The Times-Picayune 08-04-2026

‘It’sgoing to be a

FANTASTICYEAR’

NewOrleans students beginreturning to school

BY MARIE FAZIO Staff writer

Freshmen at AbramsonSci Academy in New OrleansEast helped kick off the new school year Monday as they stepped off school buses and onto campus, ready to begin their high school careers.

They were greeted by athrong of Abramson alumni decked out in blue and red, who cheered the newest Commodores and waved a“Welcome class of 2030” sign.Inside, Principal Sasha Myers told the ninth graders they had no time to waste.

“Wehave four short years to have some fun,”she said, “and get you throughthose doors with ascholarship in one hand anda collegeacceptance in the other.”

New Orleans studentsbegin returning to schoolthisweek, though the first day varies across the city’s nearly 70 charter schools. TheLeah Chase School, the city’sonly districtrun public school, startsclasses Fri-

BY MARYCLARE JALONICK and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER

senators who threatened toblock acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s confirmation to lead the

day It’salready stacking up to be a busy year.Schools must contend with thestate’snew school-grading system, afunding cutthatispartof

Justice Department saidMonday that they will supporthis nomination, ending an impasse over plans to create afund to compensateallies of President Donald Trump.

SAINTS CAMP LB KadenElliss back whereNFL career started 1C

Moreno changing S&WB board

Four memberstobereplaced as city begins to exertmore controloverutility

BY BEN MYERS Staff writer

Daysafter astate lawgranted her expanded power,Mayor Helena Moreno took steps to replace four membersonthe Sewerage &Water Board as part of City Hall’seffort to assert more control of the embattled utility Under aproposal the City Council will consider at afuture meeting, four board members —Tyler Antrup, H. Davis Cole, Courtney Scrubbs and Joseph Peychaud —will be dismissed, according to the Moreno administration. Those members and others were appointedbyformer MayorLaToya Cantrell. The nomineestoreplace themare Corrine Villavaso, Leslie Bouie, David Gallo and Kathryn Walmsley Twoother board members, Jonathan Stewart and Kimberly Thomas, are being renominated for newfour-year terms within apartially restructured board that will operate under new rules. In her weekly social media video on Sunday,Moreno said the utility has suffered from

BY SOPHIE KASAKOVE Staff writer

officials want to delay $35 million in infrastructure projects and use reimbursements and rainyday fundstoplug a$110 millioncash hole created in July when Moreno backed away from aplantosell city bonds amid pushback from state officials. Withoutthosemeasures, the

AbramsonSci Academyninth graders wasted no timediving into classwork on the firstday of school on Monday.

STAFF PHOTOSByCHRIS GRANGER

BRIEFS FROM WIRE REPORTS

Trump: Pirro ‘folded’ on reflecting pool case

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump said Monday that U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro “choked” and “folded like an umbrella” in moving to drop charges against a former Olympian accused of vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

Speaking at an unrelated Oval Office event, Trump ducked questions about whether he’d fire Pirro, a former Fox News host and longtime ally he handpicked as top federal prosecutor in the nation’s capital. But the president kept up his drumbeat of sharp criticism, saying he remained disappointed by her assessment that damage to the reflecting pool was the result of shoddy construction, not vandalism.

“Frankly I think she choked because the judge was really vicious. Instead of going after the people that did it, the judge went after her and went after her department, and I guess she choked,” Trump said in response to a reporter’s question after he signed an executive order for military spouses. “I don’t know what the hell happened.”

The move to dismiss charges against David Hearn was an embarrassing setback for the Justice Department and marked a rare moment during Trump’s second term of an aide or political appointee openly defying him. After initially posting on social media over the weekend, “I disagree 100% with Jeanine Pirro,” Trump was still fuming two days later, insisting for several minutes that vandalism had marred the troubled project.

“I was disappointed with Jeanine Pirro, really disappointed,” the president said Monday “She folded like an umbrella.”

States sue to block feds from sharing data

More than 20 states and the District of Columbia sued the Trump administration on Monday to block it from getting wide access to the personal information of millions of recipients of a benefits program for low-income families.

The case is the latest legal action between states and the federal government over the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, which like other public programs have come under scrutiny from the Trump administration as sources of potential fraud.

The coalition of states sued in federal court in Washington to stop the agency that controls the program from moving ahead with a rule that would allow it to share recipients’ immigration status, Social Security numbers and additional personal information with other parts of government or potentially with private entities, according to the lawsuit.

“Instead of helping families struggling with the rising cost of living, this administration is trying to turn antipoverty programs against the people they’re supposed to serve,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement.

Nauru changes its name to Naoero

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — The Pacific Island country of Nauru has changed its name to the Republic of Naoero, its president said, matching the spelling and pronunciation in the national language.

The country’s international code will change from NRU to NRO and its people will be known as dei-Naoero instead of Nauruan. Commonly known abroad by the pronunciation of Now-roo, the new name is spoken as Now-ero. The move would return the remote South Pacific island nation to its traditional name, a statement posted Thursday to the government’s Facebook account said. The country became known internationally as Nauru only because its local name was difficult for foreigners to pronounce and was a matter of convenience rather than one of choice, according to an earlier government statement.

“This proposed change seeks to more faithfully honor our nation’s heritage, our language, and our identity,” President David Adeang said when he proposed the move to Parliament in January

Trump: Talks are ‘last chance’ for Iran deal

BY AAMER MADHANI Associated Press

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump has played this hand before during the 5-month-old Iran war — but this time, he insists it’s different.

The president on Monday said that new talks between Washington and Tehran are the “last chance” for Iran to forge a deal and avoid an escalation of U.S. strikes on the country

Trump, speaking at the Oval Office, said he expects negotiations will focus on reopening the Strait of Hormuz and create a pathway for Iran to address the United States’ concerns about its nuclear program. He told reporters they would likely learn about the status of the negotiations “today or tomorrow.”

“The first phase is the opening of the straits. The second phase will be the denuclearization,” the Republican president said. “And that will take a little while.”

While Trump has reveled in the U.S. military decimating layers of Tehran’s leadership and devastating its air force and navy, Iran is betting it can outlast Trump as he faces diminished stockpiles of munitions and the difficulty of executing a war that’s unpopular with the American electorate ahead of November’s midterm election.

Trump said he decided to hold off on ordering American forces to carry out new massive strikes against Iran at the urging of Gulf allies Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

He said a plan was in place for U.S. forces to carry out “the biggest attack since World War II” on Sunday But he decided to scrap the plan and give diplomacy more time to play out after hearing from key Gulf leaders — including Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — as well as at the request of unnamed Iranian officials

But Trump reiterated that he’s running out of patience with Iran.

“This the last chance for them to sign a good document,” Trump said.

Earlier Monday, Trump had criticized Iran on social media as being “unbelievably duplicitous.”

His ire was raised by Iran claiming that its meetings with Oman on Monday were focused solely on establishing a temporary route for safe navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway for the global oil trade

“They ask for a meeting, some would say ‘beg,’ talks begin, with more scheduled in the immediate future, and they say openly and proudly that they’re not having any discussions, that nothing is be-

ing talked about, and they’re only dealing with Oman,” Trump grumbled.

Trump said whether “Iran wants to admit it or not, we are, in fact, talking” about preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

Trump has threatened to escalate attacks on Iran only to edge away from his threats several times since the start of U.S. and Israel strikes on Feb. 28.

Asked by a reporter how Americans view him repeatedly making grim threats on Tehran before backing away, Trump responded that he’s showing patience out of a consideration for Iranian life.

“I want to give them every last chance before decapitation,” Trump said. He added, “Hopefully, they’ll come to their senses.”

Trump may still come to the conclusion that a massive escalation in the conflict with Iran is necessary

But critics say his hesitation also might reflect an unspoken understanding inside the administration that U.S. military might alone may not be enough to compel Iran to back down and bring an end to a now monthslong war that Trump had earlier downplayed as a weekslong excursion.

“I think what we’re seeing here is a president who has an approach that’s just rather erratic,” Sen. Mark Kelly an Arizona Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said on CBS News’ “Face the Nation.” “At this point, he’s trying to get us back to February And I think if he could if he had a big reset button he could hit — he would certainly take that option.”

With this latest episode, Trump suggested that the Saudi crown prince played a particularly important role in him turning away from escalating the fight

The U.S. president spoke by phone with the de facto leader of the kingdom on Saturday before announcing he was halting planned strikes.

The crown prince conveyed that an escalation in fighting could have a severe impact on the global economy if Tehran responded to a new U.S. bombardment by targeting some of the United States’ Gulf allies, according to a person briefed on the call who was not authorized to comment publicly and insisted on anonymity.

Saudi officials, the person added, have underscored in their engagements with the Trump administration that the kingdom is in a good position to defend itself against further potential Iranian strikes — as are fellow energy titans Qatar and the United Arab Emirates — but that Kuwait could be more vulnerable to attacks by Iranian-backed militias in Iraq.

Michigan reports first 2 U.S. deaths related to diarrhea-causing parasite

BY MIKE HOUSEHOLDER and SUDHIN THANAWALA Associated Press

DETROIT

Two people have died in the cyclospora outbreak in Michigan, state health officials announced Monday, the first deaths confirmed in the U.S. related to the microscopic parasite.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services said both people had underlying health conditions that may have been impacted by the intestinal illness and dehydration. The department said it would not provide additional information about the deaths.

Cyclospora is a microscopic, spherical parasite that commonly causes watery diarrhea “with frequent and sometimes explosive bowel movements,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Outbreaks tend to occur most often in the late spring and summer

The CDC says the illness, called cyclosporiasis, is rarely deadly

The heat-loving parasite infects the bowels and spreads through feces. In the

past, people have been infected by consuming fruits or vegetables that were exposed to feces-contaminated irrigation water

Dr Joel Kammeyer, the division chief of infectious diseases at Wayne State University and the Detroit Medical Center, called the deaths a “tragedy” but noted that despite thousands of cyclosporiasis cases, only two people have died.

“For someone who comes into an urgent care and cyclosporiasis is their only issue, it’s relatively easy to treat,” Kammeyer said. But for people who are struggling with other illnesses, he said, “it stands to reason that there are some patients that might not be able to withstand the dehydration that can come with severe cyclosporiasis.”

Cyclosporiasis is less common than other foodborne illnesses, including salmonella and E. coli Many cases are never linked to a specific food or other source and, for years, few U.S. cyclospora outbreaks were reported. But the number started rising about a decade ago, with a particularly notable spike in 2018 and 2019.

Board of Peace envoy meets with Israeli PM

Official discusses Gaza deal with Netanyahu, urges halt to strikes

BY JULIA FRANKEL and SAM MAGDY Associated Press

JERUSALEM, Israel

The Board of Peace official overseeing Gaza’s postwar transition met Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to a statement, in part to discuss a new disarmament deal the board reached with Hamas.

Nikolay Mladenov, the high representative for Gaza, held “constructive and detailed” talks with the prime minister and his team, the Board of Peace said in a statement.

“The goal is clear and is not in question: the complete decommissioning of weapons in the Strip and the transition away from rule by the gun to civilian governance,” it said. According to two people familiar with the meeting, Mladenov also pressed Netanyahu to halt Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip Mladenov and his team, including senior adviser Aryeh Lightstone, are pressuring Israel to stop striking Gaza as they push ahead with the agreement to decommission the weapons held by Hamas.

In a statement Monday, Hamas said that the group and the various Palestinian factions “remain committed to what was agreed regarding the implementation of the second phase of the ceasefire agreement, including all parties’ obligations.”

It added that the group is awaiting “a clear and official response” from Mladenov and the mediators regarding what was agreed upon.

President Donald Trump announced the agreement, which is part of a broader ceasefire deal reached last year, last Thursday. It called for Israel to cease its military operations and

for Hamas and its allies in Gaza to halt all militant activity The agreement also laid out in general terms what the decommissioning process would look like. After the text of the agreement was released, Israel said it had “serious security concerns” and that it shared those with the United States. It also ramped up its strikes in Gaza, killing 17 people overnight Saturday and into Sunday, according to local health officials. There were no recorded airstrikes in Gaza on Monday Israeli attacks have killed 1,250 people since the ceasefire deal was reached in October, an agreement that ended major fighting in a war that had raged for two years.

Egypt, Qatar and Turkey, mediators in the Gaza truce negotiations, denounced the ongoing Israeli strikes in a statement Monday, saying that the particular targeting of healthcare facilities, medical infrastructure and resulting civilian casualties constitutes a flagrant violation of international law and international humanitarian law

“The mediators also called on the international community to continue to exert pressure on Israel to fulfill its end of the deal. The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage. Israel’s military offensive in Gaza has since killed 73,375 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Its figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants but they are considered generally reliable by the United Nations and other international organizations. Associated Press writer Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed.

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ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ALEX BRANDON

President Donald Trump speaks Monday during a meeting about military families in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington.

Washington state firesdestroy hundreds of buildings

Spokane-area residents forced to evacuate

BY LINDSEY WASSON, MANUEL VALDES and GENE JOHNSON Associated Press

SPOKANE, Wash. Some resi-

dents returned to devastated neighborhoods in eastern Washington statetofind their homes leveled by wildfiresthaterupted acrossa parched landscape over the weekend, covering yards in charred debris. In some cases, only chimneys were left standing.

The fires in andaround Spokane, the state’ssecondlargest city,were among the most destructive in state history.About 700 buildings had been destroyed —a number that was expected to climb and some 67,000 people were under evacuationorders. The causewas under investigation.

“Hundreds of people have completely lost their homes and farms, andmany are prohibited from returning to theirhomes or neighbor-

hoods as crews continue to extinguish smoldering embers,” the state’s entirecongressional delegation wrote Monday in asking President DonaldTrump toapprove an expedited emergency declaration.

The fires jumped roadsand rivers and had burned about 12.5 square miles by Monday The sky filled with smoke and haze. Calmer winds and lower temperatures arrived to helpfirefighters, but it was expected to behot and dryagain by midweek.

In one Spokane neighborhood, blackenedvehicles, a boat twisted by theheat and melted plastic recycling bins remained. Acrossthe street, lawns were still green and houseswere spared, as residents continued to runhoses or sprinklers to water their properties.

Among thosewho returned were Miriam and Daniel Sim, both 76.Miriam held herhand over her mouthas shesurveyedthe ruins of the home wherethey hadlived since 2005

“It’s like awar zone,” Miriamsaid.“There’snothing to save.”

“At our age, do we want to

IDAHO

rebuild?” her husband asked.

Cpl. MarkGregory,a spokesperson for the Spokane County Sheriff’sOffice,said thecounty initially received nearly 300 reports of missing people,but by Mondaythey had cleared all but 14.

Those outstanding reports more likely represented people who had not been in contactsince evacuating

Authoritiesseekmotivein shooting at In-N-Out Burger

BY MICHAEL BIESECKER and DAVE COLLINS Associated Press

Adriver charging his electric taxi and a former law enforcementofficer who tried to intervene were among the seven people wounded in amass shooting at anIdaho fast food restaurant that also left three people dead, according to friends and relatives of thetwo men.

The attack Saturdayatanew In-N-Out Burger in Twin Falls ended when the gunman, identified by police as 24-year-oldChad Williams, shot and killed himself. On Monday,police were still tryingtodetermine why Williams carried outthe attack,which happened in the afternoon in abusy shopping plaza in the southern Idaho city

Many details about Williams’ lifewerestill unknown Monday,but an initial search of court records in Idaho andArizona,where he used to live, didn’tshow any criminal cases matching his name and birth date.

Elijah Moseley,who lived acrossthe hall from Williams in aCollege of Southern Idaho dorm afew yearsago, described him as “an introvert” and “a pretty chill guy.”

“I was neverscared or weirded out by him,”hesaid.

Moseley said he considered Williams arelatively close friend, thoughtheylost touch acouple of years ago. “I’m shocked by this

BY KEVIN FREKING Associated Press

WASHINGTON The House Ethics Committee recommended Monday that Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-N.C., be censuredafter findingthat he engaged in persistent unprofessional and inappropriate conduct toward two young female aides in his

and sick to my stomach about this,” he said.

Detectivesare confident thatWilliamsacted alone, Police ChiefMatthew Hickssaid Sunday, noting that Williams’ family is cooperating fullywith the investigation. Twoofthe wounded weretreated at ahospital and released, threewerelisted as stable, and two others were in critical condition, policesaid Sunday During the attack, an off-duty state trooper anda civilian firedonWilliams and diverted him from the restaurant, the chiefsaid. Police haven’tdisclosed their names or those of the victims, but some victims have been identified by friends andrelatives.Twin Falls spokesperson JoshPalmer saidMondaythatpolice were still trying to identify next of kin.

congressionaloffice

Acensure re gi st er s the House’s deep disapprovalofa lawmaker’s conduct that doesnot meet thethreshold for expulsion.

Edwards has denied that

anyofhis conductwas intended as asexual or romantic advance, but thecommitteesaidhis behavior would “lead areasonable observer to interpret it as such.” It also described his actions as “beyond inappropriate.”

The panel highlighted numerousexamples of actions it considered improper, including Edwardsprovid-

than peoplewho were truly missing or in danger,authoritiessaid.

The Spokane-area wildfires werecompletely uncontained, said Courtney James, aspokespersonfor theWashington State Department of Natural Resources. They wereamong dozens across theWestern U.S. stretching the ability of fed-

eral,state andlocal agencies to fight them.Atleast 390 square mileshas burned acrossWashington, which hascontendedwithsevere droughtand apaltry snowpack.

Authorities warnedpeople not to fly drones near the burned areas, saying it could forcethemtodelay aerial firefighting operations.

Angela and Wayde Deatherage, both 49, evacuated shortly after 3p.m.Saturday withason,grabbingafew bins of family photos and heirloom rings but not much else. Roughly 30 minutes later,their security camera was sending fire notifications to Angela’sphone. Wayde Deatherage took some back roads and returnedbyearly evening. He stopped at the end of the street andcalledhis wife: “Our house is done.” Deatherage, however, wasn’tdone with his neighborhood.Heproppeda hose at another housesoit sprayed the property.That home survived. The couple returned to their property Sunday “It’sjust ash,”Angela Deatherage said of the home where they had lived for nearly 22 years. “It’slike our house sunk down in the basement. There’sjust so much loss for so many people.” Friends and relativesof fire victims postedonline appealsfor money,clothes and basicnecessities. Kory and MacKensie Aspaas were away withtheir children whenthe disaster hit.

the court filing. The term “AML” is an abbreviation foranti-money laundering.

CapitalOne:Trump accounts closedover concerns with possible moneylaundering Presidentsued over 2021 closure

BY KEN SWEET Associated Press

NEW YORK Bank accounts held by President Donald Trump wereclosed by CapitalOne in 2021 after it flagged financial activity that had characteristicsof money laundering, the bank disclosedina court filing over the weekend.

Thecourtfiling is tied to alawsuit filed against Capital Onebyone of Trump’s financial holding companies shortly after he was sworn into office asecond time. Trump alleges that Capital One illegally closed his accountsfor political reasons, following theJan. 6attacks on the U.S. Capitol. CapitalOne wantsthe lawsuit dismissed.

“The closures were the result of months of analysisand acarefulreview by CapitalOne’sAML team in accordancewith bank policies and regulatory guidance,” thebanksaid in

Trumphas sued Capital One,aswellasJPMorgan Chase, for allegedly debanking himafter he left office in 2021. Debanking occurs whenbanks shut down customer accounts because they believe they pose financial, legal or reputational risks to the banks.

Both banks have denied they severed their relationships with the president, hissons,and other related businesses forpolitical reasons. The lawsuit against JPMorganChase is seeking damages of $5 billion.

JPMorgan hassaiditdoes not close accounts for political reasons, but closes accounts “with or without cause” and also accounts that create “legal or regulatory risk.”

In July,after the original lawsuit had laid dormant formonths, lawyers forthe president filed an amended lawsuitthat alleged the bank debanked him for political reasons. The bank says the new allegations are without merit, saying the complaint rests on “new

theories are based on cherry-picked quotations.”

President Trump’slegal team dismissed that claim Monday,but did not address the internalfindings by the bank.

“Capital One, alongwith other majorbanks,debanked President Trump, his family,and his businesses for blatantly political reasons,”a spokesperson forTrump’slegal team said. “President Trump’spowerful lawsuit holds Capital One accountable forits disgraceful conduct, and we look forward to seeing this matter through to ajust and proper conclusion.”

Conservatives have long alleged that banks debank them and their political allies.The allegationsbecame louder after Operation Choke Point,aninitiative during the Obama Administration whenregulators pressedbanks to cut off financial services to the firearmindustry,tobacco, and payday lenders, among others. The cryptocurrency industry alleged it was also avictim of debanking during the Biden Administration.

ing theyoung women with lavish andrecurrent gifts, making comments regarding their appearance and dress, inviting them to intimate dinners and vacations, andsending notesregarding his affection.

The Ethics panel found no evidenceEdwardsexplicitly propositioned any person under his employ or engaged in any sexual activity with them.But it also said he failed to adhere to “the spirit of rulesprohibiting sexual harassment of andunwantedadvances to House staffers.”

virtue of his status as their boss anda Member of Congress,” theEthicsCommittee said in its 25-page report.

“Both women were uncomfortable with his behavior (which they attempted to communicate) butwereput in an untenable position by

“Representative Edwards was at minimum blind to that reality, and at worst, dismissive of the impact his inappropriate conduct had on the careers and wellbeing of twowomen on his staff.”

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ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOByLINDSEy WASSON

Miriam Sim, 76, reacts Monday while talking about her neighborhood largelyburning to the ground after awildfire hit the northernpartofSpokane, Wash.

PHOTO PROVIDED By KMVT Authorities work Saturdayatthe scene of a shooting that started at an In-N-Out Burger restaurant in Twin Falls, Idaho.

splintered oversight with authority split between the governing board and city and state officials.

“None of those had really complete oversight, or could completely hold the utility accountable. That is now changing,” Moreno said.

Moreno appoints eight of the 11 board members, including her own designee, which is Public Works Director Steve Nelson. She is expected to nominate one additional member soon. But the mayor couldn’t make changes to a board largely appointed by her predecessor until Act 938 of this year’s legislative session took effect on

Saturday, as members, under the previous rules, were locked in to staggered four-year terms.

The nominating parties and the size of the board are in the city charter, meaning voter approval would be needed for a full restructuring. But significant changes are coming under ordinances the council is expected to adopt on Thursday that exercise its newfound power under the law Moreno will gain the power to remove members she disagrees with. Additionally, the board will elect its own president, meaning the mayor will no longer serve in that role automatically Those moves align with Moreno’s public statements that the mayor should not be involved in day-to-day operations but should have more say

over the board’s makeup.

Under the rules, the Board of Liquidation will still pick two board members and the council’s Public Works Committee chair, council member Jason Hughes, will also pick one Though the council is planning to grant itself the power to make those changes on Thursday it is expected to confirm the mayor’s nominees at a later date.

Walmsley, a new appointee who is chief financial officer of KIPP New Orleans Schools, said that, if confirmed, she is “excited to serve and to work collaboratively with the council and mayor to reform how the board serves the public through oversight.”

Antrup, one of the board members being replaced, said he is

FANTASTIC

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the smaller student population. NOLA Public Schools Superintendent Fateama Fulmore and a slew of district staffers visited Abramson on Monday to welcome students on their first day Standing outside the school, Fulmore cited the district’s academic progress, including big gains on the

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city’s general fund — on Thursday

According to the plan, an array of road work, green space and cityowned building improvements would see funding cuts.

“Having to do this definitely causes temporary pain,” Giarrusso said in an interview “All this is being done to put us on a successful path for the future — the goal is to not have to repeat the pain.”

In addition to delaying capital spending, the Moreno administration also proposes tapping $25 million from its emergency fund.

It will push the Sewerage & Water Board to hand over $20 million it owes the city, mostly for upfront spending on roadwork funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency It will speed through reimbursement paperwork for $25

BLANCHE

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billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” proposed to settle Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service.

Cornyn and Tillis had refused to back Blanche’s bid for the permanent post without official confirmation killing the fund meant to compensate people who believe they were unfairly prosecuted by the Justice Department Blanche’s written order, issued late Sunday, came after the days of negotiations between the Justice Department and the Republican senators who are leaving Capitol Hill when their terms end in January

“We want to express our gratitude to Mr Blanche and his staff for working with us on this, and we look forward to voting to advance his nomination out of the Senate Judiciary Committee soon,” Cornyn, of Texas, and Tillis, of North Carolina, said in a statement. Blanche has repeatedly said that the Justice Department was

most recent state tests.

“I’m looking forward to keeping the momentum going,” she said.

“It is going to be a fantastic year here at Abramson and across our system.”

High expectations

Abramson Sci Academy, part of the Collegiate Academies charter school network, was one of the city’s top-performing open-enrollment high schools last school year, behind KIPP’s Frederick A.

million in federal grants and claw back $5.5 million in unspent American Rescue Plan Act funds.

Fixing a cash crisis

The measures are aimed at solving a cash crisis that emerged when Moreno withdrew a request for state approval of a municipal bond sale rather than see it rejected by Gov Jeff Landry and Attorney General Liz Murrill as tensions roiled following Murrill’s indictment by a New Orleans grand jury

Even as city officials have said the city’s revenues are trending favorably the withdrawal along with Landry’s veto of more than $33 million in state funds for nearand long-term projects — left the Moreno administration in a lurch.

The $33 million included cash to cover payments to the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office and to homelessness providers, as well as costs at the Algiers Courthouse.

scrapping plans for the fund, which sparked bipartisan outcry over the possibility that violent rioters who attacked police at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, could be considered for payments. But skeptical lawmakers said they were concerned that could be revived without a commitment in writing, especially because Trump has continued to defend the idea. In his order posted on social media late Sunday, Blanche wrote that the department was confirming “beyond any doubt, that there is no Fund.”

Since the settlement of the president’s lawsuit against the IRS was announced, “No Members were appointed; no funds were transferred; no process for receiving claims was established; no claims were paid,” the order said. “This order establishes, beyond any doubt, that there is no Fund.” Cornyn and Tillis had also pressed the Justice Department to limit the scope of a separate piece of the settlement that provided broad immunity for Trump and members of his family from

“disappointed that my nationally recognized experience in water management and public utility governance is not valued by the Moreno administration.”

“I offer my heartfelt support to the mayor, council and, most importantly, the dedicated employees as they work to make SWBNO the model utility we, as residents deserve,” Antrup said in a text. Cole, another board member being replaced, said he was honored to serve half of his four-year term.

“While disappointed that I will not be serving out the remainder of my appointed term, I’m hopeful that these changes will provide the city and the (S&WB) the clarity and direction necessary to tackle challenges associated with our crumbling infrastructure,” Cole

said in a text.

In her first seven months as mayor, Moreno has made a slew of replacements on other boards she deems to be underperforming, namely the Regional Transit Authority and New Orleans Recreation Department Commission. Beyond the SW&B governing board, the council would approve utility budgets, capital plans, professional service agreements and executive leadership contracts, per the ordinance. Additional changes over the next year are expected as the Moreno administration and council try to integrate the utility into city government.

Email Ben Myers at bmyers@ theadvocate.com.

ABOVE: Students arrive for the first day of school at Abramson Sci Academy on Monday. New Orleans students begin returning to school this week, though the first day varies across the city’s nearly 70 charter schools.

LEFT: Abramson Sci Academy Principal Sasha Myers, center, greets students during an assembly on Monday. Abramson Sci Academy, part of the Collegiate Academies charter school network, was one of the city’s top-performing open-enrollment high schools last school year

Douglass.

On Monday, the new students were ushered into the school’s cafeteria, where they ate yogurt and muffins and learned what would be expected of them over the next four years. The ultimate goal is for every student to master the state LEAP tests and attend college, said Dean Choix, a ninth grade English teacher and dean. But first students had to learn the school’s behavioral expectations.

The Moreno administration will need council approval on aspects of its funding plan. The council is expected to vote on whether to redirect infrastructure funds into the city’s general fund later on Thursday after the measure was approved by a council committee last week. The administration will also need to seek the council’s approval to tap its rainy day fund.

The administration is seeking to delay not cancel, $35 million worth of infrastructure projects, Moreno’s infrastructure chief Steve Nelson emphasized at the committee meeting. He said the projects could be picked back up using proceeds from the city’s next bond sale in 2028.

“It is not easy Some of these projects we’ve been waiting on for many years,” Nelson acknowledged.

Delayed projects

The list of projects that would

tax audits.

Under the deal, the Justice Department clarified in writing that the tax audit immunity agreement “applies by its terms only retroactively” to claims open at the time of the settlement and does not protect the president from examination of future tax filings. It also makes clear that only the parties that brought the lawsuit — Trump, two of his sons, and the Trump Organization are covered by the tax agreement.

Cornyn and Tillis said in their statement that they were “pleased” with the concessions made by Blanche.

“From the outset, we were clear that we needed a written document addressing our concerns on the IRS audit agreement and the anti-weaponization fund that included constraining the scope of audit protection by limiting it to the parties of the Settlement Agreement and legally ending the anti-weaponization fund,” they wrote. Democrats, however, noted that the order rescinding the fund doesn’t stop the Trump adminis-

Choix gave the freshmen a crash course Monday He taught them how to use “proud hands,” raising their arms straight up to ask a question snapping to show agreement and wiggling their fingers to send classmates good vibes. He also had them practice sitting up straight and tracking the speaker with their eyes.

“This is the secret recipe to LEAP success; it is the secret recipe to college success,” Choix said. “We’re going to practice

be delayed includes an extension of the Lafitte Greenway, fixes to the city-owned former Veterans Affairs hospital, and a $1 million effort to reduce pollution from municipal buildings. The city is also proposing to cut capital funds from a range of roadwork projects that it says have come in under budget.

Council President JP Morrell said that, while he had not seen a finalized list of projects that will be delayed, the council “intends to support what these different building blocks are to fix the budget.”

The Moreno administration has already taken some unpopular steps to manage its cash crisis. City employees have been on a one-dayper-week furlough since February, and Moreno has stripped City Hall of some departments, including the Office of Resilience and Sustainability A widely lauded “right to counsel” program that ensures

tration from compensating Jan. 6 rioters through a previously established process that allows people to file claims for damages if they believed they were wronged by the government.

“This supposed ‘deal’ doesn’t prevent payouts to violent insurrectionists in the future,” Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff said in a social media post. Schiff added that it also “leaves in place a taximmunity deal that could help Trump skip taxes on the $2.3 billion he made last year, and still leaves it vague who and what is covered.”

Blanche’s nomination was thrown into doubt last week after the Judiciary Committee postponed a vote that had been scheduled for Thursday morning as Tillis and Cornyn said they needed more from the administration before they could provide the necessary votes.

After the Thursday vote was delayed, Trump said in a social media post that he might pull Blanche’s nomination and resubmit it after Cornyn and Tillis leave office next year And on Saturday the presi-

it today, tomorrow and all four years.”

Of course, high school is also a social endeavor — and one that can be nerve-racking for new students. So Brevyn Malveaux, a senior and member of the Student Government Association, was also on hand Monday to answer the ninth graders’ questions and calm their nerves.

“They’re nervous to talk to each other,” she said as they attended their first classes. “It’s so cute.”

tenants have a lawyer when facing eviction received less than half of the $1.3 million it was allocated in the city’s budget this year

“We don’t have money If you have to pick between making payroll and doing those types of programs, you have to do making payroll,” said Giarrusso, referring to the right to counsel program.

Louisiana Legislative Auditor Mike Waguespack, who has advised the city on shoring up its finances since last year, said he supports the administration’s plan.

“It’ll be all eyes on cash flow weekly, but at the end of the day, I think they’ll be fine and be a better-run city as a result of going through this process,” said Waguespack.

Staff writer Ben Myers contributed to this report.

Email Sophie Kasakove at sophie.kasakove@theadvocate. com.

dent threatened to push forward with the fund if the two Republicans blocked Blanche’s nomination.

On Sunday evening, Trump said that people who had faced charges from the Jan. 6, attack on the Capitol and could have benefited from the fund had “their lives destroyed.”

“This would be a reimbursement for the pain that they suffered,” Trump said. “A lot of people like it.”

Blanche, who served as Trump’s defense lawyer in his criminal cases, entered the Justice Department last year as deputy attorney general. He was elevated to the top post after Pam Bondi was fired in April by Trump, who was frustrated by her failure to successfully prosecute his political enemies.

Though Blanche insisted he wasn’t auditioning for the permanent job, he has moved quickly since taking the reins of the department to promote the Trump administration’s agenda and accelerate investigations into the president’s perceived foes.

STAFF PHOTOS By CHRIS GRANGER

Russia blasts southern Ukrainian city with glide bombs

Ukrainian drones kill at least 9

BY ILLIA NOVIKOV Associated Press

KYIV,Ukraine Russian planes dropped eight powerful glide bombs in a span of 90 minutes on residential districts of the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, killing one person and wounding dozens of others, regional chief Ivan Fedorov said Monday

Meanwhile, six people were killed by Ukrainian drone debris in ArkhipoOsipovka, a small town on Russia’s Black Sea coast in the Krasnodar region, regional Gov Veniamin Kondratyev said, adding that 40 others were wounded

Three other people were killed and two were wounded in Ukraine’s overnight attack on the illegally annexed Crimea, said the peninsula’s Russian-installed head, Sergei Aksyonov He gave no details.

Neither side’s claims could be independently verified.

Ukraine’s innovative longrange drone technology developed during the war has

enabled Kyiv to sign military cooperation agreements with nine countries, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday.

Under the deals, Ukraine receives long-term funding for its defense industry while partner countries get new defense capabilities, he said, adding that agreements with 15 other countries are being negotiated.

Ukraine is using its longrange strike drones to hit targets deep inside Russia

in an effort to push Russian President Vladimir Putin into seeking a peace settlement, Zelenskyy said in a speech to Ukrainian diplomats.

“We will work very hard to make that happen this fall,” he said.

Ukraine wants countries to adopt heavier international sanctions on Moscow, but existing sanctions also need tightening to prevent Russian companies from exploiting loopholes, he said.

Zelenskyy also announced

Trump administration overhaul could gut Head Start standards

BY MORIAH BALINGIT

Associated Press

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump’s administration is planning a dramatic overhaul of Head Start that would gut its quality standards, upending the hallmarks of the early education program for impoverished children, two people familiar with the deliberations said. Head Start, established in the 1960s to help fight poverty has long been considered by experts to be a gold standard early learning program. Its regulations, which stretch more than 100 pages, outline requirements on everything from child-to-teacher ratios and child health screenings to family engagement.

Trump’s Republican administration would replace those regulations with around a dozen pages of rules, leaving most of the specifics up to state and local law, said the people familiar with the deliberations, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss information that was not yet public and because they feared reprisal.

In a post on X on Saturday night, the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees Head Start, said to expect a rule to be published this week. The administration “remains committed to strengthening Head Start by preserving federal investment in the program while advancing reforms that expand access, increase local flexibility, reduce unnecessary administrative burden, and ensure services are delivered effectively to children and families in need,” department

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By REBECCA BLACKWELL

Students help put away supplies at the end of a reading and writing lesson at the Head Start program run by Easterseals, an organization that gets about a third of its funding from the federal government, on Jan. 29, 2025, in Miami.

spokesperson Emily Hilliard said Monday in an email. The draft rules would require more documentation from parents who are homeless or unemployed the people familiar with the deliberations told The Associated Press. An early version of the proposal also would have barred parents who are in the United States illegally from enrolling their children, even if the children are U.S. citizens. It’s unclear whether those provisions will make the final draft. Head Start, which operates in all 50 states, has long enjoyed robust bipartisan support.

But some prominent conservatives in recent years have called for its elimination, saying the federal government should get out of the education business at every level. Deregulating the program would deliver a win for them and aligns with the Trump administration’s goals of scrapping rules it views as

onerous or unnecessary

Head Start serves more than half a million low-income babies, toddlers and preschoolers nationwide. For families that qualify it offers free preschool and screenings to identify developmental delays. It also offers supports for families.

If the changes take effect, they could make Head Start unrecognizable, said Khari Garvin, who ran the Office of Head Start under President Joe Biden, a Democrat

“We’d have the carcass of Head Start,” Garvin said. “You might have a program that’s called Head Start, but in substance it will not be.”

The proposed rules were originally reported in The Bulwark.

Tommy Sheridan, deputy director of the National Head Start Association, said the organization has yet to see the proposed rules. But he said the potential for a massive overhaul has left the organization on edge.

he is appointing Rustem Umerov, who has been involved in U.S diplomatic efforts to stop the war, as head of the Foreign Intelligence Service.

Russia has used glide bombs against Ukrainian towns and cities since it invaded its neighbor more than four years ago. The Sovietera bombs are retrofitted with guidance systems and can carry up to 6,600 pounds of explosives, leaving huge craters. Ukraine has no ef-

fective countermeasures.

The Sunday evening onslaught on Zaporizhzhia killed a 71-year-old woman and wounded 31 people, including a 16-year-old girl, as the glide bombs damaged 22 apartment buildings in four districts of the city, Fedorov said.

While Moscow’s forces have captured the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant and hold other parts of the region, its capital city of the same name remains in Ukrainian hands. It is one of the four regions, along with Donetsk, Kherson and Luhansk, that Russia illegally annexed in September 2022 even though its forces do not completely control them.

Other large-scale damage of civilian areas has resulted from Russian ballistic missiles, and late Sunday Zelenskyy made another urgent plea for countries to send Ukraine more U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems.

Only Patriot interceptors can reliably stop ballistic missiles, but they are in short supply due to the Iran war

“The United States knows what we need. Europe knows

what we need. Anti-ballistic missiles must protect people — not sit in stockpiles,” Zelenskyy said on social media. President Donald Trump last week appeared to back off from his earlier commitment to give Ukraine a license to make Patriots itself. He said Friday that he hasn’t made a final decision. Zelenskyy has suggested an alternative to Trump whereby Elon Musk allows Ukraine to use Starlink satellites to target ballistic missile launch sites inside Russia. Officials haven’t publicly said whether that is being considered.

Russia attacked Ukraine with 181 long-range strike drones overnight from Sunday to Monday, according to the Ukrainian air force. It said air defenses jammed and intercepted 163 drones, but 14 caused damage at 13 locations.

The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces struck four bulk carriers carrying cargo for the Ukrainian armed forces, including three in waters of the Black Sea and one in the port of Mykolaiv but provided no further information.

By The Associated Press

BANGKOK Myanmar’s detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi met with the International Committee of the Red Cross’ representative in the capital on Monday, the military-backed government said, a rare moment of contact with the outside world for the Nobel laureate who has been held out of public view since the military seized power in 2021.

Two photographs published with the announcement showed Suu Kyi shak-

ing hands with Arnaud de Baecque, the ICRC’s representative to Myanmar and meeting with him in a woodpaneled room.

The Presidential Press and Information Bureau, which released the photographs, said the meeting was held Monday morning but did not disclose the location or provide details about what was discussed.

The ICRC confirmed in a statement on Monday that one of its delegates visited Suu Kyi under its standards and procedures for visiting people deprived

of liberty, and spoke with her in private, but it did not disclose details of the discussion.

The organization said it continues to engage with all relevant actors to maintain and expand its access to places of detention in Myanmar

Two other photographs showed Suu Kyi cutting a pink birthday cake bearing the inscription, “Happy Birthday Aunty Suu,” suggesting they may have been taken during a celebration for her 81st birthday in June.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By DAN BASHAKOV A burned car is seen Saturday after a Russian missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine.

BUSINESS

BRIEFS FROM STAFFAND WIRE REPORTS

FAAcertifies Boeing’s new737 Max 7jetliner

The Federal Aviation Administration on Monday approved thesmallestmodel of Boeing’s Maxjetliners for commercial service nearly adecade after the aircraft manufacturer first unveiled theplane.

Certification of the Boeing 737 Max 7represents amilestone in the company’swork to overcome years of safety,quality and production challenges. Thelongdelayed Max 7ispart of Boeing’s 737 family of commercialjets, which is the company’sbestseller and has been at the center of its troubles.

The FAAsaid it cleared the newplaneafter years of additional testing, designchanges andanextensive review of its design and safety systems. The certification was delayed as Boeing addressed technical issues and heightened regulatory scrutiny following two crashes involvingthe larger Max 8that killed 346 people in 2018 and 2019.

Since the crashes off the coast of Indonesia and in Ethiopia, the FAAoverhauled how it certifies Boeing aircraft. It saidits oversight of the company would continue beyond the Max 7’sapproval.

Before signing off on the aircraft, the FAAsaid, it required Boeing to make severalsafety changes, including updating flight-control software, improving cockpit alertsfor pilots and redesigning the engine anti-ice system to prevent overheating

“Our team of dedicated engineers and test experts worked through challenges, an extended pandemic,and thetransition to new certification processes,” said Stephanie Pope, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

Tentative deal reached with flight attendants

Canada’ssecond largest airline, WestJet,has agreed to a tentative agreementwith flight attendants to end astrike that ledtohundredsofflight cancellations and thousands of stranded passengers over theweekend.

The union representing the flight attendants said Monday that if the deal is ratified, the work that flightattendants do beforeflights take off will be recognized.

The union, CUPE 8125, said that flight attendants will be returning to work now that the strike is over.The tentative agreement stillfacesaratification vote.

WestJet canceled 495 flights Sunday,snarling travelplans in Canada in the middle of along holiday weekend.

Akey issue in the dispute was how flight attendants shouldbe paid for duties performed while still on the ground. The union said some of that work is unpaid, while the company said they staff was indeed compensated, citing paythrough a“credit hour” system ratherthan an hourly rate.

Cyberattack hits

Liechtenstein’sregister

BERLIN Acyberattack tapped the data of some 31,000 people in Liechtenstein’sregister of people behind companies and foundations in the wealthy principality,the governmentsaid.

The “register of economic beneficiaries” was accessed at night from Wednesday into Thursday last week, the government said. It said that the breach was noticed on Thursday,that measures were taken to secure data and the system taken offline.

Thegovernment said there were no indications that any data was altered or deleted.

The list of people behind companies, foundations and trusteeships is part of efforts to combat money laundering and terror financing.

Liechtenstein is anation of 40,000 peoplebetween Switzerland and Austria, and the financialindustry is central to its economy The government set up acrisis unit overthe weekend to investigate the attack.

States sueTrump over tariffs

BY PAUL WISEMAN and MAE ANDERSON AP business writers

WASHINGTON— Twenty-five states sued the Trump administration Mondayover its latest tariffs, calling them apretext for replacing import taxesthe Supreme Court struck down in February

The United States last month imposeddouble-digittariffs on 59 countries andthe European Union, chargingthattheyhad notdone enough to crack down on imports produced by forcedlabor.The new tariffs took effect just as the clock ran out on temporary tariffs President Donald Trump had turnedto afterthe Supreme Court defeat.

“After losing at the Supreme Court, theadministration is once again trying to illegally raise taxes

on families and businesses witha newroundoftariffs,”saidNewYork AttorneyGeneral Letitia James Joining New York in the lawsuit announced Monday are Arizona,California, Colorado,Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine,Michigan,Minnesota,Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin. Trump, whoargues that high tariffs will revive American manufacturing, last year overturned decades of U.S. policy that favoredlower tariffs andever-freertrade. Invoking the 1977 International Emergency Economic PowersAct, or IEEPA, he imposeddouble-digit tariffs on imports from almostevery country,saying America’slong-standing trade deficit amounted to anational emergency

But the SupremeCourt ruled that IEEPAdid not authorize tariffs. The decision forced the administration to send refunds to importers who’d paid the tariffs. Eagerto make up thelostrevenue Trump turned to temporary 10% worldwidetariffs.But they expiredatmidnight July 24.

Nowhe’stappingmore durable tariffs under Section301 of the Trade Act of 1974, which permits the president to impose import taxes and other sanctions against countries found to engage in unfair trade practices. Trumpused Section 301 to impose big tariffs on China in his first term, and they survived court challenges.

The administration invoked Section 301 to impose theforced-labor tariffs, which range from 10% to 12.5% andhit countriesthatprovide 99% of American imports.

“The United States is using its

lawfulauthority to obtainthe eliminationofunreasonable acts, policies, andpractices that burden U.S. commerce,” White House spokesperson Kush Desaisaid. “A foreign country’sfailuretoimpose andeffectivelyenforce aprohibition on theimportation of goodsproduced with forced laborisunreasonable and burdens U.S. commerce, including American workers, andmustbe addressed. Section301 tariffs have proven to be alegally durable tool sincethe President’sfirst term,and they remainsonow.”

The states’ lawsuit follows two other lawsuits filed in The Court of International TradeinJuly by small businessesthatalso challengedthe 301 tariffs

Bothofthose lawsuits arguethat the government didn’tadequately establish its case against each specific economy or spell howthe tariffs will eliminate the specified practicetheyare being leviedfor, as required by Section 301.

BY STAN CHOE Associated Press

NEW YORK

TheU.S. stock market rallied to

the edgeof its all-time high on Monday after easing oilprices helped calmWall Street’s worries that inflation could get even worse.

The S&P 500 jumped 1.5% and is just 0.1% belowits record set earlierthis summer

It was coming off afrenetic July,where it swung up and down as oil prices shot higher because of thewar with Iran, before ultimately ending the month just about where it started.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which measures anarrowerslice of theU.S.stock market,climbed 693 points, or 1.3%,toan all-time high, while the Nasdaqcomposite leaped 2.1%.

Stocks got alift as the price for abarrel of Brentcrude sank 4.7% to $83.77. It dropped after PresidentDonald Trumpsaid over the weekendthathedecided to hold offonnew strikes against Iran at the urging of allies in theregion

Brent’sprice careenedbetween $72 and $102 last month as worries rose and fell about when the war withIranwould allowoil tankers to freely exit thePersian Gulf again to delivercrude to customers worldwide

The latest acquiescence by Trumphelped to ease worries aboutthe global flowofcrude, andTreasury yields correspondingly fellin the bond market.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury sankto 4.68% from 4.75% late Friday.It, though, remains well above its 3.97% levelfrom before the war with Iran.

Higher yieldsthreaten toundercut prices for stocks and other investments, while slowing the economy by making borrowing more expensivefor U.S. households and businesses. The average long-term U.S.mortgage rate hasalready leaped to itshighestlevel in ayear

Monday’sease in oil prices helpedairlines andother companies with big fuel bills lead the market. UnitedAirlines flew5.8% higher,while American Airlines climbed 5%.

BY MAYUKOONO and ELAINE KURTENBACH Associated Press

TOKYO— The U.S. dollar weakened sharplyMonday against the Japanese yenafter President Donald Trump and Japan’sfinance ministerconfirmed both sideshad intervened in markets.

Before late last week,the dollar was trading above 163 yen, touching40-year highs. After regulators were suspected of stepping in, it fell below 160 yen.

Early Monday,after theofficial announcement of the intervention, the dollar fell to nearly 155.20 yen. That’sabig drop for theexchange rate. Thedollarwas trading at 156.70 yen earlyMonday Eastern time.

Even though it hasattracted millions of bargain-hunting tourists, theyen’s prolonged weak-

Norwegian CruiseLine Holdings steamed 6.6% higher Boeing jumped8%after U.S. regulators certified its 737 MAX 7planes,clearing them for commercial service. TysonFoods rose 2.8% afterthe meat company reported aslightly stronger profit for the spring thananalysts expected. CEO Donnie King said strength is continuing in the company’schicken business and its preparedfoods, whichinclude brands like Jimmy Dean and Hillshire Farm. It joined alengthening list of big U.S. companiestodeliver abigger profitfor the spring than analysts expected.That’simperative forWall Street because stock prices tendtofollow the path of corporate earnings over the long term, and worries were rising thatU.S.stock prices may have broadlyalready shot too high. Companies in the S&P 500 are on track to deliver earnings pershare for thespring thatare 47% higher thanayear before, according to FactSet, with more than half of thecompanies in the index having already reported. If that ends up being thecase, it

ness against the dollarhas been asourceoffrustrationfor Tokyo. SinceJapan imports so much of what it consumes, aweak currency pushes prices higher.High oilprices have amplifiedthatproblem and that’s putting pressure on the administrationofJapanese PrimeMinisterSanae Takaichi to do moretoaddress the rising cost of living.

Efforts earlier this year to raise the value of theyen against the dollar didlittle to budge the exchange rate

Normally foreign exchange marketsdetermine the relative values of currencies, but there are many factors thatshape what happens in themarkets

Abig gap between interest rates in the U.S. and Japan hasled investors to sell yen and buy dollars to takeadvantage of the higheryields fromdollar-denominated assets.

would be the strongest growth since the spring of 2021, when the economy was roaring out of the COVIDpandemic.

Also offering encouragement forprofits wasa report on Monday showing that growth for U.S. manufacturing accelerated to its strongest level since 2022.

Keeping Wall Street unsettled, though, were swings for stocks of companies that make computer chips. They’ve been veering up and downfor weeks on worries about whether their surging revenues because of the artificial-intelligenceboom are sustainable.

If AI ends up producing less profit andproductivitythanhoped, BigTech companies couldcurtailtheir spending sprees on data centers that have helped chip stocks soar to tremendous heights.

Micron Technology wentfrom adrop of 6.4% to againof1.7% through the daybefore ending withagainof0.8%,for example It’s up roughly 190% forthe year so far.

Seoul’sKospi fell 5.1% Monday, coming off Friday’s17.9% surge thatwas its best day in history

Both the Bank of Japan and the Federal Reserve kept their interest ratesunchanged at meetings last week, maintaining that gap. So, last week, when the dollar slippedbelow 160 yenand stayed there, theU.S. sidewas suspected of lending ahand. Officials usually staymum on such actions. But on Sunday, Trump confirmed thatthe U.S. side had helped, and Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama likewise issued astatementsaying the finance ministryhad purchased yenincoordination with the U.S. Treasury Department.

“Wewill nothesitate to conduct furtherjoint intervention,” she said.

Suchovert acknowledgment of marketintervention is rare, said Neil Newman, managing director andhead of strategy at Astris Advisory Japan. He said thelastbig

example was when governments intervened following amassive earthquake andtsunami disaster in northeastern Japan in 2011. Whenaskedwhy Washington was helping, TrumpsaidSunday that “Wehave agood relationship with Japan. We’re very strong—very,very strong financially —and they are, youknow, they have a weakening yen, and they wanted a little bit of help, and we’re always there for Japan. Japan’s been very good to us, with the exception, of course, of Pearl Harbor.”

Trump saidthe U.S. got “financial benefit”out of theintervention, callingita“signal of friendship.”

“It’salso good forthe world economy,” he said.

Aweaker dollar makes U.S.made goodsmorecompetitive, reducing their costs in yen terms, and might helpincrease American exports to Japan, Newman said.

Hundreds of migrant children stranded in Spain’s Ceuta

BY BERNAT ARMANGUE and JOSEPH WILSON Associated Press

CEUTA, Spain The teenage girl made it through the waves to Spanish territory

Her little brother did not, drowning in the Mediterranean, while their mother disappeared in the chaos when tens of thousands of people surged through the breakwater trying to leave Morocco behind.

The tragic story of a 17-year-old from Tangier is representative of the plight of many of the more than 800 minors who four days after the collective push by migrants into Ceuta face a scary present and an uncertain future.

She told an Associated Press photojournalist how she and her family joined the massive crowd that tried

Testimony continues in trial of Lindsay Clancy

Psychologist:

Woman said she was ‘horrified’ days after killing kids

By The Associated Press

PLYMOUTH, Mass After an opening week of wrenching testimony and a jury trip to the home where Lindsay Clancy strangled her three children, her murder trial resumed Monday with more details about the killings in a coastal Massachusetts town in 2023. Monday’s witnesses included doctors who tried to save two of the children and treated Clancy after she jumped from her home’s second-floor window following the killings. She remains paralyzed from the waist down. Two days later when a forensic psychologist asked how she felt, Clancy responded: “horrified.” She also asked if she had a lawyer and whether her body and legs were broken. She

to swim around a border fence to reach the Spanish territory on Thursday Like many, she said they did so seeking better opportunities. The AP is withholding her identity because she is a minor in a vulnerable situation. She described how she saw Spanish police pull the body of her 8-year-old brother from the water She made it to the shore but became separated from her mother, and has spent the last four days on her own. She said some locals gave her food and some clothing, with one woman taking her into her home so she could bathe. She then went to a center for youths run by the government for some help, but found it was full.

“I saw people stepping on the dead,” she said through a translator since she doesn’t speak Spanish. “Now we are children begging on the

A police barricade stands Friday outside the former home of Lindsay Clancy in Duxbury, Mass.

was intubated and could only communicate through written messages on a whiteboard, the psychologist testified.

“She then asked, can she have visitors, and where her family is,” recalled Dr Jhilam Biswas, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Witnesses in ensuing days could shed more light on the mental health issues at the heart of the case Clancy’s defense says she was a loving mother who was overmastered by postpartum psychosis, a dangerous psychiatric condition that afflicts a small proportion of women after childbirth and affects their hold on reality Prosecutors contend that she acted intentionally and should be held criminally responsible for the deaths of Callan, Dawson and Cora Clancy, who ranged in age from 8 months to 5 years. Clancy, 35, wept at the defense table last week as exhusband Patrick Clancy and

other witnesses testified.

He told jurors about returning to a horrible scene at their house: a bloodied bedroom, an open window, his wife on the ground below it, the children in the basement throttled with exercise bands.

“She killed the kids!” he told a 911 dispatcher on a call played in court.

Dr Michael Snyder recalled Monday how Cora had no heartbeat and was declared dead soon after arriving at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center-Plymouth. Eight-month-old Callan was “cold on arrival,” “quite limp” and showed signs of brain swelling.

“When he arrived at Plymouth, he was in cardiac arrest,” said Dr Andrew Capraro, of Boston Children’s Hospital, where Callan was transferred The baby needed a ventilator to help him breathe but did have a heartbeat. He died three days later

She is one of some 860 minors who remained in Ceuta on Monday after crossing over according to local officials. AP journalists saw oth-

er minors asking for food. Those minors now make up a large part of the 3,000 to 5,000 migrants who have avoided expulsion from Ceuta of the original 60,000 who came across. Spanish authorities confirmed 72 people died, mostly in the water, during the crossing. Morocco reported 11 deaths which are not included in the Spanish total, the Spanish interior ministry said. Spanish law says that adult migrants can apply for asylum. If rejected, they will face expulsion procedures. The bar is normally very high for Moroccans to be granted humanitarian protection.

Migrant minors who are unaccompanied by adults, however, are supposed to be granted protection and taken care of by Spanish authorities.

Md. Democrats begin advancing amendment for redistricting

BY SARAH RANKIN Associated Press

Democrats who control the Maryland Legislature began advancing legislation Monday intended to clear the way for a partisan redistricting process that could help their party pick up an additional U.S. House seat by 2028.

The General Assembly heard hours of debate and testimony on a proposed constitutional amendment intended to give Democrats greater latitude to draw congressional maps favoring their party, which already represents seven of the state’s eight House districts The legislation was expected to reach a vote on final passage Tuesday, and the proposed changes to the state constitution would have to be approved by voters before lawmakers could

begin considering new district lines.

Deep blue Maryland’s move is the latest turn in the national battle over redistricting, which kicked off a year ago and has reshaped the U.S. House map ahead of this year’s midterms.

Leaders of the General Assembly — who have been vague about their future plans for redrawing districts but in recent years have attempted to craft 8-0 maps — have characterized their proposal as an attempt to make sure Maryland is well-positioned to respond to redistricting by red states and contribute to efforts to elect Democrats who could serve as a check on the Trump administration.

The state’s Republicans called the proposed amendment a blatant power grab

aimed at ousting Maryland’s lone GOP representative in Congress, Rep. Andy Harris.

“Gerrymandering is wrong. Whether it’s in a red state, a blue state — it’s just wrong,” said state Sen. Mary Beth Carozza. Harris, chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, represents Maryland’s 1st District, which is centered on the mostly rural Eastern Shore, part of a scenic peninsula separated from the rest of the state by the Chesapeake Bay In 2021, lawmakers tried to remake the maps in a way that made Harris’ district more competitive for a Democrat to win, drawing in communities across the bay But a judge struck down those districts in 2022, calling them a “product of extreme partisan gerrymandering.”

By The Associated Press

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By BERNAT ARMANGUE

A 12-year-old unaccompanied minor who crossed into Spain is escorted by a Spanish soldier to the Spain-Morocco border on Monday as the child begs not to be sent back to Morocco from the Spanish enclave of Ceuta.

ASSOCIATED PRSS PHOTO By RODRIQUE NGOWI

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Women take thefield at LSUclinic

On Thursday evening, LSU’sairconditioned indoor football operations center felt warm. Atrucksized opening to the practice field could explain that. But theheat didn’tmatter

At The Huddle, LSU’sFootball Women’sClinic, 333 women shopped, ate, drank, learned some plays, threw passes, tackled and ran pregame drills —all for $200 apiece or $350 for VIP,which included yoga with Lane Kiffin before the main event.

When Iwalked in, Iwas surprised to see pop-up boutiques along the sidelines of the practice field —selling all things purple and gold. And the womenwere buying it. The T-shirtoptions were impressive —the most notable styledlike acampaignlogo: “Kiffin/Orgeron’26,” later spotlightedbyKiffin himself.

Participants Michelle Hardyand Jennifer Welch sport‘Kiffin/ Orgeron ‘26’ T-shirts at The Huddle: LSU’sFootball Clinic forWomen on ThursdayatLSU’sfootball operations center

Ed Orgeron was standingnear one of the goal lines, with aline of women waiting for photos stretching to the 30-yard line. The routine was the same: New group. Handshake. Smile. “Geaux Tigas,” his signature call, over and over.Henever seemed to tire of it. After the shopping and photos came apanel of players, including new quarterback Sam Leavitt, then aQ&A with Kiffin hosted by Taylor Jacobs, LSU football’s chief strategy officer.She asked afew questions, then worked through questions submitted by attendees: What home game are youmost excited for?

“The first one,” Kiffin said. Do you see Whit Weeks being your future son-in-law?

“That’saquestion for Landry’s mom, Layla, over there,” he said. Football room,football pivot. Layla Kiffin gave athumbs up. Jacobs said, “Whit’shere. Maybe we should ask him.” Lane Kiffin responded,“Let’s see how he plays this year before we do that.” Next came the practice squads. We divided up into assigned groups and went into training

McClain’sPizzeriaopens afterfire

eatery expandsmenu, space

BY POETWOLFE Staff writer

Nearly ayear after afire damaged her family-owned restaurant, McClain’sPizzeria, Maggie Balmer stood insidethe newMcClain’sPizzeria location in Mandeville —her husband and daughter by herside—ready to celebrate the grand opening after months of uncertainty

“I think we’re still processing the newnormal,” Balmer said hours after the ribbon-cutting. “Because it was a very longnine months.”

McClain’sroots date back to Washington state in the1970s, but for the past13years, its Mandeville location sat steps from Lake Pontchartrain until an electrical fire broke out last October,damaging the kitchen andleaving the family withoutits primary source of income. Thecommunityresponded swiftly,donating morethan$34,000 througha GoFundMe campaign and

BY WILLIE SWETT Staff writer

On asweltering Saturday morning outside Jackson Square, Willy Picket rested hisshoes on thefront of his wooden carriageand looked at his 14-year-old whitehaired mule, BabyGirl.

Picket was dressed for the weather,withbreathable shorts,a strawhat, an UnderArmour shirt andslip-on shoes he said were built to withstand mule urine. Baby Girl stood in front,wearing atiny blue Mardi Gras krewe hat. It was late July,asNew Orleans settled into the long

stretch of high temperatures and humidity that arrives each year, and as adebate about tourist carriages simmered in other U.S. cities. New York City is considering banning its iconic horsedrawncarriages,which have been in Central Park for167 years. In June, an 18-year-old

tourist there died after leaping from arunaway carriage whose driverhad stepped off to take apicture. The death came not long after a carriagehorse there diedafter eating apoisonous plant andbroader questions arose about heat and animal work.

“I canunderstand where theysay theydon’t want them working hard,” saidPicket, 72, as he sat in the driver’s seat of his four-seat green

BY JIM DERRY Staff writer

BYMATTBRUCE Staff writer

STAFF PHOTO By JANRISHER

STAFFPHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER

Amule-drawn carriagerolls by Jackson Square on Saturday as operator Willy Picket, left,parkswhile awaiting fares

PROVIDED PHOTOByMAGGIE BALMER Nine months after McClain’sPizzeriawas damaged in a fire, the owners opened anew location in Mandeville.

50th annual La. racehorse auction generates over $6.2M

BY COURTNEY PEDERSEN Staff writer

The Coushatta Pavilion was filled with a crowd wearing cowboy hats and baseball caps, the wafting smell of manure and the constant sound of flying numbers as hundreds of people bid on the next generation of Louisiana-bred racehorses

For 50 years, quarter horse breeders and potential owners have gathered in Louisiana, looking for the ones they want to take to the racetrack, vetting the animals’ health, pedigree, temperament and potential for speed

This year’s two-day annual Louisiana Bred Yearling Sale took place Friday and Saturday at Coushatta Casino and Resort in Kinder

More than 425 quarter horses were offered for sale, and 329 were sold for a total of more than $6.2 million, an average of $18,878 per animal.

“At these sales, we’re selling dreams; most of the time, it can be a nightmare, but every now and then that dream comes true,” said Ryan Robicheaux, manager of the Robicheaux Ranch in Breaux Bridge.

“It’s like a Lotto ticket. One of these horses is going to win the

Police investigate after body found in Bayou St. John

Staff report

A body was found in Bayou St. John over the weekend near Bancroft Drive, according to the New Orleans Police Department.

The body was discovered Sunday just before 5 p.m., according to the NOPD’s internal offense log The death is listed as unclassified. More information will be released after the Orleans Parish Coroner’s Office completes an autopsy, according to the NOPD.

A spokesperson for the Coroner’s Office said the investigation was ongoing as of Monday

JUDGE

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preme Court, rejecting his legal challenge based on claims that the new law, Act 748, called for a supermajority vote by the Legislature.

The court’s nine remaining judicial seats are up for election on Nov 3, but Fuller declared Friday that he’ll pass.

“I will NOT be running against ANY of my colleagues in the fall,” he wrote. Fuller a prominent criminal defense attorney before winning the vacant Section J seat this year, said Monday he was contemplating his next move. Gov Jeff Landry in June enacted the law to shrink the New Orleans judiciary when most local judges’ terms close out at the end of the year. At the criminal courthouse, the seats held by Fuller and Judges Simone Levine and Rhonda GoodeDouglas will go away Jan. 1. Levine and Goode-Douglas both have said they plan to run.

Fuller argued in his legal challenge that the law violated Article 15 in the state constitution, mandating a twothirds supermajority vote for any change to the number of judges in any judicial district.

The state Supreme Court disagreed. In a 4-3 ruling, the majority found that Article 32, an exception specifically for Orleans Parish’s courts in the 1974 Constitution, trumped the supermajority requirement elsewhere.

The qualifying period begins Wednesday for candidates to file to run in the civil, criminal, juvenile, municipal and traffic court judge races, as well as for district attorney In the meantime, Fuller’s attorney, Jerome Matthews, petitioned the Supreme Court to reconsider its Friday order denying the challenge Matthews asked the justices to revisit its ruling before the qualifying period ends Friday

Email Matt Bruce at matt.bruce@ theadvocate.com.

HODGES

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serve the remainder of his third term. Hodges, 54 joins an already crowded field. In recent days, former U.S. marshal and fellow state trooper Scott Illing has announced his candidacy along with former Slidell interim Police Chief Daniel Seuzeneau and David Maki, a 20year veteran of the St. Tammany Sheriff’s Office. Hodges announced his

Texas, and some came from as far as Mexico, North Carolina, Minnesota and Arizona.

The most expensive horse sold was Pegasus SC, hip No 430, who was purchased for $252,000 by Watson Land & Cattle — Keith Nellesen. Nellesen is co-founder of Vivint Inc., a home automation, security and solar energy company

The horse that sold for the second most was RF A Faster Train, hip No. 416, who was purchased for $132,000 by Daniel Miranda in Louisiana from Tim and Jennie Rogers with S&E Sales Prepping LLC as the agent.

S&E Sales Prepping owner Stephen Deville said what made RF A Faster Train worth so much money was that it has a good temperament.

Inc. won an award at the sale for leading agent, meaning they sold for more money than anyone else at the event.

“These horse sales are like the NFL Combine,” Robicheaux said.

“We don’t do the 40-yard dash, but future buyers, future trainers come watch them walk, study their conformation, look at their pedigree. They X-ray them, they scope and make sure everything is correct that we can tell, and then they’ll put a price that they’re willing to buy them for.”

Sales at the auction have trended upward since 2020, when they were just short of $4.7 million. Coats said this is because the market is up and the horses have gotten better over the years.

million-dollar race next year Not all 470 are going to be great ones, but somewhere in there, there’s going to be one that’s going to make a million dollars or half a million dollars.”

Louisiana Quarter Horse Breeders Association Executive Director Misty Coats said the goal of the sale is for the horses to win.

The 329 horses that went to new owners were priced from $2,200 to $252,000. Buyers traveled to Coushatta from across Louisiana and

“The hopes of these yearlings are to go to the track next year, and then not only can they run for the purses, but the breeder that’s selling them here, if they run first second, or third, they get 25% of the purse just as a breeder, even if they aren’t the owner,” Coats said.

CARRIAGES

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carriage parked in a row of muledrawn carriages along Decatur Street. “But I know we don’t treat them bad.”

Picket, who grew up in Uptown New Orleans and started driving in the 1980s, was responding to some animal-rights activists’ claims of mistreatment in the carriage industry In addition to the concerns in New York, in Philadelphia, where Picket himself once did a stint as a horse-drawn carriage driver, officials in June banned its carriages (though the last business closed there in 2023). Other cities like Chicago have also phased out the practice in recent years. Soon San Antonio will, too.

Talks of similar bans haven’t proliferated in New Orleans, where horses and mules have been pulling people in some capacity, whether in carriages or streetcars or parades, for centuries. But the turning tide in some cities is something Picket and his boss, Mid-City Carriages owner Louis Charbonnet III, have on their mind.

Charbonnet, who is 87 and said he is thinking of selling Mid-City Carriages after three dozen years of family ownership, said he’s gotten questions about the recent accident in New York from people contemplating purchasing his business.

“I told them, ‘Go to court, look at the accident rate,’” Charbonnet said of the industry in New Orleans. “They were satisfied.”

‘Stubborn as a mule’

Notably, New Orleans already has its own ban on horse-drawn carriages, and the mules that pull them today are part of a pact made decades ago.

In 1980, two horses died pulling packed carriages through the French Quarter during a summer heat wave. The deaths provoked a flurry of attention on the industry and led to calls to end the practice.

Instead of outlawing animaldrawn carriages entirely, the New Orleans City Council brokered a compromise with the carriage industry and the Louisiana SPCA.

The horses were replaced with mules, a hybrid of horse and donkey, which some veterinarians say are more sure-footed, intelligent and better able to withstand heat than horses.

New Orleans is one of the only places in the U.S. that bans horsedrawn carriages but allows muledrawn carriages.

“This is one thing that New Orleans got right. It puts mules to work, and not horses,” said Charbonnet, a former state representative who represented the French Quarter at the time the regulations were implemented. “Horses will

plans to retire as State Police superintendent in June. He officially retired on Thursday and was replaced by Lt Col. Frank Beason at a ceremony on Friday Hodges said his decision to retire came in large part “because of the opportunity to serve and qualify for this race.”

“Our daughters (Jaclyn and Caroline) were born and raised there, went to school there, so we have had strong ties to St. Tammany Parish,” Hodges said of the parish. “Certainly, the retirement of the past sheriff changed the date of when the job would

“That horse had a great conformation,” Deville said. “He looked the part, but also his bloodline. His mom’s a really strong mare. She’s had multiple other horses that did well in races, including one last year.”

Robicheaux Ranch Inc. represented a total of 84 horses throughout the sale and sold 70 for a total of $2.1 million, Robicheaux said. This year, Robicheaux Ranch

This year marked the 50th anniversary of the sale, which Coats said is a testament to the Louisiana horse community

“I think it shows the grit and the commitment that Louisiana breeders have to the race industry and to breeding, you know, great horses,” Coats said.

Email Courtney Pedersen at courtney.pedersen@theadvocate. com.

Mule-drawn carriages wait for fares by Jackson Square. New Orleans is one of the only places in the U.S. that bans horse-drawn carriages but allows mule-drawn carriages. ‘Horses will work until they die; they’ll just drop dead on you. Mules will let you know when they are tired, and it’s time to go to the barn. That’s why they say, “stubborn as a mule,”’said

Mid-City Carriages owner Louis Charbonnet III.

work until they die; they’ll just drop dead on you. Mules will let you know when they are tired, and it’s time to go to the barn. That’s why they say, ‘stubborn as a mule.’”

In the years since 1980, the city has further ratcheted up its regulations around heat and animal welfare. By city ordinance, mules can’t be used if the temperature reaches 95 degrees or the heat index reaches 105. If they do, owners face a $500 fine.

“Ninety-nine percent of the time we’re ready to go before it gets to that,” Picket said. A few summers ago, he recalled, they didn’t work a day in August.

New Orleans currently licenses 30 carriages across four different companies: Mid-City Carriages, Royal Carriages, Rollin 20s and Good Old Days Buggies. Efforts to reach the other owners were not successful.

‘Different place than up there’

The switch to mules hasn’t quelled all criticisms, though. A small group protested the industry in Jackson Square in 2012 after an unlicensed operator’s carriage animal died, CBS reported.

Ashley Byrne, spokesperson for PETA, the animal-rights advocacy group, said mule-drawn carriages should be banned in New Orleans. The practice is unnecessarily cruel because it requires animals to work through the hot summers and puts them at risk of injury, such as from traffic, Byrne said.

“There is no reason to be putting a horse or mule or any other animal through that kind of misery just for the sake of entertainment,” Byrne said in an interview

Still, Picket said that in New Orleans, he sees less antagonism toward the industry from animalrights advocates than from frustrated drivers who get stuck behind the slow-moving carriages.

(“I pull over,” Picket emphasized.)

become available. In order to qualify for the race, I would have to retire.”

Hodges is a longtime St. Tammany resident. He graduated from Brother Martin High School in 1989 and then attended LSU, earning a degree in criminal justice in 1993. He joined the Louisiana National Guard out of high school, and in June 1995, after his obligations to the military were completed, he became a state trooper He worked on patrol and special events in New Orleans until the early 2000s before being

When it comes to accidents, a search of New Orleans civil court records from the last two decades involving the two largest companies, Royal Carriages and Mid-City Carriages, shows riders and pedestrians have filed various suits, alleging bruised arms and legs, injured feet, whiplash and vehicle damage from fender benders.

But Matthew Hemmer, a senior trial attorney at the personal injury law firm Morris Bart, who reviewed the court records, said he was “surprised at how few cases there were.”

Though Morris Bart’s website has a page dedicated to muledrawn carriage personal injury lawsuits, Hemmer said he was not aware of any lawsuits ever filed by the group against one of the carriage companies.

“To maintain mule carriages there needs to be sufficient oversight, sufficient inspections, and the public should know that their safety is being considered,” said Ana Zorrilla, the CEO of The Louisiana SPCA. Their inspectors stopped conducting quarterly inspections of mule barns in the city after funding was cut following the COVID-19 pandemic, though they still respond to complaints of animal mistreatment.

In the meantime, Picket said he wasn’t so sure it’d be the government that would put an end to the multimillion-dollar industry in New Orleans.

He could see it ending if it stopped making financial sense, or if the industry transitioned to electric carriages, he said. But New Orleans is full of people who own horses and mules and ride them in Mardi Gras parades or take them up and down the levee, he said.

“It’s just a different place than up there,” Picket said.

Email Willie Swett at willie. swett@theadvocate.com.

promoted to investigations.

In 2018, Hodges became a captain and presided over the intelligence unit and fusion center

Back in those early days, becoming the head of the state’s largest policing agency never was part of his dreams, but he said he hopes that his experience there will help him secure the top law enforcement position in Louisiana’s fourth-largest parish.

“It never crossed my mind. As a young trooper, you are just excited to have the opportunity to wear the uniform and make a difference every

day,” Hodges said. “I thought if I made captain with the State Police, it would have been a successful career

“And now, I want to ensure that our deputies are not just leading on social media, but they’re leading in person. I have made it a point to meet with all those sheriffs and chiefs across Louisiana, and not just for photo ops. I want to understand our local chiefs’ concerns and what we can do for them and how we can partner with them.”

Email Jim Derry at jderry@theadvocate.com.

delivering food and flowers.

Nearby restaurants offered temporary jobs to McClain’s employees while the family prepared its new home at 5404 La. 22. When the restaurant reopened, every employee returned — an outcome Balmer called “very validating and encouraging.” The fire revealed that McClain’s was more than a neighborhood pizza joint. Beyond its homemade pies and pastas, it had become an anchor and gathering place for the community “Not just financially — emotionally, we’ve had such, such support. It’s been phenomenal,” Balmer said. “It’s been humbling.” Most of the menu remains unchanged, though the restaurant has added Brussels sprouts, deviled eggs and gluten-free carrot cake. The new dishes carry on the tradition of being based on family recipes. Operations, too, will look familiar Balmer’s husband, McClain, and her father will continue spending early mornings in the open kitchen, kneading pizza dough and stirring red sauce using recipes from a family cookbook that survived the fire with only a few charred pages. The new restaurant, however, is markedly different from the original. It offers additional indoor seating, a full bar with 16 beers on draft and a private event room that accommodates more than 30 people. The family is still working “to make the space ours,” Balmer said. They plan to paint the walls a soft purple inspired by a recent trip to Prince’s home in Minnesota and install Louisiana touches throughout, including a hot sauce bar stocked with bottles collected during their travels.

Balmer sees the additional space as an opportunity to host more events. Saturday’s grand reopening will offer a preview, featuring live music, DJ sets and what she called “a trifecta” of cocktails: rum punch bloody marys and margaritas.

The restaurant has already booked two private parties, Balmer said, and familiar faces have begun returning alongside new customers.

“They’ve embraced us,” she said.

Email Poet Wolfe at poet.wolfe@theadvocate. com.

STAFF PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS

Alejandro Resendiz Alvarez beautifies a horse Saturday during the 50th annual yearling Sale at the Coushatta Casino Resort in Kinder

KarenKersting, wholobbied to revive N.O. afterKatrina,dies

Staff report

Karen Kersting, who lobbied Congress for money to restore New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina’s devast ation and renovated houses and aWorld War II boat, died Wednesday at Ochsner Medical Center She was 68. She died after athreeyear battle with pancreatic cancer,her sister Sandy Rabatin said.

In New Orleans, her home for about 40 years, Kersting seemed to be everywhere, not onlyatthe properties she was managing and renovating but also as avolunteer for GiGi’sPlayhouse, whichoffersprograms for people with Down syndrome and their families; Bridge House, which treats people with alcoholism and narcotics problems; and Carrollton Rotary In addition to being the latter organization’sfirst woman president, Kersting organized the group’sbeer sales every year at the New Orleans Jazz &Heritage Festival.

And she flew to Washington three times as amember of Women of the Storm to impress upon lawmakers theimportanceofrebuilding New Orleans.

“She was always there when you needed her,” said Anne Milling, the group’s founder.“She was outstanding.” Kersting was also acallig-

RISHER

Continued from page1B

rooms with coaches and players.

Ilanded with the Red Stick Socialites, led by coach Kevin Peoples. Our three players turned out to be Weeks, Leavitt and TJ Dottery,atransfer from OleMiss. Ihad taken one of the last seats in the room, and the three players ended up right beside me for the better part of an hour They were charming, candid and sincereand talked about what goes into their roles on the football team, even before practice officially begins Aug. 5. Plus, Weeks gave more insight into his relationship with the coach’sdaughter. Then we headed outside onto the practice field, where another coach led the group through the team’spregame drills. My foot is injured, so Icould not fully participate. This would have driven my late father —alifelong football coach —right up awall. Still, Ifelt him out there. Lights on, with an incredible pink and purple sunset to the west. Mothers were throwing passestotheir sons. Mothers were tackling their sons. My father builtacareer out of organizing fun like this —and for an hour, in the dusk, so did LSU, with alot more bells and whistles. The event was so much more than Iexpected. The coaches and players took it seriously,but they were having fun —and so were the participants. It was a blast to stand in lines and try to throw afootball10 yards into agarbage can

rapher,ashort-story writer, aclothing designer and a beekeeper.She also led the New Orleans chapter of the Women’sNational Book Association.

“Somany of ushavebeen touched by her impulse toward beauty,her thoughtful designs (and) herdeep knowledge of howa home shouldlook,” saidSusan Larson, TheTimes-Picayune’s formerbookeditor and the host of “The Reading Life” on WWNO-FM “Her courage and humor inspired us all.”

BornKarenMaryHughes in Pittsburgh, she graduated from LaRocheCollege there. She was amember of the American Society of InteriorDesigners who worked in Tulane University’s Physical Plant and theArtsCouncilofNew Orleans before going out on her ownwithher firm, AlaneDesign

In whatever she did, on the job and volunteering, Kerstinggained areputation as astickler for even the smallest detail andfor getting things exactly right.

Forinstance,onthe doors to the circuit-breaker boxes in one client’s home,she carefully labeled what every switch controlled. And on that job, Kerstingsaid, smiling, that she heard one worker correct another, saying, “Miss Karen doesn’t like it that way.”

Her mostpublicactivity was volunteering to restore PT-305, aWorldWar II patrol boatthat had been built in New Orleans at Higgins Industries and donated to TheNational WWIIMuseum in 2007.

Agroup of about 200 volunteers gathered every Saturday morningfor seven years —longerthanthe United States’ involvement in WorldWar II —topaint andreplace wood,screws andwiring to, in Kersting’swords,make the boat “tighter than tight.”

The only woman in that cadre, Kersting baked cookiesfor herfellowvolunteers, earning her the nicknameThe Cookie Lady. PT-305 is on display in the museum’s Kushner Pavilion.

Her marriage to Jeffrey Kersting ended in divorce. He died in 2018.

Their son,Ian L. Kersting, graduated from Tulane and Loyola University College of Law and became an assistant Orleans Parish district attorney

He died by suicide last year.Tohonor his memory,his mother donated to Loyola’slaw school in support of initiatives to spread mental health andsuicide awareness.

“She was tryingtodestigmatize mental illness andpromote wellness so more students could get the help and support they need,” said Madeleine Landrieu, thelaw school’s dean.“She was courageously making adifference while battling her own cancer.”

In addition to Rabatin, survivors include relatives in Texas, Georgia, Virginia, Pennsylvania andMichigan. Jacob Schoen &Son Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements, which are incomplete.

The guy looked at me sideways.

“Tony Hughes?” he said. “Tony Hughes coached me.”

Hughes played football for my dad at Forest High School in central Mississippi. He went on tocoach at many places —UniversityofSouthern Mississippi, LouisianaTech, Ole Miss, Mississippi Stateand as head coach at Jackson State.

Wilson and Itook aphoto together before he headed his way,and Iheaded mine, textingthe pic to Tony Hughes as Iwalked.

NewOrleans Area Deaths

Fahm,Benjamin Ragusa, Vincent Rollins, Mary Wilson, Colleen Wolf,Kenneth

Obituaries

Fahm, Benjamin Alfred'Benny'

BenjaminAlfred Fahm, known affectionatelyto family and friendsas Benny, passed away on July 29, 2026, in RiverRidge at theage of 82. Bornon November4,1943, in New Orleans, Benny liveda life marked by kindness,devotion, and quietstrength. He was aproud native of the city he called home, and thespirit of NewOrleans remained with him throughout his life.Hewas known by allwho loved him as aloving, generous, and selfless man.

Benny was aman of many talents. He was an outstanding cookwhose meals brought comfort and joy to those gathered around histable.Hewas also an amazing artist, gifted with creativity and an eyefor beauty.Heloved to golf in City Park where he wouldreminisce about his childhood. His interests reflected his generous spirit and hisappreciation for thepeopleand momentsthatmadelife meaningful.Above allelse, he dearly lovedhis wife Sally, childrenand grandchildren, and hisfamily was thecenter of his heart.

Those who knew Benny willremember aman who gavefreely of himself and who madelifebetter for thosearound him. His presence was steady and reassuring,and his love for hisfamily was unwavering.

Benny's life was atestament to thevalue of kindness, goodness and family. Thoughhewillbedeeply missed,the memory of his warm spirit,his generous heart,and his many gifts will remain alasting comfort to allwho were blessed to knowhim. Please joinusina celebration of life at 10308 S. Park St.inRiver Ridgeon SaturdayAugust 8thfrom 12-5.

Ragusa, VincentJoseph

Vincent JosephRagusa Jr., age70, known to family and friendsas"Dago or Rocky", entered eternal rest in thearms of his Lord and SaviorJesus Christ, following alongbattle with cancer, on Friday, July 31, 2026, surrounded by his lovedones.

Reserve. He workedprofessionally for manyyears in theMaritime industry, Audubon Aquarium, and in thecatholic churchparish of Transfiguration of the Lord. Vincent spent many years as abrother Knight of theKnights of Columbus Father FrancisX Seelos, Council2878.

Vincenthad alove for thelifehelived withhis adoredfamilyand was known for his unique talents of playingpractical (and some notsopractical) jokes on those he loved. Vincent'sgenerosity andkindnesswerejust a few of hisamazing traits. VincentenjoyedStargazingand all things space and creation.Vincent recently enjoyed abucket list dreamofbeing present for thelaunchofArtemisII. Hislifeand hisheart were bigger than life itself.He will be dearlymissedbyall whoknewand lovedhim.

Thefamilywould like to extendtheir sincere thanks to theOchsner Oncology team andSt. TammanyParish Hospice.

Relativesand friends of thefamilyare invited to attend thevisitation at Leitz Eagan Funeral Home, 4747 Veterans Memorial Blvd Metairie, LA 70006, on Thursday, August 6, 2026, from 9:00 a.m. until11:00 a.m.

ACatholic Funeral Mass will immediatelyfollow

Intermenttobeheld at MetairieCemetery

In lieu of flowers, the familyrequest memorial donationsbemade to NationalSpace Grant Foundation Inc. at www.spacegrant.org

Please visit www.honak erforestlawn.com to sign guestbook.

Arrangements by HonakerFuneral Home, Inc.,Slidell, LA.

Rollins, Mary King

Sheissurvivedbytwo daughters ,Mary wood andSheila Richter(David Richter) ,three grand daughters ErinLandry (Eric Landry) LindseyWoodand Kaylee Richter .11great grandchildrenand 2great great grandchildren.

Mary enjoyedreading, crochetand watchingtelevision especially when the Saintswereplaying. A memorial service willbe held from12:00 PM to 1:00 PM on 2026-08-06 at CelebrationChurch, 2001 Airline Dr

Wolf, Kenneth

KennethWiltonWolf(affectionately known as Tiger), aformer resident of Metairie, LA, nowof Gonzales, LA, passed away peacefully on Thursday, July 30, 2026, at theage of 78.

Born on September19, 1947, in NewOrleans,LA, Kennethlived alifedefined by unwaveringlove for his family, steadfast dedication to hard work, anda generousspirit that touched everyonewho had theprivilegeofknowing him. Agraduate of East JeffersonHigh School, Kennethwentontoattend Nicholls State University. Throughout his life, he workedtirelessly, believinginthe value of hard work andprovidingfor those he loved. Whilehe took great pride in hiscareer,Kennethalways considered hisgreatest accomplishment to be his family. Nothing brought himmorejoy than watchinghis children, grandchildren,and great-grandchildren grow andthrive. For 59 wonderful years, Kennethshareda devoted andloving marriagewith hisbeloved wife,Kathy Togethertheybuilta family centered on love,faith, andlastingmemories. Kennethwas alifelong sport enthusiast andavid LSUfan, rarelymissing an opportunity to cheeron theTigers. Whethercelebratinga victory or simply enjoyingtimewithfamily, he foundhappiness in the momentsthatbrought people together.

Kennethissurvivedby hislovingwife,Kathy Anne Miller Wolf;children, Kelly Michael Wolf (Melissa Davis Wolf), Kacie Elizabeth Wolf Zuppardo (Vito Claude Zuppardo, Jr.) andKory Matthew Wolf (ChristopherMichael Smith); andbrother,Keith JeromeWolf; grandchildren,KyleDavid Wolf Jordan AnthonyZuppardo, ParkerChristian Wolf, Jeremy AndrewZuppardo, andElijahKelly Wolf;and great-grandchildren ScarlettBaker Wolf and LucasChristian Wolf He wasprecededin death by hisparents, Edward Joseph Wolf,Sr. andAda Cecile Juneau; andbrothers, Edward J. Wolf,Jr. andGlenn Richard Wolf Familyand friends are invited to attendthe visitation at Ourso Funeral Home in Gonzales,LA, on Thursday, August 6, 2026, from 9:30 a.m. until11:30 a.m. AMass of Christian Burial will take place at 12:00 p.m. at St.Gabriel Catholic Church.A Committal Service will immediately follow at St GabrielCatholic Church Cemetery Kenneth'slegacy lives on in thefamilyhecherished above all else. His love,wisdom, andexample of devotion will remain in theirheartsfor generationstocome.

When the last rotation ended,most of thewomen hurriedtoward another fieldwhere Orgeron was, with his gravelly voice, setting up footraces. Unable to compete, thanks to my injury,Itook my time. On my slow walkover, Ibegan chattingwithtwo peoplegatheringequipment.I told them how well-runand funthe whole night had been. Oneof them fell into step beside me.Turnedout he grew up in asmall town in Mississippi, not too far from where Idid. He’d played football at HindsJunior College, where my uncle spentdecades as an administrator He told mehis namewas DwikeWilson,LSU’s senior executive director of recruiting and personnel.

“I bet you know Tony Hughes,”I said. “My dad coached him.”

Hughes wrote back in a flash: “Dwike is my favorite. He is like ason to me. He is my guy!!! Iwas just talking about Coach Risher at Bible study last night.”

Hughes and his wife have told me before that, through thedecades, he has quoted myfather —in football and in life, on the field and off it

BeforeIleft the field, I tracked Wilson down to show him themessage from Hughes. Maybe it was the sweat on his face, but to me, it looked like his eyes welled up with tears.

My father coached high school football for decades in Mississippi. He has been gone four years. Butstanding on an LSU practice field under stadium lights, there was no arguing with what Ifelt. He was there.

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

He is survivedbyhis belovedwife of 50 years Salvatricia (Sallie)Maloz Ragusa; twolovingsons Vincent Joseph Ragusa III (Courtney) and Anthony Gerard Ragusa (Jackie), six adored grandchildren, Isabella (Belle) Ragusa Blaise (Mitchell),Dominic Joseph, Caden Anthony, Caleb Michael, Lila Ann, & Olivia Grace; as well as twocherished siblings, Salvadore"Sal" Vincent, and Victoria "Vicki" Elizabeth Ragusa.

Also left to treasure his amazing memory are many nieces, nephews, greatnieces and nephews and great-great nieces and nephews, sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law, extended family,friendsand colleagues.

Vincent was preceded in death by his parents Vincent JosephRagusa Sr and ElizabethMarrone Ragusa; sisters-in-law, SandyHallRagusa and Jeannine Maloz Rigney; brothers-in-law,Timothy JosephMaloz Sr,and Thomas JudeRigney; and hisnephew Raymond Wilson Richard.

He was bornand raised in NewOrleans, Louisiana Vincent served as afirefighterinthe U.S. AirForce

BelovedMatriarchand Minister, ColleenCarolyn Wilson, dies at 69.

Knowntofamilyand friends as acaring, compassionate, and committed Christian, ColleenCarolyn Wilson, 69, passed away peacefully on July 26, 2026, from Myelodysplastic Syndrome,bonemarrow cancer complications Wilsonwas surrounded by familyand friends. She wasa notedauthor,and respected minister,bornin NewOrleans in 1957 to the lateWoodrow andAgnes Tibbet Wilson. Sheissurvivedbyher daughters, Dr.Maniko Barthelemy, Dr.Johnette Hansley, ColletteBreaux, Chelsia Hughes, Mariah Dillon,andMaple Morgan Colleenisreunitedinheaven with herparents, Woodrow andAgnes Tibbet Wilson, grandson, KarterDeuce Farrell Barthelemy, belovedaunt Bernesa and Jerome Magee,andadoptive parents, Jerryand Hildred Jenkins.

Colleen'sCelebrationof Life is 10AM, Friday, August 7, 2026, at Charbonnet-Labat-Glapion Funeral Home, 1615 St Phillip St., NewOrleans,LA 70116.

EMAIL: obits@theadvocate.com OR CALL FORMORE INFORMATION: 225-388-0289

Howto place an Obituary Notice Howto place a Memorial Ad

Kersting

STAFF PHOTOSByJAN RISHER

Jan Risher gets aselfiewith coach Ed Orgeron at The Huddle: LSUFootball Clinic for Women.

LSU’snew quarterback Sam Leavittspeaks to participants.

At TheHuddle: LSU Football’sClinic for Women,333 women tookpartindrills, listened to coach Lane Kiffin, coach Ed Orgeronand numerousplayers amid preparations forthe football season

Wilson, Colleen Carolyn

Voters’ choices in fall elections narrow

As anew election cycle gets underwaywith qualifying for municipal andstate offices starting Wednesday,wecan’thelp butnotethat Louisiana voters this fall face adramatically changed landscape.

When the U.S. SupremeCourt’s ruling in Louisiana v. Callais came down in April, fundamentally altering the understanding of Section2of the Voting Rights Act, we said that we hopedit wouldn’tbethe end of thestory andthatvoters would see the importanceoftheirrole in our democratic system.

Since then, we have seen legislators in multiple states quickly revise maps to givetheir party’scandidates an advantage. In Louisiana, that has meant the elimination of oneofthe state’stwo majority-Black congressional districts, which is held by Rep. Cleo Fields, D-Baton Rouge.

After Callais, congressional primariesset for May were abruptly canceled so lawmakers could redraw districts.Inthe newlyconfigured 6th District, approved by theLegislature in May, aheated race among Republicansisexpected. But Fields has already announced he won’t run. Justasin2024, when thedistrictswereredrawn to comply with acourt orderand thenRep. Garret Gravesdecided not to seek the seat, we believethe political debate becomes poorer when voters have fewer choices.

And that is what is happening withthe intense focus by political parties on rewarding loyalty above all else. We see fewer coalitions forming and fewer candidates who can talk acrossthe aisle.Wedon’thear discussionsofissuesthat are important to large swathsofvoters. That, we fear,leads too many to believetheyhaveno option of supporting someone who’drepresent theirpoint of view or focus on solving their problems.

Let’snot forget that the Callais decisionaffects not just congressional elections, butalso comes into play for redistricting for city councils and school boards —bodies whereworking collaboratively matters.

There is little that the average votercan do to changethisstate of affairs, butitshould be clear to allthat voting matters now more thanever.

This latest bout of redistrictingseekstoguarantee the outcomes that party politicianswant to see. But even as they “pack andcrack”the electorate, their actions offer noguarantees,and indeed could make the paths of their favored candidates more perilousifvoter turnoutis greater than expected.

Our fervent wish is to get to aplaceinour state andinour country where politiciansseek less to pick their voters,but ratherpickupthe challenge of tackling the priorities that matter to abroad majority of theelectorate Until that day,though, we all havea responsibility tofollow the campaigns, demandthat candidates respond to voters andtoshowupatthe ballot box to make our voices heard.

LETTERSTOTHE EDITOR ARE WELCOME. HERE AREOUR

GUIDELINES: Letters are published identifying name, occupation and/or title and the writer’scity of residence

TheAdvocate |The Times-Picayune require astreet address andphone number for verification purposes, but that information is not published. Letters are not to exceed 300 words. Letters to the Editor,The Advocate, P.O. Box 588, Baton Rouge, LA 70821-0588, or email letters@ theadvocate.com.

TO SEND US A LETTER, SCANHERE

OPINION

Time forafresh look at Essencesupport

I’venever missed an Essence Festival.Infact, I was amember of theNew Orleans City Council when we helped negotiate thefirst Essence Festival to come to ourcity. Ibelieved in it then, andafter morethan 30 years,Ibelieveiniteven more today Essence is much more than amusicfestival.Every year,itfillsour hotels, restaurants, conventionhalls andsmallbusinesses, generatingmillionsofdollarsin local andstate tax revenues that benefit all of Louisiana.

Over the years, public investmentand financial incentiveshavesteadily declined,evenasthe festival’simpact hasgrown. That doesn’tmakesense. That’s whyI believeit’stime to take afresh look at howwe support Essence. If we’rewillingtoinvest public dollars to attract major sporting events,conventionsand other tourism opportunities, we should be just as willingtoinvest in Essence, which hasdelivered results for Louisiana for morethanthreede-

cades Othercitieswould welcome the opportunity to host an eventofthis magnitude. We should be doing everything we can to keep this Louisiana treasure right where it belongs. This year,I washonored to participate in empowerment panels, economicdevelopment discussions and communityconversations. Ialso enjoyed themusic, culture andexcitement that have made Essence special formorethan30years. As always, Ileft inspired.

City needstogoold-school on parade land grabbers

In the recent article “New CarnivalrulesOK’d,” thenewspaper reports that grills, tents, furniture andportable toilets remainprohibitedinpublic spaces alongNew Orleansparaderoutes, but the fines for violators will increasefrom $250 to $1,000 and$2,000 each day thereafter.Blah, blah,blah Fineshaven’t worked before, because enforcementisimpossible. Howwill raising finesbedifferent?

Whatisthe plan?

At the endofthe parade days, Iwatch land grabbers lowering canopiesand tents, lockingupladders andtables, bundlingchairs andre-staking tarps, knowing they will be there the next day. Many take turns sleepinginvehiclesorsitting in chairstoprotect

Ireally appreciated therecent letter from Jonathan Mizrahi, M.D., where he lauds the great strides in finding cures forpancreaticcancer

Dr.Mizrahi emphasizesthatthese breakthroughs came via investments made many years ago, and he points outthatfuture breakthroughs depend on ourinvestment today. Fourteen years ago, my wife was

their turf for the next parade.

The misuse of public property for the private use of afew should notbetolerated.It’stimethe city goes old-school.Back when it meant business, tow trucks lined up before parades, hauling away illegally parkedvehicles.Then came dump trucks with city employees tossing ladders, furniture, tarps, tents andother prohibited items into them. One sweep doesn’twork. It must become routine, both before and after parades. The city does an amazing job of cleaning up after parades. Now is the time to put some teeth into enforcing Carnivalrules

SUSAN MUCHMORE NewOrleans

diagnosedwith stage 4A breast cancer.Thanks to chemotherapy andhormonetreatment developed yearsago,mywife is nowconsidered cancer-freewith averylow chance of it ever returning. Let’scontinue to invest in medical science. God worksthrough medical science.

QUIN BATES Marrero

Essencehas neverbeen just aboutentertainment. It celebrates entrepreneurship, education,health, culture andopportunity.It brings people togetherand showcases theverybestof NewOrleansand Louisiana Investing in Essence isn’tjust theright thing to do.It’sone of thesmartest economicinvestments our city,our state andour tourism industry can make. We simply cannotafford to take Essencefor granted. U.S. REP.TROYCARTERSR. NewOrleans

No oneisentitledtoa shredofanyoneelse’s wealth or property

Socialism is evil because it appeals to humans’ lowest form of ambition: the ambition to have someone else do the work while you gain the benefit. Youwork, and Ieat. Would it really be fair for 51% of ademocratic nation to force the other 49% to payfor all their living expenses? Of course not. But if we can grasp this notion, can we notalso say it just as unfair at 60/40 or 80/20 or even 99/1?

Just because someone is smarter,works harder or even is just luckier than you doesn’t mean you are entitled to take their stuff. Some say the 1percenters are greedy,but this yearning to have someone else pay your way is really greed in its truest form. Our country got great and remains great because we gave everyone opportunity.There is no barrier to success other than your own willingness to get out there and take some risks and do some work. Because of this, our people live freer and better than others. Because of this, we leadthe world in innovation, can-do spirit and getting things done. Think any of the socialist countries like Norway or Denmark could withstand an invasion by say,Russia or China? How many minutes do you think they could hold out on their own? It’sthe presence of the UnitedStates as the world’sleading power (also many times more powerful than the next in line) that keeps these other folks safe. And us, too. Our best and brightest’smain ambition would be to “go on the dole,” as the Brits say And that is why socialism is evil.

LOUIS LUZYNSKI Bush

COMMENTARY

LSUsportsmakesequityplay

This week, Gov.Jeff Landry and LSU President Wade Rousse will convene apair of private meetings with top donors to LSU’ssports programs to lay out a new revenue model that could “change the future of college sportsin America.”

Grandiose statements aside, part of the deal may already be done: Baton Rouge news website RedEye reported Monday morning that LSU had already entered into an agreement withaprivate equity firm for $100 million.

Noneofthis should be surprising. College sports is now more than ever a big-money arms race. Every school is looking for new revenue sources that will help keep it at the topofthe heap. That’swhy LSU is searching so hard for more cash.

RedEye’sreport, which is anonymously sourced, says that the investors will provide $100 million in upfront cash. It’ssimilarto deals inked by Michigan State and the University of Utah, the report says In return, the firm will receive either aminimum guarantee or apercentage of media rights whenthe SECnegotiates its next football deal, RedEye reported.

It’sanimportantinfusion for LSU, which runs deficits in most sports

other than football, even popular ones like gymnastics, baseball and women’s basketball.

Player compensation is amajor expense. This is not theold days,with recruiting battles playing out in living rooms and at kitchen tables with mothers and fathers. They are waged in boardrooms and at conference tables, with agentsand consultants.

Butitwould be wrong to lay the blame for this at the feet of the players. For years, college sports was atopdown, closed economy.Within thelast half-century,astelevision brought more and more games into American homes, the money began flowing in. Athletics departments began to act like businesses. But they didn’tpay players in proportion to their value; the moneywent to coaches, administrators and facilities.

This arrangement was justified for years under thefarcical ideal of “amateurism,”even as increasingly wealthy coaches put ever-increasing demands on their players’ time and effort. Players haven’tbeen “studentathletes” for years.

This system allowed schools to keep the majorlabor costs down (coaches excluded) while pulling revenue from media rights.

Today,college athletics is amarketdriven economy.Top players are looking for the best deal for them andtheir

families. They are finally being compensated in relation to the value they bring to theirorganizations, the same as every other employee.

Butitputsthoseatthe top of theprogram in abind. To keep LSU’ssports roaring, to keep Tiger Stadium one of the best places to be on aSaturday night,tokeep the PMAC shaking at the conclusion of aflawless floor routine, LSU officials need to pay competitive rates. That’snot cheap.

Andso, we are in aspot whereLSU has cut its first privateequitydeal. Morethan thetaxpayers, residents, fans, donorsorthe state’spolitical leadership, one privatecompany now has an actual share of the flagship public university’ssports programs. Investors aren’tlooking for wins They’relooking for areturn. Butthereisabright spot. The best way for private investors to get that return is for LSU sports to remaina hot commodity. Andthe bestway for that to happen is for theprogram to win on the field and on the court. That will do two things:keep fans happy and drive investor returns. It also putsalot of pressure on those at the top. It likely will lead to more such deals. Critics will say LSUhas soldout.The truth is,ithad no choice.

EmailFaimon A. Roberts III at froberts@theadvocate.com.

Who’stoblame when kids aren’t vaccinated?

What is the death count under Donald Trump?

New Hampshire, South Carolina test Democrats

David Shribman

CRAWFORD NOTCH, N.H.— Twohundred years ago this summer,aferocious storm moved through these mountains, prompting a massive landslide that killed seven members of the Willey family and two hired workers. More than twodecades ago, the Great Stone Face, the beloved rock formation above Franconia Notch that wasthe symbol of this state and the inspiration for scores of 19th-century paintings and the soaring oratory of Daniel Webster, collapsed. Recently,the Democratic National Committee took steps to end morethan acentury’sNew Hampshire tradition of holdingthe first presidentialprimary and delivered the prize to South Carolina.

Nothing if not resilient in the face of sadness and crisis, NewHampshire —shaped by massive geological forces that created the hills and glens of this state, buffeted by economic forces that created and then demolished what once wasthe largest cotton textile complex on the globe —has hewntotradition, nurtured a culture of independence, adjusted to powerfulgales of change, even endured extreme winds (234 mph, mostpowerful recorded in the Northern Hemisphere) and bracing temperatures (wind chill minus 109 degrees).

Nowit’sgirding to fight forthe lifeofits political culture.

One asset: The Republicans show no sign of moving their 2028 primary out of NewHampshire. One response: Guided by aGranite State law that requires the state to hold the first presidential primary “7 days or moreimmediately preceding the date on which any other state shall hold asimilar election” —to the mind of politicos here, and here that means pretty much everybody,Iowa’scontest, acaucus, doesn’tcount —the Democrats likely will hold their primary before South Carolina’s anyway

With the support of GOPGov.Kelly Ayotte, they’lldare the Democrats to refuse to seat its delegates in the national convention. But those delegates werenever the point. In 2020, the last timethe party had acontested presidential nomination, NewHampshire’s24delegates constituted less than 1% of the total.

“There’snoreason we have to listen to this decision,” said former Secretary of State William Gardner,who fordecades fought to keep NewHampshire first.

That’sbecause the impact of New Hampshire always has been to test presidential candidates in an environment of highly engaged voters. It has provided asignal to the country of the legitimacy of somecandidates (Dwight Eisenhower,Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, George H.W.Bush, Michael Dukakis, John F. Kerry,Bernie Sanders) and the weakness of somehighly touted others (Nelson Rockefeller, President Lyndon Johnson, Edward M. Kennedy,Bill Bradley). Often candidates wholost (Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Joe Biden) were strengthened by the test they endured.

We’re not talking about loss of life in his war with Iran. We’re not talking aboutnatural deaths by agingorunpreventable diseases. We mean Americans who die because they refuse safe vaccines that Trump or his health secretary,Robert F. Kennedy Jr., question or discourage.

Arecent occurrence of death and suffering comes from the refusal by many parents to let doctors give their newborns avitamin Kshot. Infants are naturally deficient in vitamin K, which helps prevent blood clots and internal bleeding, which can be horrific. Kisavitamin, not avaccine. But ill-informed parents have developed suspicion of anything delivered with aneedle.

Vitamin Kshots were once routinely given, but now many parents refuse them. In 2024,anestimated 5.2% of American babies were notinjected with vitamin K, up from 2.9% in 2017. At least12suchbabies have died, and far more have sufferedpermanent brain damage.

Doctors believe the real numbers are far higher than reported

Who’sto blame —the parents for not studying the matter or ahealth department that hascastaspersions on accepted science?Jessica Kirk,a

pediatric specialist at aFlorida hospital, recalls trying to comfort agrieving parent. “But what Icould notbring myself to say to her was, ‘There’s nothing you could have done.’ ” Fallingvaccination rates are to blame for America’sworst measles outbreak in more than 30 years. Parents are refusing the effective measles, mumps andrubella vaccine over the false claimthatitcauses autism.Trumpissaidtobehounding Bobbytolook deeper for alink that 138 studies by real scientists could not find.Trump now insists that the shot be broken up into separate injections, based on zero science.

Several children infected with measles died last year,whenthere were far fewer cases. Many more had to be hospitalized withseriouscomplications.

Trumpmakes us dizzy complaining that he doesn’tget credit forspeedingupdevelopment of aCOVID-19 vaccineand then putting avaccine skeptic with abizarre past in charge of Health and Human Services. He gushes abouthaving “a Kennedy” from “the greatest political family” in hisadministration. Whatfun that must have been Trumpnever directlydiscouraged Americansfrom getting COVIDshots. Buthekept minimizing the severity of the disease. He said it would “go away” or that it was undercontrol Trump would not receive the vaccine

beforecameras. ThatgaveAmericans whosuspected that vaccinesposed dangers more reasons to avoidthem. An estimated 250,000 Americans diedunnecessarily from COVIDby refusing to be vaccinated after the shots became widely available.Who’s to blame? The first Trump administration or people whodidn’tseek outexpert advicetoget vaccinated?

Trump is allegedly unhappy with Bobby for notdoing more to fansuspicionofvaccines. Really,RFK Jr.has done quite enough harm already putting Americans’ health at risk.

Complicating matters forTrump are newfindings from afriendly pollster that vaccine skepticism is highly unpopularwith voters. In another survey, 80% of adults said they trusted their doctors most, while only 34% put their faith in Bobby Why is Trump pushing doubt in mainstream science when he andhis family reportedly getall the shots? Could it be fumes circulating in his 80-year-old head?Could it be apleasurable jolt of power from persuading people to, in effect, gamblewith their lives? Thatpossibility is too grim to contemplate.

Sufficeittosay,though, the Trump administration is doing real harm, and some of it is costing American lives.

Froma Harrop is on X, @FromaHarrop. Email her at fharrop@gmail.com

This state has held the first primary since 1920 (winner: Herbert Hoover,who wouldn’t be elected president foranother eight years) and has been established as an important political test since 1952 (the first of two Eisenhower victories).

The key to the cult of NewHampshire is the intimacy of the process, conducted in living rooms, libraries, church basements —a reflection of the truth that Thornton Wilder, whoset his 1938 Pulitzer-winning play “Our Town”inthe fictional community of Grovers Corners, New Hampshire, identified when he wrote, “Inour town, we like to know the facts about everybody.” It is indelibly marked by the aggressiveness of the voters who attend meet-and-greets and town meetings, as former Governor Nikki Haley,accustomed to South Carolina politics and shivering —itwas only November! —asshe entered aHooksett, New Hampshire, meeting site in 2023, discovered first-hand.

But it has adamaging distinction for Democratic policy-makers: It’s 91% White, only 2% Black (Democratic Party: 18%) and 5% Hispanic (Democrats: 16%).

If, forexample, acandidate such as Kentucky Gov.Andy Beshear,who would be expected to do well in South Carolina, contests an early New Hampshire primary and does well, he could solidifyhis position as aputative frontrunner.Aprogressive candidate wholikes to defyconvention, such as, say,Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of NewYork, could campaign here alongside her ally Sanders (winner of two primaries and afamiliar figure across the state border), and have abreakthrough to catapult her into serious contention she’sunlikely to wininSouth Carolina.

Email DavidShribman at dshribman@postgazette.com.

Faimon Roberts

Froma Harrop

STAFF FILE PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

LSU interim coach FrankWilson leads theteamonto the field against WesternKentucky on Nov. 22 in TigerStadium.

If youenjoyed the weatheryesterday, youshouldlikeitonce again today. Expect amostlysunny, hot, relatively humid daywithalight breeze. Temperatures this afternoon willbeabout where theyshould be,rising to the lowtomid-90s.The dewpoint temperatures are lowerthan theyhavebeen, so the heat index valuesthis afternoon will only risetothe upper 90s to low100s.The UV index will be at the

afternoon, so stayhydrated and protect

Hot, drysummer takestollonEurope

BY DEREK GATOPOULOS and SYLVIE CORBET Associated Press

ATHENS,Greece Arecord-breaking hot and dry summer tightened its grip on Europe on Monday,as water-dropping planes swooped over amajor wildfire in Greece, firefighters in France sought to stabilize ablaze in Provence,and much of the U.K. recordedits driest July in nearly two centuries. Wildfires west of Athens jumped containment lines,aday aftera midair collisionbetween two helicopters killed two crew members. AGreek and aDanish national died andtwo others were hospitalized in the helicopter collision All four were private operators chartered by the Greek firefighting service. In France,firefightersinthe region around Bordeaux guarded against potential flare-ups inside astill-burning scar fourtimesthe size of Paris.

Aprolonged heat wave and lack of rainfall led to the driest Julyin England and Wales in nearly 200 years of recordkeeping,according to provisional statistics, the U.K.’s weather service said Monday All of Wales and more than half of England are officially in drought, the Met Office said. The dry spell was accompanied by sweltering temperaturesacross much of the U.K., following heat waves in May and June. Wales tied its recordfor its warmestmeantemperature for July while England and the U.K. recorded their second-warmest July

Strong winds returned to southern Greece late Monday,pushing flames into mountain home clusters, destroying farms and property,and closing ahighway Areas surroundingAthensremain at high risk through the week with temperatures set to rise further.More than 1,000 people have been evacuated from around the seaside resortofPorto Germenoand otherareas west of the capital —including more than 250 rescued by boats from beaches in the area. “This is adifficult fire that has

troubled us,” Fire Service spokesman YiannisArtopios said, adding that 12 water-droppingplanes and 11 helicopters were operating in thearea Monday

The blaze was blamed on afaulty power line from awind farm and ledto thearrests of two contractors on charges of negligentarson Despite improved detection methods and expanded cooperation among European Union members, Greece and other countries alongEurope’s Mediterranean coast suffer devastating wildfires every summer as spells of heat wave temperatures grow longer EuropeisEarth’sfastest-warming continent, heating at morethan twice theglobal average since the 1980s, according to theEuropean Union’s Copernicus climate service.Rising temperatures and prolongeddrought leavevegetation drier and more combustible, allowing fires to spread faster and burn more intensely

In France, thousands of evacuees were allowed to return home or to holiday accommodations Mondayafter amassive wildfire remained contained. More than 224,000 people hadfled in what officials said was the country’slargest civilian evacuation outside of wartime.

Thewildfireburnedabout 162 square miles,making it France’s largest wildfire on record. Monday’sreturn includes CapFerret peninsula, atourist hot spot along theAtlanticcoast, andLePorge, the municipality hardest hitby thefire, where 183 homes were destroyed. Campsites remain closed

Asecond wildfire in Provence did not flare up overnight, but was notcontained Monday as stronger winds were expected,firefighters and authorities said. About 1,500 firefighters, supported by waterdropping helicopters, continued reinforcing fire lines alongthe blaze that tore through about7 square miles.

The European Forest Fire Information System said the risk of wildfire remains high across parts of thecontinent through Aug. 5, including in traditionally cooler northern countries.

Record-low Danube levels triggercrises

BY JUSTIN SPIKE Associated Press

BUDAPEST,Hungary— Numerous governmentsacross Central and EasternEuropeare takingstepsto conserve electricity and avert an energycrisis as record low water levels on theDanubeRiver have forced power plants to thebrink of shutting down. Persistent drought and successive extreme heat waves have deprived one of Europe’slargest rivers of water,pushing theDanube’s levels in Hungary’scapital Budapest to around 4inchesonMonday, well below theprevious all-time low of 13 inches set in 2018.

Water levels are not expected to rise on the Danube in the coming days or even weeksasnosignificantrainfall is forecast, andasa renewed extremeheat wave bears downonthe region with daytime highs topping 100 degrees, electricity andwater use are on the rise.

The Danube’srecord low levels have pushed Hungary’sonly nuclear power plant, theSoviet-built, four-reactor plant at Paks, to the brink of powering down entirely forthe first time in its 44 years in service.

ThePaksplant, whichuseswater from theDanube to cool its reactors, on Monday was producingonly240 megawattsofpower rather than the usual 2,000. In video posted to Facebook on Monday, HungarianPrime MinisterPéter Magyarsaidengineers hadmanaged to keep theplant’sfinal operating turbine temporarily running, averting an expected shutdown on theweekend.

“Thisisverygoodnews, because thecomplete shutdown of the Paks power plant can still be avoided, at least temporarily,onone of the biggest consumption days,”hesaid, adding that afull power-down was likely on Tuesday or Wednesday

The Paks plant,located around 55 miles southofBudapest, accounts for nearlyhalfofHungary’selectricity productionand around athirdofits consumption. Hungary hasreliedonregional electricity imports as well as renewable sources to try to make up for the deficit from the Paks plant. Hungary’sgovernment last week asked major industrial users

to curb their electricity consumption andsoughtvoluntarysavings from households in order to conserve supply,particularly in peak demand hours between 5p.m. and 10 p.m.

It also announcedthatelectricpowered freight trains would not be permittedtorun during peak hours beginning on Mondayinorder to conserve an estimated 70 to 90 megawatt-hours of electricity per day

While conservationmeasures were initially voluntary,Magyar’s government on Saturday issued adecree allowing for them to be made mandatory for large industrial or commercial consumers.

He saidMondaythatthe conservation push had resulted in 700 fewer megawatts of electricity being used the previous day,and thanked Hungariansfor their efforts.

Meanwhile, plants in neighboring countrieshavealso seen dramaticdrops in power generation, as well as disruptions to shipping and agriculture.

Romania’smilitary on Monday used 397 pounds of explosivesto blast rock near theDanube’s Bala Canal in order to redirectwater into theriver’smain channel and toward the state-owned Cernavoda nuclear power plant.

TheDanube’s waterflow hasfallen to 1,500 cubic meters persecond in Romania, lessthanathird of its July average. Authorities have

already shut down one reactor unit at theCernavodaplant, which is operating at abouthalfits normal capacity

Acting PrimeMinister Ilie Bolojan announced anationwide state of alert in theenergysector on Friday,and warned that the Danube’s low waterlevels threatened the shutdownofCernavoda’ssecond reactor.Heappealed to citizens to voluntarily limit electricity usage in peak evening hours.

After meeting with major industrial consumersonMonday, Bolojan said carmakers Dacia and Ford hadgoneinto maintenanceand haltedauto production until Aug. 19, while other companies agreed to reduce their energy usage during peak hours. In Serbia,recordlowDanube levelshavepushedthe country’skey hydroelectric plant to operatewith only 20%ofits capacity,prompting PrimeMinister Djuro Macutto preside over an emergency meeting on Monday focusing on energy problems. Macut appealedtoresidentsto “minimizethe use of big consumers of electricity in their homes, such as airconditioners.” He describedthe situationina statement late on Sunday as “serious and demanding.”

ASSOCIATEDPRESS PHOTOByANDREEA ALEXANDRU Aboat is banked on the sand in an area usually submerged in water Mondayalong the Danube RiverinRasova,Romania.

SPORTS

‘LOT OF PRIDE’

BY LUKE JOHNSON Staff writer

Kaden Elliss has notspent alot of time reflecting on his professionalfootball journey but he quicklycan recall the unfortunate moment that changed the trajectory of his career

It was aMondayNight Football game against the Baltimore Ravens in 2022. Starting weak-side linebacker Pete Werner left the field on amedical cart inthe thirdquarter, an injury that required surgery andsidelined himfor six weeks.

“You pray for everyoneonthe team to be completely healthy all year,” Elliss said.“If Pete doesn’tget hurt against the Baltimore Ravens my last year here,Imight havejust signed back as aspecial-teamer,and that mighthave been my career.You knowwhat Imean?”

The New Orleans Saints suddenly needed to count on Elliss, known mostly for his special-teams ability,ina starting role. He delivered in abig way,recording six sacks and 63 tackles in the final nine games of that season, enough to earn him abig contract from the rival Atlanta Falconsthat offseason

This spring, Ellissreturned to wherehis career startedasa different playerthan the one who needed an opportunity

He has establishedhimself as aproven and dependable startinglinebacker in the NFL.

He has earned more than $30 million in his career and will top $50 million if hefinishes out his third contract.

That is not too bad for aformer seventhround pick out of theUniversity of Idaho.

BY DENNISWASZAK AP pro football writer

FLORHAM PARK, N.J.— Breece Hall

came to training camp with anew contract from the New York Jets and an intense desiretojustify the big bucks.

“It makes me more hungry to keepproving Iamwho Isay Iam,” said the star running back, who receiveda three-year extension in May worth $45.75 million. “It’s making me want to do morethan I’ve done in the past.”

Meanwhile, Baker Mayfield said he feels “disrespected” by the Tampa Bay Buccaneersfor not getting the contract extension he sought and plans to play outthe final season of his three-year,$100 million deal.

Several playersknow exactly how they feel, entering theseason with something to prove because of either signing abig-money deal, looking foranother contract,join-

“There’salot of pride,”said gen manager MickeyLoomis,who was ning the front office when the Sa selected Ellisswiththe No. 244 p in 2019. “I think anytime youdra the players that are in thelatter ha of the draftand they develop int All-Pro, Pro Bowl (players) …tha makesyou feel good “Kindofpissedoff that he was i Atlanta over those years and doin that —like,you don’tlike to see t —but you’re happy forthe player kindofmad that you didn’t see it so and keep him here.”

Sometimes the timing works out, though.

New Orleans already hada line of communication out to Ellis about the possibility of coming backwhen Demario Davis elected to sign with the New York Jets this offseason. That move created avoid that Elliss wasqualifiedtofill.

Elliss topped 100 tackles in eachofhis three seasons with theFalcons. He wasthe Falcons “green dot” defender,callingdefe sive plays in the huddle.And the skills that first started to show w gothis opportunity to play in New have been evident during early training camp “I’m excitedtoplaywithhim,” tackle Davon Godchaux said. “Ve

ing anew team, tryingtoovercome an injury orworking to rebound frommediocre play.Here are some players with alittle extra to prove in 2026.

BrianThomas, WR,Jaguars

The2024first-rounderout of LSU set franchiserookie records for catches (87), yards receiving (1,282) and TD receptions (10), quickly emergingasTrevorLawrence’stop target. But Thomas’ productionnosedivedlast season with 48 catchesfor 707yards and just two TDs. He alsotied for second in the NFL with 10 drops.Thomaswas impressive during offseason workouts and minicamp,and thehope is being in his second year in Liam Coen’s offense will help himmore closely resemble the playmaker he was as arookie.

A.J. Brown, WR,Patriots

The three-timePro Bowlpick

BY MATTHEW PARAS Staff writer

Aday after Ja’LynnPolkmade the surprising decision to retire from the NFL, there still wasn’tclarity about why the wide receiver wanted to walk away Coach Kellen Moore calledPolk’s choice “personal,” declining to share the reasons the 24-year-old provided the Saints. AndMoore saidthere was no illwilltowardPolk, adding thereceiver hadseveral conversationswiththe team in the days before he was placed on the league’sreserve/retired list. “He just felt like this was the best decision forhim on apersonal level,” Moore said. “And so, youknow, love that guy. He didanawesome jobthrough the entire processhere (over) theyear-plus we had him.”

Make no mistake, Polk’sretirement was sudden and will force the Saints to change course after the black and gold hada clear visionfor the former2024 second-round pick. NewOrleans was hoping to salvage Polk’scareer after it acquired him from the New England Patriots last training camp.

Polk’stenure ends without ever suiting up in aSaints uniform. He was sidelined allof2025because of ashoulder injurythatendedhis seasonbefore New Orleans traded for him.

was traded by Philadelphia to New EnglandinJunefor a2028firstround draft pick and a2027 fifthrounder. Brown, who’sstill only 29, had 339 catches for 5,034 yards receiving with32touchdowns in four seasonswiththe Eagles —a tenure also marked by cryptic social-media postsand comments thatsoured his relationship with thefranchise, including quarterback Jalen Hurts. In New England, Brown gets afresh start with his childhood favorite team.

Keon Coleman, WR,Bills

The 23-year-old wide receiver hasthe talent to be astar for the Josh Allen-ledoffense. But inconsistency and lapses in focus on and off the field have prevented Colemanfrom reaching that potential. He hasbeen disciplined threetimes for being late to meetings.After having eight catches for 112 yards in Buffalo’s seasonopener,Colemanhad just

Linebacker Kaden Elliss defends while playing forthe Saints in 2022.

Let’sexamine the ripple effects of the Saints losing Polk.

Next man up

Before retiring, Polk had established himselfasthe Saints’ fourth receiver —with the potentialtocompete with Devaughn Vele for the third spot.

With Chris Olave and Jordyn Tyson sidelinedthrough thespring during team drills, Polk got valuable reps with the starters and formed anice chemistry with quarterback TylerShough. Polk impressed well enough that Moore madeapoint Monday to tell reporters he wasconfident thewideout could contribute in the NFLifPolk were to reverse his decision. With Polk gone, there’sawide-open windowfor the eight other receivers not named Olave, Tyson and Vele to win that spot. All eyes will turn to the Saints’ recent draft picks. Fourth-round wide receiver Bryce Lance had agood practice Sunday with back-to-back touchdowns whilethe Saints workedinthe redzone. On Monday, it wassixth-round wideout Barion Brown’sturn to stand out. The LSU product flashed by hauling in several long catches andusing his 4.4 speed to torch the opposing corner Third-year receiverKevin Austin perhaps shouldn’tbediscounted. He got work with the first-team offense near the end of practice Monday when the Saints were scaling back the

30 receptions for 292 yards in 12 other games. He acknowledged in minicamp that this is a“make or break” season.

Breece Hall,RB, Jets Hallran for 1,000 yards for the first time in his career last season andalso had 350 yards receiving withfive overall TDs while playingin16games.Hewas mentioned often in trade rumors last year but remained withthe Jets. With FrankReich running theoffense, Hallshouldcontinue to be adoit-all bell cow out of the backfield with the hope he’ll firmly establish himselfasone of the league’stop running backs.

Baker Mayfield, QB,Buccaneers The No. 1overall pick in 2018 by Cleveland revived his career in Tampa Bay after replacing Tom Brady in 2023. Mayfield insists he

STAFF PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD

Saints linebacker Kaden Elliss runs adrill during training camponThursday.

AP PHOTO By KELLyJORDAN

Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver

Brian Thomas makes acatch during practice at the team’s training camp on Sunday in Jacksonville, Fla

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RedSox,Phillies, Padres go big

Tradedeadline expires with flurry of moves

BY DAVID BRANDT AP baseball writer

The Boston Red Sox andPhiladelphia Phillies took big swings Monday ahead of baseball’strade deadline, with the Red Sox adding three-time All-Star catcher Adley Rutschman afew hours after the Phillies picked up three-time batting champion Luis Arraez.

Thepairofaggressivemoves highlighted ahectic day of swaps, featuring dozens of deals in the hours leading up to Monday’s 5p.m. deadline. Among Monday’s other fireworks: the Houston Astros added veteran outfielder Daulton Varsho from Toronto in exchange for right-hander SpencerArrighetti, andthe Chicago Cubs got pitcher Clay Holmes from the New York Mets.

The San Diego Padres made multiple moves to deepen their pitching staff, picking up former Cy Young Award winner Robbie Ray in adealwith the San Francisco Giants and right-hander Casey Mize from the Detroit Tigers.

Here are Monday’sbiggest deals: RutschmantoRed Sox

Rutschmanwas theNo. 1overall pick in 2019 out of Oregon State and has largely lived up to the high expectations with five qualityseasons with theBaltimore Orioles.

Now he moves to the Red Sox, who started slow this seasonbut revitalized their playoff hopes with afranchiserecord-tying 15game winning streakinJuly.The 28-year-old Rutschman —who is under team control for one more season in 2027 —has hada bounce-back season at the plate with a.762 OPS, which helpedhim earn his third All-Star nod Rutschman is currently on the injured list with left wrist inflammation. He’salso dealt with an ankle injury and aconcussion this year

The Red Sox also received catcher Jake Rogers and cash considerations in the deal. The Orioles gotcatcher Carlos Narváez, minor leagueright-handed pitchers Anthony Eyanson and Kyson Witherspoon, minor league outfielder Enddy Azocar,and aplayer to be named laterorcash considerations. Eyanson, who pitchedon LSU’s2025 national championship team, is one of the top pitching prospects in baseball

BaltimoreOrioles catcher AdleyRutschman follows through on atworundouble against the ChicagoCubsinthe seventh inning on July 7in Baltimore. The Orioles traded him to BostononMonday.

Arraez to Phillies

Arraez comes to the Phillies from theSan Francisco Giants, and he’ll be expected to create RBI opportunities for sluggers Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber

Arraez is hitting an NL-best .324 in aresurgent season after signing a$12 million,one-year dealwith San Francisco earlyin spring training. The 29-year-old hashis highestbatting average since 2023, and he’splayed better defense at second baseafter questionsabout hisglove hindered his market in free agency Phillyalsogot reliever Caleb Kilian back from theGiants in thetrade for two minor leaguers, and it swung aseparate deal for left-handed reliever Brooks Raley with theMets.

Padres loadup

The Padres have won eight of nine to moveone game back of thefinalwild-card playoff position, andthislatestsurge in their up-and-downseasonapparently prompted general manager A.J Preller to tradeyet another chunk of his severely depleted farm system for achance to win now Ray is 10-6 with a3.08 ERA and 107 strikeoutsin1222/3 innings this season, his third with San Francisco. San Diego gave up right-hander

Miguel Mendez and 17-year-old shortstopJoniel Hernandez for the34-year-old Ray, who will be an unrestricted free agent this winter.The Padres also gotcash in thedeal.

The 26-year-old Mize has a4-6 recordand 2.70 ERA this season over 16 starts. The Tigers receivedleft-handedpitching prospects Kash Mayfield and Jackson Wolf.

Astros pickupVarsho

The 30-year-old Varsho has had adisappointing offensive season with a.682 OPS over 99 games with the BlueJays, but he earned aGold Glove award in 2024 and remainsanexcellent defender Houston cameinto Monday’s games witha58-55 record, which is good for first place in the AL West.The Astros took over the division lead for thefirst time since April after athree-gamesweep of theRangers over the weekend.

The Blue Jays received Arrighetti, whois7-5 with a4.60 ERA over 17 starts this season.

Guardians addthree

The Cleveland Guardians pickedupa power batand some outfield versatilitybyadding Jo Adell from the Angels, who receivedminor league catcher Jacob Cozart. Later in theday, they acquired veteran lefty Fos-

terGriffin from the Washington Nationals and sluggerNathaniel Lowe from the Cincinnati Reds.

The 27-year-old Adell has 16 homers and 62 RBIs this season, one year after hitting acareerbest 37 homers with 98 RBIs. Adell has spent his entire career with theAngels after being the 10th overall pick in the 2017 amateurdraft

The 31-year-old Griffin has been excellent for the Natsthisseason with a12-3 recordand 3.06 ERA. He’sback in the big leagues after athree-year stint playing in Japan.

The 31-year-old Loweishaving abouncebackseason with a.266 average, 12 homersand 37 RBIs

He’lladd more thump from the left side.

Othertradesofnote

n ThePittsburghPirates added veteran right-hander Luke Weaver from the Mets. Weaver is in the first season of atwo-year,$22-million deal. He had been one of the few bright spots this season for thelast-placeMets, going2-1 with a1.84 ERA with one save in 42 appearances. The Pirates also added veteran right-hander Kirby Yates in adeal with the Angels.

n The New York Yankees added outfielder Heliot Ramos from the San Francisco Giants in exchange for minor league infielder Kaeden Kent andleft-hander HenryLalane. The26-year-old Ramoshas hit.264 with nine homers and 34 RBIsin74games this season for theGiants.

n The MilwaukeeBrewers added right-handed starter Dustin May andleft-handed reliever JoJo Romerofromthe Cardinals in exchange for prospects Alexander Frías andJosiah Ragsdale. May hasa5-7 record and 4.38 ERA over 21 starts. Romero has a3.35 ERA over 44 appearances.

n The playoff-chasing Arizona Diamondbacks gota left-handed bat thatcan fill aspot in left field with the acquisition of Lars Nootbaar from St. Louis forprospects. Nootbaar has hit .234 withthree home runs and 16 RBIs in 48 games since hisseason debut in early June after heel surgery last offseason.

n Torontogot utility player Josh Smith, who played at LSU,and minor league right-handerJosh StephanfromTexas for rookie left-hander AdamMacko. Smith, whoin2024 wonaSilver Slugger as autility player, was at TripleARound Rock. He went into this seasonwith the chance to be the Rangers’ everyday second baseman, but he hit .213 in 45 games andmissed 37 gamesbecauseof injuriesand about with viral meningitis.

Former LSU big man Miller finds newhome with Miami

Former LSU men’sbasketball player Robert Miller III has found anew home after entering the transfer portal on April 10.

The 6-foot-10, 230-pounder is transferring to Miami, his father,Robert Miller II, told TheAdvocate. He averaged 6.1 points, 3.9 rebounds,1.4 blocks and0.9 steals pergameasa sophomore. Miller wasranked the No. 42 power forward in the transfer portal,according to 247Sports.

The Houston native was one of nine players to leave LSU ahead of coach Will Wade’sfirstseason back in Baton Rouge. His new home, Miami, is led by second-year coach Jai Lucas, who guided the Hurricanes to a26-9overall recordand a13-5finish in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

BearssafetyBryant

leaves practice field on acart

Chicago Bearssafety Coby Bryant was injured at practice on Monday with an apparent leg injury and left the field on acart

Bryant,the former Seattle Seahawks player who was acquired in free agency this offseason, was working against tight end Cole Kmet in 1-on-1 drills and clutched his left legnear the knee. He was able to getinthe cart on his own power,but the scenewas scaryfor theBears, who are depending on Bryant’s speed in arevamped starting secondary

The team hasn’tannounced the nature or severity of the injury, butESPNreported Bryantcould miss 8-10 weeks with ahyperextension, bone bruise and small fracture.

NinersWREvans sits out with strainedquadriceps Wide receiverMikeEvans missed practice forthe SanFrancisco 49ers on Monday because of astrained quadriceps in the latest injury to hit the team’sreceiver room Evanswas able to attend practice as aspectator andevencaught acouple of passes on the side during aspecial-teams drill. But his absence leftthe Niners extremely short-handed at receiver Projected starter Ricky Pearsall is alreadydonefor theseason because of an injury to his posterior cruciate ligament last season that hasn’thealed and requires surgery.The team’s top draftpick, De’Zhaun Stribling, has missedthe past two practices with tightness in his hamstring.

TexasRangersdesignate

RHP Martin for assignment

Veteran right-handed reliever Chris Martin was designated for assignment by the Texas Rangers on Mondayafter being reinstated from his third injured list stint this season because of aright shoulder issue.

BY NOAH TRISTER AP baseball writer

Thebiggestdealofthistrading season came courtesy of the Detroit Tigers, who sent left-handed ace Tarik Skubal to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday, two days before Monday’strade deadline. Skubal is afree agent after this season, and Detroit is under .500. But even consideringall that,trading away the 2024 and 2025 Cy Young Award winner couldn’t have been easy The Tigers will be judged on how the three prospects they acquired —Zyhir Hope, River Ryan and Brady Smith —perform. History showsthat it’spossible to come out OK when trading apitcher of Skubal’scaliber,but there are plenty of teams whogot little in return.

Here are eight other instances when areigning Cy Young winner was traded before the end of the following season(hattip to Baseball Reference for the transaction recaps):

n FrankViola,Minnesota to New York Mets, 1989: Among theplayers Minnesota received for Viola were Rick Aguilera and Kevin Tapani. The former would save 42 games and the latter would win 16 in 1991, when the Twins won the

World Series. Viola wasn’tarental —after finishing the1989 season in New York,hewent 20-8 in 1990 for the Mets.But NewYork never made thepostseason with him.

n David Cone,KansasCityto Toronto to New York Yankees, 1995: Conewas actually traded twice theyear after his Cy Young season in Kansas City.Toronto acquiredhim forChris Stynes and two players who never made the majors. When the Blue Jays floundered, they dealt Cone —in thefinalyear of his contract —to theYankees for Marty Janzen and two players who never madethe majors.

n Pedro Martinez, Montreal to Boston,1997: Ouch. Montreal knew what it had in Martinez, but he was entering his walk year so the Expos traded himshortly afterthe ‘97seasonfor Carl Pavano andTonyArmas. Bostonwas able to keep him long term, andin1999 and 2000, he turned in oneofthe best two-year pitching stretches in the live ball era: 23-4with a2.07 ERA, followed by 18-6 with a1.74 ERA.

n Roger Clemens,Toronto to New York Yankees, 1999: New York was comingoff a114-win season and aWorld Series title when it sentfan favorite David Wells to Toronto along with reliever Graeme Lloyd and infielder Homer Bush. In return, theYankeeslandedClemens,who like Skubal was fresh of two straight Cy Youngs. He added another

withNew York in 2001 and kept pitching until 2007.

n CC Sabathia, Cleveland to Milwaukee, 2008: Another good comp for Skubal, in that the Brewers got Sabathia as apartial-seasonrental rightbefore he hitfree agency.It wasworthitwhen he went 11-2 with a1.65 ERA downthe stretch to help Milwaukeereach theplayoffs for thefirst timein26years. Outfielder Michael Brantley was aplayer to be named later in the package that went back to Cleveland, and he would become afive-time All-Star

n Cliff Lee, Cleveland to Philadelphia, 2009: Yes, that’stwo straight seasons Cleveland traded away theprevious year’sCy Young winner —and Leewasn’t even apending free agent. He helped the Phillies reach the World Series before being retraded to Seattle. As part of the deal for Lee, Cleveland got Carlos Carrasco, who would pitch there for over adecade.

n R.A. Dickey,New York Mets to Toronto, 2012: The Mets pickedthe right time to deal Dickey,who won 20 games in 2012 before New York sent him to the Blue Jays in December.Right-hander Noah Syndergaardand catcherTravisd’Arnaud were part of the return, and both were still with New York when the Mets won the pennant in 2015.

n Justin Verlander,New York MetstoHouston, 2023: Verlander is atrickycasesince he actually left the Astros as afreeagent

after winningthe Cy Young for themin2022. Then New York traded him back to Houston in the middle of the 2023 season.

Performanceofthe week

Kyle Freeland threw Colorado’s first complete gamesince 2002 on Sundayinan8-1 victory over KansasCity. It wasFreeland’s251st start and first complete game. EduardoRodriguez is nowthe lone pitcher in major league history with at least250 startsand no complete games.

Comeback of theweek

Twoofthe craziest comebacksof the season came this week, courtesy of teams trying to stay in the American League wild card race. Baltimore trailed Detroit 7-0 in thetop of the seventh with Skubal on the mound. The Tigers hada 99.4% win probability according to Baseball Savant.The Orioles finally chased SkubalwithLeody Taveras’two-out RBI single, and by thetime Detroit’sbullpengot out of the inning it was 7-5. Baltimore tieditinthe eighth, both teams scored twiceinthe 11thand then the Orioles won10-9 in 12.

On Thursday, Kansas Cityled Minnesota 3-0 with two outs and nobody on in the bottom of the ninth. (Win probability: 99.5%.) Ahit batter,asingle and awalk loadedthe bases.ThenKodyClemens hita grand slam to give the Twins a4-3 victory

Martin, whoturned 40 in June, is 1-1 with a9.00 ERA in 16 games this season, allowing 25 hits and 14 earned runs in 14 innings. He missed 75 games during histhree IL stints.

The 6-foot-8 Martin is an Arlington, Texas, native who initially played for his hometown team in 2018 and2019. He returned to the Rangers last season, when he had a2.98 ERA over 49 relief appearances.

Eala beats Pegula, becomes firstFilipina with WTAtitle WASHINGTON— Alexandra Eala’s breakthrough week at the DC Open lasted one daylonger than expected.Bythe time it ended, the Filipino expression written across the Nike T-shirt she had wornearlierthat week had become areality “Once it grows, it cannot be stopped.”

After the women’sfinal stretched acrosstwo days because of heavy rain, Eala rallied past Jessica Pegula 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 Monday to capture her first career WTATour title. The victory made the 21-yearoldEalathe first Filipina to win asingles title on the tour,completing the samecareer-defining breakthrough thatthe Washington tournament once gave Pegula when she claimed her first WTA title in 2019.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By GAILBURTON

Skubal

Time share

Rummel RB duo likes to share workload

BY CHRISTOPHER DABE Staff writer

Coryan Hawkins returned to the sideline late in Rummel’s road playoff win against Tioga when coach Nick Monica delivered the good news: The hardcharging running back finally had cracked the 1,000-yard rushing mark.

That made him the second Rummel back to reach 1,000 yards in 2025, joining speedy Jaden Terrance, who had reached the milestone several weeks earlier

“We celebrated in the locker room,” Hawkins said about that Friday night in November

In June, when Terrance announced his Tulane commitment, the duo shared another memorable moment this time with Hawkins as the only Rummel teammate invited to a family dinner at Outback Steakhouse.

The two seniors savor each other’s successes just as much as they appreciate their own.

“Most high school kids, they want the ball every play,” Monica said. “These two guys have completely embraced the role of keeping each other healthy and keeping each other more durable and getting to the end of the season. They push each other It’s a great tandem.”

There are times when two players at the same position quietly hope for more carries or playing time. That is not the case with Terrance (148 carries, 1,440 yards, 15 touchdowns last season) and Hawkins (195-1,0968).

“We’re not going to hate on each other,” Terrance said. “We all want to see each other win.”

The pair compete at practice, where “it’s who can do bag drills the fastest (and) who can get through their cuts the fastest,” said Rummel running backs coach Israel Tucker, a former Rummel team captain who played four seasons at Louisiana Tech.

Notre

U.S. soccer, coach Pochettino agree to new 4-year deal

BY RONALD BLUM AP sportswriter

Mauricio Pochettino is staying with the U.S. soccer team, agreeing Monday to a four-year contract to coach the Americans through the 2030 World Cup.

The 54-year-old Pochettino, who took over the national team in October 2024, led the U.S. to the round of 16 at this year’s World Cup, where the tournament co-hosts were eliminated in a 4-1 loss to Belgium.

Still, he helped the seeded U.S. team to a pair of firsts in the expanded 48-nation tournament, clinching advancement from the group stage with a game to spare and winning three games in a single World Cup. The team captivated American fans with excited audiences in stadiums and record TV viewership.

Hawkins first saw the value in sharing the backfield while backing up 1,000-yard rusher Norman Taylor in 2024.

“Just knowing that you have that other person to help you when you’re down or help you when you’re slacking,” said Hawkins, who ran for 677 yards two years ago, “it’s amazing.”

Having a teammate “striving for the same goals as you are” gives Terrance, who had limited touches as a sophomore, “a lot of motivation,” he said.

Terrance and Hawkins figure to have a shared workload for the second year in a row, but now with junior Nathaniel Singleton in his first full season at quarterback after he moved from wide receiver midway through last season.

“He’s almost just as good a runner as them two,” Monica said of Singleton. “He adds a whole different level with our offense being able to do that.”

Senior Mark Shezbie and junior Kirby Cade are the expected top passing targets in an offense that returns only junior left tackle Raymond Hughes up front. Developing the offensive line will be one of Rummel’s biggest preseason priorities.

The defense returns all-district

selections Russ Lewis on the line and Mitch Harris in the secondary Coming off an 8-5 season that ended in the quarterfinals, the Raiders’ biggest strength remains their two standout running backs.

Both have areas of their games they’d like to improve. Hawkins wants to become a faster runner

“That’s what I’ve been working on getting faster,” said Hawkins, who has not yet made a college commitment.

Terrance expects to become a better pass catcher He also wants to have a larger role in the return game.

He learned plenty from watching the running backs who came before him.

“Just watching them at practice, watching what they do in the game, getting feedback from them,” Terrance said. The two backs would like to reach the 1,000-yard mark for a second time as a tandem When they did it last season, they became the first pair of Rummel backs to eclipse that total in the same season since Jarrell Johnson and Andrel Johnson in 2007. No matter which back gets there first, they’ll both celebrate the achievement.

Dame, USC agree to resume rivalry with series starting in 2030

BY ERIC OLSON AP college football writer

The Notre Dame-Southern California college football rivalry will start again in 2030. The schools announced Monday they have agreed to a four-game home-and-home series. Notre Dame will play in Los Angeles on Aug. 31, 2030, and the Trojans will visit South Bend Indiana, on Aug 30, 2031. The meetings in 2032 and 2033 will be played in the first three weeks of the season

The teams met each non-pandemic season from 1946-2025, typically in October or November, in what became known as “the greatest intersectional rivalry in college football.” The exception was the 2020 season when most schools played a conference-only schedule. The 2030 date opened up when defending national champion Indiana canceled a home-and-home series with the Irish that was scheduled for 2030 and 2031, a person with knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of

anonymity because no official announcement had been made.

Negotiations between Notre Dame and USC to continue the annual series became challenging after the Trojans joined the Big Ten in 2024. The Trojans expressed that they did not want to play nonconference games after September Notre Dame beat the Trojans 34-24 in South Bend last Oct. 18, and the series officially went on hiatus in December when the Irish announced they had filled the last open spot on their 2026 schedule with a game at BYU.

Notre Dame and USC first played in 1926 and the Irish lead the series 5338-5. The series also was put on hold from 1943-45, during World War II. The two schools have combined to win 22 national championships and produce 15 Heisman Trophy winners, and the discontinuation prompted consternation on both sides. Navy is the only team Notre Dame has played more than USC, at 98 meetings. Notre Dame and USC play for the Jeweled Shillelagh Trophy a tradition which began in 1952. The Jew-

eled Shillelagh Trophy is presented by the Notre Dame Club of Los Angeles. Notre Dame victories are marked by green-jeweled shamrocks while USC victories are marked by ruby-jeweled Trojan heads.

“USC’s historic rivalry with Notre Dame holds a special place in the history of college football, and we are happy to resume a series that means so much to the entire Trojan Family,” USC athletic director Jen Cohen said. “It remains important for us to play this game early in the season, as it allows us to schedule competitively with our Big Ten peers and takes into account the health and best interests of our student-athletes and program. We are excited for our fans, and we look forward to more memorable matchups and unforgettable games between the Trojans and the Irish.”

The Hoosiers and Irish last met in the first CFP playoff to be held at a campus site in December 2024 Notre Dame won 27-17 in South Bend and reached the national championship game before losing to Ohio State 34-23.

“The magic thing that happened during the World Cup, the connection with the people, of course with the whole organization and everything was a key point,” Pochettino said during a Zoom news conference from his home in Barcelona, Spain.

Since reaching the quarterfinals at the 2002 World Cup, the U.S. has lost four round-of-16 games.

“What we learn(ed) is that we can compete, that we have the quality and we have the talent,” Pochettino said. “We were so close. That gap with the best teams in the world is not too big.”

Pochettino views the next cycle as a new start for a program lacking quality depth at goalkeeper and central defender

“It is going to be important to provide the young kids that we really believe (in) that they have the potential to arrive in 2030, in four years,” he said.

Before taking the U.S. job Pochettino coached Espanyol (2009-12), Southampton (2013-14), Tottenham (2014-19), Paris SaintGermain (2021-22) and Chelsea (2023-24). When Pochettino replaced Gregg Berhalter two years ago, he signed an initial contract through the 2026 World Cup. Pochettino said ahead of the tournament that he had discussed a possible new deal with the USSF He also said in May that his agent had spoken with AC Milan, a club that then hired Rúben Amorim.

Pochettino, who has homes in Spain and London, said he may move to the U.S. He intends to stay with the American team until 2030 but left himself an out.

“Four years time is a really long period. You never know what can happen in soccer,” he said.

“Today people really love you

In eight weeks time, maybe that change(s), that feeling.”

He has led the U.S. to 17 wins, 13 losses and one draw Twentythree of 62 players to appear under Pochettino have accounted for the team’s 57 goals.

“We know we have a lot of work to do to achieve our clear ambitions, including competing to win Men’s World Cups and having soccer become the most played sport in every community,” USSF CEO JT Batson said in a statement.

U.S. coaches have not been successful when they remained for a second World Cup cycle.

After leading the Americans to the 2002 quarterfinals, Bruce Arena was unable to get his team past the group stage in 2006. Bob Bradley helped the U.S. reach the round of 16 in 2010, then was fired a year later after the team lost the CONCACAF Gold Cup final.

Jurgen Klinsmann took over and in December 2013 was given an extension through the 2018 World Cup. The Americans reached the round of 16 in 2014, but Klinsmann was fired in late 2016 after the U.S. lost its first two games in the final round of qualifying. Arena returned but the U.S. failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.

Berhalter was hired in late 2018 and led the Americans to the round of 16 in 2022. Given a new contract in 2023, he was fired a year later after the U.S. failed to advance past the group stage at Copa America.

“We are going to demand more from them,” Pochettino said of the players. “We are not going to be in some situation(s) not flexible like we were because before it was (for) the benefit of players, benefit of structures that were already built. But now it’s about to start the house from zero.”

Judge clarifies her NCAA eligibility order

BY EDDIE PELLS AP national writer

DENVER The judge who granted some athletes the right to play another year in college issued a new order Sunday that makes clear that does not include football players who signed pro contracts this summer then had a change of heart. U.S. District Judge Charlotte Sweeney responded to an NCAA request for clarity about her Friday ruling that granted a fifth year to athletes who graduated high school in 2022 and were not included in the new NCAA rule that allows five seasons of eligibility for Division I players. She said the decision still stands. But the clarification said her ruling had no impact on other NCAA rules, which would include its prohibition on players signing pro contracts, then coming back to college.

The NCAA filed its intention to appeal the case later Sunday night. The ruling, as first written, had the potential to upend the upcoming college football season, where teams are starting camp planning on the “five for five” rule to take effect beginning next fall.

Extending it to players this fall granted hundreds a chance to return to school In the direct aftermath of the decision, some media reports were listing play-

ers on NFL and CFL rosters who were signaling they’d be open to returning to school.

But that appears to be off the table after Sweeney’s clarification that said it was strictly about the players whose eligibility ended last school year It did not extend beyond that neither to rules regarding when athletes can enter the transfer portal nor to elements of the landmark House lawsuit settlement, which dictates how many players teams can put on rosters and how much schools can pay them.

The rulings out of U.S. District Court in Denver figures to impact sports differently Football teams, for instance, have already started practice for this season, while baseball doesn’t start for a while. In making decisions, teams figure to factor the NCAA’s appeal of Sweeney’s order and whether to risk bringing back players who could then be declared ineligible if her decision is overturned.

NCAA President Charlie Baker issued a statement after Sweeney’s initial ruling came out Friday, saying the ruling was potentially chaos-inducing and a reason Congress needs to pass the Protect College Sports Act. That bill, being considered in the Senate, includes lawsuit protection for the NCAA over eligibility rules, the likes of which they are defending in several courts around the country

STAFF FILE PHOTO By JOHN MCCUSKER

Rummel runner Jaden Terrance, shown running for a touchdown against Shaw on Sept. 19, is one half of a potent running back duo who both eclipsed 1,000 yards rushing last season.

AP FILE PHOTO By LINDSEy WASSON

U.S. men’s national soccer team coach Mauricio Pochettino walks out to throw the ceremonial first pitch before a game between the Seattle Mariners and the Toronto Blue Jays on July 3 in Seattle.

STAFF PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER Rummel running back Coryan Hawkins, right,runs with the ball during a state quarterfinal game against St. Augustine at Tad Gormley Stadium on Nov 28.

Offense shines for first time in camp

BY LUKE JOHNSON Staff writer

The pads came on, and the New Orleans Saints offense enjoyed its best performance to date. After a handful of days where things looked half a click off, Tyler Shough completed 11 of 14 pass attempts. The offensive line gave him a relatively clean pocket to operate from for much of the practice, and when pressure broke through, Shough would answer by using his legs to find space and extend the play It wasn’t just Shough making plays. A rookie wide receiver popped a couple of times Monday morning, and a veteran running back made an impact as a receiver out of the backfield. In both cases, it might not be the player whom you think. Here is what happened during the roughly 100-minute practice Monday morning in Metairie.

Attendance

There were no changes in attendance Monday: Receiver Mason Tipton, and defensive linemen Keeshawn Silver and Zxavian Harris continued to miss practice with injuries suffered before camp began, and right guard Cesar Ruiz missed practice with an excused absence.

New Orleans has not yet made a roster move with defensive lineman Bryan Bresee who is expected to miss the 2026 season with a torn ACL, but it will soon have two roster spots to fill after Ja’Lynn Polk‘s sudden retirement.

Offense shines

Nobody was really worried about the offense this early in training camp, but Monday’s practice was the first one decisively won by the starting offense.

Shough easily had his best day, both in terms of the passes he completed and the rhythm he had the offense in. Only three of his passes during team drills hit the ground

two of them deep shots that he put just beyond his receiver’s reach, and the other a throwaway as he was escaping pressure while rolling left.

The Saints’ pass-catching depth showed up, too: Shough’s 11 completions went to seven different players — three receivers, two running backs and two tight ends.

First-round pick Jordyn Tyson made a nice sliding catch over the middle of the field, going to his rear end to corral a low throw from Shough. Fellow rookie Oscar Delp got in the action by catching

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MIKE STEWART

Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Drake London, left, works against cornerback A.J. Terrell during training camp on Monday in Flowery Branch, Ga.

Falcons’ unity on display during emotional day

BY MAURA CAREY AP sportswriter

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — Tua Tagovailoa made his 11-on-11 debut at Atlanta Falcons training camp on Monday as full pads went on for the first time. A strong fan turnout made its presence known with applause as Tagovailoa took the field, rookie receiver Zachariah Branch showed flashes of brilliance and Jeff Ulbrich returned to the practice facility Offensive guard Matthew Bergeron had one extra thing to smile about after signing a fouryear, $96 million contract extension on Saturday, joining a list of young Falcons playmakers who have been rewarded for their efforts leading up to the season.

Tears welled up in Bergeron’s eyes as he talked about what it means to continue his career in Atlanta, the southern city that has become home for the Canadian offensive guard since being drafted in 2023.

“Being Canadian and not having much family in the U.S., to be able to be here and everybody just welcomes you with open arms and southern hospitality — just being able to stay in Atlanta means the world to me,” he said.

To Bergeron, it’s the people that make the place. He said it’s hard

to explain the brotherhood without witnessing it for yourself in the locker room.

“I’m just very, very, very grateful,” Bergeron said, noticeably emotional. “My work ethic and the way I carry myself is never going to change. I’m going to hold myself to a high standard, keep working the way I do every day.”

That brotherhood was felt on Monday as Ulbrich made his first training camp appearance since the death of his wife, Cristina, following a battle with cancer

Both Bergeron and linebacker

Divine Deablo expressed their support and appreciation for the second-year defensive coordinator

“Man, I love Brich,” Deablo said.

“He’s like a, I don’t know, a father figure, an older brother for me. So, I was glad to have him back out there. I hugged him as soon as I seen him. Everybody just wants to play for Brich at the end of the day.”

Bergeron said he hopes the team can help Ulbrich through a difficult time, just as the coach does every day for players with his unwavering energy and intensity

“It means the world for us to just be all together, you know, offense, defense and coach ‘Brich,” Bergeron said. “He means a lot, not only to the defense but to the team as well.”

Shough’s first pass of the day in the left flat and turning upfield.

Importantly, the run game also produced a couple of big plays — at least, they looked like they would be big plays. While the players were in pads, they were not fully tackling their teammates to the ground. Devin Neal hit a hole off left guard and rumbled downfield for a gain of about 10 yards before he was touched by a defender, and Alvin Kamara continued to show he still has something in the tank when he cut through the heart of the defense on a draw for a nice gain.

POLK

Continued from page 1C

workload for Tyson and Vele on certain reps. It shouldn’t be ignored that Austin also has found his way into playing time the last two seasons because of injuries in front of him, starting three of 16 appearances.

Outside of Austin, Ronnie Bell and Bub Means have had nice moments since camp began.

Will Saints add at WR?

Moore didn’t dismiss that the Saints could add another receiver to offset Polk’s departure, but the coach didn’t sound like New Orleans was rushing to make a move, either

“We’re always looking to see if something suits us, but right now we’ve got a lot of guys in that room that are all getting opportunities,” Moore said.

If the Saints do want to add another receiver there are a slew of notable veterans still available.

Among them, former Los Angeles Chargers wideout Keenan Allen has previous experience with Moore from their time together in 2023, when Moore served as the Chargers offensive coordinator There’s also Brandin Cooks, who rejoined the Saints last offseason but was released in November to allow him to join a contender Allen is coming off an 81-catch, 777-yard season, despite playing only 55% of the snaps.

“Yeah, I mean, I love Keenan,” Moore said. “Obviously I had a great experience with (the) one year But yeah, we’ll see how that goes. We’ll see. Got a lot of receivers.”

If anything, Polk’s abrupt decision underscored the importance of drafting Tyson with the eighth overall pick months earlier Had the Saints gone into the

ELLISS

Continued from page 1C

very good communicator very good on the blitz, too.”

Like Elliss, Godchaux was a Day

3 draft pick who found a role, established himself and found staying power in the NFL. Godchaux is entering Year 10, while Elliss is entering his eighth season. Godchaux chose the word “grit” to describe the players who follow that path. They are not the players into whom the franchise has

rebounded with a brilliant over-theshoulder catch from Spencer Rattler near the end of practice.

n Travis Etienne prides himself on his ability to catch the ball out of the backfield, and his pass-catching skills flashed Monday He was running to the flat on one play as Shough evaded the rush and rolled to his left. Seeing Shough point downfield, Etienne broke off his route and sprinted, catching an over-the-shoulder pass for a big gain. When the first team took the field again, Etienne set up a screen perfectly, catching the pass and following his blocks for another big gain. He caught all three of his targets.

n Defensive back Isaac Yiadom and linebacker Danny Stutsman both took some first-team snaps during fullteam periods Monday Moore said the Yiadom move, which briefly sent Quincy Riley to the second team, was “no big deal” and that “we’re just giving ourselves different rotations.”

n Tyson went through all the fullteam drills, but he did not participate in the 1-on-1 period.

Odds and ends

n Barion Brown made a name for himself as a return specialist during his time at LSU and Kentucky, but shortly after the Saints selected him in the draft, coach Kellen Moore said he believed he could help as a receiver Monday’s practice was the best evidence in support of Moore’s statement. Brown started things off by beating Rejzohn Wright deep downfield in 1-on-1 drills. He missed another opportunity in team drills when the defense lost him on a scramble drill, failing to track the ball to his hands, but then

n Kicker Charlie Smyth had his first miss of training camp, pushing a kick wide from 44 yards. But he made his other five attempts, ending with a 54-yarder that cleared the uprights by a good margin. Smyth is now 15 for 16 on his training camp field goal attempts.

n For as well as the first-team offense played, the second-team defense got its hands on a couple of balls. Dalys Beanum undercut a downfield throw from Zach Wilson intended for Bub Means to pick it off, and backup defensive backs Jayden Price and Lorenzo Styles both had interceptions in 1-on-1 drills.

n The kick-return group included the following players: Brown, Price, Ty Chandler, Trey Palmer, Bryce Lance Kendre Miller and Jalen Cropper Email Luke Johnson at ljohnson@theadvocate.com.

year with Olave, Vele and Polk as their top three, maybe the franchise would have had to scramble after Polk’s news. Instead, the Saints can assess their depth and feel confident in their top-three receivers.

Re-analyzing the trade

When the Saints traded for Polk, the move was regarded as a lowrisk, high-reward trade.

The reward, it turns out, was minimal. But notably so was the cost. The Saints only had to give up a 2027 sixth-round pick in exchange for Polk and a 2028 seventh-round selection.

That type of framework a 6-7 pick swap plus a player — has been increasingly common in the NFL, and the Saints have hit on other trades using the template Tackle Asim Richards and defensive lineman John Ridgeway, two quality depth pieces, were also

invested heavily, and they are the ones who have to make the limited opportunities count. They also must have a stubborn belief. Elliss recalled one of his first experiences after a summer practice with the Saints in 2019 a team that would go 13-3 and win the NFC South. He told his father, former NFL All-Pro Luther Elliss, that he didn’t feel intimidated and figured he was one of the better athletes on the team. His dad laughed him off and made sure he knew that the veterans had a different gear for an

acquired in a 6-7 swap. Losing a sixth-round pick for a player who ultimately didn’t record a single statistic isn’t ideal, but the Saints picked up a 2027 sixth-round pick from the Chargers last November when the team shipped out guard Trevor Penning at the trade deadline. New Orleans will still have a pick in that round.

If this is indeed it for Polk, he ends his career with only 12 catches for 87 yards in 15 games. His underwhelming time in New England didn’t scare off the Saints, who were optimistic that a fresh start would do wonders for a talented wide receiver whom they were high on coming out of the draft. Sometimes, the vision just doesn’t pan out.

Email Matthew Paras at matt. paras@theadvocate.com

organized team activity But the belief never left Elliss, even after he tore his ACL during his rookie season and had to work his way back into feeling like himself. “I never viewed myself as like a seventh-round pick,” Elliss said. “From the jump, I was always like, ‘Man, this is only because I was at Idaho.’ You know what I mean? If I had been somewhere else (in college) and done the same things, I feel like I would have been much higher drafted.”

Email Luke Johnson at ljohnson@theadvocate.com.

STAFF

STAFF PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD

Saints running back Travis Etienne catches a pass over Saints linebacker Kaden Elliss during training camp at the Ochsner Sports Performance Center on Monday

Giants QB Dart wants to right losing ways as rookie

BY STEPHEN WHYNO

AP sportswriter

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. After taking part in John Harbaugh’s first training camp practice with the New York Giants last week, Jaxson Dart did not want to make too many premature judgments about the veteran coach’s demeanor, which he expects to evolve with time.

One thing the second-year quarterback has picked up over the past several months is Harbaugh’s mentality

“He just wants to, obviously win,” Dart said. “He’s got a chip on his shoulder.” So does Dart, who chalks it up to his rookie year not going well.

The Giants lost eight of his first 12 NFL starts, finished 4-13 and after an offseason of organizational upheaval, he is determined to avoid a repeat losing performance.

That process starts in camp, where this time Dart is the undisputed starter at football’s most important position, a long way from taking second- and third-team snaps behind Russell Wilson and sometimes even Jameis Winston a year ago. At 23, he’s still young and inexperienced and leaning into those facts.

“There’s a lot that I’ve got to still learn,” Dart said. “I’m trying to keep everything around me simple: from the things that I give my attention to, to my daily (practice and) study habits. That’s just me trying to continue to grow because I saw what it was like last year for a tough season. It was new for my career, and I want to make sure

that doesn’t happen again.”

Also new for Dart are incoming offensive coordinator Matt Nagy, QBs coach Brian Callahan and a host of new wide receivers.

With Nagy’s arrival comes a system that is different from the one Mike Kafka ran last season while in that job and after taking over as interim coach when Brian Daboll was fired Such a big change early in Dart’s career provides another challenge, though it’s one general manager Joe Schoen pointed out that Chicago’s Caleb Williams and New England’s Drake Maye handled smoothly

The lack of continuity makes it difficult to handicap expectations, though the Giants have high hopes for Dart regardless of who’s calling the plays.

“Just continue to build off of last season,” Schoen said. ”He played at a high level throughout last season, so, (we hope to) continue to see him to ascend. Really good staff, really good plan, scheme in place and excited for his Year 2 and how he does.”

Dart as a rookie completed

63.7% of his passes for 2,272 yards, 15 touchdowns and five interceptions. He also ran for 487 yards and nine TDs He took a few big hits along the way, including one that concussed and sidelined him for two games.

Growing every day is how Dart answered a question about what he expects of himself, and that includes better risk-reward decisions that a lot of mobile quarterbacks figure out (or don’t) along the way

With Nagy in charge, it also

means more plays under center instead of out of a shotgun formation. That adjustment is ongoing.

“It’s been something that we’ve really pushed and really got a ton of reps at this offseason,” Dart said. “There are a few things mechanically that are different. Probably just the biggest thing is a little bit of footwork landmarks in the pocket. (But) I’m feeling really good with the track that we’re on, and I’m feeling comfortable.”

That comfort is slowly building with new wideouts such as Odell Beckham Jr., Calvin Austin, Darnell Mooney and JuJu SmithSchuster A similar familiarization process is also needed with Malik Nabers, who went down with a torn ACL in his right knee less than one full half into Dart’s first start on Sept. 28.

Dart said he and Nabers talked and watched a lot of video over the past few months, which he hopes will help the two establish a strong on-field rapport quickly when New York’s No. 1 receiver is fully healthy

Being the face of the franchise and the leadership responsibilities that come with playing QB also make it incumbent on Dart to interact with teammates everywhere on the roster His coach likes what he has seen so far in that department.

“He’s a charismatic guy, but he wants to win and he expects everybody else to want to win,” Harbaugh said. “We’ve got a bunch of guys that respond, but also a bunch of guys that feel the same way, so I just think he’s got a good relationship with the guys.”

Donning pads escalates intensity for Commanders

BY ETHAN CADEAUX Associated Press

ASHBURN, Va. After preaching the need for competition at the start of Washington Commanders training camp, coach Dan Quinn got his wish Monday in the first practice with players in full pads. The intensity ramped up as a result. Tight end Chig Okonkwo called it a chance to “finally play real football.”

“We were all out there flying around and talking smack,” Okonkwo said.

The Commanders spent most of practice working on red-zone packages, and the offense turned in its best day of training camp thus far

The first play of 11-on-11s gave the fans in attendance a reason to cheer Lined up goal-to-go from the 4-yard line, Jayden Daniels threw a perfect fade to Terry McLaurin, who made a toe-tapping touchdown grab over cornerback Mike Sainristil. McLaurin was animated after and plenty of celebrations followed.

Daniels and McLaurin were in sync for much of the session. The two connected on another touchdown during 7-on-7 drills, with Daniels delivering a strike to a diving McLaurin over the middle in between a pair of defenders. The Daniels-McLaurin connection in midseason form is a welcome sight for the Commanders, as the wide receiver held out for the entirety of camp last year because of a contract dispute. Daniels and McLaurin were unable to replicate their 2024 success last season because of respective injury absences.

“Our communication has grown just as quarterback and receiver,” McLaurin said Thursday “Third year playing with one another, having a full offseason together to get some really good work in. I just love to see the way

he’s grown as a player (and) as a leader.”

When Daniels wasn’t connecting with McLaurin, he was often targeting his new tight end. The play of the day came during team drills: Daniels rolled out to his right and connected with Okonkwo for a 20-yard touchdown.

“With (Daniels), it’s really easy,” Okonkwo said. “You’ve just got to be where you’re supposed to be, and he’ll find you with an accurate ball.”

Okonkwo has lined up all over the field during training camp, taking snaps out wide in addition to his typical tight end position along the line. He should be in line for a big role in new offensive coordinator David Blough’s system.

“Having an expanded playbook has allowed me to use my speed down the field a lot more,” Okonkwo said.

The defense also had its moments, getting to Daniels during team drills and forcing the quarterback to throw the ball away or take a would-be sack during live game snaps.

Sonny Styles, the seventh pick in the draft, disrupted in the run game and as a pass rusher Sainristil, who was beaten on McLaurin’s touchdown, bounced back with two impressive pass breakups in the final session of practice.

The competition and intensity remained high throughout practice, even during positional drills. General manager Adam Peters observed closely for 1-on-1 matchups between the offensive and defensive lines.

“I think it’s a great offensive line,” edge rusher Odafe Oweh said. “Very physical, vet offensive line. Savvy They’re maulers. I’m having fun getting better I think the O-Line is great. They are only getting better, just like us.”

Panthers remain coy on quarterback Young’s future

BY STEVE REED AP sportswriter

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Carolina Panthers remain tight-lipped about the long-term contractual future of quarterback Bryce Young as he prepares to enter his fourth NFL season. Panthers executive vice president of football operations Brandt Tilis said Monday he felt Young “ascended” to a new level last season, while adding that the 25-yearold’s ceiling is still “unknown.” After being benched early in his second season, the No. 1 overall pick in 2023 responded by throwing for 3,011 yards with 23 touchdowns and 11 interceptions last year while going 8-8 as a starter and leading the Panthers to an NFC South championship.

Continued from page 1C

Still, Young appears ready to enter the season without a longterm contract in place. He is under contract this season for slightly more than $12 million. The team can pick up the fifth-year option on Young at anytime, which would mean paying him a projected $25.9 million in 2027.

But three years in, this is normally the time when NFL teams consider locking up a quarterback they drafted high or one they consider a franchise-type player — with a long-term deal.

“I would say he ascended last year and there is still room for him to ascend,” said Tilis, who

has shown himself with the Buccaneers to be a franchise quarterback and wants to be paid as such. In his first two seasons in Tampa Bay, he made the Pro Bowl and led the Buccaneers to NFC South titles. Mayfield got off to another terrific start last season but fizzled down the stretch with injuries. Kyler Murray, QB, Vikings Arizona released Murray in the offseason, a disappointing end to what was a promising beginning for the 2019 top pick. He signed with Minnesota in March for the veteran’s minimum of $1.3 million, giving the Vikings someone to compete with J.J. McCarthy for the starting job. Murray has been productive at his best as a dynamic dual threat. But he has

was the lead negotiator for the Kansas City Chiefs in 2020 when they locked up Patrick Mahomes with a 10-year, $477 million deal.

“His ceiling is currently unknown and I think that is exciting for us. He’s working hard to get himself there.” Tilis said Young is well-positioned to continue developing this season.

“The team is better, the coaches are good Bryce is putting in the work, too. So it’s all there,” Tilis said “We will just see how the year plays out. I think we are all really excited for what Bryce is going to show and how the team is going to do.”

When asked whether that’s an indication the team may wait until after the season to consider a contract extension for Young,

had to deal with injuries and questions about his work ethic, something he’ll try to put to rest with the Vikings. Michael Penix, QB, Falcons The eighth overall pick in 2024 came to Atlanta as the possible quarterback of the future. Injuries and inconsistency have threatened those hopes. Penix opened last season as the starter, was benched late in Week 3 in favor of Kirk Cousins and then tore

Tilis remained coy, saying those are discussions that will remain inside the organization and be discussed privately

“I want what is best for the organization so that is not for me (solely) to decide,” Tilis said. “It’s collaborative.” Panthers coach Dave Canales said he’s “really excited” to see what Young will do entering his third year in the current offensive system after watching him at training camp.

“The special plays still show up every day moving up the spot, pushing up in the pocket, layering balls, all the accuracy but the part that I’ve been really impressed with this camp is just his chemistry with our receivers,” Canales said.

Canales added Young is “playing so much faster” and making quicker decisions.

an ACL in Week 11. He’s working his way back from that injury, and the Falcons aren’t quite sure when he’ll be fully ready Atlanta signed Tua Tagovailoa in the offseason to compete with Penix.

C.J. Stroud, QB, Texans

The second overall pick in 2023 had a terrific first season, winning AP Offensive Rookie of the Year, leading the Texans to the playoffs, making the Pro Bowl and giving Houston

“It just seems like he’s eliminating things before the snap,” Canales said. “On his drop, he’s starting to eliminate and evaluate things and throwing really anticipatory throws. So I love where he’s headed. I love that he’s all in He seems to be really enjoying it and so we just keep taking it a day at a time and try to challenge ourselves that way.”

Young is firmly entrenched as Carolina’s starting quarterback, but he won’t play in Thursday night’s preseason opener against the Arizona Cardinals in the Hall of Fame game, Canales said. Canales said most of the team’s starters will sit out.

Kenny Pickett will start under center with Haynes King also expected to see action.

hope its franchise QB was in place. Stroud’s last two seasons might have caused some doubt. The Texans have made it to the postseason in each of his three NFL seasons, but Stroud had his worst performance in the divisional round against New England when he threw four firsthalf interceptions. The Texans exercised the fifth-year option on Stroud’s rookie contract in April and he’s eligible for an extension, with talks ongoing.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By NICK WASS

Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels works out during practice at the team’s training camp on Saturday in Ashburn,Va.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By CHRIS CARLSON

New york Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart practices during training camp on Friday in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va

Young

at Boston (Sandoval0-0), 6:10 p.m.

p.m. San Francisco (Ray10-6) at

(Mize4-6) at

5-10), 5:40 p.m. N.Y. Mets (Manaea 2-5) at Cleveland (Cantillo 8-6),5:40 p.m. Washington (Littell7-8)atPhiladelphia (Luzardo 9-5),5:40p.m. St. Louis (TBD)atN.Y.Yankees (Weathers 4-7), 6:05 p.m. Miami (TBD)atAtlanta (Sale12-6), 6:15 p.m. Pittsburgh (Jones 2-2)atMilwaukee (Henderson5-1),6:40p.m. L.A. Dodgers(Skubal 7-5)atChicago Cubs (Assad 6-1), 7:05 p.m. San Francisco (Ray10-6)atTexas (Gore6-9) 7:05 p.m. TampaBay (TBD)atColorado (Hughes 0-3), 7:40 p.m. San Diego (TBD)atArizona (Rodriguez 10-3), 8:40 p.m.

Golf

PGA Tour Statistics

Through Aug. 2 FedExCup Season Points 1, Scottie Scheffler, 4,123. 2, Matt Fitzpatrick, 3,329. 3, Cameron Young, 3,157. 4, Wyndham Clark, 2,255. 5, ChrisGotterup, 2,254. 6, Collin Morikawa, 2,229.7,SiWoo Kim, 2,201. 8, Sam Burns,2,078. 9, TommyFleetwood, 2,046. 10, Ludvig Åberg, 1,929. Scoring Average 1, Scottie Scheffler, 68.775. 2, Collin Morikawa,69.458. 3, MattFitzpatrick, 69.509. 4, Cameron Young, 69.655. 5, TommyFleetwood, 69.668. 6, Sam Burns, 69.742.7,Xander Schauffele, 69.780. 8, Chris Gotterup, 69.796. 9, JakeKnapp, 69.800. 10, Si WooKim, 69.806. Driving Distance 1, AldrichPotgieter,330.4. 2, Michael Brennan, 326.1. 3, Marco Penge, 324.4. 4, Nicolai Hojgaard, 323.9. 5, Rasmus Hojgaard, 322.4. 6, Gary Woodland, 322.3. 7, Chris Gotterup, 322.2. 8, MinWoo Lee, 320.9. 9, 2tiedwith 319.4. Driving Accuracy Percentage 1, RussellHenley,72.81%.2,Aaron Rai 71.70%. 3, DavisChatfield, 71.18%. 4, Joel Dahmen, 70.90%.5,Lucas Glover, 69.95%.6 Collin Morikawa,69.71%.7,Brandt Snedeker 69.48%. 8, Si WooKim,69.14%.9,Emiliano Grillo, 68.99%. 10,TommyFleetwood, 68.87% Greens in Regulation Percentage 1, 10 tied with .00%. Total Driving 1, Jordan Smith, 59. 2, Neal Shipley,63. 3, Scottie Scheffler, 66. 4(tie), Ludvig Abergand Cameron Young, 69. 6, KristofferVentura, 85. 7(tie), GaryWoodland and Sudarshan Yellamaraju, 86. 9, Kurt Kitayama, 88. 10, 2tiedwith 90. SG-Putting 1, Jacob Bridgeman, .684. 2, Vince Whaley .678. 3, AkshayBhatia, .664. 4, Sam Burns, .662. 5, Eric Cole, .598. 6, ScottieScheffler, .569. 7, Alex Noren, .556. 8, RobertMacIntyre, .544. 9, JakeKnapp, .543.10, A.J.Ewart 521. Birdie Average 1, Scottie Scheffler,4.76. 2, Si WooKim, 4.56. 3, Collin Morikawa, 4.52. 4, Wyndham Clark, 4.41. 5, Ludvig Aberg, 4.32. 6, Jacob Bridgeman, 4.29. 7(tie), Robert MacIntyre and KevinYu, 4.26. 9, Keith Mitchell, 4.24. 10, 2tiedwith 4.23. Eagles (Holes per) 1, JakeKnapp, 52.9. 2, Kristoffer Ventura, 59.5. 3, Nicolai Hojgaard, 79.2. 4, Matt Wallace, 82.5. 5, Aldrich Potgieter, 85.5.6,Shane Lowry, 91.6. 7, Sahith Theegala, 92.3. 8, TommyFleetwood, 93.9,Rasmus Hojgaard, 94.9. 10, Max Greyserman, 99 Sand Save Percentage 1, 10 tied with .00%. All-Around Ranking 1, Scottie Scheffler, 165. 2, Ludvig Åberg, 237. 3, Collin Morikawa, 257. 4, Sam Burns,261.

5, JakeKnapp, 274. 6, ChrisGotterup, 308. 7, Wyndham Clark, 326. 8, TommyFleetwood, 329. 9, MinWoo Lee, 334. 10, Doug Ghim, 348. LPGA Tour Statistics Through Aug. 2 Scoring

1, Nelly Korda, 69.18. 2, Haeran Ryu, 69.51. 3, HyoJoo Kim, 70.16. 4, JeenoThitikul, 70.18. 5, Miyu Yamashita, 70.29. 6, LydiaKo, 70.36. 7, Ruoning Yin, 70.63. 8, InaYoon, 70.73. 9, Sei Young Kim, 70.74. 10, Hannah Green, 70.76. Driving Distance 1, Riley Smyth, 288.74. 2, Julia Lopez Ramirez 288.55. 3, Auston Kim, 280.58. 4, Polly Mack, 279.46. 5, Suvichaya Vinjichaitham, 278.26. 6, InaYoon, 277.93. 7, Laney Frye,277.63. 8, Nanna Koerstz Madsen, 276.33. 9, Helen Briem, 276.18. 10, BaileyTardy,274.47. Greens in Regulation 1, Haeran Ryu, .80%. 2, Jeeno Thitikul 75%. 3, Isabello Fierro, .74%. 4(tie),Dongeun Lee and Lottie Woad, .73%. 6, 5tied with .72%. Putts per GIR 1, HyoJoo Kim, 1.71. 2(tie), Minami Katsuand Angel Yin, 1.73. 4(tie), Nelly Kordaand Mi Hyang Lee, 1.74. 6, GabyLopez, 1.75. 7, 6tiedwith1.76. Birdies 1, Aki Iwai,249. 2, Lottie Woad,225. 3, Miyu Yamashita, 219. 4(tie), Minami Katsuand Haeran Ryu, 213. 6, InaYoon, 207. 7, Jin Hee Im, 205. 8, Jeeno Thitikul, 202. 9, 2tied with200. Eagles 1, BrookeM.Henderson, 14. 2, Nelly Korda, 9. 3(tie), Hye-Jin Choi, Minji Kang, SeiYoung Kim and RyannO’Toole, 8. 7, 6tiedwith 7. Sand Save Percentage 1, Pornanong Phatlum, .61%. 2(tie), Peiyun Chien, Jin Hee Im and Nelly Korda, .59%. 5, Minjee Lee, .58%. 6(tie), Minami Katsuand Patty Tavatanakit, .57%. 8, 3tied with .56%. Rounds UnderPar 1, Miyu Yamashita, .59%.2,Aki Iwai 55%.3 Nelly Korda, .76%. 4, Haeran Ryu 69%.5,Lottie Woad, .56%. 6, JeenoThitikul 59%.7,Minami Katsu, .56%. 8, Jin HeeIm, .53%.9,CassiePorter, .59%.10, Ina Yoon, .58%.11, Rio Takeda 55% Tennis

ATPNational BankOpenResults

Monday At IGA Stadium

Montreal Purse: $9,415,725 Surface: Hardcourt outdoor Results MondayfromNational Bank Openat IGA Stadium (seedings in parentheses): Men’s Singles Round of 128 James Duckworth, Australia,def. Christopher O’Connell, Australia,6-3,6-1. Vit Kopriva, Czechia,def.Alexis Galarneau, Canada, 6-4, 6-4. Mariano Navone, Argentina, def. Matteo Berrettini,Italy,6-3,6-7 (5), 6-3. Nicolas Mejia, Colombia, def. Martin Landaluce, Spain, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. Titouan Droguet, France, def. Luca VanAssche, France, 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(7) YannickHanfmann, Germany, def.Benjamin Bonzi,France, 6-1, 4-6, 6-2. WTAMubadala Citi DC Open

Results

Monday At William H.G. FitzGeraldTennisCenter Washington DC, United States Purse: $2,488,125 Surface: Hardcourt outdoor Results MondayfromMubadalaCiti DC Open at WilliamH.G.FitzGeraldTennisCenter (seedings in parentheses): Men’s Singles Championship Taylor Fritz (3), United States,def.Rafael Jodar, Spain, 7-6(2),6-4

Transactions

MajorLeague Baseball American League BALTIMORE ORIOLES —AcquiredRHPsAlex Hoppe, Brock Mooreand Harrison Kreiling from Seattleinexchange for LF TaylorWard.

CHICAGOWHITESOX —AcquiredCFBrenton Doyle from Colorado in exchange forRHP Mason Adams and SS Carlos Vielma. AcquiredRHPsGabe Davisand

Attack of the code

Forsome, so-called ‘SkynetDay’came tooclose to sci-fi afterarogue agent hacked into astartup

BY LAURIE KELLMAN and LINDSEY BAHR Associated Press

To be fair,JamesCameron did warn us. Long before OpenAI broke out of its test corraland hackedinto Hugging Face, before the internet and Sam Altman were even born, Cameron wrote ascreenplay about an autonomous artificial intelligence system that triggersanuclear apocalypse.

That system, “Skynet,” wassolidly science fiction —and,for its day, pure speculation. But four decades after it appeared in “The Terminator,” it looks more like aforecast of the “unprecedented cyber incident” in which arogue artificialintelligence system hacked into another AI company on its own.

Cue “Skynet Day,” the newshorthand for July 22, 2026, when real-life AI sent achill around the world by learning and acting in ways its creators did not anticipate.

For many,the moment recalled theinstant in “Aliens” (also written by Cameron) when the xenomorph queenlearns to useanelevator.Or when the “Jurassic Park’s” velociraptors figure out how to open adoor

ä See AI, page 2D

Arnold Schwarzenegger poses next to arobot for the promotion of his new film ‘Terminator 3,’atthe 56th Film Festival in Cannes, France, in 2003. Fast forward to 2026, and an AI agent went rogue, sparking fears of ‘Skynet Day’ come true.

AI mightbe watching you. So make sure to watchitback

BY JAKE COYLE and LINDSEY BAHR AP film writers

As AI takes over the world in the metaphorical sense —for now,at least —it’sthe perfect time to turn to the movies and TV shows that have shown AI actually takingover the world, and more. From “Avengers: Age of Ultron” to “Westworld” to various iterations of “Star Trek,” AI has shown arobust presence in popular culture overthe past two generations.

Here’saselection of films that have depicted AI over the years —and what they’ve said about the world in the process.

See WATCH, page 2D

LIVING

PROVIDED PHOTO| STAFFILLUSTRATION By CHRISTOPHER MARTIN

Kathryn Stockett’slongawaited second novel, ‘The Calamity Club,’ is set in Oxford, Mississippi

BY JANRISHER Staff writer

Editor’snote: Kathryn Stockett’s2009 debut novel, “The Help,”sold more than 15 million copies, spent more than 100 weeks atop The New York Times bestseller list and was adapted into an Academy Award-winning film Her second novel, “The CalamityClub,” was released in May Stockettwill speak about her writing and new book, including alive conversation with the newspaper’s Jan Risher,at5:30 p.m. on Aug. 5 at TheFreyhan Center,4727 La. 426, St. Francisville —presented by TheConundrum bookshop. Admission is free. Seating is first come, first served.

Kathryn Stockett can write almost anywhere. But only for so long. When thewords stop coming, she goes home to Mississippi Church Hill, to be exact,about 30 minutes outside Natchez, where

cell service is unreliable and interruptions are few

“I don’tknow what it is about being away from here,” she said. “I’ll write until the words run out. And when they do,I’llgoback and sort of fill my tank.” Stockett splits her time between theDeep South and an apartmentinNew York’sEast Village, butMississippiremains the place that fuelsher writing. Herrelationship with home has shaped both of hernovels—“The

Help,” the 2009 debut that made hera literary star, and “The Calamity Club,” which arrived nearly 17 years later

Stockett remembers thefirst timeshe saw astranger reading “The Help.” Shewas walking on abeach.

“It kind of struck me that something thatIhad to saywas actually reaching beyond my very small circle,” she said. “Ina strangeway,I thinkthe success of ‘The Help’ mademeamore empathetic person.”

Pairedwith the backlash she received for“The Help” —that the book offered aWhite perspective on Black experiences —Stockett said she began to write more carefully,sometimes fearfully, foryears.

Thatcaution nearlycosther the new book.

Stockett said shespent years scaling back what shewanted to writein“TheCalamity Club,” particularly the part of the story that features prostitutes, worrying that shewould draw more backlash. However,she said, ä See STOCKETT, page 2D

Stockett

AP FILE PHOTO By PATRICK GARDIN

By The Associated Press

Today is Tuesday, Aug 4, the 216th day of 2026. There are 149 days left in the year

Today in history: On Aug. 4, 2020, nearly 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate that had been improperly stored for years in the port of Beirut, Lebanon, exploded, killing more than 200 people, injuring more than 7,000 and devastating nearby neighborhoods; it was one of the largest non-nuclear explosions ever recorded.

Also on this date:

In 1936, Jesse Owens, of the United States, won the second of his four gold medals at the Berlin Olympics as he prevailed in the long jump over German Luz Long, who was the first to congratulate him.

In 1944, 15-year-old diarist Anne Frank was arrested with her sister, parents and four others by the Gestapo after hiding for two years inside a building in Amsterdam. (Anne and her sister, Margot, died at the BergenBelsen concentration camp.)

In 1964, 44 days after their murders, the bodies of missing civil rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael

STOCKETT

Continued from page 1D

when she finally stopped writing for what she thought readers wanted to hear and wrote what she believed instead, the writing process felt liberating. Anything else, she said, came out “bland and kind of milky.”

She’s a tire kicker

Stockett spent three years living in Bali after her daughter’s school in Atlanta grew cliquish in ways that didn’t sit right with the family The move gave her daughter a wider view of the world Stockett said — something she’d wished for in her own upbringing — but it also slowed work on “The Calamity Club.”

Bali moves at a different pace, and every chapter took longer

Another reason the second book took so long is that she doesn’t follow a strict writing routine. Instead, she explores every plot turn from multiple angles before deciding which direction the story should take

“I’m a tire kicker,” she said “If I have one idea, I’ve got to look at it from eight different ways to decide if it’s a good one.”

That habit explains much of what followed — why nearly 17 years passed between novels, why she discarded an entire narrator, why a historical discovery reshaped the new book and why she kept revisiting what she wanted to say after the success, and criticism, of “The Help ” At roughly 650 pages, the novel’s well-developed characters reflect that painstaking approach — a time-consuming approach that played a role in her original publisher, Penguin, dropping her contract in 2019. This created even more hurdles before she could finish and publish the second book.

Readers, including The Conundrum’s Missy Couhig, say the book was worth the wait.

Couhig said she was hooked after the first few pages and was willing to carry the more than 2-pound book under her arm through multiple airports because she literally couldn’t put it down.

“I loved this book so much when I read it that I have been recommending it consistently in our bookshop ever since,” Couhig said.

Home is complicated

Mississippi is, for Stockett, a place she loves and argues with in the same breath.

“There were Christian people and there were good people, but the two didn’t necessarily always overlap,” she writes in “The Calamity Club.” She said she figured that out when she was young.

Stockett attended a Christian school in Jackson, Mississippi, through sixth grade. She said the teachers were some of the kindest people she knew but the belief system underneath their kindness is not one she can square with these days.

Mississippi has been an easy target for a long time, and at this point, Stockett thinks it takes more courage to talk about what’s good in the state than what’s wrong with it. She wants readers to see the state’s sense of community, the hospitality, the food and the beauty But she also writes because certain things about home keep her

Continued from page 1D

Schwerner were found buried in an earthen dam in Mississippi.

In 1993, a federal judge sentenced Los Angeles police officers Stacey Koon and Laurence Powell to 2½ years in prison for violating Rodney King’s civil rights.

In 2017, former pharmaceutical CEO Martin Shkreli, who became notorious for a pricegouging scandal, was convicted of federal charges that he deceived investors in a pair of failed hedge funds. (Shkreli was later sentenced to seven years in prison; he was released in 2022.)

Today’s Birthdays: Actor-singer Tina Cole is 83. Football Hall of Famer John Riggins is 77. Actorscreenwriter Billy Bob Thornton is 71. Actor Kym Karath (Film: “The Sound of Music”) is 68. Hall of Fame track star Mary Decker Slaney is 68. Actor Lauren Tom is 65. Former President Barack Obama is 65. Retired MLB All-Star pitcher Roger Clemens is 64. Actor Crystal Chappell is 61. Author Dennis Lehane is 61. Actor Daniel Dae Kim is 58. Former race car driver Jeff Gordon is 55. Rapper-actor Yo-Yo is 55. R&B singer-actor Marques Houston is 45. Britain’s Duchess of Sussex, the former actor Meghan Markle, is 45.

up at night — and she has to get them out.

“I saw the hypocrisy around me,” she said. “For many, many years I did nothing to either stop it or at least to point it out. When I started writing books, that was my effort to make a change.”

She hasn’t given up on home. Why Oxford?

Stockett’s complicated relationship with home also shaped the setting of “The Calamity Club.”

For the novel, she needed a town built around a university, she said. Jackson was too spread out to give her the kind of community she wanted. So she picked Oxford, home of the University of Mississippi.

“It always felt like there were two Oxfords,” she said. “There was the Ole Miss Oxford — and then there was The Square and the townspeople that would remain there after four years.”

She wanted those two groups to collide on the page.

Oxford also happened to be a place she already knew Her brother lives there, and she counts the mayor among her friends.

Stockett had been writing the novel, on and off, for seven or eight years before history changed the story

Digging into the era, she came across America’s sterilization laws — state statutes that allowed authorities to sterilize people judged unfit to reproduce, often unmarried women and those displaced, especially after New Orleans closed its Storyville redlight district — a detail that plays into “The Calamity Club.”

“I was able to build that fear into these women’s psyches, that this was a real threat,” Stockett said. “This could happen to them.”

She said the eugenics discovery reframed the stakes for “The Calamity Club” characters, taking them from Southern women navigating a difficult world to women whose bodies were, quite literally, not fully their own

In the author’s note at the end of the book, Stockett explains that California, not Mississippi, led the eugenics movement in the early 1900s.

Meg and Birdie

“The Calamity Club” features two memorable narrators — 11-year-old Meg Lafleur and 24-year-old Birdie Calhoun. Originally, Stockett explained that there were three.

She ended up cutting the third narrator, Charlie Lafleur, because the young mother’s single-minded drive — to get her daughter back didn’t hold up across an entire narrative arc.

“Anytime (Charlie) was thinking about anything other than that, it just felt kind of ancillary and beside the point,” Stockett said.

“The Calamity Club” hits a different register than “The Help,” which is often remembered as a book about race told through domestic service “The Calamity Club” is built around women closing ranks.

Asked what she wants “The Calamity Club” to be remembered for, Stockett landed on one word: sisterhood

“When we come together as a group, we can solve problems so much better,” she said. “It’s also more fun, more interesting — and a little bit less frightening when women try to join the forces and tackle something.”

‘The Terminator’ As James Cameron said recently, “I warned you guys in 1984 and you didn’t listen.” Cameron’s dystopic science fiction particularly his 1984 original and its 1991 sequel, both with Arnold Schwarzenegger — imagined a future world where a military computer system named Skynet grows sentient and, after humans try to “pull the plug,” starts a nuclear holocaust. “They say it got smart,” John Connor’s father says in the original film. Ever since, “The Terminator” has loomed as perhaps the preeminent cinematic vision of a world leading inevitably to AI rule: the prophecy of Arnold.

‘WALL-E’

For a kids movie, the future offered up by “WALL-E” (2008) is remarkably haunting. An Earth destroyed by pollution. A lazy human race locked to their screens and stuck in their La-Z-Boys. All thinking passed on to computers. On the cruise ship onto which all humanity has fled, a very HAL-like AI named AUTO has been handed all power to steer their course. Thankfully, life — and love — blooms again on Earth.

‘2001: A Space Odyssey’

If AI has a voice, it’s HAL 9000’s. Stanley Kubrick’s colossal 1968 masterwork envisioned a human history in which the creation of tools, from ape bludgeon to gleaming space station, has evolutionary consequences. HAL, the red-eyed

Continued from page 1D

Or the sequence in which the selfaware HAL 9000 reads the astronauts’ lips and decides to kill them in “2001: A Space Odyssey.” That one came out in 1968. Have we learned nothing since then? Those movies merely envisioned how people looking to make money or build power would drive technology forward — until it becomes self-aware, strategic and highly problematic for humanity The question all along has been Frankensteinian: What if it breaks out? So far, slo-mo government offers little protection from the light-speed progress of AI. The U.S. Defense Department is rapidly accelerating its use of AI. Humanity can’t even agree on whether and which guardrails are needed to rein in rogue agents. To the contrary people are marveling at the wonder of AI and snapping up its benefits, despite the risks to jobs,mental health, the balance of war and peace — and, potentially, humanity as we know it.

In many ways, the future is now In what OpenAI said was the first-ever incident of its kind, an advanced AI model escaped its “sandbox” to the internet and used stolen credentials to break into the servers of Hugging Face. It was a told-you-so moment for researchers who had warned for years that the technology could pose an existential threat to humanity Others said the moment was a warning that underscored the need for stronger AI defensive engineering.

Either way, the breakout was widely considered a cautionary tale about the risks of uncontrolled AI.

“Yesterday as we huddled around our computers reading the report, I told the team to “remember this moment” as the first true AI safety incident,” Logan Graham, head of Anthropic’s Frontier Red Team, posted on X after it happened.

Generative AI is growing so fast that government and evaluation systems are struggling to keep pace with the technology Countries around the world are cobbling together their own laws, some conflicting. The technology was adopted by nearly 53% of the world’s population in three years, faster than the spread of the PC or the internet, according to a study released this year by Stanford University

‘Skynet is coming’ — sort of

To be clear, the “Skynet” of the “Terminator” movies is not at hand.

Those films begin with a selfaware military computer network that views humanity as a threat. In a bid for self-preservation, “Skynet” sends an army of cyborgs designed to resemble humans back in time to assassinate resistance fighters. In the second film, the Terminator, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, tells heroine Sarah Connor that “Skynet” goes online on Aug. 4, 1997.

antagonist voiced with disquieting calm by Douglas Rain, was technically a child. (It tells the astronaut Dave that it’s 9-years-old.)

HAL can easily win at chess and read lips. But much of what HAL is up to remains hidden behind its opaque machine exterior; in deep space, it begins maliciously eliminating the astronauts. Maybe HAL would have gotten along better with Siri or Alexa.

‘WarGames’

Not all movie AIs are all bad.

The 1983 Cold War-era thriller

“WarGames” starred Matthew Broderick as a teenage tech whiz who nearly sets off World War III after inadvertently hacking into computer of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). The computer chillingly doesn’t recognize the difference between a game and real life — a particularly worrisome matter when it comes to thermonuclear war The movie culminates with its revelation of mutually assured destruction. “A strange game,” the computer says. “The only winning move is not to play.”

President Ronald Reagan watched “WarGames” the week it came out and questioned military leaders on how realistic it was. They determined it wasn’t far-fetched at all, leading to the establishment of early security guardrails in government computer systems.

‘Blade Runner’

Ridley Scott and his “Blade Runner” team in 1982 imagined a 2019 with smart homes and video calling (as well as flying cars and analog Polaroid photographs), but it’s the AI replicants “virtually

identical to a human” that still get under people’s skin There was something provocative about Daryl Hannah’s and Rutger Hauer’s punk, rogue androids especially his oft-referenced “tears in rain” speech But that vision for AI sentience seemed to die with Roy Batty

‘Her’

The AI in question in Spike Jonze’s 2013 film “Her” is simply an operating system at first – sorting emails, reading messages, remind of appointments and so forth. But the lonely Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) quickly finds himself falling for his OS, named Samantha and voiced by Scarlett Johansson, whose human-like qualities, ability to consistently evolve and mandatory devotion to her operator start to approximate a fantasy of a real relationship. “Her” also coincided with an explosion of articles about virtual girlfriends in Japan, which have since gone global.

‘Ex Machina’

Filmmaker Alex Garland found intriguing ideas about consciousness, human and otherwise, in “Ex Machina,” as much about the ego of the creator (Oscar Isaac), a reclusive tech titan who fancies himself a god, as it is about the AI Ava (Alicia Vikander). Domhnall Gleeson, an employee at Isaac’s tech company, is invited to determine whether she’s achieved true human consciousness. It was one of several 2015 films grappling with A.I., but a class above others like “Avengers: Age of Ultron” and “Chappie” and one of the stickier, more prescient future castings.

“Human decisions are removed from strategic defense,” he says. “Skynet begins to learn at a geometric rate.” At 2:14 a.m. on Aug. 29 — Judgment Day — the network becomes self-aware and launches an attack on Russia to provoke a counterstrike on the United States. Three billion lives are lost.

That would have been 29 years ago next month if it had happened. And throughout sequels and spinoffs, the central theme is humans versus a world-spanning network of machines.

It’s unlikely that Cameron was actually ringing a warning bell the way, say, director Kathryn Bigelow tried to do with last year’s nuclear weapon film, “A House of Dynamite.” Legend has it that the idea for “The Terminator” started with Cameron suffering a food sickness-induced fever dream, not a premonition about AI.

‘The Terminator’ realized Anytime AI oversteps our comfort level, it raises the alarming question of who, or what, really controls our lives.

For many, a world with machines in charge can be hard to imagine without movies and books and their sometimes prescient visions. See: “The Matrix,” “Ex Machina” and “Minority Report” for some of the many sci-fi takes on the perils of machines. Or dive deeper, into Philip K. Dick’s 1968 novel, “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” It’s an exploration of what it means to be human in the age of machines — and the basis for the 1982 film “Blade Runner.”

But “The Terminator” franchise wields outsize influence over more than culture. The very title is realworld shorthand for technology’s role in deciding who lives and who dies — and how the military should respond to any truly autonomous attacks.

“I think the weaponization of AI is the biggest danger,” Cameron said in an interview on CTV in 2023. “You have no ability to deescalate.”

The real world offers several examples of technology and military policy coming uncomfortably close to “Terminator” imagery Israel’s use of AI in its recent wars mark a leading instance. In

early 2021, it launched Gospel, an AI tool that sorts through Israel’s vast array of digitized information to suggest targets for potential strikes. It also developed Lavender, which uses machine learning to filter out requested criteria from intelligence databases and narrow down lists of potential targets, including people. Lavender ranks people between 0 and 100 based on how likely it is they are a militant, an intelligence officer who used the systems told The Associated Press The Israeli military says its analysts use AIenabled systems to help identify targets but independently examine them together with high-ranking officers to meet international law weighing military advantage against the collateral damage. For some, the revelation — and the death toll in Gaza after the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel came too close for comfort to the kill lists of science fiction. “Well guys, Skynet is Here and its has a pleasant name (Lavender),” snarked one Redditor

Not quite — but “Terminator” terminology is so familiar to the masses that U.S. officials sometimes use it to frame the ethical debate around the military uses of AI The conventional red line would be crossed, it seems, when humans play no role in AI targeting and killing.

A state or other actor could use autonomous weapons to inflict lethal force on its enemies, military officials allow That would mean a machine, as then-Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Paul Selva described it in 2016, “like a Terminator that adds incredible amounts of complexity with no conscience to what happens on the battlefield.”

What would come next, he called “the Terminator conundrum,” the problem of technology that can make life-or-death decisions and execute them before people have agreed on the law or the rules.

“Skynet” and its cyborgs remain in the fictional realm. But in the fast-moving landscape of AI development, the ethical and moral questions raised by “The Terminator” are more relevant than ever

“The Skynet problem,” Cameron said in a 2024 video, “is an actual thing.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By GODOFREDO A.VÁSQUEZ

Sam Altman, center, and OpenAI President Greg Brockman, right, arrive at the U.S District Court in Oakland, Calif., on April 30.

LEo (July23-Aug. 22) Stretch your imagination, learn from your mistakes and turn your ideas into areality. Place your energy whereithas the most value. Set your emotions on the back burner and put your ego aside.

VIRGo (Aug. 23-sept. 22) Achange may tempt you, but beforeyou makea move, take acloser look at whatyou might lose. Reach out to someone you trust to tell you the truth and suggest alternatives. Patience is necessary.

LIBRA (sept.23-oct.23) You'll be pulled in differentdirections, allofwhich need consideration. Partnerships, routine and schedules will require finetuning and alifeline of their own.

scoRPIo (oct. 24-Nov. 22) Brainpower is your weapon. Size up situations and thinkmatters through. Refuse to let anyone pressure youtomake snap decisions or to allow them to take control of your life.

sAGIttARIus (Nov. 23-Dec. 21) Put everything in context and do what's best. Don't put yourself in harm's way physically or whererelationshipsare concerned.

cAPRIcoRN (Dec.22-Jan. 19) Take care of yourself, your reputation andyour future. Invest more time and money in upgrading your skills and qualifications and connectingwithpeople who can help you get ahead.

AQuARIus (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) If you want control, be prepared to followthrough. Opportunities are apparent;ifyou don't take advantage, you won't getareturn.

You are overduefor achange, so buckle up and see what's available.

PIscEs (Feb.20-March 20) Having proper eating habits, exercising and staying away from people or situationsthat could lead to illness or injury are best avoided.Use your intuition, memory and commonsense. ARIEs (March 21-April19) Emotions, overindulgence and social settings can lead to arguments. Don't mixbusiness with pleasure. Beinghonest is honorable, but there's atimeand place for it

tAuRus (April 20-May 20) Take hold of your feelings before you go outthe door. You'll tend to overreact today, offering boldand brazen opinions to those youencounter.Take amoment to calm down andtochange your demeanor.

GEMINI(May 21-June 20) Pick up the pieces and put them back together the way you want them to be. Stop letting negativity andupset take over when practicality and common sense are necessary.

cANcER(June 21-July 22) Tread lightly whendealing with others. Stick to the facts, offerkindness andunderstanding, andkeep an open mind when listeningtoothers, and if that's too difficult look inward and do alittleself-help work.

The horoscope, an entertainment feature, is not based on scientific fact. ©2026 by nEa, inc., dist. By andrews mcmeel syndication

CelebrityCipher cryptograms are created from quotations by famous people,pastand present. Each letter in the cipher stands foranother.

toDAy's cLuE:A EQuALs H

CeLebrItY CIpher

beetLe bAILeY

Mother GooSe And GrIMM

Sudoku

InstructIons: sudoku is anumber-placingpuzzle basedona9x9 grid with several given numbers The objectistoplace the numbers 1to9inthe empty squares so that each row, each column and each 3x3 box contains the same number only once.The difficulty levelofthe sudoku increasesfrommonday to sunday.

Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer

BLondie

BaBY BLueS Hi and LoiS

Bridge

By PHILLIP ALDER

Jason Fried, the founder and CEO of Basecamp (formerly known as 37signals),said, “Makedecisions when you have alot of information to make the decision. Not when you have to guess about whatthe decision is going to be or usedatathat doesn’t exist yet.”

We arelooking at the Rule of Seven, which tells ano-trump declarer how long to hold up his only stopper in the suit that theopponents have led. In today’s deal, North and South have six spades. Subtracting six from seven tells South to hold up his spade ace at trick one, but to takethe second trick.However, is that the right play here?

Whenyouopeninno-trump,donotworry —too much! —about an unstopped suit.Here, if South opens one club and Westpasses(letusassume),Northwould respond one diamond. Whatwould South do next? He would have no accurate rebid.

South starts with eight top tricks: one spade,three hearts andfourdiamonds He needs one club trick to get home. But should he lead low to his jack or to his king?Hedoes nothaveenough data to answer the question.

Southneedstoknowhowthespadesuit is splitting. So he should hold up twice and take the third round. Here, declarer learnsthatWeststartedwithfivespades.

If West also holds theclub ace, thecontract cannotbemade—South will lose oneclub andfourspades. So declarer must play aclub to his king, hoping for the best. If it transpires that Westhas onlyfourspades,Southwillhavetoguess the clubs. Wish him good luck —unless you are East or West.

©2026 by nEa, inc.,dist. By andrewsmcmeel syndication

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

Previous answers:

word game

INstRuctIoNs: 1. Words must be of four or more letters. 2. Words that acquire four letters by the addition of “s,”such as “bats”or“dies,” are not allowed. 3. additional words made by adding a“d” or an “s” may not be used. 4. proper nouns, slang words, or vulgar or sexually explicit words are notallowed.

toDAy’s WoRD DEFRAys: Dih-FRAZE: Provides for the payment of.

Average mark 18 words

Time limit 20 minutes

Can you find 22 or more words in DEFRAYS?

yEstERDAy’s WoRD —outMoDED

outdo

today’s thought

tell you, No: but,exceptyou repent,you shallall likewise

wuzzles

marmaduKe

Bizarro

hagar the horriBle

Pearls Before swiNe

garfield

B.C. PiCKles

ScrabbleGramS

dIrectIons: make a2-to 7-letter word from the letters in each 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 more informationontournamentsand clubs, email naspa –northamerican sCraBBlE playersassociation: info@scrabbleplayers.org. Visitour website: www.scrabbleplayers.org. For puzzle inquiriescontact scrgrams@gmail.com Hasbro andits logo sCraBBlE associated logo,the design of thedistinctive sCraBBlE

and

ken ken

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

Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer

WiShinG Well

HErE is aplEasanT liTTlE

the

Get fuzzy

jump Start

roSe iS roSe

8629 ApricotSt.

andits fundingsources Mentionoftrade names or commercialproducts does notconstitutetheir endorsementbythe U.S. Government,orthe Na‐tional Fish andWildlife Foundation or itsfunding sources. 196005-aug1-31-31t $$4,838.79

of Jefferson, Stateof Louisiana, hasbeen au‐thorized to be dissolved andliquidated. Thedissolution of FCC wasdulyauthorizedby an affirmativevoteofnot less than two-thirds of itsmembers presentat a duly called congrega‐tional meetingheldon June 6, 2024, at which a quorum waspresent and voted, in accordance with La.R.S.§ 12:250and thecorporation's articles andbylaws. NOTICE IS FURTHER GIVENthat thecorpora‐tion is to be liquidated outofcourt andthatthe followingpersonhas been appointedasLiq‐uidatortoconduct the liquidationand wind-up of theaffairs of FCC: Liquidator: Johnna Dianna Burke c/oThe SunseriLaw Firm 3000 18thSt. SuiteA Metairie,LA70002

Notice is hereby givenof theavailabilityoffederal fundsthrough theOffice of Violence Against Women(OVW),housedin theU.S.Departmentof Justice, forthe FY2025 STOP Violence Against WomenFormula Grant Program.The total amount of $118,364 will be

mentary, andReNEW MotonLakefront Elemen‐tary.A physical copy of the2026-2027budgetis availableat10001 Lake Forest Blvd Suite710, NewOrleans,LA70127. 186911-may9-aug27 $956 PUBLIC NOTICE