The Times-Picayune 07-27-2026 by The Advocate

ABOVE, BELOW ANDBEYOND

Tulane’s waterrunoff projecthelps city manage stormwater more effectively

BY MIKE SMITH Staffwriter

On the surface, it is an inviting expanse of bright green grass stretching out across the heart of Tulane’s uptown campus.

But much like the classic literature read by the university’sstudents,a deeper meaning lurks underneath.

Anew project unifying green space at Tulane is also designed to help with one of the city’smostpressing problems: managing stormwater.To do that, the project includes what might be called adungeon for runoff.

Just below the grassy surface, chambers have been builtcapable of holding 440,000gallons of water about two-thirds of anOlympic-sizedswimming pool. That water is then slowly released into the city’sdrainage system, easingpressure during heavy rainfall.

they wanttogoabove and beyond.

It has dividedits campus into“watersheds,” and has built projects that blend seamlessly into campuslife.

“There are allkinds of techniques, and Tulane has really been creative in usingthem allwhere they’re appropriate,” Emily Bullock, alandscape architect with SMM who consults for Tulane, said duringa recent tour of the campus.

The project is part of alarger plan being put in placeacrossTulane’s campuses —including its downtown expansion —tomanage stormwater more effectively. City policies require it, though Tulane ofﬁcials say

Projects range frompermeable parking lots to native plant gardens and architecture that subtlyhelps preservemajesticlive oaks. Stormwater systems similar to the chambers underthe new“Uniﬁed Green” project havebeen built beneath its sports ﬁelds.

The recent walk acrosscampus demonstrated the array of projects hidden in plain sight. Theblades of Louisiana irisesextend from native gardens absorbing rain, while the curved glasswall of the university’s business school is designedtoleave space for oak trees’ rootstosoak up stormwater “These projects demonstratethat stormwater managementisnot solely the responsibility of public agencies —itisasharedeffort, and institutionsand developersall have an important role to playinbuilding amore resilient New Orleans,” Meagan Williams, thecity’schief sustainability ofﬁcer,said in aprepared statement.

“The project’s incorporation of stormwater detention alongside

‘World Cupofcuisine’crownswinners

Team USAwinsbig, NewOrleans culinary sceneshines

BY IAN McNULTY Staff writer

Before the gold, silverand bronze medals were awarded at the three-tieredpodium, and before the competitors in their gleaming white chef coats and tall toques took the stage holding their national ﬂags among acrowd of cheering supporters, New Orleans chefs were already jubilant.

They’d been watching all weekendasteamsoftop chefs representing countries across North andSouth America contended for peakculinaryawards, while also rubbing elbows with visiting celebrity chefs, someregarded as rock stars by thosewho value tastingmenus over concerttickets. Allofthisculinaryfirepower wasinNew Orleans fortwin global contests, Bocuse d’Or andCoupe du Monde de la Patisserie (akathe Pastry World Cup). Teamswere competing to make it to theirrespective ﬁnals, to be held in Lyon, France, in January,anevent regardedasthe World Cupofcuisine These local competitionswere

qualifyingrounds, and NewOrleanschefs andrestaurateurs attending to watch and help produce the eventscalled them awin for the city’sown culinaryidentity.

“It brings such great energy, withall these chefs and food enthusiasts here,” said AlonShaya, chef andco-owner of Saba and Safta’sTable restaurants

“New Orleans is such agreat place for people who love food andhospitalitytovisit,and for alot of themthis was their ﬁrst time experiencing that. Ithink it just multiplies thepossibilities for NewOrleans,” he said.

ä See WINNERS, page 7A

Committee to review education funding formula

BY PATRICK WALL Staff writer

Beginning next month,15people could decide the future of school funding in Louisiana.

Lawmakers established the school-funding task force with aunanimous vote on the last day of the legislative session in June. It waspitched as away to increase pay for teachers, who once again this year received one-time stipends instead of permanent raises.

But the committee, which is scheduled to begin meeting Aug. 13, has afar moresweeping mission than simply to ﬁnd moremoney forteachers. Its jobistoconducta “top-to-bottomreview” of themorethan30-year-old formula that determineshow muchstate fundingevery public school in Louisiana receives, according to the resolution establishing the task force. Called the Minimum Foundation Program, the formula doles out about $4 billion annually,which schools use to pay teachers, purchase textbooks, operatebuses, provide special education services and much more. After studying the MFP,the committeemust recommenda “revised or replacement formula” by Jan. 1, according to the resolution. If their proposals areadopted, these 15 people will have

Carter interested in leading Blackcaucus

currentlyNo. 2 in Capitolgroup

BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer

WASHINGTON NewOrleans Democratic U.S. Rep. Troy Carter is the ﬁrst candidate running forchair of the Congressional Black Caucus arguing that he wants the inﬂuential caucus on Capitol Hill to work moreeffectively in pushing policies that help everyday people.

“I’m absolutely going to run, and (I’m) hopeful that Iwill have the support of my colleagues to lead this very powerfuland signiﬁcant caucus,” Carter said Thursday In his third two-year term in

ä See CARTER, page 5A

STAFF PHOTOSByDAVID GRUNFELD

Sprinklers water newly installed sod above Tulane University’s underground stormwater detention system on July 17.

The system can temporarily hold about 440,000 gallons of rainwater to help reduce localized flooding

Aplanteddrainagebed is designed to collect runoff

Bullock

Carter

STAFF

PHOTO By ENAN CHEDIAK

Vincenzo Loseto, left,and Tyler Higson work on adishduring the Bocuse d’Or international culinarycompetition at the NewOrleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center on Sunday

BRIEFS FROM WIRE REPORTS

Injunction upheld to block federal voter list

A federal appeals court has upheld a ruling that in nearly half of U.S. states halted President Donald Trump’s executive order to create a federal list of eligible voters and limit delivery of mail ballots only to people on that list.

The ruling Saturday by judges of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Trump administration’s effort to move forward with the mail-in voting restrictions in 23 U.S. states that sued ahead of November’s midterm elections

Trump issued an executive order in March for the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the commissioner of the Social Security Administration to create a “state citizenship list” of eligible voters. It also ordered the U.S. Postal Service to deliver mail ballots only to people on that list.

Democratic officials in 23 states and the District of Columbia challenged Trump’s order in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Boston. They argued that Trump’s order was unconstitutional because the states and Congress, not the president, have the authority to set election rules.

U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani, who was nominated by Democratic President Barack Obama, agreed and halted Trump’s order from being implemented for the Nov 3 elections — but only in the states that have sued.

Sweltering heat wave grips U.S. another day

At least 40 million people were under extreme heat warnings across central and southern parts of the United States on Sunday as high temperatures and severe humidity gripped large swaths of the country for a second straight day Heat indexes exceeding 105 degrees stretched from Minnesota down to Mississippi, extending west into southern California and Nevada. Parts of the Southwest could see highs of 120 degrees Sunday according to the National Weather Service.

Meteorologists said the sweltering weather was the result of another heat dome — a phenomenon in which atmospheric conditions trap heat, accentuating and prolonging already high temperatures

“Right now, it’s affecting a lot of people right in the middle of the country,” said Bob Oravec, an NWS meteorologist. “The core of the heat sinks southward by early next week.”

The moist air was also producing other volatility around the top of the heat dome, including the risk of severe thunderstorms, flash flooding and hail around the Great Lakes on Sunday The potential for heavy storms was expected to move east in the coming days.

“If you have a heat dome in one part of the country, you’ll have a different corresponding weather in another part,” Oravec said. “It’s all related.”

Temporary relief will come to the central U.S. toward the middle of the week, but high temperatures could return by the weekend, he noted.

Raúl Castro absent from Cuba celebration

HAVANA Cuba held a traditional rally on Sunday to commemorate one of the revolution’s most important anniversaries but former President Raúl Castro was conspicuously absent.

It was the ﬁrst time in at least three decades that 95-year-old Castro did not attend the event, and no explanation was given. President Miguel Díaz-Canel read a congratulatory message from Castro to his compatriots at the rally, held in the eastern city of Pinar del Río.

The annual event commemorates the July 26, 1953, assault led by brothers Fidel and Raúl Castro on the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes barracks in Cuba’s eastern region. The military action against former dictator Fulgencio Batista failed, but it marked the beginning of the revolutionary struggle that culminated on Jan. 1, 1959.

Raúl Castro’s last public appearances were in June, during an event to establish the Ministry of the Interior and on May 1 to celebrate Labor Day

Deadly Berlin Pride attack suspect killed

Police say German citizen sought to join terrorist group

BY GEIR MOULSON, KIRSTEN GRIESHABER and STEFANIE DAZIO Associated Press

BERLIN The suspect in the deadly Berlin Pride attack that left one person dead and 29 injured was shot and killed by police during a confrontation on Sunday in a suburb of the city, authorities said. Abdul Ballout, a German citizen with Lebanese roots, was killed following a search that lasted nearly 24 hours after the attack in downtown Berlin. Prosecutors said he had previously sought to join the militant Islamic State group.

Ballout was suspected of driving a van into a crowd near Berlin’s Pride festival Saturday night before apparently stabbing others with a machete in what authorities believe was an Islamic extremist terror attack.

Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said the attack occurred a few hundred yards from a party near the Brandenburg Gate that was supposed to close out the city’s Pride festival.

Ballout was tracked down around 6 p.m. Sunday at a garden in Spandau, a Berlin suburb, the city’s police department wrote on X. They said he apparently ran toward ofﬁcers with a sharp instrument, and police ﬁred at least one shot. He died at the scene. Ballout was born in Germany, the minister said His mother was naturalized in 2002, three years before he was born. Ballout traveled to Lebanon in 2025 with the goal of going to Syria to join the Islamic State group, Berlin prosecutors said Sunday There, he made contact with several people who were presumed members of the militant group — or at least he believed them to be, prosecutors said.

In May, a juvenile court in Berlin convicted Ballout of preparing a serious act of violence endangering the state, as well as publishing Islamic State propaganda on his Instagram account and other charges, prosecutors said.

The court handed down a suspended sentence of one year and 10 months in youth custody which Berlin prosecutors had appealed. The court said it took Ballout’s months of pretrial detention in Germany and Lebanon into account. It also said it considered that Ballout had admitted to the crimes, appeared to distance

himself from the militant group and no actual threat had ever materialized.

He was released from detention pending the appeal.

Berlin’s Pride festival is one of Europe’s largest LGBTQ+ celebrations.

According to police, a white van drove into the Tiergarten park about 10 p.m. and hit several people before colliding with a tree. The closing party at the Pride festival, known as Christopher Street Day, was ongoing at the time next to the Brandenburg Gate, a short distance away Police said a woman was killed.

On Sunday afternoon, hundreds of mourners gathered at a memorial at the iconic gate. They hugged each other and laid down ﬂowers, candles, rainbow ﬂags and homemade signs, including a cardboard one that said: “the only thing more powerful than hate is love.”

Hundreds of thousands had come to Berlin to celebrate on Saturday, though it’s unclear how many were still at the festival by late evening. It’s one of Europe’s largest LGBTQ+ celebrations.

“We are simply stunned by what happened,” said Andre Lehmann, a top ofﬁcial with the main national LGBTQ+ association, LSVD+. “This suspected attack hits the heart of the queer community.”

2 West Bank mosques set on fire amid surge in settler violence

BY MELANIE LIDMAN Associated Press

TEL AVIV, Israel Two mosques in the Israelioccupied West Bank were set on ﬁre overnight in an apparent Israeli settler attack, ofﬁcials said Sunday after a spate of deadly violence that killed four Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers.

Palestinians and the Israeli opposition accuse Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard-line government of turning a blind eye to attacks by settlers against Palestinians, which threaten to ignite widespread violence across the territory.

Israeli soldiers and police fanned out across the West Bank after the attack, closing off major roads and blocking access to a hospital where it said two militants were hiding. Israel also arrested more than 70 Palestinians over the weekend as they attempted to contain the escalating violence.

The mosques, in the villages of Qusra and Kour in the northern West Bank, suffered extensive damage in the ﬁres In Qusra, the attackers spray-painted “revenge Benayahu,” referring to one of the Israeli soldiers killed on Friday and “the land of Israel is redeemed

with blood.” The soldier lived in a nearby settlement.

Ahmed Abu Mahmoud, 64, who lives next to the Qusra mosque, said he heard noises at 3 a.m. and discovered the mosque had been set on fire. The fire was too large for him to fight on his own, so he called for help.

“The military arrived here, saw with their own eyes and then left,” Mahmoud said.

Security footage in Kour obtained by The Associated Press showed three people dressed in civilian clothes setting off a large explosion in the entrance of the mosque in the middle of the night On Sunday, residents held prayers despite damage to the entrance.

Israel’s military said it was working with police to investigate the mosque attack.

“The security forces strongly condemn incidents of this kind, including harm to religious sites, and will continue to act decisively to maintain security and public order in the area,” it said.

The Israeli army often announces investigations into violence against Palestinians but rarely makes arrests or prosecutes settlers involved in violence.

The military also reported it had sealed the homes of two Palestinian militants suspected of killing the soldiers in preparation for their demolition. Israel often demolishes the homes of attackers, claiming it deters future attacks.

U.S. and Iran pause attacks after days of escalation

BY SAMY MAGDY and CARA ANNA Associated Press

CAIRO The United States and Iran paused their attacks for a second straight day Sunday, as efforts continued to bring them back to negotiations on an interim ceasefire deal largely undermined by recent exchanges of fire. It was not clear why the U.S. has paused after targeting Iranian coastal areas and infrastructure in a nearly two-week escalation sparked by Iran’s firing at ships trying to transit the Strait of Hormuz. The Pentagon did not respond to questions President Donald Trump is “giving talks some space. He’s giving it a little bit of room,” Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told Fox News “We’ve had both Oman and Iran, and a number of our other negotiators, engaged at every level, from the most senior levels all the way down to the technical level over the past few weeks, and particularly in the past few days.”

Waltz dismissed the idea that the U.S. stockpile of interceptors crucial in defending against Iranian attacks is running low but experts have questioned how long both the U.S and Iran can afford to keep up attacks.

Since the U.S. has halted attacks for the past two nights, Iran has as well, its army spokesperson told Iran’s state TV on Sunday Tehran in recent days has counterattacked against countries in the region hosting U.S. military forces, killing at least three service members at a base in Jordan and one in Iraq.

The 60-day period that began when the interim deal was signed by both countries in mid-June is well into its second half, and major issues that were meant to be negotiated — notably Iran’s nuclear program at the heart of tensions — remain set aside asmediatorstrytokeepbothsidestalking. A regional ofﬁcial involved in mediation efforts said diplomacy was underway and that a pause in U.S. and Iranian strikes was a “positive signal that helps their efforts to de-escalate.”

The ofﬁcial said both countries want to return to the interim ceasefire deal and that a compromise being negotiated centers on having Iran run vessel transit through the Strait of Hormuz with fewer restrictions on ships.

Commercial shipping traffic on the Strait of Hormuz was at a three-week low a maritime body overseen by the U.S. Navy said Sunday, adding that no new attacks had been conﬁrmed in the past 72 hours.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By EBRAHIM NOROOZI

People gather outside the Brandenburg Gate on Sunday for a demonstration in support of the LGBTQ+ community after a car rammed into a crowd at the Pride March in Berlin on Saturday night.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By LEO CORREA A Palestinian man prays Sunday inside a mosque that was burned during an attack by Israeli settlers early in the morning in the West Bank village of Qusra.

7,500 constructionjobs,$1.6billionfor Louisianabusinesses.Upto$50,000 for teacherbonuses. Part of apartnership that’sjust gettingstarted.

Tim Food truckowner

Thomasina 2ndgrade teacher

improvements to public space is agreat example of how thoughtful site design can really deliver multiple community beneﬁts.”

‘Secretweapon’

Flooding problemsinthe former swamp now called New Orleans are no secret, and climate change is projectedtointensify rainfall in the years ahead. That has led to achorus of voices warning that the drainage system will not be able to cope on its own.

Thelatest version of the city’sstormwater policy tookeffect in 2018. It requires development or redevelopment projects of significant size to retain and filter the first 1.25 inchesof stormwater runoff. Residential properties with less than six units are exempted.

Mid-City po-boy shop Parkway is aregularly cited example of aprivatebusiness employing stormwater management. Its parking lot can appear to be simple gravel, but it is actually apermeable surface that acts as a sponge, absorbing water and slowly draining it, said Jessica DandridgeSmith, executive director of The Water Collaborative nonproﬁt.

On alarger scale, Williams cites projects associated with the Gentilly Resilience District, which is incorporating green infrastructure into drainage improvements,including wetlands, detention pondsand permeable pavement. She also named the Mirabeau Water Garden, which brokeground in late 2023 and is designed to hold up to 10 million gallons of stormwater Dandridge-Smith,whose organizationhas long worked on stormwater-related issues in the city,said the policy is “one of those secretweapons that New Orleans has.”

FUNDING

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overhauled the decades-old funding system in amatter of months.

By nextyear, “hopefully we’ll have abrand-new MFP

—anew dawn —inLouisiana,” Gov.Jeff Landry said in June when he and legislative leaders formed thetask force

But as the group gets set to convene, public education advocatesare raising concerns.

While most agree that the funding formula needs to be updated, they argue that the five-month timelineis too condensed. They also question why the committeeincludes 10 lawmakers and someone from the Governor’sOfﬁce, but just four people representing education groups. Other states haveengaged in lengthy school-funding reviews before overhauling their systems. Tennessee’s review process involved18 subcommittees with more than 200 members and public hearingsacross thestate, whileTexas’ school-ﬁnance commission produced a165page report with dozens of recommendations.

Critics have suggested that Louisiana’stask force is designed to give Landry and the Legislature more sway overschoolfunding, even though the state board of education legally controls the MFP.They fear the committee will lockin the funding cut that Landry ordered this year to pay for the teacher stipends, forcing schools to make do with less money “I’m praying for the best,” said St. Tammany Parish School Board member Isabelle Moore, but “I do worry.” School fundingdebate

The task force was ostensibly created to se-

“I thinkthe stormwater codegets usalittle bitcloser to where New Orleans should be,” she said.“Every property should be holding and storing water,sothat way we cansee areduction in ﬂooding.”

That, in turn,will help businesses thrive because, if it “ﬂoods every time your door is open, then obviously yourbusiness will be harmed by that,” said Dandridge-Smith Other cities also have stormwater policies,though

cure fundingfor permanent teacher raises.But it sprang from amuch larger debate: Do Louisiana public schools need moremoney —ormore ﬁscal discipline?

Thedebateiscentered on the MFP,the system Louisiana adopted in 1992 to distribute state educationdollars,whichcomprise about 40% of school funding(local and federal money make up the rest). The formula doles out funding to school systemsbased on how many students they enroll,giving extra money todistricts with lesslocal taxrevenue and to schools servingstudentswith additional needs, including those with disabilities or from low-income families.

Public school advocates generally approve of the formula’sbasic design, which distributesdollars based on local needs and resources. The main problem, they argue, is that the baseline funding amount —$4,015 perstudent —has increased by less than$600 over the past 20 years. Meanwhile, the cost of goodsand services has soared, and schools face mountingdemands to provide tutoring, mental health services, career education, enhancedsecurity and more.

“One word they don’twant to hear is ‘adequacy,’” said Michael Faulk, the former head of thestatewide superintendentsassociation, referring to lawmakers.

“What does it actually take to provide every student an education that meets all the requirementsthe state puts on schools?”

But not all state lawmakers, whoallocateschool funding, are convinced that schools need more money SenatePresidentCameron Henry,who introduced theresolution creating the task force, said advocates who ask for more education funding can’texplain theformulaorhow schools

not necessarily with the same focus. Less ﬂood-prone locations may be more interested in water quality, witha focus on ﬁltering the water before it drains out into surroundingwaterways, said Colleen McHugh, aseniorplanner with theBaton Rouge-based WaterInstitute. McHugh,who hasworked on stormwater issuesinNew Orleans and other partsof the country,spoke of the collective effortinthe city in recentyears to advance projectsthat work with nature.

spend the dollars they receive.

“You’re nevergoing to getmore money when no one understands wherethe money that you’recurrently gettinggoes,” he said in an interview lastmonth.

The funding debatecame to aheadthis spring over thequestion of teacher pay

After voters rejected Landry’splan to use education trust funds to ﬁnance raises, he pulled $168 millionout of school district budgetstocoverstipends forteachersand support staff. He argued that school districtscan stretchthe dollarsthey get by reducing “waste and bureaucracy.”

“Wedonot have arevenue problem in this state,” Landry said.“We have apriorities problem.”

Aroundthe sametime, Landry and Henry said the MFPtask force would ﬁgureout how to insert teacher raisesinto the formula so that, after this year,temporary stipends wouldnot be necessary

“Thereisnoway we can’t ﬁnd apermanentpay raise in those dollars,”Henry said.

‘Tallorder’for task force

Thetask force faces a formidable to-do list when it convenes next month.

The committeemust conducta“comprehensive” review of the MFP, then propose anew or revised formula that is transparent, sustainableand includes “permanent and predictable”funding for educator raises, theestablishing resolution says.

The resolution does not address what educators andadvocatessay is the underlying problem —that thestate has not put enough money into K-12 education to keep up withrising needs and costs.

“I think the formula’s pretty fair,” said David Claxton,executivedirector of theLouisiana Association

“The bigger institutions and landowners play this important role in this collective effort of living with water in New Orleans,” she said. “Rather than trying to push water outofthe city as fast as possible,actually trying to slow it down and give it spaceswhere it can go safely, while also providing other beneﬁts for communities,suchasincreasingthe quality andaccess of green spaces.”

The stormwater policy tiesintoongoing discus-

of School Superintendents, who is on the task force.

“The issue is moreabout funding it.”

Another task force member, Sen.Glen Womack, R-Harrisonburg, said he is open to consideringwhether schoolsneedmoremoney —after the groupdigs intothe funding formula.

“I think our firststep is finding out how we got here,” said Womack, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee. “Where is the money going now?”

When other states revamped their school-fundingformulas in recent years, they simultaneously boosted funding levels. Tennesseeadopteda newformula in 2022 that increased annual education funding by $1 billion. Texasrevamped itsformula in 2019,

sions about whether New Orleans should institute a stormwater or parcelfee The ideaistoprovide needed funding for infrastructure by including nonprofits and government institutions exempt from property taxes.

Tulane is among those, andundersome proposals being discussed, the university could potentially receive incentives or credit for its stormwater managementprojects if afee is instituted.

increasing per-student funding by about 20%and boosting spendingbymore than$6billion. The changes cameafter acommission met for aboutayear,hearing testimony from more than 150 educators, advocates andpolicyexperts.

Barry Erwin is chief policy officer of the research andadvocacygroup Leaders foraBetter Louisiana. He said he questions how lawmakers whoare not school-finance experts will be able to rewrite the MFP in less thanfive months.

“Honestly,itdoesn’tseem feasible to me,” he said. “Once they start really digging into it, they’re going to seehow complexitis.”

Evenifthe groupdoes propose anew formula,the Legislature can’tsimply adopt it. Under the Louisi-

‘We’re storingwater’

Tulane’slarger “Unified Green”project is uniting thepreviously separate NewcombQuadand Berger Family Lawn in the center of campus. Construction began in April and is expected to be complete next spring. The newly expandedgreen space provided aunique opportunitytoaddress stormwaterwiththe detention system.There werealready examples elsewhere on campus, with systems built beneath the football practice ﬁeld and the baseball team’s Turchin Stadium

About two feet under thegreen, belowgrass and ﬁll material, storage cham bers shapedlike half-tunnels collect thestormwateras it ﬁlters down. The ground below remains earthen and able to absorbrain, anda weir gradually chokes out the water that collects in the chambers.

Jeffrey Stolier,senior associate vice president for planning at Tulane,saidsuch additions add significant additional expense to projects, but he noted their importance. The stormwater systemand relatedinfrastructure for the Unified Green project will cost around $4.5 million. Tulane declined to provide atotal cost for the entire project. He said the benefits of the larger project go beyond the detention system.Unifying the two quads means taking out the street between them

“So that will remove just a lot of asphalt, and we’re replacing that with permeable paving and much less of it,” he said during the recent tour of campus. “Sowe’re going to have gardens, andthere’sgoing to be abig medallion in the middle with the Tulane insignia,a placefor events, but it’ll also be permeable. And so we’re reducing the amount of impermeable surface area while we’re storing water.”

Email Mike Smithat msmith@theadvocate.com.

ana Constitution, the state BoardofElementary and Secondary Education sets the funding formula, which the Legislature can only approve or reject Kevin Berken, who chairs the board’seducation financecommittee, said the boardisopentorecommendations, adding that there already have been two independentstudies of the MFPthis year.Hesaidthe boardwill considerthe task force’srecommendations, butnoted that thegroup has been givena shorttimeline to propose aschool-funding overhaul.

“It’sa pretty tall order,” he said. “I wish thema lot of luck.”

EmailPatrick Wall at patrick.wall@ theadvocate.com.

STAFFPHOTOSByDAVID GRUNFELD

Visitorswalk past arain garden on Tulane University’s campus on July 17. The landscaped area captures stormwater runoff from surrounding buildings andwalkways, helping reduce localized flooding

Aplanted drainagebed that is designed to collectrunoff from buildings on the Tulane University campus is seen on July 17.

Permeable parking surface pavement on the Tulane University campus allows rainwater to soak into the ground, reducing runoff and helping limit localized flooding

DandridgeSmith

Stolier

WorldHeritageListexpands in SouthKorea

WorldWar II’s D-Day beaches,Mount OlympusinGreece addedbycommittee

BY KIM TONG-HYUNG Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea World WarII’s D-Day landing beaches in northern France and the iconicMount Olympus in Greece were among thesitesadded to theWorld Heritage List on Sunday at aU.N. committee meeting in SouthKorea reviewing dozens of nominations.

The UNESCO committee, which meets in Busan through Wednesday,also inscribed the ancient Japanese capitals of Asuka and Fujiwara and South Sudan’sBomaBadingilo Migratory Landscape, host to one of the world’slargest land mammal migrationsand the country’sﬁrst addition to the World Heritage List.

TheFrench designation covers the five Normandy landing beaches —Omaha, Utah, Sword,

CARTER

Continued from page1A

Congressional Black Caucus and well-positioned to take over from Rep. Yvette Clarke,D-N.Y., whoisstepping down.

“The CBC is more than acaucus.Itisapowerful voice for millions of African Americans and for all people who have too often been overlooked,underserved or denied equal opportunity.Should my colleagues entrust me with this responsibility,Iwilllead with humility,courage and an unwavering commitmentto liberty,justice, equality and opportunity for all,” Carter, 62, saidinaninterview

The electionfor caucus chair will be held after the Nov.3midterm elections, and the new leaderwill take ofﬁce in January

Carter believes the caucus is growing into astronger inﬂuence in policy debates.

“I’ve worked very hard to be abridge-builder within the caucus and outside the caucus. AndIthinknow more than ever, it’swhatwe need in Washington,” Carter said. “People thatare able to work within the caucus, but also recognize that the caucus makes up one part of the Congress. Our responsibility is to use that force to build with other forces to advance good, sound policy.”

Louisianapower players

Gold and Juno —where more than150,000 Allied troops came ashore on June 6, 1944, alongwith the Pointe du Hoc assault site, all central to thecampaign to liberate Western Europe from Nazi occupation during World WarII. InternationalCouncil on Monuments and Sites,whichevaluates submissionstothe heritage committee,said the sites contain extensive remnants, from German fortifications and bomb-scarred landscapes to Alliedharbor structures and sunken vessels, marking an “event widely perceived as havingenabled thereturn of freedom and heralded alasting peace on the European continent.”

ICOMOS also called for stronger monitoring and preservationeffortsonthe sites,citing potential threatsposed by tourism, climate change and risingsea levels, and thedevelopmentofwindfarms nearthe areas.

Ahlem Gharbi, France’spermanent delegatetoUNESCO, said theNormandy landings marked a turning point from global conﬂict toward apostwar orderbuilt on peaceand security,and that the

designation of the sites carries addedsigniﬁcance at atime of escalatinginternational crises and wars. “It’s probably thegreatest amphibious landing there’severbeen It ought to be remembered forthat alone,” historianDavid Edgerton said in arecent interview withThe Associated Press.

The WorldHeritage inscription of Mount Olympus, themythical homeofthe 12 Olympian gods, rewarded a12-year effort by Greece to secure recognition for itstallest mountain as amixed cultural and naturalheritagesite.Rising 9,573 feet from abasenear sealevel, the mountain was believed to be the throne of Zeus, king of thegods, while also harboring rich biodiversity.

Evangelos Geroliolios,mayor of Dion-Olympus, amunicipalityat the foot of the mountain, said in a recent interview with the AP that inclusion on theWorld Heritage List“places greater obligations on ourpart to protect thisenvironment,” citing the potential impact of increased tourism.

“Wereaffirm our unwavering

commitmenttosafeguarding Mount Olympus forthe benefit of present and future generations,” said Georgios Koumoutsakos, Greece’sdelegatetoUNESCO. “As Greekmythology wiselyreminds us,itisalways best to remain on good terms with gods.” The designated Japaneselocations in the western prefecture of Nara cover19archaeological sites from the 6th- to 8th-centurycapitals of Asuka and Fujiwara, where Japanestablished its first centralized state modeled after Chinese systems.The sites preserve the largely buried remains of royal palaces,government offices, Buddhist templesand tombs from capitals that influenced the later capitals of Naraand Kyoto.

Japanese Vice Culture Minister Shigeki Kobayashi thanked the committee for inscribing the Asuka-Fujiwara sites andsaid Japan reafﬁrms its commitment to “transmitting this valuable property to the future generations.”

Japanese Prime MinisterSanae Takaichi, aNaranative, wrote on Xthatshe hopes the World Heritagedesignation will boost tourism

to the site.

Yoshiyuki Aihara, aNara University archaeology professor, toldAPthe sites are significant because they show howJapan’s ancientstate was formedthrough inﬂuences from China and the Korean Peninsula. “If you dig underneath these rice paddiesabout 1meter,you start finding astretch of ruins in this area, though that’snot easyfor ordinary visitors to understand,” said Aihara, whoiscontinuing excavation work at the site.

South Sudan’sBoma-Badingilo site encompasses vast wetlands, ﬂood plains and savannas shaped by seasonal rainfall and ﬂood dynamics, with an estimated 6million white-eared kob, tiang andMongalla gazelles moving across the landscape in response to changing environmental conditions.

It also provides habitatfor elephants, lions, cheetahs and other wildlife while supporting various ethnic communitiesthat have lived by herding, farming and ﬁshing for centuries, according to UNESCO. AP writer Mari Yamaguchi contributed to this story.

lationship and are on the samepage for most issues, he said.

Thecaucusisimportant

With 435 representatives and 100 senators, Congress often breaks up into cliques who discuss policies, ﬁgure outstances andcreatestrategies that enhance theirinﬂuence

The largestDemocratic group is theNew Democrat Coalition, with 114members who focus oneconomic policy and national security Carter is amember of that group too.

The Republican Study Committee, whose 189 members research and develop conservativepolicies,isthat party’slargest caucus. Both Scaliseand Johnsonhave chaired the Study Committee.

Formed in 1971, the Congressional Black Caucus is one of the more inﬂuential voicesinCongress,particularly within the Democratic Party

Former PresidentBarack Obama and former Vice President Kamala Harris were members when they were inCongress. So was civilrights icon Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga.

Becoming caucus chairs has been aboost for the holders of the ofﬁce. CedricRichmond, who went on to become atop aide to President Joe Biden, and KarenBass, whoismayor of LosAngeles,have been caucus chairs.

three branchesofgovernment and thus controlthe leversofpower

Thosenumberslikely will change after the Nov.3 midterm elections.

Some states,including Louisiana, used theSupreme Court decision in Louisiana v. Callais to redraw and eliminate thedistricts that hadbeen conﬁguredtoelect minority candidates

“We’velost my colleague and friend, Congressman Cleo Fields,” Carter said of theBaton Rouge Democrat, whoannounced Tuesday he wouldnot seek reelectionin aseat that was redrawn in Maytoensure that ﬁve of Louisiana’ssix representativeswould be WhiteRepublicans

“That repeatsitself in Texas and Alabama, perhaps, and other places, so we will lose some (seats). Butinother places, we’ll pickup, certainly offset someofthe losses,” Carter said. “So, this notion that the Congressional Black Caucuswill be weakened is not true. We’ve demonstrated that even with smallnumbers, we have good voices.”

Carter saidthe caucus will continue fighting for voting rightsand challenging the Supreme Court, which “seemstohave lost their way.Weneed to reform measures so we canget theguardrailsof our checks and balances healthy again.”

Carter saysthat theme has been overblown by the media.

“New members coming in who have verybold ideas are not going to be silenced. We’re not going to just throw them to the side because they have bold ideas,”Carter said. “Part of leadership is harnessing those ideas, harnessing thatenergy, and morphing it into aposition that we can allworkon

to advance what’s best for theAmericanpeople. The role that Iintend to play as leader of the caucus is to not allow outside voices to try to pit one against the other.”

Carter began his political career in the 1980s as an aide to New Orleans Mayor SidneyBarthelemy.Herepresented Algiers in the Louisiana House starting in 1991, then the New Orleans City Council in 1994.

In 2015, Carter waselected to the state Senate and won election to Congress in 2021 when Richmond resigned to workinthe White House. He serves on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce,which oversees oil and gas exploration and production policies.

Email Mark Ballardat mballard@theadvocate. com.

CoolKidsInc.expandsits reach,empoweringyouth inNortheastLouisianato pursuebrighterfutures

By Stevie Cavalier Licciardi stevie.licciardi@theadvocate.com

This storyisbrought to youbyMeta.

Should the Democrats win the majorityinthe 120th Congre ss that begins its two-year term in January,Carter’selection as caucus leader would mitigate Louisiana’sloss of inﬂuence on Capitol Hill.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, of Bento n, an d House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, of Jefferson, now the chamber’stop two leaders, will step into new roles should the Republicans lose the majority in November

In that scenario, which polls suggest is not unlikely, Carter predicts his friend and fraternity brother,Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., will become Housespeaker The two have agood re-

Challenges ahead

The62-member CongressionalBlack Caucus has more members than ever before —but it faces more challengesinanera where Republicans control all

TheBlack Caucus, like the rest of theDemocratic Party,also is struggling withhow to incorporate far-left wing members who seek more radical solutions and more aggressive confrontations withthe Trump administration.

Cool Kids,Inc.isanearly development& mentoringprogram based in Northeast Louisianathatprovides communitysupport to school-agechildren and their families.Fromwarming sheltersand freshmeals to enrichment learningexperiences,Cool Kids,Inc strives to help kids unlock their full potential within their communities Kelsey Higdon, Digital Sales Manager forNola.com and The Advocate visited with Deanna Hubbard, owner of Cool Kids, Inc., to getthe inside scoop on howthe recentMetainvestmenthas been impacting thislocal community program.

Canyoutellusthestoryofhowthis organizationstarted,andwhat yourcoremissionis?

This organization wasstarted by my son, Jordan Hubbard,who wasatone timevery undisciplined. To makea long story short, Itold him thatifhecould find afew other young men who needed the same support he wasthen Iwould start an organization to help them. He wasable to findaboutten young men, and so it grew from tenyoung men to fifty, and then from fifty all theway to whatwehavenow.Itchanged hiswhole lifewhen the program started. Jordan was able to go to MorehouseCollegeinAtlanta. He is the CEO of Cool Kids,Inc. andwas recently electedasalderman forthe Town of Rayville.

HowistheMetainvestment changingthe‘day-to-day’ forfamilieswalkingthrough yourdoors?

Duringa recentstorm,the powerwas out andpeople were displaced.Kidsweren’t eating because everything wasclosed— stores,restaurants,and schools.Jordan Hubbardcalled HenryThornton, Community Development Regional Manager forMeta,and said,“Ourkids need to eat. Within twodays, we were able to feed 1,600 kids with themeals Meta provided We alsopetitionedMeta foradditional funding to help with our building’s repairs and the meals we provide for250 kids throughout three parishes each week. Our Cool Kids,Grab&GoProgram provides

breakfast and lunch 5daysaweek throughout the summer whenchildren areout of school.Meta said they would help,and they did everything theysaid theyweregoing to do.Wehaveabrand-newcomputer room in the back of our building, thanks to Meta.Itwas unusable, but nowit’susable. We arealsogetting ready to repair the outside of the building, as well, and we will have abeautiful building to operate in becauseofthe impact thatMetahas had on thiscommunity.

Metabelieves“Thefutureis foreveryone.”Whatdoesthat phrasemeanforthekidsyou areabletohelp?

That statement goes hand-in-handwith ourmotto,which is,“Youare nota product of your environment,yourenvironment is aproduct of you.”Welooktoinstill in our kidsthe idea thatyou canbewhoever you have decidedyou want to be.Thatmeans youcan be adoctor,lawyer, nurse, or whatever youclaim foryourself. That’s amajor part of ourprogram.Whena kidcomes to ourdoorwelooktomakesurethatthey have what theyneed educationally,spiritually,and emotionally.Webelieve that every child hasachancetoexcel,and with Meta comingin, notonlydotheyhavea chance to excelinthe present, buttheyhavea chance to have ajob fora long time in thefuture. Follow @coolkidsinc1 on Instagramfor regular programupdates Formoreinformation on the Meta project in Richland Parish, see meta.com/ BuildingLouisiana.

Johnson

Scalise

Continued from page 1A

Wins for USA, N.O

After the weekend’s performance, USA teams swept both categories and will advance to the finals. Pastry Team USA won the gold medal in the Americas round on Saturday and Bocuse d’Or Team USA won gold on Sunday Each team is composed of chefs from around the country who take leave from high-profile restaurant positions to represent their country While still not as well known in the U.S Bocuse d’Or and Pastry World Cup are followed obsessively by chefs and culinary aficionados around the world New Orleans first hosted a qualifying round for each in 2024, marking the first time they were held in any North American location. Event organizers said it was a move to increase its visibility in new markets.

It’s also an opportunity the local tourism marketing and sales agency New Orleans & Co. campaigned heavily to get. Alice Glenn, the tourism group’s executive vice president, said hosting the competitions is part of a larger strategy to elevate the city’s proﬁle as a global travel destination and a culinary center of excellence.

“There’s no better way to do that than bringing the best chefs in the world here,” she said. “They’re meeting people, seeing young chefs on the rise, seeing the dining scene as it is today This is how catalytic things happen.” Local chefs attending the competitions agreed. Some called the events another reﬂection of the city’s growing reputation as a creative hub of rising talent, along with other milestones like New Orleans’ debut in the Michelin Guide last fall and hosting the North America’s 50 Best Restaurants ceremony last spring.

“I think it’s showing that New Orleans is not just a legacy food city but a place where people are reinventing it,” said Kaitlin Guerin,

pastry chef and owner of Lagniappe Bakehouse in Central City “It shows we’re on the map for what we are now not just for the past.”

World Cup of cuisine

The events were held in conjunction with Louisiana Restaurant Association’s annual trade show, and turned one part of the convention center into an arena-style competition kitchen. Fans and family members who had traveled with the teams and trade show attendees packed the room, many wearing their national colors, waving small ﬂags and ringing noise makers and bells in zealous support. By contrast, the chefs pursued their work with laser focus and tight coordination, ever aware that the clock was ticking and that the judges, all acclaimed chefs,

were circulating to watch their performance.

Familiar ingredients are transformed into works of culinary art. Team USA’s winning platter for the Pastry World Cup round, for instance, was a diorama of dinosaurs and prehistoric plants that covered an entire table.

One prominent chef in attendance was Jérôme Bocuse, the chef who continues the legacy of his father Paul Bocuse, the revered godfather of modern French cuisine who ﬁrst created Bocuse d’Or in the 1980s. He was effusive in his praise of New Orleans as host city, citing its historic connection to France and vibrant food culture.

“When we came here two years ago, I didn’t think it could be possible to do it better, but this year it was,” Bocuse said.

Loseto works on a dish during the Bocuse d’Or international culinary competition at the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center on Sunday.

Vincenzo

The crowd cheers during the Bocuse d’Or international culinary competition on Sunday.

STAFF PHOTOS By ENAN CHEDIAK

Vincenzo Loseto plates Team USA’s dish during the Bocuse d’Or international culinary competition at the New Orleans Ernest N Morial Convention Center on Sunday.

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

N.O. to increase towing, booting fees

Rule goes into effect starting Monday

BY WILLIE SWETT Staff writer

ordinance,

are

The fee changes also come as New Orleans ofﬁcials are trying to crack down on unpaid parking tickets to help address the city’s expected budget deﬁcit. The changes will only apply to

National firm could help with illegal tire dumping

BY DAVID J MITCHELL

Staff writer

Can a national company’s entry into Louisiana’s market help the state address its long-standing problem with illegal tire dumping?

Liberty Tire Recycling’s purchase of Acadiana-based Colt Inc. makes the Pittsburgh company one of just five with Louisiana permits to process used tires in the state. Only three of those permitted companies are currently operating, according to regulatory filings and industry officials.

The purchase gives Liberty Tire access to state revenues from a state Department of Environmental Quality program that subsidizes tire recycling projects But it is entering a marketplace where a handful of processors operated for years with limited methods of disposing of waste tires in a way that both earned state reimbursements and was proﬁtable.

In recent years, some new entrants promising alternative recycling plans have struggled to gain state permits and break into the market over the established competitors’ objections, even as other, existing processors have gone out of business.

Those business failures have, at times, had catastrophic results. In January 2022, the abandoned tire storage facility of shuttered processor Cottonport Monoﬁll caught fire, forced the evacuation of a nearby state prison and took days to extinguish. Despite the state program, illegal tire dumps have remained a big enough problem that previous DEQ Secretary Aurelia Giacometto created a new grant program to help local governments and issued a report calling for new ways to reuse processed tires A few years ago, state highway crews had to be called in to clean up a large illegal tire dump in New Orleans East This spring, the Legislature adopted a resolution sponsored by state Rep. Alonzo Knox, R-New Orleans, forming a task force with multiagency and community group representation to study the problem. Staffed by DEQ, the task force must have its ﬁrst meeting by Sept. 1. In 2025, Liberty Tire says, it collected 219 million tires nationwide, reclaimed 4.8 billion tons of rubber and was able to put 81% of that material into nationwide reuse markets ranging from road material to yard mulch and bordering.

The company has an agreement with Walmart to take tires that the national

Flying high

BY JOHN POPE Contributing

STAFF PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER

Mike Varga competes in the men’s BMX dirt final during the second day of the X Games at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on Saturday

3 arrested in teen’s death

BY MICHELLE HUNTER Staff writer

One day after an 18-yearold man was found shot to death inside a vehicle in Reserve detectives with the St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Office arrested three suspects in the case.

Tyshley Marks, 22, and Emanuel Rayfield Jr., 17, both of Reserve, and Brandon Blackmore, 20, of LaPlace, were booked Thursday on counts of second-degree murder in the killing of Jacoi Cosey, according

to authorities. The Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call reporting a shooting at the intersection of Northwest First Street and Railroad Avenue in Reserve about 9:38 p.m.

Wednesday Deputies found Cosey wounded in the back seat of a car He was pronounced dead at the scene, the Sheriff’s Ofﬁce said Detectives identified Blackmore, Marks and Rayﬁeld as suspects in the case. The Sheriff’s Office did not disclose a suspected

motive for the killing, nor did they say how the trio knew the victim. The three were also booked with armed robbery in the theft of Cosey’s gun, according to ofﬁcials.

Blackmore, Marks and Rayfield were arrested Thursday and booked into the Lt. Sherman Walker Correctional Center in LaPlace. Bail for each was set at $475,000.

Email Michelle Hunter at mhunter@theadvocate. com.

Possible human skeletal remains found in Algiers

BY BLAKE PATERSON Staff writer

The Orleans Parish Coroner’s Office is investigating after skeletal remains were found in Algiers on Saturday, officials said. The New Orleans Police Department said the “possible human skeletal remains” were found in the 2600 block of General Meyer Avenue.

TOWING

Continued from page 1B

following:

n The booting fee will increase from $121 to $172.

n The fee for a “light duty tow,” which includes any vehicle 10,000 pounds or less, will go from a ﬂat fee of $161.25 to a minimum fee of $228.75 that covers 1.5 hours of towing, plus an additional $76.25 per additional halfhour of towing.

n The fee for a “medium duty tow,” which includes a vehicle between 10,001 pounds and 26,000 pounds, will increase from $322 to $335 for one hour, plus an additional $167.50 per additional half-hour of towing.

n The fee for a “heavy duty tow,” which refers to a vehicle greater than 26,001 pounds, will decrease from $455 to $430.50 for one hour, plus $215.25 per additional half-hour of towing.

The storage fee for a towed vehicle isn’t changing, Gilmore said. It is $19 per day and starts 24 hours after the vehicle has been towed.

SCHOOL

Continued from page 1B

Boosting salaries is crucial if the district wants to retain good teachers and continue the academic progress it’s seen in recent years, Delahousseye said in an interview last week. But while Guitterrez’s tenure was marked by clashes with district officials over the issue, Delahousseye said he wants to take a more collaborative approach.

“It all comes back to communicating,” he said “We’re not all going to agree, and that’s healthy.” The next few months might not be easy The Lafayette native joins the board as districts across the state grapple with less funding following Gov. Jeff Landry’s order to cut $168 million from school budgets to pay for educator stipends. Jefferson Parish Schools Superintendent James Gray has spoken out against the cut, saying it won’t leave the district enough money to give teachers and staff the 1% raises the board had planned for next year Delahousseye pointed to his finance background as an asset, saying he can help the board ﬁnd areas of the budget to trim though he stopped short of speculating what those areas might be

“I’m a rookie,” he said. “I’m still learning and asking questions.”

The Coroner’s Office took the remains for further invest igation, t he NOPD said.

A spokesperson for the NOPD said there was no additional information available.

The Coroner’s Ofﬁce didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment

Email Blake Paterson at bpaterson@theadvocate.com.

TIRE

Continued from page 1B

for steelmaking, it says.

Liberty Tire, which is in the $60 billion global portfolio of I Squared Capital, a Miami, Florida, private equity firm, has a goal of reaching 100% reuse of the waste tires it collects by 2030.

Company officials said their purchase of Colt and two other companies in Texas will give them the ability “to provide integrated tire collection, processing and recycled material solutions throughout the Gulf Coast while increasing capacity to meet growing customer demand for sustainable end-of-life tire management.”

“We look forward to combining our expertise with their proven success to provide customers across the Gulf Coast with expanded capabilities, stronger regional service, and new opportunities for sustainable end-of-life tire management,” said Thomas Womble, chief executive ofﬁcer of Liberty Tire.

In the statement, company ofﬁcials said they would retain the senior leadership

Police: 2 wounded in shooting

BY KASEY BUBNASH Staff writer

An argument at the edge of the Central Business District near the French Quarter ended with gunﬁre late Saturday night, wounding a man and an innocent bystander according to the New Orleans Police Department.

Police were called just before 11:30 p.m. to the 100

block of Carondelet Street, where the man had been involved in an argument with another unidentified person before the pair exchanged gunﬁre. The man was shot in the exchange, as was a woman who was not involved, police said.

Paramedics transported both victims to a hospital. Police did not immediately release more information.

Police: 16-year-old accused in robberies arrested

BY BLAKE PATERSON Staff writer

A 16-year-old was arrested on Sunday in a series of robberies targeting DoorDash delivery drivers near Slidell, according to the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Ofﬁce.

The teenage boy is accused of placing DoorDash orders to addresses in and around the Lakeshore Villages neighborhood without prepaying and then waiting for the delivery drivers

of the companies they were buying.

Neither the sale price nor what Liberty Tire plans to do with Louisiana tires was disclosed, though a company spokesman said Liberty Tire had previously used some of Colt’s waste tire supply Officials at Colt, which is based in Scott and has a New Orleans ofﬁce, didn’t return calls for comment.

DEQ officials said Liberty Tire officials have informed them that the company didn’t plan any major changes from Colt’s operations at least for the next few years. Greg Langley, an agency spokesman, declined further comment Wednesday

Aimed at reducing tire dumps and keeping waste tires out of municipal landﬁlls, the DEQ program uses fees consumers pay when they buy new tires to finance recycling projects. It also employs a fee manifest system to track tires for reimbursement eligibility

Tires for cars and light trucks cost $2.25 each; tire fees for larger vehicles are higher

To collect state reimbursement dollars, processors must show they have processed tires that had

to arrive so he could confront them, forcibly take the food and ﬂee.

The juvenile was arrested Sunday morning after another DoorDash driver was robbed while attempting to deliver a pizza order late Saturday night.

The suspect was booked into the Florida Parishes Juvenile Detention Center on three counts of simple robbery, one count of first-degree robbery and one count of attempted simple robbery

fees associated with their purchase and have dealt with them through an approved “beneficial use” project. Many projects in recent years have revolved around burying ground-up tires for highway embankments and similar structures, regulatory papers show

The initial processing usually involves chopping up whole tires into small chips.

In 2025, Colt had processed at least 76 million pounds of tires and was seeking at least $4.7 million in state reimbursement fees, monthly reports show The sale announcement comes almost a year after a trade group representing the previous owners of Colt and the three other thenexisting tire processors lost their two-year legal battle with DEQ to block a permit for a new tire processing company in the Alsen area north of Baton Rouge.

In late July 2025, a threejudge panel of the state 1st Circuit Court of Appeal unanimously upheld a lower-court ruling that DEQ acted properly in approving the permit for Baum Industries.

The lawsuit revolved

around whether enough market demand for waste tires existed to support another tire processing company and whether DEQ properly considered the marketplace before issuing the permit in 2023.

Baum Industries told DEQ it expects to handle as much as 5,400 waste tires daily and plans to create a product used for controlling sediment runoff with them Operations could start in about three months, the company’s owner said. Another recently permitted startup operation, Lafourche Environmental, isn’t expected to begin processing at its Cut off location until the end of the year or early next year, that company’s owner said. The company won’t be making tire chips but signiﬁcantly compressing and banding whole stacks of tires.

About a month before the 1st Circuit ruling, existing tire processor Franklin Rubber Resources was evicted from its Winnsboro industrial park for nonpayment following a series of fires, a state fire marshal cease-and-desist order and environmental compliance problems, according to regulatory papers and The Franklin Sun.

weeks, an advancement that let them be shipped across the United States, said his son Dr Stephen Kaufman, who, like his father is an ophthalmologist. Because the elder Kaufman was a voracious reader, he happened upon an article in a medical journal about timolol, a drug used after heart attacks to maintain a steady heart rate. A side beneﬁt, the article noted, was that pressure in the eye went down, which led Kaufman to think the drug might be used to treat glaucoma.

His hunch was right, Stephen Kaufman said, leading to the use of timolol in treating that afﬂiction.

“He was always curious, and he loved finding new things,” Stephen Kaufman said. “From a very young age, he loved learning. He loved developing things. He liked challenges.”

“He was driven by a striving for excellence and a desire to crack medical barriers and solve problems,” said Clem Goldberger, the eye center’s former director of communications and development. “He was a brilliant surgeon, but at heart, he was a researcher.”

The son of a pediatrician who made house calls, young Herbert Kaufman accompanied his father on many of these trips. Watching his father at work fueled his desire to become a doctor, Stephen Kaufman said. After ﬁnishing high school when he was 14, Kaufman graduated from Princeton University and Harvard Medical School and went on to postgraduate training at Massachusetts General Hospital and the National Institutes of Health. While at NIH, the University of Florida offered him the chance to be the founding chair of its ophthalmology department At LSU Eye Center, Kaufman assembled a center that developed a global reputation. But he was more than just an administrator He developed a microscope to study cells of the cornea and pioneered the use of a bandage contact lens. He also wrote more than 700 articles for scientiﬁc journals, edited medical journals, and taught and lectured widely “He treated royal families, trained doctors overseas,” Goldberger said. “He could get off a plane at dawn and be in the operating room three hours later He thrived on that.”

Kaufman possessed an entrepreneurial spirit, and he knew how to network to get things done, Goldberger said. For instance, one of his patients had grown up next door to Jerry Herman, the Broadway composer famed for such musicals as “Hello, Dolly!,” “Mame” and “La Cage aux Folles.”

That led to the ﬁrst Visionary Gala, a fundraiser with Herman and Broadway stars such as Lee Roy Reams as the main attractions. The money went to vision research.

“No other department chair had done anything like that,” Goldberger said. “It put the eye center on the map.” Not even Hurricane Katrina could stop him. When Kaufman returned to New Orleans a month after the August 2005 storm, he was the only cornea specialist around, Stephen Kaufman said, so he drove to Baton Rouge several times a week to see patients, Stephen Kaufman said.

“He did that for quite a while.” In 2010, he and his wife, Maija, moved to Sarasota, where he became a consultant. In addition to his wife, survivors include two sons; a daughter Dr Claire Brown; and eight grandchildren. A

What are some of the most pressing issues you think the district is facing? Teacher vacancies. My slogan is “teachers and kids ﬁrst.” We’ve got to be able to hire the best of the best to get the most out of these kids.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity

a curriculum for these kids, but I’ll know more as soon as I get into the meat of it all. For pay I’d be lying if I said I could pinpoint anything in particular other than us trying to get the money to get the right teachers. That’s something we’re going to look at in the budget in the next few weeks. What are your thoughts on the reasons board members have given so far for not raising teacher pay? It’s hard for me to say because they’ve been there a couple of years, and they know what a school budget

is. Hopefully when we go to look at the budget in the next few weeks, with my ﬁnancial background, I’ll be able to identify some openings. What do you think some of the biggest challenges will be for you as you join the board six months before the next election?

I’m not just serving District 9. My vote affects all districts, so I’ve got to listen, and I’ve got to pay attention. It’s about working together for the good of the teachers and the students. If I

don’t agree with someone, I’m going to talk to them. I’ll never throw somebody under the bus during a meeting.

Do you have any other goals? Right now I just want to get up and running with the School Board. I’m going to qualify for the elections in August, and hopefully the public will elect me and allow me to continue learning and doing this work.

Email Elyse Carmosino at ecarmosino@theadvocate. com.

STAFF PHOTO By ENAN CHEDIAK

Kevin Delahousseye left, is sworn in by Olden Toups at the Jefferson Parish School Board Administrative Building in Harvey on June 11.

NewIberia’sBaits Motelcasting anet forvisitors

Couple’s quirky spot playsapart in revitalizing the

BY JOANNA BROWN Staff writer

Southwest Louisiana is home to anumber of small towns where Acadiana’s culturetruly shines —but, outside of chain hotels and short-term rentals, there are not that many places for visitors to stay for alocal experience.

Mickey and TiffanyBellott want visitors to experience NewIberia theway localsdo. Theiranswer is Baits Motel, acolorful roadside-style motel ﬁlled with Louisiana history, art and plenty of inside jokes.

Acouple with abold sense of styleand willingness to do the work themselves, they learned the ropes from pouring creativity into short-term rentalproperties near the heart of New Iberia’sMain Street —and now,they are preparing to open a new motel that feels like aclassic, quirky roadside stop Baits Motel,at129 Burke St., backs onto the Bayou Teche and is two blocks from BoulignyPlaza,near spots likethe Shadows-onthe-Teche museum, Victor’sCafeteria, Bambino’s Burgers and New Iberia City Park. Events like the Spanish Festival and Books Along the Teche Literary Festival regularly take over downtown, with the rooms of this colorful little motel opening to all of the activity outside.

The motel’sname is aplay on the ﬁctional Bates Motel from“Psycho,” replacing “Bates” with “Baits” as a nod to south Louisiana ﬁshing culture. According to Tiffany Bel-

lott, they had just ﬁnished watching the series when her husband suggestedthe name for their building but spelled likeﬁshing bait.

The sign on the top of the motel lookslike afishing bobber, which is agreat introduction to how the Bellotts’ sense of humor shines throughthisrevitalization project.

“Our very ﬁrst plan was nothing like this,” said Tiffany Bellott, walking through rooms that feature vintage finds, themed art andplentyoflocalﬂavor

“Weused to stay in motels and take pictures of ideas, anditwas goingtobemore sleek, you know,with a deskand aTV.

“This just kind of progressed. We would find things andthink, ‘That would look good in this room.’

In other words, no jump scares at thisgetaway Rooms feature themes like Mardi Gras,gumbo and NewIberia’shistoric Mount CarmelAcademy Theyare starting to look for items— likea threelegged taxidermy raccoon —for aDaveRobicheauxthemed room,payinghomage to New Iberiaauthor James Lee Burke.

“Those doors came from aspeakeasy they were tearingdown in St. Martinville,” said Mickey Bellot,pointingout acolorful tableau in the motel’sMardi Gras room

The Baits Motel building has had several different lives —from amid-century icecreamparlor, to serving thecommunityas aGulotta’sworkwear shop in the 1960s and ’70s (Gulotta’sisstill open in New Iberia, at 916 S. Lewis St.) Morerecently,ithouseda Pack NMail business and dentalofﬁces.The Bellotts purchased the building seven years ago and started the work to turn itinto amotel.

With several rooms finished, they plan to begin taking reservations by late summer,withmore progress to come —likecomfortable patios that back down to the bayou, and future plansfor acouple of family-sizedsuites in the unfinished section of the building.

“This is amega-micro resort,” according to Mickey Bellott, whose ideas forthe property include using alot of old waterskishehas in storage to createafence for an outdoor shower near the bayou.

Thebuildingalready resembles agallery,or maybe an artists’ co-op, with rooms made up of artpiecesand found materials turned intounique ﬁxtures, like an old,pitted Magnalite potturnedinto a sink basin.They also plan

to host art shows andother events at BaitsMotel, creating abusiness that continually evolves with the community,instead of ablank-slateroom for the night.

“Wewanttoshare things thatare related to ourculture, our resources, our history,our people in the area,” said Mickey Bellott. On top of running their rentals in NewIberia and working on the motel, the couple started a“Better Swamps andGardens”LLC —anotherpun —tomake and sell merchandise out of the art and retail shop in the motel’slobby,which features some local artists likePaulSchexnayder and Steve Seneca.

The Bellotts’ grandsons have already positioned themselves as future proprietors of Baits Motel,

known for popping out of thelobbywindow during community events to sell popsicles. Once the motel is up and running, retirement might ﬁnally be on the horizon —Tiffany Bellott recently retired from her nursing career,but plans to do all thehousekeeping at the motel, and Mickey Bellott is still working at his business, Royal Security in New Iberia.

For this couple, more free timeislikely to involve a new project.

“I would love to buy an old school bus and make it our ‘Better Swamps and Gardens’ tour bus. Use it for theart co-op,art shows, going camping,going to cook-offs and stuff like that,” said Mickey Bellot, whoisalsoexamining how to restore old shipping containers intousable, unique spacebehindthe motel.

“It’salot of work, but if the numbers work out,it’ll payfor itself.Hopefully, give us enough to retire. That’sthe goal —tobuild something forour grandkids.”

Email Joanna Brown at joanna.brown@ theadvocate.com.

ABOVE: Tiffanyand Mickey Bellott channel ‘New Iberia Gothic.’ LEFT: The Mardi Gras bathroom features green, yellowand purplewitha flairofpiano keys.

Baits Motel in NewIberia. Each room

Racism isn’tdestiny in important

U.S. Senate race

Nothing less than the future of Louisiana is at stake in the U.S. Senate race. That’swhy it can’t be calledoff before it even begins by racism about the choices in the November election. The campaign must be about the quality of life for every family in Louisiana: healthcare in rural areas and metro areas, the ability of families to be ﬁnancially secure and earn alivable wage, the protectionofaccess to reproductive healthcare and protections for all citizens. But some people want totell you the election is over now, before asingle general election ballot is cast.

When Shawn Wilson was running for governor in 2024, I was so aggravated by the White Democratsand no-party folks parroting the line that aBlack man could not be elected. What that race proved is that ahighly qualiﬁed Black man can’twin if we don’tvote for him. And the state is poorer today for the election of Jeff Landry over Wilson.

Ihope my White friends understand what is at stake this year.Weneed to highlight why the Democratic Senate nominee Jamie Davis is agenerational leader, who understandsrural Louisiana, abusinessman who farms 3,200 acres and understands the critical impact of federalpolicies on Louisiana farmers and working families.

Davis understands the balance between business and protecting our naturalresources, environmentand communities.

We need White people of character and conscience to understand this opportunity to bridge the fault linesofrace, class, region and political party They can help elect aman who embodies the best of Louisiana. Jamie Davis can win if we vote like our future depends on it. It is time for Louisiana to move past the racism that has polluted our politics for generations.

MELISSA S. FLOURNOY Baton Rouge

Surgeonsoperating on apatient at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston in 2025. Researchintonew treatments for cancer relies on federal funding

PHOTO

Thebreakthroughcancer drugsoftomorrowdepend on ourinvestment today

Fordecades, pancreatic cancer has remained one of themost difﬁcult cancers to treat.

Most patients are diagnosed at an advanced stage,when surgery is no longer an option,and for those whose cancer has worsened despite chemotherapy,treatment options have been extremely limited. That is why therecent dataondaraxonrasib presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meetingearlier this summer is so important. In apivotal Phase 3study of patients with previously treated metastatic pancreatic cancer,daraxonrasib nearly doubled survival compared with chemotherapy

Aonce-daily oral tablet, it is also theﬁrst chemotherapy-free treatment to show beneﬁt in aPhase3trial for patientswith advanced pancreatic cancer

This progressdid not happen overnight. It is the result of decades of scientiﬁc research into KRAS, aprotein that is mutated in most pancreatic cancers

Foryears, KRAS was considered “undruggable.” Continued investment in science and persistence from researchershave begun to

change that narrative.

Abreakthrough like this is not just aheadline. It can mean moretime, something my patientsand their families hopefor every day

Daraxonrasib is not yet FDA-approved, but it is available through the FDA’s Expanded AccessProgram in partnership with the manufacturer for certain patients with previously treated metastatic pancreatic cancer

Researchers are also studying it in earlier stages of pancreatic cancer,inpatients with untreated stage IV disease andincombination with other novel therapies.

That is how progress builds: One discovery opens the door to thenext.

As policymakers debatehealthcare reform and scientiﬁc research funding, they should remember that thediscoveries that will save lives tomorrow depend on the investments we make today

Patients need care tobeaffordable and accessible, but they also need asystem that continues to support scientiﬁc innovation.

JONATHAN MIZRAHI,M.D

Ochsner Medical Center Jefferson

Industryassures neighborsthey’re safe,but where’sthe proofofthat?

As someone who has spent years workingwith Louisiana communities living near petrochemical facilities, Iamtroubled by a familiar pattern.

dustrial pollution exposure, including learningdisabilities and anemia among children, reproductive healthcomplications among women and other adverse health outcomes.

N.O. will paya highprice for antagonizing thegovernor

New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno recently retracted a$110 millionbond sale request before the State Bond Commission, saying she expected it to be rejected as retribution for the indictment of the attorney general.

Gee,who could ever imagine this would be the inevitable outcome of the city attacking the attorney general?

Dane Ciolino, law professor at Loyola University,opined during a recent interview that the indictment of the attorney general for cautioning city ofﬁcials that they were breaking state law and could pay a price they did not want to pay was going to be anonstarter

The fact that all 12 Criminal District Court judges recused themselves because they were smart enough to realize that they did not want any part of this ﬁasco should be evidence that city ofﬁcials got way over their skis.

Let’sberealists. Grand jury members didn’tget together and decide to indict Liz Murrill. Someone put that motion before them. That was adumb move, and the city is going to pay abig price for a long time.

Ihope that Moreno doesn’tcontinue to antagonize the governor and his staff. The real losers will be the citizens of New Orleans. RICK ELLIS NewOrleans

Size,placement of photos tell theirown storyafter election

Irecently read an article in a national newspaper highlighting 16 things America got right. The one that caught my eye was titled, “Our Aspiration to Fairness.”

Soon afterward, Iread my regional paper.The headlined story showed alarge photo of the Republican Senate primary winner, the written commentary,asmaller photo of the Republican runner-up and below that aphoto of the Democratic primary winner

Most of the article detailed the Republican winner’sstory and her connection to the president, with abrief mention of the Democratic winner’sname.

Ithen looked on my social media page and noticed alocal newsstation’spost with the winners in sideby-side photos. The photo of one winner featured her professionally dressed, while the photo of the other winner depicted him in his working gear —farming attire.

OUR GUIDELINES: Letters are published identifying name and the writer’scity of residence.The Advocate |The Times-Picayune require astreet address and phone number for verification purposes, but that information is not published. Letters are not to exceed 300 words. Letters to the Editor,The Advocate, P.O. Box 588, Baton Rouge, LA 70821-0588, or email letters@theadvocate.com. TO SEND US ALETTER SCAN HERE

Followingrecent industrial incidents—includingthe May refinery explosion and fire in Chalmette and the April refinery fire in St.CharlesParish —residents were quickly reassured that there was no threat to public health.

Yetmanyfamilies living closest to these facilities continue to ask an important question: How do we know?

Fordecades, residents of Louisiana’sindustrialcorridor have reported concerns aboutcancer,respiratory illness, reproductive health problems, childhood learning disabilities and other chronic health conditions affectingmultiple generations. Toooften, these concerns have been dismissed or minimized.

Therecently released CoDA Environmental Health Study provides new evidence that these concerns deserve serious attention.

UsingLouisiana Medicaid data and government environmental data, researchers found elevated risks for several health conditions amongpeople living in areas with higher in-

Importantly,these ﬁndings echoed stories shared by residentsthemselves during focus groups held throughout thestate.

Louisiana’scommunities are not asking for alarmism. We are asking for transparency, accountability,honest answers and the basic right to breathe clean air and drink clean water

This is not unreasonable. When industrial accidents occur,residents deservemore than reassurance without clarity.Wedeserve to know therisk when disastrouschemical ﬁres, spills and other industrial disasters happen in our communities.

We deserve robust environmental monitoring,clear public communication and a commitment to understanding the long-term healthimpacts of living near industrial facilities.

The people who live beside these plants every day deserve to be heard.Residents of Louisianadeserve better!

KANITRACASTON NewOrleans

While Idobelieve that what someone wears could be thought of as aminor indicator of ability in someminds and also that someone wearing casual or working attire could be thought of as amore relatable candidate, aphoto depicting a candidate in business attire almost surely presents that person as capable of doing abetter job.

It is incumbent upon reporting entities to makemore of an effort to present fairly.Thinking about the sheer level of effort, energy and ﬁnance it surely takes to run forofﬁce, it is my hope that in the future, especially as the November election approaches, the media reporting stories live up to their claims of fair and nonpartisan reporting, including the headline, body and photos.

DEDRA MAJOR Chalmette

PROVIDED

PresidentDonald Trump arrivesto speak at Wheeler High School on July 22 in Marietta, Ga. ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO

Is Trumplosinghis touch?

For over adecade, Donald Trump has demonstrated ashrewd —even brilliant —grasp of what motivates his followers. That’swhy he’s won two elections and only barelylost athird. But Trump has always been more effective as achallengerthanasan incumbent —the one electionhelost was as asitting president —and 18 months into his secondterm, the president seems to be losing his political touch. Aglaring gap keeps growing between what he’sfocused on and whatvoters care about, and his recent tone-deaf speech about voter fraud highlights that damaging disconnect.

port hiseconomic policies and 27% back thewar effort. Two-thirds describe groceries as “unaffordable,” up from 45% in February,and manyRepublicans areincreasingly frustrated with the president’srelentless rants.

Onebrave Democrat delivers ablunt partyautopsy

important’ to votein2026 than in previous midterm elections, compared with just over half of Republicans.”

“Tome, it’sjust amissed opportunity to talk about an issue that voters are actually going to cast votes on,” Michigan Republican strategist Jason Cabel Roe told The Hill. “Wecontinue to have to revert backtohim airing his grievances,and,you know,Republicans are expected to just stand and salute to it.”

Steve Roberts

America is at war,awar Trump chose to ﬁght after promising to avoid foreign conﬂicts, and the costs are mounting rapidly.Atleast17U.S. soldiersare dead andabout500 injured

The White House has requested an emergency aid package of $67 billion to fund the war,and the Washington Post reports: “The Pentagon faces an urgent budget shortfallcaused largely by the war in Iran, with some critical lines of funding set to run outwithin weeks…” For civilians, the averageprice of gas is now back to over $4 agallon, and according to Brown University’s Iran WarEnergy Cost Tracker, Americans have shoulderedmore than $72 billion in increased fuel bills since the war began in February.That works outto morethan $550 per household, and consumerresentmentisrising.

In arecent WashingtonPost poll, Trump’soverall approval ratingremains stuck at 37%, but only 33% sup-

“When moms and dads lie down to sleep at night and can’t, what are they mostly worried about? Iwould say cost of living. That’s what Ibelieve,” said Sen. John Kennedy ofLouisiana. “But he’sthe president and hewas elected by thepeople and he cantalk about whatever he wants.”

Other GOP lawmakerssay Trumpis ignoring abasic truth: that American politics is always about the future, notthe past.“It’slike it’sa really good show,” said Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina. “But you’ve watched thereruns too many times.”

As aresult, reports thePost, there “are signs that Trump’sbase is weakening.” Only 15%ofTrumpbackers “approve strongly” of the president, a new low,down from 19% in February Andthere is agrowing enthusiasm gap between potential Democratic andRepublican voters.

“Democrats are 10 pointsmore likely to be certain to votethis year than Republicans,”writes the Post. “And more than 7in 10 Democrats say it is ‘more

To somestrategists,this fading zeal explains Trump’sspeech on voter fraud. He pulled out all the favorite catchphrases that have always motivated his base —plot, fraud, cheat, even Deep State —inanattemptto generatepressure on Congress topass theSAVEAct, abill that would rig the fall election for Republicans by disenfranchising as many as 21 million valid voters. Andifthe bill fails, as is likely, he acquires one more grievance to motivatehis supporters.

Buthis ploy could also ignite “a political backﬁre for the GOP,” warns The Wall Street Journal. “If Republican voters believe” the election system is corrupt, then “why waste time going to thepolls in November?”

Rep.Thomas Massie of Kentucky, wholost aprimary to aTrump-backed challenger,argues that since Republicans control the White House and both houses of Congress —plus the SupremeCourt —playing thevictim won’twork.

“And we’re trying to convince people that the problem is we can’twin electionsorthe elections weren’tfair?” Massie told The Hill. “It may energize asmall amount of the base, but it’s going to fall ﬂat among the swing voters.”

Do those swing voters care more about election fraud in Venezuela or gas and grocery prices in Visalia or Vincennes or Vicksburg? The answer is obvious, but not to Trump.

Email Steven Roberts at stevecokie@ gmail.com.

When theguardrailsare destroyed

People of acertainage were taught to respect the police, obey thelaw and other rules and regulations mostly practiced by our parents and grandparents. They believed such things would lead to better lives for themselves and for the nation. For many, they did.

Today we look at the lawlessness,the antisemitism, thehate speechdirected at the president, teen takeovers, attacks on police ofﬁcers and others and we might ask: Why is this happening?

could lay outwhy economic incentives, rather than government diktats, are more effective at allocating resources. But theGOP led by President Donald Trumphas spent more time name-calling than making apositive case for the American system.”

Cal Thomas

The answer can be foundonthe side of the road. To use ametaphor,the guardrails have been removed. Guardrails are crash-tested barriers designed to keep vehicles from running off the road. Moral, ethical anddeportment “guardrails” have functioned to keep us from “running off theroad.” Politicians, including PresidentDonald Trump and Democrats in Congress, throw rhetorical barbs at each other, sometimes using vulgar language What kind of lesson does this teach young people?

AWashington Post editorial titled “Name-calling won’twin election”puts it this way: “Republicans could explain why putting bureaucrats in charge of the economy has ended disastrously everywhere it has happened.They

Calling people names doesn’t changetheir minds. It hardens their hearts.Republicans should focus on why they think —and prove —theirideas are better than what the Democratic Socialists are selling. Alittle bit of history might help, especiallywhen theyounger generation may have missed learning aboutmuch of the 20th century which saw communism and socialism kill millions of people, the imprisonment of millions more, suppression of speech andreligion and astate-controlled press. If guardrails are destroyed, where does one turnfor protection of what we in America know as basic human rights? No guardrails, no freedom and anythinggoes, depending on who has thepower.Asthe verse says: “If the foundations be destroyed, what can therighteous do?” (Psalm 11:3). Assuming, that is, anyone can be called “righteous.”

The World Cup, watched by hundreds ofmillions around theworld,

has boundaries on the ﬁeld. So do other sports. There are speed limits and limitations on other behavior to protect our safety,allow for the pursuit of happiness or at least contentment, and contribute to the general welfare. If there were no boundaries in sports how could anyone keep score? If there are no moral boundaries in life, anarchy results.

Replacingthese guardrails cannot be done by government alone, or even mainly.Itrequires achange of heart for individuals, which can then lead to achange in direction for thecountry

I’ve quoted it before, but thecondition in which we ﬁnd ourselves deserves repeating it:“In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” (Judges 21:25)

Guardrails are coming down faster than Trump’sname on The Kennedy Center in Washington. Truthhas become subjective. Everyone does what seemstohim or herself to be right —without being able to deﬁne right or wrong using auniversal standard. Notice the number of politicians who refuse to deﬁne “woman.”

As in ancient times,weare seeing the resultsofwhat we are dismantling.

Email Cal Thomasattcaeditors@ tribpub.com

Former South Carolina congressman Joe Cunningham talks —and writes —like someone whohas nothing to lose. Or,heisone brave man,willing to tell the unvarnished truth to his fellow Democrats. At 44, Cunningham isn’tnearly finished with what he started out to do when he was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2018 after running on apromise to vote against Nancy Pelosi as House speaker.Hequickly transformed into anational political star after becoming the first Democrat to winthe state’s1st Congressional District in four decades. His career was cut short just twoyears later when Republican Nancy Mace ousted him in aclose election. A run forSouth Carolina governor in 2022 against the seemingly invincible Gov. Henry McMaster,aRepublican, also proved quixotic. Somemight say that aDemocrat such as Cunningham isn’telectable in MAGA-red South Carolina, where President Donald Trumpisstill the endorser-in-chief.Cunningham admits that campaigning wasoften tough. In Trumpstrongholds such as Goose Creek (near Charleston) or even Hilton Head, people don’twant to hear aword from Democrats, he told me in an hourlong conversation. At least Cunningham was hearing people out as he tackled atour of the state’s46counties before the governor’srace. He heard what voters cared about —not the Democratic Party’sgreen energy tax breaks, but grocery prices, affordable housing, education and health care. The mayor of one small towntold Cunningham that residents just wanted agrocery store. These days, Cunningham is less frustrated by his defeats than by the sorry state of the Democratic Party —the hypocrisy,disingenuousness and disconnect from what Americans generally care about. He detailed his observations in arecently self-published book, “Lifeofthe Party,” an easy-to-read autopsy of his beloved party’s departure from reality “The Party’sgaze has drifted beyond the basic needs …and has settled on aculture war that includes gender identity,racial quotas, DEI, and bathrooms,” he wrote. “Ithas cost them swaths of voters whomay never come back.”

He points out that atiny percentage of people are transgender and asks what percentage of those wanttoplay sports. Victory fora minuscule slice of the population may fill the virtue cup, but it’snot awin forthe country.Diversity he wrote, should be the nation’sbarometer,not its guiding star Cunningham’s book offers insights, as well as statistics and stories from his Kentucky upbringing, into his heroes and simpler times when humility,honesty and accountability were social norms. The world has changed so rapidly in the past twodecades that mostAmericans struggle not only to makeends meet but also to makesense of things. Most baffling (and frightening) are advances in artificial intelligence and the predatory practices of Big Tech. Afather of two with ababy due any day Cunningham said the Democratic Party should shiftfocus from tangential issues to, among other things, the challenges all parents face in protecting their children.

Those mostconfused are sometimes elderly elected officials —the people Cunningham calls the “geriatric oligarchy.” He argues that the country needs younger representation from generations that understand the complexities of technology.Inhis book, he recounts an anecdote from 2018 when Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg testified at aU.S. Senate committee hearing about data abuse and social media privacy.Then 84-year-old Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, R-Utah, asked, “How do you sustain a business model in which users don’tpay for your service?” Zuckerberg responded, “Senator,werun ads.” In 2006, during adebate about net neutrality, Sen. TedStevens, R-Alaska, then 82, shared his expertise, explaining that “the internet is not something that you just dumpsomething on. It’s not abig truck. It’s aseries of tubes.” Cunningham proposes age limits forelected officials and the judiciary.“It’s hard to take the keys away from your parents,” he told me, but age matters.

He argues that his party,more than Republicans, needs new ideas. “You have to make things simple, and Trumpdoes makethings simple,” he told me. “Notax on tips was one. We can’tbetter dissect our healthcare system and come up with somenew ideas?

Cunningham said he hopes his book will contribute to amore honest self-appraisal by his former colleagues and areturn to big ideas. One might also hope it will lead him to run again forpublic service. Athird party might be just the ticket.

Kathleen Parker is on X, @kathleenparker

Kathleen Parker

withmeteorologist Damon Singleton

BY JENNIFER McDERMOTT

Associated Press

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is proposing to eliminateafoundational safety principlethat has for 50 years minimized the radiation people in the United States are exposed to and that has been adopted around the world.

Currently,facilities suchasnuclear plants, hospitals or academic institutions that use radioactive materials must ensure radiation exposures are kept “as low as reasonably achievable” —the ALARA principle. The NRC proposal would abandon that philosophy while keeping aseparate standard on maximum radiation exposure. The two standards have worked together in radiation safety. Dose limits set the maximum amount of radiation the public and radiation workers can be exposed to, while ALARA kept radiation exposureas

low as practical under those limits.

Researchshows radiation exposure increases aperson’schanceofgettingcancer,a risk that increases as thedoseincreases.

Thedose limitsare not changing.

Butthe NRC, which regulates civiliannuclearenergy technologies and radioactive materials, now wantsto replace ALARA witha “graded approach” that includesseveral actionsfacilitiesmust take depending on the potential dose of radiation to workers. More rigorous radiation protectionmeasureswould be required when approaching dose limits to ensure theyaren’texceeded.

This comes as President Donald Trumpattempts to quadrupledomestic nuclearenergy production because of surging electricity demand amid adatacenter andartiﬁcial intelligence boom.Reforming theNRC is oneway Trumpistrying to speed up nuclear reactor development.Heinstructed the federal

Regulators seek to eliminateradiation safety practice

agency in an executiveorder last year to“adoptscience-based radiationlimits.”

The Energy Department, which oversees national energy policies, has already stopped using ALARA. The NRC expects to ﬁnalize its radiation protection regulations in the coming months.

NRCChairman Ho Nieh said the commission is not lowering thebar on safety.

“We’re just removing the ambiguity,” he said in acall withreporters. “But thestandard forexposureto workers andthe public, those are not changing. We’re just putting in place greater clariﬁcation.”

Nieh doesn’texpect major changes within the nation’sexisting ﬂeet of large, traditional reactors. But companies designing andbuilding new,smaller reactors could move faster withaclearer picture of the radiationprotection requirements, he said.

European wildfiresdrive

BY MARK CARLSON, EMMA DA SILVA andJOHN

Associated

LEGE-CAP FERRET,France A ragingwildfire in southwest France forced the evacuation of 55,000 peopleovernight Sunday, bringing the total forced out of their homes to astaggering 220,000 in one region alone,asflames crept ever closer to the wine region city of Bordeaux. Neighboring Spain oversaw its own fire evacuations on the country’s east coast.

Shifting and gusting winds, as well as arid conditions, complicated massive efforts to limit the spread of the monster blaze burning out of control since midweek in France’s Gironderegion, where Bordeaux is located. Authorities issued overnight evacuation orders for five more localities southwestof the historic city

“The situation remains very unfavorable,” French Interior Minister Laurent

ASSOCIATEDPRESS PHOTO By MANU FERNANDEZ

A firefighter carries ahose while battling awildfire Sunday in San Martin de Valdeiglesias, Spain, west of Madrid

Nunez said after whathedescribed as “anotherdifficult night” for fire crews battling round-the-clock against the blaze that has burned an area four timesthe size of Paris. “The firebecameextremely virulent again and unpredictable, generating its own windsand advancing erratically towardthe Bordeaux metropolitan area,”Nunez posted on X.

“It became calmer by the

end of thenight,” theministeradded.

At theend of his Sunday Angelus prayer,Pope LeoXIV referenced “the devastating wildﬁres” in France and Spain and said: “I express my solidarity andinvite everyone to pray for those affected and for the work of the rescue workers.”

An estimated 162 square mileshad burned in Gironde, theregion’sprefecturesaid,

The NRC said radiation exposure limits are setwellbelow levels associated with health effects, and it expects remaining standards and industry practices to keep radiation doses far below the limits. There’s incentive to do so —it’smoreexpensive and time-consumingtowork in areas withhigher radiation because access mustberestricted and more surveys are required

The nuclear industry’stradeassociation agrees withthe NRC.

“Wewill always continue to look at what can we do to reducethe dose to workers, and maintain our doses to the off-site public as low as possible,” saidDougTrue,chiefnuclear ofﬁcer at theNuclear Energy Institute.“It’s not like we’re just going to throwopen thedoors andlet everything run up to thelimits.”

ALARA created a“moving target” for regulation, said Justin Friedman,anuclear energyconsultant who previouslyspent three decades

at the U.S. Department of State. Getting ridofthe rule would allowNRC scientists to make morerational decisionsaboutappropriatelevelsof manageable risk,headded. Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear powersafetyatthe UnionofConcerned Scientists, cautions that some parts of the NRC proposal could raise permissible radiation doses in certain cases, while still stayingbelow the cap.Lyman highlighteda proposed revision to radionuclide emissions standards, in particular Radiation exposure to thegeneral public is limited to 100 millirem per year.Atypical dose of radiation from achest X-ray is 10 millirem. TheNRC wantstoincreaseits radionuclide emissions standards from aconservative 10 milliremper year dose to 25 milliremper year, based on ahypothetical person living in ahouse at the property line foranuclear plant.

much of it forests andscrublandmade tinder-dry by successive heat waves. That is seven timesthe area of Manhattan islandand four timesthe size of Paris.

Firefighters raced in trucks to fight flare-ups and planes dropping water andretardantsrotated in the smokefilled air.Farmers delivered water in tanks to fire crews so they could fight the flames without interruption.

“This allows firefightersto focus on thefire,” saidTheo Hernandez, awine grower “It’svery strong, very virulent, it’sspreading everywhere.

Thenumberoffirefighters mobilizedgrew to 2,500, backed by 18 planes and helicopters, including from other European nations. Soldiers havealsobeen calledin. A giant A400M military cargo aircraft dropped plumes of ochre-colored retardant

In afirst for France, the blazealarmingly developed into aself-feeding ﬁrestorm on severaloccasions, most

recently on Saturday night, generating lightning bolts thatcan start newﬂare-ups, authorities said.

“It’slike being confronted by ahurricane,” saidGironde ﬁrechiefMarc Vermeulen. Forecast hightemperatures starting Tuesday could complicate the firefighting, Gironde prefect SophieBrocas said.

In Spain, wildfires burned outofcontrol around Madrid. Evacuations were also carried out Sunday in the Valencia region. Aman waskilled Saturday in awildfire in Manises,aValenciasuburb, marking Spain’sfirst recorded death in thelatest fires.

“Westill have some difﬁcult hours ahead,” Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez saidSunday, but the night was “very positive in termsofbringing the ﬂames under control.”

Atotal of 76,000 people have been evacuated in Spain while 30,000 others have been conﬁnedtotheir homes, the governmentsaid.

Evacuees fretted about

what they’ll ﬁnd when they’re allowedtoreturn RocíoDomínguezﬂed her house with only the clothes on her back. “All the clothes, allthe memories, everything, everything, everything,” were left behind, she toldThe Associated Press.

“The only thing Ihad time to grab was akit Ihave for the dogs,”Domínguezadded, surrounded by her two beloved pets. Everything else she haswithher now—from the clothes shewears to her food andtoiletries —she received at theshelter

At the evacuation center, where cots have been set up for about 200 people, Domínguez still has the terrifying memory of theirescapefresh in hermind “Itwas madness with cars going up and down, traffic jams in thevillage streets as people triedtoget out. It looked like the apocalypse,” saidDomínguez, 35 years old andunemployed, whoiswith her parents and siblings. “You couldn’t see anything.”

After NFL-worst finish in 2025, Saints committed to fixing special teams

BY LUKE JOHNSON Staff writer

Quietly, the New Orleans Saints allocated some of their offseason resources toward addressing a third phase that had grown stagnant in recent years — special teams.

The ﬁrst came in free agency, when the Saints signed former Minnesota Vikings (and Tulane Green Wave) punter Ryan Wright to a four-year, $14 million deal — hopefully putting a stopper into the creaky revolving door at the position they created when they cut Thomas Morstead ﬁve years earlier

Then, on Day 3 of the draft, New Orleans used a sixthround pick on one of the draft’s most electric return men, LSU’s Barion Brown. That may not sound like much, until one remembers New Orleans has found its last two AllPro returners in the undrafted ranks.

And, ﬁnally, the Saints waited until one of the ﬁnal days of their offseason program to add kicker Tanner Brown — who was named the United Football League’s 2026 Special Teams Player of the Year to compete with incumbent Charlie Smyth

The investment was necessary Last season, New Orleans ranked dead last in both ﬁeld goal percentage (71.1%) and gross (43.3 yards) and net punting average (36.1).

Depth chart (name, height, weight, experience)

n Charlie Smyth, 6-foot-4, 210 pounds, 2 years

n Tanner Brown, 6-0, 177, 1

n Ryan Wright, 6-3, 245, 5

n Zach Wood, 6-3, 255, 10

n Barion Brown, 5-11, 177, R

n Ty Chandler, 5-11, 205, 5

Number to know: -63.3

That is the cumulative Expected Points Added (EPA)

contributed by the Saints special teams units in 2025. Take note of the minus sign in front of that number. It was the worst ﬁgure in the NFL last season by a signiﬁcant margin. The difference between the Saints and the second-worst team, the Arizona Cardinals (minus-44.2),

ä See SAINTS, page 5C

Beltrán, Andruw, Kent enshrined into HOF

BY KENNY LACY JR. Associated Press

Pels ink training camp deal with Bufkin

BY ROD WALKER Staff writer

BY DAN GELSTON AP sportswriter

STAFF FILE PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER Saints’ sixth-round draft-pick Barion Brown runs with the ball during rookie mini-camp on May 9 at the team’s indoor practice facility in Metairie.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By SETH WENIG

The 2026 Baseball Hall of Fame inductees Jeff Kent, left, Andruw Jones, center, and Carlos Beltran pose for pictures after the induction ceremony on Sunday in Cooperstown, N.y

5:50 p.m. Antigua vs. GuatemalaFS2

8:50 p.m. Costa Rica vs. Mexico FS2 SOFTBALL

6p.m. Chicagovs. Utah ESPN2

TBTBASKETBALL

6p.m.Gotham City vs.Red Rose FS1

8p.m.JHX Hoops at Aftershocks FS1 TENNIS

10 a.m. Washington D.C. —ATP TENNIS

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Pogacarconﬁrms status as oneofcycling’s greats

BY JEROME PUGMIRE AP sportswiter

PARIS Tadej Pogacar confirmed his status as one of cycling’salltime greats after winning arecord-equaling fifth Tour de France title in emphatic style. Daring mountain attacksfrom deep, multiple stage wins and an ice-cool temperament all helped the 27-year-old Slovenianseal his victory on Sunday.Hejoined Belgian Eddy Merckx, Spaniard Miguel Indurain and Frenchmen Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault as the only riders to win five Tours.

“I’mspeechless.It’sanincredible day,there was an incredible atmosphere,” Pogacar said. “I’ve ridden seven Tours already and I’vealways ﬁnished on the podium. Youmight think this is afairytale, it’sincrediblefor me too.”

After competing strongly in Sunday’s21st and exciting ﬁnal stage in Paris, Pogacarﬁnished 6minutes, 26 seconds ahead of Belgian rider Remco Evenepoel in the overall standings

Two-time Tour champion Jonas Vingegaard was Pogacar’smain rival heading into the racebut theDanecrashed outonthe 15th stage.

“Shame that Jonasand others crashed out of this Tour,” Pogacar said. “I hope we can all ﬁght again next year.”

Pogacar’sUAE Team Emirates XRG teammate Isaac Del Toro, a22-year-oldMexican making his Tour debut, was third at 9:42 back from Pogacar,who smiled and held up his hand to signify his wins. His teammates then joined him as they stood proudly on the Champs-Élysées.

“I don’tknow how Idoit,” Pogacar said. “I nowhave to ﬁnd anew goal to chase. Which goal?Let’s just not jump ahead of ourselves, and enjoy this moment.”

Slovenia’sTadej Pogacar celebrates as he crosses the finish line in the last stageofthe Tour de France on Sunday in Paris.

Pogacar wonthe Girod’Italia in 2024 but has not won the Spanish Vuelta, which startsonAug. 22. “Will IbeatLa Vuelta in afew weeks?” he said. “Let’ssee.”

Peerless Pogacar Pogacar won ﬁve stagesatthis year’srace to take his impressive tally to 26 overall.

He tried to winonSunday,too, but victory ultimately went to Dutchman Mathieu van derPoel, whojust heldoff thechasing pack on the home straight for his secondstage win at thisyear’s race andfourth overall.

Sunday’s88.7-kilometer (55mile) stagelooped around Paris and was mostly processional,although less so than in previous years, whichwere usually entirely ﬂat stagesfor sprintersand not for therest of thepeloton.

Thestagewas shortened from 133 kilometersand its starting point in Thoiry, west of the capital, was changed to Paris so as to reducepressure on emergency services combating wildfiresin thesouthwest. Some security

forces initially mobilizedfor Paris were redeployed to help response efforts.

Forthe second straight year the stage featured the hugely popularuphillclimbthrough the Montmartredistrict, asharp 1-kilometer dash whichriderstackled three times beforeﬁnishing on the Champs-Élysées. It proved even too much for Pogacar,who could not match Van der Poel’s rawpower in theclosing stages.

Shortly before 6p.m. local time, Pogacar shook hands at the start line with Evenepoel and Ecuadorian veteran Richard Carapaz, wearing the polka-dot jersey for thebest climber

“I battled hard to win this jersey,itwas agreatfight,”the 33-year-old Carapaz said. “It’sthe best feeling to win it.”

Exciting finale

Vander Poel andDaneMads Pedersen, thegreen jersey winnerasbest sprinter, wereamong the expected contenders for the stage win.

Crowds roared as the riders beganthe ﬁrst climbupRue Lepic in Montmartre, with the famed Sacré-Coeur basilica looming over them.

Pogacar moved ahead after the secondascensionofMontmartre, with Vander Poel, Evenepoel and Pedersen alongside him Vander Poel attacked on the thirdand ﬁnal climb with Pogacar responding well, and the one-day classics rivals surged ahead.

But they were caught with 700 metersleftand, after Pogacar faded, the31-year-old Vander Poel still had worktodo.

He gothis bike just over the line ahead of Belgian Jasper Philipsen, his Alpecin-Premier Tech teammate,and Pedersen. Pogacar eased up and ﬁnished 30th.

“I thought the sprinters would catch us up so Ilaunched (myattack)fromvery far away,” Van der Poel said. “I gave everything Ihad left in my legs and it was just enough.”

Cyclingpedigree

Vander Poel is widely considered one of the best cyclists in the world. He has multiple victories in one-day classics and Cyclocross world championship titles, and is alsoaformer world road race champion. His father Adri vander Poel won two stages on the Tour in the late 1980s. His maternal grandfather was French cyclist Raymond Poulidor, who raced in the1960s and ’70s, ﬁnishing second on theTour three times and third ﬁve times. Nicknamed “Poupou” and “The Eternal Runner-up,” he was adored by French fans.

Women’sTour

Thenine-stage women’sTour starts in the Swiss city of Lausanne on Aug. 1and ﬁnishesinNice on Aug9

Shin claims ﬁrst LPGA wininmorethanadecade

The Associated Press

TROON, Scotland South Korean golfer Jenny Shin secured atwoshot victory at the Women’sScottishOpen on Sunday to enda wait of more than 10 years for her second LPGA win.

The 33-year-old Shin, who won the Texas ShootoutinMay 2016, carded a3-over 75 on the DundonaldLinks to finish at 9 under “My first one didn’treally feel like awin at the time,” Shin said. “I didn’tfeel like Ideserved it. It felt very accidental. But this one definitelyfeelsalot different. This one feels like Iearned it. Iworked hard for it.”

Shin was in tears after the ﬁnal putt dropped on the 18th and was doused withwater and champagne by agroup of friends.

Leading since the ﬁrst round, Shin could afford three straight

bogies on Nos. 6-8 after starting theﬁnal round with aﬁve-shot lead over Thailand’sPajaree

Anannarukarn(74). Shin also bogeyedtwo of the last three holes but had made twobirdies earlier

“I wasn’t as nervous as yesterday,” Shinsaid. “I feel like I’ve done everything right but just wasn’thitting it like Iwas the last three days and just hitting it into bunkers andbushes andthat wasn’tfun.

“With three bogiesina row Ithought, ‘oh boy,I don’tknow where this is going to go’. But yeah, Ihung in there, so I’m quite proud ofmyselfand very happy.”

Shin is now thinking about the next challenge.

“I’m goingtodoeverythingI can to winagain,”Shin said. “I can’tbelieve it happenedthis week.”

ALim Kimfinished second after a4-under68, with four

straight birdies helping her leapfrog twoshotsahead of Anannarukarn, whodroppedto third. The Women’sScottish Open

comes between the final two majors —the Evian Championship and the Women’sBritish Openstarting Thursday at Royal Lytham &St. Annes.

Koivun wins thePGA 3M Open in his3rd prostart

BYDAVECAMPBELL

AP sportswriter

BLAINE, Minn. JacksonKoivun felt the nerves but never flinched, securing his first PGA Tour win in the face of astrong finish by the world’s top-ranked player and clear fan favorite in Scottie Scheffler Koivun won the 3M Openby three strokesSunday in only his third start as aprofessional, holding off Scheffler with aclosing 5-under 66 for atournament-record 25-under 259 total.

“All throughout the crowd Ikept hearing, ‘Scottie’scoming. Scottie’scoming,’ ”the 21-year-old Koivun said. “I just tried to tune that out and keep playingthe golf Iknew Icould.” Scheffler,who played five groups ahead of Koivun, surged into contention with a63but settled for his fourth runner-up ﬁnish this season. His lonewin this year was in his ﬁrst start at The American Express in California.

“We’re seeing alot of really, really goodyoung talent in the game

today,”Schefﬂer said.“When you see theguyscomeout of college, they’re really,really prepared, even more prepared than we were comingout.”

Hideki Matsuyama, Brian Harman, Chandler Phillipsand Denny McCarthy tied forthird at 20 under Koivunplayed asafe and steady gameona 97-degree afternoon at theTPC Twin Cities, going bogeyfreefor the secondstraight day after a61inthe third round gave himathree-shot cushionafter 54 holes. His par-saving putt on the 9th green after his approach landed in thesandgavehim an energy boost for the back nine.

“Might be the biggest putt I made all week,” Koivun said.

“Scoreboardwas rightthere, and Isaw exactly how Istood.If Imissedthat, thenI only hada two-shotlead —where last time Ichecked Ihad aﬁve-shotlead

So making that was huge for my momentum.”

Lee Hodges held the previous 3M Open record, ﬁnishing at 24-under 260 in 2023.

Koivun, who became the fourth rookie winner this season, missed the cut at the John Deere Classic in Illinois and tiedfor 10thatthe ISCO Championship in Kentucky earlierthis month. He made 10 starts as an amateurontour events.

Earning $1,584,000 for his win in Minnesota, Koivun also jumped 124 spots in theFedEx Cup standings into70th, thelastplaceabove thecut for theplayoffs withtwo regularseasoneventsremaining on theschedule.

“I feel like I’ve gotten alot betterover the past couple years of being able to beat guys with my mentality,” said Koivun, who broke the NCAA career recordfor per-round stroke average (68.89) and helped lead Auburn to thenational championship last month

“Sometimes Iwatch guys hit on therange and Idon’tfeel like I’m the mosttalented out there, but if Ican go out there and believe and use my brain to my advantage, then that’sdeﬁnitely kind of like asuperpower.” Scheffler,who began thefinal

Memphis, Caldwell-Pope reachbuyout agreement

MEMPHIS,Tenn. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope reached abuyout agreementwith the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday ESPN, citing sources, reported late on Saturday thatCaldwell-Pope plans to sign with the Philadelphia 76ers after clearing waivers. Caldwell-Pope averaged 8.4 points and21.9 minutes in 51 games last season forMemphis. He had finger surgery in February and missedthe final31games of theseason Caldwell-Pope underwent surgery to addressamisalignmentofhis right pinkiefingerinFebruary andmissed the last31games of the season.

The33-year-old guard hasacareer 11-point average in 963 games in 13 seasons with Detroit, the Los AngelesLakers, Washington, Denver, Orlando and theGrizzlies. He was part of championship teams with the Lakers in 2020 and theNuggets in 2023.

All-Star

Bellinger heads to IL with hamstring strain

PHILADELPHIA The Yankees have placed All-Star outfielderCody Bellinger on the 10-day injured list with aleft hamstring strain, ablow to New York’sdefense on ateam already missing several big bats.

The Yankees recalledoutfielder Spencer Jones from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre before Sunday night’sgameatPhiladelphia to take Bellinger’sspot on the roster NewYork hasbeen without slugger Aaron Judge since May 31 because of afracturedrib anddesignated hitter Giancarlo Stanton is still out with astrained right calf that’ssidelinedhim sinceApril 24. The Yankees entered Sunday’s game21/2 games behind TampaBay in the AL East.

F1’s BahrainGrand Prix to be held in Malaysia

MOGYOROD, Hungary— Formula 1is heading back to Malaysia for the ﬁrst timeinnine years as the Bahrain Grand Prix was rescheduled there forOct. 4. The Sepang circuit is slotted in between races in Azerbaijanand Singapore, subject to approval from theFIA’s worldmotor sport council, F1 andthe FIA said Sunday F1 called offits races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, which had been set for March and April, as the Iran warescalated.

Despite taking place in Malaysia, the race will still have Bahrain Grand Prix branding.

It’s not the ﬁrst time an F1 race has been named for one country and took place in another.The long-running San Marino Grand Prix washeld in neighboring Italy but last used that namein2006.

TexasSSSeager takes firstBPsincebackinjury

ARLINGTON, Texas Corey Seager took live battingpracticeSunday for the ﬁrst time since the Texas Rangers shortstop was sidelined by aback injuryfor the second timethis season on July 1.

Seager ﬁnished the session with ahome run andwas planning to take live BP again Monday before whatwould appear to be aminor league rehab assignment.

The two-time World Series MVP andﬁve-time All-Star playedtwo games in the minors in early June when he was returning from a three-week absence because of lowerback inﬂammation. Seager spenttwo moreweeks on the injured list in June after getting a concussion.

round sixshots back, needed acollapse by Koivun to catch up. That never came.

Schefflerplayed anearly flawless game, save fora5-foot birdie putt on the 14th hole that lipped in and out. As he was conducting his post-match interview,Koivun birdied the16th to go 25 under “Anytimeyou’re trying to win forthe first time,it’sawfully difficult,especially for ayoung guy coming out of college,” Scheffler said. “I thinkthat showsnot only howtalentedofaplayer he is, but themental strength he hasas well.”

Koivun, who grewupinSan Jose, California, before moving to ChapelHill, North Carolina,at age 17, got his start in thegame on apublic nine-hole course. After hugging his father,George, on the course, he got on aFaceTimecall with his mother,Meghan, who was unable to attend the tournament.

“She was crying,” Koivu said. “I was tryingtomake out alittle bit of what she said, but she kept saying how proud she was. Those two are just my rocks.”

Former Patriots offensive lineman Devey dead at 38

Former NFLguard Jordan Devey,who won Super Bowl 49 with the New England Patriots in 2015, died Tuesday.Hewas 38. Devey’sfamily revealed in aGoFundMe fundraiser that the football star died by suicide. They said he was knownfor his“unwavering dedication to serving others.”

“His commitment to uplifting those around himextended far beyond sports, as he faithfully served in his church,offering support, counsel and friendship to anyone in need,” thepost read “He wasdeeply loved by the players whosaw him as amentor,role model and friend.”

His wife, Linsey Devey,shared on Instagramthatthe couplewas afew days shy of their 15th wedding anniversary

His family revealed that the retired footballer spenthis ﬁnalyears coachingathletes at Eagle High in Idaho.

ASSOCICATED PRESS PHOTO By STEVE WELSH

JennyShin of South Korea celebrates after winning the 2026 ISPS HANDA Scottish Open on Sunday at Dundonald Links, Ayrshire.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MOSA’AB ELSHAMy

Heim holdsonfor historic Brickyard400 win

BY MICHAELMAROT AP sportswriter

INDIANAPOLIS Corey Heim passed team co-owner Denny Hamlin on the final restart Sunday and then held off the hard-charging cars of Christopher Bell and Joey Logano to capture his first Brickyard400 crown.

The24-year-oldhas won twice this season, even though he won’tbedriving full-time in NASCAR’sCup series until nextseason. He’s the first Cup driver to win twice in his first 15 career starts since A.J. Foyt in 1965. And he did it this time with adaring outside move to overtake Hamlin, then leading the final 35 laps and holding off Bell by 0.287 seconds on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’shistoric 2.5-mile oval. Logano, last week’s winner,finished third, 0.972 seconds behind, again keepingteam owner Roger Penske out of victory lane “That was adamn handful,” Heim said. “I was hanging on for dear life once the shade went down and the pace picked up, my car got really loose and Inever really got alot of clean air throughout the day,sothat was the hardest I’ve ever fought in my life to make sure Ifocused on the exits and get through dirtyair ” Hamlin, who is part of Michael Jordan’sownership group with 23XI Racing,

made his second straight trip to victory lane as a team owner.Bubba Wallace, Heim’steammate, won the2025 title.But Hamlin ﬁnished ﬁfth, more than six seconds back, as he tried to addthe only missing link in acareer sweepofNASCAR’s

fourcrown jewel races. He’s now0for 18 all-time at Indy

Todd Gilliland of Front Row Motorsports surprised everyone by collecting the $1 million In-SeasonChallenge despite qualifying 36th and spending mostof the daybehind 2023 Cup

champ Ryan Blaney.Healso ﬁnished second in thesecond stage. Butthe payoff came after2023 Cup champ Ryan Blaney was collected in anine-car crashwith41 lapstogo. Team Penske’s crew members tried to get

Blaney’sNo. 12 Ford back in cotention, but he couldn’t pass Gilliland, who ﬁnished 24th. Blaney was 26th. Ty Gibbs won stage one and finished third in stage twobefore getting shufﬂed back to 14thduring apit stop in stage three. Ross Chastain

won the second stage. Kyle Larson and Daniel Dye were knocked out of the race earlywhen blown tires sent them into the wallbefore the end of stage two. Chase Elliott also was knocked outearly whenhe hit the wall and the right rear wheel went ﬂat.

Larson’s drought It was another tough weekend for Larson, the defending Cup champ whose winlessstreakreached46 races as he finished last in the 39-car field late in stage one. First, Larsonqualified 10th with alap timemore than0.3 seconds behind pole winner Carson Hocevar. ThenSunday, he was ready to cycle into the lead when aleft rear blew,sendinghim hard into thewall coming outofTurn 3and making him the first car out of the race.

“Wejust had atire let go. Iwouldn’tsay pushing had anything to do with it,” he said. “Just alittle bit of bad luck, Iguess.” He’s won 26 races and two series crowns since joining Hendrick Motorsports in 2021. But even though theNo. 5Chevrolet last reached victory lane in May2025atKansas, the longest drought in Larson’s Hendricks tenure may not deter him from defending his Cup title.

Norris ends wait forFormula 1 victoryinHungarian GrandPrix

The Associated

BY JOHN PYE AP sportswriter

BRISBANE,Australia Apesky native bird appeared on the podium almost on cue as organizers prepared to unveil acountdown clockmarking six years to go until the 2032 Olympics.

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner noted the timely whiteibisinhis welcoming remarks, joking with the crowd that it wouldn’tbean event in Brisbanewithout the appearance of a“bin chicken,” as the bird is colloquially known.

There’sasmall, humorous push locally for the ibis to become amascot for the Brisbane Games rather than one of Australia’smore widely known native animals such as the kangaroo or the koala.

Schrinner didn’tmiss a beat and the bird moved off before the big digital Omega clock officially started counting downThursday in the downtown Queen Street mall. That was amatterof hours after the Games Independent Infrastructure and Coordination Authority published revamped designs for the NationalAquatic Center that will host Olympic events.

Aticking timeline

The new clock put even more emphasis on the diminishing time for construction for the Olympics, with no major works yet underway on the 3.6 billion Australian dollar ($2.6 billion) main stadium almost five years after Brisbane was

awardedrights to theSummerGames.

AndrewLiveris,president of the Brisbane 2032 organizing committee, said there’snocause for panic.

“Six years is perfectly ﬁne in construction, even under stress conditions,”hesaid.

“I’m very conﬁdent that the contingencies are built (in) to allow that to happen.”

Liveris saidhebriefed IOC president Kirsty Coventry as recently asMonday in New York, in the wake of theWorld Cup ﬁnal.

“Wehad along conversation about timelines, venues, sports,and we’reconﬁdent it’snot 6minutes to midnight,” he said TheInternational OlympicCommittee last year backed the Queensland government’s revised venue plan afterseveral false starts, saying the Brisbane Games were “on the right path.”

There arestill groups opposed to building major sports venues in the downtown parklands,and more general concern over rising costs of stagingthe Games.

GIICA, thecoordination authority,only tookover possessionofthe Victoria Park site for the 63,000-seat main stadium last month, after police removed protesters.

Aquaticcenterrevamp

It won’tget control of the nearby site for the aquatic venue untilSeptember. Organizers haven’trevealed if thetemporary Olympic capacity —initially projected to be 25,000— for

theaquatic centerhad been scaled down to avoidcost blowouts.

Whatever that temporary capacity is, Schrinner said the legacy outcome —a permanent 8,000-seatvenue —would be “fantastic.”

The Queensland state government,which is the major backer of the 2032 Olympicand Paralympic Games with support from the federal andlocal governments, sent theoriginal conceptfor the aquatics venue back to planning for budgetary reasons.

TheQueensland “government is doingthe responsible thing, in these conditions and changing costs,” Schrinner said. “You have to makeadjustments to the plan, and that’sexactly what’shappening, it’sa responsible thingtodo.”

More than adozen new sports venues are in the pipeline,including acontentious rowing center in Rockhampton, acoastal city in Central Queensland. Critics argue the impact of tidal flow and crocodile habitat in the Fitzroy River make it unsuitable to host Olympic events.

Liveris said all venues were still going through validation reporting, including rowing.

“Right now we’ve had no red lightsand some very good greens, and acouple of yellows,”hesaid. “And they’re being worked on for later this year.”

Liveris said he was preparing arevised“bottomup budget” to present early next year,after the IOC has ﬁnalized the sports program.

MOGYOROD,Hungary— Lando Norris ended an eightmonth wait by “flying” to aFormula 1victorywith strong pace and adose of good fortune at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday The defending champion was on pole but lostthe lead to hisMcLaren teammate OscarPiastri when he ran wide at the second corner Norrisgot theleadback after Piastriwas delayed by acollision with Carlos Sainz Jr.while lapping the Williams driver,allowing Norris to come out of the pitsahead of his teammate. He cruised to the win from there “Car was unbelievable today,well done guys,incredible.Wewere ﬂying,” Norris said. “Nicetobeﬁnally able to do it all for you. Feels like it’sbeen awhile.” Piastri then stopped witha broken gearbox, paving the way for MaxVerstappento take second, with KimiAntonelli third.

Antonelligetsboost

Even with Mercedes largely offthe pacefor once and athree-place grid penalty in qualifying, Antonelli recovered from seventh to take his ninthpodium ﬁnish in 11 races and make astatement to his titlerivals. Antonelli increased his

standingsleadto50points

over Lewis Hamilton, who was ﬁfthafter apenalty for speeding in the pits. George Russell was barely afactor as he drove through the ﬁeld to seventh aftera near-stall at thestart droppedhim to theback.He drops 59 points behind his Mercedes teammateAntonelli.

Norrishadn’twon afull Grand Prix race sinceSao Paulo in November,though he did win asprint in Miami in May Hungary wasthe last race before the mid-season break. The next race is the Dutch Grand Prix on Aug. 23.

Hamilton rues penalty

“Sometimes you just can’t catch abreak,” Hamilton

had written on Instagram on Saturday.Hediscussed how his three-place penalty in qualifying —Hamilton’s third penalty in three race weekends—madeit“difﬁcult to hang on to that positivity”.

Afourthpenalty won’t have helped, andnor will yet another Ferrari strategy blunder When Piastri’sbreakdown at the side of the road broughta virtual safety car slowdown, Ferrari decided it was worth calling in Hamilton forfresh tires. Unfortunatelyfor the seven-timechampion, he left the pit lane to seeAntonelli approachingfast. In what appeared to be arush to keep the Mercedesdriver at bay,Hamilton broke the pit lane speed limit.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOByMICHAEL CONROy

CoreyHeim heads into the first turnduring the NASCAR CupSeries race at Indianapolis Motor SpeedwayonSunday in Indianapolis.

Press

ASSOCIATEDPRESS PHOTOByDARKO BANDIC McLaren driverLando NorrisofBritain celebrates after winning the FormulaOne Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring racetrackonSundayinMogyorod,Hungary.

ASSOCIATEDPRESS PHOTO By DARRENENGLAND

Australian Olympian EmmaMcKeon, left, and Brisbane 2032 organizing committee president AndrewLiveris

PRESS PHOTO By NAM y. HUH

ASSOCIATED

WNBAcommissionerCathy Engelbertspeaks at anewsconference aheadofthe league’sAll-Star game on SaturdayinChicago.

WNBA to addan NBA-style replay center next season

BY DOUG FEINBERG AP basketball writer

CHICAGO— The WNBA will have areplay center similartothe NBA next season as the league continues to invest in ofﬁciating, commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced at her state of the league press conference Saturday before the All-Star Game.

Ofﬁciating has been ahot topic around the league for the last few seasons, with physical play being amajor point of contention.The league put together atask force in the offseason to help clean up some of the physicality in the game.

“This is one of the mostsigniﬁcant investments we’ve ever made in our basketballoperations; these investmentsoftens of millions of dollarswill help bring greater consistency,efficiency,and transparency to our ofﬁciatingprocess while continuing to improve the quality of the game,” Engelbert said.

Engelbert said that alot of the details on the replay centerstill need to be worked out, although she said, as of now,the last twominute report that the NBA has won’tbeused in the WNBA yet. Fouls have been up this season as there has been an emphasis to help players’ freedom of movement. The increase in fouls has led to more offense as teams are averaging arecord-high number of points. It has also led to longer games. Earlier this month, league gametimeswere at an average of 2hours, 8minutes—the longest in league history

Player safety

Engelbert said the league is continuing to work with the players to tryand improve their safety off the court. The league and players’ union had avirtual meeting on Tuesday night to discuss what more can be done to combat the online hate.

“(For) too many playersacross the WNBA, that experience is unacceptable,” she said. “Many cases, it’s disgusting.Racism, misogyny,homophobia, theharassment and threats directed to ourplayers has no place in sport or anywhereelse.” Engelbertsaidthefeedbackfrom the players was helpful to her Aces investigationwraps up The WNBA’s investigation into whether aLas Vegas Aces sponsorship deal violated the salary cap was inconclusive, Engelbert said. “No discipline will be recommended or imposed. Of course, if new or additionalevidence comes to light, we’ll continue to investigate. But, you know,the integrity of our game is number one,”the commissioner said.

Continued from page1C

assists and 3.7 rebounds.Heshot

41.9% on 3-pointers for South Bay

He put up similar numbers playing for the Pelicans in Summer League. He played in three games in Vegas and led the Pelicans in scoring with 21.3 points per game. Hisbest game wasthe firstone against the Minnesota Timberwolves when he poured in 30 points and shot 5-for-9 on 3-pointers.

“Our coaches putmeina position to thrive, so Ijust tookadvantage of the opportunities that they gave me,” Bufkin said after the ﬁrst game.

His3-point shootingdropped off in the other two games and he ﬁnished Summer League7-of-22 (31.8 %) from long distance. He also averaged5.3 rebounds, 3assists and 2steals.

Heavy-heartedJones helpsliftTeamSpoon past Team Coop in WNBA All-Star Game

BY JAYCOHEN AP sportswriter

CHICAGO Jonquel Jones,Nneka Ogwumike and Dominique Malonga made WNBA history on Saturday night It was quite theAll-Star party in theleague’s30th season.

Jones had 22 points, 13 rebounds andeight assists, helping Caitlin Clark and Team Spoon outlast Marina Mabrey and Team Coop 129122 in the WNBA All-Star Game.

The LasVegas Convention andVisitorsAuthority offered in May 2024 a$100,000 sponsorship agreement to Aces players for each of the following two seasons. That amount exceeded the salaries for six of theplayers, accordingtoSpotrac. No suchagreement was offered forthis season, but player salaries alsodramaticallyroseafterthe newcollective-bargaining agreement was completed in May.Each Aces player earnsat least $270,000, according to Spotrac. The initial offer prompted theleague to launch aprobeinto whetheritskirted salary-cap rules.

“Wedid this the right way,” LVCVA president and CEO Steve Hill said at the time. “Wedid something that we think works forLas Vegas andIthink great for the players. We did this without theteam. It was ouridea and any questions theyask they’ll ﬁnd that out.”

Increasedcommunication

Engelbert said that theleague needstodobetter communicating with its players, whether its through texts or emails or some other form. Oneofthe chief complaintsfrom playershas been that they have no relationship with the commissioner.A’jaWilson said before the game that the only timeshe talks to Engelbert is when she’sreceiving trophies.

“I’ve been talking with theplayers about how much they want to hear fromus, howmuch they don’t,” Engelbert said. “Wedo send them alot of email updates andthingslike that.They’re a generation thatdoesn’tcheck email as much.Sowehave to get betterata textchain. We have to be better at it. it’s something certainly,likeifaplayerisgettinghonored or players gets hurt or something like, Itry to reach outto them, and, yeah. So we need to be better at it.There’sno doubt Ineed to bebetter.”

Engelbert’sfuture

Engelbertsidestepped aquestion about herfuture next season

“I’m so blessed to have to be at thehelm of this league during this incredible hypergrowth period. So blessed that these players are puttingthe product on the court,” she said.“Iwilljustcontinueto, you know,domyjob, execute the strategy because it has been working.”

Positive metrics

Engelbert said that thisisalready the most-watched WNBA season of all-time, withthe 117 broadcastsreaching over 73 million uniqueviewers. Twenty-nine of the games averaged over one million viewers— the most ever at theAll-Starbreak. Theyhad 11 all of last season

Before theteam made the trip to Vegas, ﬁrst-year Pelicans head coach Jamahl Mosley talked about what an opportunity like this could mean for the former ﬁrst-round draft pick.

“I think it’sgreat for Kobe,” Mosley said.“He’s been excellent in his communication with thecoaches inwhat he’strying to do and what we’reasking of him to do.Justbeafacilitator and attack the basket when he needsto. Defensively, canhe pickguys up full court? Can he make it harder for theother team’s point guard? It’sa great opportunity for him,but it’s a greatopportunity for all these guys to show what they are capable of doing.”

Now Bufkin will get to attend training camp and try to earn a roster spot.

Email RodWalker at rwalker@ theadvocate.com

Playing with aheavyheart afterthe death of an aunt, Jones wasnamed MVP.The 32-year-old New York Liberty center became theﬁrst player to winthe league, WNBAFinals,Commissioner’s Cup and All-Star MVP awards.

“Nomatterwhat mood I’min, basketball can pick me back up,” Jones said, “and so just leaning into that.”

Malonga had afirst-half dunk forTeam Coop,but Team Spoon had eight playersscoreindouble ﬁguresinanAll-StarGame that featured 127 3-point attempts and verylittledefense. Allisha Gray had19points for Team Spoon, and Clark ﬁnished with 17.

It was the ﬁrstWNBA All-Star GameinChicago since 2022. This time, themarquee eventwas played in front of arecord crowd of 19,783 at the United Center instead of the smaller Wintrust Arena in downtown Chicago.

“Tobeable to have tonight, have 19,000 people in thehighestattendance ever in the All-Star Game just really shows that our league is growing and people wanttobe around us and want to be apart of this and understand how special it is,” Jones said.

Ogwumike scored 11 points for Team Spoon while passing Maya Moore (119) for the most career pointsinAll-Star Game history

Kelsey Mitchell had 28 points for Team Coop, and Mabrey scored all of her 23 pointsduring ared-hot ﬁrst half. The 20-year-old Malonga ﬁnished with 12 points and13rebounds.

“I gottosee afew go down early,” said Mabrey,who matched the WNBA scoring record when she had 53 pointsfor Torontoina winover LosAngelesonJune25. “That’skind of like my thing. Get them up when they’re going in.”

WNBAgreats Cynthia Cooper

JAMES

Continuedfrom page1C

his MVP heyday,LeBronJames is still, wellLeBron Jamesand his addition should lift any team miredinthe NBA mucky middle such as the Sixers intocontention.

Throw himinto in alineupthat includesa league MVPinEmbiid, All-Stars Tyrese Maxeyand Jaylen Brown, and promising secondyear standout VJ Edgecombe, and it’snoshock the Sixers moved up few afew pegs Friday on the bettingboard and into the short list of favorites for an NBA title. Just not the favorite.

James is again chasing aring and his arrivalona two-year deal for the veterans’ minimum of about $3.9 million per season shook up the Sixers and put the Eastern Conference on notice —yes,even the NBA champion Knicks —that areal championshipcontender might ﬁnally emerge in Philly 76erswon theoffseason

Here they come, team of the year?

The Sixers earned straight A’son their summerschool report card even before James saidhewould sign withteam. The Sixers fired team president Daryl Morey and replaced him with longtime ClevelandexecutiveMikeGansey,who came out swinging for thefences in his first month on the job. He pulled off the shockerofa tradewithBoston that landed them Brown —the 2024 NBA Finals MVP, afive-time All-Starand theleague’sfourthleading scorer this past season.

It’s difﬁcult to fathom that an oftinjured Embiid —who won Olympic gold withJames —and Maxey alonewould have been enough to coax James to Philadelphia. Butadding astudlike Brown?

Brown surelyplayed akey deciding factor in James’ decision his “last” one, he says —and now theSixersboast perhaps thetop

andTeresa Weatherspoon drafted the All-Star teamsfrom players that were eithervoted as starters by fans, media and fellow players or chosen as reservesby the league’scoaches. Las Vegas’ BeckyHammon coached Cooper’s team, andMinnesota’sCheryl Reeve was in charge of Weatherspoon’ssquad.

Clark went5for 15 from beyond the arcand had ﬁveassists in her return to the All-Star game. The Indiana Fever guard missedlast year’sevent in Indianapolis because of agroin injury

“Lastyear really stunk being in our home city; younever want to miss that forthe fans,” Clark said. “I love to show up and compete.”

The 24-year-old Clark came out ﬁring, connecting from 33 feet and 37 feet on her wayto11points in the ﬁrst 21/2 minutes. She buried another 3early in the second quarter off a slickno-look pass from Minnesota Lynx guardOliviaMiles,the only rookie selected forthe game. Clarkand Mabrey each put on

starting ﬁveinthe NBA. Andboy,what abargain. There are some caveats, of course. James turns 42 in December and there are alot of mileson those legs. James battled injuries last season and played in only 60 games. Embiid has never been reliable, withonly 57 combined games played the last two seasons, and the Sixers have churned through aslew of imported stars overthe last decade —James Harden, Jimmy Butler,Paul George —and still haven’t advanced out of the second round since 2001.

There’sonly one ball and alot of talentthat has the resumetocommandit.

Butwith apologies to Wilt Chamberlain, many,many apologies, James becomes the most accomplishedplayer to ever wear a76ers uniform

He won’tbealone in that No. 23 uniform —Fanatics soldout almost instantly of his jerseys on Friday.

It’salsoa big win forfront ofﬁceboss Bob Myers, whoopenly pitched for James to sign in Philadelphia on his agent’spodcastand won fourchampionships as aGolden State Warriors executive. Powershiftsinthe East

The Sixers endedtheir season with asecond-round sweep to Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart andthe NBA champion Knicks.

The Knicks are still the team to beat. By talent, by virtueofwinning it all and, at least outofthe East, the betting favorite to again reach the NBAFinals.

The Knicks have largelystayed patwhile otherhopefulcontenders went for major moves.

The Heat —hey,when exactly is that presser? —liketheir chances after they traded with Milwaukee for Giannis Antetokounmpo. The two-time MVP was the latest on a long list of superstaracquisitions madesince Pat Riley arrived to take over as team presidentin1995.

Muchlike the Sixers before they acquired Brown, the Heat

an offensive show,but Malonga got the biggest cheer of the night. The 6-foot-6 centerfromthe Seattle Storm ran downthe lane, got apass from former LSU standout Angel Reese and threw down a right-handed jamwith6:24 left in the ﬁrst half Reese jumped up and down as Malonga finished the play,and the twoexchanged amid-air chest bump on theirway back down the court.

“The way she makes it look easy theexcitement around it,” said Paige Bueckers, who scored 12 points forTeam Coop. “I love Dom really happy forher in just how easy she makes it look.” It wasthe ﬁrst dunk in aWNBA All-Star Game since Sylvia Fowles in 2022. Lisa Leslie (2005), Jones (2017), Brittney Griner (2019) also have accomplished the feat. Leslie was on hand forthe festivities, alongwith South Carolina coach and former WNBA guard Dawn Staley.Former NBAstar Dwyane Wade also wascourtside.

are atwo-star team withAntetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo. Antetokounmpo,Adebayo andJames would have made them anew Big 3, much likewhenJames wontitles in MiamiwithDwyaneWadeand Chris Bosh. Toronto is hopeful for aresolution to their held-up trade with the Los AngelesClippers thatshould land them KawhiLeonard. The trade is on hold pending the outcome of the NBA’s investigation into whetherthe Clipperscircumvented salary cap rules.

Abad dayfor Cleveland

The Cavaliers would have loved asentimental third tour with Jamesand have thefranchise’s greatest playereventually retire in Cleveland.

Jamesinstead left theCavaliers in alurch, and they have to hope they can re-sign 36-year-old James Harden as part of alineup that includes Jarrett Allen, Evan Mobley and Donovan Mitchell. They will be projected to ﬁnish behindtheKnicksand76ersintheEast. Don’tforget,Detroitwon60games lastseasonandwouldliketoproveits early playoff exit was apart of the growing pains of acontender LeBron’s legacy

Look,James’legacy is setand not even aﬂameout in Philly is going to change his indelible stamp on the game from the court to the cash register

There is onemajor markhecould hit should he send theSixers on a parade route down Broad Street. He would become the ﬁrst player to win NBAtitleswithfourteams.

Sixers coach Nick Nurse turned 59 on Fridayand there’s no better professional gifthecould have received than LeBron James. Purchased on adiscount rack.

Look for LeBron on opening night in New York. Look for LeBronona Christmas game in Philadelphia. Look for LeBron to keep Sixers’ tickets sky high on the secondary market even on nights when Embiid sits.

ASSOCIATEDPRESS

PHOTOByNAM y. HUH

Team Spoon center Jonquel Jones, left,and Team Coop forward Natasha Howard, right, battlefor arebound during the All-Star game Saturdayin Chicago.

Seahawks open camp with key players on PUP

BY LUKE OLSON Associated Press

— Seattle Seahawks

RENTON,Wash.

head coach Mike Macdonald is ready to turn the page after capturing the franchise’s second Super Bowl in his second season at the helm.

“Look, I’m different than I was this time last year I’m different than I was at the end of the season. We got, I don’t know 30 percent of our rosters probably different,” Macdonald said Saturday “We got changes to our coaching staff We got guys with a new perspective. We’re all kind of new people here in this situation, which, by deﬁnition, makes us a new team too.”

Seattle opened training camp with much of its core in place. It did, however, lose key contributors this past offseason, such as Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III (Chiefs), safety Coby Bryant (Bears), linebacker Boye Mafe (Bengals), and cornerback Riq Woolen (Eagles)

It is unclear whether Seattle intends to replace Walker’s production, either by committee with the likes of Emanuel Wilson, who was signed in free agency after three seasons with the Green Bay Packers, rookie Jadarian Price, George Holani and Kenny McIntosh. Or, if the injured Zach Charbonnet will become the main option once he’s healthy Charbonnet was placed on the physically unable to perform list before camp after tearing his ACL in the divisional game against the San Francisco 49ers. He and Walker were part of a committee approach most of last season, but Charbonnett received a bulk of the carries in the red zone and capitalized with a career-high 12 touchdowns.

“He’s just attacked the heck out of the offseason in his rehab, as you’d expect, and the returns

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is about the difference between the Cardinals and the eighth-worst team. It was an all-around poor performance The field goal unit struggled throughout the course of the season (though things were better after Smyth took over). The punting unit routinely underperformed and also allowed two kicks to be blocked. The Saints’ best overall performance came from their punt returners, who finished 19th in average yards per return.

The lowdown

At bare minimum, the Saints should be a competent team when theirpuntingunitjogsontothefield. While New Orleans was struggling last season, Wright was enjoying one of the best years of his career He finished 2025 ranked No. 3 in the NFL in net punting average (44.5, more than eight yards better than the Saints’ total), No. 7 in average hang time (4.49 seconds) and No. 4 in touchback percentage (4.6%). He also had the longest punt in the NFL last season, a 77-yarder against the Cleveland Browns in London that traveled 63 yards in the air before rolling to the 2-yard line, where it was downed. Even if Wright doesn’t maintain that standard, he’s a safe bet to be better than what the Saints have trotted out since letting go of Morstead. Since the start of the 2021 season, 168 punters have recorded at least 20 punts in a season. The four players who have punted for the Saints in that span achieved the following ranks in gross punting average: 65 (Blake Gillikin), 109 (Gillikin), 138 (Kai Kroeger), 152 (Matthew Hayball) and 162 (Lou Hedley) In other words, three of the five are in the bottom 20th percentile. The return game had been steady for a long time in New Orleans, whether it was Deonte Harty or Rashid Shaheed back to strike fear into opposing specialists. But the Saints had a need after trading Shaheed to the Seattle Seahawks last offseason, and Brown should be the first to get a

have been what he deserved,” Macdonald said.

The Seahawks had a welcoming sight as second-year wide receiver Tory Horton was healthy and running routes all afternoon after a shin injury ended his season prematurely after a scintillating start to his rookie campaign.

After missing minicamp and OTA’s, there was optimism he would be ready to go at the start of training camp

“It’s great to see Tory back out there,” Macdonald said.

Horton, a ﬁfth-round pick out of Colorado State, scored six touchdowns in his first eight games with Seattle before he was placed on the injured reserve in November

He provides depth to an already deep wide receiver room with AP Offensive Player of the Year Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Cooper Kupp and last season’s midseason acquisition Rashid Shaheed.

The Seahawks also placed standout safety Nick Emmanwori on the PUP list after recently having ankle surgery, but there’s expectation he will be ready for their Wednesday night opener on Sept. 9 in a rematch with the New England Patriots.

He suffered a low sprain four days before the Super Bowl, but played through the injury

“I think the best way to describe it is something that he’s been dealing with since the Super Bowl,” Macdonald said. “He was able to perform, did some things in the offseason program, but he just got to the point where it was the best for him for the long term to just go ahead and get it ﬁxed.”

Emmanwori had 11 passes defended, an interception and 2.5 sacks in 14 games for Seattle.

But Macdonald wouldn’t conﬁrm — or deny — that the runnerup for Rookie of the Year would be available.

“He could play in the opener,” Macdonald said.

shot at ﬁlling it. Brown was an exceptional college football return man, setting the Southeastern Conference record for career kick-return touchdowns (six) during his time at Kentucky and LSU. It will be interesting to see if Brown gets a shot to return punts in the pros — in college, he returned only 11 punts in his career.

If Brown is unable to duplicate his success in the NFL, the Saints could lean on free agent signee Ty Chandler, who has a 25.7-yard career kick return average in the NFL (albeit in a limited sample size).

As for kicker, well Training camp battle

Smyth waited a long time to earn his place on an NFL active roster, spending about 18 months on the practice squad after signing from Ireland via the International Player Pathway And while he wasn’t perfect in his debut season — he drilled a game-winner in the closing seconds against Carolina and hit from 57 yards out, but he also missed four of his 11 ﬁeld goal attempts beyond 40 yards — he showed more than enough potential to merit a longer look.

It’s just a question of how long that look will be.

New Orleans has actively pursued competition for Smyth this offseason It signed (and subsequently released) former Texas kicker Mason Shipley after the draft and also worked out former Pro Bowler Younghoe Koo. But the most daunting challenge may come from Brown.

Some have compared Brown to Dallas Cowboys All-Pro kicker Brandon Aubrey, not only because of where they came from (Aubrey found immediate success after playing in the USFL; Brown is trying to make a similar leap from the UFL), but because of their powerful kicking legs.

While Smyth has shown more than enough leg in practice settings, hitting some that look like they’d be good from 70 yards, Brown has proven it in a game setting. He connected on a pair of 60-plus-yard ﬁeld goals in one UFL playoff game last year, following up a regular season in which he successfully converted 29 of his 32 kicks.

A reset in Kansas City

Reid brings rookies, QBs in early after last year’s collapse

BY DAVE SKRETTA AP sportswriter

ST JOSEPH, Mo.

The past few years, Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid had drifted away from bringing rookies and quarterbacks into training camp a few days early, reasoning that such a veteran team coming off deep playoff runs could do without it. After all, for a decade, the Chiefs had made at least the wild-card round. Many of those seasons ended in February

But the Chiefs collapsed last season, ﬁnishing a dismal 6-11 while losing quarterback Patrick Mahomes to a major knee injury There were signiﬁcant roster issues on both sides of the ball, depth problems at important positions that became exacerbated when injuries happened to other players, and it all meant an end to the season far earlier than anyone in Kansas City had expected.

So, with the team in need of a reset among other reasons Reid opted to bring his quarterbacks and rookies, along with a few other players coming off injuries, back to Missouri Western State University for a few days of work before the full squad arrives.

“I didn’t like not doing it last

year after I got done with it, to be honest with you,” Reid said of the three-day crash course, which continued through heat indexes topping triple digits Sunday “It’s a good thing for the quarterbacks, good thing for the rookies coming in. We do have more numbers (of rookies) this year, so it allows us to get more reps.

“I think,” Reid added, “that will beneﬁt us.”

It couldn’t hurt.

Start with the quarterbacks: Mahomes was cleared this past week to fully participate in training camp after undergoing surgery in December to repair torn knee ligaments. And while Reid insisted this week that the two-time MVP would have no limitations, there is nevertheless a certain comfort that comes with getting some reps without a full team ﬂying around him.

“You just have to build that conﬁdence back,” Mahomes said, “and I’m glad I get to do that from Day 1 of training camp. I didn’t want to have to get only a couple of weeks of practice in and then have to go play a game. I wanted to build it up, see how training camp goes as we gradually build, and so I think that’ll help me get back to where I need to be.”

For the next two QBs on the depth chart, there’s the matter of learning the offense.

The Chiefs swung a trade with the Jets to bring in Justin Fields as the veteran backup, in part to have someone capable of winning

a couple of games should Mahomes be unable to start Week 1. Their young project QB is Garrett Nussmeier, the once-heralded college star from LSU who fell all the way to the 249th overall pick in the NFL draft last April.

Beyond the quarterbacks, though, is the chance to get some extra work for a rookie class — more than two dozen are in camp — that Kansas City will be leaning upon more heavily than perhaps any other point in Reid’s tenure.

Defensive back Mansoor Delane, the first cornerback taken in the draft, is expected to start Week 1, and he may not be the only first-year player on the field. The Chiefs’ other first-round pick, defensive tackle Peter Woods, could find himself playing alongside perennial Pro Bowl pick Chris Jones, while pass rusher R Mason Thomas will be counted upon to pressure the quarterback. That makes every extra rep they can get before the veterans arrive invaluable.

“I’m super grateful for the three days (of rookie camp),” Woods said. “I told someone earlier that the veterans, they have a standard for what they want to see from us young guys. Just coming in and being able to have some days to prepare myself to be able to mesh well with the veterans, that means a lot to me. Not everyone gets a chance to do that.”

Not in Kansas City Not the past few years.

Brissett agrees to reworked 1-year deal with Cardinals, is likely Week 1 starter

BY DAVID BRANDT Associated Press

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Now that Jacoby Brissett has his new contract with the Arizona Cardinals, the veteran quarterback is ready to go to work with ﬁrst-year coach Mike LaFleur and help the team bounce back from last season’s 3-14 record.

But ﬁrst, he’s looking forward to some quality rest.

“I’m pretty sure I’ll probably sleep more than three hours tonight,” Brissett said with a grin.

Brissett and the Cardinals agreed to a reworked one-year deal Sunday worth a reported $15.5 million and LaFleur conﬁrmed that the veteran is the team’s likely starter for Week 1.

The 33-year-old Brissett was unhappy with his previous contract, which included just $1.5 million of guaranteed money for the upcoming season He reported for training camp last week, but was limited during practices while he and the Cardinals worked on the deal. Brissett said it got “dark a couple times” during negotiations, but he had enough conﬁdence in himself to persevere. This will be his 11th NFL season.

“It felt good to be back out there,” Brissett said. “Standing around wasn’t particularly fun.”

Brissett was the team’s starter for the final 12 games last year after Kyler Murray suffered a season-ending foot injury He did well individually with a careerhigh 3,366 yards passing, 23 touchdowns and eight interceptions, but the Cardinals had a 1-11 record in those games.

LaFleur confirmed that Brissett’s deal was done before Sunday’s practice and said that the quarterback would begin working with the starters soon. The team’s other main options under center are veteran Gardner Minshew and rookie Carson Beck.

“It hasn’t been a distraction by any means I think we’ve got some very mature and professional players,” LaFleur said. “But it’s just one more thing that we don’t have to talk about.”

Brissett is a popular presence in the Cardinals’ locker room and some players — most notably eight-time Pro Bowl safety Budda Baker — were publicly supportive of a new deal for the quarterback.

“I think that’s the ultimate reward of this game, the respect of your teammates,” Brissett said. “That’s what I pride myself

on. That’s the only thing I really value. Contracts come and go but your teammates and the people you work with, the ones who want to go bat for you, that’s what matters most.”

LaFleur said he wasn’t worried about Brissett’s lost practice time. The quarterback didn’t practice with the team during the offseason because of the contract situation.

“He’s got a level head about himself,” LaFleur said. “He’s been in a lot of different systems and heard a lot of different things and seen a lot of different things. He’s had the ups and downs with teams. He’s in a good spot and I’m excited to really start working with him.” The Cardinals open the preseason Aug. 6 against the Carolina Panthers in the Hall of Fame game in Canton, Ohio.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By CHARLIE RIEDEL Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes talks with coach Andy Reid in between drills during training camp Saturday in St. Joseph, Mo.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ROSS D FRANKLIN Arizona Cardinals quarterback Jacoby Brissett throws a pass during training camp on Sunday in Glendale, Ariz.

BY ROBIN MILLER | Staff writer

What started out as asimple internet search ended with alost piece of Louisiana entertainment history for Michael Wynne. Now Wynne, the Alexandria historian,iscuriousastowhy there isn’t astate historical marker dedicated to Spencer Williams Jr.inVidalia, where he was bornonJuly14, 1893.

Who is Spencer Williams Jr.? He’sprobably bestknownfor hisﬁnal acting role as Andrew “Hogg”Brown, or simply Andy,inCBS’s1950s era television version of “The Amos ‘n’ Andy Show.” The show began as anightlyradio program in the1920s featuring White actors. Racial stereotypes stirred intense controversy,and the television series was canceled

Smearcampaign

Museum honors late artist within enough peanut butter to make 15,000 sandwiches

BY MOLLYQUELL Associated Press

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands More than 800 pounds of peanut butter —enough for around 15,000 sandwiches —has beenspread across the ﬂoor of amuseum in the Netherlandsintribute to Dutch artist WimT.Schippers, who died last month. The conceptual artist, who diedatthe age of 83, ﬁrst created the Pindakaasvloer,or

peanut butter floor,in1969. Thework was unveiled in June at theDepot offshoot of Museum Boijmans VanBeuningen in theDutch port cityofRotterdam for atwo-month show Schippers was abeloved nonconformist character in the Netherlands,where he also voiced Ernie and Kermit the Frog in the Dutchversionof “SesameStreet,” and created

Workers spread peanut butter on a floor to recreate the ‘Peanut Butter Floor’ artwork in tribute to Dutchartist WimT.Schippers at the Museum Boijmans VanBeuningen in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Thebagel’s journeyto American breakfast staple

BY JOSH CORNFIELD Associated Press

NEW YORK The bagel in America is an immigrant story with a hole in the middle. It came to AmericawithEastern European Jews escaping poverty andantisemitism. It landed in NewYork street carts and neighborhood bakeries.Later, it madeits way to supermarket freezer aisles andinto the breakfast order of so many every day. And like every food story,itstarts withthe first bite. As alayer of crunch prepares your brain foracrusty piece of bread, it’simmediately met by thesoft yetdense chew of the inside. Eating the two textures together brings afeeling of joy, along with whatever toppings you’ve added.

Aschmear of cream cheese to keep it simple.A flavored spread to adda bitofzest. Or abagel topped taller than the human mouth can handle with ﬁsh,tomato, cucumberand red onions. And we haven’teven talked about the ﬂavor choices.

Asimple plain or egg bagel works for some (no judgment). Others insist on seeds —poppy, sesame—orshards of onion or salt. Others say it’snot abagel unless it’saneverything, each bite snapping back at you with adifferent cascade of ﬂavors. Puristswilltellyou to keep it simple. But with abagel, like so much in American life, you can have it any way you’d like.

AP PHOTO By DARIO LOPEZ-MILLS Aplain bagel with creamcheese

ä See CURIOUS, page 2D

ä See BAGEL, page 2D

PROVIDED PHOTO

Asign at the endofthe Mississippi bridgeconnectingConcordia Parish to AdamsCounty, Mississippi, at Natchez, welcomes travelers to thetownofVidalia. Vidalia was Black filmmaker Spencer Williams Jr.’snative home.

CURIOUS

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While perusing the internet for afavoritechildhood episode of the TV comedy, Wynne discoveredthat Williams not only made ﬁlmmaking history, but he maintained hisLouisiana roots.

“He kept ownership of two lots of land in the Bingham addition in Vidalia until his death,” Wynne said. “He also married a Louisiana woman, Olivia Jones, in 1929, and had one daughter.” Williams was considered one of the top pioneers in Black cinema.

“He paved the way for Black actors and Black directors in the movie industry,” Wynne said. “They wouldn’thavehad those opportunities in the early movie industry if it wasn’t for Williams.”

Whynoremembrance?

But the “Amos ‘n’ Andy” controversy eclipsed Williams’ career “Forget about ‘Amos ‘n’ Andy,’”Wynne said. “Spencer Williams should be honoredfor his pioneering work. So, why isn’tthere a historical marker honoring him?” Then again, Wynne already knows the answer Williams fell out of favor with Hollywood after CBS canceled its Thursday night series on June 11, 1953, and faded into obscurity.Wynne knows that if he didn’tknow Williams’ story,neither did others. So, no marker But that wasn’tthe case when Williams was on television. Archived editions of The Advocate and The Times-Picayune include photos of the actor,along with mentions that he was aLouisianan from Vidalia during the series’ run. And historians have since written of Williams.

Historian G. William Jones’ short biography of Williams for the Texas State Historical Association’s “Handbook of Texas,” notes that Williams moved from Vidalia to New York in his teens. Texas was both his home and ﬁlmmaking base in the 1940s, but as ateenager in New York, Williams worked as a“call boy,” or stagehand, for theater impresario Oscar Hammerstein —grandfather to playwright-lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II, who would co-write and stage some of Broadway’smost legendary musicals Williams eventually left New York and enrolled at

HONORS

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absurdist andsillyworks that challenged conventional ideas about the meaning of art.

“Isn’titfantastic that we are all standing here looking at peanut butter?” Schippers told journalists gathered at the Central Museum in Utrecht in 1997 where Pindakaasvloer was on display for the second time. Schipperscreatedthe work as part of aFloor Covering Series, which also included floors covered with glass shards and salt. The aroma, redolent of breakfasts and lunch boxes, is what lingers with many who experience thework first hand. Museum staff directed visitors for the opening to “follow the smell” which was wafting by the ticket counter, three floors below where the artwork is laid out.

Cognitiveshufflingcan help with fallingasleep

Dear Doctors: Irecently read about away to fall asleep faster where you think about awordfor afew seconds and then move on to another word. Itrieditusing awordfor everyletter in the alphabet and never got much beyond J. Is there an explanation for why this would work?

PUBLIC DOMAIN

Amovie poster for Spencer Williams Jr.’s1941 selfproduced film ‘The Blood of Jesus’

theUniversity of Minnesota, but his time there was cutshortbythe U.S.Army

“In 1914, he began his four-year Army service at Fort Slocum,New York,” Wynne said. “He became Gen.JohnJ.‘Black Jack’ Pershing’spersonalbugler in Mexico, while the general was on thetrail of Pancho Villa. After World War Istarted,Spencer served extensively in military intelligence in France after hispromotion to sergeant major.”

After that, it was back to New York,where Williams recorded the duet “ItFeels So Good” with native New Orleansjazz guitarist LonnieJohnson on theOkeh Race Records label, which targeted African American audiences. New Orleans’ King Oliver and Louis Armstrong also produced early recordings on the label with Armstrong eventuallymakingmusichistory

Taking adifferent path

ButWilliams’ recording would point him down adifferent path.

“Williams’ work in the New York recording industry led to an invitation to movetoHollywood as a sound technician for Christy Studios,” Jones writes. “Like other studios, Christy was gearing up to meet the new challenge of sound motion pictures. Al Christy, thestudio head, began making aseries of Black cast short ﬁlms adapted from themagazinestories of Jewish writer Octavus Roy Cohen.”

Christy asked Williams to write the scripts to give the dialogue amore authentic sound. By the 1930s, Williams also was acting in these ﬁlms produced for Black audiences.

“Williams also wroteand appeared in theﬁrst horror ﬁlm with an all-black cast, ‘Son of Ingagi’ (1940),”

The thing Iremember is the smell,”Mieke Weismann told The Associated Press. Thefood photographer and writersaw the1997exhibition as ateenager The artinstallation may notbefor everybody. Asign at the museum’sentrance warns visitors with peanut allergies that they mightnot want to enter thespace It took two employees of theMuseum Boijmans Van Beuningen several days to spread 40 bucketsofpeanut butter acrossa 270-squarefoot hexagon. “Itwas alot of work,” Leon Duenk, one of the two men who installed the artwork, told AP

Thepair used drywall trowelstosmear the peanut butter to athickness of 0.8 inch. Prior to hisdeaththe museum and Schippers discussed how to recreatethe work in the future,producing a20-point plan that included therequirement to apply the peanut butter “as

Jones writes. “In theearly 1940s, Williams met Al Sack, aDallas-based ﬁlm distributor whose company, Sack AmusementEnterprises, provided ‘ethnic ﬁlms’ for manytheaters in theSouthwest.”

Anditwas in Dallas where Sack financially backed Williams in aseries of feature films for Black audiences, resulting in 10 filmsfor which Williams wrote, directed and acted.

“Sack evidently gave Williams the freedom to shape thefilms as he saw fit,” Jones writes.“Unlike mostofthe genre, Williams’ filmsare generally faithful to realityand unmarred by stereotypes.”

Probably Williams’ most noted movie was the 1941 feature, “The Blood of Jesus,”ﬁlmed for $5,000 by the Amegro FilmCo.,founded by Williamsthat sameyear National Registry of Films

According to thenonproﬁt Black history website BlackPast.org, “The Blood of Jesus” is “considered one of the most effective depictions of Black church life in the South and was selected by the United States Congress for entry into the National RegistryofFilms in 1991.” The website also pointsout that Williams also composed music.

Then came 1951, when Williams landed the role of Andy

“Although he is best remembered for his role as slow-witted, often duped and frequently unemployed Andy,Williams later protested the demeaning public images in which Hollywood subjected Blacks to portray,” BlackPast.org states. “He pressed for moreserious depictions of Blacksinmotion pictures and attempted to rectify thestereotypical climate by making movies after the ‘Amos ‘n’ Andy’ series that were more in line with African American life.”

ButWilliams’ attempts failed. He died of kidney failure in his Los Angeles homeonDec. 13, 1969.

“His tombstone in the Los Angeles National Military Cemetery notes his home stateasLouisiana,” Wynne said. “His life is worthy of ahistorical marker and a book.”

Do you have aquestion about something in Louisiana that’s got you curious? Email your questionto curiouslouisiana@ theadvocate.com. Include your name, phone number and thecitywhere you live.

smoothly and boringly as possible” and that “no one is supposed to stand in, or lie down on the peanut butter.”

Schippers didnot specify the size or shape of the work, buthedid sayitneeded to be smooth peanut butterand that he preferred the Dutch peanut butter brand Calvé. Thecompanydonated 40 tubs of peanut butter for the work.

Multiple visitors stepped intothe artwork when it was on display in 2011. In 1997, the work was “vandalized” when agroup of people placed 12 slices of bread andseveral bags of hagelslag —chocolate sprinkles commonly eaten on bread at breakfast in the Netherlands —onthe ﬂoor

“It doesn’tlook bad,” Schippers toldDutch newspaper Volkskrantatthe time. “The sprinkles have been applied with asense of proportion and askillful hand.”

AP writer Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands, contributed.

Dear Reader: Youare referring to asleep technique known as cognitive shuffling. Developed about 15 years ago by aresearcher in Canada, it is meantto ease the mind into adiffuse and almost dreamlike state. For manyofus, gettingthe brain to power down at the end of the day can be achallenge. We replay events,review unsolved problemsorunfinished tasks and jump ahead to tomorrow.Cognitiveshuffling was designed to interruptthat spiral. As you have described, thetechnique involves visualizing something neutral or pleasant for afew seconds, then shifting your attention to anew mental image. In one widely shared example, the starting word for acognitive shuffle is “cake.”The person uses each letter of theword as aprompt for a series of unrelated images. For theletter C, they might picture acloud, acelery

By The Associated Press

Today is Monday,July 27, the208th day of 2026. There are 157 days left in theyear

TodayinHistory: On July 27, 1953, the Korean Armistice Agreement was signed at Panmunjom, ending three years of ﬁghting on the Korean peninsula that killed an estimated 4million people.

Also on this date: In 1789, President George Washington signed ameasure establishing the Department of Foreign Affairs, forerunner of the Department of State.

In 1909, during thefirst official test of theU.S. Army’s first airplane, Orville Wright flew himself and apassenger,Lt. Frank Lahm, aboveFort Myer, Virginia, for one hour and 12 minutes.

In 1940, Billboardmagazine publishedits ﬁrst “music popularity chart” listing bestselling retail records.

In ﬁrst place was “I’ll Never Smile Again” recorded by Tommy Dorseyand His Orchestra,with featured vocalist Frank Sinatra.

In 1974, theHouse Judiciary Committee voted 27-11 to adopt the ﬁrst of three articles of impeachmentagainst President

BAGEL

Continuedfrom page1D

The bagel started in Jewish communitiesinPoland and was brought here by Eastern European Jews escaping growing antisemitism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. After arriving from Poland, Harry Lender worked at aNew Jersey bakery to earnenough to bring his family to America. His sons grew thefamily’s workfrom their New Haven, Connecticut,bakeryto supermarkets around the country withfrozen bagels.

Thebagel,then, is anotherstory of thesuccess of immigrantsinAmerica The shopsthatnow sell them are run by families of those original immigrants and new groups who’ve come for abetter life.

Butnomatter how far the bagel spreads, it maintains aspecial place for American Jews. Many moments in the circle of life for Jews in America include boiled rings of dough stacked high to celebrate or eat away the grief.

Dr.Elizabeth Ko

Dr.Eve Glazier ASK THEDOCTORS

stalk, acolander and a candle before moving on to words beginning with A, then Kand finally E. Your technique of running through the alphabet using pleasant or neutral images achieves the sameresult. Although it can seem like asimple mental exercise, this approach has roots in sleep science. It mimics apresleep state known as hypnagogic imagery.This is abrief, transitional phase that occurs as we gradually let go of wakefulness. The phase lasts anywhere from one to five minutes. It is marked by vivid and fragmented imagery,almost like microdreams. The brain hopscotches from one scenario to another as it moves into the first stage of sleep. When you practice cognitive shuffling, you recreate that same drifting, disjointed flow For those whowould like to try cognitive shuffling, there are afew simple guidelines to keep in mind.

TODAYINHISTORY

Richard Nixon, charging he had personally engaged in acourse of conduct designed to obstruct justice in the Watergate case.

In 1980, on day 267 of the Iranian hostage crisis, the deposed Shah of Iran died at amilitary hospital outside Cairo, Egypt, at age 60.

In 1981, 6-year-old Adam Walsh was abducted from adepartment store in Hollywood, Florida, and waslater killed (Adam’s father,John Walsh, subsequently becameavictims’ rights activist and, in 1988, launched and hosted the television show “America’s Most Wanted”).

In 1996, terror struck the Atlanta Olympics as apipe bombexploded at Centennial Olympic Park, directly killing one person and injuring 111. (Antigovernment extremist Eric Rudolph later pleaded guilty to the bombing, exonerating security guard Richard Jewell, whohad been wrongly suspected.)

In 2012, Britain opened its SummerOlympic Games in acelebrationofOld England andnew,evencheekily featuring stunt doublesfor Queen Elizabeth II andﬁctionalspecial agentJames Bond parachuting into Olympic Stadium.

Whether it’sastarting word (the “cake” example) or,asthe letter writer does, running the alphabet, use the approach that feels easiest. Choose neutral or pleasant words and images. The idea is to avoid things that might lead to the concentrated thought involved in planning or problem-solving. Currently,research into cognitive shuffling is limited. It seemstobemost useful when an overactive brain blocks the path to sleep. The technique may be less effective for people with high levels of arousal. This could be due to stimulating activity like intense exercise or using stimulants such as caffeine. People with chronic insomnia or those with sleep disorders often need moretargeted care. Whatever the scientific basis for the success of cognitive shuffling turns out to be, the fact that you haven’t yet had to come up with K or LorMimages suggests it is working foryou. Sendyour questions to askthedoctors@mednet. ucla.edu,orwrite: Ask the Doctors,c/o UCLA Health Sciences Media Relations, 10880 WilshireBlvd., Suite 1450, Los Angeles, CA, 90024.

In 2015, the Boy Scouts of America ended its blanket ban on gay adult leaders while allowing churchsponsored Scout units to maintain the exclusion for religious reasons. In 2020, the world’sbiggest COVID-19 vaccine study began with the first of 30,000 planned volunteers helping to test shots created by the National Institutes of Health and Moderna Inc. Today’sbirthdays: Singersongwriter Bobbie Gentry is 84. Actor-director Betty Thomas is 79. Olympic gold medal figure skater Peggy Fleming is 78. Singer Maureen McGovern is 77. Comedian-actor-writer Carol Leifer is 70. Comedian Bill Engvall is 69. Actor-martial artist Donnie Yenis63. Jazz singer Karrin Allyson is 63. Rock musician Juliana Hatfield is 59. Former professional wrestler Triple His57. Actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is 56. Comedian Maya Rudolph is 54. Rock musician Abe Cunningham (Deftones) is 53. Singersongwriter Pete Yorn is 52. Former MLB All-Star Alex Rodriguez is 51. Actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers is 49. Actor/comedian Heidi Gardner (TV:“Saturday Night Live”) is 43.

ASSOCIATEDPRESS PHOTOByDARIO LOPEZ-MILLS Abreakfast egg and cheese on an ‘everything’ bagel

LEO (July 23-Aug.22) Choose to do something that encourages you to learn and experience something new and exciting. Connect with people who share your concerns and interests. Anger is awaste of time and effort.

VIRGO(Aug. 23-sept. 22) Reach out to those already doing somethingyou want to pursue,but don't bank on having the sameexperience.Fine-tune your path forward to bypass thepitfalls others encountered.

LIBRA (sept.23-Oct. 23) Keep personal information asecret. Takecare of matters withinstitutions, government agencies and authorityfigures. Researching somethingwill helpyou determinethe best alternatives to implement.

scORPIO (Oct. 24-nov. 22) Speak up. Honesty is the bestway to stifle negativity. Stop worryingabout who walks away. If aconnection is causingyou grief,let it go. Take the path that offers food for thought.

sAGIttARIus (nov. 23-Dec.21) Allisgood if youtakecare of your health andphysical well-being. Taking on too much or more than youcan handle will leave you subject to risk and injury

cAPRIcORn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Address issues concerning legalities, health issues andyour financial future with those whoinfluence your lifestyle and how you proceed. Acommitment will help you get back on track.

AQuARIus (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Keep your thoughts to yourself. Listen,learn and formulate aplanthat encourages you

to broaden your awareness, needs and what youwanttopursue.Alifestyle changeisoverdue.

PIscEs (Feb. 20-March 20) Pay attention to detailand what others think and do. If you become aspokesperson and articulate your thoughtsand plans, you'll attract peoplewho wanttoachieve the same goals.

ARIEs(March 21-April 19) If you take the plunge andlet your imagination lead the way, you'lldevise innovative ideas and plans that will help youshine in your professional arena.

tAuRus (April 20-May20) Letting situations,peopleand worry take up your time will result in few accomplishments.Put your timetogood use, focus on physical activitiesand reiterate to those close to youwhatyou feelis important.

GEMInI (May 21-June 20) An instinctive move on your part or that of someone close to youwill have two parts —benefits will unfold, but the cost and emotional mayhem that transpires mayput adamperonthe outcome.

cAncER (June 21-July 22) Slow down, breatheand focus on whatbrings you peace andjoy.Refuse to let mixedemotions causeproblems withassociates lovers or friends.Pay more attention to your surroundings.

FAMILY CIrCUS

CelebrityCipher cryptograms are created from quotations by famous people, past and present. Each letter in the cipher stands foranother. tODAy's cLuE:W EQuALs L

beetLe bAILeY

Mother GooSe And GrIMM

Sudoku

InstructIons: sudoku is anumber-placing puzzle based on a9x9 grid with several given numbers. The object is to place thenumbers 1to9inthe empty squaressothat each row, each column and each 3x3 boxcontainsthe samenumber only once. The difficulty level of thesudoku increasesfrommonday to sunday

Saturday’s PuzzleAnswer

THewiZard oF id

BLondie

BaBY BLueS

Hi and LoiS

CurTiS

By PHILLIP ALDER

ZigZiglar,awriter,salesmanandmotivational speaker who died in 2012, said, “You were born to win, buttobea winner,youmustplantowin,preparetowin, andexpect to win.” To succeed in abridgedealmay require takinga winner at the right moment. Atrick too soon or too late may provefatal.

In today’sdeal, South is in fourspades West leadsthe clubqueen. What should declarer do?

In the auction,South probablyshould have rebid three no-trump. With eight winners, he needed partner to provide only one more trick, or forthe opening lead to be alow heart away from the ace. Declarer apparently hasthese 10 tricks: six spades, one heart, twodiamonds andone club.

However, to get thatheart trick,South has to lead his king to drive out the ace, then gettothe dummy to cash the queen.

Andapparentlythe only dummy entry, theclubace,hasbeenremovedbyWest’s openinglead.Well,ifaheart trick is impossible, maybe South’s10thtrick can be aclubruffindummy

Some players would takethe first trick andreturn aclub, but thedefender who wonthat trick would surely shift to a trump to stop declarer’s club ruff.

wuzzles

Instead, suppose West is allowed to take trick one. What will he do next?

If he leads atrump, South wins, draws trumps,andleadstheheartkingtoestablish dummy’s queen, with the club ace stillontheboard.IfWestcontinuesclubs, thendeclarercanruffaclubontheboard for the required extra winner. ©2026 by nEa, inc., dist. By andrewsmcmeel syndication

Each Wuzzle is aword riddle which creates adisguised word, phrase, name, place, saying, etc. Forexample:nOOn gOOD =gOOD aFTErnOOn

Previous answers:

InstRuctIOns: 1. Words mustbeoffour or more letters. 2. Words that acquire four letters by the addition of “s,”

marmaduKe

Bizarro

hagar the horriBle

Pearls Before swiNe

garfield

B.C.

PiCKles

hidato mallard

dIrectIons: make a2-to 7-letter word from the lettersineach row.add points of each word using scoring directions at right. Finally, 7-letter words get 50-point bonus. “Blanks” used as any letter have no point value. all the words are in the Official sCraBBlE® players Dictionary, 5th Edition. For moreinformation on tournamentsand clubs, email naspa –north american sCraBBlE playersassociation:info@scrabbleplayers.org. Visitour website: www.scrabbleplayers.org. For puzzleinquiries contact scrgrams@gmail.com. Hasbro andits logo sCraBBlE associated logo,the design of thedistinctive sCraBBlE

and

ken ken

InstructIons: 1 -Each row and each column must contain the numbers 1thorugh 4(easy) or 1through 6 (challenging) without repeating. 2 -The numbers within the heavily outlined boxes, called cages, must combine using the given operation (in any order) to produce the target numbers in the top-left corners. 3 -Freebies: Fill in the single-box cages with the number in the top-left corner.

WiShinG Well

HErE is aplEasanTliTTlE

Saturday’s Puzzle Answer

Scrabble GramS

Get fuzzy

jump Start

roSe iS roSe animal crackerS

DuStin

Drabble