The Advocate 07-22-2026 by The Advocate

Hegsethestimates warhas cost $37.5B

DefenseSecretaryPete Hegseth testifies at aSenate Appropriations Committee hearingonTuesday.

BY LISA MASCARO

AP congressional correspondent

WASHINGTON Defense Secretary PeteHegseth faced ﬁery questions and protests Tuesday over the U.S. warwith Iran, whichhe 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 acombative Senate Appropriations Committeehearing, which came days after thePentagon announced that threemore Americanservice members have died in the conﬂict, bringing the death toll to 17, and that morethan100 have been injuredsince early July.Several times protesters interrupted his opening remarks.

Hegseth saidthe supplemental war funding is an “urgent, necessary” injection of money,and withPresident Donald Trump’s proposed $1.5 trillion defense budget, agenerational investment in the military

“Withoutthese funds, we face critical shortfalls,” Hegsethtestiﬁed.

But Sen. Patty Murray, thetop Democrat on the panel, warned of “another forever war.”

“This warisnow spiraling out of control again,” Murray said in her opening remarks Trump has said repeatedly that “a deal is near,and the war will be over soon,” she said.

“But now,he’sasking for $70 billion more andfor us to just trusthim it’llall work out ﬁne.”

Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Agriculture Secretary

ä See HEGSETH, page 6A

“This waris now spiraling out of control again.”

SEN. PATTy MURRAy, D-Washington

Legislatureredrewhis

district maptofavor Republicans

BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer

WASHINGTON U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields will not seek reelection to Congress after the Louisiana Legislature redrew his district into one that heavily favors Republicans.

Instead, Fields, D-Baton Rouge, said in anews release Tuesday that he will run for the seat in the state Senate that he previously held. His successortothat seat, Sen. Larry Selders, died recently from aheart condition.

“After agreat deal of prayer and reﬂection, Ihave decidednot to seek reelection to Congress, in the 6th District or any other district in Louisiana,” Fields said in astatement Tuesdayafternoon. “Instead,I will be runningtoﬁll theunexpired term forthe state Senatein the 14th District. Ifeelmy calling to serve the people is better put to use back home thanhereinD.C.,and Iintend to answer that call.”

“I will be running to fill theunexpired term forthe state Senate in the14th District. Ifeelmy calling to serve thepeopleis better put to use back home than here in D.C., and Iintend to answer that call.”

Fields made his decision theday afterthe National Republican Congressional Committee added Louisiana’s6th Congressional District to its list of 36 House seats held by Democratic representatives the GOP will target its resources to try to defeat.

Manaccused of kidnapping womantiedtotwo

BY OLIVIA TEES Staff writer

Aman arrested Monday in con-

nectionwith allegedly holding a woman against her willisalso a person of interest in the cases of twomissing Baton Rouge women

Thomas Morris, 43, of St. Fran-

cisville, has been an active person of interest in the case of Madison Renae Allen, who wentmissingin 2023, according to West Feliciana ParishSheriff Brian Spillman. He said Morris is also linked to another missing woman but would not reveal her identity Morris was arrested Monday

morning after deputies received areport he was holding awoman againsther will.Spillman would not say what statethe woman was from but thatshe was “a very very long way from home.” The woman has no injuries and is in a safe place while lawenforcement ofﬁcials work to return hertoher

family Morris wasbooked into the West Feliciana Detention Center on counts of second-degreekidnapping and false imprisonment. Morris’ most recent arrest has prompted the Sheriff’s Ofﬁce to reach out to the public, asking for anyinformation relating to him

REP. CLEOFIELDS ä See FIELDS, page 8A

or thecases of missing womenin which he is aperson of interest. Morris and Allen has been living together for aperiod of time before she wentmissing one night from ahome in Zachary Her mother,Lynn Rollins, said

ä See CASES, page 8A

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JACQUELyN MARTIN

STAFF FILE PHOTOByJAVIER GALLEGOS

U.S. Rep.CleoFields, D-Baton Rouge, has announced he won’tsee reelection after the Legislature redrewhis district.

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.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By EDDIE

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

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.

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.”

Man 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.

National Park.

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.

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

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

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.

“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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

Syrskyi

PROVIDED PHOTO

Carl McDaniel speaks from in a hospital bed after he was thrown by a bison in yellowstone

MULHOLLAND

U.S.,Iranattacks overshadow

Strikescontinueas attempts to salvage ceasefire go on

BY JON GAMBRELL and MUNIR AHMED Associated Press

ISLAMABAD The U.S. military said it launched an 11th nightof strikes on Iran early Wednesday as attacks across the Middle East overshadoweddiplomatic efforts in Pakistan to salvage aninterim ceaseﬁre deal that has collapsed U.S. Central Commanddid not immediately reveal the targets beingstruck in the latest wave, whichcomes after President Donald Trump telegraphed that strikes would be intensifying. Before the newest barrage, Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni visited Pakistan, akey mediator in the conﬂict seeking to revamp diplomacy.But it was unclear what new arrangement might be reached to endthe war, which lately has become abattle forcontrol over theStrait of Hormuz, awaterway vitaltoworld energy supplies.

Speaking from the Oval Ofﬁce on Tuesday,Trumpgaveadim view on possible talks, sayingthe U.S. had “no interest in meeting ” He signaled that U.S. forcescould soon target an area of Iran close to one of its main sitesfor enriching uranium.

With negotiations and shipping through the StraitofHormuz largely stalled, both sides have soughttogain leverage by targeting civilian infrastructure in the region relied on by millions.

Abarrage of U.S. strikes hasn’t loosened Iran’sgrip on thestrait, through which about one-ﬁfth of the world’scrude oil and natural gas was shipped before thewar

The U.S. continued its airstrikes on the Islamic Republic Tuesday, and Iran attacked atanker in the strait, forcing the crew toabandon the ship. Iran alsokept up attacks against U.S. allies in the region. Sirens in Bahrain andKuwait warned residents of incoming projectiles.

Iran’sInterior Minister Eskandar Momeni, left, meets with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, right, in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Tuesday

The escalationpushedenergy prices higher.

Theinternational benchmarkfor crudeoil traded Tuesday above $91 abarrel andregular gas in the U.S.climbed to an average of $4 a gallon.

The number of wounded U.S personnelinthe Iranwar has grown to wellover500 troops,a U.S. ofﬁcial told The Associated Press. Thetotal is higher than thePentagon’sofﬁcial tally on the DefenseCasualtyAnalysisSystem, which currentlyshows 482 wounded.

The U.S. official, who was not authorizedto discuss the matter with the media and spoke on condition of anonymity,said the system has asignificant lag in reporting injuries. Theofficial said that was afunction of its design andnot intentional.

In the Red Sea, Iran-backed Yemen’sHouthirebels have opened anew front against Saudi Arabia by declaring anaval blockade of thekingdom, threatening the ﬂow of global oil supplies and trade.

With theStraitofHormuz blocked, Saudi Arabia hasbeen relying on apipeline to theRed Seatoget millionsofbarrels of oil out to market.

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

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

Three Houthiofﬁcials saidthe group warned international shipping companies on Monday to avoidtransiting throughthe Bab el-MandebStrait, the gatewayto theRed Sea on theoppositeside 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’sinterior minister,met Pakistan’sarmy chief Field Marshal AsimMunir,according to two ofﬁcialswho spoke on conditionofanonymity to discussthe closed-door negotiations. Momeni later met Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. In astatement, Sharif expressed deep concern over the recent U.S.-Iran escalation, and urged all sides to exercise restraint and avoid actions thatcould further destabilize theregion.

Pakistan’s political leadership and Munir,who serves as both the chief of army staff and defense forces,playeda keyroleinbrokering lastmonth’s interim agreementbetween the U.S. and Iran. Islamabad has been working to persuade both sides to return to thenegotiating table.

U.S.-Lebanonflights can resume,president says

Trumppledges help forcountry after meeting itsleader

BY KAREEM CHEHAYEB and WILLWEISSERT Associated Press

WASHINGTON President Donald Trumppledged to help Lebanon “a lot”during aWhite House meeting on Tuesday with the country’sleader,Joseph Aoun, whocame to push for long-term calmaftermonths of war between Israel andthe Iranbacked Hezbollah militant group. The U.S. has championed peace in Lebanon but hasbeen increasingly distracted by newescalation of thewar in Iran,whichhas destabilizedmuch of theMiddle East.Trump says he now has little interest in talks withIran’sleaders to end the war In the meantime,Lebanon and Israel have held rare direct talks mediated by Washington.

“It’sbeen avery badly treated place and country,and we’re going to have it properly treated and treated with the respect it deserves,” Trump toldAounduring ameeting which wrapped the Lebaneseleader’sfour-day visit to Washington “We’regonna help it alot,” he said of Lebanon, without giving concrete details.

Hourslater, Trump made the surprise announcement that he’d allow American carriers to resumedirect ﬂights to Lebanon for theﬁrst timein40-plus years after theU.S. suspended the route.

“I am hereby directing my Administration to allowall U.S. airline carriers to ﬂy directlytoLebanon so that Americans can easily visitthisbeautifulland,”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,asthe situation in Iran disrupts largerair traffic andquestions aboutHezbollah’s influence in parts of the country remain Direct flights between the U.S. andLebanonwere suspended in 1985 by the Reagan administration

following the hijacking of TWA Flight 847.

Lebanon hopesthe 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’sarmy withdrawing from Lebanon, “They’re in theprocessofdoing that,”but didn’telaborate.

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

Trumpresponded by joking, “I do agreewith that” and said Aoun washandsome and “knowshow to get to me,” adding,“Now he can have anything.”

Lebanon and Israel announced a “framework agreement” on June 26, setting aplan forIsraeli forces to withdraw andfor the disarmament of Hezbollah, which for decades hada strong presencein southern Lebanon. The deal’simplementation wastobegin in small “pilot zones.”

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

Twoofthem —Froun and Srifa —werenot underIsraeli military control to begin with, and the Lebanese armywas already present there, while Israeli forces wereat onepoint in apart 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 thepotential reopening of the U.S. Embassy in Libya, proposingto allocate nearly $41 million to restore America’sformal diplomaticpresence 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-relatedactivities associated with plans forthe potential phased resumption of embassy operations in Libya,” according to acopy of the notiﬁcation obtained by TheAssociated Press

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

rity interests,” it said. “The United States mustremain engagedinregions where near-peer competitors and other adversarialactorsare actively expanding their inﬂuence.”

“Libya’sstrategic location on the Mediterranean and its role in regional security, energy markets, andmigrationﬂows make it vital to U.S interests,” it said. “The country’sinstability 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 westernand eastern regions ofthe country that have been in conflict for more than adecade 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 toldCongress in March thatitwas looking to begin preparations for apotential reopening of the embassy in Tripoli, which was shuttered in July,2014, as conﬂictenveloped thecountry.Since then,U.S. diplomatsassigned to Libyahavebeen basedin neighboring Tunisia and the Mediterranean island of Malta.

But, untilMonday,the department had yet to program any money to support that effort. Thenew funding will be used tovastlyexpand the security posture at asatellite ofﬁceinTripoli that currentlyhandles short visits by U.S. diplomatsand other ofﬁcials and setthe stage for apermanent presence.

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PROVIDED PHOTO

ASSOCIATEDPRESS PHOTO President DonaldTrump greets Lebanese President Joseph Aoun at the White House on Tuesdayin Washington.

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 R-Baton 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. Letlow raised slightly less than Davis in the second quarter bringing in about $1.5 million, according to federal campaign finance records. But she still has a major money advantage. In total, Letlow has raised

Davis Letlow

$6.2 million. That includes money totaling roughly $4 million from Letlow’s House campaign fund and other PACs. At the end of June, her Senate campaign had $1.4 million in cash on hand.

“This campaign has always been about fighting for our families, our values, and the future we leave to our children,” Letlow said in a statement. “I will continue working every day to earn their trust and support as we head toward November.”

To be sure, Letlow enjoys several signiﬁcant advantages. She has President Donald Trump’s endorsement, which helped her oust incumbent Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, in the primary

And she is running in a solidly red state: the GOP currently holds all statewide elected ofﬁces and has supermajorities in the Legislature, and Trump overwhelmingly won Louisiana in the past three presidential elections.

But Davis’ recent fundraising — which drew on contributions from across the country — suggests a broad optimism about Democrats’ prospects, given that the conditions are favorable for them to succeed in the midterm elections this fall, said Robert Hogan, a professor and chair of Political Science Department at LSU.

“It is a surprising amount of money that he’s been able to raise,” Hogan said. “That’s a significant haul for a Democratic candidate.”

Some had questioned whether Democrats could field a competitive candidate after none of the party’s established political ﬁgures — like former Gov John Bel Edwards — signed up to run.

Hogan said Davis’ fundraising does appear to show some degree of strength, but he also acknowledged that GOP candidates typically prevail in major races in Louisiana.

“I think that that’s tapping into an enthusiasm for Democrats nationwide that may not necessarily reﬂect the reality of the party’s prospects in the state,” he said.

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

Nolan Wells’ autopsy to be released Wednesday, family attorney says

BY JAKE OFFENHARTZ

Associated Press

An attorney for the family of Nolan Wells says he will release the results of an independent autopsy into the 18-year-old’s death on Wednesday morning. The preliminary ﬁndings are set to be made public during a news conference held at the annual NAACP National Convention in Chicago, according to the civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing the family Wells’ parents are expected to attend.

Crump has vowed to conduct his own investigation into the circumstances of the teenager’s disappearance, which followed a July 4 boat trip with friends to an island off the coast of Mississippi. Wells did not return to the mainland with his friends. His body was found floating off the island’s coast two days later The Mississippi State Medical Examiner’s Ofﬁce conducted its own autopsy but has yet to release the results. The second autopsy was arranged by the family

and Crump, and paid for by former NFL player Colin Kaepernick Crump said it would determine if Wells “had any physical injuries to his body beyond drowning.” The still-unknown circumstances around Wells’ death have touched off rampant online speculation and prompted calls from Black leaders for transparency from local authorities. Wells, who was Black, had traveled to the island with a group of high school friends, all of whom are White.

2 couples among 5 people who drowned in river

BY PATRICK AFTOORA-

ORSAGOS and MARLON

GONZÁLEZ Associated Press

POWELL, Ohio The skies were mostly clear and weeks of sweltering heat had finally broken as 33-year-old Jose Mario Pineda Dias and his 28-year-old wife, Marina Suyapa Regalado, set out with their two children for some leisurely ﬁshing in an Ohio river A second Honduran couple and an adult friend joined them.

A photo snapped by a passing boater sometime Sunday apparently shows them about

thigh deep in the Scioto River, fishing poles in hand, standing around a big log. Calm as the surface appeared, the river was running high and fast, according to U.S. Geological Survey data. All five adults ended up drowning, authorities said. After the photo was taken, if it was indeed them, the group might have returned to shore. It is not quite clear. What Delaware County Sheriff Jeffrey Balzer has said is that one of the adults was struggling to swim in the river when several others went into the water to help. All five were swept under he said.

The two women’s bodies were recovered Sunday and the three men’s bodies were found Monday On Tuesday, Honduran authorities confirmed that four of the five adults were Honduran citizens — Dias and Regalado and another married couple whose names have not yet been released. The fifth adult also has yet to be identified.

Flabia Zamora, director of consular affairs at the Honduran Foreign Ministry, told reporters Tuesday that they were working with U.S. authorities to bring their bodies home.

3rd service member believed to be killed in Iranian attack

BY ALLEN G. BREED, DAVE COLLINS and KONSTATIN TOROPIN Associated Press

RALEIGH, North Carolina The U.S. military has conﬁrmed that a third service member is believed to be dead in Friday’s attack on a base in Jordan and identiﬁed them as Sgt. Angel S. Rampersad, 28, of New York.

The confirmation brings the death toll to 18 U.S service members killed since the war began.

On Monday, the Pentagon identiﬁed 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan, 25, of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, and Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, 19, of Carrollton, Texas, as the two other soldiers who were killed in Jordan in Friday’s attacks. The soldiers were killed by Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks in the first troop deaths from direct Iranian ﬁre since the opening days of the war They were deployed to support a U.S. mission against the Islamic State group, a U.S. Central Command statement said.

After the attack, U.S. Central Command announced that two servicemembers were killed and another was missing.

The following day, the military command said that troops found unidentified remains and that an examination process to verify the remains was underway

Now the Pentagon says that Rampersad is believed to be that missing soldier and her ofﬁcial status is now “Duty Status–Whereabouts Unknown” and she is “believed to be deceased.”

Rampersad belonged to the same unit as Gonzales the 10th Army Air & Missile Defense Command based in Ansbach, Germany

Also, a U.S soldier killed in Iraq during a controlled detonation of an Iranian drone was identiﬁed as Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swin-

ton, a 30-year-old father from North Carolina who had served for nearly a decade, according to a military statement Tuesday and his family

Swinton will receive a Bronze Star, Purple Heart and Combat Action Badge, and will be promoted to staff sergeant The Army said it was investigating the circumstances of his death Sunday at an air base in Irbil.

He leaves behind a 6-yearold son and a 4-year-old daughter, his mother said.

“I will never recover from this,” his wife, Mia GonzalezSwinton, posted Monday on Facebook. “We had so many plans for when you got back, I’m sick to my stomach.” She said she was notiﬁed Sunday that he had been killed.

Two U.S. Army soldiers were also killed in Jordan last week while defending against Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks. They were the first U.S. troop deaths from direct Iranian ﬁre since the opening days of the war

His wife and kids were the center of his world, his mother Christel Swinton Andujar, said.

“His legacy will live on through the countless lives he touched, the laughter he shared, the strength he gave others, and the unconditional love he poured into his family,” she said via text message. “He will forever be missed, forever honored, and forever our hero.” Swinton enlisted in the Army in 2017 and was assigned to the 55th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 108th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He lived in Spring Lake, a popular off-base location for Fort Bragg families, according to pubic records.

“Sgt. Swinton was an experienced noncommissioned ofﬁcer who took great pride in his work and the people around him,” said Brig. Gen. John L. Dawber, commanding general of the Army Air and Missile Defense Command.

Notice is hereby givenpursuanttoArticle 7, Section23(C) of the Louisiana Constitution andR.S.47:1705(B)thataPublicHearingof the City of Baker, LA in East BatonRouge Parishwill be held at itsregular meeting placeinthe CouncilChamberslocated at 3325 Groom Rd., Baker, LA on Tuesday, August 25, 2026, at 6:00 PM to consider levyingadditionalorincreasedmillage rates. Taxrecipient intends to consider levyingadditionalorincreasedmillagerates without furthervoter approval or adopting theadjustedmillageratesafterreassessment androllingforward to ratesnot to exceed the prioryear’smaximum Theestimated amount of tax revenues to be collectedin the next year from the increasedmillage is $517,609, andthe amount of increase in taxes attributable to the millage increase is $44,030.

Brooke Rollins were also testifying before the panel. The proposed budget package includes $60 billionand $12billion for other nationalsecurityneeds,along with $10billion for farm aid and $10 billion for voting law changes.

Before the hearing, theWhite House issuedastatementurging support of the budget resolution, “without modiﬁcation —immediately ” Warfunding makesupthe bulk of the GOP’snew budget proposal, onelast priority package the Republicans hope to launchbefore lawmakers recess to campaign for the midterm elections. The package aims to help farmersstruggling under Trump’s tariffs and to pay for voter law changes, none of it paid for withoffsets.

“The commander

Most Americans continue to disapprove of howTrump is handling Iran, according to an AP-NORC poll. Gas prices have spiked as Iran works tocontrol oilshipments through the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. munitions are running low from the onslaught of American missilestrikes, and Trump has shifted away from his own campaign promisenot todraw theU.S. into prolonged military conﬂicts.

Nevertheless, Trump has shown no signs of backing offthe war, andthe Republicans havelargely refused to confront hisstrategyor use Congress’ power of the purse and war powers authority to halt the conﬂict.

“The commander in chief and the whole Department of Warare working very hard to bring thisto aresolution,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson,R-Benton, at his weekly news conference Tuesday Questionsoverleadership

Hegseth appeared before the panel facing atorrent of questions about not only the war,but his own

leadership of the department.

Sen. Susan Collins, theRepublican chair of the committee,opened the hearing saying it’s“deeply troubling” thatthe Pentagon has blocked or denied promotions to various ofﬁcers, particularlywomen andminorities.

Sen. JeanneShaheen,ofNew Hampshire, questioned why Hegseth is asking for more money when thedepartmenthas not yet spent about halfthe $150 billionRepublicans provided the Pentagoninlast year’sbig budget bill.

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

When Hegsethstarted describing the “historicnature” of Trump’smilitary strategy,she cut

him off. Hegseth later explained that therest of last year’s budget packagewould be spent by September

WhenGOP Sen. Mike Rounds wanted to know if this funding requestwould be enough to “get the job done,” thegeneral demurred.

“I can’t answer the question on what it will cost,because the enemy has avote,” Caine said.

Kennedyseeks answers

Sen. John Kennedy,R-Madisonville, wasamong severalsenators demanding answers over the situation in theStrait of Hormuz, asking if Iran will impose tollson what historically has been an open waterway vital to the ﬂow of oil.

Caine said, “That’sahypotheticalquestion, and Idon’t knowthe answer tothat.”

ButKennedy retorted: “Guys, we need straight answers.”

Tensions exploded toward the end of the more thanthree-hour hearing.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., toldHegseth flatly that his war claims don’t add up.

Hasthe U.S. obliteratedIran’s nuclear capabilitiesornot?she demanded to know

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

Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga.,probed Hegseth’spast assessments of thewar,including thesecretary’s claims of Iran’ssurrender

When DemocraticSen. GaryPeters of Michigan said the administration’swar strategy hasbeen acomplete “failure,” Hegseth

erupted.

“Shameonyou and others who call this aquagmire and afailure,” Hegseth said.

Peterstoldthe secretary, “You, sir,are the failure.”

The senator said it’snot the U.S. troops who are failing, but their leaders. “You don’thaveastrategy,” Peters said. “You don’thave along-termplantoactually win this war.”

Hegseth said Democrats have “TrumpDerangement Syndrome” and won’tgive himthe moneyhe needs. Peters said it’snot about money, “but aquestion of leadership.”

This week, the Senate will consideranother war powers resolution, having voted nearly adozen timestotry to halt the conﬂict.

ASSOCIATEDPRESS PHOTOByJACQUELyN MARTIN

U.S. Capitol Policeremove aprotester as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth testifies at aSenate Appropriations Committee hearing on Tuesday

ELIMINATE BACK PAIN AND SCIATICA

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The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter,a respected Washington campaign handicapper,put the newly redrawn 6th Congressional District as one of ﬁve seats presently held by Democratsthat have been redistricted to “Solid Republican” for the midterm elections that will determine whether Republicans continue to control the House.

“It giveshim an opportunity to still stay in the game, stay on the ﬁeld and in an arena,” said Randal Gaines, chair of the Louisiana Democratic Party “He has astrong chance of winning (Fields’ old state Senate seat), as opposed to getting arace he hasa chance of winning,but would be much more challenging.” Republicans nationwide arebracing forthe possibility that Democratic candidates win at least 218 of the 435 House seats in the Nov 3midterm elections and assume the majority when the next Congress convenes in January

Seat at core of battle

It was Fields’ congressional seat that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled was unconstitutionally composed to favor Black voters In their April 29 decision in Callais v. Louisiana, a6-3 high court majority found that theLouisiana Legislature relied too much on race to draw the 6th Congressional District in 2024.The majority ruled that state legislators could gerrymander congressional districts based on political party but not on race.

The 6th District that Fields has represented sinceJanuary 2025 includes majority-Black precincts from Baton Rouge and Lafayette, up Interstate 49 to

CASES

Continued frompage1A

shelastheard fromher daughter Nov.29, 2023.Allen left behind her three children who were aged 16, 9and 3when she disappeared.

“Morris has always been aperson of interest in this case,” Spillman said.

Spillman said that since releasing the news of the connectionbetween Morris and the two missing women, the Sheriff’s Ofﬁce has received substantial leads that could shed new light on the cases.

“Weare even right now actively running down leads and talking to peopleand interviewing people that might have some information we can use,” Spillman said. In January,abillboard with Allen’sinformation and picture wasdisplayed along Airline Highway on the way to Zachary to help keep the

Shreveport, with about55% Blackconstituents

Legislators drew thedistricts from which representatives are elected in 2024 to complywith theVoting Rights Act of 1965.

Garret Graves, aBaton Rouge Republican, had represented the 6th District for adecadebut declined to run afterthe Legislature’s2024 map that gave Black voters abetter chance at winning the election.He didnot respondto arequest for comment Tuesdayafternoon.

The highcourt decisioncame during atime when Trump was demandingRepublican-dominatedstates redistrict now— the process usually begins after theU.S. Census is completed every 10 years —inorder to acquiremore House seats with GOP-leaning voters for the November midterms.

District is nowsolidly GOP

Within hours of the Supreme Court’s decision, Gov Jeff Landry called on state legislators to redraw the6th District. The Republican supermajority in the LouisianaLegislature redrew the 6thDistrict, drawing its lines closer to Baton Rouge. It is now composed of 61.1% of the voterswho backed Trump for presidentin2024, with 65.2% of the voteand 66.4% of thevote in 2020.

The Republican supermajority in the LouisianaLegislature approvedthe new 6th District, which curls around the majority-Black 2nd Congressional District along the Mississippi River, andLandrysigned it into law May 29.

The new6th Districtincludes precincts in Ascension, East Baton Rouge Iberville, Lafourche, St. Charles, St. Johnthe Baptist, St. Martin and West Baton Rouge parishes as well as all of Assumption, Livingston andPointe Coupee parishes.

“It’sanow pretty solid Re-

publicaware of her disappearance.

Allen’smom partnered with theZachary Police Departmentand theCUE Centerfor MissingPersons, anonproﬁt based in Wilmington, North Carolina, to put up the sign, hoping that someone will

publican district,” saidRoy Fletcher,aBaton Rouge political strategist. “The question will be what kind of Republican it’ll be.”

The dataused to redraw thedistrict isn’tdeep enough to determine if the Republicans take amoretraditional, business-oriented positions or favor cultural issues.

Political observers suggest state Sen. Rick Edmonds, R-Baton Rouge, and stateSen. BlakeMiguez, RNew Iberia, may qualify to run for Congress during the Aug. 5-7 sign-up period.

The election will take place Nov. 3, with allcandidates competing regardless of party. ADec. 12 runoff has been scheduled if necessary Edmonds andMiquezdid not return calls seeking comment Tuesday afternoon.

The election to replace SeldersisDec. 12 with arunoff, if necessary,onJan. 7.

Email Mark Ballard at mballard@theadvocate. com.

come forwardwith new information At theunveiling of the sign, Lynn Rollins said she has faiththat oneday she will ﬁnd her daughter “And my heart breaks for my daughterbecause she’s out there and Ican’tfind her,” Rollins said.

STAFF FILE PHOTOByJAVIER GALLEGOS

U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields, from left, former U.S. Rep.Cedric Richmond,

Lawyer in Vatican abuse case blasts church’s legal system

Secretive process leaves clients in dark

BY NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press

ROME The lawyer for ﬁve women who say they were sexually and spiritually abused by a former Jesuit priest and internationally known religious artist penned a scathing denunciation Tuesday of the Vatican’s secretive legal system, in which her clients have no right to know any details of the trial.

In a letter to the Vatican, attorney Laura Sgro demanded to know the status of the Vatican investigation into the Rev Marko Ivan Rupnik after an Italian blog, Messa in Latino, reported Monday that Rupnik had been absolved in a canonical trial.

The Vatican has never said what alleged crimes Rupnik faced in its in-house church tribunal, so there was no way to know if he had possibly been absolved of some charges

while the investigation continues into others. Vatican ofﬁcials said Tuesday the case was ongoing.

The Rupnik scandal has become one of the most sensitive matters for the Holy See in recent years, given suggestions that the Slovenian priest was protected for over three decades by his Jesuit superiors and the Vatican hierarchy, up to and including Pope Francis.

Rupnik had been one of the most celebrated contemporary religious artists in the Catholic Church, designing stylized mosaics that decorate churches and basilicas around the world, including at Lourdes and the Vatican.

The scandal exploded in late 2022, when Italian blogs first reported claims of misconduct against him by women and nuns dating back to the 1990s that had been consistently dismissed by the Catholic hierarchy.

The Jesuits admitted that he had been excommunicated brieﬂy in 2020 for having committed one of the Catholic Church’s most serious crimes: using the confessional

to absolve a woman with whom he had engaged in sexual activity

But the Vatican later refused to prosecute claims of other women against him, arguing they were too old and involved adult women, not minors, at the time of the alleged abuse.

The Jesuits expelled Rupnik from their order in 2023 after more than two dozen women came forward to say he had sexually, spiritually or psychologically abused them over 30 years some while they were collaborating with him on artworks.

He remains a priest and his supporters have denied he did anything wrong. Maria Campatelli, director of the Rome-based Aletti Center that Rupnik founded has said the claims against him were “defamatory and unproven” and amounted to a form of media “lynching.”

Under pressure from suspicions he had protected his fellow Jesuit, Francis in 2023 waived the statute of limitations on the older claims so that the Vatican could open a

Gates Foundation met with Epstein 30 times, review says

Report: No evidence anything illegal occurred

BY JAMES POLLARD Associated Press

NEW YORK Bill Gates and the staff of his charitable foundation met with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein more than two dozen times even as employees expressed concerns about the reputational risk of working with him, an external review commissioned by the Gates Foundation found.

The conversations appeared to focus on a public health fund that never materialized and a grant to the International Peace Institute, which was run by an associate of Epstein.

The roughly 30 meetings, which took place from 2011 to 2014, included several visits to Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse and one meeting on the Gates Foundation campus, according to the review by law firm WilmerHale. The review found no evidence the foundation paid Epstein or did anything illegal. The foundation released a three-page summary of WilmerHale’s report Tuesday and did not say if it would release the full version.

Gates, who chairs the Gates Foundation, has not been accused in connection with Epstein’s crimes and has repeatedly denied any knowledge of Epstein’s abuse of girls. He told a congressional committee last month that he made a “grave error in judgment” by meeting with the disgraced ﬁnancier Gates’ name appears in the trove of documents released by the Justice Department as part of its Epstein probe The Epstein files include

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO

Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, leaves after a closeddoor interview with the House Oversight Committee investigating convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on June 10 in Washington.

the names of powerful men across tech, finance, politics and business, all of whom have denied involvement in Epstein’s crimes. Epstein was federally indicted in July 2019 on charges of sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors. He died by suicide while awaiting trial. The release of the Gates Foundation summary follows last week’s revelation that Warren Buffett, a longtime friend of Gates who has put the majority of his charitable gifts toward the tech billionaire’s philanthropy, omitted the Gates Foundation from his annual donations this year Buffett explained that the decision was more about his belief that his three children are ready to manage his fortune than it was about Gates’ “distasteful” association with Epstein. That association began when an adviser to both the foundation and Gates’ personal office introduced the two men, according to the review Three years earlier, Epstein had pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution

from a minor Epstein recommended that Gates establish a charitable investment fund to pool wealthy individuals’ gifts for global public health. Staff followed up with Epstein at Gates’ request on the legal considerations and tax beneﬁts to donors.

Those discussions led to a December 2014 breakfast at Epstein’s Manhattan residence with Gates, foundation staff and potential donors. Gates concluded that Epstein had “misrepresented” the donors’ willingness to contribute, according to the review, and the foundation stopped working on the concept Epstein also brought together Gates and the head of a nonproﬁt that would eventually receive money from the foundation. In 2012, the review concluded, Epstein introduced Gates to Terje Rød-Larsen, then the president of the International Peace Institute. The Gates Foundation reached a grant agreement the following year with the International Peace Institute related to polio eradication. Rød-Larsen resigned in 2020 over his connections to Epstein.

proper canonical trial.

It took the Vatican two years to appoint judges. Late last year, Pope Leo XIV conﬁrmed that the trial had opened. While identifying the women who accused Rupnik as “victims,” he urged them to be patient.

“Processes for justice take a long time and I know it’s very difﬁcult for the victims to ask that they be patient but the church needs to respect the rights of all people,”

Leo said Nov 4. “The principle of innocent until you’re proven guilty is also true in the church. And hopefully this trial that is just beginning will be able to give some clarity and justice to all those involved.”

Given the sensitivity of the case, and how its outcome will likely impact Francis’ legacy, any news about the Rupnik trial has been closely followed by victims and their advocates.

Sgro, the lawyer for the ﬁve victims took issue with the church’s secretive approach to the case and refusal to conﬁrm or deny the blog report.

In a letter to the head of the Vatican ofﬁce that handles sex abuse cases, Sgro complained that no one from the Vatican had ever responded to her calls or emails seeking information about the case, and that her clients had never even been interviewed.

“How can what is happening be reconciled with the concepts of law, truth, justice, and fairness? With the words that the Holy Father constantly speaks on behalf of the victims of abuse?” Sgro wrote Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Vatican’s doctrine ofﬁce.

“I therefore ask you once again, Your Eminence, to answer some simple, basic questions regarding a criminal trial involving victims who first filed complaints more than thirty years ago: Has the trial begun? If so, what is the current status of the case? Who are the judges? What has become of my clients’ requests to be admitted as injured parties in the trial? Why were these women not called to testify?”

BY GEOFF MULVIHILL Associated Press

HADDONFIELD,New Jersey—

About 6,600 people who indicated they were noncitizens while obtainingNew Jersey driver’slicenses and other state IDs were improperly registered to vote in 2023 and 2024, Gov.Mikie

Sherrill said Tuesday The Democratic governor,who took office this year, blamed aMotor Vehicle Commission system software error but said apreliminary analysis showed that fewer than 400ofthose who registered that way went on to cast ballots.

head off any futurecriticism of the issue fromthe president. “As the Trump Administration tries to weaponize elections forpolitical gain, Iam ensuring we protect our elections,” she said.

TheWhite House on Tuesday used the revelation to promoteTrump’s SAVE AmericaAct, which wouldrequire peopleto show documentary proof of citizenshipbefore they register to vote andimpose voter ID requirementsnationwide.

Themeasure has passed the U.S. House buthas not gotten avote in the Senate, where even someRepublicans oppose it.

“American voters deservetohave confidence thatour elections are safe and secure,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement.

The revelation comes as President Donald Trump and other Republicans continue to assert that voting by noncitizens is rampant in U.S. elections, even though it’srare and, when caught, can be punished as afelony that can lead to deportation.

Sherrill promisedimmediate action and said she has orderedthat all erroneously added voter registrations from that period be removed. She also is replacing the vendor who ran the system and is launching an investigation into how the error happened.

“I am appalled by the reckless failuresthat allowed this to happen and the lack of transparency shown by those in charge at the time,” she said in a statement. She also attempted to

Sherrill also notedthat the noncitizens who registered didsoasDemocrats, Republicans andindependents. About 6.9 million people in NewJersey are registered to voteand morethan 4million cast ballots in the 2024presidential election.

Phil Murphy,also aDemocrat,was governor when theerror occurred. Arepresentative for the former governor did not immediatelyrespond to arequest for comment.

Christine Hanlon, chair of theRepublicanparty organization in New Jersey,said voter registration needstobeimproved and that abipartisaninvestigation should dig into what happened, including why the registrations weren’t disclosed previously

Courtrejects Biden’s bidfor appeal

He’s seekingtoblock releaseoftranscripts

BY MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press

WASHINGTON Afederal appeals court has rejected arequest by Joe Biden to block thereleaseofaudiorecordings and transcripts of his interviews with amemoir ghostwriter beforehewas elected president.

Adivided three-judge panel from theU.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit suspended itsdecision until Aug. 3toallow more time for Bidentoconsider another appeal.

Thepanel’s 2-1rulinglate Monday found there is a“substantial” public interest in disclosing the material that Biden wantstokeep under wraps. Redactions to therecordings would help protect Biden’sprivacy,the majority noted.

“Weconclude thatany remaining incursion on personal privacy from disclosure of the now-redacted materials likely does not outweigh thepublic interest in disclosure,” theruling says.

Judge Florence Pan, who was nominated by Biden, aDemocrat, wrotea dissenting opinion in which she said Bidenhas shown a“substantial privacy interest”inkeeping thematerial hidden.

“The conversations at issue took

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILEPHOTO

Former PresidentJoe Biden seeksto block the release of audio recordings and transcripts of hisinterviews with amemoir ghostwriter before he was elected president.

place in Biden’shome, and the recordings of them were obtainedbythe government in the course of acriminalinvestigation that did not lead to an indictment,” she wrote.

The appeal also washeard by D.C. Circuit ChiefJudge Sri Srinivasan and Judge Gregory Katsas. Srinivasan was nominated by President Barack

Obama, aDemocrat who chose Biden as his vicepresident.Katsas was nominated by President Donald Trump, a Republican who as president lost to Bidenin2020 but was elected again to the White House in 2024.

Mark Zwonitzer,who worked with Bidenontwo memoirs, 2007’s“Promises to Keep” and2017’s“PromiseMe, Dad,” interviewed him at his home in 2016 and 2017. Biden’slawyers say the conversations were candid, personal andintendedtoremain private. BidenspokespersonT.J.Ducklosaid the former president disagrees with the ruling but “respectsthe courts and the vital role an independent judiciary plays in ahealthy democracy.”

“President Biden’sconversations for abook adecade ago that discussed his late son are private, and were provided to the Department of Justiceonthe express conditionthey staythatway,” Ducklo said in astatement. “Reversing course andmaking thempublic is just the latest example of this administration weaponizingthe (Justice Department) forpolitical retribution.”

The recordings were obtainedby special counsel Robert Hur,who investigated Biden’shandling of classiﬁed documents from his timeasa senator from Delaware and as Obama’s vice president. Republicans in Congress demanded the material after Hur declined to ﬁle charges against the then-president.

Decision that freedactivistisreversed

It opensdoorfor Mohsen Mahdawi to be rearrested

BY JAKE OFFENHARTZ

Associated Press

cuit Court of Appeals in NewYork overturns apreviousdecision by afederal judge in Vermont, which likened the government’sefforts to expel him andother activists to McCarthyist repression.

In their unanimousdecision, the panel found that the judge had oversteppedhis authority by intervening in Mahdawi’scase before it had moved fully through the immigration court system

NEW YORK Afederal appeals panel hasreversed alower court decision ordering therelease of pro-Palestinian activist Mohsen Mahdawi, opening the door to therearrest of astudent protest organizer whom the Trump administration has spent morethan ayear trying to deport Tuesday’sruling from the 2nd U.S. Cir-

The ruling mirrors aseparate appellate panel’sdecision earlier this year against Mahmoud Khalil, aformer classmateofMahdawi’satColumbia University

As with theruling against Khalil, the appealscourt did not weigh in on the merits of Mahdawi’sclaim that he was unconstitutionally targeted for criticizing Israel. He can seek a

review from the federal courts over those claims once he has exhausted his options in theimmigration courts, the panel wrote. Mahdawi, 35, is currently appealing an order of removal issuedagainsthim by the Board of Immigration Appeals. Attorneysfor theAmericanCivil Liberties Union, which represents Mahdawi, said Tuesday that the government could not detain or deport their client as the appeals process proceeds. In astatement, Mahdawi called the appealscourt decision“agravesetback,” adding that it would hand the government “the power to intimidate, censor,and punish dissent without meaningful restraint.”

An emailed inquiry to the Department of Homeland Security was not immediately returned.

Sherrill

Mahdawi

India’sprotestersdemandreforms

youth-ledCockroach movement seeks accountability

BY SHEIKH SAALIQ and SHONAL GANGULY Associated Press

NEW DELHI Supporters of India’s youth-led Cockroach movement demanding educational reforms and government accountabilityrefused to leave their New Delhiprotest site Tuesday,aday after their thousands-strong march toward Parliament drew police tear gas, beatings and anew wave of sympathy from across the country

The movement, now attracting professionals and families beyond students, represents arare public challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’sgovernment, reviving criticism overits handling of dissent and use of force torespond to protests.

Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi and dozens of his Congress party lawmakers showed their support Tuesday withasit-in outside Modi’s residence before police forcibly removedthem in adramaticescalation.

Footage showed Gandhi, who had urged “every patriotic Indian who believesthat our studentsshould get justice” to join,resisting. Government minister Jitendra Singh said Gandhi was told the location was not “suitable fora sit-in.”

Meanwhile, hundreds of protesters remained camped at Jantar Mantar,adesignated protest site, under heavy police presence, sayingthey wouldstay until Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigns over alleged failures in India’s examination system

“Weare goingtocontinueour protest,” said Abhijeet Dipke, founder of the CockroachJanta Party, which emerged just two months agoasasatiricalprotest after a Supreme Court judge described India’syouthas“cockroaches” but quicklyevolved.

It gained momentum over the weekend after prominent activist Sonam Wangchuk, whose threeweek hunger strike became asymbol of theprotests, was forcibly taken to ahospital by police.

Video ofpolice beating protesters anddragging them away spread on social media, fueling public outrage. Footageshowedyoung protesters crying and pleading with ofﬁcers not to hit them, while oth-

ers stood their ground and endured blows.

Delhi Police saidnearly 180people were injured, including 118 security personnel and 60 protesters.

Sona Bisht, a20-year-old student who was part of the protest, said theconfrontation strengthened her resolve.

“If the government thinks that doing this withGen Z, theycan stop us, thenthat won’thappen. We are here talking about education, talking about securing our future. And till thetime our demands are not met, we will not move from here,” she said.

After nearlya month of silence, the government made its ﬁrst apparent move to engage with the protesters Monday, when asenior minister held talks with movement representatives. The outreach failed to ease tensions.

Movement leaders said they wanted action rather thanassurances, including Pradhan’sresignation,examination reforms and compensation for familiesofstudents who died by suicide after alleged exam irregularities.

Dipkeaccused authorities of breaking their word, saying police resorted toabaton charge after protesters were invited for talks.

Survivor describes chaoticferry sinking

Guyana official says as many as 179 people were on board

BY ROYSTON DRAKE and BERT WILKINSON Associated Press

CHARITY, Guyana One of the survivorsofaferry that capsized in Guyana over the weekend with as manyas179 people aboard said she lost four of her grandchildren in the chaotic disaster andthatthe ship seemed to sink in an instant.

“I wasfighting formylife.

Theboatsunkinminutes, seconds,” Helena Moonsammy recalled, saying that boxesfellonher as shetried to save her grandchildren. “I told my grandbabies to cling on to anything as Ihollered for them

Iprayed all nightand was in the water for nine hours.”

At least 69 people have been rescued after the MV Barima sanklateSaturdayoff the Essequibo coast, and27bodies have been found so far —four of them children, Prime Minister Mark Phillips said. But the death toll is expected to rise dramatically,hesaid.

rible experience.”

Surviving passenger Alicia Atkinson,, 18, said her 3-yearold daughter is missing but that shewas able to saveher 10-month-old sonand ﬂoat with him in theocean,holding onto debris forabout 8hours.

“I endedupinthe water and washustling to come up forair but my daughter just rushedout of my hand and disappeared,” she said. “I miss my daughter.” Moonsammy,the grandmother,was among dozens of friends and relatives of the missing who have been gathering at a hospital in the coastal townof Charity to identifytheir loved ones. She wore afacemask like many Guyanese around her: “I have to seethe bodies before I go home.”

“I ended up in thewater and washustling to come up forair, but my daughter justrushed out of my hand and disappeared.”

ALICIA ATKINSON

Though the ship’smanifest listed 116 passengers and 17 crew,authorities now believe as manyas179 people were aboard, Phillips said.

An investigationinto the capsizing of the 87-year-old ferry is underway. It began taking on waterduringa trip Saturday from thecapital,Georgetown, to PortKaituma in northwestern Guyana, near Venezuela.

“Brace yourself forthe coming days,” President Irfaan Ali saidina nationaladdress. “It is goingtobeadifﬁcult period for us as apeople andasacountry May God watch over Guyana andbring us through this hor-

Ofﬁcials have said that the rescued captain and at least one other crew member tested positive for marijuana and remaininpolice custody as part of the criminalinvestigation.

Neighbor ing countries have sent boats, spotter planes and rescue personnel, including acontingent of divers from French Guiana as ofﬁcials prepare to switchfromarescue operation to arecoveryone. Public Works MinisterJuan Edghill said all staff associatedwiththe management and loading of the MV Barima have been suspended amid suspicion that they might have illegally loaded theferry with additional people and cargo without putting themonthe manifest. Passengers have complained foryears that ticket clerksunofﬁcially sell seats to friends and associates for cash without adding their names to the manifest,a practicethathas persistedfor decades at staterun ferry terminals. The MV Barima hadbeendry docked andoverhauledin2024 andwas due formajor repairs.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By SHEKHAR yADAV

Supporters gather at the camping site of the Cockroach Janta PartyatJantar Mantar in NewDelhi on Tuesday.

SoutheastLouisiana readiesfor Bertha

Officialsadviseresidents to prepare, stay vigilant

BY MIKE SMITH, JONIHESS and LARA NICHOLSON Staff writers

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. While Bertha was far from

amajor storm,the floodprone New Orleans area haslearned nottoignore any possibility of severe weather.Preparations were underway to guardagainst potential risks, with some floodgates being closed, sandbags being filled, groceries being bought and boats being movedtohigher ground.

In Baton Rouge, the National Weather Service fore-

Moak to runfor mayorin Central

BatonRouge Metro Councilmemberhas 2 yearsleftinhis term

BY PATRICK SLOAN-TURNER Staff writer

After 41/2 years serving onthe Metro Council, Aaron Moak wants to lead the city that gave him his political start.

On Tuesday, Moak toldThe Advocate he planstorun for mayor of Central in the comingNovemberelection.

Moak’sMetro Council district includes Central, whereheserved on the first City Council following its 2005 incorporation before election to his current office. “I’ve always said that Iwould be goinghome back to Central,” Moak said. “I want to finish where Istarted.” Central Mayor Wade Evans has notpublicly announced whether he will seek reelection. Moak took part in Central’seffort to incorporate more than two decades ago and served twoseparate stintsonthe City Councilbetween 2005 and 2020.

ARepublican, Moak was elected to his District 4council seat after Scott Wilson was term-limited Moak saidserving as Central’s mayor has been agoal since before the city incorporated, andpointed to his experience in the areaasa ﬁfth-generation resident.

“It’swhere Igrew up,” Moak said. “It’sthe city that Ihelped create.”

cast called forjustaslight chance of showers and thunderstorms between 3p.m. and 5p.m. Wednesday,and the wind is notexpected to be afactor.The chance of precipitation is 20%. The heat is abiggerconcern, withahigh expected near 99 and heat index values as high as 115.

Forecasters sketchedout ascenarioexpected to limit Bertha’spower

Wind shear anddry air from the northeast would likely slice at the disorganized storm’sstructure, preventing it from intensifying. The shear was also expected to push Bertha’s convection to its south and keep much of the rainfall over the Gulf. The risk of tornadoes spinning off from Bertha’s winds also appearedrelatively low,officials said, but thepotential for heavy rain, flash floods and troublesome storm surgeinsome areas remained concerns.

Coastal St. Bernard and Plaqueminesparishes were expected to begin seeing tropical storm conditions as early as Tuesday night.

Landfall waslikely to occur in Plaquemines Parish late Wednesdayafternoon or Wednesday evening.

Thestorm’s maximum sustained winds were at 60 mphlate Tuesday afternoon andNational Weather Service forecasters said additional strengthening seemed unlikely

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 Storm surge could rise to up to four feet in some coastalareas, which could pose problems,particularly if it occurs at high tide. In New Orleansitself, the

FIREFIGHTERS AT WORK

St.GeorgeCityCouncil seat could be vacated, leavingleadershiphole

Murrelltorun forjustice of thepeace post

BY CLAIRE GRUNEWALD

Staff writer

ASt. George council member and mayor pro tempore is running for alocal justiceofthe peace post, potentially opening a vacancy on the City Council and its leadership.

Drew Murrell,St. George District 5council member,announced Monday he would be running for justice of the peace for District 5inEast Baton Rouge Parish in the Nov.3election Murrell, apersonal injury lawyer, wasanorganizer and spokesperson during the campaign to createSt. George datingback to 2018. He previously chaired the St. George Transition District in the year following the Louisiana

Supreme Court’sApril 2024 ruling in favor of the city’sincorporation

“St. George was founded on the principle thatgovernment should be closer to the people,” Murrell said. “That same philosophy should guide our local courts. Every citizen deservesa justice of thepeace who is accessible, impartial, knowledgeable and committedtoresolving disputes fairlyand efﬁciently.”

The St. GeorgeCityCouncil appointed Murrell as the city’sﬁrst mayor pro tempore in July 2025.

Murrellsaidhis council term ends in 2029; therefore, if he won, the city would have to elect someone to ﬁllthe vacancynext year.Depending on 2027 election dates, the city potentially would have to appoint an interimcouncilmemberprior toanelection.

The councilwould also have to select anew mayor pro tem.

Justices of the peace are part-

time small-claims judges who have limitedjurisdiction to settledisputes involving lessthan $5,000,collect money, handle disputesbetween landlords and tenants, andother matters.

Murrell said the justiceofthe peace ofﬁce is aboutmore than hearing civil disputes. It also serves an important role in adjudicating matters authorized by law, including local ordinanceviolations such as litter offenses.

The justiceofthe peace District 5mainly includes St. George.

“It is aprivilege building St George, serving on its City Council and representing clients throughout Louisianaasan attorney,” Murrell said. “Now,I am asking for the opportunity to continue serving our community as justice of the peace.”

The term for the justiceofthe peace seat wouldbegin in January and last sixyears.

St. George firefighters put out a house fire off Cedercrest Avenue on Tuesday morning, aSt. George Fire Department spokesperson said. Responders rescued adog from the house.

ABOVE: St. George firefighters wrap up hoses after putting out afire.

LEFT: The house fire at the 10800 block of Weiner Creek Drive was extinguished by St. George firefighters.

Livingston shooting tied to EBRgang, sheriff says

BLOTTER staff reports

East Baton RougeParish gang members are suspected to be responsible forthe early Monday morning shooting at aDenham Springs apartment complexthat left one dead,Livingston Parish Sheriff Jason Ard said. There could be morethan one person involvedin the shooting, and the suspects came from andreturned to East Baton Rouge, Ard said.

“Wedon’tlike gangactivity here; however,we have seen some of this here lately,” Ardsaid in astatement. The shooting happened around 5a.m. at the Parc at Denham Springs,off La. 16. Thevictim was getting his vehicle to go to workwhen he was shot and killed, Ard said. Multiple shots were ﬁred, and adark four-

door vehicle wasinvolved. The Sheriff’s Office asks that anyone with information on the shooting call (225) 686-2241, ext. 1, or call CrimeStoppers at (225) 344-7867.

Another Elayn Hunt officer arrested on malfeasance

Aformer master sergeant at Elayn Hunt Correctional Center was arrested Tuesday,adding to astring of correctional officers arrested over alleged misconductorfailures to do theirdutyatthe facility. Amiya Jones wasarrested Tuesdayona count of malfeasance in ofﬁce by deputies with the Iberville Parish Sheriff’sOfﬁce. Shehad been with theLouisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections since August but is no longeranemployee following her

ä See BLOTTER, page 2B

STAFFPHOTOSByJOHN BALLANCE

ä See MOAK, page 2B

Moak

Lane Regional Medical Center seeking partner to expand staff

Hospital looking to offer more services

BY IANNE SALVOSA Staff writer

Lane Regional Medical Center in Zachary is looking for a

partner to help it expand. The medical center is in the market for an afﬁliation so it can hire more physicians, offer more services and increase revenue in the long run, said Jon Hirsch, Lane’s director of marketing. “It’s not about responding

to an immediate crisis, but about positioning ourselves for long-term growth,” Hirsch said. Hirsch said hospital leadership is in negotiations with multiple in-state groups but declined to disclose the interested parties.

Lane Regional’s search for a new partner was ﬁrst reported by WAFB on Thursday evening. Within the past year, the hospital has expanded to serve more patients with a $90 million patient tower with 48 rooms. That bumped

Lane up to 187 beds. The expansion also brought along new services like critical care and neurology to an area that local ofﬁcials say is medically vulnerable.

Lane Regional is a not-forproﬁt hospital with additional financial support from

nonproﬁt The Lane Foundation. The hospital employs more than 850 and is the largest employer in Zachary, according to its website. Email Ianne Salvosa at ianne.salvosa@ theadvocate.com.

Prairieville man sentenced to 12 years in fatal drunken driving crash

BY ANNAKATE FREELAND Staff writer

A Prairieville man who had a blood alcohol level nearly double the legal limit when he got into a crash that killed a passenger in

his vehicle has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for vehicular homicide Johnny Darville Jr. 43 was sentenced last week in 23rd Judicial District Court after earlier pleading guilty Under the sen-

tence, the first five years must be served without the beneﬁt of probation, parole or suspension of sentence. He also received credit for time served since Nov. 26, 2024. The charge stems from a

in January More than 30 civilians visiting the facility have also been arrested in the same period.

arrest, according to a release from corrections department.

No further information has been released.

More than a dozen officers at Elayn Hunt have been arrested on malfeasance or contraband charges since the start of the year

The arrests are the result of what appears to be a coordinated crackdown on employee behavior since Warden Travis Day began overseeing the St. Gabriel facility

MOAK

Continued from page 1B

Metro Council seats are not up for reelection until 2028. If Moak is elected mayor in November, an

BERTHA

Continued from page 1B

Sewerage & Water Board said 87 of 93 major pumps were available along with plenty electricity to power them. Renewed focus has been placed on the city’s drainage system after seven pump stations lost power as the remnants of Tropical Storm Arthur swept through last month.

New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno said the city was preparing despite forecasts showing many of Bertha’s most signiﬁcant impacts occurring to the south.

“Our public safety agencies here locally, they’ve been coordinating with the state and we’re going to be ready for whatever comes our way,” she said.

Damon Singleton, NOLA. com’s senior meteorologist, said it seemed “most of the rainfall is going to be over the Gulf of Mexico.”

“I’m still expecting showers and storms across the area,” he said “I think this is going to be an all-day event for your Wednesday You’re going to notice the winds picking up and the showers and maybe even some tropical downpours at times.”

Weather Service forecasters issued similar predictions while saying Bertha was expected to gradually weaken Wednesday through Friday as it moved along the coast toward Texas

‘Rather be prepared’ For many New Orleans residents, it was business as usual Tuesday Michelle McMillan, a manager at Rouses Market in Mid-City, said she wasn’t worried about the weather and was instead looking forward to hitting the casino during a planned Gulfport trip this week. McMillan said she has taken note, however, of customers stocking up on goods that are typical mainstays ahead of major weather events.

“I’ve noticed a lot of people getting tuna, sardines, lunch meat, bread and water,” she said.

Tessie Wilkins was one of those shoppers. Her basket was stockpiled with extra toilet paper, cases of water and nonperishable foods.

“You never know what’s going to happen in this city, so I’d rather be prepared than sorry,” she said.

In southeast Louisiana’s coastal communities, officials and residents moni-

A State Police investigation into Elayn Hunt is also ongoing, due to both the arrests and an accompanying increase in inmate deaths at the facility

Fatal Baker shooting victim identified

A man fatally shot outside a Baker convenience store Thursday night has been identiﬁed, the East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner’s Ofﬁce said. Dillon Murray, 19, was outside the

interim council member will need to be appointed to ﬁll his seat within 20 days. Then, a special election would take place in April to ﬁll the seat through the end of the term. Moak said he’ll voice more of his platform as the

tored the incoming storm but said they weren’t phased by the looming weather Grand Isle Mayor David Carmardelle declined to issue a voluntary evacuation for his town, located on a barrier island off Louisiana’s Gulf Coast. He said on Tuesday he saw both residents and visitors for the annual Tarpon Rodeo out on the town’s beaches and campgrounds as normal.

“We’re going to monitor the storm, batten down the hatches, the storm will come through and it’s supposed to be sunshine the next day,” Carmardelle said.

The Tarpon Rodeo, a threeday party and important tourism event for the island, delayed its Thursday kickoff by several hours in anticipation of the coming storm The Jefferson Parish Council relocated its annual Grand Isle meeting scheduled for Wednesday to Gretna.

Donna Baker the town’s postal worker, echoed that she wasn’t concerned about the storm and didn’t plan to leave Grand Isle.

In Plaquemines Parish, where Bertha is expected to make landfall Wednesday, Parish President Keith Hinkley said the only area of possible concern would be the 14-mile stretch of lower Plaquemines from Phoenix to Bohemia, where storm surge of over 5 feet could ﬂood La. 39. However, officials did not elect to issue a voluntary evacuation. Hinkley said as far as storms go, it’s “really kind of calm” in Plaquemines.

‘No strangers to this’ Jefferson and Plaquemines parishes drained their canals ahead of Bertha’s arrival, and Jefferson Parish will staff its Emergency Operations Center through the duration of the storm. But both parishes plan to operate their government buildings as normal Wednesday. St. Charles Parish was projected to see 1-2 inches of rainfall total and, as a precaution, established self-service sandbag stations at the East and West Bank Bridge Parks, as well as at Badeaux Lane in Des Allemands.

The Des Allemands Boat Launch under U.S. 90 and Sellers Canal Sector Gate closed at noon Tuesday and will reopen once tides subside.

In lower St. Bernard Parish outside the New Orleans area’s main levee

Sept. 7, 2024, single-vehicle crash on Devall Road in Prairieville

According to the Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office, deputies found Darville and his passenger, 38-year-old Kortez Cole-

Buffalo Food Mart on Groom Road in Baker about 10:40 p.m. Thursday when he was shot multiple times. He died at the scene, Baker police said.

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call the Baker Police Department Criminal Investigations Division at (225) 775-6000, ext. 7, or Crime Stoppers at (225) 344-7867.

Man accused of sexual battery of a minor

A registered sex offender from Rapides Parish is wanted by police for sexual battery of a minor

race gets going. But he said economic development is an early focus, as “smart growth” is important for the city in its third decade. In the city’s earliest days, Moak served as its economic development director as its government was still

system, some people moved boats and trailers to higher ground, though far fewer than is customary for larger storms. Large sandbags were also being placed in vulnerable spots. Plaquemines Parish Council member Mitch Jurisch advised residents to “stay vigilant” nonetheless, as forecasts could change ahead of landfall. He said fishermen outside the levee protection system there relocated their boats Monday and Tues-

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man, injured at the scene. Both men were taken to area hospitals, where Coleman later died from his injuries.

Investigators concluded that Darville attempted to pass another vehicle at a

after he allegedly inappropriately touched a juvenile in Baton Rouge.

According to the arrest warrant, on Oct. 21, 2024, David Coburn, 51, touched a juvenile under her clothes while in a van in the 6400 block of Perkins Road. Coburn also allegedly told the victim repeatedly to stand up and stopped only when his wife returned to the vehicle. Through a cellphone search, police obtained photos of the victim and Coburn, one of which depicts them kissing on the lips. Records showed the photos were taken in the area of 6400 Perkins Road on Oct. 21, 2024, police said. This case was transferred from

high rate of speed before losing control of the vehicle. A blood sample showed Darville’s blood alcohol concentration was 0.158%, nearly twice Louisiana’s legal limit of 0.08%.

the Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Ofﬁce to the Baton Rouge Police Department Special Victims Unit on March 24, according to the arrest warrant. Coburn is now wanted for a felony count of sexual battery Coburn is classiﬁed as a Tier 3 sex offender for a separate offense of sexual battery in 2009 and an offense of pornography involving juveniles in 2010, according to the Louisiana sex offender database. A Tier 3 sex offender is reserved for the most severe and aggressive sexual offenses, according to

forming.

Moak owns an information technology business. A former firefighter in Central, Moak has advocated on the Metro Council for the parish’s various ﬁre departments, helping union leaders and ﬁre chiefs get

day, a lesson they learned in 1997 when Hurricane Danny wiped out vessels.

Danny, a Category 1 hurricane, took an unusual path northeast through Plaquemines Parish, making landfall near Buras, before

their property taxes to pass council votes. He’s also helped move forward several initiatives that support Emergency Medical Services and the Baton Rouge Police Department. The qualifying window for the Nov. 3 election

heading to Alabama and the Florida Panhandle.

“We’re no strangers to this in Plaquemines Parish, believe me,” Jurisch said. “Are we panicking? By no means, no. We just tell people to be diligent.”

opens Aug. 5 and closes Aug. 7.

“My biggest thing is making sure that the city of Central is structured in a way with long-term viability in mind,” Moak said. “It’s the right time for me to come home.”

Staff writers Michelle Hunter and Chris Granger contributed to this report.

Email Mike Smith at MSmith@theadvocate.com or follow him on Twitter at @MikeJSmith504.

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

U.S. increasestariffs on Canada by 50%

BYJIM 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.

modestlyinrecent years, butprojected more than 500

Conflicts, energy shocks threaten global hunger progress,reportwarns

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 and data centers, they’ve come

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

under pressure in recent weeks on worries that they shot too high. Concerns are alsoweighing that investment in AI may falloff if it doesn’tproduce 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 the United 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

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

reports from

TheU.N. food security report, released Tuesday, found global hunger has eased

millionpeople could still face chronic hunger by 2030.

Adomitis,Catherine OurLadyofMercy Catholic Church 445MarquetteAvenue,at10a.m Floyd, Glenn

Immaculate ConceptionCatholic Church,865 Hatchell Lane in Denham Springs,atnoon.

Melchert,Wayne Garden of Memories FuneralHome & Cemetery,4900 AirlineDrive in Metairie,atnoon.

Reine,Alice Greenoaks FuneralHome, 9595 FloridaBoulevard, at 11 a.m.

Obituaries

Bueche,Harry Calvin

Harry Calvin Bueche, 92, aresident of Zachary, LA, died on Friday, July 17, 2026. He worked for AT&T for over 35 years. There will be avisitation on Thursday, July 23, 2026 at the St. John the Baptist Church in Zachary, LA from 10:30 am until funeral mass at 12:30 pm, conducted by Fr. Lamar Partin. Burial will be at Louisiana National Cemetery. He is survived by his wife of 67 years, Patsy Farragut Bueche; three sons: Kurt Bueche and his wife Kema; Chris Bueche and his wife Lisa; Kerry Bueche and his wife Nancy; sister Mary Lou Jones; seven grandchildren: Zachary, Abbey, Caitlin, Kirstin, Cameron, Conner, and Chandler; four greatgrandchildren: Scottlynn, Jameson, Colette, and William. He was preceded in

of the St. John's Men's Club. Share

memories, and condolences at www.CharletFuneralHome. com.

Theworld losta treasure on June 19, 2026 when Willa Dietz passedawayat BR General wherethe nurses provided superbcare. BornWilladeneOscarson on January 24, 1941 in Spokane, Washingtonto Emily Elliott Oscarson and Wilhelm Oscarson, she is survived by Tom, her spouse of 64 years, two daughters, Kari Dietz and Diana Dietz Walker(Mike), three grandsons Dean, Ian, and Mitchell Walker, asister,Eryls McCoy, andher lifelong friend fromchildhood, Joanne Delles

After moving to Baton Rouge in 1971,Willa taught at University Methodist Pre -School before beginning a 25 year career at Galvez PrimarySchool in Prairieville, screening and teaching childreninPre-K and K. .She lovedplants and gardening and establishedmonarchbutterfly sanctuaries in her yard and at school.Withcopious numbers of milkweed plants and netting-covered pots, Willa nurtured the caterpillars, protecting them from predators until they werebutterflies, ready to be released. Her home was also a sanctuaryfor anyone who neededsome R&Ror someone to justlisten. While hersmileand blue eyes werebeautiful and herlaugh contagious, her unique senseofhumor was adelight. Celebration services have not been finalizedbut may take place the end of October.Additionalinformationwillbeposted on the Neptune obituary page: https://neptunesoci ety.com/obituaries/kenner -l a/willadene-d ie tz12938559 in lieu of flowers consider giving to acharity of your choice

David L. Fleming,63, passed away on Friday, July 10, 2026. He was bornon August 31, 1962, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

David graduated from ChamberlainHunt Academy and workedvarious jobs withinthe construction industry. He was an avid sports fan, especially forthe purple and gold LSU Tigers.Healso had apassionfor collecting and trading sports cards. In ordertohelpothers, he donated his organs to Louisiana Organ Procurement Agency (LOPA).

The family extendstheir heartfelt gratitudetothe physicians, nurses, and staff of Our Ladyofthe Lake fortheir exceptional care and kindness. They are especially grateful to theHeart CriticalCare Unit.

David is survivedbyhis mother, BonnieFleming Rogers; his brother, Ronald Fleming,Jr.;his sister-inlaw: Diane Fleming;his nephews, Nick, Austin and Jake Fleming;his longtime companion, SharonLazard; and several aunts, uncles, and cousins who will cherish his memory.

de Fleming Tr mat gr be st ent rangements

Ann

After alife filled with love,faith,and unwavering devotion to her family,Carolyn Ann Harger passed away peacefullyonJuly 10, 2026, at theage of 83. Born in Dighton, Kansas, to Fern Louise and Earnest August Wilbert, Carolyn was raised in Alexandria, Louisiana, alongsideher threesisters. Adevoted Catholic, her faith in God was thefoundationofher life and guidedthe way she loved, served, and cared for others. Carolyn graduated from Holy SaviorMenard High School, where she was honored as theKey Club Sweetheart, and later attended theUniversityofSouthwestern Louisiana as aproud memberofthe Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority. She earned abachelor's degree in educationand amaster's degree in special education fromLouisiana StateUniversitybefore dedicating 30 years to teaching elementary special education. Her compassion, patience, and belief in every child touched thelives of countless studentsand their families.She shared an extraordinary bond withher

Grill, she treasuredevery moment spent withher boys. Carolyn is survived by hersons, Beau and his wife, SuEllen, andBen and hiswife,Celine; hersisters, Marilyn Wilbert and Arlene Ryder;and her cherished grandson, Reid Shewas preceded in death by herparents, Fern Louise andEarnest August Wilbert,and herbeloved sister,SharonAndrew, whopassed away nearly 24 hoursbeforeher.Visitation andfuneral services will be held at Resthaven Funeral Home and OurLady of Mercy Catholic Church in Baton Rouge.Detailedservice information andcondolencesmay be shared at www.resthavenb atonrouge.com.

Joan Tullier, alifelong Louisiana resident, passed away on July 18th, 2026, peacefully surrounded by thelove of herfamily.Born February 19, 1951, Joan wasraised in NewSarpy, Louisiana, whereshe developedthe valuesoffamily, hard work, andkindness that remained with herthroughouther life. Shewas aproud graduate of Destrehan High School, Class of 1969. Joan shared 37 wonderfulyearsofmar-

Fleming, David Leslie

Harger,Carolyn

Tullier, Joan Adams

riage with the love of her life, Thomas Tullier. Together they built alife centered on faith,family, and making cherished memories. She was precededin death by her parents, Raymond Adams and Hilda Caillouet Adams.Those left to cherish hermemory include her devoted husband, Thomas Tullier; her children, David Wactor Jr. (Hannah) and Kristy Moss (Henry) as well as Amy Hunt Crochet, her daughter's lifelong best friend and the family's "adopted daughter"; her sisters, Linda Jackson (Richard Marino) and Cynthia Adams; and her brothers, Randy Adams (Netta) and Barry Adams.Joan was the proud grandmother of sixgrandchildren and was also blessed withthree greatgrandchildren, all of whom brought her immeasurable joy.She found happiness in the simple pleasures of life, especiallyhiking, camping, and spending time with her grandchildren. Her love for the outdoors and the memories she created with her family will be treasured forever. In lieu of flowers,the family kindly requests that memorial donations be made to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Joan's memory. Avisitation will be held on Thursday, July 23, 2026 from 9:30 a.m-11:00 a.m at St. Mark Catholic Church, 42021 Highway 621, Gonzales, LA, 70737. Mass will begin at 11:00 and interment will follow at Holy Rosary Mausoleum.

the age of 85. Born in New Orleans and aresidentof Baton Rouge.A graduate of St. Aloysius High School in New Orleans receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from Loyola University along with a PhD in ChemistryfromTulane University.George was adedicated altarserver, lector, Arimathean, and alongtime parishioner of OurLady of Mercy Catholic Church.

George was preceded in death by his fatherCaptain Fredrick A. M. Von Bodungen, his mother Emily KingsleyBergeron Von Bodungen,three brothers Fredrick R.,Gustave A., and Raymond CVon Bodungen. He is survived by hiswife, Adrienne Boh Von Bodungen; two daughters, Tammy Von Bodungen Peters (Steve); Heidi Von Bodungen; and son CharlesVon Bodungen and hisbrother Joseph P. Von Bodungen, along with numerous nieces and nephews. George began hiscareer with Copolymer in 1966 as aSenior Chemist at the Baton Rouge SBR Plant. He was promoted to various positionsoftechnicalleadershipatboth Addis and Baton Rouge plants and was amajor contributor to the invention and production of numerous patented SBR and EPDM applications, retiringin2000. George also served as Chairman of the Board of Trusteesfor the Copoly-

mer Retirees Trust from 2006 until 2025. Friends of thefamily and former employees of DSMCopolymerare invited to attend visitationon Thursday July23, 2026 from 1pmuntil 3pm, followed by aMass of Christian Burial at Our LadyofMercy CatholicChurch, located at 445 MarquetteAvenue in BatonRouge,Louisiana (70806). Interment willbe at Westlawn Cemetery in Gretna Louisiana (70056) located at 1225 Whitney Avenue at alater date.The family wouldliketothank thestaff and doctorsofthe Clarity Hospice in Baton Rouge, Mary BirdPerkins CancerCenter, Baton Rouge Generaland Baton Rouge Orthopedic Clinic fortheir compassionate care.

OUR 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.

LETTERSTOTHE EDITOR ARE

WELCOME. HERE AREOUR

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OPINION

Getinvolvedand make BatonRouge abetterplace

Serving on aboard of directors is one of the most meaningful ways to give back to your community.Board service develops leadership skills, expands professional networks, raises resources for important causes and helps organizations improve lives. Yetexceptional board membersare becoming increasingly difficult to recruit Today’semerging leaders often prefer shorter volunteer commitments over traditional multi-year board terms and are less willing to assume fundraising and fiduciaryresponsibilities.Atthe sametime, board members are increasingly expected to advocate with policymakers and represent their organizations publicly BoardSource reportsthat nearly half (49%) of nonprofit CEOsbelieve they lack the right board members to build trust withthe communities they serve, while 88% rely on their CEO’s personal network to recruit new board members. According to theBlackbaud Institute, many nonprofits have also become increasingly dependent on a smallnumber of major donors.

At theHuey and Angelina Wilson Foundation, we regularly hear from

nonproﬁt leaders —especially those leading smaller organizations —that they struggle to recruit board members withthe expertise, community connections and philanthropic inﬂuence needed to advance their missions. This challenge comes as public funding declines andcommunity needs continue togrow

Recently,someone asked me, “What canwedotoreduce violence in Baton Rouge?” Oneanswerissimple: Get involved. Learnabout thechallenges facing children and families. Volunteer your expertise. Support organizations that mentor young peopleand strengthen neighborhoods. Better yet, don’twait to be asked.

Whether your passion is education, housing, healthcare, youth development,animal welfare or thearts, there is anonproﬁt that needs your leadership. By serving on aboard, you can strengthen an organization —and ultimately strengthen ourentire community.

DAVID BEACH president and CEO Hueyand Angelina Wilson Foundation Baton Rouge

Napoleon’s misadventuresled to La.Purchase

FurthertoNancy 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 tall ships, 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

Changes proposed to City-Brooks Park Golf Course described by BREC’S consultant Sasaki as a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” would destroy that historic 100-yearold course and would be moreaccurately described as a“once-in-acentury debacle.” Sasaki’sproposed routing would reduce the present 2,300-yard course length by 425 yards, and further reduce course area another 18-20% by relocating and crowding together holes with little space between them, madeworse by Sasaki’snongolfer walking paths, located in or so close to fairways that the course could not be played without serious danger to walkers of being accidentally hit by golf balls.

Course destruction is worsened by moving greens and tees and relocating scenic multi-level hole 9, with a large parking lot to be built on present hole 9. Various Sasaki nongolf “envisioned amenities” would be unsafely crammed adjacent to the course. Those changes would result in the historic course gone forever.Demolition and reconstruction of the course with “envisioned amenities” would take years, during which adjacent neighborhoods would suffer and no one could play golf

Upon completion years later,surrounding neighborhoods could look forward to being forever located adjacent to what would resemble asort of permanent Greater Baton Rouge State Fair.Construction delays and nuisances could be expected as endured by University Lake property owners during that long overdue and over-budget Sasaki lake project of manyyears.

ColumnistSteve Roberts repeats the Democrat mantra, saying thatstudies showevidence of voter fraudisrare. He is correct. If voter ID andproofof citizenshipare notrequired, there will be little or no evidence of nonresidents voting. If nonrequested ballots are mailed to everyone on the voter rolls, harvested andsubmittedby“volunteers” andthencounted withoutstrict validation, therewill be scantevidence of deadpersonsand non-residentsvoting. France, for one, ceased most mail-in ballots precisely becauseoffraud. If police areprohibitedfromusing radarand sobriety/license checkpoints, there will be little or no evidenceofpeoplespeeding while drinking anddriving withoutalicense. It is remarkable how hard Democrats ﬁght to stopsolutions to problems they insistdonot exist.

The logical solution to this Sasaki debacle is to simply leave the present perfectly good and much-loved course intact as the essential piece of what is already agreat City Park, and stop wasting taxpayer money! There is no legitimate rationale forputting City-Brooks Park and GolfCourse through such awastefulprocess, beneﬁting no one except Sasaki.

LEE HERRINGTON Baton Rouge

DALE MORRIS Destrehan

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

NolanWellshas been laid to rest, but the court of publicopinionisnot at rest.

There’slittle knownaboutwhy he is dead, and what little we know is disturbing.

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

His picture was released as law enforcement ofﬁcials, his family andothers lookedfor him.

His friends’ pictures were published. He was Black. They are White. If you think race doesn’t matter,consider why this became an international story.Why? Becauserace matters.

LikeNolan Wells, I’ve been the only onetoo many times to count. This is why some 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.

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

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

If you’ve never been the only one, youdon’tknow how that feels. If you’ve never been the only Black personinagroup, you don’tknow how it feels. If you’ve never been the only Black friend, you don’tknowhow it feels.

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

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.

My grandfather,aproud Black man,was the only one working at arural Mississippi hotel. With an eighth grade education,hewas 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 SchoolinBrookhaven, Mississippi, because his Monticello high school didn’t have whatheneeded to advance. His mother sent him away tosomething that was nothinglike aboarding school; it was aroom in anice woman’shouse, aplace to study andsleep and return to school thenext day.Fortunately,he made lifelong friends with some proud Black men,men Igot to know.Each wenttohistorically Black colleges and universities. Each earned doctorates. Each becameuniversityexecutives. Twobecame university presidents, includingmyfather

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 had no reason 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.

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.Vendorsselling street food to touristshave taken it over,causing many residents to stop going there.

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 found ourselves 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 waitinginthe hot Roman sun to gain entry to theColosseum. 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 the U.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 Americans complained 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 bed of zinnias 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.

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.” 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 was22and she was 13 wasthe 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 was also 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 was the kind of guy whowould ﬁght ferociously in public, but “when the spotlight wasoff, he waslike, ‘Hey Cory,can we talk and try to ﬁgure out is there a waytomake adeal?’”

Even the media liked the quippy Graham especially during the 2016 presidential primarydebates when he wasrelegated 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 wasabove 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.

Notonly was he in every 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 Gang of Eight 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 wasalready working the room of 50 or 60 people, “walking them through, one at atime, his vision on how we could end the war in Ukraine 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 wasatChristmas. 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 wasaSouthern 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. Keep your mind serene as you keep your lifeclear.”

Kathleen Parker is on X, at @kathleenparker

Will Sutton

Kathleen Parker

Froma Harrop

STAFF PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER

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

Many Americans are fortunate to have dental coverage fortheir entire workinglife, throughemployer-provided benefits. Whenthosebenefits endwith retirement, paying dental billsout-of-pocket cancome as a shock,leading peopletoput off or even go without care

Simply put —without dental insurance,there may be an important gap in yourhealthcare coverage.

Whenyou’re comparingplans ...

 Look forcoveragethat helps pay formajor services. Some plans may limitthe number of procedures —orpay forpreventive care only.

 Look forcoverage with no deductibles. Some plans may require you to payhundreds out of pocket before benefits are paid.

 Shop forcoverage with no annual maximum on cash benefits. Some plans have annual maximums of $1,000.

Medicare doesn’tpay for dental care.1 That’s right. As good as Medicare is, it was never meanttocover everything. That means if youwant protection, you need to purchase individual insurance.

Early detection canprevent small problems from becoming expensiveones.

The best way to preventlargedental bills is preventive care.The American Dental Association recommends checkups twiceayear.

Previous dental work canwear out.

Even if you’vehad qualitydentalwork in the past,you shouldn’t take your dentalhealth forgranted. In fact, your odds of havinga dental problem only go up as youage.2

Treatment is expensive— especiallythe servicespeople over 50 often need.

Consider these national averagecosts of treatment. $274for acheckup. $299 for afilling $1,471 foracrown.3 Unexpected bills like this canbeareal burden, especially if you’re on afixedincome.

“Medicare&You,”Centersfor Medicare &Medicaid Services,2025. 2 “Aging changesinteeth and gums”, medlineplus.gov,4/17/2022. 3 FairHealth, Inc. National average dental fees.Datacurrent as of July 2025;subject to change

“Absolutely love” “I absolutelylove my dental insurance. My dentalofﬁce ﬁles the claims,leaving me with very littlebalancetopay.” DorothyP TN

SPORTS

SECMEDIA DAYS

‘BRIGHT’ TROLL

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

BY JON BLAU Staff writer

TAMPA, Fla. Georgia coach

Kirby Smartiswell-versed in many things.

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. “And if you know, you do know.”

What Smart doesn’tknow as well is the deﬁnitionofcertain words.

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

“People say that all thetime. Canyou deﬁne what a‘troll’ is for me,please?” Smart quizzed his questioner

He was told it means Kifﬁn likes to “stir the pot” and“poke

fun” during hisin-person and 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 aboutthe 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 has an understanding of Kifﬁn that’sabit more 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 for his late father,Monte, the legendary Bucs defensive coordinator whowas just as revered for the relationships he built as the playshecalled

Baton Rouge.

Kifﬁn often brings up atext message he received from one of his dad’sbestplayers, Hall of Fame linebacker Derrick Brooks, who still had Monte on his mindall these yearslater “You gottahave agroup to

share that with to get your selfworth andyour motivation. I think him, sharing those things, reminds me alot of times of my dad,”Smart said. “You want

TAMPA, Fla.— This time lastyear, Idelighted in poking abit of eyerolling fun at Auburnfor suddenly claiming seven more national championships than the two it’s historically credited with (1957 and 2010).

BY REED DARCEY Staff writer

That familiar,gravel-toned voice hadbeenbouncing around the room for afew minutes when itsCajun-born sourcepointedtoa projectorscreen in the corner Ed Orgeron spokelike he’sgiven this presentationmany times over the years. The versionhe gave to the Louisiana High School Coaches Association on Tuesday, though,was alittleextra special. It was his ﬁrst public appearance since he began his second stint at LSU —the programheonceled to one of thebestseasonsincollege footballhistory “All right, here we go,” Orgeron said. “I want to talk to youtoday aboutpass rush.”

Oneofthosenew “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 MontgomeryFull Season Selector Would that be the Thurston Howell III Ratings and the Montgomery, Alabama, Full Season Selector? Those would be just as legitimate. College football’shistory is littered with mythical national championships.Anaysayer could argue againstLSU’s 1958 title because it was won long beforethe BCS/ CFP era, so let Auburnhave abit of mythical fun. Iexpect Auburn will be rolling the trees in Toomer’s Corner for those 1910, 1913 and 1914 claimed titles any day now There’snoquestion no one at Auburnisclaiming any national championships from the past five seasons.Five straight losing seasons,mind you, the program’s worst such streak since 1946-50. Aprogram that is hometothree HeismanTrophy winners— Pat Sullivan in 1971, Bo Jackson in 1985 and Cam Newton in 2010 has lostits way.The misguided hires of Bryan Harsin(fired midway through his second season) and Hugh Freeze (fired midway through his third) left Auburnwith acombined 27-35 record, including the wreckage of a3-13 SoutheasternConference mark the pasttwo seasons Enter Alex Golesh,42, wholeft Tampa’spalm trees after three seasons at South Florida for the plains

at SEC media days on TuesdayinTampa, Fla ä See SMART, page 4C

And then Orgeron spent the next 45 minutes guiding aballroom of high schoolcoaches at theCrowne PlazainBaton Rouge through acrash course on pass-rushing techniques,strategies and philosophies. He didn’tdetail how he approaches his new responsibilities on aday-to-day basis, but he did offeraglimpseinto how he’sbeen assisting coach Lane Kifﬁn since he joined his staff in May. This was Orgeron back in his element. Energetic. Jocular.Focusedonthe three things he’sbest known for: his recruiting chops, hisLouisiana roots and his passrushing expertise. Orgeron, 64, brought aslideshow deck with him, along with old practice footage and game ﬁlm. He crouched intodifferent

stances, mimicking opposing offensive linemen, thenasked a coach fromthe front rowtostand up and show the crowd how to best attack each one. He also sprinkled in afew anecdotesfromthe 2019 season and, in themiddleofone of his demonstrations, widened his eyes, looked up at the crowd and laughed about how excited he was to hopoff the bus ahead of LSU’s showdown with OleMissonSept. 19 —“Woo, that’s‘gon be fun, baybeh!” On Monday,Orgeron told the LSU defensive linementhatthey should already be studying Clemson’spassprotectors. The goal, he said, is to pinpointsomeoftheir tendencies and begin scheming up

STAFF PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS

LSUassistant coach Ed Orgeronspeaks duringa lecture at the Louisiana High School Coaches Association summer coachingcliniconTuesdayat the Crowne Plaza in

Scott Rabalais

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By HUNTER DAWKINS

Georgia coach KirbySmartdiscusses the upcomingseason at SECmedia days on Tuesday in Tampa,Fla.

RABALAIS,

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By COLIN HUBBARD

Former Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin, left, and Georgia coachKirby Smart embrace at midfield after agameonOct. 18 in Athens, Ga.

Kiffinand Smart gottoknoweachother as coordinators under NickSaban for twoseasons at Alabama.

ASSOCIATEDPRESS

4:15

North America had World Cup success

BY DAVID BRANDT AP sportswriter

There are a lot of things that could have gone wrong during this summer’s World Cup — a complicated logistical undertaking that included three host nations, 16 stadiums, 48 teams, 104 games and endless opportunities for controversy on and off the soccer ﬁeld.

But in retrospect, a lot of things went right.

The United States, Canada and Mexico spent nearly six weeks hosting soccer’s biggest showcase and — at least for the most part — the action stayed on the ﬁeld. Star players like Argentina’s Lionel Messi, France’s Kylian Mbappé and Norway’s Erling Haaland became household names across North America, television ratings remained high in the U.S. even after the Americans were eliminated and despite high ticket prices, most games featured packed stadiums.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino gave effusive praise to the host countries on Sunday after Spain won the ﬁnal by beating Argentina 1-0 in extra time.

Attendance was good

Fox broadcast all 104 games in English on its platforms and American viewership remained strong even after the U.S. was eliminated by Belgium in the round of 16. Spanish broadcasts on Telemundo were also a popular option — even for non-native speakers.

Fox hasn’t yet released its viewership numbers for Sunday’s ﬁnal, but Telemundo’s preliminary numbers show the Spain-Argentina matchup had a total audience of 22.6 million, putting it on track to become the most-watched World Cup final in Spanish-language media history

The US-Belgium game on July 6 was watched by more than 45 million, including 33.1 million on Fox and 12 million on Telemundo. And despite a few early hiccups, stadium attendance was strong throughout the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

“We have had a record number of spectators in the stadiums, almost 7 million,” Infantino said “We will have had, I mean the ofﬁcial ﬁgures will come out soon, but probably over 6 billion people watching it from home.”

The weather cooperated

Fans and players from other countries found out what Americans, Canadians and Mexicans have known for a long time — it can get pretty hot here in the summer Climate change isn’t helping matters.

But Mother Nature could have been a lot meaner than she decided to be.

Even so, there were a handful of games that featured particularly hot and muggy conditions.

The best example was a knockoutround game between Paraguay and France on July 4 in Philadelphia when temperatures hovered around 100 degrees Fahrenheit

The World Cup ﬁnal on Sunday also dodged a potential problem when smoke from Canadian wildﬁres that wrapped the Northeast in haze mostly cleared from the New Jersey area just in time thanks to some well-timed thunderstorms.

Size doesn’t matter

This year’s 48-team World Cup ﬁeld was the biggest in the tournament’s history and many thought

it would water down the competition. That wasn’t the case. Cape Verde held eventual champion Spain to a draw in its opening game, advanced to the round of 32 and gave Argentina a scare before losing 3-2 in extra time in a World Cup classic. Congo also advanced beyond the group stage and pushed England before eventually losing, while Curaçao was still in with a chance of making the knockouts going into its ﬁnal group match. After those Cinderella stories, fans eventually got to enjoy semiﬁnal games full of heavyweights England, Argentina, Spain and France were the top four in the world rankings. Politics can’t be ignored

The World Cup is famously a petri dish for political conﬂict, and this year’s version provided its share of strife.

Iran’s participation in the tournament amid the war in the Middle East was a particularly thorny issue and the team had to move its base camp from Arizona to

Mexico. The Iranians’ participation was overshadowed by travel complaints and visa issues, with the U.S. refusing visas to several members of Iran’s delegation.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s relationship with Infantino was scrutinized after American striker Folarin Balogun’s one-game ban for a red card was suspended ahead of the team’s round of 16 game against Belgium.

Travel restrictions for a series of countries prevented some fans from traveling to the U.S., but there were no reports of the aggressive immigration enforcement that some human rights groups had feared could take place around World Cup stadiums. Infantino brushed aside most of the controversies, instead focusing on the positives. While the FIFA president has a vested interest in painting a rosy picture of this year’s World Cup, there’s little doubt the tournament was a hit from a soccer perspective.

“I think we have to invent a new vocabulary, new words to deﬁne the success of this World Cup,” Infantino said.

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 Yo-

hannes. “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 hap-

pen,” 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 vet-

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

eran 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

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 PGA Tour and DP World Tour as it is known commercially — have a separate alliance that has yet to be renewed, which includes 10 top European tour players earning PGA Tour cards. Ofﬁcials from both tours met at the British Open.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JULIO CORTEZ

Spain’s Rodri, left, kisses the trophy alongside Spain’s Mikel Merino,right, during the World Cup final soccer match between Spain and Argentina in East Rutherford, N.J., near New york on Sunday.

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.

Training campsset to open with newheadcoaches,QBs

BY ROBMAADDI Associated Press

The countdown is over.NFL training camp has arrived. Every team is 0-0 so there’shope in each city that this season ends with achampionshipparade.

Bryce Young and the reigning NFC South champion Carolina Panthers report Wednesday.So do the Arizona Cardinals, led by rookie head coach Mike LaFleur

The teams will meet in the Hall of Fame Game that kicks off the preseason on Aug. 6. The reigning Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots open camp on Friday.They’ll face off in aSuper Bowl rematch that opens the regularseasononSept. 9.

Many teams have plenty of questions to answer beforeWeek1.It’s along roadtoLos Angeles, which hosts Super Bowl 61 on Feb. 14 Valentine’sDay will be the latest date the gamewill have been played. That just means more football.

Training camp starts

The Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers reporttocamp on Saturday,making it six teams in before the end of this week. The NFC West rivals will play the ﬁrst regular-season game in Australia on Sept. 10. The remaining 26 teams are due in next Tuesday Coachesinnew places

John Harbaugh joined the New York Giants after he was ﬁred by Baltimore following 18 seasons He has Jaxson Dart and sometalented players to buildaround.

Two-time AP NFL Coachofthe Year Kevin Stefanski took over in Atlanta after six seasonsinCleveland. He inherits ateamthat has plenty of playmakers on offense, including All-Pro runningback Bijan Robinson, wide receiver Drake London and tight end Kyle Pitts.

They have to ﬁgure whetherTua TagovailoaorMichael Penix will be thequarterback.

Robert Saleh is thenew man in charge in Tennessee. The Titans are coming off consecutive 3-14 seasons, but Saleh already has a franchise QB in Cam Ward and he brought in Brian Daboll to develop himand run the offense.

MikeMcCarthyand Aaron Rodgers arereunited in Pittsburgh. They wona SuperBowltogether in Green Bay and aim to get the Steelersatleast their ﬁrst playoff win since January 2017. The othersix new head coaches are first-timers. LaFleur has a tough task in Arizona. KlintKubiak helped Sam Darnold win a SuperBowl in Seattle and hopes to rebuild the Las VegasRaiders.

Jeff Hafley went from running Green Bay’sdefense to leading theMiami Dolphins. Joe Brady replaced Sean McDermott in Buffalo after theBills kept falling short in the playoffs.

Todd Monken replaced Stefanski in Cleveland, and Jesse Minter is Baltimore’snew coach. Quarterbackcarouselturns

Tagovailoahas achancetorevive his career with Stefanski in Atlanta after adisappointingend in Miami. Kyler Murray left Arizona for Minnesota,where the Vikings hope he can stay healthy and regain his Pro Bowl form.

Kirk Cousins is the stopgap for the Raiders, who drafted Fernando Mendoza with the No. 1overall pick. Malik Willis parlayedthree solid starts in two seasons with the Packers into a$67.5 million contract with the Dolphins that includes $45 million fully guaranteed Geno Smith returned to theJets. Justin Fields is the new backup for PatrickMahomesinKansas City. Kenny Pickett is Carolina’snew No. 2; veteran AndyDalton joined Philadelphia to play behind Jalen

Hurts; and Gardner Minshew went to theCardinals.

SeveralQBcompetitions

Tagovailoaand Penix will competeinAtlanta. Cousins is expected to start in Las Vegas, but Mendoza could endupstarting sooner than later.Murrayhas to beat out J.J. McCarthy,who was theVikings’ ﬁrst-round pick in 2024. The mostinteresting battlewill be for the Browns’ starting job. Deshaun Watson is back after missing 2025 tocompete with Shedeur Sanders.

Othertop storylines

Will Baker Mayfield get acontractextension from theTampa Bay Buccaneers? Mayfield is in the finalseason of athree-year, $100 million deal. He’sexpected to get around $55 million per season, and another three-year deal makes sense. Will Aaron Donald comeout of retirement to join two-timeAP NFL Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett in Los Angeles? TheRams acquiredthe five-time All-Pro from the Browns and bolstered their secondary by adding cornerbacksTrent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson. Donald, athreetime Defensive Player of theYear, is 35 and hasn’tplayed since retiring after the 2023 season.

Jointpractices

More teamschoose to use practices against other opponents to prepare their quarterbacks and keystarters forthe regularseason instead of preseason games.

Only the Lions,Chiefs, Broncos andSteelers are notparticipating in any joint sessions.

When arethe roster cuts?

Teams can carry amaximum of 90 playersthroughouttraining campand forall of theirpreseason games. Rosters must be trimmed to 53 by Aug. 30.

Messireturns to Argentinafor rest afterlossinWorld Cupﬁnal

BY HERNÁN ÁLVAREZ Associated Press

ROSARIO,Argentina Lionel Messi arrived backinArgentina on Tuesday for afew days of rest following the World Cup ﬁnal loss to Spain.

Messi’s private jet landed near hishometownofRosario from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, at 6:27 a.m.

Although many fans were waiting with signs and flags, he did not make apublic appearance.

“The pain is immense, and this wound will take time to heal,” he posted on his Instagram account.

“I cherish all the good moments, memoriesthat will last forever —and thesupport of an entire nation which, combined with this group’shard work and effort, propelled us once againinto the ranksofthe world’sbest.”

Supporters only caught abrief glimpse of theSUV that met Messi on the tarmac to transporthim and his family to the private neighborhood of Funes, roughly 185 miles north of Buenos Aires

TheArgentina captain reportedly traveled with hiswife, Antonela Roccuzzo, andtheirthree children, all of whom had accompanied him throughout the tournament in North America. Waiting for him in Rosariowas his68-year-old father,Jorge, whose ongoing medicaltreatment foranundisclosed illness had been revealed by the family duringthe World Cup.

Fans had gathered at theairport as early as 3:30 a.m. hoping to catch asight of the star.Among themwere two young girls in Albicelestejerseys holding welcome signs, one of which read: “Messi: You’re alegend. Thankyou for bringing joy to ourhearts. Awhole country loves you!” Messiis expectedtorejoin Inter Miami in late July or early August for the ongoing MLSseason.

Fifteen members of Argentina’s 26-player WorldCup roster,led by coachLionelScaloni, landed at Buenos Aires’ Ezeiza Airport on Mondayonachartered ﬂight

The squad’sarrival followed Sunday’s1-0 extra-time lossto Spain in the World Cup ﬁnal in East Rutherford, New Jersey, decided by aFerran Torres goal. Scaloniarrived at his family home in Pujato onTuesday,and it wasquite an eventashis neigh-

ESPN cuts include ex-LSU star Clark

BY JOE REEDY Associated Press

ESPN is undergoing asigniﬁcant round of layoffs forthe ﬁrst time in three years after taking over NFL Network in April.

ChairmanJimmy Pitaro said in amemo to employees Tuesday morning, obtained by TheAssociated Press, that mostmoves are theresult of ESPN’sacquisition of NFL Network andother league digital assets last year

The deal was announced last August andalso includedNFL Fantasyand the rights to distributethe RedZone channel to cable and satellite operators. In return, the NFL got a10% equity stake in ESPN. It was approved by government regulators in January.NFL Network employees became part of ESPN on April 1.

“Overthe past several months, we’ve made signiﬁcant progress integrating the NFL assets that we acquired intoESPN,” Pitaro wroteinthe memo. “Throughout this process, we have taken the time to carefully evaluate our collective teams, resources and organizationalstructure to best position us for the future. As aresult,wehad to make somedifﬁcult decisions aboutjob impactsthat we will be communicating today

“While most of the jobimpacts are tiedtothe acquisition,wewill also notify colleaguesinother partsofthe company today that their positions have been impacted. We are committed to treating employees with compassion and respect andtoproviding support as they navigate this transition.”

While mostofthe layoffs affect production and behind-thescenes personnel,some on-air

talent were affected. Former LSU star Ryan Clark, whojoined ESPNin2015 as an NFL analyst, learned of his layoff while on “NFL Live” on Monday.Aperson familiar with the situation said Clark was originally going to be told Tuesday morning before reports leaked about the decision. Clark was told by company executives rather than hear about it elsewhere. He did not ﬁnish his appearance on the show

Thepersonspoke to theAPon conditionofanonymitybecause theywerenot at liberty to discuss personnel decisions.

Clarktooktosocialmedia on Tuesday to address the layoffs. He also shared avideo of himself working out.

“Sendingprayersand love to all those laid off today by ESPN. So manyofyou have poured your life into that company,&I know how you’re feeling right now,” Clark wrote on X. “My hope is as this door closes another opens for you all. Godbless!”

Othernotable namesinclude Karl Ravech,who hadbeen with ESPNsince1993 and had been an integral part of its baseball coverage. Ravech was the voice of “SundayNight Baseball” from 2022-25 before the package moved to NBCthis season. He did call Monday night’sgame between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies. TomPelissero, who had been with NFLNetworksince2017, is also part of the cuts. ESPN had recently signed NFLinsiders Ian Rapoport andAdamSchefter to extensions.

The ESPN cutbacks are also part of other reductions that are taking place throughout the Walt Disney Co. this week.

MLBplayers unionwants to expand drafteligibility

BY RONALD BLUM Associated Press

NEWYORK— Baseball players proposed expanding eligibility for the amateur draft rather thandecreasing it,maintaining 20 rounds of selections andmoving it back to June in asignalthe sport is heading to alabor confrontation this offseason.

for professional careers. MLB also proposed cutting the draft to 12 rounds in 2027

The unionalso wants to maintain the ability for players to negotiate dealsrather than have ﬁxed slots, reducepenalties for exceeding signing bonus pools, allowmoredraft selections to be traded and keep competitive balance round selections.

bors gathered to welcome him

He signed Argentina jerseys handed to him by the crowd, as well as posed for photos.

“Wedidn’twin, but we can be satisﬁed. It hurts not to have been able to bring that joy,” Scaloni told reporters. “Welost because they were better perhaps we were running on fumes. It’s good to acknowledge that—itwill make us better.”

Scaloni said he would honor his contractwiththe Argentine Football Association throughDec. 31, though he stopped short of conﬁrming whether he would continue beyond that date. Sunday was Messi’sthirdWorld Cup finalappearance, following 2014 and2022. He endedthe tournamentasthe runner-up for the Golden Boot with eight goals, two behind France’sKylian Mbappé. Mbappé tops theall-time World Cup goal-scoring chartwith22, one more than Messi.

“It is hardtofully appreciate our achievement right now,but this group reached two consecutive World Cup ﬁnals. Thank you all from thebottom of my heart forevery greeting andmessage,” Messi said. “I also wanttocongratulateSpain on winning the championship.

During atwo-hour bargaining session Tuesday at Major League Baseball’sheadquarters, the unionproposedallowingcollege sophomores to be eligible for the draft along with those ﬁnishing their junioryears, agroup eligible under the current rules along with high school seniors.

Players proposed moving the draft back to June, when it was held through 2020. They asked thatdraft slot values continue to be increased at the samepercentage as industry revenue through 2027 andmay not be decreased for the remainder of the agreement.

Baseball’sﬁve-year labor contract expires Dec. 1and amanagement lockout is expected that would halt offseason trades and signings,and threaten thestart of spring training workoutson Feb.9 and opening day on March 24.

MLB in Mayproposed asalary cap for theﬁrst time sinceplayers fought off aproposal during a71/2-month strike in 1994-95 that ledtothe ﬁrst cancellation of the World Seriesin90years. Players vownever to accept acap MLB said last month it wanted to eliminate eligibility forhigh school seniors andjuniorcollege players, arguingcollege programs offer better preparation

It would allowa $2 million signing bonus pool increase fora revenue-sharing recipient team that is not in alarge marketin one draft from 2027-31 and also allowthose teamstosign two players drafted before the third round to major league contracts ratherthanminorleague deals. Revenue-sharing recipients that reach the postseason would receive an extra $1 millionin their signing bonus pool in the following draft.

Teams exceeding their signing bonuspools by up to 15%would notlosea pick in thenextdraft, up from5%.

For players not drafted in the ﬁrst 10 rounds, the signing bonus pool exemption would increase from $150,000 to $1,000 over the ﬁgure forthe last 10th-round selection, which was $191,900 this year

For draft andfollow players —those who playanadditional junior college season after the draft —the signing bonusmaximumwould rise from $225,000to $75,000 abovethe last 10th-round pick’sslotvalue

Players would agreetoMLB’s proposal that draft picks could be traded during aperiod of abouta monthstarting in early November and for the month priortothe draft.

Messi

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By NELL REDMOND

Carolina Panthers quarterbackBryce young passes during the team’s practice on June 9inCharlotte,N.C

ASSOCIATEDPRESS FILEPHOTO By REED HOFFMANN ESPN commentator Ryan Clark appears on ‘Monday Night Countdown’ beforeagame between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Washington Commanders on

SECMEDIA DAYS

THREEAND OUT: SCOTTRABALAIS’ TOPTHREE TAKEAWAySFROMDAy 2OFSEC

ANCHOR UP?

1

Rarely have the words “Vanderbilt football” and “heightened expectations”been fused togetherinthe same sentence.But the Commodores facethat new reality in 2026 after going 10-3, making back-to-backbowls forjust the second time andnearly reaching theCFP.Now coach Clark Lea must build anotherwinnerwithout sparkplug quarterback DiegoPavia.“This group has inherited something that previous teams did not,”Lea said.“AVanderbilt football program that expects to win.” Can it is the question.

SMART

Continued frompage1C

somebody to appreciate what your dad did. Youdon’thave himtoshare that with.”

Kiffin has put together quite acareer himself.Hewas firedbyboth the Raidersand Southern Cal before he revived his career as an Alabama assistant, climbingthe ladder as a head coach again with Florida Atlantic and then Ole Miss Smartrespects Kiffin because he not only helpedNick Saban win national titles but also pushed an oldschool coach to rethink his offensive philosophies.

“He made coach Saban uncomfortable,” Smart said. “Let’s just say what it is: He helped revolutionize that offense and bring it along and (do) somereally good things in aday and age when peopleweren’tdoing them. But he does agreatjob.He’s hard to play.”

Smart doesn’tthink Kiffin gets enough credit for the team he built around Jaxson Dart, who amassed 10,000-pluspassing yardswithOle Miss after transferring in from Southern Cal. He becameafirstround pick of the Giants in2025.

Kifﬁn just built aplayoff team led by former Ferris State quarterback Trinidad Chambliss,who threw for 3,937 yards and 22 scores last season.

“This guy (Chambliss) was not even spoken about at this timelast year.Nobody knew who he was and he got his opportunity by way of injury. What if he didn’t?” Smart said “He’smade players successful in his system just as easy as theplayers can make him successful.”

Smart will have to face Ole Miss and Chambliss this season, buthewon’t game-plan againstKifﬁn unlessLSU and Georgia match up in an SEC title game or the College Football Playoff. Butthis week offered an opportunity for some verbal jabs to be thrown. Tennessee coach Josh Heupel joked Knoxville should load up with golf balls and mustard bottles for Kifﬁn, who left for Southern California after just one season coachingthe Volunteers andhad those items tossedathim during a2021 return to Neyland Stadium as the Ole Miss coach.

Smart called Kiffin, who has become ahot yoga aficionadoinrecent years, “the Adonis of college football coaches” because of hisincreasingly toned physique. In self-deprecating fashion, Smartsaid his ownappearance could be compared to atroll. And yes, Kiffin could be described as one, just in adifferentsense.

“But he is very bright,” Smart said. “He does an incredible job of evolving college football.” Email Jon Blau at jon.blau@ theadvocate.com

“(Kiffin) made coach Saban uncomfortable. Let’s just saywhat itis: He helped revolutionize thatoffense and bring it along and(do)some really good thingsina dayand agewhen people weren’tdoing them. But he does agreat job. He’shard to play.”

KIRBy SMART,Georgia coach

RABALAIS

Continued frompage1C

of east Alabama and another shot at areclamation project Golesh, who Ifeelsafe in saying is the ﬁrst SEC football coach ever born in Moscow (Russia, not Idaho), has experience at digging programs outofthe mud. USF wona combined four games in the three seasons beforeGolesh arrived, where he went7-6,7-6 and 9-4. They’re not naming a street running past the USF campus for Golesh, but his running of the Bulls was certainly enough to draw the attention of SEC programs such as Auburn, Florida, Arkansas and, at least peripherally,LSU.

CAN SELLERS DELIVER?

2

Ayearago,South Carolina quarterback LaNorrisSellers wasthe coaches’ preseason second-team All-SEC choice behindGarrett NussmeierofLSU.Neither was able to liveuptothose expectations. NowNussmeier is with the Kansas City Chiefs,but Sellers is back, athird-yearstarter and themost talented quarterback in the league that hardly anyone is talking about. Receiver Nyck Harbor believestheyshould.“He’s become that voice that everybodyneeded and everybodywants to hear,” he said.“He commands practices now.

3 STILL KICKING

Alex McPhersonofAuburnisthe only kicker at SEC media days.There are tworeasons for that: his talent (87% on field goals in 2025, 100% on extra points)and his story. McPhersonwas diagnosed in 2024 with ulcerativecolitis,dropped to 110 poundsand underwent extensivesurgery. He’sback up to 165 poundsnow,still kicking despitehaving to wear acolostomy bagand telling reporters he booted acouple of 60-yarders before coming to Tampa. Remarkable.

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 ofthe idea.

“Until we get governance, and we have someone who 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’sunfortunatebut that’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 ongoing dialogue 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 dais to say he’dlike nonstop discussions aboutthe “landscape” of collegefootball to end.

“I’ve had questions about expansion, more SECgames, (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 talkingabout what wins.”

Smart, heading intohis 11th season at Georgia,has been good at winning. The Bulldogs are back-to-back SECchampionsand holda 117-21 record during his tenure with two national championships.

LSUplaysatAuburn on Oct. 24,the ﬁrst meeting between the two former SEC West rivals since 2023 and their ﬁrst game at Auburn since 2022.

Goleshwas asked here Tuesday whatgoals he has for his ﬁrst season at Auburn, alegitimately proud program with ahistoryof Heisman winners, SEC championships and national titles (your mileagemay vary).

“I don’tset goals,” Goleshsaid, awiseanswer for any ﬁrst-year coach. “I’ve always thought that that’salittlebit like New Year’s resolutions. They usually work foralittlebit andyou kind of keep it moving.

“I set standards. We set standards as aprogram. Ourstandard is to be the best version of us every single day.The stan-

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 wherever they can,and relationshipshelp. Relationships

dard when Igot to Auburn was to get as good 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.”

Goleshbuilt his reputation as ahighly regarded offensive mind, starting with stintsascooffensive coordinator at Central Florida in 2020 and Tennessee in 2021-22. At USF this past season, the Bulls ranked No. 2nationally in total offense (501.7 yards per game), No. 5inscoring (43.0ppg) and recorded 500-plus yards of offense eight times. Quarterback Byrum Brown, who followed GoleshtoAuburn, became the 12th quarterback ever with 3,000 yards passing and 1,000 yards rushing in aseason, the ﬁrst to do that since Jayden Daniels’ Heisman-winning campaign at

between aplayer and coach still matter,too.

“I don’tever want aplayerto choose South Carolinabecause of money,” Beamer said. “Because if the onlyreason 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 not only 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. “Ifwecan establisha great run game in front of the quarterback, Ithink we take pressure off, andweallowthe 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 struggling to run 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’sthe starting point.”

Email Jon Blau at jon.blau @theadvocate.com

LSU in 2023.

“He demands the absolute very best from everyone that he comesincontact with,” Brown said of GoleshonTuesday.“He cares for his playersdeeply,(his) coaches deeply.He’snot going to askyou to do anything that he wouldn’tdohimself.”

Despite all the offensive ﬂash and dashfromtheir USFdays, Goleshsaid he wants Auburnto develop aphysical identity.A “violent” identity

“I think asuccessfulYear One is if we can have afoundation of whoweare,proof of concept offensively,defensively,sowecan continue to recruit to that identity,” Golesh said. “We’regoing to run the …ball.” While Goleshhas time to build, some of the playersheinherited

ON STAGEWEDNESDAY

ALABAMA

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

COACH:KalenDeBoer(3rdyear)

PLAYERS:DB ZabienBrown,WR Ryan ColemanWilliams, DB Bray

Hubbard

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

THEBUZZ:Sumrall startedbuilding 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,DLWill 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:QB Marcel Reed, LB Daymion Sanford, SMarcus Ratcliffe

THE BUZZ:Elkohas 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

do not. Players such as ﬁfth-year senior kicker Alex McPherson, whohas never experienced a winning season at Auburn.

“Wewant to put Auburnfootball back whereitshould be,” he said. “Wewant to setafoundation.”

Perhaps, one day,afoundation that can lead to another indisputable national championship.

For more LSU sports updates, sign up for our newsletter at theadvocate.com/lsunewsletter

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By COLIN HUBBARD Georgia coach KirbySmart reactsduring warmups before agameagainst Austin Peay on Sept. 6inAthens, Ga

UL AD Maggardleaves forposition with Missouri

BY KEVIN FOOTE Staff writer

The UL athletic department is looking for anew leader after Tuesday’sannouncement that athletic director Bryan Maggard is returning to Missouri as deputy athletic director and chief operating ofﬁcer Maggard has been at UL since 2017 and willremain with theuniversity for another monthto ease with the transition.

During his time leading the Ragin’ Cajuns, Maggardhired football coaches Billy Napier and Michael Desormeaux,oversaw a $65 millionstadium renovation, led the department’slargest fundraising campaign and guided one of the most successful periodsin school history before navigating deep budget cuts in recentyears.

UL deputy athletic director Trey Frazier will serve as the interim athletic director during the transition.

“Ragin’ Cajuns Athletics, the University,and Lafayette, Louisiana will forever hold aspecial place in Kerry and my hearts,” Maggard said in astatement.“We always knew it would take somethingextremely specialfor us to leave this place we called home for nearly adecade.”

Maggard and hiswife, Kerry, recently welcomed anew granddaughterinMissouri.

“With thebirth of ourgranddaughter andatremendousopportunity provided by Mizzou, we simply couldnot pass up the chance toreturn close to family,” Maggardsaidinthe release.

Overthe past two years, Maggard’stenure was burdened by auniversity-side ﬁnancial crisis, causing theathletic directorto cut his department’s staff by 25%.

In recent months,therewas a high-proﬁledismissal of longtime football coach and administrator

Troy Wingerter after astate audit uncovered protocol irregularities in theprogram’srecruiting budget.

Earlyinhis stintatUL, Maggard oversaw the rise of thefootball program toTop 25 status for the first time in school history

Steady bowlappearances began priortoMaggard startingin2011, but the programenjoyed eight consecutivebowl appearances underhis leadership —something only six other programs nationally achieved

“I am extremely proud of the many accomplishments thatwere made as aresult of the hard work and dedicationofsomany people,” Maggardsaid. “I will always

be grateful tothe amazing coaches, student-athletes,and staff that Ihad the privilege to workalongside over the past years.” Maggard is best known for his headcoach hirings.First, he hired Napier to lead thefootballprogram,followed by Desormeaux. After thedeath of baseball coach Tony Robichaux, Maggard hired MattDeggs, who has led the Cajuns to NCAA regional round in four of thepast ﬁveseasons.

He also hired Gerry Glasco to run the softball program. Glasco kept UL in thenational spotlight for seven seasons beforegoing to TexasTech,where he was the national runner-up in two straight seasons.

Maggardalsooversaw thebiggest fundraising campaign in departmenthistorybyraising $30 millionand pulling off the$65 million Our Lady of Lourdes Stadium renovation project In addition to family in Missouri, Maggard spent over two decades in Columbia. It’swhere he gothis doctorate andlater worked as aprofessor and in the athletic department priortobecoming the athleticdirectoratULonFeb.1, 2017.

Email KevinFooteat kfoote@theadvocate.com.

LPGA unveilsinaugural NaneaCup in

Hawaii,mixingproswithcollegians

The Associated Press

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. The LPGAon Tuesday unveiled the inaugural Nanea Cup, an eventbeing heldin Hawaii next March that includes a mix of pro golfers and collegians as away to showcase the present and future of women’sgolf.

The event, which willbeheld March 11-14 at the Nanea Golf Club in Kailua-Kona, on the Big Island, features a$4million purse

The field will include 95 LPGA Tour players along with 25 of the nation’stop college golfers representing ﬁve universities: Stanford, Texas, Arkansas, TexasA&M and UCLA.

“As we continue to focus onrouting, courses and purses,this event checks every box,” LPGA Commissioner Craig Kessler said in astatement. “Nanea is aspectacularvenue,our athletes will competefor a strong purse, and fans will get their ﬁrst look at oneofthe most celebrated golf courses in the world.” Allcompetitors will play Thursday and Friday beforethe ﬁeld is cuttothe low 50 players and ties. College players who don’tmakethe cutwill still play Saturday to help determine team champions.

The Golf Channel will broadcast stories on college athletes and coaches to giveaglimpse of the next generation of players.

“New,dynamic ideas are critical, and we look forward to putting our deep experience and relationships

ORGERON

Continued from page1C

with today’scollege golfers and coaches to work to help theLPGA build this innovative new event,” Golf Channel’sexecutive vice president and general manager TomKnapp said. This marks the ﬁrst professional eventheldatNanea Golf Club,

ways to beat them before the season opens in Tiger Stadium on Sept. 5.

Orgeron also said he’sbeen encouraging LSU’stwo five-starfreshman defensive linemen, Lamar Brownand Richard Anderson, to “find out who they are.” They’re both largeand powerful, so he wants them each to learn how to “runthatson-of-a-gunover” first andthen use that bull-rush technique to set up more of their finesse moves later

It’sbeen four years since Orgeron last offered that kind of coaching. He spentmost of thattimeinMiami with his wife, Brandy,collectingthe buyout payments he wasscheduled to receive through December 2025 and enjoyingalargely anonymouslifestyle. On South Beach, he joked, he mightaswellhavebeen an ordinary man named “Raúl Ortega.”

“I enjoyed it,” Orgeronsaid. “I’m not complaining. But after awhile,the beach is the beach, right? Youknow what I’m saying? Ireally missed Louisiana.”

So Orgeronmoved back into his University Club house and started looking for jobs.Hebegangiving media interviews again in case one of them would catch the eye of aprogram that was looking for either ahead manoradefensive line coach. He would’veaccepted either role, but the hiring cycle cameand went, and nothing materialized.

That is, until Kifﬁncalled with ajob offer “’Hey,it’stime,” Orgeron recalled himsayingover the phone. “How soon canyou be here?’

“I said, ‘Five minutes.’ And Iwas rolling.” Orgeron wasgiven anew title—special

Foxkeeps BritishOpen from beingremembered forthe wrongreasons

SOUTHPORT,England Ryan Fox doesn’thave aYouTube channel, only the best content: asilver claret jug.

TheBritish Open was on the verge of being remembered for allthe wrongreasons —mostof them involving Bryson DeChambeau —until Foxtookhis placein history.More than justwinning his ﬁrst major, it was how he did it.

There have been birdies on the 72nd hole with the ﬁnal shot of the major to win by one,mostrecently by Xander Schauffele in the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla

Young did nottakequestions from the media when it was over He should have.It’spart of the deal forany athlete who performs before thousands on theground and millions on television. And it’s part of archives for the championship’srich history.

which opened in 2003. It’salinks course designedbyDavid McLay Kidd that’s setamong nativegrasses andvolcanic rock

The venue stages the annual Nanea Invitational, which is hosted by Stanford women’sgolf coach Anne Walker

“I enjoyed it. I’m not complaining.But after awhile, the beach is the beach, right? Youknow what I’msaying? Ireally missed Louisiana.”

ED ORGERON, LSU assistant coachonhis time spent in Miami before moving backtoBaton Rouge

assistant to recruiting and defense —and a modest $100,000 contract thatruns through January

LSUwas scheduled to host recruits on ofﬁcialvisits the week it ofﬁcially announced hisreturn, so Orgeronjumpedback into action quickly.Heled tours of Tiger Stadium andthe footballoperations building. During a conversation with No. 1recruitJalen Brewster, he FaceTimedHallofFame wide receiver Michael Irvin. It remains to be seen, though, how Orgeron will coachduring practices and games. Will he be running drills? Will he be offering instructionstoplayers on thesideline? Orgeron didn’t offermuch clarity Tuesday,choosinginstead to give abroad description of whathe’strying to accomplish in his newrole.

“Are we getting after it?” Orgeron said. “Are we in good shape? Those arethe two things that I’m concentrating on rightnow as acoach.” Which means Orgeron’sresponsibilitiesare much narrower than they werewhen he was head coach five years ago. Nowhe’sanambassadorofsorts forLSU andKiffin, who hopes to benefit from that familiar voice that filled an area hotel ballroom Tuesday

“Kifﬁn says this place is different,” Orgeron said.“It is different.Because of youguys. Louisiana is so important to us in recruiting. I’m happy to be back.”

But the 9-iron Fox hit from 175 yards on thetoughesthole at Royal Birkdale ranks up there with Sandy Lyle’sfairway bunkershoton the 18th at AugustaNationalto winthe 1988 Masters.

“That’sone of the shots you dream of hitting,” Fox said after his one-shot victory over Cameron Young. “Toexecute like that under pressure, yeah, very proudofmyself to do that.”

Adding to the drama was Young, once known as the talented American who endured nearlyfour years of close calls before getting hisfirst PGATourvictory (and then some). Now he can startadding the heartacheinmajors.

He hadfinishedhis Sundaybest 64 more thantwo hoursearlier,when the leaders wereonthe front nine, and before long the leader was Young. Justin Thomas also hadtowaitwhatfeltlikean eternity when he closed witha 65 at thePGA Championship, but he never reached the top of the board.

The image of Young was hard to watch. He was on therange waiting, waiting —until hearing that explosivecheer forFox.He lifted his driveroverhis shoulder with hishead down and tapped it afew times on theground—not as hard as Robert MacIntyre and Jon Rahm, who both were issued code-of conductwarnings —and then Young packed up and left.

It wasreminiscent of Ernie Els on theputting green at the 2004 Masters when he heard thesudden burst of cheers for Phil Mickelson making an 18-footbirdie for his ﬁrst majorchampionship.

SamBurns wasabig partofthis British Open,too,asthe player whohad no intentionofcoming over until his wifegave birth to their secondchild 11 days earlier than expected—her due date was the Tuesday of the Open —and then encouraged herhusband to fly across sixtime zones and play. Burns was runner-up at the U.S. Open after he narrowly missed a 17-foot birdie putt on the last hole to potentially forceaplayoff. And then he was poised to win the majorhewasn’tsupposedtoplay. An early birdie gave him atwo-shot lead. Three straight bogeys cost him the lead. Twelve straight pars to finishleft him with nothing to do but applaud Fox after thewinning putt, aclassy gesture. Equally classy wasFox,the 39-year-old from New Zealand, who upon making the biggestputt of his life didn’trace over to anyoneuntil he shared amomentwith Burns. That’srare with so much immediate emotion involved in winning amajor. Capturing all the warmth at Royal Birkdale from his opening teeshotThursday to his birdie on the final hole Sundaywas Tommy Fleetwood, playing amajor in his hometown. No cheer was louder than when he holed a65-foot putt forbirdietostart Sunday.Hegot within one shot of the lead playingthe ninth hole,onlytomiss two fairways and one green, all of them bogeys.

“I don’tget that emotional, but yeah,thatwas like thatwas heavy stuff,” Fleetwood said. “I do knowhow incredibly lucky Iamto have experienced that.”

Allofthose great moments came on Sunday,along with defending champion Scottie Scheffler getting two badbounces and then one amazing break with anothing-toloseshotonthe 17th hole thatwas lost because it didn’thavetobe found when it was seen going into an area marked as amassive temporaryimmovable obstruction. TheMasters is alittle more than eight months away

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By CHRISCARLSON

Nelly Korda watches her putt on the 18th hole during the ﬁnal round of theWomen’sPGA Championship golf tournament at Hazeltine National Golf ClubonJune 28 in Chaska, Minn.

ASSOCIATEDPRESS PHOTOByDAVID GOLDMAN

Ryan Fox of NewZealand poses with the claret jug after winning the British Open at RoyalBirkdale golf club in Southport, England, on Sunday.Fox wonwithabirdie putt on holeNo. 18.

Doug Ferguson

Lauren Cheramie BONVIVANT

Bon vi·vant /noun/ asociable personwho has cultivatedand reﬁned tastes, especially with respect to food and drink

Newfood,drinksonthe block

Chow Yum,2363 HollydaleAve., Baton Rouge, has afew of seasonal cocktails on the menu:

n Camp Anawana,made with bourbon, cachaca amburana, pineapple gum syrup, orange bitters and chipotle chocolate bitters

n Wendy Peffercorn, made with gin, aloe liqueur,lime, simple syrup and watermelon soda

n Lost Mai Tai, made with coconut rum, dry curacao, orgeat, lime and orange bitters

n Flamenco Beach, made with rum, peach liqueur,yuzu, pineapple, passionfruit, lime and lemon lime soda. Newmixes make for

PROVIDED PHOTO

The pho-totchos are nowonthe menu full-time at Chowyum in Baton Rouge.

Also at Chow Yum…the phototchos are now on the menu full-time, featuring braised brisket, queso, pho gravy, crispy tater tots, jalapenos, pickled onions, spiced hoisin, cilantro lime aioliand fresh herbs.

Trythe July roll of the month at Rock-n-Sake,3043 Perkins Road, Baton Rouge, before it’stoo late. On Tuesdays only, order the “It’sHot in Here,” made with pickled wasabi,

ä See BONVIVANT, page 3D

As the schoolyear

The boudin meltwith aside of Brussels sprouts from Elsie’sin Baton Rouge

BY MADDIE SCOTT Staff writer

Apot of shrimp and gritsbubbled on the stove as she sampled abite, and like clockwork, Ciara Finley reached to her left intothe alphabetized spice rack

“I want salt,” said Finley,a Baton Rouge-basedchef, while standing insideher catering business, Desiderata Kitchen, at 431 N. Third St. downtown. Thedishisa Desiderata staple, ago-to recipe that she makesfor allkinds of occasions, such as catering events, privatedinners or meal prep for clients. Desiderata Kitchen began in 2016 after everything Finley knewabout cookingwas ﬂipped upside down when her daughterdeveloped severe food allergies.

She left her career as aspa manager and rose to achef and businessowner

After opening her heart and kitchen to ajournalistand photographerrecently, Finley admittedcamera shyness, which came

asasurprise after 20 minutes ofwatchingher work apot of grits andreminisceonsoulfilled dishes from herchildhood. She has anurturing energy andwearsher passions proudly.Nerves seemed out of the picture.

On days she needs support, Finleywearsher lovedones close: her late mother’spin on the right side of her collar and, on the left, her late brother’sbugle pins from his days as aNew Orleans ﬁre captain.

“I wear it for pretty special functionslikemyribbon-cutting, largeevents, anyofmy chefs’ awards, showcases or anytime Ifeel like Ineeda little bit of support,” she said. Preserving theoriginal

The kitchen’slocation has changed afew times over the years, but it just settled into a 1,500-square-foot spacedowntown,

has alittle bit of everything foreveryone. Two, themenu also offers several Louisiana or Cajun-style dishes, so yourvisitors can really get a sense of the state. Personally,boudin is up there in my top 10 favorite foods, so

STAFFPHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS

Chef CiaraFinleysmiles while rememberingher mother’sgumbo whilecooking at Desiderata Kitchen in downtown Baton RougeonJuly1

PROVIDED PHOTO

Ciara Finleyand her mother,‘Mrs. Kaye Anderson

right next to Cecelia

Bistro. With adining space to fill, she started hosting private dinners, and the shrimp and grits staple made an appearance on one of her favorite dinners,titled “A Love Letter to Black Food,” aseven-course feast she hosted in February. The dinner started with butter beans, something she grew up eating, followed by ared bean soup with cornbread croutons. She pureed the soup and turned the cornbread into croutons, adding her spin on the traditional dish.

“Wedoalot of red beans on Mondays in Louisiana,” Finley said.“Iwantedto bring aﬂair to it anda reﬁned touch with pureeingit and giving it asmooth, silky texture and mouthfeel.”

She said the heart of the nightwas hermother’s chicken and sausage gumbo and potato salad, made with Yukon Gold potatoes folded into creamy dressing, white vinegar,white sugar and sweetrelish. Finely said chopped celery and red onion provide somecrunch, while Cajun spice blend adds “a kick of personality.”

“I make my potato salad the way my mom made it back then, and those are the two thingsIjustdid not touch,” she said. “I didn’tfancy it up. Ididn’tput achef’s touch on it or anything like that.Itwas the heart of the night.” Finley grew up eating collard greens, smothered and cooked down. To honor the dish with afresh approach, she served acollard green salad in which shemarinated the greens in agreen tomato vinaigrette and massaged them in awarm maple Dijon vinaigrette.

She also served corn maque choux, and for dessert, guests reveled in abread pudding and sweet potato casserole fusiondish topped with apralinesyrup, dusted pralines and ice cream.

From cheerleadertochef

New Orleans-born, Finley ran track, played double Dutch in the summers and marched in parades as a cheerleader with McDonogh 35 Senior High School.

“New Orleans is this gumbo pot of culture,” she said.

meals that werevegan, vegetarian,gluten-free, no salt and more. She once made a corn-free, gluten-free cornbread dressing for aclient.

Graduating from the Louisiana CulinaryInstitute built her skillset even more.

“How can Idothis in a waythat is going to taste well? It’s not going to sacrifice flavor of texture, but it’s still going to be able tofulfill them and give them what they’relooking for at that moment. AndIdid, and that was kind of where Istarted,” Finley said.

Desiredand essential

and orangezest is on the menu at Desiderata Kitchen

“I got toexperience so much of it in differentkinds of schools.”

OneofFinley’searliest memories of food is squeezing andouille sausage out of its casing at 6years old, a time when her mother started teachingher theropes of Southern fare. She’d go on to cook those same mealsfor her family until her daughter began developing allergicreactionsthat gotworse. It led to frequent hospital visits, andgoing to restaurantsmeant asking theservers several questions about ingredients. Sometimes servers didn’thaveconfident answers. Other times, they didn’t care, she said.

“Everyone is really serious about allergiesnow because everyone has them,” Finley said. “But when she developed her allergies,alot of chefs weren’tdoing anything special.They weren’t making adjustments. They didn’thave allergen menus.”

Finley took matters into her own hands and researched alkaline and antiinflammatorydiets.She experimented with alternative food options like quinoaﬂakes to thicken soups, sweet potatoestothicken sauces or avocados as a base. Atbirthday parties, her daughter had her own homemade cupcake.For MardiGras, Finley baked her apersonal king cake.

“I just wanted to make sure she didn’tfeel left out,” she said.

This newfound skill led to cooking meals notonly for her daughter but for other people who needed help:

Thename “Desiderata Kitchen” came from apaper in her brother’sbackpack after he unexpectedly passed in 2014. Tucked inside abinder,she found a1927 poem by American writer Max Ehrmann called “Desiderata.”

She recited theﬁrst line

“Go placidly with thenoise and haste,” the poem states, “and rememberwhatpeace there may be in silence.”

The poem includes comforting words to hear if someoneisapathetic or stuck, she said, and it might help provide guidance. It touches on themes like attentiontodetail, kindness,communication and not comparing yourself to others.

“Desiderata is the plural form of desideratum, and it meansthings highly desired, wanted or essential. What’s more essential than good food or intentionalfood?” Finley said.

The word stuck withher It became abaseline for not only her business but how she lives her life.

“Weall have apurpose,” she said. “That’sDesiderata. So, Iwear these bugle horns. The name from my business camespecifically from a sign from mybrother.”

Finley’sbrother brought the name, her mother stirred theinspiration, and her daughter helped her learn. Even thebusiness’ logowas designed by her son,who has always stood next to her and currently leads thecharge on the family garden. Her husband fully supports her and fuels her to keep going

“It’sbeen 10 years of grit and grind,” Finley said. “I can go back and think of moments where I’m like,‘How am Igoing to do this? How am Igoing to getthrough it?’ Andyet, here Iam.”

Dear Miss Manners: My husband and Idoalot of recreational traveling, and often takelocal tours in thecountries we visit.Inthese tours, there are often manycomments using America as apunchline. How should Ihandle this?Just stand there and be humiliated?

therefore surprise you to hear that this is not one of them

Gentlereader: Onecannot open an American newspaper without reading that there is now apartisan divide on sometopic about which there used to be public consensus. It may

Youcan agree wholeheartedly with current American policies, disagree fundamentally,orstand anywhere in between; it does not change the simple equation that a sweeping insult of your home country includes you. As suchcomments are almost certainly based on the age-oldcliché that allAmericans arerude or bullies, theyignore the hypocrisy thatonly rude

bullieswould offer such an insult to aguest in their country The proper response is therefore to silently,but politely,make clear that you know you have been insulted. If you can excuse yourself,doso. If not, look stern and ignore the speaker foratime. This forces others to question their assumptions both about Americans and about themselves —which will be farbetter foryou than getting into aﬁght in aforeign country

Sendquestions to Miss Manners at herwebsite, www.missmanners.com.

Avoiding microwavemesses

Dear Heloise: No more major cleanups for your microwave! Just cover the dishes withapaper plateora paper towel. Also, you can place acup of vinegar in the microwave and bring it to boil. Let it sit for a few minutes,then wipe the inside of themicrowave with cloth or paper towels.Big messes come off easy this way —Thelma,inVirginia Letair inside

garbage can needs air to keep smells at bay,sotry leaving the lid open when you can. —KarenMcV., via email

Newfraud tactics

Dear Heloise: Iwork at abank, and lately, we’ve been made aware of new fraud tactics that are being used on people. Please makeyour readers aware of afew important scam tactics and sometips on how to avoid them:

Dear Heloise: Ialso had asmelly dishwasher.It was because it closed very tightly and didn’tget any air,sobacteria just multiplied. Now Ileave my kitchen towel tohang over the “closed” door.It not only allows air into thedishwasher,but it’s agreat place to hold my kitchen towel. The same goes for kitchen garbage cans with tight lids —no air can cause an odor.The

n There’sascam where someone out of the blue calls and claims to be from abank or credit card company,orclaimstobepart of their security or fraud department.

n Youget atext or email telling you to click on veriﬁcation codes, usually from acompany that you’ve never heard of.

n Never give out sensitive information such as Medicare numbers, Social Security information, bank account information, PIN numbers or passwords.

n If threatening language of any kind is used, such as “locking you out of your account” or threats of legal action if you don’trespond immediately,don’tpanic. It’s usually an intimidation tactic.

n Use the mobile app for bank issues, or call the numberthatisprintedon your credit or debit card. Youmight also have to look on the ofﬁcialwebsite or,insome cases,call your bank andask for help to gettothe right department.

n Never click on links or call phone numbers that are provided by aperson whocalls out of the blue. Stay safeand remember that help is available. You needn’tbepressured to respond to anyone before seeking help. —Stacy H., in Tacoma,Washington Send ahinttoheloise@ heloise.com.

Creole

Continued from page1D

STAFF PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS

Chef Ciara Finleyadds milk toher grits while cooking at Desiderata Kitchen.

PROVIDED PHOTO Sweet potato custardy breadpuddingwithvanilla bean ice cream,rum sauce, praline dust

know who the boudin man is at Elsie’s but he needs a raise. It’s seasoned — not too spicy, but not too bland — and it pairs well with the smoky pepper jack cheese. I ordered the sandwich with a side of crispy Brussels sprouts, which made me feel just a tad healthier

— Lauren Cheramie, 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

BON VIVANT

Continued from page 1D

bill, it was a little over $11, which was pretty exciting.

One more thing: the black bean dip served with tortilla 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 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

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 1934, bank robber John Dillinger was shot to death by federal agents outside Chicago’s Biograph Theater, where he had just seen the Clark Gable movie “Manhattan Melodrama.”

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.

In 1943, American forces led by Gen. George S. Patton captured Palermo, Sicily, during World War II.

In 1975, the House of Representatives joined the Senate in voting to restore the American citizenship of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

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

TODAY IN HISTORY

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.

sentence in 2024 and was released.) Today’s birthdays: Singer George Clinton is 85. Movie writer-director Paul

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 counts including hate crimes that made him eligible for the death penalty (Roof would become the ﬁrst person sentenced to death for a federal hate crime; he is on death row at a federal prison in Indiana.)

In 2022, Steve Bannon, a longtime ally of Donald Trump, was convicted of contempt charges for defying a congressional subpoena from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. (After challenging his conviction, Bannon served a four-month prison

Wine and spirits

Celebrate

Monday at Raising Cane’s in Baton Rouge. Owner and founder Todd Graves is marking the holiday he created in 2010 by honoring his late friend Chuck Norris and supporting Kickstart Kids. Raising Cane’s is donating $1 from every box combo purchased that day, up to $1 million, to help Kickstart Kids continue empowering students through martial arts and character education. Caniac Club members and Hot Fresh News subscribers can receive a free chicken ﬁnger with the purchase of a box combo on that day Zydeco Soiree: 5 p.m Saturday, Aug. 1, at Robert A Bogan Fire Museum, 427 Laurel St., Baton Rouge Red Stick Zydeco is hosting a zydeco soiree dance session with live music by R.J. and Kreole Smoove. The night includes line dancing, food and more, but it’s BYOB. Tickets are $35 at the door

Willamette Valley 2024. Tickets are $25 per person, available for purchase at martinwine.com/events.

Fête Rouge: 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 27, at L’Auberge Casino, 777 L’Auberge Ave., Baton Rouge

Planteray rum and tiki cocktails: 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m Friday at Martin’s, 6463 Moss Side Lane, Baton Rouge Explore the world of rum and tropical cocktails at Martin’s at this seated tasting event. Guests will try a selection of Planteray rums, learning the characteristics, production methods and ﬂavor proﬁles while enjoying tiki-inspired cocktails. The lineup includes Planteray Xaymaca, Planteray Mister Fo, Planteray OFTD, Planteray 3 Star, Planteray Original Dark and Willamette Valley — SOM sauvignon blanc

The Baton Rouge Epicurean Society’s Fête Rouge event will feature top chefs from around the city competing for the title of Best Dish, paired with a tasting experience that features more than 30 dishes and more than 250 wines from around the world. Ticket prices, which increase as the event approaches, are available to purchase at epicbr.webﬂow.io/events/ fete-rouge. All proceeds beneﬁt the society’s mission to raise funds for childhood nutrition and health initiatives, educational programs and scholarships.

If you have an upcoming food event or a kitchen question, email lauren. cheramie@theadvocate. com. Cheers!

Schrader is 80. Actor Danny Glover is 80. Singer Mireille Mathieu is 80. Actor-comedian-director

Albert Brooks is 79. Rock singer Don Henley is 79.

Author S.E. Hinton is 78. Film composer Alan Menken is 77.

STAFF PHOTO By JOy HOLDEN

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

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

FAMILY CIrCUS

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

TODAy'S CLUE: 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 La TimeS CroSSword

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 NEA, Inc., dist. By

Previous answers:

InstRuctIOns:

tODAY’s WORD — AGEnEsIs: ay-JEN-ih-sus: The

Average mark 17 words Time limit 35 minutes Can you find

loCKhorNs

marmaduKe

Bizarro

hagar the horriBle

Pearls Before swiNe

garfield

B.C.

PiCKles

PUBLIC NOTICE

ditional

Pursuant

reject anyand allbidsfor just cause. In accordance with La.R.S.38:2212(B) (1), theprovisionsand requirements of this Sec‐tion,those stated in the biddingdocuments shall notbeconsideredasin‐formalitiesand shallnot be waived by anypublic entity JuliaFisher-Cormier ExecutiveDirector Port of SouthLouisiana AdvertisementDates: July 22, 2026 l y Purchasing Director mmanuel@suno.edu or (504) 286-5020 194555 July 22, 29, Aug5 2026 3t $42.15

CITY OF ST.GEORGE

BY COUNCIL MEMBER EDMONDS

Bid#3161 Southern University at NewOrleans is soliciting an Invitation to Bid(ITB) to provideDumpster Rental andGarbage Dis‐posalServices. Rental services includedump‐stersonboththe Main andParkCampus. A MandatoryPre-Bid Meet‐ingwillbeheldonMon‐day, August 0, 2026 at 10:00 am andthe Open‐ingBid Conference Date: Tuesday, August 25, 2026 at 10:00 am.Bothmeet‐ings arelocated at 6400 PressDrive,New Orleans, LA 70126 in theEmmitt BashfulBuilding(Admin. Bldg.) 3rdFloor,Rm. #306. Sealed bids will be received by Southern University at NewOr‐leansinthe Purchasing Department,Emmitt BashfulBldg. Rm.#202 up to 10:00 am August 25, 2026. To be showninthe newspaper: July 22, July 29, and August 5, 2026

ContactPerson: MarilynGilmore-Manuel, h i i

ORDINANCE NO. 2026 022

TO DECLARE THATCERTAIN REAL PROPERTY OWNED BY THE CITY IS NO LONGERNEEDED FOR PUBLIC PURPOSES

APPROVE THE SALE THEREOF,AND PROVIDE FOR RELATED MATTERS

WHEREAS, Lavo Lane, an approximately 392.50 foot long, 60 foot wide roadway right-of-way on the east side of Highlandia Road that dead ends private property which is adjacent to Interstate 10; and

WHEREAS, the “back portion” of Lavo Lane, approximately 188.82 feet in length, is adjacent to and only serves one property; and

WHEREAS, the entirelengthofthe Lavo Lane Roadway,from Highlandia Road to Buyer’sproperty,isin poor conditionand in needof significant repairs; and

WHEREAS, R.S. 33:4712 A. provides that amunicipality may sell property that it has determined is no longer needed forpublic purposes to private persons at aprivate sale; and

WHEREAS, the owner of the property adjacent to the back portion” of Lavo Lane (the “proposed buyer”) isinterested inpurchasing that portion of Lavo Lane; and

WHEREAS, Article VII, §14 of the Louisiana Constitution requires that the City receive fair market value for the portionofLavo Lane being sold; and

WHEREAS, the City has obtained an appraisal of Lavo Lane, and the proposed buyer is willing to compensate the City for that amount by repairing and maintaining the 203.77 foot long portion of the roadwayitis not acquiring; and

WHEREAS, prior to its passage, inaccordance with R.S. 33:4712 B., this ordinance was published in The Advocatethree times in fifteendays, one week apart.

NOW THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINEDbythe St. George City Council, State of Louisiana, as follows:

Section 1:The following portion of Lavo Lane, that onlyserves one property and cannot be extended through that property duetoInterstate 10, is hereby determined to benolonger needed for public purposes: Acertain tract or parcel of ground being in Highlandia Subdivision in Section 57, Township 8South, Range 2East,GreensburgLand District, East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana and being identified as the Lavo Lane right-of-way contained in the followingcalls:

Beginning on the northernLavo Lane right-of wayline, 203.77-feet Northeast of the intersection of the eastern right-of-way lineof Highlandia Drive along the northernright-of-way lineofLavo Lane, then proceed Northeast along the Lavo Lane right-of-way-line a distance of 188.72-feet; then proceed Southeast along the eastern Lavo Lane right-of-way line adistance of approximately 60.0-feet to the perpendicular Lavo Lane right-of-way line, then proceed Southwest adistance of 188.72-feet; then proceed Northeast a distance of 60.0-feet to the point of beginning.

Section 2: The sale of the above described portion of Lavo Lane is hereby approved at the price and pursuant to the terms set forth in the Real Estate Agreement to Sell Real Estate attached hereto as Exhibit A.

Section 3: Conflicts. The specificterms and conditions of this Ordinance shall prevail against other ordinances of the City to the extent that theremay be any conflict.Exceptfor the foregoing, theuse of the subject property is subject to the terms of all applicableordinances and regulations of the City of St. George, including any amendment thereto.

Section 3: Severability. If any provision of this Ordinance is declared invalid by acourt of competent jurisdiction,the other provisions shall remain in full force and effect.

Section 4: Effective Date. Thisordinance shallbe effectiveupon publication, but not sooner than ten days after its passage.

This ordinance having been submitted to avote; thevotethereon was: For:Cook, Dellucci, Edmonds, Himmel,Monachello,Murrell, Talbot

Adopted this 14th day of July,2026

Signed this 17th day of July,2026

Delivered to the Mayor on the 17th day of July,2026

Lorraine Beaman, City Clerk

Approved:

Dustin Yates, Mayor

Received from the Mayor on the 17th day of July,2026

Lorraine Beaman, City Clerk

Adopted Ordinance published in The Advocate on the_ day of 2026

Exhibit A CITYOFST. GEORGE AGREEMENT TOSELL REAL ESTATE

This agreement to sell real estate(“Agreement”) is enteredintothis day of 2026, between the City of St. George, aLouisiana municipality with its principalplace of business at 11207 Proverbs Ave., St. George, LA 70816 (“City”) and Parish Construction &Roofing LLC d/b/a Parish Construction, aLouisiana limited liability company with its principal place of business at 17830 Lavo Lane, St. George, LA 70810 (“Buyer”).

WHEREAS, the City is the owner of certain property,Lavo Lane, an approximately 392.50 foot long, 60 foot wide roadwayright-of-way on the east side of Highlandia Road that dead endsatBuyer’s property which is adjacent to Interstate 10; and

WHEREAS, the “back portion” of Lavo Lane, approximately188.82 feet, is adjacent to and only serves Buyer’sproperty;and WHEREAS, the entirelengthofthe Lavo Lane Roadway,from Highlandia Road to Buyer’sproperty, is in poor condition; and

WHEREAS, Buyer wishes to acquire that portion of Lavo Lane adjacent to its property and, as compensation for that portion of Lavo Lane, is willing to repair,improve, and, for aperiodoftime, maintainthe 203.77 feet

System,Child Nu‐tritionProgram Ofﬁce Building A, Room #055, at 3000 NorthSherwood Forest Drive, Baton Rouge, Louisiana70814. This is to inform thepub‐licthattheyare invited to participateinthe bid opening. TheEastBaton RougeParishSchool Sys‐temChild NutritionPro‐gram is funded at 96 per‐cent with federalfunds, foranapproximatetotal of $32,103,123.00.Thisin‐stitutionisanequal op‐portunity provider PublicationDates: 1st Insertion Thursday,July16, 2026 2ndInsertion Wednesday, July 22, 2026 194392-jul16-22-2t $53.34

g g inRoom 102 located at 1101 Bertrand Dr Lafayette,LA70506 on July 23, 2026 at 10:00am CST. Bidforms andspeci‐ﬁcationsmay be ob‐tained online at www solacc.edu/bids,by phoning337-521-8898, by e-mailing purchasing@ solacc.ed,byfaxing a writtenrequest to 337521-9067, or by visiting thePurchasingOfﬁce at 1101 Bertrand Dr Lafayette,LA70506. Please refertobid#26003. Bids must be sub‐mitted in accordance with LA StatePurchasing Rulesand Regulations and within theterms and conditions setforth in thebid 192597 July 8, 15, 22, 2026 3t $68.62

RFxNo. 3000026481, *Site Visit* HVAC Maintenance –SOS,8/12/26 Bidproposalforms,in‐formationand specifica‐tionsmay be obtained by accessingthe bidnum‐berinLaPac at www.doa la.gov/doa/osp/orfrom theprocurement section listed above. No bids will be received afterthe date andhourspecified Theright is reserved to reject anyand allbids andtowaive anyinfor‐malities AmyVincent Director of StateProcure‐ment FAX(225) 342-8688 194778 JUL-22-1T They maybeobtained withoutchargeand with‐outdeposit from LouisianaMilitaryDe‐partment (CFMO) (318) 664-4558.Printed copies arenot availablefrom theDesigner, but arrangements canbe made to obtain them throughmostrepro‐graphic firms. Plan hold‐ersare responsiblefor theirown reproduction costs. Questionsabout this procedureshall be directed to theDesigner at 420 FStreet,Pineville Louisiana71360. Atten‐tion:JohnWalker, E-Mail Address: John.F.Walker3. ctr@army.mil or via phone(318) 664-4558.

able in electronic form PUBLIC NOTICE INVITATION TO BID Sealed bids will be ac‐cepted until July 30, 2026 at 2:00 PM CSTfor custo‐dial services at South LouisianaCommunity CollegeinLafayette,LA. Amandatory meeting will be held at South LouisianaCommunity College’sArdoinBuilding i l d PUBLIC NOTICE East BatonRouge Parish School System Child NutritionProgram Advertisementfor Sealed Bids Notice is hereby given that theEastBaton RougeParishSchool Sys‐tem, theSchool Food Au‐thority, will receive sealed bids for LARGE EQUIPMENTfor theChild NutritionProgram.The deadline forsubmission of Sealed bids is 9a.m on Wednesday, July 29, 2026,Central Standard Time Bids maybehand-deliv‐ered,mailed, or submit‐tedelectronicallyvia the free procurementplat‐form beaconbid.com Thereisnomonetary charge to submit bids electronically.Detailed speciﬁcationsand bidre‐quests maybeobtained by contacting theEast BatonRouge Parish School System,Child Nu‐tritionProgram,Purchas‐ingDept. at 225-226-3782, or bids maybepickedup at theChild Nutrition Program, Purchasing Dept. at 3000 NorthSher‐wood Forest Drive, Baton Rouge, La.70814 between d

portion of Lavo Lane that is not adjacent to Buyer’sproperty and that it will remain apublic street; and

WHEREAS, Louisiana Revised Statutes 33:4712 permits municipalities to sell real property determined not neededfor public purposesata private sale; and

WHEREAS, the St. George Council enacted OrdinanceNo. 2026-022 in which determined that the portion of Lavo Lane to be soldisnot needed for public purposes, and further,approved this Agreement.

THEREFORE, City and Buyer agree as follows:

1. On the ClosingDate, City shall, by Quitclaim Deed, transfer the followinglegally described property to Buyer,“as is, whereis,” withoutany warranty of title: Acertain tract or parcel of ground being in Highlandia SubdivisioninSection 57, Township 8South, Range 2East, Greensburg Land District, EastBatonRouge Parish, Louisiana and being identified as the LavoLane right-of-way contained in the following calls: Beginning on the northern Lavo Lane right-of way line, 203.77-feet Northeast of the intersection of the eastern right-of-way line of Highlandia Drivealong the northern right-of-way line of LavoLane, then proceed Northeastalong the LavoLane right-of-way-line adistanceof188.72-feet; then proceed Southeastalong the eastern LavoLane right-of-way line adistanceofapproximately 60.0-feet to the perpendicular LavoLane right-of-way line, then proceed Southwesta distanceof188.72-feet;then proceed Northeasta distanceof60.0-feet to the point of beginning.

2. Compensation.After obtaining all required City permits and prior to the ClosingDate, Buyer shall, at its sole cost and expense,perform the following repairs and improvements to the approximately 203.77 linearfeet of Lavo Lane roadway (approximately 25 feet in width) from Highlandia Road to the portion of Lavo Lane it is acquiring:

1. Mill andresurface the roadway with aminimumasphalt thickness to be 3”, placed in two 1.5” lifts.

2. Proof rolls required after milling, and after patching and provision of testing lab at their expense to ensurework is performed in accordancewith best practices and specifications.

3. Roadway shall be striped using Thermoplast.

4. Repair/re-pourany damagedaprons at their expense during duration of work.

5. Access to be provided to all nearby businesses during duration of work.

6. Trafficcontrol at Buyer’sexpense duringduration of work.

All such work shall be performed in accordance with either East Baton Rouge City-Parish 1997 StandardSpecifications for Public WorksConstruction, or 2026 Louisiana Standard Specification for Roadsand Bridges.

The City’sinspection firm shallbeonsite for all work

In addition, Buyer shall continue maintain the Lavo Lane roadway from Highlandia to its property as reasonably directed by the City of St. George untilBuyer’s total expenditures on said roadway repairs, improvements and maintenance has reached $144,321.00, the value of the portion of Lavo Lane to be transferred to Buyer.Upon request, Buyer shall provide the City with proof of its expenditures.

3. Inspection.Buyer has had the opportunity to inspect the property it is acquiringand the public roadway to be repaired and maintained and accepts the same with no warranties as to title or for fitness for any particular purpose and with waiver of redhibition.

4. ClosingDate: The closing shall take placenot less than ten (10) daysafter the passageofOrdinanceNo. 2026-022 and only after the pre-closing repairs and improvements to Lavo Lane required by paragraph 2above arecompleted.

This Agreement entered into in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisianaonthe date first written above.

City of St. George Parish Construction &Roofing LLC d/b/aParish Construction By:

Dustin Yates, Mayor Printed Name / Title

MinutesofRegular Meeting of the Mayorand Council Members of the City of St. George, State of Louisiana, held on Tuesday,June 23, 2026 at 5:00 pm at the St. George FireDept, 14100 AirlineHwy,St. George, LA 70817

I. Preliminary Business:

1. Call to Order: MayorDustin Yates called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m.

2. Pledge of Allegiance 3. Invocation 4. Roll Call: Present: CouncilMember Cook, Council Member Himmel CouncilMember Edmonds, Council Member Talbot, Council Member Monachello, Council Member Murrell Absent: CouncilMember Dellucci

5. Approval of Minutes: Motion by CouncilMember Himmel, seconded by CouncilMember Murrell to approve the minutes of theJune 9, 2026 council meeting. AYES: Cook,Himmel, Edmonds, Monachello, Talbot, Murrell NAYS: None ABSENT: Dellucci

6. Presentation andrecognition of donation from Retired Judges of America

7. Presentation by Brandon Boylan on MonthlyFinancial Report.

8. Public Safety Presentation by Todd Morris.

II. New Business (Itemsfor Public Hearing and Action)

1. Motion by CouncilMember Edmonds, seconded by Himmel to approve ZoningMatter No. PD-26-0004 –Ordinance to approving amajor change to the Final Development Plan for aSmall Planned Unit Development; and provide for related matters. (Applicant: Kenilworth Science and Technology Academy) (Ordinance)

ZoningCommission vote: Motion to recommend approval with conditions by Laurie Marien;seconded by Travis Thornton. YEAS –Travis Thornton, Laurie Marien,Bobby McKey,Billy Aguillard. NAYS -0.ABSENT:Jason McAllister.Motion passed and PD-26-0004 was recommended for approval with the

conditions: 1. Prohibit left turnsexiting boththe existingand proposed access drives. 2. Reflect theaccess-controlimprovementsproposed under theMovEBR standards. 3. The CityCouncil shall not take actiononCase PD-26-0004 until therevised plan has been submittedand theabove conditions have been addressed to staff’ssatisfaction. Staff update: An Access Exhibit was submittedand reviewed by staff. The revised plans address Conditions 1and 2tostaff’s satisfactionasofJune 11, 2026. Public comment wasopened with no speakers. Public comment wasopened with thefollowing speakers: Billy AguillardAYES: Cook, Himmel, Edmonds, Monachello, Talbot, Murrell NAYS: None ABSENT:Dellucci

2. MotionbyCouncil Member Talbot, seconded by Monachello to approve Zoning MatterNo. T-26-0003 –Ordinance to amend Title 7ofthe St.George Unified Development Code to establish storage of hazardous materialinbulk as ause with standards; and provide forrelatedmatters

Zoning Commission vote: Motiontorecommend approval by TravisThornton; seconded by Laurie Marien. YEAS –Travis Thornton, Laurie Marien, Bobby McKey,Billy Aguillard. NAYS -0.ABSENT:Jason McAllister.Motionpassed and T-26-0003 was recommended forapproval. Public comment wasopened with no speakers. AYES: Cook, Himmel, Edmonds, Monachello, Talbot, Murrell NAYS: None ABSENT: Dellucci

3. MotionbyCouncil Member Edmonds, seconded by Murrellto approve Zoning MatterNo. T-26-0004 –Ordinance to amend Title 7ofthe St.George Unified Development Code to update regulations forsigns and billboards; and provide forrelated matters.(Ordinance)

Zoning Commission vote: Motiontorecommend approval by Laurie Marien; seconded by TravisThornton. YEAS –Travis Thornton, Laurie Marien, Bobby McKey,Billy Aguillard. NAYS0. ABSENT:Jason McAllister.Motionpassed and T-26-0004 was recommended forapproval. Public comment wasopened with no speakers.