowd and laughed about how excited hewas to hop off the bus ahead of LSU’s showdown with Ole Miss on Sept. 19 —“Woo, that’s‘gon be fun, baybeh!” On Monday,Orgeron told the LSUdefensive linemen that they should already be studying Clemson’spass protectors. Thegoal, he said, is to pinpoint some of their tendencies and begin scheming up ways to beatthem before the season opens in Tiger Stadium on Sept. 5.

Smartnot opposed to SECbreakingaway

BY JON BLAU Staff writer

TAMPA, Fla. Aday after SEC commissioner Greg Sankey acknowledged the conference has had “real” discussions about breaking away from the NCAA, theleague’s longest-tenured football coachstarted his SEC media days tour with an endorsement of the idea.

“Until we get governance, and we have someonewho actually has the powertomake decisions, or we can make decisions within ourown community,we’renot going to have much control,”

Georgia coach KirbySmart told ESPN’s“GetUp” on Tuesday “That’sunfortunate butthat’s where we sit right now,” Smart continued. “If (self-governance is) the best alternative to get everybody playing by the same rules, I’d want to do that.”

There is an ongoingdialogue betweenthe SECand lawmakers aboutthe Protect College Sports Act, Sankey said Monday, andtalk of abreakaway isn’tbeing used to pressure Congress into meeting theconference’s demands.

On Tuesday,Smarttook to the daistosay he’d like nonstop discussions aboutthe “landscape” of collegefootball to end.

“I’ve hadquestions about expansion, moreSEC games, (transfer) portal, college and federal legislation to navigate the NILera we’re in, players leaving, coaches leaving,” Smart said. “That’sall people wannatalk about. At the end of the day,Idon’tenjoy talking aboutall these things.

“I enjoy talking about what wins.”

Smart, headinginto his 11th season at Georgia,has been good at winning. The Bulldogs are back-to-back SEC champions and hold a117-21 record during his tenure with two na-

ing is the first SEC football coach ever born in Moscow(Russia, not Idaho),has experience at digging programsout of the mud. USF wonacombined four games in the threeseasons before Golesharrived, where he went 7-6, 7-6 and 9-4. They’re not naming astreet running past theUSF campus for Golesh, but hisrunning of the Bulls was certainly enough to draw theattentionof SECprograms such as Auburn, Florida, Arkansas and, atleast peripherally,LSU. LSUplays at AuburnonOct. 24, the first meetingbetween thetwo former SECWest rivals since 2023 and their first gameatAuburn since 2022.

Golesh was asked here Tuesday whatgoals he has for hisﬁrst season at Auburn, alegitimately proudprogram with ahistory of

Orgeron also said he’sbeen encouraging LSU’stwo five-star freshman defensive linemen, LamarBrown and Richard Anderson, to “find out who they are.”

They’re both largeand powerful, so he wants them each to learn how to “run that son-of-a-gun over” first and then use that bull-rush technique to setupmoreoftheir ﬁnesse moveslater It’sbeen four years since Orgeron last offered that kind of coaching. He spent most of that time in Miamiwith his wife, Brandy,collecting the buyout payments he was scheduled to receive through December 2025 andenjoying alargely anonymous lifestyle. On South Beach, he joked, he might as well have been an ordinary man named “Raúl Ortega.”

ON STAGEWEDNESDAY

ALABAMA

LAST YEAR:11-4 (7-1 SEC)

COACH:KalenDeBoer(3rdyear)

PLAYERS:DB ZabienBrown,WR Ryan ColemanWilliams, DB BrayHubbard

THEBUZZ:Alabama wonaplayoff game and gave DeBoera lucrative contract extension. So everything’s good in Tuscaloosa, right?Well, it depends on whom youask. Blowout postseason losses to Georgia (in the SECchampionship game) and Indiana (inthe CFP quarterfinals) souredthe endofanotherwise successful 2025 season.The Crimson Tide needs to move closertotitle contention in 2026.

FLORIDA

LAST YEAR:4-8 (2-6 SEC)

COACH:Jon Sumrall (1styear)

PLAYERS:RB Jadan Baugh, LB Myles Graham,WR VernellBrown

NOTEBOOK

tional championships.

Smart understands he’s the most veterancoach in the league, which meanspeople wanthis opiniononbiggerissues. But he doesn’tget avote on asolution.

Butifthe solution is theSEC governing itself so it can create enforceable rules regarding athlete pay, playermovement and eligibility? He’sfor it.

“I’ve been saying that for a long time to our president and ouradministrators,” Smart said.

“I learned this 11 years ago, my ﬁrst SEC head coaches meeting, Ihad acoach tell me,‘We will not get anything done in these meetings because we don’thave any power or any control.’ ” Beamer discussesNIL

College coaches don’treally know howmuchplayers at other schools are being paid because there has been no public disclosure of athletes’ NIL deals.

SouthCarolinacoach Shane Beamer has aworkaround —his coaching friends.

“An agent tells you that his client is getting Xamount from this school,” Beamer said. “I get along with alot of coaches …so I’ve been knowntopick up the phone and call (a coach) and say ‘Are you really paying so-and-so this amount of money?’ I’vegottenthose calls from other coaches, too. That happens regularly.”

Thereare exceptions, however

“If you’re at Ole Miss and I’m at South Carolina,and Iknow I’m competing withyou for a kid from Ole Miss, I’m not going to callupPete Golding and ask what he’spaying,” Beamer said. “But in other instances I’vebeen known, or we’vebeen known, to do that.” Coaches have to get intel

Heisman winners, SEC championships andnational titles (your mileagemay vary).

“I don’tset goals,”Golesh said awise answer for any ﬁrst-year coach.“I’ve alwaysthought that that’salittle bit likeNew Year’s resolutions. They usually work for alittle bitand you kind of keep it moving.

“I set standards. We setstandardsasaprogram. Our standard is to be the best version of us every single day.The standard when I gottoAuburnwas to getasgood as we possibly can as fast as we can How do we do that? By our daily process. By how we attack every single day.”

Golesh built hisreputation as a highlyregarded offensive mind, startingwith stints as co-offensive coordinator at Central Floridain

“I enjoyed it,”Orgeron said. “I’m not complaining. But after awhile, the beach is the beach,right? You knowwhatI’m saying? Ireally missed Louisiana.”

So Orgeronmoved back into his University Club house and started looking for jobs. He began giving media interviewsagain in case one of themwould catch the eye of aprogramthat waslooking for either ahead man or adefensive line coach.Hewould’veaccepted either role,but thehiring cycle came and went, and nothing materialized. That is, until Kifﬁn called with a job offer

“’Hey,it’stime,” Orgeron recalledhim saying over the phone “How soon can you be here?’ “I said, ‘Five minutes.’ And Iwas rolling.”

wherever they can,and relationshipshelp. Relationships between aplayer and coach still matter,too.

“I don’tever want aplayerto choose South Carolinabecause of money,” Beamer said. “Because if theonlyreason they come to South Carolina is money, they’re going to be in my ofﬁce every January threatening to go in the portalbecause of money.”

Leaonrunning game

Vanderbilt play-caller TimBeck has to ﬁgure outhow to operate a Diego Pavia-less offense, which means he notonly hastoreplace Pavia’spassing but also the 800plus yards the quarterback picked up on theground in each of the last twoseasons.

The emphasis forthe Commodores’ running game likely will shift to their running backs.

“The guycarrying the ball is only as good as the people moving the line of scrimmage,” Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea said.“If we canestablisha great run game in front of the quarterback, Ithink we take pressure off, and we allowthe ball to be distributed to the perimeter in ways thatwecan becomethe explosive team that we’ve been.”

LSU coach Lane Kiffin and hisoffensive line face asimilar challenge becausethe Tigers were oneofthe worst running teams in college football last season.

In fact,Lea received aquestionTuesday aboutall of the programsincollege football strugglingtorun the ball, and LSU was included in the questioner’slist.

“I want to stop short of commenting on any of thoseprograms. Ithink everyoneistrying to ﬁnd their unique path to winning,”Lea said. “Vanderbilt football is about aphysical style of play.It’saboutaneffort, an attitude. That’s the starting point.”

2020 andTennessee in 2021-22.

At USF this past season, theBulls ranked No. 2nationally in total offense (501.7 yards per game),No. 5 in scoring (43.0 ppg) and recorded 500-plusyards of offense eight times. Quarterback Byrum Brown, who followed Golesh to Auburn, became the 12thquarterback ever with 3,000 yards passing and 1,000 yards rushing in aseason, theﬁrst to do that since Jayden Daniels’ Heisman-winning campaign at LSUin2023.

“He demands the absolutevery best from everyone thathecomes in contact with,” Brown said of Golesh on Tuesday.“He cares for hisplayers deeply,(his) coaches deeply.He’snot going to ask you to do anything thathewouldn’tdo himself.”

Despite all the offensive ﬂash

Orgeron was given anew title special assistanttorecruiting and defense —and amodest $100,000 contract that runs through January

LSU was scheduledtohostrecruits on ofﬁcialvisits the week it ofﬁcially announced his return, so Orgeronjumpedbackintoaction quickly.Heled tours of Tiger Stadium and the football operations building. During aconversation with No. 1recruit Jalen Brewster, he FaceTimed Hall of Fame wide receiver Michael Irvin. It remains to be seen, though, howOrgeron will coach during practices and games. Will he be running drills? Will he be offering instructions to players on the sideline? Orgeron didn’toffer much clarity Tuesday,choosing instead to give abroad description

THEBUZZ:Sumrall started building his Florida coaching staffand roster at the sametime he wascoaching aplayoff-bound Tulane teamlast December.The outcomeofthat audacious experiment will setthe tone forhis tenure withthe Gators, whohaveatalentedoffense and a question mark at quarterback.The likelystarterisGeorgia Tech transfer Aaron Philo.

OLE MISS

LAST YEAR:13-2 (7-1 SEC)

COACH:PeteGolding (1styear)

PLAYERS: QB Trinidad Chambliss, RB KewanLacy,DL Will Echoles

THE BUZZ:Mostofthe buzz surrounding Ole Misscenters on Lane Kiffin. Golding,Chambliss and Lacy can’t quiet that noiseatmedia days, but theycan on Sept. 19 when they hostLSU in the most-anticipatedgame of the 2026 season. Don’t forget that trio brought the Rebels to the doorstep of the national title game last year

TEXAS A&M

LAST YEAR:11-2 (7-1 SEC)

COACH:MikeElko(3rdyear)

PLAYERS:QBMarcelReed, LB Daymion Sanford, SMarcus Ratcliffe

THE BUZZ:Elko has Texas A&Min anice spot.The Aggies arebringing back thebulk of the team that won11 gameslast season, and they’realso on theverge of signing thenation’sNo. 1freshman class. Reed is one of the country’s most dynamic passers, and he’sback for another year as astarter ReedDarcey

and dash from their USF days, Golesh said he wants Auburn to develop aphysical identity.A“violent” identity

“I think asuccessful Year Oneis if we can have afoundation of who we are, proof of concept offensively,defensively,sowecan continue to recruit to thatidentity,” Golesh said. “We’re going to run the… ball.”

While Golesh has time to build, some of theplayers he inherited do not. Playerssuch as ﬁfth-year senior kicker Alex McPherson, who has never experienced awinning season at Auburn.

“Wewant to put Auburn football back where it should be,”hesaid. “Wewant to seta foundation.” Perhaps, one day,afoundation thatcan lead to another indisputable national championship.

of what he’strying to accomplish in his new role.

“Are we getting after it?” Orgeron said. “Are we in good shape?

Those are the two things that I’m concentrating on right now as a coach.”

Which means Orgeron’sresponsibilities are muchnarrower than they werewhenhewas head coach five years ago. Nowhe’sanambassador of sorts forLSU andKiffin who hopestobenefitfromthatfamiliarvoice that filled an area hotel ballroom Tuesday “Kiffin says this place is different,” Orgeron said. “Itisdifferent. Because of youguys. Louisiana is so important to us in recruiting. I’mhappy to be back.”

Email Reed Darcey at reed. darcey@theadvocate.com.

PROVIDED PHOTO By By TODD VANEMST/SEC

Georgia coachKirbySmart speaks at SEC media days on Tuesday in Tampa,Fla.

SCOREBOARD

19. Sean Quinn, United States, EF Education —EasyPost, 57:21:05

24. Quinn Simmons, United States,Lidl-Trek 57:41:43

30. Matteo Jorgenson, UnitedStates,Team Visma ‘Lease aBike, 58:00:32

37. Matthew Riccitello,UnitedStates,DecathlonCMA CGM Team,58:16:00 Pro

FOOTE

p.m. Washington (Cavalli 6-4) at Colorado (Hughes 0-1), 2:10 p.m. Athletics (Jump 3-5) at Arizona (Kelly 7-8), 2:40 p.m. Cincinnati (Singer 4-9) at Seattle(Hancock 6-4), 2:40 p.m. St. Louis (McGreevy 4-7) at L.A. Angels (Detmers 3-6), 3:07 p.m. L.A. Dodgers (Lauer 4-5) at Philadelphia (Nola 3-7), 5:40 p.m. San Diego (King 6-7) at Atlanta (TBD), 6:15 p.m. Detroit (Montero6-5) at Chicago Cubs (Rea 7-6), 7:10 p.m. Miami (Alcantara10-5) at Houston (Lambert 8-5), 7:10 p.m. Pro

Sports such as baseball havetaken some blows andﬁgured out away to counterpunch. Several of the coaches havecreated aculture around the programs thatmakes it about more than money formanyathletes.

But there’splenty of uncomfortable steps to take to keep the athletic department at the level the Ragin’Cajunshave enjoyed during Maggard’s tenure.

UL teams have won 20 SunBelt league championships and made23NCAA appearances under Maggard.

From football’sascension to the Top25 and aleague championship in 2021, to softball’s return to the super regionalsunder Gerry Glasco, to baseball’soutright league crown, to league championships forboth men’sand women’sbasketball, there’s been alot of winning.

The Maggards were exactly what this athletic departmentneeded when theyarrived.

The connection was real. The couple appreciated family andunderstoodthe strong family ties in CajunCountry.

Unlike some athletic directors, Maggard rarely hid awayinabox. He had big football dreams and achieved many of them during the Billy Napier era, buthe and his wifesupported allthe sports.

It wasn’tunusual for them tobeamong the crowd cheering on the Cajuns. It was the norm, actually In South Louisiana, you can’tfake being genuine and it never seemed like the Maggardshad to that. Consider themany obstacles Maggard steered the athleticprogram around Right away,there was theuglydismissal of Michael Lotief as softball coach and then the subsequent hiringofGlasco, who sufferedthe tragic loss of hisdaughter and assistant coach Geri Ann

Not long after that, theMaggards helped theschool endure the sudden deathofbaseball coach Tony Robichaux. Maggardquickly brought in the perfect coach to replace a legend in Matt Deggs, and his program has remained an NCAA regional regular Perhaps his biggest strength washiring coaching replacements. He even helpedrejuvenateprogramssuch astrack andfield by bringing another local culture creator back in Tommy Badon. Maggard also kept the UL programs afloat during the difficult period around the Covid pandemic.

Once that died down, the transferportal and NIL era made life extremely complicated for everyone, but especially midmajors with lowerathletic budgets.

Through it all, Maggardworked behind the scenes to secure the funding for the $45 million renovation of CajunField

During his nine-year stay,I’ve written multiple columnsabout certainyears

France Tuesday Stage 16

A16.2-mileridefromÉvian-les-Bains to Thonon-les-Bains Stage Results: 1. Remco Evenepoel,Belgium, RedBull— Bora—Hansgrohe, 00:32:19 2. Tadej Pogacar,Slovenia, UAETeam Emirates XRG, 00:32:47 3. Mattias Skjelmose, Denmark, Lidl-Trek, 00:33:23 4. Paul Seixas, France, Decathlon CMA CGM Team, 00:33:35 5. Isaac del Toro,Mexico, UAETeam Emirates XRG, 00:33:40 6. Mattia Cattaneo, Italy, RedBull—Bora— Hansgrohe, 00:34:01 7. Thymen Arensman, Netherlands,NetCompany INEOS CyclingTeam, 00:34:06 8. Bruno Armirail, France, Team Visma ‘Lease aBike, 00:34:14 9. Pablo Castrillo, Spain, Movistar Team, 00:34:19 10. Joshua Tarling, Great Britain, NetCompany INEOS CyclingTeam, 00:34:21 Also: 14. Matteo Jorgenson, United States,Team Visma ‘Lease aBike, 00:34:36 22. Brandon McNulty,United States, UAE Team Emirates XRG, 00:35:20 30. Matthew Riccitello,United States,Decathlon CMA CGM Team, 00:35:50 39. Sean Quinn, United States,EFEducation —EasyPost, 00:36:18 47. Quinn Simmons,United States, Lidl-Trek, 00:36:42 125. SeppKuss, United States,Team Visma ‘Lease aBike, 00:38:38 Overall Standings: 1. Tadej Pogacar,Slovenia, UAETeam Emirates XRG, 56:14:18 2. Remco Evenepoel,Belgium, RedBull— Bora—Hansgrohe, 56:18:50 3. Isaac del Toro Romero, Mexico, UAETeam Emirates XRG, 56:21:09 4. Paul Seixas,France, Decathlon CMA CGM Team, 56:21:29 5. Juan Ayuso, Spain, Lidl-Trek, 56:23:40 6. Mattias Skjelmose, Denmark, Lidl-Trek, 56:24:32 7. LennyMartinez, France, Bahrain Victorious, 56:27:08 8. TomPidcock, Great Britain, PinarelloQ36.5Pro Cycling Team, 56:27:16

9. Jean-Louis Jegat, France, TotalEnergies 56:37:08 10. YannickVoisard, Switzerland, Tudor Pro Cycling Team, 56:38:36 Also: 17. Sepp Kuss,United States,Team Visma ‘Lease aBike, 57:05:47 18. Brandon McNulty,United States, UAE Team Emirates XRG, 57:07:22

potentially being one of thebest in school history and mostrecently one suggesting it couldbethe worst

It’shard to imagine an athletic director experiencing as manyhuge twists and turns as Maggard maneuveredduring his tenure.

When he received acontract extension throughJune 2027 during thesummer of 2022, Maggard said there were two primary reasons he wanted tostay in Lafayette

Onewas the job wasn’tdone, and it wasn’t With Our LadyofLourdes Stadium now here, though, that was ahuge check mark on Maggard’slist. The clock began ticking afterthe opening kickoff last season.

Obviously,there’sstill plenty more to do.

Thesoftball program is currently in ﬂux, hoping to get back to its conference championshipdays real soon.

The next athletic director will need to ﬁnd away to get both basketball programs back to being consistent contenders.

And all the sports have plenty more revenuesharing and NIL issues to conquer to better compete in theSun Belt.

Perhaps anew voice and leader can help in those areas moving forward.

New UL president RameshKolluru doesn’thave an athletic background at all. Plus, his primaryfocus is ending theuniversity-wide deﬁcit crisis before attacking theathletic department’sconcerns

Again, perhaps some new ideas could helpinthat area. Needless to say, Maggard’sreplacement will have his or her hands full.

Duringthe forced 25% staff cutbacks this past school year,Maggard said he learned some old procedures perhaps don’t needtoreturn. Such discernment will be trickyinthe coming year

Maggardisn’tleaving angry or bitter

Perhaps his wisdom can aid his replacement movingforward.

In sports, anew athletic director is often followed by new head coaches. So perhaps it’sﬁttinganew president is followed by a newathletic director UL fanshope Maggard’sreplacement ﬁts as smoothly as he did nine years ago.

Email Kevin Footeatkfoote@

Timofey Skatov, Kazakhstan, def. Jesper De Jong, Netherlands, 1-6, 6-4, 6-3. Nuno Borges(5),Portugal,def.Orlando Luz, Brazil, 6-3, 6-3. Hugo Gaston, France, def. Damir Dzumhur, Bosnia-Herzegovina, 5-0, ret. Kyrian Jacquet, France, def. Daniel Merida, Spain, 1-6, 6-1, 7-5. Roman Andres Burruchaga, Argentina,def. Stan Wawrinka, Switzerland, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. Jaime Faria, Portugal, def. BoticVan de Zandschulp(6),Netherlands,6-3,6-4. WTALivesportPrague Open

Results

Tuesday At TK Sparta Praha, Prague Surface: Hardcourt outdoor Women’s Singles Round of 32 Mai Hontama, Japan, def. Diane Parry (7), France, 6-4, 6-0. Maria Timofeeva, Russia, def. Aliaksandra Sasnovich,Belarus, 6-3, 6-4. NikolaBartunkova(4),Czechia,def.Yuan Yue, China, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1. Maya Joint, Australia,def.LauraSamson, Czechia,6-4,3-6,6-2 Tereza Valentova (5), Czechia,def. Priscilla Hon, Australia,6-3,6-1 Lilli Tagger, Austria, def. Gao Xinyu, China, 6-2, 6-4. Lanlana Tararudee, Thailand, def. Jana Kovackova, Czechia,6-3,5-7,6-2 SaraBejlek (3), Czechia,def.Anna Blinkova Russia, 7-6(9),3-6,6-1 BarboraKrejcikova(2),Czechia,def.Linda Fruhvirtova,Czechia,6-2,6-4

Baseball

p.m.

Tennis

ATPWorld Tour Millennium

Estoril Open Results

Tuesday At Clube de TenisdoEstoril, Estoril, Portugal

Surface: Redclay Men’s Singles Round of 32 Pablo Carreno Busta (8), Spain, def. Vilius Gaubas, Lithuania, 6-1, 6-3. Gonzalo Bueno, Peru, def. Tiago Pereira, Portugal, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6(5)

STAFF FILE PHOTO By BRADKEMP

athleticdirector BryanMaggard, right, introduces newfootball Michael Desormeaux on Dec.7,2021.

BATTERY BANK OR GENERATOR?

Thebest backup power during an outage

BY ALEXA ST.JOHN Associated Press

From portable battery banks and generators to whole-house systems,

are

up power choices to consider

up and outages happen more often and last longer Peopleneed solutions to keep medical devices, cellphones and other important appliances poweredup.

“If you’re deciding between different backup power options forwhat youneed,different conditions are going to require different elements, like aheat wave versus ahurricane,” said Noah Kittner,associateprofessor at theUniversityofNorth Carolina’sGillings School of GlobalPublic Health.

Expertsoffertipsfor ﬁnding the right backup to keep your home running when electricity is out in yourarea during astorm, heat wave or other conditions.

Sonam Velani andyan Sim plug in abatteryfrom EveryElectric to poweranair conditioner in the Brooklyn borough of Newyork.

When batterybanks work

If you just need to charge a few small items for short periods, portable battery banks might be the best bet.

Power banks that can recharge aphone afew times and are often about the same size as one —typicallycost less than $100. Many have built-in USB ports. Between uses, they can be recharged by plugging them into an electric outlet.

ä See POWER, page 6C

Take flight

BY JOANNABROWN Staff writer

Ifyou become known as the “wing guys,” it just makes sensetocraft awingsauce that’ssodelicious, it spawns a business of its own.

That’show university friends Justin Trascher’s and Brett House’ssauce ﬁrst started getting noticed —theywerealwaysthe ones to throwwingsonthe grill when friends came by.Their circle, atight-knit group fromthe Kappa Sigmafraternityatthe University of Louisiana at Lafayette, all lived in the Freetown neighborhood near campus —creating the kind of socialenvironment that naturally includedalot of barbecue.

“Wekind of madeanamefor ourselves just being thetwo guys that canprettymuchbehanded agroup of ingredients,and make something out of it,” said Trascher House’smother was involved in theGifting Grace Project, which is an Acadiana charity that supports unhoused students. Gifting Grace’s main fundraiser is the annualWing Wars event,heldeachspringin Lafayette’sParc International. Before they knew it,the friends

there,” said Trascher.That experiencehelped launch Freetown Spice Co., whichpays homage to their college years andLafayette roots The company produces asignature sauceand dryrub,bothofwhich areondisplaywiththeir awardwinning wings, which took home Acadiana’s Choice at this year’s Wing Wars.

“With the sauce, we were trying to take the ﬂavors that everybody likesfrombuffalo sauce, and then kind of barbecue sauce too,” according to House. “Wewanted the tanginess and bite of buffalo sauce, but then the sweetness too. We cameout with asauce that starts alittle sweet, and moves into that tang and bite on the back end.”

Their dry rub is notable fornot having cayenne, which plays asignature role in the Cajun and Creole spiceblendsthatdominateshelves

were tapped to make their signature wings forthe popular charity event in 2023.

“Itwas kind of on awhim,” he said. “Wetalked to afew other guys, gota team together,and placed first in ourdivision that year, Ithink.”

“Our conﬁdence justgrewfrom

“I wanted to really focus on an allpurpose type seasoning,” said Trascher.“It started as awing seasoning, and alot of people wereasking us where theycould buy it, so we decided to package it. People use it on seafood, chicken, shrimp, steak, pastas —pretty much anything.

AP PHOTO By ALySSA GOODMAN

Justin Trascher prepares food for Acadiana Wing Wars withFreetown SpiceCo.

PROVIDED PHOTOS

Wingswith signature sauce and house blend from Freetown Spice Co.,founded by University of Louisiana at Lafayette friends Brett House and Justin Trascher

BEST

Continued from page 5C

deputy features editor Chicken enchiladas n Pedro’s Taco and Tequila Bar, 7655 Andrea Drive, Baton Rouge

I love a delicious and cheap lunch special. I met a friend at Pedro’s Taco and Tequila Bar this week for lunch — by the way, such a cute place. I was in the mood for comfort food, and chicken enchiladas with beans and rice just sounded so good. I ordered the lunch enchiladas with shredded chicken and red sauce. My meal arrived promptly The enchiladas were full of homey ﬂavor and warmth. When I got my bill, it was a little over $11, which was pretty exciting

One more thing: the black bean dip served with tor-

POWER

Continued from page 5C

Larger and more powerful ones can be a few hundred dollars and have traditional sockets for plugging in multiple items.

They’re extremely portable and typically work best for the basics: phones, computers, ﬂashlights and small lights but not for larger appliances such as dishwashers or air conditioning, experts say Traditional, portable Traditional, portable generators are fueled by diesel, propane or gasoline. They’re about the size of a microwave oven or a mini fridge, and are typically on wheels so they can be moved around. They must be used outdoors and away from your home because they emit carbon monoxide and other gases harmful to humans and the planet. These options, depending on their wattage, can power larger items such as refrigerators and freezers, window air-conditioning units, fans and televisions, but they typically can’t power an entire house.

Conventional generators can run 6 to 12 hours at a time or longer, depending on what they’re powering and how much fuel is consumed

Their prices can range from several hundred dollars to $1,000 or more, but keep in mind any maintenance and fluctuating fuel costs as well

“The standard designs for fuel tank capacity are no longer sufﬁcient to deal with multiday outages, which we’re increasingly seeing due to extreme weather,” said Mark Dyson, a managing director at energy nonprofit RMI

“That’s a really important consideration as folks think about the trade-offs between a traditional fuel-based backup, where increasingly

tilla chips is worth going back for Joy Holden, features reporter Ham, cheese croissant n Lizzie’s, 105 E. Main St., New Iberia

A hot croissant with savory ham and rich pockets of cheese tucked into a buttery crust is my weakness. That’s how I found myself at Lizzie’s on a recent reporting trip to

you have to buy a lot of fuel storage to cover yourself for a really extended outage, which are becoming more common and more likely.”

A whole-house system

Whole-house systems may make sense in areas with frequent or long-lasting outages, or for people with life-saving medical devices that cannot experience a disruption. The systems are hard-wired to the home’s electrical system, often with a connection to natural gas or propane tanks.

When power goes out, these detect the outage and use an automatic transfer switch to shift the home from the grid to generator power

These units can cost $5,000 to $20,000 or more, depending on the size of your home, the system and installation costs. If your home system is a medical necessity, check to see if it can qualify as taxdeductible, or if there are programs that can cover some of the expense Installation typically requires days or weeks of lead time. Integrated home battery systems that provide electricity on a similar scale by using rooftop solar or grid energy, instead of liquid fuel, could cost even more.

Other clean options

Portable power stations that operate without fossil fuels are becoming more popular They use small solar panels or wall outlets to store energy for when it’s needed. Consumers can ﬁnd smaller, less expensive options about the size of a lunchbox for a few hundred dollars, or heavy-duty options the size of a suitcase for $3,500 or more. They can power computers, modems, televisions, fans, freezers and other medium-sized devices.

“Our solutions now rival that of traditional gas generators,” said Rachel Stotts, communications head at Jackery, which sells power

By The Associated Press

Today is Wednesday, July 22, the 203rd day of 2026. There are 162 days left in the year Today in History:

On July 22, 1933, aviator Wiley Post landed at Floyd Bennett Field in New York City, completing the ﬁrst solo ﬂight around the world in 7 days, 18 hours and 49 minutes

Also on this date:

In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln presented to his Cabinet a preliminary draft of the Emancipation Proclamation.

In 1937, the U.S. Senate rejected President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s proposal to add more justices to the Supreme Court.

In 1942, the Nazis began transporting Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto to the Treblinka concentration camp.

SAUCE

Continued from page 5C

In 1991, police in Milwaukee arrested Jeffrey Dahmer, who later confessed to killing 17 men and boys. (Dahmer was sentenced to life in prison and was killed by another inmate in 1994).

In 1992, Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar escaped from his luxury prison near Medellin. (He was killed by security forces in December 1993.)

In 2011, Anders Breivik, a self-described “militant nationalist,” massacred 69 people at a Norwegian island youth retreat after detonating a bomb in nearby Oslo that killed eight others in the nation’s worst violence since World War II.

In 2015, a federal grand jury indictment charged Dylann Roof, the young man accused of killing nine Black church members in Charleston, South Carolina,

with 33

New Iberia — and couldn’t resist picking up a couple of treats. The trick, as always, is in the croissant itself. A bready, store-bought croissant can’t match the fragile layers that break in your mouth and provide a tasty crunch against the pastry’s ﬁlling. If you have more of a sweet tooth, Lizzie’s almond croissants, kouignamanns and pains au chocolats are exceptional as well.

— Joanna Brown, staff

writer

stations. “Maybe a decade ago, it was a camping solution, it was portable power on the go that you stuck in your car and you could run all your basic equipment

But now you could run 99.9% of anything you want in your house — and need.”

Other power station manufacturers include EcoFlow and Anker

The next step up: People who have rooftop solar can pair it with large battery systems that store power from the sun for later use.

“Having solar electricity that’s coupled with the battery system is quite unique, especially in an extended outage, because you have the capability to replenish your battery over time as the days go by,” Kittner said.

Installation of a solar-andbattery system could cost at least $20,000, but the added costs can be offset by other beneﬁts in the long run, experts say

“I would look beyond just the up-front cost of providing power during those outages,” Kittner added, “but also other beneﬁts you might get year-round from having a battery even when electricity is in service.”

During outages, people with electric vehicles can also use the batteries in their cars for power, though the EV has to be equipped to do so. It works by essentially feeding the power stored in the EV battery to the home, during an outage or even during times of peak demand on the grid.

Alexa St. John is an Associated Press climate reporter. The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives ﬁnancial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

The men have now embarked on careers in the Baton Rouge and Covington areas, while expanding Freetown Spice Co. on the side. Their products can be found on shelves at Planet Nutrition in Youngsville, Bellard’s Poultry in Opelousas and Rouses Market locations in Gonzales and Baton Rouge, and the partners say that they hope to provide a “tip of the hat” to the Acadiana area by growing the brand locally Said Trascher, “I think that it would be really cool to just casually be walking through a grocery store, see our products, and meet people that recognize the name and recognize the product. With Acadiana especially being so big on food, it would be great to just be a recognized brand around the area that people enjoy and use often.”

Stay on the lookout on store shelves, and if you happen to hit up the wing festival circuit. House and Trascher say that they plan to do more area catering and charity events, and enter festivals and competitions across Texas and the Gulf Coast, and as far as Tennessee. With a signature ﬂavor that pays homage to their Louisiana roots while being accessible to many

palates, they have a sauce that can potentially open many doors.

“We’ve met some great people along the way that have complimented us and kind of built our conﬁdence to approach more cooking competitions and really lean into it,” added Trascher “So we’re just hoping to grow the business, get more opportunities to cook, and get the name out.”

STAFF PHOTO By JOy HOLDEN

shredded chicken enchiladas at Pedro’s Taco and Tequila Bar in Baton Rouge

PROVIDED PHOTO

Brett House, left, and Justin Trascher demonstrate Freetown Spice Co. products.

STAFF PHOTO By JOANNA BROWN Ham and cheese croissant from Lizzie’s in New Iberia

CANCER (June 21-July 22) Take care of situations that involve financial and medical institutions or government agencies. A change at home that is within budget but makes your life easier will buy you the time you need for personal growth.

LEO (July 23-Aug 22) You have plenty of choices, but not all are created equal Slow down, reflect and consider how to make the most of your time, money and emotional wellness. Put your energy into diversification.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Keep the peace, go about your business and focus on details and completing tasks. Be cautious of people who promise too much or who use emotional tactics to push you in a direction you don't relish.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) Concentrate on your responsibilities. Tidy up loose ends and update or cancel subscriptions you don't use enough to warrant the cost. A well-run business or home will help keep your costs down.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 22) Put your heart and soul into learning, researching and acquiring information that will help you excel personally and professionally. A friendship will have a chance to grow.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23-Dec. 21) You have more wiggle room than you think. Consider what's important to you, and put your heart and soul into turning your objective into something tangible.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Spend time nurturing both personal and profes-

sional relationships. Speak about your concerns, and be prepared to compromise when necessary. Listen to complaints.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb 19) Change begins with you. Don't be afraid to step outside of your comfort zone and put your energy behind your promises to yourself and to others. Proceed with confidence.

PISCES (Feb. 20-March 20) Talks will offer more than anticipated. Be the one to start a conversation or to approach someone of interest. A positive attitude will make those you encounter feel comfortable.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) Be the one to set high standards and to follow through Refuse to let negative people slow you down. The more aggressive you are, the higher the returns. Put your thoughts and actions to work for you.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) Avoid tempting suggestions that can have a poor effect on your health, wealth or domestic situation. Think matters through before taking a leap of faith. Ask hard questions.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) Choose events and activities carefully. Someone will mislead you if given the chance. Use your intuition and intelligence to counter pressure tactics or manipulation. The horoscope, an entertainment feature, is not based on scientific fact. © 2026 by NEA, Inc., dist.

By Andrews McMeel Syndication

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

TODAy'S CLUE: W EQUALS S

CeLebrItY CIpher

beetLe bAILeY

GooSe And GrIMM

Sudoku

InstructIons: Sudoku is anumber-placing puzzle based on a9x9 grid with several given numbers. Theobject is to place the numbers 1to9 in the empty squares so that each row, each column and each 3x3 box contains the same number only once. Thedifficulty level of theSudoku increases from Monday to Sunday.

Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer

nea CroSSwordS

THewiZard oF id

BLondie

BaBY BLueS

Hi and LoiS

CurTiS

BY PHILLIP ALDER

Mostbridgedealsareabattle.Oneside

is trying to execute a plan, while the other side is trying either to do the same or to thwart the opposition’s scheme.

In this deal, South was in three notrump. What was the East-West strategy and how did South counter it? As a secondary issue, what do you think of the auction?

This deal occurred after the organized part of one of my “bridge camps without tents” (details on my web site). Four of my students were just shuffling, dealing and playing.

In the auction, I think North ought to have used Stayman to try to find a 4-4 spade fit. Here, that would have resulted in a contract of four spades. With the trumps 3-2 and the heart ace onside, this wouldhavemadeeasily,Southlosingone spade, one heart and one diamond.

In three no-trump, declarer started with only six top tricks: two spades, one heart(giventhelead)andthreeclubs.He planned to play on diamonds to establish the extra tricks he needed, but that was going to give the lead back to the defenders.

East and West were hoping to establish and run the heart suit. To that end, West led the heart queen and East signaled encouragingly with her six.

South correctly did not win the first trick.

He had to cut the communications between the defenders. West continued with another heart. East won with her ace and returned the suit, but South won and played a diamond, hoping that either East would take the trick or that the hearts were splitting 4-4. As you can see, declarer was home with an overtrick. © 2026 by

Each Wuzzle is a word riddle which creates a disguised word, phrase, name, place, saying,

word

InstRuctIOns:

WORD

body part.

AGEnEsIs:

Average mark 17 words Time limit 35 minutes Can you find 29 or more words in AGENESIS?

loCKhorNs

marmaduKe

Bizarro

hagar the horriBle

Pearls Before swiNe

garfield

B.C.

PiCKles

Judge approves $1.5B Anthropic settlement

SAN FRANCISCO Afederal judge has approved a$1.5 billion copyright settlement in which artiﬁcial intelligence company

Anthropic will pay thousands of authors about$3,000per book after usingpirated copies of their works to train its Claude chatbot.

DistrictJudge Araceli Martínez-Olguín said in aMonday ruling that the class-action settlement provides “meaningful relief” to affected authors and publishers. About 91% of the more than 482,000bookscovered by the ruling havebeen claimed by authorsorpublishers who are now due payment.

Plaintiff attorney Justin Nelson said in astatement that the settlement was “the largest known copyright recovery in history.Welook forward to making distributions to theClass as promptly as possible.”

U.S. District Judge William Alsup issued the preliminary approval in San Francisco federal court last September and has since retired. Alsup had dealt the caseamixed rulinglast summer, ﬁnding that training AI chatbots on copyrighted books wasn’tillegalbut that Anthropic wrongfullyacquired millions of books through pirate websites.

French lawmakers pass social media ban

PARIS France banned childrenunder 15 fromusing social media on Tuesday,becoming the first country in the European Union to pass ablanket ban on the platformsasconcerns grow worldwide over the harmful effects of digital content on kids

Both chambers of the Parliamentvoted in favor ofthe measure, aflagship initiative of French President Emmanuel Macron’ssecond term.The bill also bans the use of mobile phones in high schools.

Several families in France have suedTikTok overteen suicides they sayare linked to harmfulcontent. Children’sadvocates and parents applauded the vote.

“We’ve been campaigning for this bill from the start because, frankly,wehave no other option,noother way to counter tech giants,” said Gaëlle Berbonde, a52-year-oldwho lives in the Paris region. “The only thing we can do is protect our children, just as we protect our childrenfrom drinking alcohol.”

Berbonde told The Associated Press that her daughter was in seventh grade when she got her first smartphone. Aparental control app helped monitor what she did online, butBerbonde had no ideawhat TikTok really was. After afew months,the family realized that the daughter was cutting herself and was sufferingfrom anorexia and depression. She spentayear anda half in the hospitalbut is now 16 and well.

Disney layoffs hit Pixar, National Geographic

Walt Disney Co. is laying off several hundred employees, includingatPixar Animation Studios andNationalGeographic, acompany spokesperson said Tuesday Pixar is eliminating less than 10% of its staff, and thecuts are concentrated mostly in productionand operations, accordingtoaperson familiar with the matter who declined to be named.

TheBurbankmediaand entertainment giant began notifyingaffected employeesTuesday morning. In addition to Pixar and National Geographic, certain corporate functions were also affected by thelayoffs,aswas ESPN, which cut several wellknown on-air analysts and reporters This is Disney’sthird round of layoffs and is part of abroader corporate restructuring signaled earlier this year by Chief Executive Josh D’Amaro. At the time, he said the company neededtobemore agile and technologically-enabled due to the fast pace of the industry

Carney:Trade talkstointensify

BY JIM MORRIS Associated Press

VANCOUVER, British Columbia CanadianPrimeMinister Mark Carney said Tuesday that he and Donald Trump have agreed to intensify negotiationsona tradeagreement between Canada,the U.S and Mexico aday after theU.S presidentannounced50% tariffs on most Canadian goods. Carney’scomments came after

Trump declared that Canada has unfairly discriminated against American autos, alcohol and dairy products. Thenew tariffs were scheduledtocome into effect 30 days from Monday “I spoke this morning with the U.S.president andweagreed to deepen andspeed up ournegotiationsover the next few weeks,” Carney said in Ottawa. “Canada will do allthatisnecessary to supportour jobs, ourworkers, ourfarmers andtomakeCanada stronger,moreindependent and moreresilient.”

Thetariffs couldunleash anew

wave of economic chaos, with risksofhigherinﬂationand further fraying of relationsbetween two nations that previously had warm, close tiesbeforeTrump’s return to the White House. The administration ofﬁcial previewing theactionMonday said Canada was one of the only nations other than China that retaliated against Trump’sprevious tariffs and must be held accountable.

Thenew 50% tariffswould exclude energy products, potash, ﬁsh andcritical minerals, but would include goods previously protected from import taxes by the United

States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA. That 2020 tradepact was notrenewed by the U.S., triggering anew set of negotiations that could run until 2036.

Carney said he planned to meet virtually with the country’spremiers later in theday Tuesday. British Columbia Premier David Eby wasblunt in his criticism of Trumpand the proposed tariffs “Thisfeels like an increasingly desperate and ﬂailing approach to relationships with our country,” he said in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, where premiers and territorial leaders were meeting.

BY GIADAZAMPANOand PAOLO SANTALUCIA

Associated Press

ROME Conﬂicts and disruptions to global energymarkets could push millions more people into hunger by driving up fuel, fertilizer and food costs, the head of theRomebased International Fund for Agricultural Development warned, as anew United Nations report showed global progressagainst hunger remains fragile.

The U.N.food security report, released Tuesday,found global hunger has eased modestly in recent years, but projected more than 500 million people could still face chronic hunger by 2030. Africaisexpected to bearthe largest share of that burden.

In an interview with The Associated Press on July 10, IFAD President AlvaroLario said geopolitical tensions and potentialdisruptions to shippingand energy supplies, including uncertainty surrounding theStrait of Hormuz during theIran war,could leave an additional 9-18 million people facing hungerifthe shocks persist

“Weare in acurrent era wherewehave thehighestnumber of conﬂictsand are still increasing,” Lario said. “Wheneverthere is a conﬂict, also hunger,displacement, refugees increase.”

Conflictfuels food insecurity

Conﬂict remains one of the biggest obsta-

BY STAN CHOE AP business writer

NEW YORK More gains for makersofcomputer chips and other winners of the artiﬁcial-intelligence boom carried Wall Street higher Tuesday The S&P 500 climbed 0.9%.The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 385 points, or 0.7%, and the Nasdaq composite rose 1.3%. AI stocks once again wereatthe center of the action, and theyrose for asecond straight day after tumbling the week before. After rocketing higher because of the boom in investment in AI chips anddata centers, they’ve come un-

cles to reducinghungerworldwide,Lario added.

Wars and geopolitical tensions can disrupt shipping,energy supplies andagricultural inputs, increasing costsacross food systems already strained by inflation. Lario stressed that hunger and conflict often reinforce one another,creating acycle that is difficult to break without greater stability.

Higher energy prices arealready affecting fertilizers and agricultural production, he said. The impact is especially signiﬁcant for small-scale farmers, manyofwhom rely on dieselfueltopump water,harvest crops and transport goods to market Rising fuel costs increaseproduction expensesand can feed directly into higherfood prices.

Climateshocksadd pressure

The new report identiﬁes affordability as one of the world’sbiggest food security challenges.While food production continues to grow,roughlyathird of theglobal populationstill can’tafford ahealthy diet. In lowincomecountries, that ﬁgure rises to about 77%, according to Lario.

“The biggest challenge is no longer simply producing enough food, but making healthy dietsaffordable,” he said.

Climatechange is adding further pressure to food systems and rural livelihoods.

Lario noted that ﬂoods,prolonged droughts

derpressure in recent weeks on worries that theyshot too high. Concerns are also weighing thatinvestment in AI may fall off if it doesn’t produce as much profit and productivity as hoped. Micron Technology jumped 12.2% and added to its 1.9% gain from the day before, coming offits 13.3% dropfrom last week.Nvidia added 2%, andthey were the two strongest forces lifting the S&P 500. The gains came despite more climbs for oil prices, andBrent crude oil briefly got near $92 per barrelfor thefirst time in more than five weeks because of continued attacksbetween theUnited States and Iran. It later pared its gain to 2% and

and extreme heat are increasingly disrupting agriculture around the world andhave becomea common reality formany communities.

Governments should focus on resilience and adaptation before disasters strike, rather than relying solely on emergency responses afterward, he said.

“This is just becoming the new normal,” Lario said. “Weare seeing ﬂoods in many countries. We’restill seeing droughtsthat have been expanding forfour or ﬁve years.”

The fund is increasing investments in climate-adaptation programsaimed at helpingrural communities withstandfloods droughts and extreme heat, he said, arguing that support is urgently needed for the millions of small farmers whoproduce much of the world’sfood.

Africa emergesasthe epicenter

The report highlights Africa as the world’s mostpressing food-security challenge. For theﬁrsttime, thecontinenthas overtaken Asia as the region with the largest number of hungry people, and nearly 60% of the world’schronically undernourished people could live there by 2030.

Larioattributed theshift partlytorapid population growth and slower economic gainsthaninparts of Asia,and he called forgreater investment in agriculture, infrastructure and food systems.

settled at $91.01.That’supfromless than $72 early this month, which is roughly whereitwas before the war withIran. Rising oil prices are threatening areacceleration of inﬂation, just as increases for prices were slowing morethan economists expected That in turncouldpushthe Federal Reserveand other central banks to raise interest rates,whichwould sloweconomies and undercut prices for stocks and other investments. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.63% from 4.60% late Monday and from just 3.97% before the war withIran began. On Wall Street, several strongerthan-expected proﬁt reports from

big U.S. companies helped stocks to strengthendespitethe addedpressure. 3M climbed 7.3% after topping analysts’ expectations forboth profit andrevenue in thelatest quarter.It also raised itsforecast forprofit. Hasbro rallied 8.8% after the toy makersaidits Magic: TheGathering game topped $500 millioninrevenue foraquarter forthe first time. It also raisedits revenue forecast forthe year General Motors cruised 4.9%