The Acadiana Advocate 08-09-2026

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S u n d ay, au g u S t 9, 2026

THE MAN, THE MYTH,

THE LEGEND

Drew Brees enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame

$2.50X

Vermilion Parish ponders impact of SpaceX Residents look to Texas, Florida for clues to what future might hold

BY ALEX LUBBEN and STEPHANIE RIEGEL Staff writers

As Gov. Jeff Landry’s administration finalizes a deal with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to build a spaceport in coastal Vermilion Parish, residents of the remote area are trying to make sense of what the unprecedented project might mean for their community.

Recent comments from Musk and other SpaceX officials offer a sense of the company’s plans to expand its launch capabilities, and some close watchers of the aerospace industry say the Vermilion site likely aligns with those goals.

Additionally, there are two other areas that could serve as a guide for what the future holds: Boca Chica, Texas, where SpaceX has built its Starbase headquarters; and Florida’s “Space Coast,” the region around Cape Canaveral along the Atlantic Ocean that has been the site of NASA’s space launches since the Apollo program.

In Starbase, Texas, formerly Boca Chica Village, SpaceX incorporated its own municipality with about 5,000 residents. It has its own mayor. In less than a decade, the company has built rockets and launchpads there, as well as a company-run elementary school.

And it is permitted to launch 25 rockets a year. Local elected officials say it has been a boon to the regional tax base.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOS By DAVID DERMER

ä See SPACEX, page 5A

Former Saints quarterback Drew Brees poses with his bust during the Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony at the Pro Football Hall of Fame, in Canton, Ohio, on Saturday.

Costly ICE facility at Angola endures

BY JEFF DUNCAN | Sports columnist

CANTON, Ohio — Drew Brees brought New Orleans Saints fans to their feet countless times during his legendary playing career.

He did it again Saturday. This time, though, Brees inspired them with his words rather than his work on the football field.

“New Orleans. … ,” Brees said to a Saints-heavy crowd at his Pro Football Hall of Fame ceremony at Tom Benson Stadium. “You accepted me. You embraced me. You believed in me. But more importantly, you entrusted me with the soul of the city. And I would have died to protect that calling!”

Brees punctuated his words by raising his voice and right arm, stirring throngs of Saints

Feds pay $275 daily for ‘Louisiana Lockup’ detainees

out of their seats and spurring them to thrust their arms above their heads and chant “DREEEEEEWWWWWW!” in unison.

It was the highlight moment in a day of memorable scenes and emotional passages for Brees and his legion of fans, who came by the thousands from far and wide to honor the most decorated and beloved player in Saints franchise history.

Brees gave them ample opportunity to cheer and celebrate during his emotional 29-minute address that at times felt more like a pep rally or campaign town hall than an enshrinement ceremony. Brees’ speech went well over the suggested 12-minute limit, but few in the crowd seemed to mind on this muggy, overcast afternoon.

“It is impossible to properly articulate or encapsulate all the feelings, emotions, and appreciation that comes along with a 20-year NFL career in the time we have,” said Brees, who complemented his gold Hall of Fame jacket with a black-and-gold tie and light blue dress shirt. “But I will do my best to entertain and enlighten you with the stories,

BY JOHN SIMERMAN Staff writer

Former NFL player Drew Brees reacts after placing his bust in the

ä See BREES, page 7A Pro Football Hall of Fame.

DREW-PALOOZA: Saints fans take over Canton for Brees’ Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony. Page 1C

Camp 57, the controversial ICE detention center that Gov. Jeff Landry set up inside the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, is nearing its first anniversary flush with federal funding and showing little sign its population is waning.

If anything, immigration advocates see occupancy rising at the privately run detention center, also dubbed “Louisiana Lockup.” The feds pay a $275 daily rate for a minimum of 208 ICE detainees, state records show. Louisiana reports paying $116 daily for a typical state prisoner at Angola, where about 4,000 are held.

“We were up there a couple weeks ago. They were moving the guys into the other dorms” at Camp 57, said Tania Wolf, southeast advocacy manager for

ä See FACILITY, page 3A

WEATHER HIGH 91 LOW 76 PAGE 6B

Business ......................1E Deaths .........................2B Nation-World ................2A Classified .....................7D Living............................1D Opinion ........................4B Commentary ................5B Metro ...........................1B Sports ..........................1C

102ND yEAR, NO. 40

2A ● Sunday, August 9, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

BRIEFS

FROM WIRE REPORTS

Turkey: Defense pact not aimed any country

ANKARA, Turkey — A defense agreement between Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey is not aimed against Iran or any other country, Turkey’s foreign minister said Saturday, describing the pact as an important step toward regional stability.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif signed the agreement in the Saudi holy city of Mecca on Friday. It states that an attack on one would be considered an attack on all three.

The “Mecca Joint Defense Agreement” brings together oilrich Saudi Arabia and nuclear power Pakistan as well as Turkey, which has NATO’s secondlargest army and a rapidly growing defense industry. It deepens cooperation and deterrence at a time of increased regional uncertainty and threats from the war in Iran.

In an interview with Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan insisted that the three countries do not view any particular state as an adversary unless they take hostile action against them.

“We don’t have anything written down — nothing we’ve signed — that defines a common threat,” Fidan said. “Any country that does not attack us is not a target for us.”

The Turkish minister described the agreement’s clause on mutual defense as being “technically the same” as NATO’s Article 5, under which an attack on one of the 32 members is considered an attack on them all.

2 drones spotted flying over German base

BERLIN — Two drones were spotted flying over a German military base in the western part of the country earlier this week, just two days after a drone carrying explosives was found at a key cargo airport, the German Armed Forces said on Saturday.

Security surveillance at the Bundeswehr base in Mechernich reported seeing two drones around 10 p.m. on Thursday, according to a statement from the German Joint Force Command.

The sightings were confirmed and military police forces deployed to the site.

The military said the Euskirchen police department has opened an investigation. The police did not immediately respond to a request for comment and the military did not release additional details.

Recently, drone sightings over civilian and cargo airports have been more widely reported. Last year, mysterious drone flights over the airspace of European Union member countries alarmed the public and authorities, and also prompted the cancellation of dozens of flights that stranded thousands of passengers.

Thursday’s sighting of the two drones came after a drone with explosives was found at Germany’s Leipzig/Halle Airport shortly before midnight on Tuesday. The device was defused but German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said the incident posed a “new quality of danger.”

Girl dies after Thailand school shooting

BANGKOK — A schoolgirl died from critical wounds on Saturday after a student opened fire at a high school and his home outside Bangkok the day before, bringing the death toll from the attack to at least eight people.

The 14-year-old opened fire at about 10 a.m. Friday at Debsirin Nonthaburi School in Nonthaburi province northwest of the Thai capital before apparently taking his own life. He also appeared to have killed his two grandparents at his family home earlier in the morning, officials said.

The girl, 12, died after hospitalization, the Health Ministry said. The school had posted a message on Facebook Friday seeking blood donations for two students, including the girl, who was in seventh grade.

Fourteen people remain hospitalized, of whom seven remain in critical condition Saturday, according to Thailand’s Health Ministry. Most of those wounded were between 12 and 14 years old.

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Iran says Hormuz deal close But Tehran says its conditions must be met

BY PATRICK SYKES, SARA GHARAIBEH and CAM KETTLES

Bloomberg News (TNS) Iran said it’s “very close” to a deal with Oman on a new maritime transit route in the Strait of Hormuz, after expectations grew this week that an announcement may soon be made.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Saturday that negotiators are closing in on temporary maritime transit route for ships entering and exiting the Persian Gulf. He cautioned that any agreement won’t result in an immediate reopening of the strait, signaling that any respite for energy supplies may be limited.

“The opening of the Strait is subject to other conditions, including the compensation for the U.S.’s violations of the Islamabad Agreement,” Araghchi added. He was referring to the now-lapsed memorandum of understanding signed in June, which lasted less than a month before collapsing over disagreements about control of Hormuz.

Oman said separately, in a post on X, that negotiations are progressing in “a positive and constructive atmosphere” and called for a halt on actions in the strait to avoid impacting diplomatic efforts to reach an agreement on navigation.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By VAHID SALEMI

People walk through Tehran’s traditional main bazaar in Iran on Saturday.

It’s unclear how Washington, which Iran insists is not part of the deal for Hormuz, will respond to a final agreement. President Donald Trump has said for months that navigation through Hormuz must be resumed unimpeded, threatening fresh attacks on Iran if it fails to reopen the waterway.

Vice President JD Vance suggested there has been some progress in the last few days but that it remains to be seen whether the final result will be satisfactory for the U.S. “I try to remind people that we’re really in the middle of the game here,” Vance said in an interview on Fox News on Saturday.

The question is whether Iran will be able “to give the things that are necessary for us to be happy, for us to feel like we’ve gotten what

we need out of this particular engagement.”

He also said mines laid by Iranians in the strait earlier in the war must be cleared and there needs to be a commitment from Tehran not to fire on commercial vessels transiting Hormuz.

“What we’re really working through now is how you can actually set up a traffic scheme so that the ships that pass can pass through safely.”

Washington has repeatedly suggested that it’s part of negotiations over the management of Hormuz, which Iran disputes.

The U.S. has also maintained a naval blockade on Iranian ports. Reuters reported that the U.S. will walk back its restrictions once a deal between Oman and Iran to restore commercial shipping is announced, citing a U.S. official. A deal,

the official said, is expected soon.

Oil prices have swung between gains and losses this week, as traders monitored the prospects of a deal that’s expected to clear the way for millions of barrels of supply from the Persian Gulf to be restored. Brent settled above $83 a barrel, notching a third straight weekly loss.

Traffic through the choke point has been largely blocked since the start of the war, but some ships have continued to ferry cargoes through as part of a shuttle program involving help from the U.S. military.

Many have done so turning off their transponders, making trips harder to track.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. said one of its vessels was targeted by missiles while transiting Strait of

Hormuz early on Saturday, the United Arab Emirates’s state-run WAM news agency reported. The attack caused no injuries and the situation has been brought under control, it added.

Three other ships from the UAE’s biggest oil producer were attacked this week.

The incident highlights the ongoing risks for shippers attempting to make the crossing during the conflict, as Iran insists on asserting control over Hormuz.

“Deals to reopen the Strait of Hormuz remain elusive, with investors teetering in the balance,” said Rob Haworth, senior investment strategy director at U.S. Bank Wealth Management. “For now, traffic remains low and the path to a durable deal remains unclear.”

Any deal for the Strait of Hormuz will need to be approved by Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and Iranian officials have said that it takes time to reach him, potentially delaying any announcement.

There’s no indication as yet over whether Khamenei has given his assent to current plans.

Clashes between the Iranbacked Houthi militants and the Saudi-aligned, internationally recognized government in Yemen also threaten to further escalate tensions in the Middle East.

Yemen said on Saturday its armed forces carried out a military operation overnight against the Houthis, who control much of the country, marking the first known retaliation to attacks this week.

Ukraine’s leader visits Moscow-friendly Serbia

BY JOVANA GEC and VOLODYMYR YURCHUK Associated Press

BELGRADE, Serbia — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denounced Russia’s latest deadly attacks on Kyiv on Saturday as he visited Serbia, one of the few European countries that has maintained friendly relations with Moscow throughout its invasion of Ukraine.

Four people, including a child, were killed in the overnight strikes on Kyiv and the surrounding region. Ukrainian forces hit Russian oil facilities.

Zelenskyy arrived in Belgrade on Friday for his first official visit to Serbia.

Speaking at a news conference in Belgrade with Zelenskyy, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic described Ukraine as a “friendly nation” and said he was honored to welcome the Ukrainian leader — the first visit by a Ukrainian president in eight years.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By DARKO VOJINOVIC

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shakes hands with his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic on Saturday at the Serbia Palace in Belgrade, Serbia.

The two leaders discussed their countries’ efforts toward joining the European Union, bilateral ties and ways to expand cooperation.

Kyiv’s residents face regular drone and missile barrages that Ukraine’s depleted air defenses are struggling to counter amid Moscow’s 4-year-old fullscale invasion, while repeated Ukrainian strikes on oil facilities have caused

fuel shortages and rattled Russians.

Vucic, who has maintained close ties with Moscow and refused to sanction Russia over the invasion — drawing pressure from the EU to change course — reiterated that Serbia respects Ukraine’s territorial integrity and said that position would not change.

“The situation in Ukraine is difficult,” Zelenskyy

ICE expects to equip field officers with body cameras by end of August

By The Associated Press WASHINGTON — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Saturday it expects every officer and agent in the field to be equipped with a body camera by the end of August, a rapid expansion that could provide an unprecedented visual record of the federal government’s immigration enforcement operations.

But whether the public will get to see that footage remains largely up to ICE. The agency defended its body-worn camera policy amid questions about provisions allowing ICE leadership to withhold or indefinitely delay footage after serious injuries or deaths in custody.

Acting Director David J. Venturella said the restrictions are intended to protect investigations and privacy and are consistent with federal law and policies at other federal law enforcement agencies.

Venturella’s statement came in response to an Associated Press report on ICE policy, including a provision calling for the expedited release of footage after a serious injury or death in custody when doing so is determined to be in the “best interests of the agency.”

Venturella said the AP “mischaracterized” the policy by conflating that provision with ICE’s broader authority to release body-camera

footage. He said the policy clarifies that footage should not be released when doing so could compromise investigations or privacy.

The AP report did not say the provision governs every release of body-camera footage. It focused on ICE’s policy for releasing footage after some of the most consequential encounters with the public: those involving serious injury or death.

The AP sought comment from ICE before its initial story on Friday. The agency provided partial responses, without addressing the provision that footage would be released when in its “best interests.”

said at the news conference.

“There was another missile strike last night — ballistic missiles targeting our infrastructure. There were also attack drones.”

Zelenskyy said that deliveries of Patriot air defense interceptors — the sole air defense weapon in Ukraine’s arsenal able to shoot down ballistic missiles — have slowed compared with a year ago.

“There are fewer of these missiles in 2026. In 2025 there were more, I’ll tell you honestly, in terms of monthly supplies,” he said.

Zelenskyy said Washington has agreed to let Ukraine manufacture its own Patriot air defense interceptors, but that they are “stuck dealing with paperwork.”

“The process for some of these licenses is also taking a long time,” he said.

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The Acadiana Advocate ● theadvocate.com ● Sunday,August 9, 2026 ● 3A

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FACILITY

Continued from page 1A the National Immigration Project. “We were just told they were renovating.”

State corrections officials did not respond to questions about Camp 57, its funding or its future. Landry’s office declined to comment.

Official figures placed the average daily population of the detention camp at 176 as of July 9, slightly lower than the 182 reported in April, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University.

There’s room to grow.

Officials have placed the capacity of Camp 57 at 416 detainees.

STAFF FILE PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK

The former ‘Camp J’

Gov. Jeff Landry, center, gathers with officials at the end of a tour of Camp 57 at the The center occupies a for- Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola on Sept. 3.

mer compound of solitary confinement buildings called “Camp J” that was shuttered almost a decade ago at one end of the 18,000-acre prison grounds in West Feliciana Parish.

The unusual ICE lockup added capacity in a state that houses the most immigration detainees outside of Texas. The July figures show about 7,700 ICE detainees in Louisiana, including Camp 57, which took its name from Landry’s turn as governor — he’s Louisiana’s 57th.

“Louisiana Lockup” opened after Florida’s much larger “Alligator Alcatraz” as an alliterative response by states to President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. Indiana was another, launching “Speedway Slammer.”

Officials touted Alligator Alcatraz as a powerful cudgel due to its inhospitable natural environment for escapees. Then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem boasted similarly of Camp 57, playing up the notorious history of the maximum-security prison at Angola, a former slave plantation.

Feds pay big for ICE beds Built from scratch on a remote airstrip, Florida’s operation cost $1.2 billion, or about $3,500 per detainee per day in all, according to an analysis by CBS Miami.

Reports of inhumane treatment and abuse surfaced, along with lawsuits. It closed in June, with DeSantis saying it had “served its purpose for the time.”

Meanwhile, the scores of immigrants being held at Angola are among the most expensive in Louisiana. The $275 bed rate the feds pay is more than previously known and equates to $100,000 a year for each ICE detainee.

It’s more than four times the cost to house state prisoners in parish jails. It’s also well above the $150 per day that the state agreed to pay the private operator of Camp 57 as a base fee in a contract obtained by The Times-Picayune and The Advocate.

The feds also reimburse the operator for outside medical care and transportation for those detainees.

They also paid $10 million to repurpose the complex,

records show.

All told, the feds spent at least $27.7 million to bankroll Camp 57 over its first nine months, according to records produced by the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.

The figures come from monthly invoices, detainee counts, a spreadsheet of money transfers and other records provided by GOHSEP, which distributes funds from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act for the detention camp.

The records also show several hundred dollars invoiced monthly at $1 per day under a “voluntary work program.” The state did not respond to questions about the work.

Uncertain in the figures is just how Louisiana comes out in the bargain.

While incomplete, the records offer the clearest view to date of the direct cost to taxpayers. Even so, the GOHSEP figures may undercount the money spent on Camp 57.

The state Legislative Fiscal Office has reported that GOHSEP funneled $34 million from ICE last fiscal year for the detention camp. That figure has swelled to $46.3 million budgeted for the current fiscal year. At the minimum of 208 detainees, that would equate to more than $600 per detainee per day in all.

Advocates for immigrants and other critics argue that it’s wrong to play up the punitive nature of the camp and that there shouldn’t be so much hidden about how the facility is run and paid for.

“It’s part of this administration trying to feed into that narrative of this criminality of the immigrant community,” Wolf said. “There’s a massive amount of funding, and now Gov. Landry and this state is trying to get into the money pot. …Where is it going? It’s murky.

Things like this shouldn’t be murky.”

In response to detailed questions, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a statement arguing that ICE funding is being used to protect U.S. citizens.

“Every day, DHS is con-

ducting law enforcement activities across the country to keep Americans safe.

It should not come as news that ICE will be making arrests in states across the U.S. and ensuring we have resources to carry out President Trump’s mission,” it read.

“ICE is targeting criminal illegal aliens including murderers, rapists, criminals, gang members and more. Thanks to the One Big Beautiful Bill, ICE has new funding to expand detention space to keep these criminals off American streets before they are removed for good from our communities.”

The agency attached mugshots and criminal histories of five men it described as “some of the public safety threats arrested by ICE in Louisiana.” None appears to be held currently at Camp 57.

GOHSEP general counsel Clayton Revere referred questions to the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections. That agency’s press secretary, Falon Brown, directed questions to the Governor’s Office, which did not respond to emailed questions.

Deep roots The contract for the facility was signed in August 2025 by state corrections Undersecretary Bobby Lee Jr. and William K. McConnell, founder of LaSalle Corrections LLC, which operates several private lockups for ICE detainees in Louisiana, along with private prisons in other states.

It lists the operator of Camp 57 as Ice 47 Processing Center LLC, based on an earlier naming idea. Previous signage called it “Camp 47,” presumably for Trump’s second term.

State business records show the company was formed a year ago this week and shares a Ruston address with LaSalle Corrections, as well as top executives.

LaSalle Corrections officials Ryan Horvath and Wesley McConnell are listed as its managers, online records show. Neither could be reached. William McConnell did not respond to email interview requests.

Related companies oper-

Your place, your pace.

ate other ICE detention facilities in the state. At one, Richwood Correctional Center, the day rate for detainees was recently $101, records show.

Hidden costs questioned Andrea Armstrong, a law professor at Loyola University in New Orleans, called the setup in Louisiana with Camp 57 “completely unique,” as a privately run ICE detention center within a state prison.

Armstrong said it leaves questions about possible hidden costs to the state — for perimeter security, food, mail service and medical care, for instance.

“It’s unclear to me whether LaSalle is essentially using those services free or reimbursing (the corrections department) for those services, or what,” Armstrong said.

An immigration detention center might have “slightly different costs” from prisons, to include more language services for example, she said. But they also may not require the same vocational services.

Advocates acknowledge some benefits for ICE de-

tainees held at Camp 57 compared to several more remote detention centers across western and northern Louisiana.

Readier access to lawyers is one. And Camp 57 resides in the federal Middle District of Louisiana, where judges have been more receptive to pleas for relief from ICE detainees, and where the backlog of habeas corpus petitions isn’t as severe as in the Western District of Louisiana.

According to TRAC, the Western District had the third highest rate of habeas corpus filings in the U.S. per capita from October to March — four times the national rate.

It’s a system set up for detainees to give up, said Nora Ahmed, legal director of the ACLU of Louisiana.

“You have an administration that’s abusing the legal process knowing the courts are going to be drowning in habeas corpus petitions and people will not be able to be released timely,” Ahmed said. “By the time you hit three months, people lose their marbles.”

Camp 57, “more than other facilities, they do have people with prior criminal records,” she said, but often years have gone by since their releases. A majority have lived in the U.S. for decades, said Ahmed, who argued that the facility “exists as a form of punishment, which is illegal on its face.”

A report released in January by the ACLU of Louisiana described a troubled start to Camp 57, with a lack of medical support, adequate hygiene or dedicated recreational space.

“Water at the facility contained metal shavings, which meant that the only potable water available to them was limited amounts of bottled water,” the report said.

Advocates reported a hunger strike by some detainees in the first month, but officials said it never happened.

Ahmed said judges in multiple states have opined that what’s going on at Angola

has crossed a line. She said ongoing concerns include family visitations, with prison security running ID and warrant checks for entry.

“Why is that a problem?

Because this is civil detention,” she said.

Court fights ongoing Some federal judges in Louisiana have sided with detained immigrants, to Landry’s chagrin. The Republican governor recently requested federal legislation to move West Feliciana Parish into the Western District, while criticizing “liberal judges” in Baton Rouge.

U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow filed a bill in March for the move.

A Letlow spokesperson, Matt Smith, acknowledged “it may be tough to get it across the finish line” this year.

“Congresswoman Letlow continues to support the Camp 57’s mission of housing criminal illegal immigrants, and is pleased to see Governor Landry and President Trump working to enforce our immigration laws and protect public safety,” Smith said.

In the meantime, court fights over people detained there endure.

In February, U.S. District Judge John deGravelles ordered four of its detainees released after finding they’d been held unconstitutionally too long. Each was detained past a six-month federal limit, he found.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a statement calling deGravelles an “activist judge” and describing the decision in all caps as a “LAWLESS ABOMINATION.” The government has continued to try to remove one of those detainees, Ibrahim Mohammed, through a third-country removal process despite orders from deGravelles.

The judge, who was nominated to the federal bench by former President Barack Obama, held a contempt of court hearing last week against federal authorities.

He has yet to rule.

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4A ● Sunday,August 9, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

Senate narrowly confirms Todd Blanche as AG

BY ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and LISA MASCARO Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The Senate confirmed Todd Blanche as attorney general in a vote early Saturday, cementing the command of President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer at a Department of Justice that Trump has sought to bend to his will.

The Republican-led Senate voted 50-49 to make Blanche the second confirmed attorney general since Trump returned to the White House last year with a stated desire to use the law enforcement agency to investigate his political enemies. While Blanche has already been leading the department in an acting capacity, his confirmation could free him to pursue the administration’s agenda even more aggressively.

Blanche said on social media that he was “deeply honored by the trust and confidence President Trump has placed in me,” adding that he was “grateful” to senators for working late to confirm him.

The vote followed a tumultuous confirmation fight that exposed deep concerns — from some Republicans as well as Democrats — about installing Trump’s close ally atop a Justice Department that historically prided itself on its independence from the White House.

In the end, Blanche was confirmed by the narrowest of margins, opposed by two

Republicans — Sens. Susan Collins, of Maine, and Lisa Murkowski, of Alaska — and by every Democrat.

The path to confirmation for Blanche was unusually rocky, due in large part to Republican concerns about a controversial settlement of Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS. Under pressure, Blanche publicly promised in writing that the department would abandon Trump’s proposed $1.8 billion compensation fund for the president’s allies, including those who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and rein in another piece of the settlement designed to shield Trump and his family from IRS tax audits.

His appeals were enough to win over Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, the decisive vote who threw his support behind Blanche on Friday morning. Cassidy said no other nominee may be able to run the department better under Trump and suggested Blanche’s role as Trump’s former criminal defense lawyer can make him more effective at pushing back on the Republican president’s demands.

“This is not a referendum on President Trump. It is a decision regarding Mr. Blanche in very specific circumstances,” said Cassidy, who lost his primary this year to a Trump-backed challenger.

Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the top Democrat on the

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ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By MANUEL BALCE CENETA

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche speaks June 11 during a news conference on unaccompanied children at the Justice Department in Washington. The Senate confirmed Blanche as attorney general early Saturday.

Senate Judiciary Committee, said confirming Blanche would be a “serious mistake.”

He begged his colleagues not to be on the “wrong side” of history.

“If there is ever a moment in history when we need an Attorney General above reproach, who is clearly dedicated to ending corruption, even at the highest level of our government, it’s right now,” Durbin said.

The vote capped off a bruising confirmation fight, with Blanche’s loyalty to Trump at the center of the stalemate.

Blanche was elevated to

the top Justice Department post in an acting capacity after Trump fired Pam Bondi in April. Blanche moved swiftly to advance the president’s interests, accelerating investigations into Trump’s perceived foes and announcing the settlement that created the $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” to compensate people who feel mistreated by the criminal justice system and provided Trump and family members with immunity from tax audits.

The controversial settlement threatened to torpedo Blanche’s nomination until

he formally rescinded the fund in writing under pressure from Republican Sens.

John Cornyn, of Texas, and Thom Tillis, of North Carolina. The deal reached between the senators and the department unlocked a vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee, which advanced Blanche’s nomination earlier this week Even after the deal, Blanche faced opposition from some Republican senators concerned with the settlement fund and the tax audit immunity.

Murkowski announced early Friday that she would join

Collins in opposing Blanche’s nomination, saying the country needs an attorney general “who will check the worst impulses of this administration.”

A former federal prosecutor in New York, Blanche rose to public prominence as a lead attorney on Trump’s defense team, including during the Republican’s hush money trial in New York. He also defended Trump against criminal charges in the two federal cases brought by the Biden administration’s Department of Justice — an experience Blanche has said provided him a firsthand look at what he contends was the weaponization of the criminal justice system against Trump.

Blanche entered the Justice Department last year as deputy attorney general under Bondi, overseeing the agency’s day-to-day operations and serving as the public face for high-profile and controversial matters, like the release of millions of investigative files related to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Democrats have accused Blanche of prioritizing his loyalty to Trump above all else through investigations against Trump foes such as former FBI Director James Comey and a radical reshaping of the department. Under Bondi and Blanche’s leadership, the department has lost thousands of employees through firings, resignations or voluntary departures.

Senate OKs funding bill to avoid a shutdown before election

BY KEVIN FREKING and LISA MASCARO Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The Senate in an overnight vote Saturday approved a short-term measure to fund federal agencies into early December and avoid a potentially chaotic government shutdown during the middle of campaign season.

The late-summer action on a funding fix is unusual.

Normally, Congress waits until the final days or hours of a funding deadline to pass short-term patches, but this time senators acted nearly two months before the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.

The 90-6 vote showed lawmakers are still smarting from the two historic shutdowns that occurred this past year and want to avoid another before voters go to the polls.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ALLISON ROBBERT

Birds fly Tuesday near the U.S. Capitol in Washington.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune wanted the funding dealt with before senators went home for the next five weeks to focus on their reelection campaigns and other matters. It got caught up with other issues that pushed votes into the night, but the bill had broad bipartisan support. The House will also have to approve the mea-

sure when members return from their August recess before it can go to President Donald Trump’s desk for his signature.

The bill generally funds the federal government at current levels though Dec. 11, but includes a variety of exceptions that senators negotiated with the White House.

Democrats secured language to ensure no money could be transferred to the Border Patrol. They also rejected the White House’s request of $1 billion for early work on a new “Trump-class” battleship that the administration announced on Dec. 22.

“The only person who wants these golden ships is Donald Trump so he can slap his name on them,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said.

The bill also includes language delaying a national ban on most intoxicating hemp products. That one-month delay prompted outrage from some Senate Republicans who say that too many such products are falling into the hands of often unsuspecting children. The packaging of the products often relies on bright colors and intentionally mimics popular snack

brands to attract consumers.

Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C., said that since 2017 there has been nearly a 10-fold increase in cannabis-related emergency room visits by minors in his home state.

“This is a public health crisis that deserves this Senate’s immediate attention,” Budd said. “Our children should never be the testing ground for an industry willing to exploit a loophole in federal law for profit.”

But the hemp industry said the delay buys time for Congress to craft legislation that protects hemp farmers and businesses while also putting in place safeguards to protect children.

Trump himself has called Budd to discuss the issue, though the president did not specifically ask the senator to drop his effort, Budd’s spokesman said.

“Senator Budd had a

friendly phone call with President Trump discussing the legislative efforts regarding THC,” said spokesman Christian McMullen. He said the senator outlined his concerns about “any delay to closing the hemp loophole.”

Budd tried to strip the hemp delay from the bill, but the Senate turned aside his effort.

Democratic lawmakers, along with Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, also got language in the bill that would block, for the duration of the funding patch, new regulations on federal grants. The regulations would require a senior political appointee to review grants before they are awarded to ensure, among other things, that they advance the president’s policy priorities. Democrats worry it’s an effort to kill grants destined for Democratic-leaning states.

Hunter Biden says his father’s prostate cancer causing him pain

By The Associated Press LONDON — Former President Joe Biden’s prostate cancer has spread to other parts of his body and is causing him pain, even as he continues to speak out on public issues, his son Hunter said in an interview.

In a wide-ranging interview with the BBC broadcast late on Friday, Hunter Biden grew emotional as he discussed his father’s condition, describing it as very sad to watch.

“The cancer has spread, metastasized into his bones and further,” he said. “It’s very painful and it’s very de-

bilitating in many respects.”

Joe Biden, 83, was the oldest man to serve as U.S. president and his age was a source of concern for much of his four years in office. He and his White House advisers have faced intense criticism for allegedly concealing the extent of his prob-

lems, especially after he was forced to abandon his bid for reelection after a disastrous debate with his eventual successor, Donald Trump.

The former president revealed his cancer diagnosis in May of last year, less than four months after he left the White House.

Hunter Biden said the diagnosis had been tough on the family.

“It’s really sad to watch,” Biden said. “The only thing that I’d say about my dad, about his health right now, is I wish he would complain more, because it’s not good.”

But Biden said his father

remains “out there,” speaking publicly about the issues that are important to him.

“He’s still doing his thing,” he said. “He so believes in this country.”

The former president will publish a memoir, “Promise Me, America,” after the midterm elections.

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SPACEX

Continued from page 1A

To Lafayette

White Lake

82

Property currently owned

by ExxonMobil

82

Pecan Island Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge

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Audubon Wildlife Refuge

Freshwater City Rd.

LOUISIANA

Lafayette

Vermilion Bay

Baton Rouge New Orleans

The Gulf

DETAIL AREA

Potential SpaceX development area Staff graphic

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ERIC GAy

The sun rises behind SpaceX’s mega rocket Starship as it is prepared for a test flight from Starbase, Texas, on July 24. square miles in and around Pecan Island, a tiny community of hunting camps lining the two-lane rural La. 82, and Freshwater City, a remote area about 10 miles farther south.

Any launch site is unlikely to be located directly next to the hunting camps along La. 82, but will likely be closer to the coast, according to those familiar with the site.

The land there, surprisingly, is a couple of feet higher and more stable than farther inland.

The site makes sense for other reasons, too. It’s immediately adjacent to a deep water bayou that runs from the Gulf and connects to the Intracoastal Waterway. And

it has an abundance of natural gas.

“They can easily tap into the pipeline and put in a small LNG facility on-site to power their rockets,” said Eric Smith, a director at Tulane University’s Energy Institute. “It’s a relatively easy, established technology.”

Accelerating space race The number of launches in the U.S. has increased dramatically over the past decade as SpaceX and commercial aerospace companies have gotten into a business that once was the purview solely of NASA. Last year, there were 181 orbital rocket launches in

the U.S., more than 90% of which were conducted

by SpaceX. The company is planning to ramp up its capacity, so it needs more spaceports and launchpads.

SpaceX has said it aims to put data centers in space.

Doing that will take millions of satellites, the company has said in federal regulatory filings.

SpaceX wants to perform “a launch every few hours somewhere,” said Jonathan McDowell, a retired astrophysicist who worked at the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics until earlier this year and tracks rocket launches worldwide.

“Whether they can do that is a really open question, but that’s the kind of scale they’re talking about.”

More importantly, the site’s southward-facing location on the Gulf Coast is an ideal spot from which to launch into polar orbit — an orbital path that circles the planet from north to south.

SpaceX wants to put its AI satellites into that kind of orbit because they could get continuous sunlight on their solar panels, providing a consistent source of power, according to regulatory filings. But right now, the company only has spaceports from which it can launch its

‘A juggernaut’ In Texas, some local officials have been upbeat about SpaceX’s presence, noting that the company has brought in local revenue and a demand for skilled labor.

John Cowen, Jr., the mayor of Brownsville, Texas, near Starbase, called SpaceX “a juggernaut for economic growth,” according to the Rio Grande Guardian. He said the company had brought $13 billion in economic benefits, including 4,000 permanent jobs, and $99 million in tourism-related windfalls from visitors who come to see launches.

Local government leaders in Louisiana are also hopeful that SpaceX is considering

their area for a spaceport.

But Medrano, who lives near SpaceX’s Boca Chica launch site, has grown to oppose it. He can watch the rockets rise over the tree line from his back deck, and while he was initially supportive of the company, traffic and other disruptions are now a burden, he says.

“It rocks our house on all the launches,” he said. “We never thought it would get out of hand the way it is.”

On the other side of the Gulf, on Florida’s Space Coast, rocket launches have been taking place for decades. From Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, NASA sent Americans to the moon in 1969.

“I grew up watching the rockets go up and loved it,” said Bill Fisk, 72, a retired funeral home director and later FEMA official who now serves as president of the Space Coast Audubon Society. “People here peacefully coexisted with NASA for years.”

Still, the commercial rockets SpaceX and others now launch from the Space Coast complexes are happening with greater frequency. The company’s Starship rocket is louder and more powerful than NASA’s historic Saturn V rocket, which carried astronauts to the moon.

“I can feel the rumbles now,” said Fisk, who lives nearly 60 miles from Kennedy in a community called Palm Bay and has worked to gather evidence of environmental harm caused by the launch activity.

McDowell said that within a 1-mile radius of a launch site, the rocket blasts are likely to kill most birds. At 5 miles away, a launch is unlikely to break glass windows, he said — unless a rocket explodes on a launchpad, in which case it might.

The closest residential area in Pecan Island is about 10 miles away from the likely launch sites along the coast.

“You will definitely hear it from 10 miles,” McDowell said. “It’s not deafening. It’s probably like when a jet goes overhead.”

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But the frequency of rocket launches has increased with Musk’s growing quest to put more rockets carrying his Starlink satellites into orbit. Environmental groups have called attention to the impacts that those launches have had on nearby wildlife refuges.

In Florida, residents in Titusville and Cape Canaveral have lived near active launch sites for decades.

Residents there say they have seen changes in recent decades as commercial space companies have increased the number of rockets launched.

“These people in that rural area in Louisiana, they better understand what’s coming,” said Rene Medrano, 66, who has lived in Brownsville, Texas, 15 miles from Starbase, since the launch site there was built.

SpaceX has declined to specify its plans for Louisiana, which according to sources familiar with the deal includes the state’s settlement of a coastal lawsuit against ExxonMobil that involves about 130,000 acres of land in Vermilion Parish, which could then be transferred to the commercial aerospace company. The Landry administration has also declined to comment.

Sources with knowledge of the deal say that the state is attempting to figure out how to streamline the permitting process for SpaceX to allow the company to move quickly when the deal with Louisiana is finalized, which could come as soon as this month.

Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser said he had no direct knowledge of the deal. But his office had been contacted about an archaeological review of the site.

“There’s going to have to be reviews of grave sites or Indian burial grounds,” Nungesser said. “And a call was made to our office.”

The ExxonMobil tract that is key to the state’s deal with SpaceX includes some 200

Starship rockets east into an orbit that would have its satellites circle the Earth in a pathway parallel to the equator.

From the site in Vermilion Parish, “you’re not going to want to launch east because you’re going to fly right over New Orleans, and that will make you unpopular,” McDowell said. “But you’ve got a nice long stretch over the Gulf of Mexico to go south,” perfect for launching satellites into polar orbit.

McDowell said the site makes sense for SpaceX. “Given the market today, it’s a decent choice for a launch site,” he said.

It’s also at least as isolated from large human populations as the Boca Chica launch site in Texas or NASA’s Cape Canaveral launchpads in Florida.

McDowell said a spot along Freshwater Bayou is the likeliest spot for a SpaceX launch site, and the company could ship in rockets by barge. Most launch sites are right on the coast, so rocket stages can drop off into open water.

SpaceX itself has fueled speculation about that site, responding to a post on social media that included a map highlighting it. “It’s no secret that we intend to launch Starship a lot,” the company said on X, the social media site that Musk also owns.

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6A ● Sunday,August 9, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

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Lake Mead hits historic low water level Colorado River struggles

BY TY ONEIL and DORANY PINEDA Associated Press

BOULDER CITY, Nev. — Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States, has plummeted to its lowest water level since it was filled some 90 years ago, another sign of the crisis plaguing the Colorado River system.

Water levels at the reservoir, which straddles the Arizona-Nevada border outside Las Vegas, hit 1,040.4 feet above sea level on Friday, according to federal data.

That’s just below the record set on July 28, 2022, according to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

“It’s extremely significant and extremely concerning.

You have three-quarters of the population of the Colorado River Basin, some 30 million people, who are directly impacted by risks to Lake Mead,” said J.B. Hamby, chairman of the Colorado

peratures have been depleting Lake Mead and Lake Powell, the country’s secondlargest reservoir. Both are the lowest they have been in nearly seven decades.

To protect the strained system’s ability to produce hydropower, federal officials said Thursday that they will not release cool Lake Powell water from Glen Canyon Dam in northern Arizona to protect a threatened native fish, the humpback chub, whose habitat is between the reservoirs.

Federal officials recently announced a short-term proposal to stave off a crisis in ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By Ty ONEIL the beleaguered waterway, A tourist takes a photo of Lake Mead on Friday near Boulder City, Nev. after states that rely on it — California, Colorado, AriRiver Board of California at its source in the Rocky U.S. states, tribal nations zona, Nevada, New Mexico, and Mexico who rely on the Wyoming and Utah — failed and a board member of the Mountains.

Melting snow provides im- waterway. to reach an agreement on Imperial Irrigation District, Years of overuse combined how to share the dwindling the largest user of the river’s portant water for the river. water.

This past winter, however, with drought and rising tem- resource in the long term.

Hamby said it is vital for saw the worst snowpack states that use Colorado Riv- on record for the Colorado er water to reduce water use. River Basin, adding more Drought and dry condi- stress on farmers, industry, tions have stretched along wildlife and hydropower the length of the Colorado producers, as well as the 40 and are particularly intense million people across seven

The federal proposal called for the Lower Basin states of Arizona, California and Nevada to take less water.

The Bureau of Reclamation, which released the plan, said it was flexible: Deeper cuts could happen in drier times, while states would have more time to collectively agree on how to manage the scarce resources.

Severe drought in 2022 on Lake Mead, which is held back by Hoover Dam, exposed human remains and forced water officials in Las Vegas to pump water from deeper within the reservoir to continue to supply water to millions of people.

Levels at Lake Powell have dropped so much that it has become difficult to descend far enough to reach the water. Boat ramps have had to move, shut down or be built anew.

Here’s how a summertime health plan Dangerous blaze keeps crews from review can pay off during reaching helicopter crash in Utah fall open enrollment

BY JOSH FUNK

AP transportation writer

A large Utah wildfire kept emergency responders from safely reaching the remote site of a helicopter crash on Saturday as other fires burned across several Western states, including one that closed part of Mount Rainier National Park.

The Friday morning crash of a Sikorsky Skycrane helicopter in Utah’s Fishlake National Forest ignited a new fire that spread to connect with the existing blaze that has now scorched nearly 174 square miles.

Officials battling the fire said Saturday afternoon that

they decided not to place additional lives at risk until the fire is more under control, so they have not been able to confirm the status of the two people aboard the helicopter.

The National Interagency Fire Center said the pilot and crewmember were fatally injured in the crash, but they didn’t respond immediately to questions about the source of that information.

“The site is now inside the fire perimeter itself,” the fire incident management team said Saturday afternoon.

The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the helicopter crash once their team can examine the wreckage. Officials

urged the public not to speculate or spread rumors about the cause at this stage. It will likely take the NTSB a year or more to determine that.

In Washington state, the National Park Service closed down access to the Sunrise and White River areas of Mount Rainier National Park after a new wildfire burned less than a third of a square mile. Firefighters were working to gain control of that fire on Saturday.

The larger fires near Spokane have now burned more than 15.63 square miles, but firefighters have constructed more than 75 miles of containment line to help control those flames.

The final weeks of summer are a time for many families to plan for a new school year, fall festivals and the return of sporting events. It’s also one of the best times of the year to take stock of your health, your insurance coverage and the financial decisions that could affect the months ahead.

Because most health insurance plans operate on a calendar-year schedule, deductibles and out-ofpocket maximums reset each Jan. 1. That makes late summer and early fall an ideal opportunity to review uate his own family. ing south,” he said in a video healthcare needs before the year ends, said Mike “I had to leave the EOC to posted early Saturday from Bertaut, a healthcare economist with Louisiana Blue.

Here, Bertaut shares more about what steps come and get my family to his vehicle as traffic backed people can take now to prepare for health plan leave this area. We’re head- up around him. re-enrollments or new plan selections this fall and to ensure they receive the care they need from their preferred providers.

What aspects of their current health insurance plan should people evaluate now?

Most health plans cover annual checkups at a high percentage, sometimes even 100 percent. This is a good time to see if you have had a checkup this year and schedule one if you still need to. Also, if you Free Professional Appraisals Available have health conditions that might require testing or medication, it’s good to address it now. You will reach your deductible sooner, and the doctor has Gold and Silver Bullion Bars & Coin ns Rolex watches • Sterling Silver time to review test results and the effectiveness of atware flatware medications.

In addition, if you have health insurance through your employer and they offer discounts if you reach certain wellness goals, this is a good time to check your progress. You still have a few months this year to achieve those goals and receive those discounts or incentives.

What are some key timelines for people to remember about enrolling for health insurance for 2027?

Medicare open enrollment will run from Oct. 15 to Dec. 7. Many employers have enrollment for 2027 plans in October and November.

The HealthCare.gov marketplace will be open from Nov. 1 to Jan. 15, 2027. But, people should plan to make a choice on HealthCare.gov by Dec. 15 to have coverage starting Jan. 1. If you wait until Bought • Sold • Traded Dec. 16 or beyond, you won’t have any healthcare th Our 44 Year coverage until Feb. 1, 2027. You want to avoid any gaps and stay covered.

2472 WEST CONGRESS What materials or documents should people keep track of now so they aren’t rushing to find them during 337-232-2573 enrollment season?

I advise people to keep records of their healthcare Appointments Preferred - Walk-In’s Welcome spending this year, the medications they take and their

Fast-moving wildfire forces more than 20,000 to evacuate in Canada

By The Associated Press VANCOUVER, British Columbia — More than 20,000 people were ordered to leave their homes overnight in western Canada as a fast-moving wildfire grew rapidly and raced toward towns along British Columbia’s Okanagan Lake, destroying homes in its path.

The entire community of Summerland, home to about 12,000 people, was ordered evacuated, along with about 8,000 people in and around nearby Peachland. Officials had not determined how many homes were destroyed.

The Bald Range wildfire was first reported on Friday evening but grew to about 19 square miles within hours, overwhelming the smaller community of Faulder and covering the roughly 9 miles to Summerland at extraordinary speed.

Erick Thompson, an emergency official with the Regional District of OkanaganSimilkameen, called it one of the “quickest-moving, fastest-growing” wildfires the region had experienced.

Thompson eventually had to abandon the emergency operations center and evac-

By Amanda McElfresh | amcelfresh@theadvocate.com This article is brought to you by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana.

WE BUY, WE SELL YOUR SOURCE FOR PRECIOUS THINGS

Coin & Treasure

preferred doctors and hospitals. You want to be able to select a plan where those doctors and hospitals are in network and you don’t have to change providers. If you know now that you will have a medical procedure in 2027, you can start checking to see if the doctor and facility would be covered under your current plan or whether you may need to make changes.

Most insurance cards have information on your deductible. That’s a number to keep in mind because you want to have a good sense of your financial obligations before you start looking at plans for next year.

Louisiana Blue customers can use the MyLABlue digital platform to look at their healthcare spending year to date, see the benefits covered on their health plan and look for providers or facilities in network for their plan. If you have any questions, you can securely message our Customer Service team through MyLABlue.

I also remind people to monitor their mailbox and open anything that arrives with the logo of their health plan or Medicaid. It might be something you legitimately need to review or respond to. Even in today’s digital era, a lot of insurance communication still happens via mail.

What should Medicaid recipients do now to maintain coverage?

It’s so important to be diligent about eligibility requirements and enrollment because that has changed a lot with Medicaid in the past few years.

Starting next year, Medicaid recipients will need to show proof of having a job or looking for work, receiving education or training, or that they are medically frail or taking care of a young child. You may have to prove that in the next six to nine months to remain eligible for Medicaid, so you want to have the documentation readily available. Also, if you are on Medicaid, check your mail regularly, especially for anything from the Louisiana Department of Health. That may have important information on your eligibility.

If you find out you’re being dropped from Medicaid, make sure the state has your updated information. In several cases, people have been dropped because of administrative issues like not submitting paperwork on time. If you truly no longer qualify for Medicaid, you can call 1-844-GET-BLUE and work with a licensed, experienced agent who can help you find plans through HealthCare.gov. You may qualify for financial assistance to help you pay for your plan.

There’s no cost to work with an agent and no obligation to enroll just because you speak with one.

The Acadiana Advocate ● theadvocate.com ● Sunday,August 9, 2026 ● 7A

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2026 Pro Football Hall of Fame

Enshrinement Ceremony • Canton, Ohio Drew Brees greets Gayle Benson during the induction ceremony.

Drew Brees walks the gauntlet of Hall of Famers before receiving his gold jacket during the Pro Football Hall of Fame gold jacket dinner in Canton, Ohio, on Friday.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO

By DAVID DERMER

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO

By SUE OGROCKI

“Words cannot express my love and appreciation for you. I often ask myself, how in the world did I play 20 years in the NFL? Yes, it was for the love of the game. Yes, it was a relentless attempt to master my craft. Yes, it was the grind and challenge of preparation and the thrill of game day. But you want to know what it really was: for the love of my teammates. I would wake up every day with a burning desire to commit, sacrifice and command in a way that would give them everything they deserved.”

DREW BREES, former Saints quarterback and Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee

BREES

Drew Brees, left, unveils his bust with former Saints coach Sean Payton during the Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Saturday.

Continued from page 1A the places and people who shaped my mindset, directed my trajectory and defined my career. We may laugh, we may cry, but most of all, I hope we leave with a greater love, respect and reverence for the virtues of this game.”

Brees’ speech was the main event during the 21/2-hour ceremony that also included acceptance addresses from fellow Class of 2026 enshrinees: Roger Craig, Larry Fitzgerald, Luke Kuechly and Adam Vinatieri. But Hall officials scheduled Brees last for a reason, and he delivered with an intensely personal and heartfelt speech that was framed as a love letter to New Orleans and the Who Dat Nation.

Famous during his playing days for his almost superhuman ability to remain calm in the moment, Brees was unable to keep his emotions in check as he reflected on his life while acknowledging and thanking dozens of people who influenced him during his historic playing career. On multiple occasions, he choked back tears or paused to bite his lips and contort them to the side while trying to gather himself.

Brees choked back tears when he mentioned his family, especially his mother, Mina Ruth Akins, who died in 2009 just weeks before the Saints began their historic run to the Super Bowl XLIV championship. He called her “the most competitive person I’ve ever known” and said, “so much of her lives inside of me.”

“I know how proud she would be, even more so of her grandchildren,” he said.

Some of Brees’ most emotional moments came when he recognized Sean Payton, his head coach for 15 seasons in New Orleans and his designated presenter for the ceremony.

“Coach, you were brilliant,” Brees said. “I saw myself as an extension of you on that field. I always had something to prove to you, and I always wanted to make you right. And I know you trusted me, and that allowed us both to be great.

“You always had a plan and vi-

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO

By SUE OGROCKI

sion for every player you coached.

I’m not sure if this is how you envisioned my journey or how big a role you would play in it, but I love you for it.”

Brees was also overcome by emotion when recognizing his former teammates, dozens of whom were in the crowd after making the trip to Canton to show their support. Among them: Taysom Hill, Michael Thomas, Jimmy Graham, Steve Gleason, Zach Strief, Scott Fujita, Luke McCown, Willie Snead, Wil Lutz, Marques Colston, along with current Saints, Cam Jordan, Alvin Kamara and Zach Wood, who were excused from training camp practice on Saturday so they could attend the event.

“Words cannot express my love and appreciation for you,” Brees said, looking down at the gathering of teammates in the crowd to his right. “I often ask myself, how in the world did I play 20 years in the NFL? Yes, it was for the love of the game. Yes, it was a relentless

attempt to master my craft. Yes, it was the grind and challenge of preparation and the thrill of game day. But you want to know what it really was: for the love of my teammates. I would wake up every day with a burning desire to commit, sacrifice and command in a way that would give them everything they deserved.”

Brees also shared a few lighthearted stories that drew smiles and chuckles from the crowd. He laughed when recounting one of his first welcome-to-New-Orleans moments, the day his neighbors, Steve and Kathy Price, cooked a batch of red beans, rice and cornbread for him and his family shortly after they moved into their Uptown home in 2006. The meal became a Monday night tradition for the families during Brees’ entire 15year tenure.

“This is no exaggeration, for 15 straight years, whether it was their house, our house or with great friends like Trombone Shorty, it

was what we all looked forward to together,” Brees said. “It was the perfect representation of what New Orleans is all about.”

Among the more than 100 current Hall of Famers in attendance were all three of the living Hall of Famers in Saints franchise history: Morten Andersen, Rickey Jackson and Willie Roaf. (Former Saints linebacker Sam Mills was enshrined posthumously in 2022.)

“Playing all those years and playing as well as he did, Drew was a no-doubt first-ballot Hall of Famer,” Jackson said before the ceremony. “He’s the greatest Saint ever. He took my spot.”

Kuechly, Brees’ fellow Class of 2026 inductee and longtime nemesis on the Carolina Panthers, called Brees “the best player I ever played against” during his speech early in the ceremony and drew a laugh from the partisan Saints crowd by adding, “If I ever hear that song again, ‘Stand Up and Get Crunk,’ it ruins my mood; I can’t

stand it!”

The line drew a chuckle from both Brees and Payton, who was seated onstage on the front row of chairs to Brees’ left.

During Brees’ speech, Payton was seen nodding and wiping his eyes. Earlier, during Payton’s prerecorded video presentation speech, he called Brees “an elite leader” and “the smartest player I’ve ever coached.”

“We were better coaches when he was our starting quarterback, and we were a better team when he was our leader,” Payton said. ‘It has been an honor to have a front-row seat watching you play quarterback for the Saints at such a high level. You made my job easy.”

Payton spoke for many in the crowd when he thanked Brees for his efforts on and off the field, saying, “All of us are better for having been a part of this with you.”

Email Jeff Duncan at jduncan@ theadvocate.com.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By DAVID DERMER

Former NFL player Drew Brees stands with his family during the Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony at the Pro Football Hall of Fame, in Canton, Ohio, on Saturday.

8A ● Sunday,August 9, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

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LOUISIANA POLITICS

Louisiana redistricting gives Republicans a boost But Democrats expected to take House in midterms

WASHINGTON — Louisiana knew Friday who was running for the U.S. House as qualifying ended for the Nov. 3 congressional midterm elections, which will determine whether two LSU grads will continue to lead the lower chamber.

Louisiana Republicans are expected to do their part to help the GOP maintain its majority by flipping the Baton Rouge-based seat presently held by a Democrat, thereby sending five White Mark Republicans and Ballard one Black Democratic representative to Capitol Hill.

Nationwide, however, the quest for continued GOP dominance is more up in the air.

Voter frustration over inflation, tariffs, war and controversial changes to the social safety net are showing up in poll after poll — along with historically high disapproval numbers for President Donald Trump.

Balancing that unpopularity, Trump has successfully altered the electoral landscape by launching a nationwide scramble to redraw congressional election districts along party lines.

Republicans are likely to net five more GOP-leaning seats from Democratic incumbents — including Rep. Cleo Fields, who opted not to seek reelection after Louisiana legislators redrew the Baton Rouge-based Sixth Congressional District to include mostly White Republican voters.

Despite the Republicans’ structural advantage, political handicappers still predict Democrats will retake the majority and send House Speaker Mike Johnson,

Cassidy votes ‘yes’ on Blanche

Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, voted Friday in favor of Todd Blanche, President Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general, as the Senate narrowly confirmed him.

Cassidy’s vote had been closely Capitol watched in the SenBuzz ate, where RepubSTAFF licans hold a slim REPORTS majority, because several GOP members had expressed reservations about the nominee. Cassidy is among the few Republicans who are seen as potentially willing to buck the president; Rep. Julia Letlow, R-Baton Rouge, ousted Cassidy in the party primary Cassidy earlier this year with Trump’s support.

Blanche’s nomination stalled in the Senate Judiciary Committee, where Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and John Cornyn, R-

STAFF FILE PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

A group of voters follow the signs to the polling location on May 4 at the Louisiana State Archives in Baton Rouge.

R-Benton, and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson, into less powerful posts when the 120th Congress convenes in January.

It’s a prediction both Johnson and Scalise don’t share.

“We’re going to win the midterms,” Johnson told “This Week on Capitol Hill,” hosted by Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, a former Baton Rouge legislator. “I’m very bullish about the outcome.”

Scalise is spending the August recess on the road shoring up GOP incumbents and challengers in 10 states.

Johnson, who also has a busy campaign-travel schedule, is try-

ing to focus voters on the theory that Democratic candidates are embracing communism because of recent elections in which younger progressive candidates who argue that more liberal policies, including some embraced by democratic socialists, have been beating more traditionally moderate Democrats.

Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor of New York City and, in Democratic Party primaries just this past week, Abdul El-Sayed, who supports Medicare for all and labeled Israel’s actions in Gaza as “genocide,” narrowly defeated a more moderate Democrat to run in November for a Michigan seat in the U.S. Senate. Former chef

Texas — both of whom will soon leave Congress — refused to vote for him due to concerns about an “anti-weaponization” fund that the Trump administration wanted to create to pay people who said they had been unfairly targeted for legal action. The two senators relented after Blanche said in writing there is no such fund; Democrats argue the administration could still bring back the idea.

Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, opposed Blanche’s nomination. That meant Cassidy’s vote was likely decisive.

In a speech on the Senate floor before the vote, Cassidy acknowledged that Blanche “is not perfect,” but said no one is. He suggested a different nominee might be no better.

“This is not a referendum on President Trump,” Cassidy said.

“It is a decision regarding Mr. Blanche in very specific circumstances.”

member, was installed last week as president of the National Bar Association, the country’s largest group of predominantly Black attorneys, judges and legal professionals.

Carter is managing partner for trials and mass torts and a member of the board of directors of The Cochran Firm. He is also a commissioner for the Port of New Orleans.

“I accept this responsibility with a clear understanding of what the National Bar Association has represented for generations of Black lawyers and for the communities we serve. Our next century requires courage, discipline and practical action,” Carter said in a news release. “We will strengthen civic activism, defend access to the ballot, advance financial independence, and address the conditions that affect the health, and safety of our communities.”

Carter is the second person in the association’s 101-year history to serve as president while living in Louisiana, the release said.

Revius Ortique Jr., the first Black justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court, previously held the position.

N.O. attorney to lead national bar association James J. Carter, a New Orleans attorney and former City Council

Francesca Hong, who promotes free higher education and an increased minimum wage, is one of the Democratic candidates for Wisconsin’s governor.

“But can Republicans make this election about Mamdani and socialism instead of gas prices and a deeply unpopular President Donald Trump? I’m doubtful,” wrote handicapper Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter.

On the other hand, famed Democratic pundits like James Carville, of New Orleans, who helped elect Bill Clinton president, say the struggle for the Democratic Party’s platform is missing talking points about bettering

Marcelle to run for justice of the peace

Louisiana state Rep. C. Denise Marcelle, D-Baton Rouge, announced Wednesday that she is running for justice of the peace in the Capital City.

Marcelle, who was first elected to the House in 2015, is termlimited. She is a prominent Democratic voice in the Legislature, often Marcelle taking a leading role in questioning Republicansponsored legislation her caucus disagrees with.

She previously served on the East Baton Rouge Metro Council.

Marcelle is running for the District 4 seat.

Justices of the peace settle disputes involving less than $5,000, handle disputes between landlords and tenants, perform marriage ceremonies, and other legal duties.

Trump approves Tropical Storm Arthur aid President Donald Trump has approved all of Louisiana’s requests

people’s lives that could persuade voters who had wandered over to Trump’s camp.

“We’re having a race in Michigan and we’re talking about Palestinian self-determination. We’re having a race in Wisconsin, we’re talking about whether we should tax Harley-Davidson 17%,” Carville said in a July 31 interview with MS NOW. “We’re not meeting the moment.”

It’s basically mathematics.

In the current 119th Congress, Republicans hold a bare majority in the 435-seat House, with 218 seats and an independent who votes with the GOP. Democrats have 212 seats and four are vacant.

Handicappers balance statistics and polls with recent electoral turnouts and history to predict how that district’s voters will cast their ballots. For example: who have those voters backed in the past, particularly in districts that backed the other party’s presidential and statewide candidates?

Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball, for instance, wrote that Republicans would appear to have the edge, with 213 seats that are safe or leaning Republican, 207 for the Democrats and 15 districts that are “toss-ups.” But a closer look using the latest data indicates a more accurate prediction would be 208 seats for the Republicans, 207 for the Democrats and 20 “toss-ups.”

“Our best guess at this point would be Democrats winning a majority in the low-to-mid 220s,” according to the Crystal Ball, which is part of the Center for Politics that is affiliated with the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. “The door is not closed on Republicans holding the majority, even as Democrats are better-positioned thanks to the overall political environment and broader midterm trends.”

Email Mark Ballard at mballard@theadvocate.com.

for more federal help for parishes affected by Tropical Storm Arthur, according to a joint news release from Gov. Jeff Landry and U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow, R-Baton Rouge.

Governments and nonprofits in those parishes are eligible for Public Assistance grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

In addition to covering all help requested for Avoyelles, Pointe Coupee and St. Landry parishes, the president expanded the aid to include St. Charles and Winn parishes, the release said.

“This support will help our local governments recover more quickly, restore critical infrastructure, and continue moving Louisiana forward,” Landry and Letlow said in a statement thanking Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin.

The June storm dumped record rainfall on the affected parishes, causing widespread flooding, and generated multiple tornadoes across southeast Louisiana.

Landry requested and Trump approved a request for $8.6 million in direct aid to the state to help cover its response to the storm.

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EDUCATION

At colleges, AI boom ups interest in computer science

BY HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH AP education writer

With no background in coding, Faith Maeba, a psychology major, was reluctant when her mother first suggested she enroll in classes on artificial intelligence.

But the senior at Virginia Commonwealth University began to see it differently as she looked into graduate psychology programs that explore human behavior in the workplace, which is quickly being upended by machine learning. Maeba, 21, is now pursuing a minor in AI. “It’s giving me an edge and standing out,” she said.

Hiring has cooled for entry-level software developers — work increasingly done by AI agents — and college enrollment in computer and information science programs has been declining.

Yet at campuses across the country, many professors are finding themselves busier than ever teaching students from a range of majors about artificial intelligence.

Colleges are responding to changes in student demand, but they also recognize that new graduates — regardless of their field — are facing questions about their AI skills from potential employers.

“We have to democratize it,” said Peter Stone, the chair of computer science at the University of Texas at Austin, who recently developed an introductory course on AI essentials for noncomputer science majors.

“In the same way that everybody needs some degree of math, reading and writing, I think everybody needs a degree of AI literacy,” he said.

Schools like VCU are standing up AI minors targeting students outside computer science. There’s a new AI graduation requirement at

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MORIAH RATNER

Faith Maeba, a student at Virginia Commonwealth University, shares an assignment she completed for her Practical AI Synthesis course on July 20 at her home in Stafford, Va. Purdue University. In freshman writing classes, Harvard University is teaching students how large language models work, plus exploring AI topics such as copyright and disinformation.

And Ohio State University has an AI fluency requirement that includes hands-on workshops. Meanwhile, AIfocused undergraduate and even graduate degrees are proliferating.

At Northwestern University, noncomputer science majors had interest in taking classes in the department even before ChatGPT launched in 2022, but sometimes there wasn’t enough room, said Samir Khuller, the chair for computer science.

That’s because computer science, then seen as a golden ticket to a high-paying job, was exploding in popularity.

But recently, the number of incoming computer science majors has started to shrink.

Now Northwestern’s computer science staff, which

had doubled in size to meet the demand, is teaching more students from other majors.

The school, which already has a popular AI minor, is adding an AI major. It’s also streamlining prerequisites to make it easier for nonmajors to take an AI or machine learning class.

“Overall, classes are going to be a lot more accessible moving forward,” Khuller said. The department is so busy, he’s trying to hire three more computer science professors.

Among other changes across the university, Northwestern’s Bienen School of Music is offering a certificate in music and artificial intelligence.

Nationwide, enrollment in computer and information sciences continued falling this spring, down more than 8% at four-year institutions from the spring of 2025, according to the latest data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research

Center, a dip that came as job postings for software developers dropped.

Interest in attaining at least a bare-bones understanding in computer science — and particularly AI-enhanced coding — has exploded across different majors. Music students, for instance, are discovering tools that can easily do tasks such as editing or generating drum tracks.

At Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, assistant music professor Benjamin Guerrero is co-teaching a class next year with a computer scientist.

Musicians, artists, theater and digital media majors will learn alongside math, computer science and electrical engineering students.

The goal, he said, is to create people who can work at the intersection of art and technology.

“In my mind, AI is no more disruptive than the record player, the radio, the metro-

nome, the synthesizer or the computer,” said Guerrero, who has helped organizations including the National Association for Music Education develop plans to incorporate AI. Even before this latest surge in interest, STEM majors — like physicists and biologists — often took computer science classes to learn how to code for data-heavy research. But the learning curve was steep until new AI tools came along, said Murtaza Ali, a doctoral candidate at the University of Washington whose research focuses on computer science education.

Yet, he said, AI also is stirring anxiety. The concern, he said, is that even if the AI is just being used to write code, it’s going to encroach so much that eventually some college graduates won’t understand the basic concepts in their field.

“When you ask the AI to do it for you, on the surface it might just seem it is writing the code,” he said. “But under the hood, it’s actually also doing the understanding of the task for you.”

Despite those concerns, the pace of change is remarkable for a sector infamous for moving slowly, said Paul LeBlanc, a visiting scholar at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, who studies AI’s impact on higher education.

“It’s impossible to keep up with the technology, but that’s true for every organization in the world right now,” said LeBlanc, formerly president of Southern New Hampshire University, a prominent player in online degrees.

Community colleges that want to offer non-credit classes are able to move especially fast, because the approval process is less cumbersome. One in suburban Kansas City recently offered

a non-credit “vibe-coding” class to teach nontechies to create working software.

“What AI does is shrink that distance between a complete novice and an expert,” said Grant Carlson, program coordinator for workforce development and continuing education at Johnson County Community College.

The Kansas City-area college also offers an AI certificate and is making plans to tailor AI classes to specific occupations, such as human resources and medical careers.

At VCU, it used to take a year and a half to design a course and get it approved for students to take, said Andrew Arroyo, senior vice provost of academic affairs.

“Now we’re doing things really in a matter of months and in some cases weeks,” Arroyo said. An online graduate certificate program in applied AI is being added this year, he said.

More than simply creating programs, professors must try to prepare students for widely differing goals for using AI in their careers. In courses for VCU’s AI minor, Althea Pappas said she’s exploring AI not to use in her career, but to help her answer philosophical questions.

“What happens when we create actual life, or how do we even make that distinction?” asked Pappas, a music composition major entering her sophomore year.

Meanwhile, what fascinates aspiring neurologist Makenzie Stovall is the idea that AI is trying to emulate the brain — an organ whose inner workings continue to leave researchers dumbfounded.

“If I am going to try to make people’s brain the best it can be, well, then,” the 20-year-old VCU biology major asked, “why not study AI?”

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Darline Graham tests value of famous name in S.C.

BY MEG KINNARD Associated Press

FLORENCE, S.C. — Few people have anything bad to say about Darline Graham, who was catapulted from obscurity last month when she was appointed to replace her late brother Lindsey Graham in the U.S. Senate.

“I think Darline’s wonderful,” said Kathy Bustos of Mount Pleasant, after attending a Republican forum last week.

But that doesn’t mean Bustos wants to vote for her in the state’s special primary on Tuesday.

“I think it’s a very nice gesture for her to have the rest of his term to complete, but I’m not sure that she’s really qualified or ready to be elected to the Senate,” she said.

It’s a common sentiment among Republican voters pondering an unexpected decision about replacing Lindsey Graham, who was nominated for a fifth term before he died from a tear in his aorta. Darline Graham was often by his side throughout his career, but she remains largely unknown in South Carolina’s clubby political circles.

President Donald Trump has endorsed her, and she’s backed by the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which is running television advertising to support her candidacy.

However, Graham has been largely absent from the campaign trail, spending most of her time in Washington as an interim sena-

tor. Her appointment to the role, instead of giving her a leg up over the competition, may ultimately hold her back by preventing her from getting to know voters during a weekslong sprint to Tuesday.

She is up against several well-known Republicans, including Representatives Russell Fry and Ralph Norman, as well as former Gov. Mark Sanford. The crowded field makes a runoff more likely, and it would be held on Aug. 25.

All of them spoke at a Friday meeting of the Fourth District Republican Club in Greenville, but Graham sent a video message, saying she was “in Washington working hard for you.” She promised to be “a great friend and ally” to Trump and that she wanted to “earn your vote.”

And at a candidate event in Florence on Saturday, where Graham spoke, some of her supporters said they backed the interim senator’s decision to stay in Washington, even if it meant not campaigning.

“She committed to not missing votes or not being there to push forward with those bills,” said Teresa Castrinos, who made the hourslong drive from Bluffton to see Graham. “I feel like she’s putting South Carolina first. She’s wanting to fulfill her time as a senator right now, so I really admire her for that.”

While Lindsey Graham was single and well known around the world, his sister lived a relatively quiet life with her husband and daugh-

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MEG KINNARD

Sen. Darline Graham, R-S.C., leans over to hear a reporter’s question on Saturday in Florence, S.C., following a candidate event for hopefuls vying in a special Republican primary to replace her late brother Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., on November ballots. ters in Lexington, South Carolina. She spent years in state government, working with people with disabilities and as agency head of the South Carolina Commission for the Blind.

Before participating in a candidate forum Saturday in Florence, her only public campaign event had been a candidate forum in Lexington. Charles Brentnell of Greenville County, who was still considering his options, said he liked her decision to stay in Washington when the Senate was in session.

“Let’s keep the Senate at the Senate instead of taking a month off for no good reason,” he said.

Appearing alongside other contenders Saturday, Graham apologized for reading from notes from a lectern, pointing to the Senate votes that kept her in Washington until just hours before she headed to meet voters in South Carolina.

“Yes, I have some notes.

You know why? Because I haven’t slept in two days, so I’m going to keep my thoughts straight,” Graham said, adding that she opposed Senate recess but lost out to others who wanted to end votes and go home. “I wanted to stay there, and I wanted to get things done.”

Graham also participated in one of two televised de-

bates, where she backed Trump’s plan to change filibuster rules to make it easier to pass strict proof-ofcitizenship voting legislation.

While other candidates came to speak to the media gathered afterward, Graham skipped the session and merely gave a thumbs-up outside when asked how she felt the debate had gone.

In contrast to her loquacious late brother, Graham has not spoken with reporters in Capitol Hill hallways or fielded questions on the stump.

She’s spoken at length to Fox News personalities Sean Hannity and Trey Gowdy, both of whom eulogized Lind-

sey Graham at memorial services last month, and granted two interviews to local news outlets.

On Saturday, in her first gaggle with reporters, Graham addressed some of voters’ concerns, reiterating her commitment to do Senate work when the chamber is in session.

“I feel like my job is to be in D.C. working for everyone right now. I hate that I can’t be here. I want to be here,” she said. “That’s why I left and didn’t sleep at all last night, so I could attend today’s event.”

As to the skepticism in sending Graham to Washington for six years, Graham cited her state government experience, plus the past several weeks she’s had serving as interim.

“Trust me, I have learned a lot already, so I think I have experience,” she said.

A second debate took place while Graham was in Washington on Tuesday, a date her campaign pointed out had been scheduled despite the senator’s conflict.

Gigi Bray of Charleston said the idea of Darline Graham serving in the interim makes sense, but electing her to a full term does not.

“I think it’s a great honor for her to hold her brother’s spot till November, but it’s time for a change,” said Bray, who backs Sanford. “I don’t think she has a lot of government experience, and I think right now, with the state of our country, I think it’s very important that somebody has experience.”

Spain imposes border checks on Italian travelers in tit-for-tat move that it would take “proportionate measures to protect the interests and dignity of its citizens” if Rome didn’t lift its own restrictions by an Aug. 9 deadline.

Italy began enforcing air and sea border controls on Spanish citizens on Aug. 1

following Meloni’s scathing criticism of the progressive migration policies of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

The feud was triggered after the sudden arrival of 72,000 migrants from Morocco at Spain’s North Afri-

can territory late last month.

Although most of the migrants have since gone back, more than 80 migrants died, including some who drowned or were trampled in a stampede to cross a breakwater barrier, according to Spanish and Moroccan authorities.

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12A ● Sunday, August 9, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

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S u n d ay, au g u S t 9, 2026

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State hospitals react to drop in coverage

Louisiana impacted by marketplace subsidies expiring

BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer

STAFF PHOTOS By BRAD KEMP

DONATING FOR A CAUSE

Local nonprofits Catholic Charities of Acadiana, Gifting Grace Project, Goodwill Acadiana, Lafayette Habitat for Humanity and Second Harvest Food Bank collaborated for the firstever Give Acadiana Day on Saturday at the Cajundome in Lafayette.

TOP: Volunteers unload a car with donations during Give Acadiana Day at the Cajundome.

ABOVE: Volunteer Toi Senegal places a donated item in a bin during Saturday’s event.

ABOVE RIGHT: Volunteer Grayson Stepanek carries a donated microwave.

BELOW RIGHT: Volunteer Jenna Dirk, of Gifting Grace Project, places a donated item in one of the bins.

WASHINGTON — Louisiana hospitals are reporting a surge of uninsured patients seeking treatment, many of whom dropped their policies when Congress last year didn’t extend the subsidies that helped lower-income workers buy health insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace.

Recent federal reports show that about 3 million fewer enrollees nationally kept the subsidized coverage offered to people who make too much money to qualify for Medicaid, the state-federal medical insurance coverage for low-income residents, but not enough to buy the policies on their own.

Louisiana was among the states that saw the biggest proportion of ACA Marketplace enrollees dropping their coverage, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation analysis of federal reports released at the end of July. The state went from 264,790 enrollments in March 2025 to 195,759 for the same time this year — a 26% decrease.

KFF is a prominent Washingtonbased healthcare think tank.

Healthcare affordability is a key issue in the Nov. 3 midterm elections that will decide which party controls the U.S. House and, perhaps, the U.S. Senate.

Democrats accuse Republicans of tearing care away from constituents.

The GOP and the Trump administration argued taxpayers were subsidizing health insurance for too many people with good incomes. They also argue the decline in coverage is less a result of increased prices and due more to its effort to rid federal healthcare programs of “waste, fraud, and abuse.”

Adjacent to the political fray on Capitol Hill, hospitals nationally and in Louisiana report losing millions of dollars so far this year because providers are legally required to provide treatment regardless of whether the patient can pay — and, with the government’s decision to lower its expenditures by not renewing the enhanced subsidies, the number of those patients is going up.

“This is a policy problem that will have very human consequences,” said Ryan Cross, chief government relations officer for the Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System Inc., which owns hospitals and clinics in Louisiana and Mississippi. That includes Our Lady of

ä See COVERAGE, page 2B

Tempers flare as St. Landry Search for missing leaders clash over parish finances La. mom, 10-year-old Audit reports general daughter expands fund owes roughly $1.8 million

BY JOEL THOMPSON Staff writer

A St. Landry Parish Council committee meeting turned contentious Wednesday as council members and parish President Jessie Bellard clashed over a state audit that found the parish improperly used dedicated sales tax funds to help cover general fund expenses.

The annual audit reported that the parish had taken short-term loans from the Road District 1 sales tax fund in order to cover costs in the general fund. Ac-

cording to the audit, the general fund currently owes roughly $1.8 million, around 20% of its annual budget, to the Road District 1 sales tax fund dating back to fiscal year 2022.

Council members Harold Taylor and Ken Marks issued scathing criticisms of parish auditor Steven Moosa, who was in attendance at Wednesday’s meeting. Taylor initially requested Moosa provide a “written itemization of the funds including documentation, dates, and purposes of use for the funds that were removed,” to which he explained that the parish would have to request additional procedures be conducted from the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s Office in order to receive such documentation.

“We don’t look at every record and every detail in a standard audit,” Moosa said.

When asked about whether the parish erred in transferring funds out of the Road District 1 sales tax fund, Moosa said interfund loans are common among local governments but said the audit finding focused on the growing balance owed to the Road District 1 fund and the lack of repayment over multiple years.

Taylor took issue with Moosa’s characterization of the loans as being “short-term,” at point one saying that “if I had an accountant that treated me like you treat us, I would have fired you a long time ago.”

ä See FINANCES, page 2B

United Cajun Navy to assist authorities

BY KRISTIN ASKELSON

Staff writer

The United Cajun Navy is preparing to assist in the search for a missing East Feliciana Parish woman and her 10-year-old daughter who investigators believe may have been in the Butte La Rose area.

The volunteer search-and-rescue organization said it is coordinating with the family and law enforcement as it prepares to

assist in the search for Danielle Escue Lea, 39, and her daughter, Alayna Lea. The St. Martin Parish Sheriff’s Office said the mother and daughter were reported missing in Baton Rouge on July 28.

Investigators said they believe the two may be in St. Martin Parish.

Authorities said the mother and daughter were seen in the Butte La Rose area in late April and possibly into May. Deputies said they were with James Michael Nona, 42, of Montgomery

ä See SEARCH, page 2B

2B ● Sunday,August 9, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

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Zachary hospital lays off 14, cuts services Lane Regional Medical Center facing financial strains

BY IANNE SALVOSA Staff writer

A Zachary hospital facing financial strains has laid off employees and discontinued services such as allergy and asthma care.

Lane Regional Medical Center laid off 14 employees, including doctors, medical staff and administration, as it battles high operational costs, diminishing reimbursement rates and rising labor costs, according to a release.

The layoffs come after Lane Regional announced it is in search of a partner that can help expand the hospital’s staff and services, though the organization said at the time it was financially stable.

Lane Regional also discon-

tinued its allergy, asthma and immunology services due to low patient volume. Those who received care in those areas will likely have to seek services from Baton Rouge’s Health District providers or The Allergy, Asthma & Sinus Center on Airline Highway as the next closest options.

The layoffs took effect Thursday, and the services will be discontinued effective Sept. 4.

“These were extraordinarily difficult decisions, and among the most challenging we have faced as an organization,” Frank Corcoran, Lane Regional Medical Center CEO, said in a release. “We recognize the impact these actions have on dedicated employees who have faithfully served our patients and community. We are deeply grateful for their contributions and are committed to supporting them with dignity, compassion, and respect.”

Lane Regional will remain operational while it

navigates the financial challenges, the release states.

Jon Hirsch, the hospital’s marketing director, said the organization is responding to challenges as they come to prevent making one large change at once.

Paying employees makes up 60% of hospital expenses, while total expenses outpace increases in costs of care, according to the American Hospital Association. Financial issues have plagued hospitals around the country, especially those serving rural communities — more than 100 rural hospitals have closed in the past decade, according to the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform.

Of the 14 employees laid off, two are physicians, two are directors and 10 are in leadership positions. Hirsch said the organization does not expect to continue layoffs at this time. There is no update on the hospital’s partner search.

Prairieville hospital set to break ground on $4.6M expansion

BY ANNAKATE FREELAND Staff writer

Less than a year after opening its doors in Prairieville, Rise Community Hospital is preparing to nearly double its size with a $4.6 million expansion to accommodate growing demand.

The facility operates as a full-service emergency room that also offers addic-

COVERAGE

Continued from page 1B the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge, the state’s largest.

“We’ve seen 2,500 more uninsured patients visit our emergency departments during the first 6 months of 2026 compared to the same time in 2025,” Cross said, adding that uninsured behavioral health admissions increased 113% during the same time period.

Seeing the impact That translates into financial losses for healthcare providers.

Lake facilities, for instance, wrote off about $2.3 million more in bad debt for April through June — a 23.4% increase compared with January, February and March, Cross said.

Cross explained that someone with insurance can pay for managing their health conditions. Many patients, not just those who are low-income, can’t afford the expenses on their own and rely on insurance to cover costs.

“When that congestive heart failure goes unmanaged because they don’t seek care, they don’t refill their meds and it flares up, it can be life threatening and very expensive,” Cross said. “It’s much cheaper and much healthier for them to seek that care on the front end than have to show up in an ambulance at my emergency room.”

Baton Rouge General Hospital reports about 3,000 more patients arriving without insurance.

“Healthcare is already a business with pretty thin margins, so we’re always looking for ways to be more efficient. That’s everything from how we purchase supplies to how we staff our departments. At the end of the day, our goal is to make sure we’re using our resources wisely so we can continue providing great care for our community,” hospital administrators said in a statement.

Other healthcare providers across Louisiana have privately raised similar

tion recovery services.

Rise recently applied for permits for the 5,868-square-foot addition, according to Ascension Parish permit records.

Construction is expected to begin following a groundbreaking ceremony scheduled for Aug. 25.

“We realized there was a need for it, so that’s why we are expanding because it’s been busy so far,” Regional

Director Austin Sheppard said.

The addition will expand the hospital’s emergency department and recovery services while creating space for more specialized care. Sheppard said the project will add about 10 patient beds and require approximately 20 additional employees. Sheppard said he does not know when the project will be completed.

concerns.

The big national chains are warning their shareholders of the losses. Some are considering dropping services, like behavioral health, to help make ends meet, according to a new report prepared by researchers at the Urban Institute, with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Plus, the 276 Affordable Care Act insurers are raising premiums, filing show — for the second year in a row — by about 15% more for 2027 policies according to a KFF analysis released last week.

“We’re closely watching the trends. It’s a growing problem. We have to have an honest conversation about it in Washington,” Cross said.

In Washington, U.S. Rep. Troy Carter, D-New Orleans, said he’s heard from a lot of Louisiana hospitals and healthcare providers.

“The facts are clear. Louisiana experienced one of the nation’s largest Marketplace enrollment declines because families could no longer afford coverage after the enhanced premium tax credits expired and premiums surged. That’s not fraud or abuse; that’s working families being priced out of health insurance,” Carter said.

Medicaid qualifications to make sure more people had insurance coverage. As the pandemic lessened, the Biden administration expanded who could receive subsidies to buy policies in the ACA marketplace.

Those subsidies were set to expire Dec. 31, 2025. Republicans argued against extending the subsidies and Democrats argued to continue them.

That debate caused a 43day shutdown of the federal government late last year.

The expiration of subsidies was expected to leave 24.2 million Americans — small businesses, gig workers, independent contractors, early retirees and others — paying more, many twice as much for their health insurance this year compared to last, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated 2 million people in 2026 could no longer afford health insurance and would drop their policies, with increasing numbers thereafter. The Urban Institute calculated 5 million would lose insurance because the financial cushion was removed.

Republicans generally argue that the enhanced tax breaks, which cost upward of about $30 billion to help cover about 10% of the population, unnecessarily spent taxpayer money on families with six-figure incomes.

KFF recently published an analysis of the government’s numbers and found every state — except New Mexico, which covered the lost subsidies for its residents, saw decreases in ACA Marketplace enrollments. That’s a total of 3 million nationwide dropping out, leaving 19.6 mil-

What changed?

Set up under the Affordable Care Act, sometimes known as Obamacare, the marketplace covers the gaps for people who make too much money to qualify for Medicaid, the state-federal government insurance, but too little to buy policies on the open market. The various policies provide differing levels of coverage through private health insurers.

Obamacare also provided a range of subsidies, mainly based on annual income and household size, for those who couldn’t fully afford the costs. Depending on income, many policyholders ended up not having to pay out of pocket for any insurance expenses, while others paid reduced amounts.

During the COVID pandemic, the Trump and Biden administrations lowered

SEARCH

Anyone with information about Lea’s or AlayContinued from page 1B na’s whereabouts is asked to contact the St. Martin Parish Sheriff’s Office or County, Texas, before their local law enforcehis arrest on unrelated ment agency. charges. Authorities have not identified Nona Email Kristin Askelson as a suspect in the inves- at kaskelson@ theadvocate.com. tigation.

FINANCES

Continued from page 1B Moosa defended the characterization: “These types of fiscal maneuvers are used by local governments all the time. Standard practices only state these loans should be paid back within a reasonable amount of time.” The first of these loans from the Road District 1 sales tax fund was taken out four years ago.

As it pertains to the needs for the loans themselves, parish President Jessie Bellard has made clear his view that increasing costs owed to the St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office are primarily responsible for the general fund’s inability to be self-sufficient.

Total money parish government has spent on inmate-related costs annually has increased dramatically in recent years, going from $1.277 million in 2024 to a budget appropriation of $4.562 million in 2026, due in large part to a line of credit the parish took out to cover growing medical and food costs.

However, accusations were levied against Bellard by Taylor that the parish’s overall financial situation was misstated.

Bellard was peppered with questions from Taylor and others surrounding multiple different funds not pertain-

lion beneficiaries.

Care or waste

ing to the Road District 1 sales tax loans. Taylor specifically focused on questions surrounding the Health Unit fund’s solvency and whether bonds taken out in 2025 were being repaid timely.

Bellard argued Taylor was confusing deficits the parish ran in the Health Unit fund and the cumulative balance held within those funds, which remains positive.

“He should know the difference between a balance sheet and a budget, but evidently he doesn’t,” Bellard said in response.

A similar incident occurred in discussion over the repayment of $2.9 million the parish was loaned from the Washington State Bank, of which Bellard says $1.6 million has been paid and a balance of $1.3 million remains.

Bellard said Taylor was treating the outstanding bond balance as though it were due in a single fiscal year and that its failure to pay back the amount in full during the prior fiscal year represented an increase to the parish’ overall liability.

“Take me Jesus!” Bellard said at one point during the exchange.

The council took no action Wednesday. The parish still owes about $1.8 million to the Road District 1 sales tax fund, according to the audit.

had uncovered instances of fraud, such as brokers who signed up people without their knowledge.

Others have a different take.

Courtney Foster, a senior Medicaid policy adviser for the progressive think tank and advocacy group Invest in Louisiana, based in Baton Rouge, said the most likely reason is because enrollees couldn’t afford to continue paying such high rates on their incomes.

“We saw a huge drop-off of people who maybe had originally selected the plan, but then once it came time to actually pay that premium for whatever reason, didn’t,” Foster said.

“Many employers may not be able to offer health insurance to their employees and may send them to the marketplace. But the employees, when they find that the coverage options are limited and really expensive, then they may have to make some really difficult choices.”

Just how this decline happened is the source of differing interpretations.

Republicans, who fret over escalating costs, say the drop in coverage is a result of their successful effort to rid governmentsubsidized healthcare of waste, fraud and abuse, which they say is using up money to fund healthcare for the truly needy.

Democrats, whose worry too many are going uninsured, point to government policies that have made insurance too expensive and too difficult for many to get.

The government reports and KFF analysis of those numbers don’t detail why the ACA Marketplace policies were dropped.

The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services recently stated that 5.6 million people were improperly enrolled in 2025 and that 2.9 million were removed for a variety of reasons.

Health Secretary Robert F. Email Mark Ballard at Kennedy Jr. said at a news mballard@theadvocate. conference that his agency com.

Obituaries Boustany, Angell Fa-Kouri

It is with deep sadness that the family of Angell Fa -Kouri Boustany announces her passing.

A mass of Christian Burial will be held on Monday, August 10, 2026, at 1:30 p.m. at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist.

Reverend Monsignor Keith J. DeRouen will celebrate the Mass.

Rite of Committal and Burial will be held at St. John Cemetery.

The family requests, in lieu of flowers, that donations be made in her memory to St. Michael Catholic School. Checks can be sent to 805 East Northern Ave., Crowley, LA 70526 with 'In memory of Angell Boustany' in the memo line, or donations can be made online at stmike.net.

Delhomme Funeral Homes, Inc. of Lafayette, 1011 Bertrand Drive, Lafayette, La, 70506 (337235-9449) has been entrusted with the funeral arrangements.

Visiting hours at Delhomme Funeral Home will be held on Monday from 10:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m.

How to place an Obituary Notice EMAIL:

obits@theadvocate.com OR CALL FOR MORE INFORMATION:

225-388-0289

How to place a Memorial Ad An “In Memory Of” ad, is a way to pay tribute to your loved one.

This remembrance is often printed on the anniversary of a loved one’s death.

The deadline is two days prior to the day you want your ad to appear.

TO PLACE A MEMORIAL AD GO TO:

obituaries.theacadianaadvocate.com, click submit an obituary and select create a memoriam.

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THE GULF COAST

La. natives in Miss. neighborhood adapt to floods

BY MARTHA SANCHEZ Staff writer

JOURDAN RIVER SHORES, Miss.

— The roads are still sandy, and debris carried by the water that rushed through these streets remains scattered throughout the woods.

The historic floods that deluged southern Mississippi earlier this summer are forcing some in the Jourdan River Shores neighborhood — home to many Louisiana transplants — to consider selling their properties and escape the risk for good.

But others are growing more determined to stay, even as the threat rises.

“People don’t know how much longer they can fight the water,” said Hollis Kelly, a veteran from Monroe who moved here almost 10 years ago. “Is it a pain in the neck sometimes when it floods?

Yeah. But we love it.”

The water that swamped this small and growing community about 50 miles east of New Orleans surprised even residents who understand the gamble of living on low-lying land. Between 45 and 50 inches of rain fell across the northern half of the county during May and June, according to the National Weather Service. The downpour swelled rivers, drowned cars and is now raising difficult new questions in an era when flood risks across the Gulf Coast are rising.

By the time Tropical Storm Arthur dropped about a foot of rain over three days in June, the floodwaters had washed out roads and damaged more than 500 homes in neighborhoods across the southern half of Mississippi.

Holly Bilbo, who leads the local emergency management agency, said the storm caused nearly $1 million in damage across Hancock

that cannot keep up. Ali Rellinger, an assistant professor who studies coastal resilience at Mississippi State University, said many new building developments are still based on old rainfall standards. That means even some new infrastructure may not be strong enough to handle the amount of rain scientists are predicting could fall over the next few decades.

The recent flood, she added, led to discussion among some residents around the region about whether they should move to higher ground.

“The biggest question was why,” she said. “People are just surprised, and wondering the likelihood of this stuff happening again.”

STAFF PHOTOS By SOPHIA GERMER During Arthur, many George Castoe drives a boat on Wednesday on the Jourdan River in Kiln, Miss. residents in Jourdan River Shores measured at least 5 feet of water under their County alone. homes, which are raised on “It was just so much rain stilts. The National Weather in such a little amount of Service said the river was time,” she said. about 9 feet above normal It was also an example of — the third-highest crest a growing dilemma unfoldever recorded, second only ing across the region, where to Hurricane Katrina and a climate change is increasing 1995 flood. the risk of torrential rain, Most neighbors here are storms and sea level rise. used to occasional flooding.

Three summers ago, heavy But now they are also learnrains combined with higherthan-usual tides in parts ing new ways to cope. of coastal Alabama and Many say any forecast stranded many in deeper of heavy rain now makes floodwaters than they could them nervous enough to remember. Residents of Isle retrieve belongings from de Jean Charles have moved under their homes or stay to higher ground in recent awake at night to watch the years as part of the first fed- A worker removes the sand piles on Wednesday along the weather. Boaters are adapterally-funded relocation of a side of the road in the Jourdan River Shores community in ing to new sandbars in the community impacted by cli- Kiln, Miss. river formed by the surge.

Castoe just bought a lot on mate change and rising seas.

Kelly nodded. “We get higher ground nearby so he Scientists say extreme might as well move out,” rainfall events like this said George Castoe, who more efficient with every can store cars there during floods. summer’s are also becoming was born and raised in Bu- flood,” he said. more common. But in Jour- ras and has lived in Jourdan ‘Not going to give up’ dan River Shores, the chal- River Shores for six years. ‘The biggest question’ lenges are only toughening He motored his pontoon Researchers say part of Many say they may leave, down the river, passing the problem — aside from one day. many residents’ resolve.

“If you say, ’Oh, woe is chairs and plastic bags stuck the sheer amount of rainfall “I say to myself, ‘Maybe me’ every time it floods, you on the banks.

— is outdated infrastructure I’ll sell and move up the

road a ways,” said John Rogers, vice president of the Jourdan River Shores Property Owners Civic Association. “And then I go, ‘Nah, I wouldn’t enjoy it much. I kind of like going out and feeding the fish.”

“I figure one day I’ll leave, I just don’t know when,” said Dolly Lee, another neighbor, who lost two cars during Arthur. Every time it floods, she added, residents “gripe and moan and complain and then sit here and watch the sunset and see it ain’t that bad.”

Others keep moving in.

A few for sale signs dotted the neighborhood this week.

Residents say after each new flood, some homes get listed and new owners arrive, usually from Louisiana.

“They’re calling this whole area now little New Orleans,” Kelly said.

The surge is leading to a few complaints. Some fulltime residents avoid the river on weekends, when it is crowded with visitors and speedy boaters. Others grow frustrated when out-of-town homeowners leave trash beneath their properties during floods, which sweep it into the river.

Some neighbors are still jumpy. Castoe is careful to secure everything under his home before he leaves town on vacations, just in case. Taking no chances, Lee moved her car to higher ground when Tropical Storm Bertha skirted the Gulf Coast a few weeks ago.

“Makes you a little gunshy now,” she said.

But some of the frustrations are already fading as the neighborhood returns to its usual rhythms.

“I’ve got a few more years in me,” Castoe said this week. He picked up some speed on the pontoon. “I’m not going to give up.”

St. Tammany Parish Council approves two subdivisions

the district, said she has 31-acre piece of land will be home (traffic) problems,” resident DerDozens speak out against zoning changes sents been studying this issue for more to the “Esperanza” subdivision ek Guilbeau said. “You go around

BY JIM DERRY

Staff writer

An overflow crowd of residents at the St. Tammany Parish Council meeting Thursday night largely spoke against changes to the zoning map that would allow two subdivisions to move forward in the Goodbee area just west of Covington.

They left the chamber unhappy.

Following more than two hours of debate and 36 speakers going to the podium to share their views, the council voted 10-4 to approve the first reclassification and 8-6 on a second, each of which changes the current rural residential district to a suburban district, allowing more homes to be built.

The requests for the changes were made by Jeff Vallee, a local developer who represents H1 Associates, who had been previously denied twice before gaining initial approval last month and final ap-

proval Thursday.

During the meeting, residents of the area — and some who live in other areas of St. Tammany Parish — asked council members to “listen to your constituents,” with many arguing that allowing the changes would worsen flooding and traffic concerns that have affected the area for decades.

“I have had five 100-year floods since 1985,” said local resident John Dale.

But council members who gave approval argued the developer had acceded to a number of requested changes. The vote came after an April study commissioned by parish government said St. Tammany should add more than 17,000 new homes over the course of the next four years to keep up with growth and with a plethora of homebuyers relocating from the south shore.

Martha Cazaubon, who repre-

than two years. Originally opposed to the efforts of Vallee and H1 to build these subdivisions, she said the developer has agreed to every change she has proposed to them, and she voted to approve both measures.

She pointed to recent fixes to flooding infrastructure and recommendations by engineers and others said the development met the requirements to move forward.

“I was on planning and zoning for about 34 years. I know it’s tough, and I know we put subdivisions in when we didn’t have enough information years ago,” Cazaubon said.

“This area will be the last subdivision we would put there, because we will hit the growth boundary, as far as I am concerned.”

The reclassifications from rural to suburban affect two undeveloped tracts: A 264-acre tract to be known as the “Isadore” subdivision will be built just west of La. 1077 and north of U.S. 190, while a

that is just south of 1077 and north of 190.

On the large tract, the four who voted against the zoning changes were Larry Rolling, Rick Smith, Arthur Laughlin and David Cougle. The six “no” votes against the smaller tract were the same four, along with Pat Phillips and Joe Impastato.

The R-1 and R-2 zoning designations allow no more than one home every 5 acres, while S-1 and S-2 allow for a home every 7,500 square feet.

The reclassifications could add up to 800 new single-family homes in the area, which likely means more than 1,000 additional cars driving the roads around these subdivisions on a daily basis. Some residents argued that it will increase congestion that already sees bumper-to-bumper traffic, often from just after sunrise to sunset.

“There is no concern or no actions being taken to alleviate the

there from 7:30 a.m. to around 9 (p.m.), and it takes you anywhere from 20 to 25 minutes to get from the new subdivision cut-through to the (light at I-12). This is everyday.”

Proponents of the new subdivisions say not only will new regulations help alleviate traffic, but also flooding concerns. And they stressed development isn’t going to begin right away because they still have more hoops to jump through.

“We have made a lot of changes in response to comments and concerns. This is just the first step in a very long process,” said Paul Mayronne, an attorney representing Vallee. “We have to go through at least two more public hearings, extensive drainage and utility reviews before we could ever even start the project.”

“It’ll probably be five years before the first phase has homes on it,” he added. “The entire project is probably a 20-year project.”

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4B ● Sunday,August 9, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

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OPINION T H E A D V O C AT E.C O M/opinions

OUR VIEWS

Elected officials should be wary of nondisclosure agreements The saying that “transparency is the soul of democracy” became a political maxim the way most maxims do: by being almost indisputably wise or true.

In that light, it is presumptively a bad idea for elected officials to sign nondisclosure agreements, or NDAs, as a host of Louisiana officeholders have done.

And even if the presumption is rebuttable, the exceptions should be rare and strictly limited in scope and duration. As the rulers in a representative democracy are the citizens themselves, government that operates in secrecy denies those citizens the information they need to exercise their authority with confidence and good judgment.

Granted, NDAs are somewhat standard operating procedure in private-sector, big business negotiations, which is why some appointed state officials, such as Secretary of Economic Development Susan Bourgeois, might have good reason to join such agreements. Bourgeois sensibly has noted that NDAs can help Louisiana avoid “telegraphing” key information to competing states that might allow the other states to undercut Louisiana’s negotiating position.

On the other hand, broadly written NDAs can make it far more difficult for the public to track information required by public records laws, which can be essential in unearthing details that impact surrounding communities, costs borne by the public or unethical, even illegal, activities.

The subject arises because the administration of Gov. Jeff Landry has been particularly aggressive about demanding NDAs from government officials, including more than 100 state employees. More than three-fourths of state senators and at least 14 of 105 state representatives, including House Speaker Phillip DeVillier and several committee chairs, have also signed these agreements.

Most of the NDAs involve negotiations for specific economic development projects, although many state senators apparently signed “blanket NDAs” that cover such projects in general.

The recent flap about NDAs arose late last month when it became apparent that Landry had used NDAs in secret negotiations for the promising but controversial data-center project by Meta in Richland Parish. With public backlash growing against such secrecy, a handful of lawmakers from both parties asked to be relieved of the NDAs they signed. More ought to join them.

“To give me detailed information that I can’t tell my public, it just doesn’t seem right to me,” said state Sen. Bob Hensgens, an Abbeville Republican, who declined to sign an NDA about a potential deal in Vermilion Parish, where SpaceX is in talks to build a giant spaceport.

Again, even in the case of elected officials, short-term NDAs might be reasonable so that key lawmakers can be “read in” to sensitive information during industrial recruitment.

Still, as their duty is to the public, and as public monies and benefits often are involved, the lawmakers should be quite wary of agreeing to block too much sunlight.

That’s why NDAs should be the exception, not the rule, and should be narrowly tailored rather than broad in scope. The goal, always, should be to get a good deal — and an honest deal — not just a “done deal.”

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Louisiana’s ‘great connector’ deserves praise The effect on southeast Louisiana has It’s not often that one can offer unrebeen nigh on immeasurable. served praise for a piece of Louisiana “Throughout my lifetime, it’s been infrastructure. the great connector,” said Carlton DuBut when it comes to the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, the plaudits are frechou, for nearly 17 years now the well-deserved. head of the Greater New Orleans The bridge, dual strands of Expressway Commission, which concrete ribbon that stretch the operates the bridge. roughly 24 miles between JefDufrechou oversees an agency that has grown over the decades ferson Parish on the south shore to now include a 30-officer police and St. Tammany on the north, force and motorist assistance turns 70 on Aug. 29. It remains Faimon The Causeway is manned as much of a marvel today as it Roberts patrol.

24 hours per day, including with was the day it was completed. someone who can open the basThe Causeway is the longest continuous bridge over water in the cule, the drawbridge mechanism that world, and the longest bridge in the allows tall ships to pass through about United States. (Louisiana is a good place eight miles south of the north shore. for lengthy spans — four of the five lonFor frequent Causeway commuters, including me, the bridge lives in two gest in the country are here.) opposed mental realms. Yes, driving Its construction was a remarkable 24 miles in a straight line can be mindpiece of engineering and logistics numbingly boring. But it’s only boring born of a 1952 Louisiana constitutional amendment that authorized the two par- because it’s so consistent. Traffic moves, ishes to build the bridge without federal speed is monitored and incidents are handled quickly and efficiently. When support, financed through tolls. it’s foggy, cones and convoys may slow Construction on the first span began drivers down, but for the most part, in 1954 and was completed in just 19 months. Tolls were $1 in each direction. they keep them safe.

It’s that last quality that makes DuA second span opened in 1969.

frechou the proudest. Per mile, he says, it’s the safest stretch along the Gulf Coast, and perhaps across the nation.

Railings on the older southbound span that were installed in 2021 have cut what Dufrechou refers to as “overboards” — crashes where a car goes into the lake — to zero. Between 1994 and 2021, there were 19 such crashes, including 13 fatalities. All but two were on the southbound bridge.

In addition, safety pullover areas, installed at the same time as the new railings, have reduced annual crashes from about 180 to about 130, Dufrechou said.

And though it’s 70 years old this month, Dufrechou said the regular maintenance and annual inspections have kept it in as good a shape as it was during the Eisenhower administration.

“It’s as robust today as it was when it was opened,” Dufrechou said. And then, perhaps unintentionally, he echoed the thought of many a commuter just getting on the bridge.

“It can go on forever,” he said.

Email Faimon A. Roberts III at froberts@theadvocate.com.

Boy George’s free speech moment over Israel ’80s pop legend Boy George became the “He chose not to run,” Michael Marsubject of attacks and condemnation lowe recalled of his son. in the press and on social media. His Jake Marlowe was murdered at the now infamous Nova music festival in Is- offense? Writing a song with pro-Israel lyrics. rael on Oct. 7, 2023. He had been workThe uproar resulted in the singer siting as a security guard there and was one of 14 British citizens who ting out the remainder of his were killed by Hamas terrorists. performances as Herod in a LonSpeaking at a recent Nova Mudon production of “Jesus Christ Superstar.” While most comsic Festival Exhibition in London on what would have been Jake’s mentaries focus on character29th birthday, Michael shared izing Boy George as a genocide what he had come to learn about he says he’s simply for Kathryn “denier,” those last moments of his son’s peace, while also stating facts Jean life. Instead of fleeing for safety, about the difficult situation. IsLopez Jake worked to “save people.” rael’s neighbors don’t want the He was killed trying to help othcountry to exist and have many loud supporters in the West adding to ers.

Since Jake’s death, his father has writ- the hostility and fear.

“But if you’re ever confused, I stand ten about avoiding central London when with the Jews,” Boy George tells us in pro-Palestinian demonstrations are occurring: “I cannot bear to witness them the song “We Will Dance Again.”

“I don’t feel brave, I just need to and what they stand for.” He calls them “hate marches”; “These people are sup- behave like a human,” are among the song’s most powerful lyrics. porting the killers of my boy, my son, “Creating art to express a feeling is my future,” he said. a kind of creative activism,” he wrote And it’s not just London that’s seen a days later. rising tide of antisemitism. Recently,

“Every day is like survival.” It’s those words of another Boy George song — familiar to many of us of a certain age — that take on a new meaning this summer.

Decades after “Karma Chameleon,” Boy George has us looking at what exactly in our culture is killing us: a refusal to hear, listen to and encounter people you disagree with or who have other life experiences as fellow human beings before anything else.

Boy George seemed beside himself for having to defend his declaration of solidarity with his Jewish friends.

He’s not backing away. Regardless of whether he set out to be one, he’s a freedom-of-speech hero for a moment here. He’s speaking up and insisting that we protect Jewish people while remembering the ones who’ve fallen, like Jake Marlowe.

Never again doesn’t only refer to a holocaust, but also to every single step along the way.

Email Kathryn Jean Lopez at klopez@nationalreview.com.

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ARNESSA GARRETT STEPHANIE GRACE WILL SUTTON QUIN HILLYER FAIMON ROBERTS

The Acadiana Advocate ● theadvocate.com ● Sunday,August 9, 2026 ● 5B

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COMMENTARY Louisiana limits public unions; so should N.O. bargaining … cannot be transplanted into Government-worker unions should not public service.” exist at all. But when they do, their power Nonetheless, public-employee unions and privileges should be strictly limited. do exist, and they aren’t going away The current state government in Louisiana recognizes this, but the city of New Orleans anytime soon. At the very least, though, because they represent a special interest doesn’t. with direct access to the public fisc, such A new law in Louisiana puts wise restricassociations should not wield coertions on public-sector unions. New Orleans, though, which is making cive power. It’s one thing to say the admirable and effective efforts to unions can form and come to the neget its budget under control after gotiating table; but they shouldn’t be poor management by prior Mayor able to force workers to join, much LaToya Cantrell, could save even less to finance the union bosses’ pomore money if its union contracts litical activity.

Quin weren’t so liberal.

That’s what spurred Senate Bill Hillyer Let’s take those points one by one.

312 in this year’s legislative session, The reason unions in a constituwhich was duly passed and became Act 756. Authored by state Sen. Kirk Taltional republic should exist only in the private sector is that they possess what public- bot, R-River Ridge, and state Rep. Michael reform advocate Philip Howard, famed auMelerine, R-Shreveport, the new law that thor of “The Death of Common Sense,” calls took effect Aug. 1 requires that govern“extortive power.” As Howard explained, ment unions annually inform employees public-employee unions “hold vastly more electronically that they have a constitupower over government than private unions tional right not to join the union and pay over business,” as they would “hold the aufees to it.

Furthermore, the worker has the right thority of the state in their hands, without at any time to make an electronic request having to honor market realities of affordto the employer that he does not wish to ability or efficiency.” be a union member or pay dues, and the Even longtime AFL-CIO union President demand shall be honored in time for his George Meany said it is “impossible to bargain collectively with the government,” and subsequent paycheck. This is eminently reasonable: Nobody should be compelled the iconic liberal President Franklin Rooby law to join any organization. sevelt said that “the process of collective

In ordinary parlance, this is called “freedom.”

And as Gov. Jeff Landry and a majority of state legislators smartly seem to recognize, and as conservative think tanks long have argued and documented, the act of reining in outsized government-union power often has the effect of getting rid of administrative bloat. In other words, modest reforms such as Act 756 also should save taxpayers money.

Saving money, meanwhile, is very much on the minds of New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno and the City Council. Especially with Landry vetoing city projects and the State Bond Commission acting supremely unhelpfully, city officials continue to scramble to add to the $150 million in savings their austerity measures already have achieved. Their efforts are commendable.

Yet if every penny saved is a penny earned, the city should look to amend an illadvised collective bargaining agreement it signed with the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees, which took effect on June 23, 2025.

Several of the agreement’s provisions allow workers who are union stewards or representatives to be paid (i.e., from taxpayer dollars) for the time they spend doing various union duties (instead of their actual job responsibilities). They also can be allowed up to five working days to at-

tend union conferences or conventions.

As it happens, Sarah Harbison, the general counsel of the conservative Pelican Institute for Public Policy, filed public records requests on March 12 to learn how many hours and days union stewards and representatives have used, during “regular working time,” for such activities, and “the total amount of compensation” paid to employees for such union endeavors.

On April 16, Harbison was notified that “the City does not have records responsive to your request.”

If it doesn’t have such records, it ought to.

Either way, taxpayers shouldn’t be paying for union functions.

Granted, the savings from ending these arrangements probably wouldn’t be very large: Even the much broader worker furloughs implemented by Moreno, affecting 700 workers, have saved only about $4 million so far. Still, every dime matters, and taxpayers shouldn’t finance union activities.

If Franklin Roosevelt and George Meany could recognize the dangers of publicsector unions, so should all public officials today. Curbing their excesses not only will help right-size government, but also put government in right relation to its duties.

Email Quin Hillyer at quin.hillyer@theadvocate.com

Lomax will share fundraising secrets to select HBCUs has truly been transformative,” Guillory Dr. Michael Lomax became president told Lomax as she looked his way on the of Dillard University in New Orleans in 1997. He increased enrollment at the Jewel Georges Auditorium stage. “And entering HBCUs, and putting us on the table, on the of Gentilly by about 50%. Fundraising tripled. Some reports say private giving in- radar, in the conversation in a way that is creased 300% and alumni giving increased going to be your legacy.”

Lomax is stepping down from 2,000%. That was highly unusual for the UNCF’s top job, but he’s going traditionally underfunded HBCUs, to stick around, at least for a year, then and now. during which he’ll introduce his While Lomax was at Dillard, the yet-to-be-named successor to key UNCF’s endowment was $60 mildonors, stakeholders and supportlion. When former U.S. Rep. Bill Gray was stepping down as UNCF ers and work on a $1 billion capital Will president and CEO, people woncampaign he started.

Sutton As his next chapter continues, he dered who could succeed the afplans to “do a lot of what I want to fable, outgoing former U.S. House do, (which) is grounded in what I learned budget chair. Lomax was selected in 2004. to do here at Dillard…..I learned some Twenty-two years later, Lomax has led skills beginning here at Dillard that I think UNCF to $4 billion raised and an endowI’ve put to pretty good use.” ment of about $500 million.

While at Dillard, he hired Therese Badon, The organization of private, four-year a Hibernia banker. He brought her in as HBCUs started with 27 schools before Lomax was born. There are 36 member insti- part of a program to build a new group of development officers. Today she’s a UNCF tutions today, as Lomax plans a June 2027 departure. During a recent Dillard Univer- senior vice president responsible for a $100 million annual fundraising campaign sity faculty semester kickoff, Lomax and for UNCF institutions. others joked that Dillard was the first stop “Fundraising is an art and a skill. You on his “legacy tour.” have to learn certain kinds of things to There are 23 UNCF regional offices, do it,” Lomax lectured to the attentive including one headquartered in New group of student leaders, faculty and staff.

Orleans, which opened 50 years ago. Its members are Dillard, Xavier University of “You’ve got to learn here are the stages of Louisiana and Philander Smith University, fundraising, here’s how to write proposals, here’s how you do all that. But, at the end in Little Rock. of the day, it’s relationships. You have to Lomax lived in the president’s house on campus during his Dillard presidency, just learn how to build relationships.”

He said UNCF has raised $6 billion in the off of Gentilly Boulevard, near Stern Hall 82 years of the group’s history, including and along the DU-famous Hall of Oaks. $4 billion in the 22 years he’s led the fund.

Several Lomax-era DU faculty and staff There was a $100 million donation from the attended the program featuring three DilLily Endowment Inc. and $80 million from lard presidents, Lomax, Dr. Walter KimMcKenzie Scott. brough and President Monique Guillory.

“If you want to learn how to hit the big “The amount of money that you’ve been able to raise in the name of our institutions numbers, you’ve got to learn how to do

PHOTO PROVIDED By DILLARD UNIVERSITy

Dr. Michael Lomax speaks on Tuesday during a Dillard University faculty and staff program on the Georges Auditorium stage. this, and the key is relationships. It’s not can you ask somebody. It’s not what’s a great proposal. It’s have you built a relationship of trust and confidence where the individual with the money is going to trust you to do what they want with it.”

Lomax isn’t retiring. He’ll keep an office at UNCF headquarters and start some consulting. He won’t be responsible for helping 36 UNCF member institutions; that will be the new CEO’s job. But he will be helping a handful of HBCUs, likely three or four.

“I’m not going to give away all of my secrets here, but I want to work with a small

group of presidents who are really ambitious for their institutions and talk with them about how you develop a strategy to raise $100 million, $200 million,” he said during his remarks.

Some lucky HBCUs are going to gain an advisor, a confidante, a ride-or-die friend and an expert fundraiser.

HBCU presidents, start your engines, develop your best pitch, get in line and pray you can develop this relationship.

Email Will Sutton at wsutton@theadvocate.com. He’s on Instagram at @editorwillsutton.

Even with one foot out of office, Bill Cassidy keeps caving I come here to, once again, voice deep about whether someone likes or dislikes disappointment that U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy the president, and therefore his nominee. declined to act on his legitimate, serious He acknowledged his fraught history with concerns over a deeply flawed Trump nomi- Trump but insisted that “does not matter one bit.” nee.

He allowed that he had concerns over With the confirmation of former Trump Blanche’s actions as acting attorney genpersonal lawyer Todd Blanche to be attorney general basically in Cassidy’s eral, including his approval of the hands, I’d let myself hope for more slush fund that would have paid out from the rare GOP politician in federal money to those same riotWashington who’s shown he’s capaers who’d attacked the Capitol at Trump’s direction, the broad immuble of it. Even after the good doctor from Baton Rouge cast the pivotal nity granted to Trump and his family vote to allow Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from the IRS and the Department of Stephanie Justice’s to basically dismantle the federal targeting of the president’s Grace government’s health care agencies. political enemies, which Cassidy I couldn’t call Cassidy’s announcecorrectly noted undermines the rule of law. ment that he’d support Blanche’s nominaAnd yet, he made a case for confirmation. tion in a Friday morning Senate floor speech He said he has no doubt that Trump will shocking. This is a man who did everything continue to be “unrelenting” in pursuing he could, no matter how humiliating, to these matters, but argued that a Senate-conplacate Donald Trump after Cassidy’s 2021 vote to convict him for inciting the Jan. 6, firmed attorney general would have a better 2021 Capitol attack — only to watch the shot at pushing back than an acting apreinstated president gleefully recruit an un- pointee. He said Blanche should not be held questioning loyalist into the Louisiana GOP responsible for Trump’s terrible decisions, including his mass pardon of Jan. 6 crimiprimary and end the senator’s career.

What got my attention was his framing nals. He noted that Blanche has focused of his dilemma, which seemed aimed at apresources on areas such as violent crime and fraud, and quoted respected U.S. Attorpeasing people who feel, well, like I do.

Cassidy started off by saying this wasn’t ney David Courcelle of Louisiana’s Eastern

District saying Blanche has provided extra resources when asked. He contended that anyone else who could wind up in the job, confirmed or not, could be worse.

In the alternate universe where Cassidy so clearly wants us to join him, maybe those arguments would be convincing.

In reality, they fell utterly flat.

Cassidy pulled out the tired both-sides trope, but he knows darn well that the DOJ’s reputation has already been obliterated on Blanche’s watch, first as deputy attorney general and now as acting AG. Thousands of experienced lawyers have left, some of whom had been ordered to pursue unethical investigations of protesters and Trump critics. In both civil and criminal cases, multiple judges appointed by presidents of both parties have slammed DOJ lawyers for amateurish, unprofessional or downright dishonest work.

Cassidy credited Blanche for dropping the weaponization fund, but that only happened under pressure from other senators who were withholding their confirmation votes, and Blanche left the outrageous Trump family immunity deal intact. And then there’s his appalling handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case, from his highly irregular interview with imprisoned sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell to his dismissive

attitude toward surviving victims.

There’s no evidence to suggest Blanche would push back against Trump, or that if he did, he’d have any success. Maybe Cassidy’s right that another appointee could be worse, but things sure won’t improve with Blanche in charge.

That’s one reason Cassidy’s vote cuts so deep.

Here’s another: For his 12 years in office, Cassidy was the reliable Republican he promised to be when he unseated Democrat Mary Landrieu, all while often doing good work on behalf of his whole state and his country — even when his party punished him for it. He wrestled over the Blanche and Kennedy nominations and ultimately chose the wrong side both times, but most of the Republicans who’ll still be there after he leaves in January didn’t appear to lose a moment’s sleep.

As deeply disappointing as some of his votes have been, we’re still better off with people like Cassidy in the Senate than with him and a handful of other sometime skeptics banished. Call me crazy, but I think we’ll miss him when he’s gone.

And boy, is that a sad state of affairs.

Email Stephanie Grace at sgrace@theadvocate.com.

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writer’s city of residence. The Advocate | The Times-Picayune require a street address and phone number for verification purposes, but that information is not published. Letters are not to exceed 300 words. Letters to the Editor, The Advocate, P.O. Box 588, Baton Rouge, LA 70821-0588, or email letters@theadvocate.com.

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6B ● Sunday,August 9, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

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MON. Lo

79 76 74 86 70 75 78 71 78

Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain, sf-snow flurries, sn-snow, i-ice.

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94°/74° 93°/75° 92°/73° 103° in 1962 64° in 1923

TODAY’S TIDES Lake Pontchartrain (Tchefuncte River) Shell Beach South Point, Marsh Island Cypremort Point Grand Isle (Barataria Pass) Mississippi River (Southwest Pass) Wine Island

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100% U.S. BASED CUSTOMER SERVICE.

YESTERDAY

Lafayette through 5 p.m. Saturday

Jackson 94/75 Many 93/72

HIGH

93° 77°

TEMPERATURE

Longview 97/75

-0s

LOW

Monroe 95/75

Shreveport 95/76

-10s

HIGH

92° 78°

After some morning fog, more rainfall is in the forecast, but I think your bigger weather issue today will be the heat. So expect a mostly sunny to partly cloudy, hot and humid day with a light breeze and scattered showers and thunderstorms. Temperatures this afternoon will be about where they should be, in the low to mid-90s. The humidity remains high, so your “feels-like” temperatures could rise to 102 or greater. The UV index is at the very high level again today and rain chances will be higher tomorrow.

W

t t pc t t t pc pc t

MISSISSIPPI Memphis Vidalia-Natchez Red River Landing Baton Rouge Donaldsonville Reserve New Orleans OHIO Cairo COMITE Near Olive AMITE Near Darlington Denham Springs Port Vincent TICKFAW Montpelier Holden ATCHAFALAYA Simmesport Melville Krotz Springs Butte La Rose Bayou Sorrel Morgan City

FLOOD STAGE

34 48 48 35 27 22 17

SAT. 24-HOUR STAGE CHANGE

-0.40 19.30 22.10 8.70 5.00 3.88 3.50

+0.40 -0.88 -0.70 -0.50 -0.40 -0.09 -0.07

40

16.14

-0.17

19

-1.48

-0.05

18 29 8

-1.07 10.26 2.08

+0.06 -0.46 +0.24

13 15

1.49 0.95

+0.03 none

47 34 29 20 12 6

8.82 5.86 4.24 4.41 3.20 1.61

-0.01 +0.01 -0.09 +0.07 -0.30 +0.01

data as of 7 a.m. Saturday

Forecasts and graphics, except for Damon’s Outlook, provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2026

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SPORTS

T H E A D V O C AT E.C O M

UL backs out to prove they are not weak link

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S u n d ay, au g u S t 9, 2026

2026 Pro Football Hall of Famee

1Cn

Enshrinement • Canton, Ohio E

BY KEVIN FOOTE Staff writer

The conclusion is an easy one to understand.

UL’s top two rushers from a year ago — Bill Davis and Zylan Perry — transferred in the offseason, and the third leading rusher is starting quarterback Lunch Winfield.

Consequently, many are wondering if the running back room will be the weak link on the offense this season for the Ragin’ Cajuns.

“We’ve heard it,” redshirt freshman JJ Garner said of the doubters. “It’s definitely motivated us.”

The roles will be figured out some over August camp, but the room is expected to mostly be a familiar three-headed monster with redshirt sophomore Steven Blanco, redshirt freshman Darrell Smith and Garner.

“Our mindset is really to go out and show the people what we really can do,” Blanco said. “Like (running backs) coach (Marquase) Lovings always tells us, ‘Make them say your name.’ We have to make them say our name in the Sun Belt, so let’s go out and

ä See CAJUNS, page 3C

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By SUE OGROCKI

Former Saints quarterback Drew Brees speaks after unveiling his bust during the Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Saturday in Canton, Ohio.

DREW-PALOOZA Saints fans take over Canton, Brees’ HOF enshrinement ceremony

BY JEFF DUNCAN Staff writer STAFF FILE PHOTO By BRAD KEMP

UL running back Steven Blanco, shown celebrating his first career touchdown last season with his teammates, is hoping to elevate his game even more this season.

Freshmen starters, LB changes part of LSU’s first week of camp

BY KOKI RILEY and JON BLAU Staff writers

Media viewing periods have been limited during Lane Kiffin’s first week of fall practices at LSU. Reporters have been granted access to LSU’s first three practices of the fall, but have only been allowed to watch for roughly 10-12 minutes on each day. During those viewing periods, the team hasn’t scrimmaged and has almost exclusively gone through individual position-group drills.

Despite the limited access, The Advocate has still compiled some observations from Kiffin’s first three preseason practices.

Here’s what we’ve noticed so far.

A look at first-team defense?

The only time this week that media members saw anything other than individual position-group drills was on Thursday, when the first, second and third-team defenses participated in a pursuit drill.

The first-team defense included Tennessee transfer Jordan Ross and Ole Miss transfer Princewill Umanmielen at edge rusher, senior Whit Weeks and Ole Miss transfer TJ

ä See LSU, page 3C

CANTON, Ohio — You had to feel for the Arizona Cardinals fan in Seat 4 of Row 15 at Tom Benson Hall of Fame e Stadium on Saturday.

His view of the official Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony was partially obstructed by the most unique and unusual of sightline blockers: a Pope’s mitre.

His seat was directly behind Lionel Alphonso Sr., also a known as “Da Pope,” the original Saints super fan, who w was dressed in his traditional game-day attire: white casc sock and mitre, brandishing a black fleur-de-lis logo and a “Bless You Boys” script.

“I wouldn’t have missed it,” said Alphonso, a Violet nan tive. “We all cried at the Super Bowl, and I think we’’re going to cry again today.”

The Who Dat Nation turned Drew Brees’ Hall of o Fame enshrinement ceremony into a de facto Sain nts road game. In a show of force to support the legendarry quarterback, Saints fans dominated the crowd at th he enshrinement ceremony and transformed Canton intto a roiling, Who Dat-chanting sea of black and gold for days leading up to the event.

Many turned the trip into a multi-day affair, taking ng in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland and Major

ä See HALL OF FAME, page 3C

Saints super fan Lionel Alphonso, right, poses for a photo before Drew Brees’ induction iinto the h PPro FFootball b ll H Hallll off FFame on S Saturday d iin Canton, Ohio. Alphonso is a Violet resident. STAFF PHOTO

By JEFF DUNCAN

Quantifying Brees’ B greatness with free shots AP FILE PHOTO

A record showing how much Jägermeister was consumed — and how community rallied behind the Saints legend

BY LUKE JOHNSON Staff writer

The night before Drew Brees was enshrined in the Hall of Fame, Juan Parke bathed in the red glow emanating from the signature strings of Christmas lights hanging above his bar and demonstrated his distinctive connection to New Orleans royalty.

“You’re going to have a Jäger shot,” he said.w The longtime bartender at the legendary Snake & Jake’s Christmas Club Lounge off Oak Street made his way to the middle of the bar, grabbed a bottle of Jägermeister and poured two shots.

One barely covered the bottom of the glass, the other filled the plastic cup

midway with the velvety brown liqueur.

The short pour, which Parke took for himself, is what most places call a “sliver.” The taller pour, which he handed across the bar, is a Snake & Jake’s sliver, effectively a full shot, and what Parke has given out to patrons for the past 15 years whenever the New Orleans Saints scored.

From the time he started tending bar in 2011, when the Saints were smashing NFL offensive records, to 2020, when Brees retired, Parke handed out a lot of free booze. So much that he started to worry he was handing out too much, so he began to keep a record of it to take to the establishment’s owner, Dave

ä See BREES, page 3C

2C ● Sunday, August 9, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

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Golden State at Los Angeles ESPN

College sports bill vote pushed back Senate fails to reach vote for Protect College Sports Act; bill moves to September agenda

friendly SCORE Act to a vote and failed repeatedly.

A rethinking of third-party NIL

BY EDDIE PELLS Associated Press

The Protect College Sports Act failed to reach a vote during an all-night, pre-recess session in the Senate that ended early Saturday, though the bill did gain a spot on next month’s calendar after the chamber comes back from its summer break.

The measure has been touted as one that would put guardrails around an escalating spending spree in college sports as the industry struggles to adapt to a new model in which teams can pay players.

“College sports is something that needs to be fixed, they have a good solution,” said Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D. “We got it teed up for next month.”

The bill has been on a roller coaster since it was introduced in late May but quickly failed to gain support of the two biggest conferences: the Big Ten and SEC. Those conferences signed on and saved it from near death late last month after a flurry of negotiations. But as quickly as it was revived, it faced a reality check in the Senate, where lawmakers from SEC states, including Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., were among its biggest skeptics.

Then, as the bill neared closer to a vote, the Congressional Black Caucus and AFL-CIO also came

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ABBIE PARR

Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark dribbles down the court against the Minnesota Lynx on Aug. 2 in Minneapolis. out against it. Amendments dealing with issues that were never part of the bill also started coming up.

All that, combined with a packed list of votes including on a short-term funding bill and the narrow confirmation of Todd Blanche for attorney general, pushed the PCSA toward the back of the Senate’s agenda.

Bill co-sponsor Ted Cruz, RTexas, said “my colleagues and I have worked hard to end the chaos” that surrounds college sports and predicted the bill would re-

ceive support of 60 or more senators to keep it on path to becoming law.

Co-sponsor Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said she was grateful Thune put it on the calendar.

“This bipartisan bill is how we protect women’s and Olympic sports,” she said. “I look forward to its passage in September.”

If it passes the Senate, the bill still figures to face a steep climb in the House, which is more narrowly divided and tried for months to bring the less athlete-

Among the bill’s biggest features would be a redefinition of “third-party” NIL — the name, image, likeness sponsorship deals that most blame for spiraling costs. Under current rules, schools can share revenue of up to $21.3 million among all players across their athletic program.

But there’s an uncapped amount of extra money to be made via these third-party deals, which are often brokered through multimedia rights companies labeled “associated entities” that sell a school’s promotional assets and move some of that cash to the players in exchange for their NIL. The law would presumably shift some of those arrangements under a newly expanded revenue share of up to $48.8 million while leaving open the possibility of “organic” third-party deals that don’t come from an existing arrangement with the school. A good example: Caitlin Clark got her sponsorship deal with State Farm because she was Caitlin Clark, not because she played for Iowa, which happened to have a deal with State Farm. (The Hawkeyes don’t have such a deal.)

Sports leaders hope this new “retention pool” of money curtails runaway costs. The MMR groups aren’t promising it will.

“It’s going to continue to grow,” Christy Hedgpeth, the president of Playfly Sports Properties, said in an interview last week with The Associated Press. “We have a lot of data that proves that they don’t have to be nationally recognizable. On an average roster, you’re going to have far more than 20 (players) who are going to have several NIL deals.”

LSU recruits in contention at U.S. Championships

BY SCOTT RABALAIS Staff writer

55.000, putting her fourth behind Florida’s Skye Blakely and Utah commitment Claire Pease (55.600) and Charleigh Bullock (55.400).

Esponda and Rivera were also tied for first on vault with Blakely and Jade Carey with scores of 14.200.

Esponda’s floor score helped propel her into sixth place in the all-around (54.100) behind Carey (54.400), a 2024 Olympic team gold-medal winner with Rivera in Paris.

A third LSU commitment, Tatum Drusch, was in 14th place in the all-around with a 52.000. Her best mark was a 13.700 on vault.

The women’s final will be televised at 5 p.m. Sunday on NBC.

Reigning U.S. Gymnastics Championships all-around champion and LSU commitment Hezly Rivera was in fourth place heading into Sunday’s women’s final in this year’s championships being held in Phoenix.

Rivera, who won the title in 2025 at the Smoothie King Center, was in first place after Friday’s competition on balance beam with a 14.300 in the international gymnastics open-ended scoring system.

Rivera was also second on floor with a 14.000 behind fellow LSU commitment Reese Esponda, who had Friday’s highest individual score in any event with a 14.450.

But Rivera’s all-around score was For more LSU sports updates, dragged down by a 12.500 on un- sign up for our newsletter at even bars. Her total score was theadvocate.com/lsunewsletter

Eagles’ Johnson ‘probably’ playing his final season

PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia Eagles All-Pro offensive lineman Lane Johnson said Saturday his 14th season would “probably” be his last.

Johnson missed four days of training camp last week for personal reasons before returning Friday.

Johnson, 36, was a first-round pick in 2013 and was a first-team All-Pro in 2017 and 2022. He earned second-team honors in 2021, 2023 and 2024. He has been a pillar at right tackle and won a pair of Super Bowls with the Eagles.

“I still feel like I can be a premier tackle in this league,” Johnson said. “My movement and everything feels good.”

Johnson, a six-time Pro Bowl selection, said his potential retirement came into focus last season after conversations with his family and an injury-plagued season.

Ravens WR Flowers is ‘day to day’ with leg injury

BALTIMORE — Ravens wide receiver Zay Flowers left practice early on Saturday with what coach Jesse Minter described as a quad contusion.

Minter said the star wideout is considered “day to day.”

At Saturday’s practice during the 7-on-7 period, Flowers collided with safety Jaylinn Hawkins while trying to catch a pass over the middle of the field. The injury came on an in-route when the fourth-year receiver turned toward a ball thrown from Lamar Jackson.

Flowers, 25, signed a four-year, $140 million extension on Tuesday that made him the fourth-highestpaid receiver in the NFL and keeps him in Baltimore through 2031.

John says ‘goodbye’ on Yankees’ Old-Timers’ Day NEW YORK — Tommy John bid an emotional farewell to Yankees fans before Old-Timers’ Day, issuing a statement through the team as he battles health issues from his Florida home.

Saturday’s message didn’t specify John’s condition, but in 2024, the former left-hander announced he had been diagnosed with bladder cancer. The four-time All-Star is 83.

“I want to thank the Yankees organization and the Steinbrenner family for giving me this opportunity to say goodbye. ... Thank you to all the fans who supported me and my teammates for 26 years. I’ll never forget you,” the message read.

On Sept. 25, 1974, John underwent a then-unprecedented surgery to repair the ulnar collateral ligament in his left elbow. The operation by Dr. Frank Jobe extended John’s career by more than a decade, marking a medical breakthrough that’s now commonplace.

White Sox option rookie pitchers, call up prospects

PROVIDED PHOTO By USA GyMNASTICS

LSU commitment Reese Esponda performs on balance beam in the U.S. Championships on Friday in Phoenix.

CHICAGO — The struggling Chicago White Sox optioned rookie lefthander Noah Schultz and rookie right-hander David Sandlin to Triple-A Charlotte, and recalled highly regarded prospects Hagen Smith and Tanner McDougal before Saturday’s game against Cleveland.

The White Sox, who have lost four in a row and five of their last six, entered Saturday at 59-56, in first place in the AL Central.

Smith, 22, is rated by MLB.com as the No. 51 prospect. The lefty is 1-6 with a 4.32 ERA over 20 appearances and 58 1⁄3 innings with Charlotte this season.

McDougal, 22, is rated by MLB. com as the No. 4 prospect in the White Sox organization. The righty is 0-1 with a 2.86 ERA over 15 appearances with Charlotte.

Sayin returns bigger, stronger as Buckeyes QB Vollering takes lead at

BY MARCUS HARTMAN Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Julian Sayin is back, bigger and stronger for a second season as the starting quarterback at Ohio State.

Will he be better?

That is among the biggest questions facing the Buckeyes, who finished No. 5 in the Associated Press poll last season after spending most of the year at No. 1.

From a statistical standpoint, improving will not be easy.

Sayin threw for 3,610 yards and 32 touchdowns with eight interceptions in 2025, when he won the Shaun Alexander National Freshman of the Year award and was a Heisman Trophy finalist.

He set single-season Ohio State program record with a completion percentage of 77.0, good for third all time in the NCAA behind Bo Nix and Mac Jones, but he was possibly a quarter, a drive or even a throw away from winning the Heisman.

With the Buckeyes trailing Indiana 13-10 in the third quarter of the Big Ten Championship Game in December, Sayin got them to the Indiana 5, but they turned it over on downs when his knee went down short of the line to gain on a fourth-and-1 quarterback sneak.

On the following drive, Sayin then got them back to the Indiana 9, but his third-down pass to Bennett Christian was broken up in the end zone, and Jayden Field-

ing missed a short field goal that would have tied the game.

Sayin and the Buckeyes endured a long offseason after an upset loss to Miami (Fla.) in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals, but head coach Ryan Day said he liked what he saw in his quarterback at the end of the offseason program last month.

“You’ve experienced ups and downs, you’re not going to ride the emotional roller coaster that maybe you would as a young player,” Day said during Big Ten Media Days in Chicago July 29. “When you look in his eye now, you see a different person, you see a different body. He’s worked hard.

He’s gotten stronger. He’s found his voice even more, and he’s got

a great look in his eye. I think he’s poised for a great season.”

The different body is thanks to another offseason with Ohio State director of football sport performance Mickey Marotti, who also counts cultivating quarterback leadership among his developmental duties.

“Julian’s taking strides in that area for sure, and how do you know? Because his teammates talk about him that way,” Day said.

The 6-1, 214-pound Sayin never will be a physically imposing figure like Josh Allen — or even Joe Burrow — but more strength and bulk should help him navigate another season at the top level of college football more smoothly.

Women’s Tour de France

NICE, France — Demi Vollering launched a blistering attack to win the eighth stage of the Women’s Tour de France and take the yellow jersey heading into Sunday’s final stage.

The Dutchwoman upped the pace on Saturday’s fourth and final small climb, and Katarzyna NiewiadomaPhinney cracked with about four miles to go, sitting back down in her saddle as 2023 Tour winner Vollering surged ahead.

Elisa Longo Borghini was second and Niewiadoma-Phinney was third, both 17 seconds behind.

Vollering is eight seconds ahead of Niewiadoma-Phinney, the 2024 champion, in the overall standings.

The Acadiana Advocate ● theadvocate.com ● Sunday, August 9, 2026 ● 3C

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BREES

Continued from page 1C Clements.

“I started to look at, OK, how many people are in the bar, how many points did we score, how many bottles did we go through,” Parke said. “I brought it up to Dave and I said, ‘We might need to stop this,’ and he said, ‘No f*****g way!

This is what we do.’ ” There are a great many ways to quantify Brees’ greatness on the field. He is one of the most prolific passers in NFL history, with statistics that dwarf some of those belonging to all-time greats. But there may be no more uniquely New Orleans way to measure the tug of Brees’ gravity in this city than to see Parke’s logbook from Brees’ playing days.

It all boils down to a simple human equation: Brees’ greatness brought people together.

“They would come here, and the Jäger was the communion wine,” Parke said. “Nobody goes to church for the f*****g wine; it’s the community.”

The Snake & Jake’s bartender is Harvard-educated and has a curious mind. He’s learning Hellenic Greek so he can read “The Odyssey” in its original text. Keeping a one-of-a-kind record of Brees’ career seemed appropriate to him as a sort of anthropological study of how a “player can become in-

tegrated into a culture in a micro way.”

Parke’s notes included the day of the game he worked, the score of the game, the amount of free Jäger he poured and often a personal memo about the size of the crowd in the bar. After one game against the Dolphins in 2012 — a 38-17 win in which Parke went through a bottle and a half — he jotted down, “we had a nice crowd, and man, Dave is going to go broke.”

There was the 2018 game against the Rams when Brees threw for 346 yards and four touchdowns in a 45-35 win — that one stuck out in Parke’s memory because of how quickly he got through a second bottle.

Appropriately, the record-setting day for the Christmas Club Lounge was Christmas Day 2020, a 52-33 drubbing of the Minnesota Vikings, when Parke went through three and a quarter bottles of Jäger.

“We would just start to laugh and smile when he’s putting his helmet on to go out on the field,” Parke said. “And you would have people in here like, ‘Eh, I think we’re going to get a drink.’

“He could make that feeling. And I’d be like, ‘No, you can’t … oh, that’s a touchdown.’ So I got in the habit of having the cups already ready when Brees was in.”

The Brees days were the halcyon days of Saints fandom. What strikes Parke when he looks back through his old records isn’t nec-

essarily the amount of Jäger he handed out. His notes are littered with the words “big crowd.”

Parke knows what that means here, because he understands the way the city and the team are intertwined — even during the franchise’s darkest days.

“I went in the ’80s when we were the ’Aints,” Parke said. “I found my paper bag up in my mom’s attic. I’m kind of proud of the fact that you might not be able to be more New Orleans, because it was a K&B paper bag. But we still went to the games, we still believed.”

So that is the thing he reflects on when he thinks back on Brees’ career. Yes, there was a lot of free alcohol that flowed from his hand, but that meant there were also a ton of mouths on the receiving end — something that’s been less true as he’s continued to track the Jäger output since Brees’ retirement.

“I can show you exactly how much Jäger was given away by the bottle, but it was the crowd,” Parke said. “When he was here, more people cared. And yes, the slivers were truly lagniappe. But they came because they knew it was an experience — and we win.”

The neighborhood dive bar never felt like such a neighborhood unto itself as the days when Brees roamed the sidelines.

Email Luke Johnson at ljohnson@theadvocate.com.

CAJUNS

Continued from page 1C

play our game.”

Blanco got 30 carries for 156 yards and two touchdowns last season with a 29-yard reception, while Smith settled for seven yards on three carries.

“Throughout the summer, that group continuously flourishes and stands out,” redshirt junior Caden Jensen said. “They’re going to push themselves. The competition in that room is high. We need our offensive line to rally around them; we need our receivers and tight ends and quarterback to rally around them too.”

Redshirt junior guard Matthew Broussard doesn’t see any holes in the running backs corps.

“I see a bunch of guys who like to run hard,” Broussard said.

“They’re not scared of contact.

I think the public’s going to see that a lot this season. They’ll be able to see from the start. I’ve got a lot of faith in the running backs this year.”

Blanco is the straight-ahead power runner of the group.

“My confidence grew a lot,” Blanco said of last season. “At first, I just thought everything was bigger and faster, which they are. But once you get on the field and saw I could get past those guys, I gained confidence.

“Sure we lost some guys, but you”ve got to trust the next man up.”

Smith, who missed the first few practices with the birth of his first child, is recognized as mature and focused by coaches and veteran teammates alike.

“Darrell is probably the most advanced freshman I’ve seen,” redshirt senior Fitzgerald West said. “Watching him last year and the way he saw the game, I said, ‘He’s going to be a guy.’ ” With plenty of experience on both sides of the ball since being an eighth grader at Lafayette Christian, West sees the game better than many of his team- Email Kevin Foote at kfoote@ mates. theadvocate.com.

LSU

Continued from page 1C

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By SUE OGROCKI

Former Saints quarterback Drew Brees, left, poses with former coach Sean Payton after unveiling his bust during the Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Saturday in Canton, Ohio.

HALL OF FAME Continued from page 1C

League Baseball games in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.

Alphonso wasn’t the only Saints super fan at Tom Benson Stadium on Saturday. Also spotted in the Saints-heavy crowd were Mark “Mack the Quack” Cuenca, Leroy “Whistle Monsta” Mitchell and Larry “Sign Man” Rolling.

The fans not festooned in blackand-gold feather boas, hats or sequins were proudly wearing No. 9 Brees jerseys. Among them, Kim Palmer of San Diego and Donna Kern of New Orleans, who made the trip to honor Palmer’s late husband, an ardent Saints fan who died three years ago.

“Drew has been such an inspiration to so many families, and he did the hard work when it needed to be done (after Katrina),” Kern said.

Added Palmer: “As soon as Drew got (announced as a Hall of Famer), I called (Kern) and said, ‘Can we go to see Drew get inducted?’

My husband would’ve gone wild.

This is our tribute to him.”

It was difficult to go anywhere in Canton or its surrounding environs during enshrinement week without seeing a fan in a No. 9 jersey or Saints gear. That was certainly the case at the traditional Hall of Fame walk on the Hall campus Friday morning, where Sharon and Jay Lonero of Metairie were strategically positioned in the front row of fans on Hall of Fame Drive. The Loneros have been ardent fans since 2009, when they presciently bought season tickets and followed Brees and the Saints on their magical run to the Super Bowl XLIV title.

“We just love Drew, and he is such an exemplary human being,” Sharon Lonero said. “When the Saints won the Super Bowl, I told my friends, ‘Enjoy it, because it’s never going to happen again. It’s a

unicorn.’ ” sports. I think it’s more so my Not far away along the route love for the city of New Orleans stood the black-and-gold-clad itself. I think New Orleans, I love mother-and-daughter team of New Orleans. We’ve been going Alyssa and Beth DiMarco, who down over 20 years. 2003 was our trekked to Canton from New Or- first time going down.” leans and Houston, respectively.

“I love the fact of what he conAlyssa said she planned to wear tributed to the community and her special jersey to the ceremony how community oriented he is,” for the first time since Brees and said Rodman, decked out in a No. 9 the Saints won the Super Bowl in Brees jersey. “It goes beyond foot2009. ball for me with him because again, “I’m so excited,” Alyssa DiMarco as a parent, I watch what he does said. “It’s like comwith everybody pleting the circle.” and he’s all about Beth DiMarco New Orleans. Even echoed the sentithough he doesn’t ments of many fans live there now, he’s this week in saystill all about New ing their devotion Orleans.” to Brees extends Trey Swindle was beyond the playing not hard to spot in field. the crowd. The ar“Not only did he chitect from Dalmake our team feel las sported a large relevant, Drew did black T-shirt emso much for the city blazoned with the and so much for the message “I MISS community and the DREW BREES” city,” said Beth Diand a head shot of Marco, sporting a the former Saints pendant of the New quarterback across Orleans skyline on the front. her necklace. “He “I think we all changed everymiss him,” said thing.”

Swindle, a ShreveJanet Rodman port native. “I was and her son, Chris always a Saints fan, Kirchein, were and then he came among the first of along and I liked an army of Saints his story about how BETH DiMARCO, fans who attended he came to New Saints fan a local promotional Orleans and, of event for Brees in course, the whole suburban Canton on Friday morn- situation with Katrina and just ing. They traveled from New York kind of uplifting. We were spoiled to show their support. (by Drew).”

“Drew was basically my whole “I asked my friend, ‘Do you want life in terms of sports,” said Kir- to go with me and watch me cry chein, who scrolled through a at Drew Brees’ Hall of Fame engallery of photos of his Saints- shrinement ceremony?’ ” Swindle themed room at home on his added. “She said, ‘Of course, I want phone. “I grew up through high to do that.’ So here we are.” school, college (LSU) and then after I went to college, so Drew’s Email Jeff Duncan at been part of my life in terms of jduncan@theadvocate.com.

Not only did he make our team feel relevant, Drew did so much for the city and so much for the community and the city.

He changed everything.”

“I’ve seen him (Smith) run his route — his route with the ball and you can just see him thinking ahead of time,” West said. “It’s impressive. I’ve been playing a long time.

“I just think he’s ahead of his time. When he does something, I’m like, ‘Dang, I wouldn’t have thought to do that.’ So yeah, he’s going to be good. He’s got it.”

Garner isn’t yet described as polished as Blanco or Smith, but with the biggest upside.

“Darrell is a guy that was uber productive in high school,” offensive coordinator Tim Leger said. “I think y’all saw in the spring game that JJ Garner has elite ability as a runner and a very unique skill set, and Steven Blanco is just consistent every single day. He gets the most out of every run, regardless of how it’s blocked.”

Howard transfer Anthony Reagan could also work his way into the mix.

Blanco said he’s working on becoming “a more elusive threat in the open field, so I can get the safeties to miss at the next level.”

Garner is hoping he’s ready to take that next big step this fall.

“I feel like I got better,” Garner said. “Right now, I feel like I’m in a good position. I feel like I got better with my footwork, pass protection and learning where to line up. I’m really excited about this season.”

While watching last season, Garner said he tried hard to take mental reps by “standing close to the coaches and staying in the playbook.”

This year, it’s more a veteran coach in Lovings, who coached at UL in the Mark Hudspeth era.

“Coach Lovings is a veteran running back coach,” Blanco said.

“He’s taught us a lot — about the defense, middle field, open middle field. He’s just a smart coach.

Like, he’s on us hard. He wants us to be the best that we could be.

Like I say, he wants us to make the Sun Belt say our name.”

Dottery slotting in at linebacker and sophomore DJ Pickett and junior PJ Woodland lined up at cornerback. Boise State transfer Ty Benefield was at safety, and junior Dashawn Spears played the Star position.

Those eight players were expected starters, but these next three were not. Freshmen Deuce Geralds and Richard Anderson took first-team reps at defensive tackle, and Jhase Thomas — a redshirt freshman who played one snap on defense last season, per Pro Football Focus — was at the other deep safety spot next to Benefield.

Geralds worked with the starters in the spring, but his position atop the depth chart in a deep defensive tackle room is notable.

Same goes for Anderson, who had a quieter spring but was the No. 1 defensive lineman in the nation as a recruit, according to the 247Sports Composite.

LSU loaded up at defensive tackle over the offseason, adding two notable transfers — Clemson’s Stephylan Green and Auburn’s Malik Blocton — and bringing back junior Dominick McKinley, who’s been a part of LSU’s rotation for the past two seasons.

Thomas was briefly mentioned as a younger player who could earn more playing time on defense toward the end of last season — after Brian Kelly was let go — but interim coach Frank Wilson’s prediction never materialized.

Thomas was the No. 12 recruit in Louisiana in the 2025 class and is battling for playing time in a deep room that also includes Ohio State transfer Faheem Delane and returning redshirt junior starter Tamarcus Cooley, who led the team in snaps on defense a year ago, per PFF.

A linebacker changes positions On all three days of practice, redshirt freshman linebacker Jaiden Braker conducted position drills with the edge rushers and not the linebackers. The 6-foot-3 and 223-pound Braker only played seven snaps on defense last season, but arrived at LSU as the No. 11 linebacker in the country.

Braker’s move to the edge is potentially a sign that LSU is more unsettled there than at linebacker, a position where the Tigers have plenty of depth.

After Weeks and Dottery, the Tigers still have junior Davhon Keys, redshirt sophomore Tylen Singleton, redshirt freshman

Zach Weeks, redshirt freshman Keylan Moses, sophomore CJ Jimcoily and sophomore Charles Ross. Keys, Zach Weeks and Singleton all earned playing time last season (at least 40 snaps on defense), with Keys starting for Whit Weeks whenever he was unavailable.

Meanwhile, at edge rusher, the only healthy player returning who played more than 20 snaps — according to PFF — is redshirt junior Dylan Carpenter.

Freshmen Lamar Brown and Trent Henderson, South Carolina transfer Jaylen Brown, redshirt sophomore Kolaj Cobbins and redshirt freshman Damien Shanklin make up the rest of the room.

The Tigers also have redshirt sophomore Gabriel Reliford, who would’ve competed for a starting spot had he not torn his ACL during the spring.

Leavitt’s progress There hasn’t been an opportunity for the media to see the offense practice together as a unit, but starting quarterback Sam Leavitt has looked healthy through the opening three practices.

The Arizona State transfer, who missed part of last season and most of spring following foot surgery, is throwing to receivers and has looked springy on his feet on dropbacks.

He hasn’t rolled out or sprinted on a quarterback keeper while the media have been in attendance, but Leavitt could be seen on Saturday briskly jogging from one end of the field to the other as his receivers prepared to run routes in the opposite direction.

He also hasn’t faced a defense while the media has been in attendance. However, his throws to open receivers have mostly been on target, and he isn’t wearing a wrap around his ankle or his surgically repaired foot.

Attendance report Weston Davis, LSU’s projected starting right tackle, was not at practice on Saturday after being present for LSU’s first two days of fall camp. Davis started nine games last season, but allowed 30 pressures and four sacks, per PFF. Also absent, but for all three practice days, was Shanklin. The former four-star recruit from Indiana had two sacks last season despite only playing 10 snaps, according to PFF. Email Koki Riley at koki.riley@ theadvocate.com. For more LSU sports updates, sign up for our newsletter at theadvocate. com/lsunewsletter

4C ● Sunday, August 9, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

lll

PREP FOOTBALL SEASON PREVIEW 2026 SCHEDULE Date

Opponent

Sept. 4 Sept. 11 Sept. 18 Sept. 25 Oct. 2 Oct. 9 Oct. 15 Oct. 23 Oct 30 Nov. 6

CARENCRO Westminster Alexandria TEURLINGS Opelousas WEST ST. MARy FRANKLIN LOREAUVILLE Delcambre Catholic-NI

Lafayette Christian

PLAYERS TO WATCH Kaden Ledet WR, 5-9, 160, Sr. An experienced wideout who has shown the ability to make big plays in big game, Ledet is good in the slot, has good hands, is a great route runner and can create separation.

HOME GAMES IN CAPS

PAST FIVE YEARS 2025: 11-2 2024: 6-7 2023: 11-3 (state runner-up) 2022: 10-4 (state runner-up) 2021:10-2 (state runner-up)

STAFF PHOTO By ERIC NARCISSE

Lafayette Christian defensive standouts include, from left, Joseph Adams, Sky Ryan, Kaleb Simon, Deion Poole and Josh Wilson.

PROJECTED STARTERS Offense WR Brelin Briscoe (6-2, 185, Jr.) WR Tristen Jones (5-11, 170, Jr.) WR Kaden Ledet (5-9, 160, Sr.)* TE Wyatt Whitney (6-4, 210, Jr.)* LT Lane Broussard (6-0, 210, Sr.)* LG Mason Talbot (5-10, 225, Jr.)* C Liam Collins (5-10, 250, Sr.) RG Gavin Auguillard (5-8, 240, Sr.)* RT Cullen Sontag (6-1, 315, Jr.) QB Ty Hills (5-9, 165, Jr.) RB Kyzer White (5-9, 160, Jr.)* Defense DE Joseph Adams (6-2, 220, Jr.)* DT Brayden Lanclos (5-7, 225, Sr.)* DE Josh Wilson (6-2, 190, Sr.) LB Kaleb Simon (5-9, 185, Sr.)* LB Triston Alexander (6-3, 190, So.) LB Keldrick Williams (5-10, 175, Jr.) DB Sky Ryan (6-1, 180, Sr.)* DB Kerrance Vallot 5-9, 160, Sr.)* DB Davion Batiste (5-8, 150, Sr.)* DB Kaden Charles (5-11, 155, So.) * RETURNING STARTER

COACHES Head coach: Matt Standiford (16-5) Assistant coaches: Mitch Craft, Tuskani Figaro, Drew Bergeron, Will Chance, Shane Broussard, Jared Davis, Tyrell Fenroy, Perry Jones, and Will Emanis

being the best that they can be week after week.”

Standiford like what he’s seen so far as both player It has been said that defense wins championships. bring different skills.

If there’s one team that hopes to prove that adage “Ty is more of a natural passer. He does a great job of true, it’s the Lafayette Christian Knights. getting the football out of his hand quickly,” Standiford Defense will likely be the Knights’ calling card this said.

“Kyzer has the ability to play multiple positions. He season. can throw it, but he is a really good runner. Both of those “On defense, we bring back a ton of guys have done a great job of commanding the offense.” experience,” coach Matt Standiford said.

Whoever wins the job, Standiford said both Hills and “We know we lost four huge pieces from White will play. our defense, but we have so much depth.

“There will be packages for both,” he said. “I know the We have 13 kids that are back who saying that if you are playing two quarterbacks then received playing time. We are experienced you don’t have one. But I don’t agree with that in this Stanfford in both the front seven and in our situation because both can help us.” secondary.”

Quarterback play isn’t the only question for a Knights Headlining the returnees are linebacker Kaleb Simon, offense that will feature several new faces. defensive backs Sky Ryan and Davion Batiste and LCA has experience on the offensive line, but has a defensive end Joseph Adams — all seniors. new starter at running back after the recent transfer “We have leaders and experience at every level,” Standiford of star Caiden Bellard to University High. The Knights said. “Joseph, Kaleb, and Sky are returning starters that were will use a combination of White, Simon and Landon part of the grind last year. They played in the state semifinals, Prudhomme to help carry the load. so they know what it takes to be successful.”

“We are excited about some of these other guys that we In addition to those guys, Standiford said he’s looking got on our team that are going to be able to step up and forward to seeing the progress made by sophomore compete for that position,” Standiford said. linebacker Tristan Alexander, who he has labeled as “a freak How we see it athlete.”

For years, the Knights have prided themselves on “the What we don’t know standard being the standard.”

The Knights offense has consistently been one of the Standiford is adamant those lofty goals won’t most explosive and high scoring in the state. change.

One of the biggest reasons has been the play at “Our first goal is always that we want to win district,” quarterback position. he said. “Last year we were able to do that for the first But this year, quarterback is a question mark for time in three years.” the Knights as they look to fill the void left by Braylon Although there are questions to be answered, Walker, now at UL. Standiford said he’s confident he has the players to do it.

“We had a crazy stretch there where the last five “This team has enough talent to be playing on Dec. quarterbacks here have gone on to play college 11 (in the state championship game) in the Caesars football,” Standiford said.

Superdome, ” he said.

“The key for us is can we be That doesn’t necessarily mean the streak will end, consistent.

We have seen glimpses of us looking like because Standiford said likes the options in Ty Hills some of our previous teams and then there are times and Kyzer White. when it is a grind and a struggle.

We can compete with “We aren’t trying to replace Braylon,” Standiford said. anyone in the state, but can we do that on a consistent “I don’t want those guys trying to be the next Braylon basis?

That’s going to be the key. ” Walker. I want them to be the first Ty Hills or Kyzer

What we know

White. I want them to focus on being consistent and

Sky Ryan DB, 6-1, 180, Sr. A big part of the Knights’ defense, Ryan has shown no lingering effects from the seasonending knee injury he suffered last year. A versatile defender that can play anywhere in the secondary, Ryan has a great combination of size, speed and ball skills.

Kaleb Simon LB/RB, 5-9, 185, Sr. The ultimate team guy, Simon has Knights coaches raving about his football IQ and laud him for his leadership skills. Simon is a fantastic tackler and is likely to post a third consecutive 100-tackle season.

Josh Wilson DE, 6-2, 190, Sr. A tremendous athlete, Wilson has continued to develop into a solid football player. His speed and quickness allow him to excel in rushing the quarterback, while his physicality and toughness makes him stout against the run.

Joseph Adams DE, 6-2, 220, Jr. One of the strongest players on the team, Adams is a disruptor up front.

He uses his speed and strength to dominate opposing linemen.

After recording nearly 10 sacks and more than 20 tackles for loss as a sophomore, Knights coaches are expecting a big year.

Eric Narcisse

SCOREBOARD Odds

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Sports Betting Line NFL

Minnesota Las Vegas Golden State Dallas Los Angeles Portland Phoenix Seattle

Thursday

FAVORITE OPEN at PITT 1½ at CINCINNATI 3½ at NE 1½ at LAS VEGAS 1½ at HOUSTON 1½ Tennessee 2½

TODAY O/U UNDERDOG 1½ (37½) Green Bay 4½ (38) Detroit 1½ (38½) Ind 2½ (39½) Arizona 1½ (37½) Chargers 2½ (37½) at SAN FRN

FAVORITE OPEN Tampa Bay 1½ Miami 1½ Denver 3½

TODAY O/U UNDERDOG 1½ (36½) at NY JETS 1½ (36½) at WASH 4½ (37½) at ATLA

Friday

Saturday

FAVORITE OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG at BUFFALO 1½ 1½ (37½) Carolina Minnesota 1½ 2½ (38½) at GIANTS at CHICAGO 1½ 1½ (38½) Cleveland at KANSAS CITY1½ 1½ (36½) LA Rams Jacksonville 1½ 1½ (38½) at N.O. Philadelphia 2½ 2½ (36½) at BALT at SEATTLE 2½ 2½ (37½) Dallas

MLB

L 7 10 9 13 18 19 21 27

Pct .788 .688 .710 .594 .400 .387 .364 .182

GB — 3½ 3 6½ 12½ 13 14 20

American League FAVORITE LINE at BOSTON OFF Cleveland -112 Baltimore -132 at SEATTLE -117 National League FAVORITE LINE at WASH OFF at PITTS -140 at ST. LOUIS -165 LA Dodgers -141 Interleague FAVORITE LINE at PHILA OFF at YANKEES -154 at MIAMI -155 at MILWAUKEE -241 Chicago Cubs -164 Detroit -118 at SAN DIEGO OFF

UNDERDOG LINE Athletics OFF at WHITE SOX -105 at TEXAS +112 Tampa Bay +103 UNDERDOG Cincinnati N.Y Mets Colorado at ARIZONA

LINE OFF +118 +138 +119

UNDERDOG Toronto Atlanta LA Angels Minnesota at K.C. at SAN FRAN Houston

LINE OFF +129 +130 +197 +137 -101 OFF

Pro basketball

Saturday’s Games

Minnesota 98, Las Vegas 87 Indiana 90, Chicago 86 Seattle at Portland, n

Sunday’s Games

Las Vegas at New York, 11:30 a.m.

Phoenix at Washington, 2 p.m.

Dallas at Minnesota, 2:30 p.m.

Golden State at Los Angeles, 6 p.m.

EASTERN CONFERENCE W 19 19 18 19 12 10 8

L 12 12 12 13 19 21 23

Pct .613 .613 .600 .594 .387 .323 .258

GB — — ½ ½ 7 9 11

60 69

.483 .410

3½ 12

Houston Texas Seattle Athletics Los Angeles

W 60 58 56 45 45

L 57 58 61 71 71

Pct .513 .500 .479 .388 .388

GB — 1½ 4 14½ 14½

West Division

Friday’s Games

Detroit at Cincinnati, 6 p.m.

Green Bay at Pittsburgh, 6 p.m.

Indianapolis at New England, 6:30 p.m.

Arizona at Las Vegas, 7 p.m.

L.A. Chargers at Houston, 7 p.m.

Tennessee at San Francisco, 8 p.m.

Friday’s Games

Saturday’s Games

Carolina at Buffalo, noon Cleveland at Chicago, noon Minnesota at N.Y. Giants, noon Jacksonville at New Orleans, 3 p.m.

L.A. Rams at Kansas City, 3 p.m.

Philadelphia at Baltimore, 6 p.m.

Dallas at Seattle, 7 p.m.

Major League Baseball American League Tampa Bay New York Boston Baltimore Toronto

W 69 65 64 56 55

L 46 51 51 60 62

Pct .600 .560 .557 .483 .470

GB — 4½ 5 13½ 15

Chicago Cleveland Minnesota

W 59 58 58

L 56 59 59

Pct .513 .496 .496

GB — 2 2

National League Atlanta Philadelphia Miami Washington New York

Central Division

W 70 62 58 57 51

L 46 55 59 61 66

L 44 49 58 59 61

Pct .621 .581 .500 .487 .483

GB — 4½ 14 15½ 16

Los Angeles Arizona San Diego San Francisco Colorado

W 69 62 60 49 45

L 47 55 57 67 71

Pct .595 .530 .513 .422 .388

GB — 7½ 9½ 20 24

West Division

Saturday’s Games

Athletics (Ginn 8-6) at Boston (Sandoval 1-0), 12:35 p.m.

Atlanta (Holmes 7-4) at N.Y. Yankees (Schlittler 10-6), 12:35 p.m.

Toronto (Bieber 3-2) at Philadelphia (Luzardo 10-5), 12:35 p.m.

L.A. Angels (Rodriguez 3-4) at Miami (Gusto 0-3), 12:40 p.m.

Chicago Cubs (Boyd 7-1) at Kansas City (Dobnak 2-0), 1:10 p.m.

Cleveland (Cantillo 8-7) at Chicago White Sox (Martin 9-6), 1:10 p.m.

Minnesota (Prielipp 3-5) at Milwaukee (Misiorowski 11-5), 1:10 p.m.

Baltimore (Povich 2-1) at Texas (Rocker 4-8), 1:35 p.m.

Detroit (Melton 7-1) at San Francisco (Webb 7-7), 3:05 p.m.

Tampa Bay (Seymour 8-3) at Seattle (Hancock 6-6), 3:10 p.m.

Houston (TBD) at San Diego (TBD), 7:20 p.m.

East Division

W 72 68 58 56 57

Washington 5, Cincinnati 3 N.Y. Mets 6, Pittsburgh 4 Toronto 5, Philadelphia 4 L.A. Angels 4, Miami 3 N.Y. Yankees 3, Atlanta 2, 10 innings Minnesota 8, Milwaukee 6 Chicago Cubs 6, Kansas City 4 St. Louis 3, Colorado 2 Arizona 4, L.A. Dodgers 3 Houston 6, San Diego 3 San Francisco 5, Detroit 2

Sunday’s Games

Denver at Atlanta, 6 p.m.

Miami at Washington, 6 p.m.

Tampa Bay at N.Y. Jets, 6 p.m.

Milwaukee Chicago St. Louis Cincinnati Pittsburgh

Friday’s Games

N.Y. Yankees 5, Atlanta 4 Miami 7, L.A. Angels 0 Athletics 7, Boston 3 Toronto at Philadelphia, n Chicago Cubs at Kansas City, n Minnesota at Milwaukee, n Baltimore at Texas, n Cleveland at Chicago White Sox, n Detroit at San Francisco, n Houston at San Diego, n Tampa Bay at Seattle, n

NFL Preseason Glance

Central Division

56 48

Saturday’s Games

Pro football

East Division

WNBA Glance

Detroit Kansas City

Boston 13, Athletics 1 Toronto 5, Philadelphia 4 L.A. Angels 4, Miami 3 Cleveland 8, Chicago White Sox 2 N.Y. Yankees 3, Atlanta 2, 10 innings Minnesota 8, Milwaukee 6 Texas 2, Baltimore 1 Chicago Cubs 6, Kansas City 4 Tampa Bay 2, Seattle 1 Houston 6, San Diego 3 San Francisco 5, Detroit 2

Connecticut 75, Phoenix 72 Washington 79, Atlanta 74 Golden State 94, Dallas 76

Thursday’s Games

Sunday

Atlanta Indiana Washington New York Chicago Toronto Connecticut

Friday’s Games

W 26 22 22 19 12 12 12 6

Pct .603 .530 .496 .483 .436

GB — 8½ 12½ 14 19½

N.Y. Yankees 5, Atlanta 4 Miami 7, L.A. Angels 0 Toronto at Philadelphia, n N.Y. Mets at Pittsburgh, n Cincinnati at Washington, n Chicago Cubs at Kansas City, n Minnesota at Milwaukee, n Colorado at St. Louis, n Detroit at San Francisco, n Houston at San Diego, n L.A. Dodgers at Arizona, n

Sunday’s Games

Cincinnati (Singer 5-10) at Washington (TBD), 11:15 a.m.

Atlanta (Holmes 7-4) at N.Y. Yankees (Schlittler 10-6), 12:35 p.m.

N.Y. Mets (Manaea 3-5) at Pittsburgh (Jones 2-3), 12:35 p.m.

Toronto (Bieber 3-2) at Philadelphia (Luzardo 10-5), 12:35 p.m.

L.A. Angels (Rodriguez 3-4) at Miami (Gusto 0-3), 12:40 p.m.

Chicago Cubs (Boyd 7-1) at Kansas City (Dobnak 2-0), 1:10 p.m.

Minnesota (Prielipp 3-5) at Milwaukee (Misiorowski 11-5), 1:10 p.m.

Colorado (Lorenzen 3-10) at St. Louis (McGreevy 4-9), 1:15 p.m.

Detroit (Melton 7-1) at San Francisco (Webb 7-7), 3:05 p.m.

L.A. Dodgers (Wrobleski 11-3) at Arizona (Rodriguez 10-4), 3:10 p.m.

Houston (TBD) at San Diego (TBD), 7:20 p.m.

Transactions Major League Baseball

American League ATHLETICS — Agreed to terms with RHP

Matt Sauer on a minor league contract.

BOSTON RED SOX — Agreed to terms with RHP John Brebbia on a minor league contract. Selected the contract of LHP Raymond Burgos from Worcester (IL). Optioned RHP Greg Weissert to Worcester.

CHICAGO WHITE SOX — Placed C Joey Bart on the 10-day IL. Placed LHP Chris Murphy on the 15-day IL. Recalled RHP David Sandlin and C Edgar Quero from Charlotte (IL).

Released LF Austin Hays.

CLEVELAND GUARDIANS — Placed RHP Slade Cecconi on the 15-day IL. Recalled RHP Franco Aleman from Columbus (IL).

HOUSTON ASTROS — Recalled CF Jake Meyers from Sugar Land (PCL).

KANSAS CITY ROYALS — Recalled RHP Mason Black from Omaha (IL). Optioned LHP Aaron Bummer to Omaha.

LOS ANGELES ANGELS — Optioned LHP Mitch Farris to Salt Lake (PCL). Recalled RHP George Klassen from Salt Lake. Claimed RHP Ryan Watson off waivers from Boston.

MINNESOTA TWINS — Selected the contract of INF Kaelen Culpepper from St. Paul (IL).

Designated RHP Taylor Rashi for assignment. Agreed to terms with RHP Cody Laweryson on a minor league contract. Placed RHP Joe Ryan on the 15-day IL retroactive to August 5. Optioned SS Tristan Gray to St. Paul. Recalled RHP Zebby Matthews from St. Paul.

NEW YORK YANKEES — Agreed to terms with RHPs Edgar De Leon and Yefreiny De Paula on minor league contracts.

SEATTLE MARINERS — Placed RHP Cole Wilcox on the 15-day IL. Recalled RHP Nick Davila from Tacoma (PCL). Sent CF Stuart Fairchild outright to Tacoma.

TAMPA BAY RAYS — Placed 2B Ben Williamson on the 10-day IL retroactive to August 6. Recalled SS Carson Williams from Durham (IL).

TEXAS RANGERS — Reinstated LHP Jordan Montgomery from the 60-day IL. Designated RHP Nolan Kingham for assignment.

TORONTO BLUE JAYS — Placed 2B Luis Urías on the 10-day IL. Designated RF Rudy Martin Jr. for assignment. Selected the contract of CF Brett Bateman from Buffalo (IL). Optioned RHP Chase Lee to Buffalo. Activated RHP Matt Waldron.

National League ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS — Recalled RHP Kade Strowd from Reno (PCL). Optioned LHP Kohl Drake to Reno.

CHIGAGO CUBS — Sent RHP Jake Woodford outright to Iowa (IL).

CINCINNATI REDS — Agreed to terms with LHP Kent Emanuel on a minor league contract.

LOS ANGELES DODGERS — Sent C Chuckie Robinson outright to Oklahoma City (PCL).

NEW YORK METS — Claimed 3B Gabriel Arias off waivers from Cleveland.

PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES — Agreed to terms with RHP Lou Trivino III on a minor league contract.

LIVING

T H E A D V O C AT E.C O M

|

S u n d ay, au g u S t 9, 2026

1dn

Jan Risher

Finding joy in a low-stakes, creative self-portrait I have never learned to draw.

Growing up, I thought being able to draw was something you could do or you couldn’t — and no matter how much I wanted to, I couldn’t. For decades, I equated drawing well with being an artist.

I’ve learned that I was wrong about both. So many people I trust have told me that anyone can learn to draw. I believe them. I’ve never taken a drawing class. Circumstances have always seemed to get in the way. I’ve also gotten a better sense of the Venn diagram between drawing well and being an artist.

Readers remember the teachers who changed their worlds — in their own words GETTy IMAGES ILLUSTRATION

STAFF PHOTO By By JAN RISHER

Jan Risher’s unorthodox selfportrait

What I do know is that I like making things, even when I have no idea what I’m doing.

Making something badly can be surprisingly satisfying.

In my latest art-ish effort, the paper goes over my face first. Then I grab a pastel and use it to “draw” my face by feel — tracing the elements of my face through the paper. I’ve done three iterations of this self-portrait and have started with my glasses on each attempt.

Then I work my way around my face: nose, eyebrows, mouth, jaw.

Sometimes when I’m drawing from one side of my face to the other, I’m shocked at how far it is. I’ve become fascinated by what happens when I try to translate the three-dimensional shape of my face onto a flat

ä See SELF-PORTRAIT, page 6D

Louisiana

INSPIRED

M

How one t e ac her in Mor g an Ci t y c hange d t he t r aje c t or y of a li f e 5D

COMPILED BY JAN RISHER | Staff writer

s. Frizzle in “The Magic School Bus.” Robin Williams in “Dead Poets Society.”

Quinta Brunson in “Abbott Elementary.” Mr. Holland in “Mr. Holland’s Opus.”

Morgan Freeman in “Lean on Me.” Fictional teachers earn their place in memory. So do the real ones.

A line from a lecture. A note in the margin of a test — something a teacher said on a Tuesday outlasts the classroom by decades.

As school starts again, we asked readers to tell us about their most memorable teacher.

The responses show that south Louisiana schools and teachers have been and are still creating better versions of the kids who walk through their halls.

The following has been edited for length and clarity.

Judy Hadley Lafayette High

Maybe as you walked out of the first Ice Water round, it hit you.

Maybe it was a door that opened — or one that didn’t. Maybe it wasn’t until the next year when you were on the other side of the process. It could have been a moment standing in a hallway, waiting, that you can still describe in detail years later.

We’re inviting readers who went through sorority recruitment — recently or decades ago — to tell us about it: What’s the specific moment from Rush week you still think about? And what did Rush teach you that you didn’t expect? Send your response to jan.risher@theadvocate.com by 2 p.m. Monday.

Steve Judice says: I credit Mrs. Hadley for many of my life choices. After my time in high school debate, I went on to major in speech education. I did my student teaching under her supervision. During that year, several of her students qualified for a national tournament in Milwaukee. I traveled with the squad to the tournament because at the time, she was about to give birth to her second child.

Mrs. Hadley arranged for us to travel to the tournament with the team from Hanson High, because their coach, a cute little brunette, had a van.

PROVIDED PHOTO I wound up marrying that little bruJudy Hadley was a longtime nette, and she and I went to graduspeech teacher at Lafayette ate school together, earning master’s degrees in speech communication. I High in Lafayette. She made a then accepted a position as the debate profound influence on the lives coach at (then) USL. of students, including attorney One year later I entered law school.

Steve Judice. Hadley died in In my senior year, I was in the finals of September 2025. the school’s moot court competition.

In recognition of her role in getting me to that point, I invited her to attend the final round, argued before Justices Court of Appeals. She was in the auof the Louisiana Supreme Court and dience with my wife and my parents Judges from the U.S. Fifth Circuit when my partner and I were named

the winners of the competition.

In my 40-year legal career that followed, lessons learned under Mrs. Hadley’s tutelage were applied in every motion, argued in court and in every jury trial.

She passed away in 2025. I am profoundly grateful for the role she played in my life.

Linda Doherty

Teurlings Catholic High School

Tyler C Bruno says: Linda Doherty, my high school history teacher, changed the entire course of my life.

As a freshman, I was terrified of her. She walked the halls with confidence. Her classroom looked like a museum — full of history brought to life in a way I’d never seen. I didn’t understand it yet, but that room, and the woman who ran it, would end up shaping who I became.

Up to that point, I’d been a shy, hesitant student — school, especially subjects like math, had never come easily to me, and I didn’t always feel like teachers noticed the kids who were struggling.

ä See TEACHERS, page 6D

2D ● Sunday,August 9, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

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FOOD As tailgate season approaches, add classic to repertoire Tailgate Muffuletta sandwich

BY MICHAEL DIRESTO Contributing writer

In all my previous food columns, typically about rich, saucy recipes, I ended with the plea to serve the meal “with good bread” for dipping. Given that this column is about sandwiches, that doesn’t make much sense. One could say that, like a sandwich itself, this column starts and ends with bread, with memorable filling in the middle.

My recipe selection from “Cooking up a Storm: Recipes Lost and Found from the TimesPicayune of New Orleans” — the Tailgate Muffuletta — made fullcircle sense. First, because tailgating season is almost upon us, and this Louisiana classic should frequently be part our game day cast of characters.

Second, because a muffuletta really does start and end with the right bread — a huge round Italian loaf with sesame seeds.

Without it, you don’t have a true muffuletta. Luckily, in my search around Baton Rouge, I was able to discover Red Stick Bread and Board, run by a local couple who specialize in baking (my source for the Italian loaf) and creating charcuterie boards.

And third, because the first food I ever remember preparing on my own was a sandwich, and this underrated dish has been a staple of my diet ever since.

I think I was around 5 years old when I encountered noticeably poor quality in my peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. My mom, who instilled in me a frugal mindset to stretch both pennies and ingredients, applied this approach — wrongly, in my young mind — to making my PB&J. She would smear the slightest trace of peanut butter on the bottom slice of white bread, then apply an equally pathetic blob of grape jelly atop the peanut butter with minimal spreading. What was worse, she would take the same knife she used for peanut

Serving size 1/4 of whole sandwich as a meal, or cut in smaller wedges for a party or tailgate snack. Recipe inspired by the book “Cooking up a Storm: Recipes Lost and Found from the Times-Picayune of New Orleans”

Tailgate Muffuletta sandwich butter to dip into the jelly jar — leaving bits of the former in the jar of the latter.

Final effrontery: The sandwich was not sliced!

I protested. On the next occasion, I took matters into my own hands. Mom, step aside. I applied a generous amount of peanut butter, spread evenly and across the whole slice of bread. The jelly, with a separate spoon, done the same to the other piece of bread, then carefully put together and sliced diagonally.

Imagine my pride in presenting a finished product far superior to anything my mom had previously prepared.

It was only years later that it dawned on me that my mom may have purposefully flubbed the PB&J to inspire her youngest and

For the olive salad: 1 carrot, peeled and cut in 2-inch pieces 1 celery stalk cut in 2-inch pieces 2 ⁄3 cup extra virgin olive oil 11/2 cup chopped pimento stuffed olives 1 cup chopped kalamata olives 2 tablespoons capers, drained 2 tablespoons roasted red peppers from a jar, drained and chopped 1/4 cup chopped Italian (flat leaf) parsley 1 teaspoon dried (or fresh chopped) Oregano leaves 1 tablespoons fresh lemon juice or red wine vinegar 2 garlic cloves, minced (optional) 1 peperoncini from a jar, drained and chopped (optional) For the sandwich: 1 round loaf Italian bread (8 to 10 inches in diameter) 1 ⁄3 pound ham, thinly sliced 1 PROVIDED PHOTO By QUENTIN DIRESTO ⁄3 pound mortadella, thinly sliced 1/4 pound Genoa salami, thinly sliced 1 ⁄3 pound provolone cheese, thinly sliced most precocious child to do it him1. Put carrot and celery pieces self. Now I picture her in heaven, looking down with her New YorkBehind the deli counter there er knowing grin, gratified that was a large, commercial kitchen from that day forward she never again had to make a peanut butter stainless-steel griddle. On one side, I fried dozens of eggs at a and jelly sandwich.

But the lesson had been instilled. time, and on the other side, slabs of bacon to meet the morning A sandwich should not be a rush for our breakfast sandwich thrown-together thing. The truth special. is that high-quality preparation, I remember the long lunchtime ingredients and enjoyment are line for our discounted “ham paramount. Thank you, mom, for tricking me onto a path of seeking and cheese” sub (or hero in New York), with each sandwich requirperfection in the humblest food preparations. ing me to hand-slice the sub roll, Fast forward to one of my colthen slice the ham and cheese extra thin in that contraption lege summer breaks, when I got that looks like it might be used to hired as a sandwich maker at a extract secrets in a mob movie. It deli in Long Beach, New York.

This is where I learned that it was was the best summer job I ever not enough to be good, but also to had.

These days, I still make lots of be fast and good.

Grandma’s not getting table manners hint Dear Miss Manners: I hosted a former colleague for a weekend. Like any proud grandmother, she wished to show me a video of her granddaughters singing, to which I happily consented.

I was less pleased, however, when my houseguest proceeded to scroll endlessly through her Judith during our simple Martin phone repast at the dinner table, MISS searching for a specific MANNERS video to show me. After being shown several videos, only to be told, “Oh, no, it’s not that one,” I gently suggested that it might be easier to search for and enjoy the correct video after we had finished our dinner.

My guest assured me she would certainly find the video very shortly. I sat patiently through several other videos, which she showed me from her phone propped up by a water glass.

This woman comes from a politically prominent family and has traveled widely. She is often admired for her good taste. I was nonplussed that she did not catch the meaning of my gentle redirection.

Is there a polite way to ask a houseguest who is oblivious to a polite suggestion to cease and desist questionable table manners?

Gentle reader: Better judgment may vanish when one becomes a grandparent.

How else do you explain the gaudy toys and sugar binges that were strictly prohibited from one’s own children?

Grandparents cannot be expected to show polite restraint. All you can do in a situation such as yours is to repeat the request to finish the task later, make a show of putting your own phone away or say that dinner is getting cold.

But Miss Manners congratulates you on using the word “nonplussed” correctly. May you take comfort in that while you silently seethe at all the videos you were forced to watch.

Dear Miss Manners: During several recent doctor visits, my “quiet” stay in the waiting room was disturbed by rude people dictating text messages out loud.

The words were bad enough, but they also had to add the punctuation as they dictated.

As a former English teacher, am I equally as rude by correcting their grammar in front of the other patients in the waiting room? Or are they fair

game, since they infringed on others’ air space?

Gentle reader: Not equally rude. Somehow even more so.

As Miss Manners’ gentle readers well know, one does not reciprocate bad manners. And between talking too loud and publicly correcting someone’s grammar, the latter is the greater offense. No matter how good the syntax with which it is uttered.

Dear Miss Manners: One of my neighbors, a semi-sweet lady, has a Pomeranian that barks at everything and oftentimes nothing at all. This neighbor invited me to pet her dog and was offended when I declined.

What’s a good way to let pet owners know I am not a kindred spirit?

Gentle reader: Lest your neighbor deem you “unsweetened,” Miss Manners suggests you come up with a viable excuse.

Perhaps, “Oh, thank you, but my hands are dirty,” which all hands not freshly washed may be assumed to be. (Note that saying, “I just washed them, so I’d better not,” would not have the same effect.)

Send questions to Miss Manners at dearmissmanners@gmail.com.

One in four people can’t cook a basic meal Dear Heloise: I recently read that 1 in 4 Americans can’t make a basic meal, and I found this to be surprising. If you can read, you can follow instructions in a cookbook. If your mother cooked most Hints from of your meals, Heloise just ask yourself, “What did she make for dinner?” You don’t need a master’s degree to toss a salad. People who say that they can’t cook haven’t tried to cook. (And I’m talking to all you bachelors out there!)

Don’t believe anyone who says they can’t cook. They may not be good at it, but anyone can make a basic meal. — Jason M., in Hillsboro, Oregon

A tried and true hint Dear Heloise: A friend of mine

had these remarkable wide rubber bands that she used to keep her cereal boxes closed.

I asked her where she got them, and she said that when a pair of rubber gloves get worn out and have holes in them, she cuts along the cuff part of the gloves to form these large bands.

When I mentioned how clever I thought she was, she told me that she had found this hint in your column. So, from both of us, thanks a million for all your wonderful hints! — Kelly and Isabel, in Mississippi

Pork roast poisoning Dear Heloise: My mother always left frozen meat on the kitchen counter to thaw out, and nothing bad ever happened … until now. We went to Mom’s place for Sunday dinner, and she served a pork roast. Everything was fine until later in the evening,

when we all ended up in the emergency room. Turns out, we all had food poisoning from the pork roast.

The physicians warned us to never thaw meat on a kitchen counter. We never had a problem in the past, but this one event was enough to make me sit up and listen to the doctor’s warning. My husband, my kids and I spent three days recovering. — Deborah E., in Eugene, Oregon

While you wait Dear Heloise: Most of us go through situations where we have to wait for a while.

Instead of glancing through outdated magazines or staring at the walls, I take a crossword puzzle from a newspaper or a crossword puzzle book with me. Time seems to fly by while I wait to see the doctor or while my son takes his piano lesson. — Anne R., in Marietta, Georgia

The healthiest nuts Dear Heloise: What are the healthiest nuts to eat as a snack? — Rachel K., in Renton, Washington Rachel, well, there really isn’t a “healthiest” nut because they all offer nutritional value. However, most dietitians usually rank pistachios, walnuts and almonds as their top picks due to their protein, fiber and antioxidants. n Pistachios are classified as a complete plant protein with all nine essential amino acids. n Walnuts are often called “brain food” and contain the highest plant-based omega-4 fatty acids. n Almonds have the highest fiber and protein per serving of any nut. They are also a very good source of vitamin E. — Heloise Send a hint to heloise@ heloise.com.

in a food processor, add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, and chop using pulse button until very finely diced.

2. Spoon mixture into a bowl, add remaining olive oil and all other olive salad ingredients, stir, cover and chill for 2 to 4 hours.

3. Cut the loaf of bread in half horizontally, and (optionally) if you want a little less bread on your sandwich, remove some of the soft inside from both the top and the bottom.

4. Brush the inside of the top and bottom bread shells with the marinade collecting at the bottom of the bowl of olive salad.

5. Stir the olive salad to blend again, then spoon half the mixture onto the bottom round of bread.

6. Arrange the ham slices over the olive salad, and then add the mortadella, salami and provolone cheese in layers.

7. Spread the remaining olive salad over the cheese layer and cover with top of the bread.

8. Wrap the sandwich in plastic wrap, wax paper, or cover with large bowl and let rest for 1 hour at room temperature (so the bread can soak up the olive salad juices).

9. Cut the sandwich into wedges for serving. sandwiches. Since my wife is not as big a fan of them as I am, odds are, on nights when she is otherwise engaged with an outing with her friends, I will announce: “Yay, sandwich night!” My regular repertoire: an Italian (naturally), cheesesteak with mushrooms, meatball or chicken parm subs, and, of course, weekend breakfast sandwiches.

The renowned American chef James Beard, for whom the culinary awards are named, famously stated that “too few people understand a really good sandwich.”

As the jazz song says, “be in that number” — the few, the proud, the saint who marches in — using good bread.

TODAY IN HISTORY

By The Associated Press Today is Sunday, Aug. 9, the 221st day of 2026.

There are 144 days left in the year.

Today in history: On Aug. 9, 1945, three days after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, a U.S. B-29 Superfortress dropped an atomic device over Nagasaki; the bombing and subsequent radiation poisoning killed an estimated 74,000 people.

Also on this date: In 1173, construction began on the campanile of Pisa Cathedral — better known as the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

In 1854, Henry David Thoreau’s “Walden,” which described Thoreau’s experiences while living near Walden Pond in Massachusetts, was first published.

In 1936, Jesse Owens won his fourth gold medal at the Berlin Olympics as the United States took first place in the 400-meter relay.

In 1969, actor Sharon Tate and four other people were found killed at Tate’s Los Angeles home; cult leader Charles Manson and a group of his followers were later convicted of the crime.

In 1974, Gerald Ford took the oath of office to become U.S. president after Richard Nixon’s resignation; in a speech afterward, Ford declared that “our long national nightmare is over.”

In 1988, President Ronald Reagan nominated Lauro Cavazos to be secretary of education; Cavazos became the first Hispanic to serve in the Cabinet.

In 2014, Michael Brown Jr., a Black 18-yearold, was shot to death by a police officer following an altercation in Ferguson, Missouri; Brown’s death led to sometimes-violent protests in Ferguson and other U.S. cities, helping fuel a national “Black Lives Matter” movement.

In 2024, a passenger plane crashed in a gated residential community in Brazil’s Sao Paulo state, killing all 61 people aboard. The twinengine plane operated by Voepass was en route to Sao Paulo’s international airport at the time.

In 2025, Jen Pawol broke Major League Baseball’s gender barrier as the first female umpire to work a regular-season game; Pawol worked both games of a doubleheader between the Atlanta Braves and Miami Marlins.

Today’s birthdays: Basketball Hall of Famer Bob Cousy is 98. Tennis Hall of Famer Rod Laver is 88. Actor Sam Elliott is 82. Singer Barbara Mason is 79. College Football Hall of Famer and former NFL player Doug Williams is 71. Actor Melanie Griffith is 69. Actor Amanda Bearse is 68. Rapper Kurtis Blow is 67. Hockey Hall of Famer Brett Hull is 62. Pro and College Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders is 59. Actor Gillian Anderson is 58. Actor Eric Bana is 58.

Producer-director McG (aka Joseph McGinty Nichol) is 58. NHL player-turned-coach Rod Brind’Amour is 56. Actor Thomas Lennon is 55.

Actor Nikki Schieler Ziering is 55. Latin rock singer Juanes is 54. Actor Liz Vassey is 54. Actor Kevin McKidd is 53. Actor Jessica Capshaw is 50. Actor Ashley Johnson is 43. Actor Anna Kendrick is 41. Singer-rapper Kazuha is 23.

The Acadiana Advocate ● theadvocate.com ● Sunday,August 9, 2026 ● 3D

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TRAVEL

Walk on the dark side in 7 Southern states

BY CHERÉ COEN Contributing writer

There’s a new term for tourists who long for dark skies, where stars fill our view of the heavens.

Called noctourism, or the love of enjoying nature after dark, this trend has been growing throughout the world. A study by Booking.com found 62% of travelers in 33 countries consider visiting dark sky destinations. Wayfairer Travel reports nocturnal excursions were up by 25% in 2024.

But where are these dark skies, places devoid of light pollution?

Official dark skies are certified

by DarkSky International, which helps to conserve starry sky parks, communities and more around the world.

As we roll into mid-August and the annual Perseid’s Meteor Shower — peaking Aug. 12-13 and a great opportunity for a night of stargazing — we offer a few dark skies closes to home in the South.

Tennessee The Volunteer State offers quite a few choices when it comes to dark skies. Rise up to 6,000 feet above sea level in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park where there’s limited light to view the heavens at the Newfound Gap Trailhead.

Pickett CCC Memorial State Park was the first Southeastern state park designated as a Silvertier International Dark Sky Park by the International Dark Sky Association. The park occasionally hosts star parties and is home to an astronomy field.

Another stargazing hot spot certified by the International Dark Sky Association is Obed Wild & Scenic River National Park along the Cumberland Plateau. Visitors have raved of the unobscured views of stars and constellations, which are particularly magical at Lilly Bluff Overlook. Nearby Fall Creek Falls State Park hosts astronomy weekends and starviewing parties as well as cabins and campsites for those who wish to spend time on the Cumberland Plateau.

The Tennessee Night Sky Trail

PROVIDED PHOTO

The Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge preserves hundreds of acres of wetlands in southeastern Georgia.

Cave. Since the national park is the longest known cave system in the world — 412 miles with more being discovered — it’s well lit so PROVIDED PHOTO By MARK TAyLOR guests on tours don’t stumble in Pickett CCC Memorial State Park in Tennessee was the first Southeastern state park designated as a Silver-tier the dark. But the UNESCO World Heritage Site has been working International Dark Sky Park by the International Dark Sky Association. to combat light pollution above ground and achieved a bronze was established to make it easy dusk and a sky full of stars. Rang- Sky Park, the 26th National Park tier designation through the IDS. for tourists to find more darkness ers point out stars, planets and Service site to receive this desig- Ranger-led programs are offered in Northeast Tennessee. Stargazand telescopes are provided. constellations for a nominal fee, nation and the first in Arkansas. but there are also deer, lightning The park offers several night sky ers and outdoor enthusiasts may Georgia programs throughout the year. enjoy astronomical activities such bugs and owls in the nearby woods. as hiking trails, scenic overlooks Like the Atchafalaya Basin, Texas and a planetarium, including the Okefenokee National WildFlorida the Appalachian Trail and Roan One of the country’s darkest life Refuge preserves hundreds Mountain. Several locations on skies is also one of the most of acres of wetlands in southFlorida is home to two official the Tennessee Night Sky Trail are Dark Sky locations, Big Cypress remote. It’s in West Texas, as in eastern Georgia. The Stephen ADA Accessible with wheelchair way down in West Texas, but it’s National Preserve in South C. Foster State Park within the accessibility. Visit northeasttenwell worth the drive.

Florida, which offers astronomy refuge earned a Dark Sky desThe Greater Big Bend Interna- ignation and the refuge recently programs in the winter, and the nessee.org/the-tennessee-night54,000-acre Kissimmee Prairie sky-trail for more information. tional Dark Sky Reserve consists was named a UNESCO World Preserve State Park in Central Heritage Site. The park has very of 15,000 square miles of rural Virginia Florida, the largest remaining little light pollution and offers area in both the United States tract of Florida dry prairie. and Mexico and includes the Mc- accommodations, although some Come for the dramatic natural cabins are being renovated this bridge carved out by Cedar Creek Donald Observatory near Fort Arkansas summer. and once owned by Thomas JefDavis and Marfa and Big Bend ferson, but don’t miss the rangerThe Natural State boasts of sev- National Park. The Reserve was led Dark Skies trek once the sun eral dark skies, particularly in the the first IDA-certified reserve in Want more places to visit? the world to cross an internationsets. northern region.

This list is but a hint of what’s Rolling meadows and hiking The Buffalo National River al boundary and the largest Dark available, and the list grows as trails complete the rural park within the Ozark Mountains is more visitors demand Dark Skies Sky-certified place in the world. near Lexington, so the regular managed by the National Park in their destinations. Visit darkKentucky “Park After Dark: Night Hikes” Service, and its preservation sky.org for a complete and curallow visitors to see wildlife at earned it an International Dark It’s dark inside Mammoth rent list of Dark Sky locations.

TRAVEL TROUBLESHOOTER

By Christopher Elliott

Turo charged me $2,338 for car rental damage I didn’t cause I recently rented a car through Turo in Los Angeles. I delivered the car a day early because I had to catch an earlier flight home.

The next day, I received a text from Turo saying the owner claimed I had damaged the car. sent photos, Christopher oneTuro of which showed a Elliott scratch on the fender and a small hole in the bumper. Fortunately, I had taken photos when I took possession of the car. I sent Turo my photos, which clearly showed the scratch was already there.

Turo reviewed the evidence and told me the claim had been dropped because it was “normal wear and tear.”

A week later,Turo reopened the claim and charged my credit card $660. I was never shown an itemized bill.Then, earlier this month, it sent me another invoice for $1,678.Turo claims there’s now “hidden” damage to the car. It sent a photo of a larger hole that I have never seen before.

This feels like a scam. I have disputed the charge with my credit card company, but I am not hopeful. Can you help me get my money back? — Georgina Montalvan, Birmingham,Ala. Turo should have stuck to its original decision. You had the evidence to prove that the damage was pre-existing, and the company correctly identified it as “wear and tear.”

Reopening the claim and charg-

ing you $660 — and then piling on another $1,678 for “hidden” damage — was wrong.

Peer-to-peer car rental platforms like Turo can be tricky.

Unlike traditional car rental companies, you’re dealing with individual owners who may be very protective of their vehicles or, in rare cases, looking to have existing damage fixed at a renter’s expense.

The supplemental claim is a common pain point. This happens when a repair shop takes the car apart and finds more damage than was visible in the initial photos.

While this is a legitimate industry practice, it can feel incredibly

unfair to a renter who has already left the state and has no way to verify the new damage.

You did the right thing by taking photos of the car when you picked it up. That paper trail is your best defense against frivolous damage claims. It is unclear why Turo ignored your photographic evidence after initially accepting it. (The photos get uploaded to the Turo app, so it has access to them.)

You could have also appealed your case to someone higher up at Turo. I publish the names, numbers and email addresses of the Turo executives on my consumer advocacy site, Elliott.org.

Your case is a reminder to always take photos of the car at pickup and return. That evidence is the only thing standing between you and a massive repair bill.

I contacted Turo on your behalf.

The company reviewed your case again and dropped the claim. You have received a full refund of the $660, and the additional $1,678 invoice has been canceled.

Christopher Elliott is the founder of Elliott Advocacy, a nonprofit organization that helps consumers solve their problems.

Email him at chris@elliott.org or get help by contacting him on his site.

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4D ● Sunday,August 9, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

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BOOKS

La. author explores Acadian roots Through war and romance, book gives insight into expulsion

BY JOY HOLDEN Staff writer

“Like Snow Before Sun” by Marianne Rabalais Sulser,Atmosphere Press, 323 pages.

The novel “Like Snow Before Sun” by Marianne Rabalais Sulser is a fictional account of the AcaReview dians and Mi’kmaq tribe on the eve of the French and Indian War and the Expulsion of the Acadians. Sulser weaves a tale of redemptive love and brutal violence among the complex alliance of Acadians and Mi’kmaq as they encounter the British.

Marianne Rabalais Sulser is an Alexandria native living in Colorado with her husband and three children. She is a graduate of LSU’s Manship School of Mass Communication and the Paul M. Hebert Law Center.

Sulser’s maternal ancestors were among the Acadians expelled from Nova Scotia in the 1750s, and she grew up hearing Cajun French and family stories that shaped her identity. After working on her own genealogical research, Sulser still had questions. As a lawyer, she found herself on a quest to uncover her ancestors’ stories from Nova Scotia.

So she turned the exploration into a novel that illuminates the terror of the time through the eyes of an Acadian and Mi’kmaq woman.

“Like Snow Before Sun,” which was released in June, brings this chapter of history to life through the story of a fierce young woman named Jeanne LeJeune who is caught between loyalty, love and survival as war reshapes her world.

In 1755 Halifax, Jeanne LeJeune has always lived between worlds — the fierce daughter of a French merchant and a Mi’kmaw woman, she is torn between her village life

PROVIDED PHOTO

Marianne Rabalais Sulser, an LSU alumna, is the author of ‘Like Snow Before Sun.’ and her mother’s people. When her father is seized by English soldiers, Jeanne’s fragile peace shatters.

To free her father, Jeanne agrees to guide an English officer through Nova Scotia as he maps the land. Her choice entangles her in the coming war. With allegiances to the Acadians and the Mi’kmaq, Jeanne’s mission to free her father becomes a journey of danger, betrayal and passion.

The character Jeanne is inspired by one of Sulser’s own ancestors — a woman of Acadian and Mi’kmaw heritage. Henry Young, Jeanne’s love interest, draws from an actual British

officer who may have secretly helped Acadians escape deportation.

“Like Snow Before Sun” is an intricate look at the Acadians, the Mi’kmak and the English in Acadia in 1755.

The novel puts in perspective how fierce the hatred was between the English Protestants and the French Catholics during the 18th century. Sulser covers political intrigue, ferocious violence and community tumult while cultivating an enemies-tolovers romance.

Full of heartache and drama, the novel captures the unstable time for Acadians and Mi’kmaq

in a grounded story of family and the fight for freedom. Sulser creates lush descriptions of the forest and the coast of the Northeast. Through her descriptions of nature and action, she builds an unforgettable world.

Through familiar dialogue, Sulser draws a direct line from Acadians to Cajuns in their language and ways.

The title of the novel comes from Chief Tecumseh, who said, “They have vanished before the avarice and the oppression of the White Man, as snow before a summer sun.”

Sulser wrote that the quote

made her think of not only First Nations but also the loss of Acadiana and Louisiana Cajun culture. She hopes readers develop a deeper understanding of the resilience required to survive displacement and how Cajun culture has endured.

Sulser will be at the Louisiana Book Festival in Baton Rouge on Oct. 31.

To learn more from the resources Sulser used to research this novel, visit mariannesulser. com.

Email Joy Holden at joy. holden@theadvocate.com.

At a celebrity bookshop in California, I found greatness on the shelf When my family and I visited Summerland, California, in May, I assumed that blue skies would be part of the mix. California is known for its sunny weather, and who wouldn’t expect a place called Summerland to offer endless sun?

But our excursion unfolded during the area’s season of “May gray,” a local quirk of the weather that brings clouds and chill.

Days like that make wide, clear windows all the more welcome to harness the subdued light.

The thought came to mind as we browsed in Godmothers, a Summerland bookstore that opened two years ago in a restored gambrel barn. The shop’s broad banks of windows are a big part of its California feel. While some bookstores embrace a cloistered sensibility, this venue looks outward, connecting books with the world beyond its doorstep.

There are other nods to California’s brightly casual vibe.

Warm wood floors create an inviting mood, and along with the high bookcases, broad farm tables hold some of the stock, too. Other light touches, such as a small end table bearing a tiny stack of volumes, make Godmothers seem less like a store and more like a

Dan Heitma D annnyy H eitman Danny Heitman AT RANDOM RANDOM AT

home.

The shop was the brainchild of high-profile literary agent Jennifer Rudolph Walsh and popular beauty author Victoria Jackson.

Various stories have credited Oprah Winfrey, a friend of the owners, with coining the shop’s name. Because it’s in Santa Barbara County, Godmothers attracts its share of celebrities. Harry and Meghan, Duke and Duchess of Sussex, have stopped by.

We didn’t see any stars on our visit, but when I go to a bookstore, I’m looking for greatness on the shelves. Luckily, Godmothers had an abundance of talent in its stock.

One of the small pleasures of visiting a bookshop is being reminded of the good books already waiting for you at home. I was happy to see “Whistler,” Ann Patchett’s new novel, and Anne Fadiman’s “Frog: And Other Es-

says” at Godmothers. I was doubly pleased to know that I’d acquired them some weeks before for my to-be-read pile back in Louisiana.

I headed upstairs to the shop’s spacious second floor, which included a lovely row of glass panes and a selection of books on art and design. My purchase for the day was “The World According to Vincent,” a bright yellow hardback that alternates some of Van Gogh’s best paintings with pithy excerpts from his writings. I’ve been so taken with it that I’ve explored an equally charming companion volume, “The World According to Matisse.”

Visiting Godmothers reminded me that bookstores can be a great welcome mat for any community.

That’s surely true of our own bookstore scene in Louisiana, as Steve Garbarino made clear earlier this year in “Big Easy Reading,” a celebration of New Orleans bookshops in Airmail magazine.

Van Gogh said the secret of making beauty “is to a large extent good faith and sincere feeling.”

The best bookshops, I’ve learned, offer both.

Email Danny Heitman at danny@dannyheitman.com.

PHOTO PROVIDED By LEAH NORTON

The children’s section in Godmothers, a Summerland, California, bookshop, rests near a wide bank of windows that allows plenty of natural light.

THIS WEEK’S BESTSELLERS FROM PUBLISHERS WEEKLY HARDCOVER FICTION

1. “The Calamity Club” by Kathryn Stockett 2. “Yesteryear” by Caro Claire Burke 3. “Whistler” by Ann Patchett 4. “The Country Road Murders” by Patterson/Lupica 5. “A Forsaken Prophecy” by Stacey McEwan 6. “Cool Machine” by Colson Whitehead 7. “Prince of Swords” by Elise Kova 8. “Ransom” by Daniel Silva 9. “The Shampoo Effect” by Jenny Jackson 10. “Mad Mabel” by Sally Hepworth

HARDCOVER NONFICTION

1. “Regime Change” by Haberman/ Swan 2. “Strangers” by Belle Burden 3. “The Price of Becoming” by Ryan Hawk 4. “Communion” by JD Vance 5. “The Day After” by Brian Tyler Cohen 6. “Courage Can Save Us” by Rye Barcott 7. “The Land and Its People” by David Sedaris 8. “Revolution” by Eric Metaxas 9. “The King Is Coming” by John Bevere 10. “Cancel Me If You Can” by Dave Portnoy

TRADE PAPERBACK

1. “Theo of Golden” by Allen Levi 2. “Dungeon Crawler Carl” by Matt Dinniman 3. “The Divorce” by Freida McFadden 4. “Lorenzo” by Sadie Kincaid 5. “My Friends” by Fredrik Backman 6. “Murdoku” by Manuel Garand 7. “Dust to Dust” by Jen Wilkin 8. “Stolen by Shadows” by Elizabeth Helen 9. “The Housemaid’s Wedding” by Freida McFadden 10. “Atmosphere” by Taylor Jenkins Reid

The Acadiana Advocate ● theadvocate.com ● Sunday,August 9, 2026 ● 5D

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LOUISIANA INSPIRED

‘The content of their character’

How one Louisiana teacher changed the trajectory of a life

BY LAUREN CHERAMIE Staff writer

Johnell Theriot was 5 years old when she crawled through a hole in the back fence on Freret Street in Morgan City. On the other side lived Alice Stansamore, a fourth grade teacher who would change the direction of her life.

When the A LESSON newspaper asked FOR LIFE for letters and messages about teachers who changed lives, Theriot submitted a letter to Stansamore.

The following letter is edited for length and clarity: Dear Ms. Alice, This letter is long overdue. Even though I have never had the privilege of being an official student of yours, I have been the recipient of your educational philosophy.

As you remember, our families were neighbors on Freret Street in Morgan City in the early 1950s.

You were a fourth grade teacher at Sumpter Williams School. I was a very active 5 year old who loved to go through the back fence to visit you, Maw Vic, Mert and Maw PeeMaw. As you prepared your schoolwork, I helped you to organize your papers. I guess we talked about the papers as we went. A seed was being planted into my active little brain.

We moved, but I never forgot your family. As times passed, I decided that I wanted to be a teacher just like you.

At the time, there were two educational systems in Louisiana, but things changed when I entered the teaching profession. I had the opportunity to be one of the first teachers to educate an integrated

classroom. Maybe you couldn’t teach me when I was in school, but I had the opportunity to teach students of your race for 43 years.

Those students were taught in accordance with our shared philosophy of teaching all students entrusted to us regardless of race, color, creed and academic ability.

I never missed an opportunity to tell anyone that my inspiration for becoming a teacher was a neighbor, who was of a different race in pre-Brown vs. Board of Education, who taught an active 5 year old that you teach a student according to the content of their character, not the color of their skin.

Thank you, Ms. Alice for planting that seed and helping me to become the woman that I am today.

Sincerely, Johnell B. Theriot Theriot, 78, lives in St. Martin Parish, where she was a teacher for 43 years. Her husband is a retired colonel. Every Wednesday morning, she goes to the beautician. In December, she’ll celebrate another birthday.

Though she’s at a point now where she can reflect on her life, the seed to her teaching career was planted when she was 5 years old in Morgan City, where she would sneak through a hole in the back fence of her rent house to meet a neighbor, Stansamore, a fourth grade teacher at Sumpter Williams School, which used to be called Morgan City Colored High School.

Theriot’s dad was a concrete inspector who worked on the original flood wall in Morgan City in 1947.

The family wasn’t staying in the area long, so they rented a house on Freret Street in 1951, which is how Theriot came to know Stansamore and her mother.

“My dad knew no strangers,” Theriot said. “They would make friends wherever they were. So we made friends with them next door.

These ladies would watch over my mother and me when he was gone.”

During the summer, Stansamore attended summer school. Theriot’s family helped their neighbor by

PROVIDED PHOTO

A postcard of Morgan City Colored High School, which was renamed Sumpter Williams High School packing lunches of sardines and crackers and Vienna sausages. In the afternoon, 5-year-old Theriot would slip through to Stansamore’s house and help her with paper work.

“She would correct her papers, and instead of her getting up and going to put them away, she’d have me go and put them up. And that’s how I’d help her,” Theriot said of Stansamore, who was disabled.

“I’d go home, and I’d tell Mom, ‘I wanna be like Miss Alice.’”

At the time, Theriot remembers that Stansamore was in her 70s or 80s, and Stansamore’s mother, who Theriot called “Mama Vic,” was a little over 100 years old. This was in the early ’50s, when Brown v.

Board of Education just passed and segregation was rampant.

Theriot says her mother didn’t raise her to look down on anyone, no matter their skin color. Every adult had a title, whether it was mister or misses.

Theriot and her family lived on Freret Street for about two years, then they moved to St. Martinville

in 1954. But they still went back and visited Miss Alice and Mama Vic for years. Theriot even sent them a high school graduation invitation.

“Mama Vic had a coffee table in her living room, and she had all of her little grandchildren’s pictures,” Theriot said. “And right smack dab in the middle of all those pictures was my little graduation picture.

I mean, it stuck out like a sore thumb, but that was Mama Vic — Johnell was one of her grandchildren, and that was it.”

Theriot says it didn’t dawn on her when she was younger that she was helping someone who was less fortunate than her, because of Stansamore’s mobility issues.

When Theriot decided she wanted to be a teacher, she minored in special education. Her first year of teaching was at St. Martin Elementary in September of 1969, the first year of elementary public school integration in St. Martin Parish.

The high school integrated the following year.

Sometime after the integration of

public schools, Theriot’s mother went to visit Stansamore.

“Alice told Mama, ‘I’m just going to have to retire, because no White people are gonna want a Black crippled teacher to teach their kids.’ I think that I took over where she left off,” Theriot said.

When asked about her educational philosophy, Theriot remembered Martin Luther King Jr.’s I Have a Dream speech: “I judge a person not by the color of their skin, but the content of their character.”

In her 43-year career, Theriot has taught every grade of elementary school. She retired in May 2006 but went back to the profession in 2013 for three years.

Stansamore died in 1969, but if she were still here today, Theriot said she would tell Miss Alice this: “I taught my students just the way that I think you taught yours — teaching each child to make the most of themselves.”

Email Lauren Cheramie at lauren.cheramie@theadvocate. com.

Powering Progress A New Home for Discovery, Research and Collaboration at LSU

Shell Research Laboratories

Pictured L to R: Rob Stuart, LSU Real Estate and Facilities Foundation President & CEO; Wade Rousse, LSU President; Rochelle Touchard, Shell, Corporate Relations Regional Lead; Colette Hirstius, Shell USA, President; Lee Stockwell, Shell, General Manager, Carbon Capture and Storage North America; Krista Raney, LSU Foundation President & CEO; Robb Brumfield, LSU College of Science Interim Dean

“The opening of the LSU Our Lady of the Lake Health Interdisciplinary Science Building is a testament to the power of partnership and what can be achieved when industry and academia come together around a shared vision.

Shell USA, Inc. committed $2.5 million to the Our Lady of the Lake Health Interdisciplinary Science Building as part of a $27.5 million investment in energy-related initiatives at LSU. Shell Research Laboratories offers advanced research environments to enable faculty and students to work together on complex, real world challenges.

We are proud to support a space where students, faculty and industry can collaborate to drive discovery, explore new frontiers and develop the next generation of scientists, engineers and energy leaders.”

– Colette Hirstius, President, Shell USA

shell.us/louisiana | #PoweringProgress

6D ● Sunday,August 9, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

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Former ‘The Voice’ contestant signs with Motown Gospel Abbeville is too small for Koryn came the first eliminated. Sawyer Hawthorne to win “The Voice.”

Fredericks, a 16-year-old singer Those words from Hawthorne’s el- from New York with a strong social ementary school teacher in a 2015 media following, won the event.

Fourth place has proven interview have stayed with to be a blessing. Now a conme all these years.

Hawthorne’s powerful temporary Christian and R&B voice was seemingly gospel singer, Hawthorne crushing the competition in earned a gold record with Season 8 of the reality singher 2017 debut single, “Won’t He Do It.” ing competition on NBC. Herman The million-seller But votes from viewers Fuselier reached No. 1 on three ultimately decided the winBillboard gospel charts. ner. Folks in Hawthorne’s The hit stayed at No. 1 for 41 small, south Louisiana hometown weeks on Billboard’s Hot Gospel felt that put her at a disadvantage to big-city contestants. The teach- Songs chart, setting a record for er and a cast of family, friends and the longest reign at the top spot for a female artist. church members worked VermilSeven years later, the inspiraion Parish and the surrounding area for support. tional hit has 100 million views on Throngs of fans showed up for a YouTube and more than 60 million parade and celebration of Koryn streams on various online music Hawthorne Day, Mayor Mark platforms. Hawthorne’s career Piazza’s official proclamation on has included two Grammy nomiMay 6, 2015. nations and multiple music and Yet the small-town concerns beimage awards.

She enlarged her territory in came reality. Hawthorne advanced July with a recording contract to the show’s final four, then be-

comes out Oct. 2.

“His Favorite,” the project’s first single, already has 54,000 views in less than two weeks on YouTube. Motown Gospel describes her voice as a “powerful bridge” between gospel, R&B and contemporary music.

“What has always stood out to us is her ability to meet people where they are and make music that feels both personal and uplifting,” said Walter Thomas, executive vice president of Motown Gospel and TAMLA Records, about Hawthorne.

The uplifting voice from Abbeville was too small to win “The Voice.” Now the whole world gets FILE PHOTO By TRAE PATTON/NBC to savor it.

Koryn Hawthorne, left, takes the stage with her coach, Pharrell Williams, on Herman Fuselier is executive the live finals of ‘The Voice’ in 2015. from Motown Gospel. Yes, that’s part of the landmark record label that gave the world Diana Ross and the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder and other legends.

J. White Did It, who has produced No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 for Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion, is the producer of Hawthorne’s first project. The EP

TEACHERS

GETTy IMAGES ILLUSTRATION

Continued from page 1D

Ms. Doherty noticed.

She didn’t just teach me in her own classroom — she went and spoke with my other teachers, telling them she saw something special in me and asking them to look closer, the way she had.

That single act changed my entire relationship with school. For the first time, I felt like someone believed I was worth investing in, and it made me want to work harder for everyone, not just her.

That belief followed me long after graduation. I carried her confidence in me through college, where I excelled academically in a way I never would have predicted as that scared freshman. And I carried her love of history straight into my career — today, I write stories and do marketing for professional sports brands and organizations, work I never would have found without the spark she lit in that classroom. I’m also a teacher myself now, and every day I try to impact my students the same way she impacted me.

Teachers like Linda Doherty don’t just teach subjects. They see students before those students can see themselves, and they fight for them. I owe her more than words can capture, and I wanted her community to know the impact she’s had — not just on one history lesson, but on an entire life.

Joel Armentor Lafayette High

Summer Mire says: Mr. Armentor was my history teacher during my junior and senior years of high school in 20162017. He made every class one to look forward to. He had a quick wit, an incredible sense of humor and a way of making history come alive. He also had a talent for reading his students without them ever saying a word.

One thing he always told us was, “These are going to be the best notes you’ve ever taken.” At the time, it sounded like one of those classic teacher sayings. But he was right. I held onto those notes long after I graduated, and they helped me through several of my college history classes. Even years later, I found myself looking back at them because they were organized, thorough, and easy to understand.

His pop quizzes were infamous. They were PROVIDED PHOTO the quizzes everyone Joel Armentor, history feared, but looking back, teacher at Lafayette they were exactly what we needed. Those surHigh, with student prise quizzes forced us Summer Mire on the to actually study, pay atlast day of school in tention — and truly learn the material instead of 2017 just memorizing it for a test and forgetting it afterward. He had a way of making sure we were prepared, even when we didn’t realize we

SELF-PORTRAIT Continued from page 1D

piece of paper. I cannot see what I’m drawing as it’s happening — and that’s the whole point.

The first self-portrait was ridiculous. The second was slightly better. I like the third one a lot — maybe because it’s in my favorite shade of green. I’ve shared videos of all three attempts with friends.

More than one has asked the same question: Why are you doing this?

My answer is equally simple: “For no reason beyond entertaining myself!”

director of the St. Landry Parish Tourist Commission. A longtime journalist covering Louisiana music and culture, he lives in Opelousas. His “Zydeco Stomp” show airs at noon Saturdays on KRVS 88.7 FM.

needed the extra push.

One day after my high-school boyfriend and I had broken up, I walked into class trying to pretend everything was fine. Apparently, I wasn’t fooling anyone. Mr. Armentor could tell Carencro Middle something was wrong just by the energy I brought into the room. Instead of Gabbi Cormier says: Ms. Mireille Mouton calling attention to it, he quietly spent is an ELA teacher at Carencro Middle the entire class playing Otis Redding School. She taught me during eighth heartbreak songs but tygrade, during the 2025-2026 school year. ing it into the day’s lesson, The memories were endso others didn’t get behind.

Yes, it made me cry. A less in this class. I had her lot. first and second hour. As But looking back, it’s one you could imagine, it was of my favorite high school hard reading at 7:30 in the memories. The class morning, but she helped us laughed with me, I was all in ways I couldn’t even able to let out all the sadexplain. She made class fun even on the bad days. ness I had been carrying Her joyful, playful mood around, and somehow he lightened everyone as they turned a difficult day into walked by. It seemed that one I’ll never forget. It was such a simple act of kindPROVIDED PHOTO you can hear her laugh from miles away. I looked ness that showed he truly Gabbie Cormier and forward to seeing her evcared about his students.

Mireille Mouton, eigth He also loved joking ery single day. I’m so sad with us and was famous grade English language that next year as I go off for his deadpan humor arts teacher at Carencro into high school I won’t and playful teasing and Middle School have her class to run to if I gaslighting us. You never ever need a break, someone knew what he was going to say next, and to talk to, or even just a hug. that’s part of what made everyone want It’s like every day we walked into her to be in his class. classroom we created a new memory or More than anything, Mr. Armentor had a new adventure. Anyone who gets showed me that teaching is about build- her as their teacher will be beyond lucky ing relationships just as much as it is to have her. If I could go back to her class about teaching content. His classroom for one more day, I would. We all love you was a place where students felt seen, so much Ms. Mouton. Please continue to be the best you that you can be! supported and excited to learn.

Today, I’m a history teacher myself, and I often think about the kind of classroom he created. His passion for Hamilton Laboratory School history, his humor and the way he cared for his students inspired me to become Sue Thomas says: As a shy little Cajun a history teacher. girl attending school for eight years I hope that one day one of my students at Hamilton Laboratory School on the will look back on my class the way I look UL campus, my school days were very back on his, not just for the lessons they memorable. Hamilton was the laboralearned, but for how they felt while they tory school where students attending the were learning them. college of education in the 1950s would

Frankly, it’s fun.

The stakes are low. I never know what I’m going to get, and each attempt has taught me something.

When I can’t see what I’m drawing, I can’t worry about whether I’m drawing it right. There is only the doing.

I convinced my husband, who actually can draw, to try the first attempt with me. Having been with me when I bought the supplies, he wasn’t surprised. He didn’t hesitate. For the most part, he has stopped resisting when I present him with one of my ideas, supplies in hand.

That said, he shocked me when he began wadding the paper up —

Mireille Mouton

Helen Longanecker

more than once. He explained that wadding the paper would make it mold against his cheekbones and nose.

I tried his technique on my second attempt, although wadding up perfectly good paper felt vaguely sacrilegious. The portrait was only marginally better. For my third attempt, I went back to perfectly good flat paper.

Being asked why I’m doing this has made me wonder: Why am I doing this?

I think it has something to do with the surprise. I never know what I’m going to find when I take the paper away.

Most of what fills my week runs

do their practicum as student teachers in preparation for their education degrees.

What stands out in my memory as a student there was my love for my fourth-grade teacher, Ms. Helen Longanecker. She, like all the teachers at Hamilton were outstanding educators, but Ms. Longanecker will always be my favorite teacher.

As a student I loved learning and excelled academically but always sat quietly as an observer and shy participant.

The exception to this behavior was in my fourth-grade year, Ms. Longanecker in her unassuming manner encouraged me to open up. Her beautiful smile and soft-spoken voice made me feel like she was speaking directly to me. I think she did the same for all her students, recognizing us as individuals and making us all feel special.

Every day after walking home for a quick lunch, or as we Cajuns called it dinner, I couldn’t wait to walk back to school and my desk. After lunch we always had story time. I sat quietly at my desk listening to the hum of the small black oscillating fan on the wall. It was then that Ms. Longanecker read to us in her soft melodious voice the story of a young girl and her adventures from the book “Caddie Woodlawn” by Carol Ryrie Brink. That experience introduced me to the wonderful world of reading and a love for books. It fostered in me a desire to become an educator and eventually a school librarian leading to my becoming a supervising librarian for the university in preparing future school librarians.

I overcame much of my shyness that year, feeling free at times to leave my desk while a student teacher was conducting class and walking over to Ms. Longanecker’s desk to whisper something happening in my life. She listened attentively to what I had to say with interest and love, never reprimanding me for leaving my desk. She encouraged this shy little girl to open up and express herself. Her gentle smile and concern meant the world to me.

on the opposite instinct. There are deadlines — so many deadlines.

There is research. There is reporting. There is writing. There is editing. There are stories that need to keep the readers reading. Most of what I make is supposed to work.

Life is full of things that are supposed to turn out. This one isn’t.

I don’t want fun and surprise to live only in the margins of everyday life.

Maybe I like the repetition as much as anything. I put the paper up, I draw what I cannot see.

There is no way to cheat it. I can’t see the drawing, so I can’t judge it while I’m making it.

Low stakes and delight are not

the same thing, but I think they might be cousins.

Nobody expects a blind portrait to be good. The green one surprised me. The jaw is roughly in the right place. It captures something of the way I look off to the side. It makes me smile.

The third portrait sits on my desk right now, green face turned slightly away from the window.

I’m going to frame it.

If you want to try your own version of a blind self-portrait, please do! Send photos of your effort to jan.risher@theadvocate.com.

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

The Acadiana Advocate ● theadvocate.com ● Sunday,August 9, 2026 ● 7D

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DINING SCENE N.O., home of the po-boy, is now a bagel town too When does a food trend evolve into a local fixture? It dawned on me that this has happened with bagels in New Orleans during a recent trip to New York City. For once, in the American Ian heartland of baMcNulty tyy gels, I felt no need WHAT’S to have one. I knew COOKING my cravings were well handled back home in New Orleans, and that’s new.

Bagels have been booming from coast to coast, often driven by large brands expanding. But in New Orleans, it’s been a largely homegrown ascent as people who yearned for a proper bagel set out to fill a void.

A city fiercely proud of its own food tradition has been more openly embracing those from elsewhere, and throwing its food zeal into them. That’s led to a range of bagels in different styles with a baseline of high quality, mirroring the city’s recent good fortune of fine pizza.

Today, New Orleans has its own artisan bagels and grocery store bagels, bagels at the farmers market and on campus, late-night bagels and hangover helpers, bagels for the parade route and platters for holidays and house guests.

There is enough range to cement loyalties and fuel arguments, a sure sign that something is part of the conversation and not just a blip.

That’s the reason Justin Shugure zeroed in on Uptown New Orleans to open another outpost of his Shug’s Bagels (7505 Maple St.), which the New York native started to fill a bagel void near his own alma matter, Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

Shug’s is as much deli as bakery, with Reuben and chicken cutlet bagels on the menu. It has recreated perfectly the bodega bagel sandwich, a staple of the Northeast, with sizzled, delightfully greasy Taylor Ham slices between egg and cheese and the crunch of toasted bagel halves.

The bodega feel is so convincing, that walking out with my Greek-patterned coffee cup I half expected to find a subway station outside instead of a streetcar stop a few blocks away.

Shug’s has also made late-night bagels a thing in New Orleans, reopening after the breakfast/lunch run for night shift from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m.

STAFF PHOTO By ENAN CHEDIAK

STAFF PHOTO By IAN McNULTy

Shug’s Bagels recreates the bodega bagel sandwiches of Northeast tradition, right down to the Greek-styled coffee cups.

texture.

You can get a classic deli-style bagel sandwich (the hot salmon on an everything pumpernickel has a cult following for good reason) or go fancy with a bagel tartine (maybe the “new moon” dappled with salmon roe and disks of radish).

Flour Moon added a bagel food truck, stationed on Tulane University’s Uptown campus and rolling elsewhere between semesters,

and hosts collaborations with other local makers and visiting chefs.

Any day at the shop, designed with a cozy minimalism the owners dubbed “Scandinavian Waffle House,” there’s a tableau of how New Orleans people are making bagels part of their day.

They’re visiting for lunch breaks and study sessions, building weekend morning rituals with a Bloody Mary and seeding their own children’s future food memories.

Toddlers arriving in strollers for a plain bagel today will not know a New Orleans that didn’t have great bagels.

Feeding a need Not so long ago that prospect seemed farfetched. Bagels were little seen in New Orleans, and they were usually dismally disappointing.

Change came slowly, but there was clearly a hunger for it. When Laurel Street Bakery (2701 S. Broad St.) opened in 2005 (and swiftly reopened after Hurricane Katrina), a specialty in bagels minted new regulars immediately.

Stein’s Deli (2207 Magazine St.) opened in 2007 and was quickly known as the spot for a bagel, egg and cheese sandwich. These still anchor the morning menu, using Davidovich brand bagels shipped

par-baked from New York to finish at the deli. Stein’s supplies these to other cafes around town too, furthering the circle of bagels (see Small Mart, 2700 Chartres St., for a mighty bagel in the same fashion in the Marigny).

Numerous bakeries produce their own bagels now too, including Leo’s Bread (2438 Bell St.), which has made bagels a Crescent City Farmers Market staple with its stands at all three weekly markets.

But the emergence of dedicated bagel shops marked a new phase, and it was a long time coming.

The Tulane effect When Tara and Casey Mackintosh were putting the finishing touches on their Uptown shop Humble Bagel (4716 Freret St.) in 2014, they listened with panic as some neighbors asked them just what a bagel was anyway. Had they misjudged the market? But Humble Bagel drew an enthusiastic response, especially from students at nearby Tulane.

Tulane students have been a key to the fast-rising bagel trend in New Orleans. Many are from the Northeast and a large percentage are Jewish (30% of Tulane’s undergrads, according to Hillel International). These are young people who know good bagels.

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Dismantle defective Sugarcane ma‐ chinery for repair. Record details of re‐ pairs made and parts used. Reassem‐ ble sugarcane machinery and equip‐ ment following repair, testing opera‐ tion and making adjustments or cali‐ bration as necessary. Tune or overhaul sugarcane farm equipment and ma‐ chinery engines. Operate Sugarcane farm equipment to drive and haul tools and equipment for on-site repair of large state-of-the-art Sugarcane ma‐ chinery for the Sugar mill. Drive tractor trailers and 18 wheelers on Cajun Sugar Company, LLC property to repair area or for testing after repair. Fabricate and modify parts to make or repair machine tools or maintain industrial Sugarcane machines. Requires two (2) years’ veri‐ fiable experience in Sugarcane Equip‐ ment and Machinery Repair/Opera‐ tions. Requires a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL - Class B) or its interna‐ tional equivalent valid for use in the United States. No minimum education level is required. No training is required, and no training is offered for the posi‐ tion. There is no requirement that the employee must live on the employer's premises, and this is not an option for the permanent role. 40hrs/wk. OT hours will vary and are not guaranteed.

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Food becomes part of the cul-

Breanne Kostyk, holding the full moon tartine, created Flour Moon Bagels as a pop-up in 2000 in New Orleans ture when it lands at home, not just at restaurants. That’s been before opening its first cafe two years later.

The game changer Flour Moon Bagels (457 N. Dorgenois St.) is the artisan bagel, and my own top New Orleans bagel.

Breanne Kostyk, a fine-dining pastry chef by training, took up bagels as a pandemic pivot and started Flour Moon with her husband, Jeff Hinson, as a pop-up in 2020. As people lined up and bagels sold out they knew they were onto something. By 2022, they opened their own cafe on the Lafitte Greenway and have already expanded their production facility to meet demand.

Before the first swipe of scallion cream cheese goes on, Flour Moon bagels are beauties. The shiny surface has a slight pull and pliant stretch over the soft interior. Louisiana cane syrup replaces the usual barley malt syrup in the dough for a local flex.

That doesn’t make them sweet, but rather enhances that lovely

A Louisiana bagel

SEWER

and will, shortly there‐ after, be opened and read aloud in City Hall lo‐ cated at 705 West Univer‐ sity Avenue, Lafayette, LA. Bids received after the above specified time for opening shall not be considered and shall be returned unopened to the sender. Bidders are

Public Notices Bids/Proposals

encouraged to attend the bid opening virtually by using the following link https://us02web.zoom. us/j/88053981481? pwd=IbeL6C2Qknxs6q0 DYgGGa3YFBbckeY.1 Meeting ID: 880 5398 1481 Passcode: 404368 In accordance with Louisiana RS 38:2212. may submit vendors their bid electronically at the website listed above.

Bidders wishing to sub‐ mit their bid electroni‐ cally must first be regis‐ tered within LCG Vendor Access at the website listed above. The regis‐ tration process can take i h f

Public Notices Bids/Proposals

Public Notices Bids/Proposals

Public Notices Bids/Proposals

p some time; therefore, LCG recommends regis‐ tering days in advance of the time that bids are due. It is the sole respon‐ sibility of the bidder to ensure their bid is deliv‐ ered (whether electroni‐ cally via Vendor Access, in person, or via mail) to the Purchasing Division prior to the scheduled date and time of the bid opening. Vendors may request the bid package from electronically Thomas Metrejean at tg‐ metrejean@lafayettela. gov.

p bond is used, it shall be written by a surety or in‐ surance company cur‐ rently on the U.S. Depart‐ ment of the Treasury Fi‐ Management nancial Service list of approved companies bonding which is published annu‐ ally in the Federal Regis‐ ter, or by a Louisiana insurance domiciled company with at least an A-Rating in the latest printing of the A.M. Best’s Key Rating Guide to write individual bonds up to ten percent (10%) of policyholders’ surplus as shown in the A.M. Best’s Key Rating Guide, or by an insurance com‐ pany in good standing li‐ censed to write bid bonds which is either domiciled in Louisiana or owned by Louisiana resi‐ dents. The bid bond shall be issued by a company licensed to do business in Louisiana and counter‐ signed by a person who is under contract with re‐ siding in this state. The certified check, cashier’s check, or bid bond shall be given as a guarantee that the bidder shall exe‐ cute the contract, should it be awarded to him, in conformity with the con‐ tract documents within ten (10) days.

prises in the purchase or sub-contracting of mate‐ rials, supplies, services and labor and material in disadvantaged which business are available.

Assistance in identifying said businesses may be obtained by calling 2918410.

Vendors submitting bids are re‐ electronically quired to provide the same documents as bid‐ ders submitting through the mail as soon as avail‐ able. Only a bid bond, check or certified cashier’s check shall be submitted as the bid se‐ curity. Electronic copies of both the front and back of the check or bid bond shall be included with the electronic bid.

Bids must be signed in accordance with LRS Title 38:2212(B)5. A Cor‐ porate Resolution or Cer‐ tificate of Authority au‐ the person thorizing signing the bid is re‐ quired to be submitted with bid. Failure to sub‐ mit a Corporate Resolu‐ tion or Certificate of Au‐ thority with the bid shall be cause for rejection of bid.

Copies of the bidding documents are available at the Purchasing Office located at 705 West Uni‐ Avenue, versity Lafayette, LA 70506. Tele‐ phone number (337) 2917187 (Attn: Thomas Me‐ trejean). Bidding docu‐ ments shall be available until twenty-four (24) hours before the bid opening date.

Bidder must be properly licensed in accordance with LA RS 32:1254 and must include valid copy of said license in the bid submitted in accordance with LA 38:2212.8.

Each bid shall be accom‐ panied by a certified check, cashier’s check or bid bond payable to the Lafayette Consolidated Government, the amount of which shall be five percent (5%) of the total extended price. If a bid b d i d i h ll b

No bidder may withdraw his bid for at least fortyfive (45) days after the time scheduled for the opening of bids. Each bid shall be submitted only on the bid form provided with the specifications.

Bids will be evaluated by the Purchaser based on the lowest responsible and responsive bid sub‐ mitted which is also in compliance with the bid The documents.

Lafayette Consolidated Government reserves the right to reject any and all bids for just cause in ac‐ cordance with LA R.S. 38§2214.B. The Lafayette Consoli‐ Government dated strongly encourages the participation of DBEs (Disadvantaged Business Enterprise) in all con‐ tracts or procurements let by the Lafayette Con‐ Government solidated for goods and services and labor and material.

To that end, all contrac‐ tors and suppliers are encouraged to utilize DBEs business enter‐

PURCHASING DIVISION Lafayette Consolidated Government PUBLISH DATES: 8/3/26, 8/9/26 DPR # 1005758 195656-AUG 3-9-2T $104.26 PUBLIC NOTICE --NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS Notice is hereby given that sealed bids will be received either electroni‐ cally at https://lafayet tecsdgovla.tylerportico. com/va/vendor-access/ registration or in the of‐ fice of the Purchasing Di‐ vision at the Lafayette Consolidated Govern‐ ment Building, located at 705 W. University Avenue, Lafayette, Louisiana, 70506 until 2:00 PM Cen‐ tral Time on the 2nd day of September, 2026 for the following: Modernization & Upgrades to Elevator at Lafayette Utilities System Administration Building For Lafayette Consoli‐ dated Government and will, shortly there‐ after, be opened and read aloud in a room lo‐ cated at 705 West Univer‐ sity Avenue, Lafayette, LA. Bids received after the above specified time for opening shall not be considered and shall be returned unopened to the sender. Bidders are encouraged to attend the bid opening virtually via ZOOM using the follow‐ ing link: https://us02web. zoom.us/j/82098561524? pwd=tp6PCogzxI6F1Ab CVnZ1pCMMoiFcws.1 Meeting ID:820 9856 1524 Passcode: 903106 Scope of Services: The work shall consist of, but is not limited to, furnish‐ ing all material, labor, tools, and supervision for the Modernization & Up‐ grades to Elevator and i d k i l d

the biggest contribution of Bayou Bagel Co. (3625 Prytania St.), which has a shop near Touro Infirmary but is primarily a wholesale producer, supplying groceries and other cafes around town.

Howie Kaplan, owner of the music club Howlin’ Wolf, partnered with Anjay Keswani of the Indian restaurants Nirvana and Taj Mahal to start what was initially a small production kitchen with a pop-up bagel counter. Within a matter of months, four-packs from Bayou Bagel Co. were on the grocery shelves at Zuppardo’s Family Market in Metairie. Distribution grew swiftly from there at independent grocers.

Kaplan calls it a story of local brands helping other local brands.

Bayou Bagel Co. lives up to the brand motto “Louisiana bred” by using local ingredients, like Steen’s cane syrup and honey and pecans from Acadiana. A house cream cheese flavor with olive salad evokes a muffuletta. At Carnival time, Bayou Bagel even makes a bagel king cake.

“I’m not trying to make a New York bagel,” Kaplan said. “I’m making a Louisiana bagel.”

Altogether, this rising tide is also making a home for bagels in New Orleans.

Email Ian McNulty at imcnulty@theadvocate.com.

Public Notices Bids/Proposals

Public Notices Bids/Proposals

Public Notices Bids/Proposals

g associated work includ‐ ing upgrades to elevator equipment room as out‐ lined in the plans and specification at Lafayette Utilities System Adminis‐ tration Building.

p g Q relative to the bidding documents shall be ad‐ dressed to Heather hkestler@ Kestler at lafayettela.gov.

will be required to exe‐ cute performance and labor and material pay‐ ment bonds in the full amount of the contract as more fully defined in the bid documents.

Work shall be completed within ONE HUNDRED FIFTY (150) calendar days from issuance of Notice to Proceed.

In accordance with Louisiana RS 38:2212. vendors may submit their bid electronically at the website listed above.

Bidders wishing to sub‐ mit their bid electroni‐ cally must first be regis‐ tered within LCG Vendor Access at the website listed above. The regis‐ tration process can take some time; therefore, LCG recommends regis‐ tering days in advance of the time that bids are due. It is the sole respon‐ sibility of the bidder to ensure their bid is deliv‐ ered (whether electroni‐ cally via Vendor Access, in person, or via mail) to the Purchasing Division prior to the scheduled date and time of the bid opening. Vendors may request the bid package electronically from Heather Kestler @ hkestler@lafayettela.gov.

Bidders wishing to sub‐ mit their bid electroni‐ cally must first be regis‐ tered online with Lafayette Consolidated Government as a poten‐ tial supplier at the web‐ site listed above. Bidders submitting bids electron‐ ically are required to pro‐ vide the same docu‐ ments as bidders sub‐ mitting through the mail as soon as available.

Only a bid bond, certified check or cashier’s check shall be submitted as the bid security. Electronic copies of both the front and back of the check or bid bond shall be in‐ cluded with the elec‐ tronic bid.

Bids must be signed in accordance with LRS Title 38:2212(B)5. A Cor‐ porate Resolution or Cer‐ tificate of Authority au‐ thorizing the person signing the bid is re‐ quired to be submitted with bid. Failure to sub‐ mit a Corporate Resolu‐ tion or Certificate of Au‐ thority with the bid shall be cause for rejection of bid.

Pre-ordered copies of the bidding documents will be available with a de‐ posit of $50.00 per set at the Office of Purchasing located at 705 W. Univer‐ sity Ave., Lafayette, LA 70506. (NOTE: NO CASH WILL BE ACCEPTED— ONLY CHECK OR MONEY ORDERS MADE PAYABLE TO LAFAYETTE CONSOLI‐ DATED GOVERNMENT. Bid Documents shall be available until twentyfour hours before the bid opening date. Questions h biddi l i

Contractors are re‐ quested to attend a mandatory pre-bid meet‐ ing, which will be held on Wednesday, August 19, 2026 at 1:00 PM. at the Lafayette Utilities Sys‐ tem Administration Building site location, lo‐ cated at 1314 Walker Rd., Lafayette, LA 70506.

Each bid shall be accom‐ panied by a certified check, cashier’s check, or bid bond payable to the Lafayette Consoli‐ dated Government, the amount of which shall be five percent (5%) of the base bid plus additive al‐ ternates. If a bid bond is used, it shall be written by a surety or insurance company currently on the U.S. Department of the Treasury Financial Management Service list bonding of approved companies which is pub‐ lished annually in the Federal Register, or by a Louisiana domiciled in‐ surance company with at least an A-Rating in the latest printing of the A.M. Best’s Key Rating Guide to write individual bonds up to ten percent (10%) of policyholders’ surplus as shown in the A.M. Best’s Key Rating Guide, or by an insurance com‐ pany in good standing li‐ censed to write bid bonds which is either domiciled in Louisiana or owned by Louisiana resi‐ dents. The bid bond shall be issued by a company licensed to do business in Louisiana. The certi‐ fied check, cashier’s check, or bid bond shall be given as a guarantee that the bidder shall exe‐ cute the contract, should it be awarded to him, in conformity with the con‐ tract documents within ten (10) days.

No contractor may with‐ draw its bid prior to the deadline for submission of bids. Withdrawal of bids thereafter shall be allowed only pursuant to LA R.S. 38§2214.C. Other‐ wise, no bidder may withdraw his bid for at least forty-five (45) days after the time scheduled for the bid opening of bids. Each bid shall be submitted only on the bid form provided within the specifications. The successful bidder will be required to execute per‐ formance and labor and material payment bonds in the full amount of the contract as more fully defined in the bid docu‐ ments. No contractors may withdraw his bid for at least forty-five (45) days after the time scheduled for the open‐ ing of bids. Each bid shall be submitted only on the bid form provided with the specifications. The contractor successful

Bids will be evaluated by the Purchaser based on the lowest responsible and responsive bid sub‐ mitted which is also in compliance with the bid documents.

The Lafayette Consolidated Government reserves the right to reject any and all bids for just cause in ac‐ cordance with LA R.S. 38§2214.B. Contractors or contract‐ ing firms submitting bids in the amount of $50,000.00 or more shall certify that they are li‐ censed contractors under Chapter 24 of Title 37 of the Louisiana Re‐ vised Statutes of 1950 and show their license number on the front of the sealed envelope in which their bid is en‐ closed. Contractors shall be licensed for the clas‐ sification of “BUILDING CONSTRUCTION”. Bids in the amounts specified above which have not bid in accordance with the requirements, shall be rejected and shall not be read. Additional informa‐ tion relative to licensing may be obtained from the Louisiana State Li‐ censing Board for Con‐ tractors, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

The Lafayette Consoli‐ dated Government strongly encourages the participation of DBEs (Disadvantaged Business Enterprises) in all con‐ tracts or procurements let by the Lafayette Con‐ solidated Government for goods and services and labor and material.

To that end, all contrac‐ tors and suppliers are encouraged to utilize DBEs business enter‐ prises in the purchase or sub-contracting of mate‐ rials, supplies, services and labor and material in which disadvantaged businesses are available.

Assistance in identifying said businesses may be obtained by calling 2918410.

PURCHASING DIVISION Lafayette Consolidated Government PUBLISH DATES: 8/7/26, 8/9/26, 8/16/26 DPR 997977 195396 Aug. 7, 9, 16 2026 3t $225.84

8D ● Sunday,August 9, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate Legal Notices

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List of jurors randomly drawn and to serve for the term beginning on August 17, 2026: ADAM, SAVANAH LEE AHLERS, DEBORAH L AKTHER, PARVIN ALCALACERMENO, JESUS ALBERTO ALEXANDER, SHAUN ISRAEL ALLEMAN, BOBBY JO ALLEMAN, CHARLENE M ALLEMAN, BRANDON PAUL ALLEN, SUSAN MELISSA BOUTTE ALMARAZ-SANCHEZ, HILLARY ANCELET, TRICIA MIRE ARBOUR, COLE JOSEPH ARCENEAUX, BREION SANAE ARCENEAUX, EMILY ANNE ARCENEAUX, TERRL G ARCENEAUX, NATALIE LYNN ARTIGUE, ALINE P ASHBY, JASON CHRISTOPHER AUTHEMENT, LEAH MARIE AYMOND, FALLON ALEXANDER BADEAUX, JASON JOSEPH BAJAT, HELEN D BARBER, KENNETH BARONI, COURTNEY RAE BARRAUD, LAURENT BARRINGTON, CARLY ELIZABETH BARRON, CHRISTOPHER NICHOLAS BATISTE, JOSHUA JAMES BATUBO, PRECIOUS EFERETA BAUM, ROBERT K BEARB, ANN MARIE BEDORE, ETHAN PAUL BELSOM, KATELYN BROOKE BENDER, RODNEY CHARLES BENOIT, LANDON JUDE BIGGERS, CLINTON BLACKWELL, ASHLEY NICOLE BLANCHARD, STEVE DANIEL BLANCHARD, ASHLEY SARTIN BLANCO, JAYLEN BLOOM, SHAWNESSY CLARE BOGENRIEF, JACOB DEAN BOND, COLEMAN AVIT BONNET, VERGIE M BONVILLAIN, CAROL DRURY BOOKER, BRANDON CODY BOURDA, SHALEECY PERRODIN BOURQUE, MELVIN D BOUTTE, CHRISTIAN OLIVIA BRAZIER, COLTON EMMETT BRENAGH, LETRICE BRENNAN, BRANDY LEE BRICE, ROBERT LORENTZ BROOKS, DANIELLE P BROUILLETTE, CHRISTOPHER J BROUSSARD, DIMITRIS JOSEPH BROUSSARD, MICHAEL G BROUSSARD, TAYLAN DAVAUGHN BROUSSARD, ODETTE GREEN BROUSSARD, LOVELACE M BROUSSARD, CULLEN PAUL BROUSSARD, ADAM COLE BROWN, LELAN ANTHONY BRUNET, PHILLIP SCOTT BRUNO, JUDY WALKER BRUNO, SUE CLEMONS BURK, MICHAEL WAYNE CAMPBELL, ALLIE CANDILOROARDOIN, MERCEDES MOSCHELLA CAPONERA, EDWARD JOSEPH CARMOUCHE, JOHN ROSS CART, JONATHAN C CARTER, KATERRA ALI CELESTINE, INDIA PAIGE CHATMAN, COREY PATRICE CHAUVIN, HARRIET P CHELETTE, BRIAN S CHERRY, DEIJAH DEONE CLEMENTS, ANDREW BENNETT COCO, SCOTT STEVEN COINTOT, ELLA D COLLINS, CAROL T COMEAUX, ROSE M COMEAUX, MATTHEW PAUL COMEAUX, JAZAIVEN JARRELL CORMIER, MARY LOUISE CORMIER, RONALD J COURVILLE, BLADE MACKINZIE CROSS, ELIZABETH J CROWLEY, GEORGE MICHAEL DAIGLE, JOHN PAUL DAIGLE, JOSHUA PATRICK DAILY, JENNA CORINNE DARDEN, DYMOND ALEXIS DAVIS, MATTHEW HENSLEY DAVIS, GABRIELLE RENE DAVIS, CHADWICK THERON DECUIR, PHILLIP L DELAUGHTER, CHARLES JOHN DEROUEN, NANCY CECELIA DESHOTELS, JACQUES DUBOIS DESQUESNES, GERALD R DIEUJUSTE, ARABELLA DIXON, JAMES H DOMINGUE, JOHN DORE, ASHTON LOUIS DOUCET, ELROY J DOUGHT, DAVIE E DUCOTEY, LINDA ANN DUHON, NATALIE JUDICE DUMESNIL, BETSY CARRIER DUNNING, BOBBIE MONIQUE DUPLANTIER, THOMAS R DUPUIS, KALE STEPHEN EAGLIN, SEGRID EDDLAKADI, YADU RAJESH KUMAR ELLSWORTH, JAMES B ESCHETE, PAUL ANTHONY ETIENNE, ANTHONY JOSEPH FAUL, MICHELLE BOUDREAUX FECKE, THOMAS JOSEPH FELDER, NIKITA FELL, BRENNAN JOHN FERNANDEZ, MICHAEL D FISHER, JAMES HENRY FITCH, APRIL SUE FITZGERALD, FRANCES A FLAKES, TERA SIMONE FLUGENCE, JAMES HUL FLUGENCE, LINDA A FLUGENCE, JUSTICE NOEL FONTENOT, MARY C FONTENOT, SHELBY BOREL FORD, CLAUDIUS FOREMAN, EVELYN MARIE FOSTER, ASIKIYA ANISI FRANCIS, WILFRED FRANCIS, TRAVIS JAMES FRANCIS, SONDRA A FRANK, KIMBERLY NICOLE FREDERICK, DARYL S FREDERICK, THOMAS BISHOP FREDERICK, NEIL A FREEMAN, COURTNEY E FRETTER, MARK WILLIAM FUSELIER, HANNAH ELIZABETH FUSILIER, JUSTIN JAMIELLE GARBER, PALMYRE BILLEAUD GARCIA, MARCELLA BURNETTE

lll

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GARCIA, JOHNPAUL BOMA GARNER, HEATHER SHIELDS GARY, SCOTT DAVID GARY, HILLARY ALYSE GATES, WILLIAM WALKER GEORGE, WALTER L GIROUARD, RAYFORD M GLENN, BRITTANY MARIE GODOY, GUSTAVO CESAR GOODNESS, AARON PAUL GOODWIN, AUDREY N GOSS, HARRY WESLEY GRANIERI, CARL C GRIFFIN, PALASHA LASHAY GUIDRY, VALERIE ANN GUIDRY, MYLES JACOB GUIDRY, LAURENCE CREDEUR GUIDRY, EARL J GUIDRY, MICHELL GUIDRY, SOPHIE REBECCA GUIDRY, BOAZ JORDAN GUILAMO, VICTORIA JAVIELLA GUILLORY, JOHN DERRICK GUILLOT, THERESA KIM HABETZ, LAUREN MICHELLE HAIGHT, DONALD HANES, KEN MICHAEL HARRIS, JOHNNIE HARRISON, STEPHEN ONEAL HASSELL, HOLLY N HAWKINS, STEFAN GILES MCKINNIE HAWKINS, DANIEL C HAYES, BRANDIE CHRISTINE HAYNES, ALFRED ALPHONSE HAYSLIP, KAYLA RAE HEATH, WILL CARRINGTON HEBERT, PATRICIA ANN HEBERT, CAROL D HEBERT, KARINA LAINE HELD, MONA SIMON HENSGENS, HEIDI MARIE HERNANDEZ, RENE THOMAS HERRINGTON, RYAN KEITH HO, WENDY QUYNH HOGAN, BREONNA LASHAY HOLLOWAY, WILLIAM C HOUSTON, MICHELLE MONIQUE HOWARD, JADE ALEXANDRA HUGHES, NATHANIAL JACOB HUGHES, ANDREW DOUGLAS HUGHES, KOLBY ADAM ISTRE, HEATHER MICHELE JACKSON, DAVIELLE MYSHAE JACKSON, JESSIE LEE JACOKES, WILLIAM SCOTT JAMES, JERROLD ANDREW JARRETT, RICKEY JAMES JEANBATISTE, JAYLEN CHANELLE JEANSONNE, JASON PAUL JOCK, AVA MARIE JOHAR, MAZEN L JOHN, MICHAEL F JOHN, JEANNIE DENISE JOHNSON, MAKAILA JONEA JOHNSON, JASON DANIEL JOHNSON, LANE MICHAEL JOHNSTON, BLAZE ANTHONY JONES, ELIZABETH L JONES, DYNELL JAMES JONES, MARTASHA KAPRI RENA JORDAN, PAULA S JOSEPH, TINA MOTEN JOSEPH, FRANCIS JAMES KARRE, JOSEPH FRANCIS KASTNER, BRANDI LYNN MENARD KENNEDY, JAMIE L KICKEL, LAUREN ANNE KING, JAMES ROBERT KNIGHT, MARVIN DOUGLAS KNOCKUM, DESEAN MECHELLE KRATZER, MICHAEL SHANE KRONENBERGER, DEBORAH LYNNE KUCERA, CODY ANTON KUHN, KYLE BERTHOLD LACALLE, TAYLOR BLAIRE LACOMBE, LAURA LEE LAFLEUR, GLENN CHARLES LANDRY, TATUM RUTH LANDRY, TOSHIBA VALLIAN LANDRY, ROBYN M LANDRY, LAILAH AMIA LANERIE, HUNTER MICHAEL LANGLINAIS, ANDREA L LASTRAPE, TREJUN ANTHONY LATIOLAIS, KENNETH W LAVERGNE, CHRISTI NOELLE LAWRENCE, AUBREY LANE LAZARD, ROYAL JOSEPH LEBLANC, KYLIN MARKEL LEBLANC, GABRIEL CHRISTOPHER LEBLANC, SARAH VOORHIES LEBLANC, KATIE THERESA LEBRON, ANNE MARIE LEDOUX, STACEY DAWN LEE, RUSSELL JUNIOR LEJEUNE, BRADLEY J LEMOINE, BRAD JAMES LEOPAUL, JOSHUA BROOK LEWIS, JAYLON MICHAEL LEWIS, WANDA F LEWIS, KENNETH R LINDSEY, LOUISE STATES LIVING, JAMAR LAMAR LNU, VAIBHAV LOPEZ-CRUZ, MARIO LOUVIERE, FAY B LOWE, JACK ADAIR MAJOR-FAULK, JAN ERIN MALBROUGH, RAVEN JOY MALLOY, JACOB TYLER MALVEAUX, TENNILLE MARIE MANCUSO, KATRINA L MARCEAUX, LAURA M MARTIN, MICHAEL DAVID MARTIN, MARVIN LEE MARTIN, ROLAND J MARTIN, TAMETTRA LACHELLE MATHEWS, STEVEN D MATIS, NANCY MCCLELLAND MATTHEWS, TERRY JOSEPH MCDANIEL, TAMICO A MCELLOGOTT, LAUREN P MCKINNON, JAMIE ELIZABETH MEADOWS, MICHAEL J MECHE, TREVOR MATTHEW MEDUS, GARY E MEJIA, ALEX MENARD, JEAN DALE MERRYWEATHER, MATTHEW MESSNER, LAURA ANNA MIDDEN, KATIE RISHER MILLER, KAREN HOPE MIMNAUGH, LOU W MINALDI, KELLY J MINOR, EBONY RENE MINYARD, KIMBERLY ANN MIZELLE, MARLENE R MONCEAUX, ANDREW JOSEPH MOORE, JENNIFER BERGERON MOORE, BARRY SCOTT MORGAN, JULIE SIMS MORGAN, SHIRLEY S

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MOULEDOUS, CAMERON SCOTT MOUTON, DANIELLE LEIGH MOUTON, SHERRA LOUISE MOUTON, ELLA M MOUTON, CATHY MARIE MUSEMECHE, CLINT M MUSGROVE, MARVIN C MUTHANA, RASHED TAHA NAQUIN, DENICE VICTORIA NARCISSE, CIEARA SHARDA NARCISSE, TRAVINSKI TRAVON NEAL, CAROLINE KYLE NEWMAN, MEAGAN LE NGUYEN, TRANG T NIXON, ELIZABETH ANN OGLESBY, MARY C OHARA, SEAN J OLIVIER, HUBERT E ONEAL, TINA MARIE ONEZINE, PATRICK PARKER, MICHAEL ALAN PARKERSON, CHARLES R PATTERSON, TAYLOR ROSS PECOR, IAN J PEFFERKORN, EVELYN PELLERIN, BRANDON JOSEPH PELLERIN, MARTHA LYNETTE PELTIER, JONNELL OLIVER PENNINGTON, SEAN THOMAS PERDUE, ALICIA NICHOLE PESSON, KATHERINE THIBODEAUX PICARD, SARAH HAWK PLAUNTY, LEONARD LEE PLEASANT, BYRON L PONS, JULIAN PETER PONTIFF, SYDNEY RENEE POWELL, RODNEY C PREJEAN, KALEB ANTHONY PREJEAN, DARLENE J PRIMEAUX, JOHN CURTIS PRINCE, CARMEN GERMAIN PROCTOR, MATTHEW RICHARD PROVOST, OLIVER RAGAS, CATHERINE GOODSON RAVAIN, GEORGE E RAWLINGS, VALERIE ANNE RAYMOND, MICHAEL R REAUX, BILLY E RICHARD, SCOTT MICHAEL RICHARD, JARED MARTIN ROBERTSON, FRANKIE RIELS ROBICHAUX-WEBER, JOSLYN ROBINS, LINDA B ROBINSON, KEYAN NICOLE ROGERS, TAMMY F ROJAS-PEREZ, PEDRO ROMERO, STEVEN RAY ROMERO, MORAIMA DEL VALLE ROMERO, KENNETH W RONGEY, MATTHEW P ROY, JARROD DAVID RUHTER, CYNTHIA BROSKY SALLY, EARL SCOTT SAMPSON, LELA D SANTINY, DERON G SARACINO, BRAM ANTHONY SAVELL, JESSIE QUANTRILLE SAVOY, TRICIA RENNE SAVOY, AMOS L SCALLAN, ERIC JOSEPH SCHAFER, PAUL SCOTT SCOTT, WILFRED J SCOTT, SHANE KEITH SEGURA-TOLEDO, RUBEN SEMIEN, SAMUEL BROOKS SENEGAL, SATHONEE ADAIRE SERRETTE, CLEMES SHELVIN, BOBBY JAMES SHEPARD, CHARLES WILLIAM ROBERT SHORT, LONA ANN SIMMONS, BRANDY NICOLE SIMON, ASHLEY MOORING SIMPSON, LAWRENCE THOMAS SIMPSON, CHRISTA MARIE SIMS, IVETE DEMELO SINEGAL, TERRY J SINNOTT, JOSEPH M SKINNER, DENISE DAIGLE SLYFIELD, SHAWN MORRIS SMITH, SUSAN JONES SMITH, STEVEN R SMITH, WANAKEE ANNICK SMITH, MICHAEL MCCOY SMITH, LAUREN MURPHY SONNIER, JASON CHRISTOPHER STANFORD, CALVIN ANTHONY STELLY, AMANDA RENEE STELLY, MICHAEL CHRISTOPHER STELLY, KIMBERLY STEVENS, VICTOR S STEVENS, VIRGINIA JULIA STEWART, THALIA NATALI STRACENER, MICHAEL LACY STROTHER, LANDON GRADY STUTES, BRITNEY NICOLE STUTES, JONATHAN SULLIVAN, SARA BEA SWANNER, HALEY ALINA SYLVESTER, ANTOINETTE MARIE TARANTO, PENNY ANN TAYLOR, ETHAN CHARLES FERRIL TENA-AVALOS, SERGIO THIBEAUX, ASHLEY ADAM THIBEAUX, DOROTHY B THIBODEAUX, PAUL D THIBODEAUX, BRIANNA DANIELLE THIBODEAUX, JAMES THOMAS, PATRICIA ANNETTE THOMPSON, TREVIROUS TYQUAN TIBBS, MARY L TOTARO, DONELL KAY TOUCHET, SUSAN RACHAL TRAHAN, AUSTIN CALEB TRAHAN, ERICK TRAN, THAU THI TUCKER, TYLER N TUCKER, KARLA PATRICIA TUITE, LINDSAY SEGURA TURNER, LANIE CHRISTINE TURNER, JESSICA LYNN TYLER, ERIN ALECIA TYLER, JASPER GRALYN VALLIER, TRISTAN ANTHONY VASQUEZMARTINEZ, JOSE EVERARDO VERDIN, BRIANNA ANN VERONIE, PHILLIP W WAGAR, MICHAEL RYAN WAGUESPACK, ELAINE MCNABB WALKER, MONDO MCCOVEY WASHINGTON, CURTIS DWIGHT WHITING, JOSEPH R WILLIAMS, MALENTHON PAUL WILLIAMS, KAVIN JAMES WILLIAMS, LORENA T WIMBERLEY, LISA ANN WOOD, WILLIAM LEWIS YATES, COREY JOREY ZIEGLER, JONATHAN DAVID

NEWS 24/7 ON

194668-669442-Aug. 9-1t $ 476.28

TALKING BUSINESS How N.O. agency is using $10M to bolster its downtown 3E

By THE NUMBERS Study: Basic housing out of reach for nearly half of state’s renters 9E

BUSINESS T H E A D V O C AT E.C O M

|

S u n d ay, au g u S t 9, 2026

1En

Made of steel, concrete or composite, new utility polls — nearly 200 in all between Metairie Road and a Lakeview substation — were some of the first to be replaced nearly two years ago as part of Entergy New Orleans’ gridhardening efforts.

STAFF PHOTOS By SOPHIA GERMER

‘THAT’S KIND OF

LIVING PROOF’ With $900M spent since Ida, Entergy working to harden Louisiana’s grid

BY JONAH MEADOWS Staff writer

Drivers on Interstate 10 heading past Lake Lawn Metairie Cemetery might notice a line of utility poles along the service road that look a bit different than much of the rest of the grid.

Made of steel, concrete or composite, the polls — nearly 200 in all between Metairie Road and a Lakeview substation — were some of the first to be replaced nearly two years ago as part of Entergy New Orleans’ grid-hardening efforts.

On June 18, as the remnants of Tropical Storm Arthur sent a tornado tearing through the area, a large oak tree came down on a guy wire supporting one of the new poles.

“Back in the day, that could’ve caused an outage easily,” said Dan Calamari, vice president of reliability operations for Entergy New Orleans. This time,

IDEAS &

INNOVATION

Dan Calamari, Entergy New Orleans vice president of reliability operations, stands below the new power lines near Lake Lawn Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans.

the pole held, and the power stayed on. “That’s kind of living proof that what we’re doing is working.”

Five years after Hurricane Ida, a Category 4 storm that exposed the fragility of Louisiana’s electricity grid when it plunged more than a million households across the state in the dark for more than three weeks in some cases, Entergy and its two utilities that serve the region — Entergy New Orleans and Entergy Louisiana — say they’re better prepared for the next storm.

Both utilities are more than halfway through the first phase of their “accelerated resilience plans.”

The plans — at a cost of $100 million over two years for Entergy New Orleans and $1.9 billion over five years for Entergy Louisiana — seek to harden the most vulnerable portions of the grid to withstand winds of 140 to 150 mph so that the power is more likely to remain on and the utility is less likely to seek a storm recovery surcharge, like the $2.5 billion in damage from Ida that Louisiana ratepayers will still be paying off in a decade.

ä See GRID, page 2E

In the shadows of LSU, off-campus student housing is big business

BY STEPHANIE RIEGEL and IANNE SALVOSA

Staff writers

As students begin returning to LSU’s flagship campus in Baton Rouge for the fall semester, thousands will be moving into high-end apartment complexes with some of the highest lease rates in the state and amenities — game rooms, fitness studios and, in one case, a lazy river — that would have been unimaginable a couple of decades ago.

Student housing has gone upscale — and gotten expensive in the process — fueling some of the hottest activity in the Baton Rouge multifamily market,

experts say.

Occupancy rates for the 17 high-end apartment complexes that serve the LSU student market topped 96% last year, outperforming the national average for luxury student housing by five points.

Lease rates averaged nearly $2 per square foot or $1,440 for a onebedroom unit — nearly 15% more than the average lease rate for apartments in downtown Baton Rouge and on par with what some of the swankiest apartments in downtown New Orleans command.

And the seven student complexes near LSU that were sold last year generated more than 60% of the $584

million in total sales volume in the market, even though they represented fewer than one-third of the 23 properties that changed hands, underscoring the top dollar that out-of-state investors are willing to pay for the properties.

Experts say a year-over-year increase in freshman enrollment at LSU for eight consecutive years is fueling the growth. Enrollment at the university’s flagship campus increased 19.5% between 2019 and 2025, swelling to more than 34,500 last year.

“It’s all driven by student demand,” said Craig Davenport, an appraiser

STAFF PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS

In July, the 277-unit Park Place Apartments, since rebranded The Grayson, on East Boyd Drive near the south gates of LSU’s campus sold for more than $82 million — more than $295,000 per unit or $110,000 per bed. Student housing has become big business nationwide for developers and investors who see it as a ä See OFF-CAMPUS, page 2E recession-proof investment.

2E ● Sunday,August 9, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

Tips for spotting impostor scams “Michelle, I think I’ve been scammed.”

That’s the first thing a member of the financial ministry I direct at my church said to me when answered Michelle Imy mobile Singletary phone last THE COLOR month.

OF MONEy Her voice was shaky; her words sometimes jumbled, the lingering impact from a stroke.

“What happened?” I asked.

She told me that someone claiming to be from her bank’s fraud department instructed her to wire close to $50,000 to the IRS for safekeeping.

“Hang up with me now,” I insisted. The words came out sharper than I intended.

Glancing at the clock above my television, I saw it was just before 5 p.m.

The 73-year-old widow had just returned home after visiting a local bank branch to request the transfer.

I knew she had to act fast. Because the transaction happened near the end of the day, it was possible the wire transfer wouldn’t be processed until the next morning.

“Call the bank immediately, then call me back and tell me the rest of the story,” I said. “And don’t use any phone numbers you were given.”

Having covered consumer scams for decades, I knew within 30 seconds that she had fallen prey to an impostor scam.

In these schemes, criminals impersonate an official from a trusted organization, such as a government, law enforcement agency or bank. The goal is to steal money, personal data or both.

These scammers have become incredibly cunning at exploiting people’s fears. They make you believe you will be arrested or that your savings are not safe. They might claim that your Social Security number has been linked to a crime. This puts folks in a heightened emotional state, making it hard to think critically.

Impostor scams topped the nation’s fraud reports last year, with more than 1 million complaints filed and $3.5 billion in losses, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

In the first half of this year, people have already reported losing $1.8 billion to impostor scams.

“These scams lured consumers through text, phone, email, social media, search engine results and other means,” the FTC said in a statement in June.

“Some of the costliest impersonation scams start with a fake security alert, often from a bank. People are convinced to move money to ‘protect’ it, with their losses often limited only by their available funds.”

The call from my church member was deeply unsettling. She agreed to share her story to alert others on the condition of anonymity because the thieves have her personal information.

Her caution is wellfounded. Victims are frequently targeted again, sometimes in “recovery scams,” where con artists offer to retrieve stolen funds for an up-front fee.

When she called me back, the news was a relief. Her bank had frozen all her accounts and placed a hold on the wire transfer.

They told her to return to the bank branch the following morning to confirm what had happened. I knew she needed support, so I volunteered to go with her.

When we arrived at 9 a.m. sharp, the bank associate mentioned she had already suspected something was off, which was confirmed when she received a red-flag alert

from the fraud department.

Here is how the trap was set.

My church member was trying to set up an online account for a dental insurance policy she was enrolling in. During the process, a high-pitched alarm flashed across her iPad screen. Then an automated man’s voice shouted, “Stop.

Your computer is locked.

Don’t close it. All systems are going to be deleted.”

Worried about losing her data, she called a number that appeared on the screen.

“For about an hour and a half, they were trying to unlock my computer,” she recalled. Then the person on the line said he was from her bank’s fraud department.

Next came the scare tactics.

She was quizzed about various transactions allegedly made at 4:40 a.m.

— one for a $478.76 purchase in California and another fictional amount for $178.67.

She lives in Maryland, so naturally, she panicked.

The fabricated charges were just a ruse to make her concerned about her bank account.

The scammer stressed that her account had to be put on “high security” for 24 to 72 hours. A portion of her savings, $48,500, had to be transferred to a supposed IRS “safeguard” account. She was told that an insider at the bank was trying to steal her money and that the wire transfer was a necessary security measure that could assist with an official fraud investigation.

Specificity makes these scams feel real.

If you or a loved one ever falls victim to an impostor scam, here are the immediate steps to take.

Contact your financial institution: Call the fraud department directly using the number printed on your physical card, or look it up online. However, even then, you have to be careful not to land on a fake page. Freeze all compromised accounts. Ask for new account numbers.

Change your passwords: Update your credentials for online banking, email and primary accounts. Enable two-factor authentication using an authenticator app.

Disconnect remote access: If you allowed someone to access your computer or tablet, turn off your Wi-Fi connection immediately, uninstall the software, and have a professional inspect the device for hidden malware.

Don’t answer calls you don’t recognize.

Report the crime: You might feel ashamed or embarrassed, but still come forward and file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and the FBI’s internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov.

Contact local police and the DMV: Provide details of the scam and specify what information you provided, such as a copy of your driver’s license. Keep a copy of the police report number; state agencies and banks often request it.

If your license information has been compromised, contact your state’s motor vehicle department.

Freeze your credit file: Place a “security freeze,” also called a “credit freeze,” with all three major credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.

This blocks lenders from pulling your credit report, effectively stopping scammers from opening new credit cards, auto loans or personal loans in your name.

Monitor your credit history: Regularly check your credit reports at AnnualCreditReport.com. You can do this once a week.

Email Michelle Singletary at michelle.singletary@ washpost.com.

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GRID

Continued from page 1E Since work on the plans began in 2024, Entergy New Orleans has completed a little more than one-fourth of the projects on its to-do list, replacing hundreds of distribution poles and miles of power lines through neighborhoods across the city. Entergy Louisiana has tackled nearly one third of its projects, which also include replacing distribution equipment as well as the much larger transmission lines, poles and substations.

“It’s not a guarantee that power won’t go off. It’s a promise that we can get it back on more q u i c k l y, ” said Entergy Louisiana CEO Phillip May. In minor storms, May he said, infrastructure is less likely to fail and repairs can be completed by smaller crews. “All of that means savings to the customers.”

Despite the progress, a lot of work is yet to be done, and it’s unclear how the grid will fare if the region is hit by another Ida, or worse. Both utilities are already asking to expand their resiliency programs into the next phase, meaning they’ll seek more money, drawing skepticism from regulators with an eye on reliability.

Meanwhile, basic maintenance of aging infrastructure, which is a separate matter from grid-hardening efforts, remains an ongoing problem in New Orleans, where power outages last year were the most frequent in eight years.

“What we have seen is that (Entergy New Orleans) has consistently underspent on maintenance, just from their own reporting to us,” said District A council member Aimee McCarron, who chairs the council’s utilities committee. Some of the equipment now being replaced under the resilience program, she said, has not been properly maintained for years, a charge Entergy New Orleans denies.

Measuring ‘resilience’ The utilities say they are making progress, upgrading both the transmission lines that carry power from plants to substations and the distribution lines that reach homes and businesses. Ida damaged or destroyed about 500 transmission structures and knocked out all eight major lines into New Orleans.

Entergy replaced them with what it says is sturdier infrastructure — some of the repairs customers are paying for via a storm recovery surcharge of more than $5 a month.

More broadly under the resilience plans, the utilities

OFF-CAMPUS Continued from page 1E

with Cook, Moore, Davenport & Associates who compiled the apartment data. “To have almost 8,000 more students on campus in seven years is unprecedented growth.”

Though LSU officials said recently that enrollment will be down by “several hundred” students this fall as the university becomes more selective with its admissions, Davenport said he doesn’t expect demand for off-campus student housing to diminish.

Investors eye the SEC LSU is not unique. Student housing has become big business nationwide for developers and investors who see it as a recession-proof investment.

In 2024, property sales volume in the student housing sector reached $8.5 billion, a 43% increase over 2023, according to Walker and Dunlop, a Maryland-based commercial real estate firm that tracks the national industry.

Properties near universities in the Southeastern Conference were among the most desirable to investors, the report noted, because of “enrollment surges at the large, state-supported institutions.”

PHOTO PROVIDED By ENTERGy LOUISIANA

The Caminada Substation is an elevated electrical substation in Grand Isle. The utilities Entergy Louisiana and Entergy New Orleans say they are making progress on hardening the power grid, upgrading both the transmission lines that carry power from plants to substations and the distribution lines that reach homes and businesses. are swapping out older and more vulnerable equipment, poles and wires for new stronger ones. As of March 31, the latest date for which information is available, Entergy New Orleans had spent about 40% of its funding and upgraded about 800 structures, though company officials said it remains on track to finish more than 3,000 by the end of the year.

Entergy Louisiana had spent about half the money allocated and hardened 23,000 of 70,000 planned structures, according to their filings with regulators.

The monthly surcharge for the first phase of the resilience program for a typical Entergy Louisiana customer currently stands at $3.67 and is set to rise to $7 in 2029. The cost of Entergy New Orleans’ upgrades was defrayed with proceeds from a past settlement with the utility.

Although the upgraded infrastructure has yet to be tested by a major storm, Entergy officials say the track record has been good so far.

After Hurricane Francine in 2024, a Category 2 storm that made landfall near Morgan City, power was restored to 90% of the more than 400,000 customers that experienced an outage within a day. And earlier this year, when Winter Storm Fern coated much of North Louisiana in nearly an inch of ice, the utility reported only one of thousands of new, hardened poles failed.

For customers, the value of the new infrastructure also appears in reduced restoration times for routine outages, according to Entergy.

In Tangipahoa Parish, where about 425 poles and multiple transmission lines have been upgraded so far, outages that once lasted four hours or more can now get cleared in one, according to B.J. Couvillion, Entergy Louisiana’s customer service manager for most of the northshore.

“There was a tree outside the right-of-way that broke,” Couvillion said. “It hit some wires and the outage was not that long because we didn’t have to deal with broken poles — we just had to pick up some wire.”

Still, part of the challenge in evaluating the effectiveness of Entergy’s resilience spending is that no one has agreed how to measure it, though company officials say they’ve run cost-benefit analyses to be sure to get the best bang for ratepayers’ buck.

Before its spending plan was approved, Entergy Louisiana estimated it would save $1.2 billion in restoration and post-storm recovery costs.

May said he suspects the benefits have exceeded those projections.

The main way regulators can judge resilience spending is the “pole performance metric.” If more than 5% of newly replaced poles fail during a federally named storm, the utility would be on the hook for fines. No such “triggering events” have yet occurred.

“There’s not really metrics developed right now for resiliency, if I’m honest,” said Davante Lewis, who represents parts of New Orleans and Baton Rouge on the Public Service Commission and voted against the plan.

To that point, two of the biggest sales in the multifamily sector in Louisiana last year, dollar-wise, were of student complexes near LSU. In July, the 277-unit Park Place Apartments on East Boyd Drive near the south gates of campus, since rebranded The Grayson, sold for more than $82 million — more than $295,000 per unit or $110,000 per bed.

In December, the 137-unit Flatiron on West Parker, across the street from The Grayson, sold for $37 million, which comes to more than $268,000 per unit or $126,280 per bed.

None of the nonstudent apartment complexes that sold in Baton Rouge last year came close to matching the per-unit price of the student complexes. The Gates at CitiPlace, a Class A property with 369 units, was the highest-priced non-student complex to sell. It fetched 40% less than Flatiron and 50% less than Park Place.

Demand for student housing is also fueling new construction, a relative rarity across much of Louisiana due to inflation and persistently higher interest rates.

Currently, two complexes are under construction near LSU. When completed in 2027, they will add more than 300 new units to existing inventory.

Between 2018 and 2025, 8,800 beds, 6,000 of which nearly 1,000 new units were are dedicated to freshmen, completed. could accommodate. In 2024, it offered incoming freshDifferent animals men from within a 30-mile Elsewhere in the state, the radius of Baton Rouge $3,000 student housing picture is to live at home with their more complicated to track, parents for the semester.

University officials expect experts say.

In New Orleans, both Tu- they’ll have a little more lane and Loyola universities breathing room this year are nestled in the middle given the dip in enrollment.

“It’s not busting at the of the Uptown residential neighborhood, where hun- seams like it had been,” said dreds of two-family and Pete Trentacoste, executive multiplex homes in the im- director of the office of resimediate area have been dential life at LSU. converted in recent years to Late last year, LSU broke rental housing for students. ground on a new $200 million The dynamic has created student housing complex. its own set of challenges When completed in 2027, for near neighbors over the it will add more than 1,260 years and had ripple effects new beds to campus, which on the market, though there will enable the university to aren’t any large multifamily accommodate an estimated buildings in Uptown New Or- 2,500 upperclassmen.

“Without question, with leans as there are near LSU so the impacts are more dis- more beds coming online for persed, according to broker fall ’27, we know we’ll have more beds available for the Larry Schedler.

Recently, both universities upperclassmen,” Trentahave required more students coste said. to live on campus and are The new housing options building more dorms to ac- will be designed to accomcommodate them. modate the needs of today’s In 2018, LSU started re- students with workout faciliquiring full-time freshmen ties and food lockers for deto live on campus, returning liveries, though Trentacoste to a policy it had done away said the university is not in with in the 1970s. Not long an arms race with private after, enrollment numbers apartment developers. began to swell under then“We benefit by not having President William Tate. to reproduce all those ameniThe result was more stu- ties,” he said. “We have a lot dents than the university’s of that nearby.”

Smart spending?

last year, the highest level since 2017.

Entergy New Orleans CEO Deanna Rodriguez denied the company has failed to maintain equipment in order to recoup more from capital expenditures via Rodriguez surcharges, and called the charges “misinformation.”

Company spokesperson Beau Tidwell said more frequent outages are not necessarily a sign of poor maintenance, pointing to mylar balloons, cars crashing into poles and increased lightning strikes as reasons the grid goes down.

‘Investing for resilience’ Both utilities are now asking regulators to approve of the next phase of their gridhardening efforts.

Later this year, Entergy Louisiana plans to file a scaled-down “Phase 1a” request for additional resilience money after 2028, though company officials have yet to reveal how much they’ll seek.

Entergy New Orleans has already asked the City Council to approve another $400 million to continue its grid-hardening program for another five years starting in January.

“We don’t invest just to invest,” Rodriguez said. “We invest for reliability. We invest for resilience. We invest in keeping affordability in mind.”

McCarron said the utility won’t be getting more resilience funding until it improves reliability, pointing to data showing there was not a single day free of a power outage in New Orleans during the last quarter.

“What I’ve told them consistently since I got into office was: ‘Your reliability is still really bad,’ ” she said. “‘Until I see improvement, how do you expect me to authorize additional funding?’”

Critics contend that Entergy is favoring large-scale capital spending projects, the costs of which are paid by ratepayers through special surcharges, over prudently budgeting for maintenance, whose cost should be factored into regular electricity rates.

Logan Burke, the executive director of the Alliance for Affordable Energy, said Entergy should be required to show how much money its grid-hardening investments have saved.

“The Public Service Commission and the New Orleans City Council have a responsibility to not just approve it and forget it,” Burke said. “If you assume the cost-benefit analysis as the budget, then you need to come back with the actuals.”

She points to the fact that the number of outages in New Orleans has increased since the resilience plan began. According to data submitted to the City Council, equipment-related outages Email Jonah Meadows rose from about 250,000 in at jonah.meadows@ 2024 to more than 304,000 theadvocate.com.

The Acadiana Advocate ● theadvocate.com ● Sunday, August 9, 2026 ● 3E

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TALKING BUSINESS A S K T H E E X P E RT S

Agency says downtown revival plans moving forward for brevity.

District receives extra edited Now that Mayor Helena Moreno has esa Canal Street redevelopment czar $10M a year in taxes tablished to coordinate with the various overlapping

BY JONAH MEADOWS

authorities, what is your role in the revival of the corridor?

We have a role as a partner in a Seth Knudsen, a native New lot of the specific priorities identiOrleanian with more than two fied in her executive order estabdecades of experi- lishing a point person at City Hall ence in local gov- to coordinate all of these different ernment, recently entities — there are many, but they completed his first do have unique and specific roles year as executive and responsibilities. When we’re director of the all working at our best, we’re comDowntown Devel- plementing each other and not duplicating the efforts. There are alopment District.

The state-cre- ways good intentions around that, Knudsen ated business im- but sometimes it can be difficult if provement district is funded by there isn’t a single point of contact a property tax millage on every- that is charged with organizing thing within the 1.2 square miles and and structuring everything to bounded by the Mississippi River, enable all of the individual players Interstate 10, the Pontchartrain to play their best. And I think this executive order very much shows Expressway and Iberville Street.

The district’s $10 million annual an appreciation for that and a spebudget is split between three ar- cific intent around making sure eas: sanitation, security and eco- that we are complementing and nomic development. About 40% leveraging each other’s efforts.

How do you see Canal Street changing? goes to cleaning, pressure washing We’re here to enhance the city’s and graffiti abatement. Another 35% is devoted to public safety efforts. Really, in everything that and its staff of “public safety we do as a business improvement rangers,” armed private security district, we are an enhancer entity and off-duty police detail. The rest by definition. The good news is goes to its economic development that Canal Street is not vacant. We may have visions team and adminisof Canal Street of tration. yesteryear, and Knudsen, a maybe desires for former strategy a different tenchief at the New Orleans Redevel- EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF ant mix, but the opment Author- THE NEW ORLEANS DOWNTOWN reality is that it’s a largely funcity now steering DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT the DDD through tional real estate its own strategy market, and so planning process, says maintain- the challenge that we have here ing a clean and safe environment is really more one of refining the will always be the foundation of market as opposed to building one, the organization’s work and a re- and there certainly are cities that quirement of economic develop- envy our level of occupancy on Cament. But all three elements of his nal Street and retail in downtown portfolio — making the Central more generally.

Do you think that the downtown needs to Business District “cleaner, safer and stronger” — work together in have more residents?

The short answer is yes. I do a virtuous circle.

The following interview has been think that increasing the number Staff writer

Q&A WITH SETH KNUDSEN

STAFF PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER

A streetcar travels down Canal Street in New Orleans. of full-time residents downtown is something that would be very much helpful in continuing to build the strength of downtown as a neighborhood. However, I think it’s a false choice to say that we want that over office or over tourism or hospitality. The reality is that we have some space, whether it’s in existing buildings or surface parking lots or you know a combination of those and other underutilized real estate assets.

How big a deal is the Convention Center hotel and how is DDD involved in the whole project?

We certainly participated in some of the public outreach activities and making sure that our board and our constituents are educated on the project. The project itself has a lot of potential to help us continue to grow as in as a location for events that we’re not currently competitive for. I think

there’s the direct job considerations of the hotel itself, but also the effects of more visitors that are going to be spending more in art galleries on Julia Street and restaurants in the Warehouse District and French Quarter and other locations, and it seems the experience in other places is that as new hotel of this scale is absorbed by the market. It’s going to take a few years, but ultimately, it builds some additional demand rather than sort of cannibalizing existing demand.

For Tulane’s Charity downtown campus expansion, do you think that’s a last chancetype of situation to get the deal done?

I wouldn’t characterize it as the “last chance” — I’m not that pessimistic — I think it’s our best chance we’ve had in the postKatrina era. And I think Tulane is uniquely positioned to be the anchor and driver for a project

of that scale, having that kind of institutional investment time horizon, thinking about what Tulane needs over the next 50, 100 years.

I think it’s a unique opportunity for that whole quadrant of downtown.

There is a lot of underutilized real estate over there, between buildings that aren’t fully occupied or completely vacant in some cases, as well as a lot of surface parking lots. Just as important to the success of that as an individual project is the spillover effect of having all of those new employees and research ventures that are spinning off businesses and bringing researchers downtown, bringing residents downtown. The vision for Charity as the anchor for the BioDistrict and the surrounding neighborhood is very compelling.

Email Jonah Meadows at jonah. meadows@theadvocate.com.

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4E ● Sunday, August 9, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

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ACROSS THE REGION

Major Shreveport property owner selling portfolio Company shifts focus to New Orleans

BY LIZ SWAINE

Staff writer

Downtown Shreveport’s largest nongovernment property owner is selling all of its holdings in the city to focus on New Orleans.

Over the past 16 years, Hakim family corporations have purchased some of the most important historic properties as well as a prominent high-rise office building in Shreveport.

The properties are now listed by Marcus & Millichap, a Californiabased real estate company with offices across the U.S. The total square footage of the properties owned by Ed and Joseph Hakim, of Monroe, is more than 624,268 square feet. This is more than the roughly 500,000 square feet of the Regions Tower and Building, which takes up an entire city block, and more than the Shreveport properties currently owned by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson.

Beginning in 2010, the Hakims’ legal entities, through lawsuits and purchases, acquired the 17-story Slattery Building, 509 Marshall St.; a three-story parking garage at 416 Crockett St.; the 10-story Lane office building, 610 Marshall St.; the eight-story Johnson office building, 412 Milam St.; and the former Panos’ Diner, 422 Milam St. More recent purchases included the former SporTran bus terminal, 400 Crockett St., and the 15-story former Chase Bank building, 400 Texas St. Ed Hakim expressed frustration with the city, specifically in terms of parking and crime, reasons he blamed for ending his property rehab plans.

“Somebody broke in this week and stole all the electrical copper,” he said of the long-vacant Johnson building. “It’s just no end what’s going on in Shreveport. And that’s what makes people not want to do anything.”

While the Slattery, Johnson and Panos buildings and former Spor-

Property owner Ed Hakim said plans for the former downtown SporTran bus terminal were to turn it into parking for the nearby Johnson office building, which was eyed for redevelopment as upscale apartments.

Downtown Shreveport’s largest nongovernment property owner is selling all of its holdings in the city to focus on New Orleans.

STAFF PHOTOS By JILL PICKETT

The 17-story Slattery Building in downtown Shreveport was once the tallest privately owned building in Louisiana.

Tran bus terminal sat vacant, Hakim turned his attention to properties in New Orleans. His companies now own 17% of all office space in the city’s Central Business District, including such landmarks as the 32-story Poydras Tower, 400 Poydras St.; the 20-story Orleans Tower, 1340 Poydras St.; and the 23-story DXC Technology Center, 1615 Poydras St. “We’re over 80%. We have the highest occupancy, I believe, in New Orleans because we really in-

vest money in it. We bring people in. They have great management and we fill up everything we touch,” Hakim said.

More recently, he has begun purchasing in north Dallas, where his company recently bought a 20-story building.

Initial downtown plans When the Hakims purchased the Johnson building for $100,000 in 2012, it was with the intention of turning the 1920s-era property into

upscale apartments.

Hakim’s son Abraham began work on the floor plan and started gathering information for the historic tax credit submittals.

In 2017, he purchased the former SporTran bus terminal within a block of the Johnson building and the 1924 Slattery Building, a property that was once the tallest privately owned building in Louisiana.

It, too, came with no parking.

“We purchased it for parking,” he said of the tented bus terminal, “because we couldn’t do anything with the Johnson unless we had parking.”

Hakim said he “really overpaid” for the bus terminal, which sold for $1.2 million .

Had there been a city garage to use, he would have followed through on the Johnson conversion and a planned conversion of the Slattery Building to market rate apartments, he said.

“You don’t build a ship in dry dock if you can’t get to a body of water,” he said. “That ship sitting on dry land, you ain’t going to take a cruise nowhere. Unless you have a parking garage, the people can’t park to go into their house or office.”

Downtown Development Authority Executive Director Cedric Glover said more targeted parking is needed and is planning to launch an update on the DDA’s 2012 park-

ing study. The earlier study pointed to the need for two additional parking garages downtown to unlock the redevelopment potential of multiple vacant properties.

Glover said there are several fronts in the efforts to reduce crime: getting a handle on open containers of alcohol, addressing panhandling and homelessness concerns, and deploying more cameras downtown. He said more than $50,000 was raised for additional real-time crime center cameras and license plate readers that “we will be deploying throughout the entirety of downtown.”

“We’re looking for some outside of the box, innovative ways to be able to increase the security presence, the in-person security presence within downtown,” he said.

“We’re presently working on that as I speak and should hopefully have a little bit more to share in the near future.”

Hakim, though, isn’t inclined to wait. His properties have been listed with asking prices that range between $300,000 for the diner and $4.5 million for the former Chase Tower.

“I’m 76,” he said. “I don’t want to pass it down to my children and have a headache.”

Email Liz Swaine at Liz.Swaine@ theadvocate.com.

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The Acadiana Advocate ● theadvocate.com ● Sunday, August 9, 2026 ● 5E

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6E ● Sunday, August 9, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

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NATION & WORLD

Taco Bell aims to rebuild its momentum Cyclosporiasis challenges chain hitting its stride

BY CAROLINE PETROW-COHEN Los Angeles Times (TNS)

Taco Bell was sitting solidly in the sweet spot for fast food in troubled times.

The Irvine, California-based chain had developed a menu that was affordable enough for consumers worried about inflation and also fun enough for those looking for more than just hamburgers and pizza. Its sales and stock price were soaring. Then came cyclosporiasis.

A massive parasitic outbreak has taken Taco Bell down a peg, and now it has to rebuild its momentum.

“The brand has seen a meaningful near-term sales impact,” said Chris Turner, chief executive of Taco Bell’s owner Yum Brands, on a recent earnings call. “Our teams are acting quickly and transparently while keeping the safety and well-being of our consumers as the top priority.”

Unfortunately for Taco Bell, it has become one of the biggest names associated with the outbreak.

Last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that shredded lettuce served at Taco Bell in five states was the source of more than 1,600 cyclosporiasis infections. In comparison, an E. coli outbreak linked to McDonald’s in 2024 infected around 100 people. In 2010, a salmonella outbreak tied to Taco Bell sickened 155 people.

Still, the company reported samestore sales increased 7% in the second quarter, marking the ninth consecutive quarter of same-store sales growth that outpaced industry averages. Yum Brands, which also owns KFC and Habit Burger and Grill, saw operating profits increase 5% to $655 million year over year.

Caused by the parasite cyclospo-

LOS ANGELES TIMES PHOTO By GINA FERAZZI

Last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that shredded lettuce served at Taco Bell in five states was the source of more than 1,600 cyclosporiasis infections. Before the outbreak, Taco Bell had found its stride — and analysts say its operational advantages could carry it through the rough patch. ra, cyclosporiasis can cause diarrhea, fatigue, cramping and weight loss. More than 90 people have been hospitalized as a result of the outbreak in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia.

How Taco Bell and others in the food industry touched by the outbreak recover will depend on how long it lasts, said Aneurin CanhamClyne, a reporter for the trade publication Restaurant Dive.

“It’s a very large outbreak,” he said. “But if you look at chains that have really suffered in the long term from reputation harm from outbreaks, it usually takes repeated outbreaks, and it usually takes outbreaks that kill people.”

Canham-Clyne predicted the brand will bounce back within six months.

“I think a lot of people are going to be making jokes about getting parasitic diarrhea from Taco Bell for the next 20 years,” he said. “But

I don’t think it’s necessarily going to impact the chain’s sales long term.”

On July 17, the same day the CDC announced the link to Taco Bell, the chain issued a release saying it had completed removal of affected Taylor Farms lettuce from its restaurants. Taylor Farms also issued a recall that day of all iceberg lettuce sourced from Central Mexico from a certain time period.

According to Placer.ai, Taco Bell’s foot traffic dropped 31% on July 17 and was down 30% the next day.

Yum’s shares lost as much as 12% from its July peak.

“Consumers would reasonably be wary about eating at Taco Bell for some time, even after the brand gives its all-clear,” Canham-Clyne said. “There’s reason to be immediately suspicious of the idea that a problem like that could be rectified in one day.”

Taco Bell was founded by Glenn Bell in 1962 in Downey, California.

The company went public in 1970.

Before founding Taco Bell, Bell drew inspiration from his friends and neighbors at Mitla Cafe in San Bernardino, California, to create his own version of a crunchy taco.

Before the outbreak, Taco Bell had found its stride — and analysts say its operational advantages could carry it through the rough patch.

Experts say Taco Bell’s secret sauce isn’t just one flavor — the brand has achieved cultural relevance, menu innovation and compelling value that keep customers coming back.

“Taco Bell has long been known as a very strong brand and has managed to stay very relevant to younger consumers and to the culture, despite being 60 years old,” said Sara Senatore, a Bank of America senior analyst covering restaurants.

Senatore also credited former

Taco Bell chief executive Brian Nichols for ramping up the restaurant’s digital presence and bringing more customers to its app for ordering ahead and rewards programs. Nichols served as chief executive for Taco Bell for three years before leaving in 2018 to fill the same role at Chipotle. In 2024, he was hired as chief executive for Starbucks.

Fast food brands including Jack in the Box, Wendy’s and Carl’s Jr. have struggled under the pressure of several forces this year, including a low-income consumer group that’s squeezed by inflation, rising food and labor costs and increasing competition with fast casual and casual dining alternatives.

“Anywhere you look, the belowaverage-income consumer has been pressured, and that’s a function of broader inflation,” said Brian Harbour, an equity analyst at Morgan Stanley. “More recently, it’s a function of gas prices.”

Some of Taco Bell’s advantages come from its choice of cuisine.

Mexican-inspired fast food can pack in more flavor than burgers and chicken sandwiches and offer more room for innovation. There’s also less competition and more opportunity for filling meals without expensive ingredients.

“From a value perspective, Taco Bell just has always been known for very, very sharp value,” Senatore said. “Taco Bell can afford to offer price points of 99 cents or $1.99 because for something like a bean burrito, the cost is going to be much lower than a hamburger, and it can still be very satiating.”

Taco Bell’s Luxe Value Menu offers 10 items for $3 or less, including a spicy potato soft taco for $1.69 and a cheesy bean and rice burrito for $1.89. It also has a customizable Luxe Cravings Box that comes with three items and a drink for $7.99.

In comparison, the Jack in the Box medium Classic Smashed Jack Combo comes with a quarter-pound cheeseburger, fries and a drink for $12.29. Chipotle’s chicken burrito with rice, beans, cheese and salsa, plus a side of chips, totals $12.50.

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The Acadiana Advocate ● theadvocate.com ● Sunday,August 9, 2026 ● 7E

NATION & WORLD

Once high-flying PayPal becomes a takeover target Digital payments giant attempting turnaround

BY QUEENIE WONG

Los Angeles Times (TNS)

Digital payments giant PayPal was soaring high five years ago, riding the surge in online shopping after the COVID-19 pandemic reshaped people’s buying habits.

Now the California fintech company has reportedly become a takeover target as it tries to get more people to click on the PayPal button to purchase items amid fierce competition.

Stripe, a financial services platform that helps businesses accept and manage payments, and private equity firm Advent International made a joint offer to acquire PayPal for $60.50 per share, according to multiple news reports, citing anonymous sources.

The bid values PayPal at roughly $53 billion.

The takeover offer puts pressure on a business facing a critical juncture. PayPal has seen growth in branded checkout slow down and its stock plummet more than 25% over a year. PayPal’s new chief executive, Enrique Lores, who took the helm in March, has laid out a plan to help the company bounce back.

In a recent call with analysts after PayPal reported its secondquarter results, Lores reiterated the company doesn’t comment on market speculation or potential merger and acquisition discussions. PayPal, he said, remains focused on maximizing long-term shareholder value and carrying out its turnaround plan.

He added, however, that PayPal remains “open and objective in evaluating opportunities.”

“If we see levers or a path that we believe would create superior value for our shareholders than executing our current strategy, we will, of course, carefully consider them,” he said.

PayPal’s board is evaluating the bid but thinks it undervalues the

company while new leadership attempts a turnaround, Reuters reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The offer could also face regulatory and financing hurdles.

PayPal, Stripe and Advent International declined to comment.

Analysts say a takeover could reshape the payments space, bringing together major fintech powerhouses. The merger could help lower processing fees, spurring more merchants and consumers to use online payment services.

PayPal has seen growth in other areas. It owns Venmo, a payments platform especially popular among young people. The company also provides consumers with a Buy Now, Pay Later service so they can split the payment for items they buy over a longer period of time.

Stripe would get access to PayPal’s Buy Now, Pay Later customers “and the lucrative business opportunity to start offering said consumers longer duration, interest-bearing loans,” a July 20 note from Mizuho Securities said.

Founded in 1998, PayPal was a digital payments pioneer. Instead of having to write a check or fill out a money order, the platform enabled people to securely and quickly send money digitally using their email address.

Dubbed the PayPal mafia, the company’s founders and early employees, such as Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, would go on to invest in or build successful Silicon Valley companies.

Today, the digital payments space is highly competitive, with major tech companies such as Apple and Google enticing customers to use their payment services for online purchases. PayPal is trying to keep up.

“We operate in markets defined by growth and rapid change,” Lores said in a call in May. “It is during this period that leading com-

DREAMSTIME/TNS PHOTO

Stripe, a financial services platform that helps businesses accept and manage payments, and private equity firm Advent International made a joint offer to acquire PayPal for $60.50 per share, according to multiple news reports, citing anonymous sources. The bid values PayPal at roughly $53 billion.

“We operate in markets defined by growth and rapid change. It is during this period that leading companies find ways to differentiate themselves by innovating, delivering new and superior solutions, and driving durable growth.

This is where PayPal needs to focus.”

Under the new chief executive, PayPal also reorganized its business into three parts: Checkout Solutions & PayPal, Consumer Financial Services & Venmo, and Payment Services & Crypto.

PayPal’s branded checkout is showing signs of improvement, with total payment volume in that area growing 2% in the second ENRIQUE LORES, PayPal chief executive quarter.

The company expects digital identity and agent payments to panies find ways to differentiate over the next two to three years, become “increasingly meaningful themselves by innovating, deliv- Bloomberg reported in May. The contributors” to its business in the ering new and superior solutions, global company employs about future while advancements in AI and driving durable growth. This 23,800 people, including many in could also help the company betCalifornia. is where PayPal needs to focus.” ter personalize experiences for its In the second quarter, PayPal users, Lores told analysts.

PayPal has been trying to cut costs through restructuring its reported a net income of $1.1 bil“While there is still significant business and accelerating artifi- lion, down 12% from the net in- work ahead, I have strong concial intelligence adoption. PayPal come of $1.26 billion the company viction in our direction and in plans to eliminate about 20% of its reported for the same period last our ability to execute,” Lores workforce or roughly 4,500 jobs, year. said.

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8E ● Sunday,August 9, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

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BUSINESS BRIEFS

Compass real estate opens River Ranch office

Recently built complex sells for $64.8 million

Compass, the largest residential real estate brokerage in the U.S., has opened an upgraded flagship office at 2000 Kaliste Saloom Road, Suite 101, in River Ranch.

The 7,200-square-foot office is on the first floor of the Camellia Tower II building and houses 200 of its local agents, company officials said. The office had been on the building’s second floor when it was part of Latter & Blum before it was sold to Compass in 2024.

“For two decades, this building has served as a cornerstone for real estate excellence in Lafayette,” said David Favret, Compass regional vice president. “Moving to the first floor isn’t just about a beautiful, updated modern space; it’s about deepening our roots in River Ranch. This move honors a 20-year legacy of local expertise that began well before Latter & Blum joined Compass.”

Compass also has Acadiana offices at Sugar Mill Pond in Youngsville and in New Iberia.

A luxury apartment complex that opened a few years ago has been sold to a Georgia company for $64.8 million.

The Waters at Settlers Trace, a 348-unit development at 536 Settlers Trace Blvd., was sold to an LLC registered to Centennial Holding Co. of Atlanta, land records show. Stoa Group of Hammond, which built it after acquiring the land in 2022, was the seller.

Centennial has properties in the southeastern U.S. but none in Louisiana. The company typically invests in high-end multi-family properties with at least 200 units in growing markets, according to its website.

The Waters at Settlers Trace features units that have up to three bedrooms along with a clubhouse, resort-style pool, dog park, gym and other amenities. Rents in the complex range for between $1,345 a month for a 836-square-foot unit with one bedroom and one bath, to $1,925 for a 1,370-square-foot,

Fool’s Take: Consider Chevron

Given the world’s reliance on energy, you might want to invest in it. If so, consider one of the world’s largest energy companies: Chevron (NYSE: CVX). It’s diversified, with a Motley global portfolio of assets. It’s involved Fool in the entire energy value chain, including exploring for oil and gas; transporting, refining and marketing them; and producing petrochemicals and additives.

Chevron is run conservatively.

That shows up on the balance sheet, given its low debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. And it shows up in the dividend, which has been increased for decades despite the inherent volatility of the energy sector. On top of that, the dividend yield was recently an attractive 3.7%.

The energy sector has always been volatile, and conflict in the Middle East has certainly caused disruption; Chevron is looking into building a pipeline to bypass the

Strait of Hormuz. It’s also working with Microsoft to power one of its new artificial intelligence data centers in West Texas with natural gas, bypassing local electric utilities. These are promising new directions for the company, and evidence that it can pivot as needed to keep growing.

For most investors in the energy patch, Chevron is a good choice.

(The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Chevron.)

Fool’s School: Fund investing basics Many of us (perhaps most) don’t have the time, energy or skills to invest in individual stocks. That’s not a problem, though, because we can invest in stock funds instead.

(There are funds that focus on bonds and other investments, as well.)

You probably know about mutual funds, which pool the money of many investors and are managed for them by professionals. A newer type of fund is the exchange-traded fund, which is very much like a regular mutual fund but trades like a stock. Both types encompass passively man-

ficials said. Loan growth in multifamily construction rose 19% due to the new apartment construction in Lafayette Parish.

Total deposits were $196.4 million as of June 30, up $1 million from the first quarter.

“Although we’ve seen a decline in loans through the first half of the year, credit quality remains sound and we continue to gain new deposit customers,” bank President Opelousas-based Catalyst Ban- and CEO Joe Zanco said. “We’re corp, the parent company for Cata- excited about Louisiana’s economlyst Bank, reported net income of ic future and are off to a running $524,000 for the second quarter, start in our new southwest Louisidown slightly from $524,000 in the ana market.” first quarter, bank officials said.

Its net income includes $182,000 in pre-tax expenses related to the acquisition of Lake Charles-based Lakeside Bancshares and its subThe charter school company considiary, Lakeside Bank, which was nected to the schools in Lafayette recently finalized.

Parish has closed on its deal to For the quarter loans totaled buy land in Broussard for its next $162.8 million, which was down school. $892,900 from the first quarter.

Charter Schools USA bought That first quarter amount in- 7.5 acres near the corner of St. cludes a $5 million construction Nazaire and La Flamme roads for loan that was converted to an com- just over $2 million, land records mercial real estate loan, bank of- show. Broussard-based Billeaud

Cos. was the seller.

The move comes after the Lafayette Charter Foundation in March OK’d the school, which will serve students from kindergarten to 8th grade.

The Lafayette Charter Foundation oversees Lafayette Renaissance Charter Academy and Acadiana Renaissance Charter Academy.

The school will be run by Charter Schools USA, a for-profit education management company based in Florida that runs charter schools in Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina and South Carolina. Lafayette Renaissance and Acadiana Renaissance are in the Charter Schools USA portfolio, along with Vermilion Charter Academy in Maurice.

Plans for the remaining portion of the 61.5-acre lot include commercial development along St. Nazaire and multifamily and single-family housing behind the school along La Flamme, Billeaud CEO Steven Hebert said.

Construction on the school should start soon, he said.

index over the 15 years through December 2025.

Given the underperformance of many mutual funds, consider just sticking with low-fee, broad-market index funds. You might choose one that tracks the S&P 500 index (which includes hundreds of America’s biggest companies) or a fund based on a broader index, like one tracking all U.S. stocks or all world stocks.

not responsible for debts.) Some states, such as community property states, do require a surviving spouse to repay certain debts.

With mortgages, any co-borrower will be expected to keep making payments, and whoever inherits the property may have to pay — or sell.

It’s worth looking into the terms of your various debts to know which rules apply. Note that the IRS will likely bill heirs of the estate for any taxes due.

Can I buy shares of stock directly from companies instead of through a brokerage?

— S.H., Providence, Rhode Island With many companies, you can.

Most folks own stocks in brokerage accounts and via mutual funds or exchange-traded funds.

But you may also be able to buy shares directly from companies that offer a Dividend Reinvestment Plan (sometimes referred to as a “DRIP”), Direct Stock Purchase Plan or similar programs.

Such plans generally charge low or no fees, and they often allow you to reinvest dividends in additional shares or fractions of shares (though reinvested shares can require extra record-keeping).

three-bedroom, two-bath unit.

The sale price is believed to be the highest for a Lafayette Parish multifamily property since Kushner Cos. bought Robley Place for $52.8 million in 2022 and the La Veranda at Polly Lane for $42.4 million in 2021, records show.

Opelousas-based bank saw net income decline

Charter group buys land in Broussard for school

aged funds (like index funds) and actively managed funds.

If you’re going to invest in one or more funds, don’t just choose those with the biggest recent gains. To some degree, a terrific return isn’t the result of genius fund managers, but of good luck — at least over the short term. A huge return in one year may well be followed by a lackluster return the next. Also, be careful with big multiyear returns; they’re sometimes based on one unusually strong year, with the rest of the years less impressive.

Focus on fees, too. You can look up funds at sites such as Morningstar.com, where you’ll find each fund’s “expense ratio” (annual fee) listed. A ratio of 1.0% will cost you $10 annually for every $1,000 you have invested. Many good index funds have expense ratios of 0.05% or lower, costing you $0.50 or less for every $1,000 in the fund.

Fees are part of the reason most stock mutual funds fail to outperform either the market average or their benchmark index. According to S&P Global, 90% of all U.S. large-cap stock mutual funds underperformed the S&P 500

Ask the Fool: Debts and death What happens to my debts after I die? — L.T., Murfreesboro,Tennessee When people die, their debts are generally paid from their estate, which includes assets such as financial accounts, a home and other property. Typically, a named executor or a probate court administrator manages the estate in accordance with probate rules.

If the estate can’t cover your debt, it might go unpaid. Your survivors are generally not on the hook to pay off your debts unless they co-signed a loan or are a joint owner of a credit card account. (Authorized users of a card are not joint owners and are

The biggest stories in business, delivered to you every weekday

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BY THE NUMBERS Basic housing out of reach for nearly half of La. renters

BY GRACE MAYER Staff writer

A new study that examines the cost of housing for lowwage earners across all 50 states underscores the affordability crisis facing roughly half of the nearly 600,000 renting households across Louisiana.

According to the annual report, jointly produced by the National Low Income Housing Coalition and HousingLOUISIANA, renters in Louisiana need to earn $18.35 an hour, about $38,000 a year, to comfortably afford a onebedroom apartment, meaning no more than 30% of their income would go to rent.

To afford a two-bedroom apartment, they would have to earn nearly $22 an hour, or more than $45,500 per year.

About 45% of renter households in Louisiana don’t meet that threshold, earning 50% of the area median income or less — roughly $42,000 a year, the study found.

“In Louisiana, it continues to be impossible to make the math work for some of the hardest working households in the state,” said Andreanecia Morris, execuMorris tive director of HousingLOUISIANA, a nonprofit focused on advancing housing policy and affordable housing projects around the state. “There are many people who are working in New Orleans, but can’t afford to live there.”

The findings placed Louisiana 40th of the 50 states in the “Out of Reach: The High Cost of Housing” report.

The annual study examines how much workers in all 50 states need to earn to afford

Annual income needed to afford rent in Louisiana metro areas

to work 21/2 jobs to afford a one-bedroom apartment or Louisiana workers need to earn the following in order to afford fair market rent, which means three jobs to afford a twobedroom apartment. paying no more than 30% of income on housing.

“To afford a two-bedroom apartment you have to work One-bedroom Annual Two-bedroom Annual over 120 hours a week, but that’s fair market income fair market income not possible,” Morris said. rent needed rent needed Metro area In Louisiana, at least 2% of workers earn the minimum New Orleans-Metairie $1,113 $44,520 $1,331 $53,240 wage or less, according to a Slidell-Mandeville-Covington $1,130 $45,200 $1,331 $53,240 report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics examining Baton Rouge $1,064 $42,560 $1,204 $48,160 data from 2024. Louisiana is Lafayette $898 $35,920 $1,019 $40,760 one of five states without its own minimum wage, which Shreveport-Bossier City $982 $39,280 $1,111 $44,440 means the federal minimum Acadia $671 $26,840 $880 $35,200 wage, which hasn’t risen since 2009, is the state’s deLake Charles $928 $37,120 $1,217 $48,680 fault.

Alexandria $780 $31,200 $994 $39,760 At least, 643,206 people — or nearly 31% of all workers Monroe $793 $31,720 $1,026 $41,040 in the state — earn less than Source: National Low Income Housing Coalition Staff graphic $17 an hour in Louisiana, according to a 2024 report from Oxfam, a global nonprofit that focuses on addressing poverty and inequality, and provides humanitarian aid.

Among Black and Hispanic workers, the percentages are even higher.

These lower income workers are crucial to the local economy, Morris said. She noted how workers in lowerpaying fields, such as grocery clerks, delivery drivers and health technicians, were essential during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Every time there is a diSTAFF FILE PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER saster or crisis in this city Redevelopment plans for the former Navy base in the Bywater neighborhood of New and in this state, we continue Orleans include a mixed-use complex with 294 affordable housing units. to rely on these workers who we don’t pay enough to keep fair market rental rates, hour workweek needs to earn to than the current median a roof over their heads,” which the U.S. Department afford a modest apartment at wages of workers in some Morris said. “Those folks of the most common profes- may not be making as low as of Housing and Urban De- a fair market rental rate.

The report found that, sions, including retail, fast- $7.25 an hour, but they’re also velopment defines as spending no more than one-third of across all 50 states, the calcu- food and custodial workers not making more than $18.” monthly earnings on rent and lated housing wage needed to who, in Louisiana, help susutilities — a federally recom- afford a one- or two-bedroom tain the state’s vital tourism Affordability solutions mended standard to avoid apartment was higher than sector.

Morris believes the solurenters becoming cost-bur- the state’s minimum wage, tion to address this housing affordability gap lies in the dened by housing expenses. which in Louisiana is $7.25 Close to minimum wage The report then calculates an hour.

According to the report, state developing more workThe report also found that Louisiana workers making force and affordable housa “housing wage”: the hourly pay someone working a 40- housing wages were higher minimum wage would have ing.

Working What’s

in Greater New Orleans business

A number of these types of projects are currently in the works in the area. In May, Hope Family Housing, a nonprofit focused on building affordable housing, unveiled its first two duplexes in Central City. The nonprofit plans to build a total of 40 affordable housing units. New Orleans is also working on turning a former military complex into a mixed-use complex with 294 affordable housing units.

In the River District, developers are finalizing plans for the Rivanna Apartments, which will add 220 more units to the mix.

Some 10,000 apartments and homes in Orleans Parish are vacant, about twothirds of which are available as rental units, Morris said, citing data HousingLOUISIANA has collected. Many of them are empty because they’re too expensive to rent in the current market, in large part because of high insurance and utility costs, she said.

Morris would like to see state and city leaders prioritize making vacant units more affordable by investing in upgrades — adding fortified roofs, energy-efficient HVAC systems and resilient windows and weatherboards — to help drive down insurance and utility costs. Funding for such efforts could come from deploying the city’s housing trust fund and other public dollars, she said.

“We’re not talking about substantial rehab. These are not blighted homes. These are occupyable apartments and homes today that are too expensive to operate and rent in this market,” Morris said.

Email Grace Mayer at grace.mayer@theadvocate. com.

with Michael Hecht President & CEO GNO Inc.

Xavier University Named Top Five HBCU in USA Forbes recently released its first-ever ranking of America’s Top HBCUs,, and Xavier University of Louisiana came in at #4 among private HBCUs nationwide. The ranking uses the same methodology as Forbes’ 2026 list of America’s Top 500 Colleges: student outcomes and return on investment. Xavier ranked behind only Howard, Spelman, and Morehouse.

Xavier highlights include: •

•

•

Xavier produces more African American students who graduate from medical schools each year than any other university in the United States Xavier ranks as the #1 HBCU for upward mobility, showing a success rate of 79% where students rise from the bottom two income quintiles into the top three Mid-career graduates earn a median salary of $104,100

Xavier’s medical school pipeline is about to run deeper. Xavier is partnering with Ochsner Health to launch the Xavier Ochsner College of Medicine, which will become the only HBCU medical school in the Gulf South and just the fifth allopathic HBCU medical school in the country. The school earned candidate status from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education in late 2025, a key step toward accreditation, and will be based downtown at Benson Tower in New Orleans.

Writes Forbes: “Founded in 1925, the nation’s only historically Catholic HBCU has built an outsized reputation for sending Black students to medical school. Its best-known programs are in biology/pre-med, chemistry, pharmacy, physician assistant studies, medical laboratory science, neuroscience, health informatics and speech pathology. Famous grads include Regina Benjamin, a former U.S. Surgeon General who won a MacArthur “genius award.”

Congratulations to Xavier leadership, faculty, and students!

You can read the full Forbes HBCU rankings here

A greater choice for business

gnoinc.org

10E ● Sunday, August 9, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

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Why Louisiana?

The Risk and Reward Behind a $32 Billion Data Center Push

In less than 18 months, Louisiana has transformed from virtually no hyperscale data center presence to hosting three of the largest projects in the country, led by major digital leaders. A $10 billion campus in Richland Parish,1 a $12 billion investment across Caddo and Bossier Parishes,2 and a $10 billion River Bend facility in West Feliciana Parish1 represent a combined $32 billion commitment that places Louisiana at the center of the national data center boom. Construction is now underway.

Developers chose Louisiana for good reasons. The state’s industrial

With confirmed projects now spread across the northwest, northeast

contractors have spent decades building refineries, chemical

and southeast of the state, underwriters are watching how that

plants and LNG facilities — complex, high-stakes work at scale.

geographic concentration accumulates across their books.

This expertise transfers directly to data center construction, and

Power and water draw are legitimate community concerns. Data

it’s a meaningful edge. Louisiana contractors are already building

centers consume both at a scale that strains local grids and utility

data centers across the country because they’re among the best

capacity. Some Louisiana power companies are already planning

at this type of work. Siting a project in the state keeps that talent

upgrades to support the new demand. Longer term, on-site

close, resulting in faster project delivery and tighter cost control.

generation, including small modular reactors, may reduce grid

Site selection also reflects a clear-eyed insurance calculation. Two of the three major projects sit in North Louisiana, near the Arkansas border. Locating away from the Gulf Coast hurricane corridor materially changes the underwriting math.

dependency for future builds. These aren’t unsolvable problems.

But they need to be part of the project plan from day one.

Building success: What it takes to get it right Done right, projects of this scale bring lasting returns. The tax revenue will flow into Louisiana communities over decades, into

“

These facilities are in North Louisiana because it’s more affordable to secure the coverage and limits required — it’s an insurance decision as much as a location one.

”

Troy Wagener, Area Executive Vice President, Gallagher

education, infrastructure and economic development, well beyond what direct employment from a data center operation alone would deliver. Louisiana moved early in this cycle and secured a strong position.

Getting that right starts before financing closes, with construction risk, supply chain exposures, power strategy and operational coverage all aligned from day one. That includes parametric triggers for business interruption — coverage that activates without a

The risk picture in Louisiana

physical loss — which matters when a grid failure or supply chain

Louisiana’s broader property and casualty market, by Wagener’s

delay can cost millions before a single claim is filed.

current read, is stable. The insurance market is absorbing an

Gallagher’s Data Center Solutions team works with developers,

unprecedented volume of high-limit construction requests as data

contractors and operators across the full project lifecycle. To

center builds accelerate nationwide. Excess liability and commercial

connect with our Louisiana team, visit AJG.com/louisiana.

automobile liability for contractor fleets — already under pressure in large construction programs — face genuine capacity constraints when a single site is worth $10 billion to $15 billion.

In Louisiana specifically, those pressures are sharper: commercial automobile liability rates for construction rank among the highest in the country, and excess liability capacity for large industrial programs is genuinely constrained. That friction shows up in pricing, deductibles and what carriers will actually put on the table.

Troy Wagener

Area Executive Vice President

Scan the code to connect with us.

Climate perils compound that scrutiny. North Louisiana avoids the worst of the Gulf Coast hurricane corridor, but major storms still push wind and rain well inland. Inland flooding and severe convective storms are live perils across all three project locations.

1“Louisiana’s Growing Data Center Pipeline,” BIZ Magazine, 3 Mar 2026.

2“Amazon Selects Louisiana for $12 Billion Data Center Campuses in Major U.S. Expansion,” Louisiana Economic Development, 23 Feb 2026.

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What to know about energy drinks PAGE 3

DISCOVERy | INNOVATION | LIVING WELL

HEALTH

LOUISIANA

N O L A.C O M & T H E A D V O C AT E.C O M

|

S U N D AY, AU g U S t 9, 2026

Molly Kimball 1N

SPOTLIGHT ON EAST CARROLL PARISH

STAFF PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER

Cars park along Lake Street in Lake Providence in 2022. East Carroll, the northeasternmost parish in the state, ranks near the very bottom at 63rd or 64th out of 64 Louisiana parishes for overall health outcomes, depending on the year reported.

‘EVERYBODY CAN’T LEAVE’ Parish’s health lags behind, but community finds hope

‘Manpower behind their words’ Meet some of the people working to improve East Carroll’s health

BY MARGARET DELANEY Staff writer

LAKE PROVIDENCE — Wanda Manning, 62, is the oldest child of nine. Manning’s mother came from a large family, so did her father. There were always people around in East Carroll, in her house and in the neighborhood.

“I grew up with that mentality to serve,” she said.

Manning taught fifth grade science at Griffin Southside Lower Upper Elementary School in Lake Providence for 33 years.

“I told all of my siblings, everybody can’t leave,” she said. “I chose to stay working in education. I feel like it was, well, I know it was my calling.”

Now that she has retired, she spends a couple days out of the week with teachers and students “wherever (she’s) needed” as part of Together For Hope, a community service organization she runs herself.

“Lake Providence has always been a beautiful place to me to live. I like the small town country feel. I like the small community,” Manning said.

Although many of her siblings have since left the city, and some left Louisiana altogether, Manning chose to stay and help her city thrive in as many ways as she could.

East Carroll, the northeasternmost parish in the state, ranks near

BY MARGARET DELANEY PROVIDED PHOTO

Jennifer Haymon, the regional manager in Northeast Louisiana for the Louisiana Campaign for Tobacco-Free Living, talks to students in East Carroll Parish. the very bottom at 63rd or 64th out of 64 Louisiana parishes for overall health outcomes, depending on the year reported.

The area faces major challenges with high rates of adult obesity, limited health insurance coverage and socioeconomic hurdles.

“If you can elevate the economic status of individual, the health outcomes are going to go up with it,” said Daniel Perea, the director of communications for the Northeast Delta Human Services Authority, an extension of the Louisiana Department of Health. “That’s always part of the bigger picture.”

East Carroll Parish’s population is faring worse than other parishes for health and well-being, and worse than the average county in the nation.

According to various reports from County Health Rankings: n 40% of East Carroll’s adult residents are obese.

Staff writer

n 28% of adults are physically inactive. n 8% of the parish is uninsured. n 33% of residents report food insecurity. n 12% report limited access to healthy foods.

All things are connected. Low rates of cancer screenings, mammograms and annual doctor visits are connected to high rates of unreliable transportation and low rates of people with health insurance. High adult obesity and diabetes rates are connected to high levels of food insecurity, access to health foods and physical inactivity.

Although the statistics and data paint a bleak picture for the parish, it is far from hopeless. There are many people — from inside Lake Providence or as far away as Chicago — who gravitate toward the

LAKE PROVIDENCE — At 10 a.m. in late July, it’s already 95 degrees and sunny outside.

But the line to the food distribution awning is still going, and Theresa Sammons is still waiting to pass out boxes of pantry staples: shelf-stable milk, dry beans and canned goods.

In other times of the year, there are fresh fruits and vegetables in the boxes, pastas and cheeses, ground beef, chicken and fish.

Five years ago Sammons was a banker in Oak Grove in West Carroll Parish. Now, she’s the regional manager for Southern University Agricultural Center’s flagship in East and West Carroll parishes.

She spends three days a week here in East Carroll in downtown Lake Providence, sandwiched between First Presbyterian and First United Methodist churches and around the corner from the public library, managing events from food distribution with Lake Providence Community Action, preparing desserts for a bimonthly council on aging and short nutrition lessons (with quizzes) for East Carroll youth.

Her focus: bring nutrition, food access and education to the area.

“I did a pasta workshop (in East Carroll) in

ä See HEALTH, page 3X

ä See MANPOWER, page 2X

n 14% of residents have diabetes.

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HEALTH MAKER

Expert spreads healthy eating habits in East Carroll Q&A WITH CATHy AGAN

BY MARGARET DELANEY Staff writer

Cathy Agan grew up next to East Carroll Parish.

Her life in Oak Grove, in West Carroll Parish, led her to pursue a degree in family sciences from the University of Louisiana Monroe, then to a master’s in family sciences at Louisiana Tech University.

She stayed in north Louisiana.

Now, she lives in West Monroe and works as an extension agent for LSU AgCenter in East Carroll. Her programs often take her to Lake Providence and the East Carroll Public Library to teach classes on food access, nutrition and more.

Her latest class in June was a charcuterie board workshop where she showed East Carroll residents healthy snack options for hosting.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What brought you to work in East Carroll?

I have very recently started doing work in East Carroll Parish. I began in January going over there to do programming with our LSU AgCenter Nutrition and Community Health

and frozen foods — I give tips for that.

If you’re choosing canned, watch out for the sodium in vegetables or sugar in fruits. We talk about how you can rinse some of the sodium on canned vegetables if you can’t purchase the no-salt-added varieties.

Choosing fruits canned with 100% fruit juice instead of the heavy syrup.

We talk about healthy food-prep methods and healthier ways to cook rather than frying foods.

We also talk about choosing healthier foods and snacks for get-togethers, how to make those moments healthier and within a budget, too.

How do you get people interested in better health?

Someone that’s coming to PROVIDED PHOTO the library and our classes Cathy Agan, a nutrition expert with LSU AgCenter, hosted a June workshop on healthy snacks already has a bit of an inat the East Carroll Parish Public Library. terest in improving their health. They are very recephome.

Program. tive. They are a good group. ceries. But not everybody In East Carroll, there are I’ve been working with The library in East Carhas transportation. not a whole lot of options as the East Carroll ParWhat conversations happen to roll is almost like a hub of far as healthy food. There’s improve nutrition in your programs? the community. It is a wonish Library on nutrition only one full grocery store.

We talk about different programs. A lot of them derful space, and people Most people travel outside healthy nutrition options focused on food preparacome there. They do chair of the parish to purchase that people can do. Somefitness on Wednesdays and tion skills … to be able to most of their food and groFridays, and they have a prepare healthy meals at times it’s choosing canned

great group that comes to exercise.

There is interest in health.

I just would like to have more partners where I can go and provide different programs to reach different audiences, because different places in the community may draw a different age groups and audiences.

They all would be educational programs related to healthy eating, food safety, budgeting food dollars, food preparation skills.

What are some of the biggest factors impacting health in the area?

Poverty is a big one. I think also the lack of access to healthy foods.

The adult obesity rate is at 51%, so it’s pretty significant. Diabetes, hypertension. Those are all things that drive some of the health issues and a lot of those are tied back to diet and physical activity.

The 4-H agent in East Carroll does tremendous programs for the youth that hit all kinds of things related to youth development.

A lot of them are healthy living programs.

MANPOWER

Continued from page 1X June. We talked about pasta salads,” Sammons said.

“Since I have had this job, I have developed a passion for this, and it’s been very enjoyable.”

Her position with Southern University was previously grant-funded, but new federal policies ended the flow of money. Now the community program receives alternate funding that extends it. Money for Sammons’ position should last until September.

In the meantime, Sammons is still planning for the future, making arrangements for next summer’s nutrition camps, including rock-painting with My Plate charts, more strawberry jam jarring from Louisiana strawberries and workshops for cooking at home.

Sammons is not alone in her vision and contributions to the area.

Cathy Agan lives in Ouachita Parish, but makes the trek to Lake Providence for nutrition learning labs at the East Carroll Parish Public Library. Her family is originally from one parish over in Oak Grove in West Carroll.

Agan works as with the LSU AgCenter is an extension agent with background in family and consumer sciences with the AgCenter’s Nutrition and Community Health program.

“A lot of them focused on food preparation skills, trying to encourage people to have those skills to be able to prepare healthy meals at home,” Agan said.

The learning labs focus on such subjects as healthy airfryer recipes, canning foods and making jams.

“There’s not a whole lot of options there as far as healthy food,” she said. “Not everybody has transportation to go outside of the parish to be able to access healthy foods.”

In 2024, over 18 million U.S. households reported being food insecure at some time during the year.

At those times food-insecure households were unable to provide enough food to meet the needs of all their members because they had insufficient money or resources, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Between 2021 and 2023, an average 16.2% of Louisianans were food insecure, defined as adults who reported that the food that they bought always, usually or sometimes did not last — and they didn’t have money to get more.

Theresa Sammons, right, teaches a nutrition workshop at East Carroll Parish Public Library. Sammons has made arrangement for next summer’s nutrition camps, including jam jarring with Louisiana strawberries.

PROVIDED PHOTOS

Theresa Sammons, the regional manager for Southern University Agricultural Center’s flagship in East and West Carroll parishes, shows how to prepare food at the East Carroll Parish Public Library.

In a nutrition workshop hosted at East Carroll Parish Public Library in Lake Providence, participants learned healthy meals that can be cooked in an air fryer.

In East Carroll, more than half of parish adults reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that they were obese, and over 45% of residents reported food insecurity, in which their food purchases always, usually or sometimes did not last — and they did not have money to get more.

“I think it’s not just an East Carroll Parish and Lake Providence issue,” said Wanda Manning, a retired teacher and leader of a community program Together For Hope. “I think it’s a national issue with obesity and good eating habits.”

learning labs.

“People come there,” Agan said. “I am looking to expand to some other partners beyond the library to offer some of our healthy eating programs. I’m hoping to be able to expand what I’m doing there.”

Sammons knows that East Carroll receives a lot of negativity, but knows the locals will never stop caring about their city.

“It is a very poor parish. I will say that,” she said. “But we have people that work together and people that really want to make the parish a better place to live and a

‘A better place to live’ There is one family-owned grocery store in Lake Providence that is the primary destination for fresh produce in the city. Two discount stores also carry food, but not fresh fruits or vegetables.

“It’s just a small town,” said Sammons. “But there are a lot of people in this parish that are willing to put the manpower behind their words.”

Programs within the com-

munity and in-person workshops with both LSU’s and Southern University’s agricultural centers hope to make some waves in food access, food preparation and nutrition habits.

“We’re talking about how to make things healthier within a budget,” Agan said.

Most of classes Agan teaches are hands-on and involve making the food at the library and bringing home their wares to their families and homes.

“Just to make it more meaningful and to help them get that sense of ‘Oh, I can do this at home too because I did it in class,’ ” Agan said.

Manning, a lifelong resident of Lake Providence remembers canning peaches with her grandmother in the summer months in East Carroll.

Here, she says, everyone shares — even the fruit from their trees. One of Manning’s fellow church members picked her some figs.

Her sister planted five peach trees so she could can them.

In her cousin’s yard, there’s a pear tree up for grabs, too.

“That is so very impor-

tant,” Manning said “I thank God for my grandparents who taught me.”

Now, 40 years later, the public library hosts annual classes to teach the younger generations the art of canning. Sammons teaches a class that makes strawberry jam, too.

“I’ll tell you, it’s the best jam you’d ever have,” Sammons said.

The library in East Carroll is a hub of the community.

Every week there’s an event: STEM classes for kids who want to learn from a chemist, trash pickups in the city, art fairs, health fairs and

better place for their children to grow up. There’s a lot more community effort that goes on in this parish than is ever recognized.”

Manning touts the tenacity she’s experienced throughout her life in East Carroll.

“I see a lot of people donating, participating in this city,” Manning said. “I think we should support our own.

We need to provided what we need and what the kids need to move forward and to thrive.”

Email Margaret DeLaney at margaret.delaney @theadvocate.com.

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU The Louisiana Health section is focused on providing in-depth, personal accounts of health in the state. This section looks at medical innovations, health discoveries, state and national health statistics and reexamining tried and true methods on ways to live well.

Health editions will also profile people who are advancing health for the state of Louisiana.

Do you have a health story? We want to hear from you.

Email margaret.delaney@ theadvocate.com to submit health questions, stories and more.

The Acadiana Advocate ● theadvocate.com ● Sunday,August 9, 2026 ● 3X

lll

Eat Fit Live Fit B R O U G H T TO YO U BY

Molly Kimball RD, CSSD

Energy drinks: what to know before reaching for one

W

alk into almost any grocery store, convenience store or gym these days, and you’ll find an entire cooler devoted to energy drinks.

The category has exploded, with options promising everything from sharper focus to workout support and recovery.

Not long ago, most energy drinks looked similar: lots of caffeine, lots of sugar and a long list of ingredients. Today, the landscape is much broader.

Some newer options are taking a different approach, with moderate caffeine, little or no added sugar and ingredients like electrolytes, ketones or amino acids.

So how do we choose? Caffeine?

Sweeteners? Functional ingredients?

Those questions matter. But before comparing labels, there’s an even more important question to ask first.

Start With the Root Cause

Why do we feel like we need an energy drink in the first place? Maybe we didn’t sleep well. Maybe we’re mildly dehydrated. Maybe lunch was mostly refined carbohydrates and we’re crashing by mid-afternoon. Or maybe we’re simply trying to stay focused through another day of emails, meetings and notifications.

Before reaching for an energy drink, ask whether better hydration, a proteinrich snack, a brisk walk or even stepping away from the screen might provide more benefit.

Here’s an important distinction: energy isn’t the same as alertness.

Caffeine doesn’t create energy the way food does. Instead, it helps you feel more awake by blocking adenosine, a brain chemical that promotes sleepiness.

Caffeine can fit into a balanced diet, and beverages like coffee and tea offer the additional benefit of antioxidants along with the caffeine.

caffeinated electrolyte mixes may make more sense: LMNT Lemonade + Iced Tea provides 50 milligrams of caffeine plus 1,000 milligrams of sodium. That sodium level may be useful for heavy sweaters, prolonged workouts and Louisiana heat, but it is more than many people need for an ordinary day. Nuun Energy offers a middle ground, with about 80 milligrams of caffeine and 40 milligrams of sodium in a water-bottle tablet.

Green tea contains about 35 to 50 milligrams of caffeine per cup, along with L-theanine and antioxidant polyphenols such as EGCG. Black tea generally provides 40 to 70 milligrams, while yerba mate (pronounced YAIR-bah mah-TAY) falls somewhere between tea and coffee.

For comparison, an 8-ounce brewed coffee contains about 100 milligrams of caffeine, while a Starbucks Grande has about 160 milligrams. Most health organizations recommend staying below 400 milligrams daily for healthy adults.

Reading the Label

Once you’ve addressed the basics – sleep, hydration and fueling – the next step is choosing wisely.

I look for moderate caffeine, little or no added sugar, relatively simple ingredient lists and, in some cases, functional ingredients that truly add value. Among straightforward energy drinks, my favorites

are CLEAN Cause and FITAID Energy.

CLEAN Cause provides 160 milligrams of caffeine from yerba mate and green tea, no sugar and is naturally sweetened with erythritol and stevia.

Sweetened with monk fruit and stevia, FITAID Energy provides 200 milligrams of caffeine from green tea, zero sugar and added vitamins, minerals and electrolytes.

Popular brands like Celsius and Alani Nu are straightforward energy drinks sweetened with sucralose. Sucralose isn’t an automatic deal-breaker, but when comparable products are available without it, that’s generally my preference.

Ketone-IQ is in a category of its own.

Available with or without caffeine, it’s more of an energy shot centered on ketones as an alternative fuel source than a traditional energy drink.

And lastly, for someone looking for only a small lift before or during exercise,

Molly Kimball, RD, CSSD, is a registered dietitian with Ochsner Health and founder of Ochsner’s Eat Fit nonprofit initiative. For more wellness content, tune in to Molly’s podcast, FUELED Wellness + Nutrition, and follow @MollykimballRD and @EatFitOchsner on social media.

Email nutrition@ochsner.org to connect with Molly or schedule a consult with her team.

A Few Important Cautions

Energy drinks are not appropriate for everyone. Children and teens should avoid them, and people who are pregnant or breastfeeding, have high blood pressure or heart rhythm disorders, are especially sensitive to caffeine or take medications that interact with stimulants should consult a healthcare professional before using them.

Timing matters, too. Caffeine stays in the body for hours. An afternoon energy drink can interfere with sleep, leading to more fatigue the next morning and another round of caffeine. A practical guideline is to stop caffeine at least six hours before bedtime, and earlier if you are especially sensitive.

If you choose an energy drink, put some thought into your choice. Take note of all sources of caffeine, and before opening another can, ask if what your body really needs is just hydration, nourishment or simply a rest and recharge.

For a deeper dive into energy drinks, caffeine, sweeteners and functional ingredients – including branched-chain amino acids, electrolytes and layered stimulant blends – listen to the full “FUELED Wellness + Nutrition” podcast episode, available wherever you get your podcasts.

BY THE NUMBERS

DATA COMPARES EAST CARROLL PARISH HEALTH TO U.S., LOUISIANA

East Carroll Parish has long been ranked near the bottom of Louisiana’s rankings for health outcomes including health risk behaviors, prevention practices, social needs and disabilities.

In parish-level data reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, East Carroll had the worst health outcome for 30 of 39 collected data sets: n Among adults, the residents are the most lonely county in the nation. n It has highest percentage of adults without reliable transportation in the last year. n Adult residents are the second-highest percentage in the U.S. for people with frequent mental distress. n The northeast Louisiana parish is home to 6,829 people including 5,465 adults.

Here are some highlights from the most recent adult health data collected by the CDC on East Carroll parish: Smoking rates are down in the parish, with 29% adults in East Carroll reporting current use in 2023.Although it’s still the highest rate in the state, major milestones in smoking cessation efforts have contributed to a significant decrease from 36% in 2021.

Physical activity after working hours can decrease the risks of certain health outcomes like cancer, heart disease and Type 2 diabetes. In East Carroll, 44.1% of adults had no leisure-time physical activity, significantly higher than the national county average of 27%.

East Carroll Parish has the seventh-highest percentage of adults between 18 and 64 who lack health insurance compared to

HEALTH

Continued from page 1X parish and city to make positive change.

Jennifer Haymon, the regional manager in Northeast Louisiana for the Louisiana Campaign for TobaccoFree Living, lives in Monroe now, but is originally from Chicago. She originally came down to Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina Haymon to help with recovery efforts, working with the National Alzheimer’s Association.

Haymon makes the hour-plus drive to East Carroll multiple times a month, working with Healthy Community Coalition to oversee grants “that we’ve had there for various reasons.”

a dentist in the last year. Just over 80% went in for their annual checkups. Over 43% of residents over the age of 65 had lost all Comparing the most healthy and least healthy counties in the of their teeth.

U.S. to East Carroll parish.

Although annual visits are important to maintain health East Carroll Louisiana average U.S. average outcomes, 23.5% of parish residents reported unreliable transportation in the most recent year that data was reported, Least healthy U.S. county Most healthy U.S. county which kept them from medical appointments, meetings, work or from getting things needed for daily living. On top of that, 27.8% of East Carroll households reported utility service shut-off threats.

Unreliable transportation More than half of parish adults reported to the CDC that they were obese (51.7%), and 46.8% of residents reported food insecurity, in which their food purchases always, usually Obesity or sometimes did not last, and they did not have money to get more. Over 46% of East Carroll adults received food stamps Frequent under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in the past mental distress year.That’s the third-highest county-level percentage of adults receiving SNAP benefits in the country.

Food insecurity Over one in four East Carroll residents have “serious difficulty concentrating, remembering or making decisions,” the highest 0 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% percentage of adults with cognitive disability in the state.

Additionally, 26.3% of East Carroll adults reported difficulty Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Staff graphic walking or climbing stairs, the 12th-highest county-level 3,144 counties in the U.S., with 16% of residents reporting a lack percentage of mobility disability in the country. of health coverage. Louisiana has the highest state average for The mental toll on health in the parish is also evident: non-insurance holders in this group with a state average of 10.2%. n 23.5% reported frequent mental distress Annual visits to both the dentist and routine checkups with a n 37.8% reported a lack of social and emotional support physician are recommended by the CDC for health prevention n 25% reported depression n 41.8% reported loneliness. and maintenance. Only 38.7% of East Carroll residents visited

East Carroll spotlight

“It’s a lot of supporting the people who live and work there, and providing resources to help support them to really move the needle on health issues that are so much more evident in East Carroll Parish,” she said. “Not having appropriate medical infrastructure is a big problem.”

About 7,000 people live in East Carroll Parish. Primary care physicians in the parish see over 2,400 patients per year on average.

For many in Lake Providence, the closest health resource is Jackson, Mississippi, where advanced screening technologies are available, but there are barriers for those without transportation or healthcare coverage out-of-state.

Largely a rural area, accessible transportation has always been an obstacle for purchasing groceries, getting healthcare and education opportunities.

The Northeast Delta Human Services Authority, an extension of the

Louisiana Department of Health in the region, began a mobile health clinic that moves throughout the area.

“The long term goal is to be able to help people who can’t necessarily make regular appointments or can’t get important primary healthcare screenings,” said Perea.

Dr. Martha Phillips, who practices medicine in Monroe, traveled in to the East Carroll Parish Library, a new hub for the community led

by Kris Saunders. Phillips’ class focused on the perils of teen vaping and drinking at an early age.

“When you get out of these rural areas like Lincoln Parish or East Carroll Parish, people sometimes lose faith in the system,” Perea said. “Region Eight [Northeast Louisiana], in general, is one of the most impoverished regions in the entire United States.”

‘You become part of a family’ Health outcomes as a whole,

however, do not change overnight.

“We don’t go in and abandon people,” Haymon said. “People want to have quick answers. Understanding that these issues are so complex and intertwined that there isn’t just one simple solution to make it go away.”

In 2013, CNN visited the parish highlighting the extreme wealth gaps in Lake Providence. While the piece explored income inequalities and brought attention to certain deficits in the region, it didn’t bring lasting change.

“It did bring in some people who had good intentions to try to help.

Unfortunately, some people that came in may have been a little misguided about how to really address poverty and how you address systemic inequities,” Haymon said.

“If we don’t address poverty, we’re going to continue to struggle in public health.”

Many grants came, established programs for the city and left

when finances dried up.

“People in Lake Providence grow weary of that,” Perea said. “It’s a bit of an uphill battle to let people know that we do care about them.”

Moving the needle bit by bit is the goal in East Carroll. Improvements in the parish including physical activity levels, broadband access and smoking cessations are the result of years of community and governance efforts.

Five years ago, Haymon would travel around the city through “dead zones” where her phone completely lost service. After half a decade spent amid a pandemic and countless storms, broadband is becoming more available in Lake Providence.

Among the dedicated people who do stay in East Carroll and work to offer their help, Haymon said, “You become part of a family, because we’re all working on this solution together. That needle’s moving slow, but it’s moving.”

4X ● Sunday, August 9, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

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wonderword

scrabble grams

word game

directions: Make a 2- 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.

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 not allowed.

For more information on tournaments and clubs, email NASPA – North American SCRABBLE Players Association: info@scrabbleplayers.org. Visit our website: www.scrabbleplayers.org. For puzzle inquiries contact scrgrams@gmail.com.

Hasbro and its logo SCRABBLE associated logo, the design of the distinctive SCRABBLE brand game card, and the distinctive letter tile designs are trademarks of Hasbro in the United States and Canada. ©2026 Hasbro. All rights reserved. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

cryptoquote AxyDLBAAxR iS LONgFELLOW One letter stands for another. in this sample, A is used for the three L’s, x for the two O’s, etc. Single letters, apostrophes, the length and formation of the words are all hints. Each day the code letters are different.

AnsWers to ALL PuZZLes Are on inside BAcK PAGe

todAY's Word — MArLine: MAR-lin: A covering for wire rope.

Average mark 45 words Time limit 60 minutes Can you find 64 or more words in MARLINE?

Sudoku

ken ken instructions: 1 - Each row and each column must contain the numbers 1 through 4 (easy) or 1 through 6 (challenging) without repeating.

2 - The numbers within the heavily outlined boxes, called cages, must combine using the given operation (in any order) to produce the target numbers in the top-left corners.

3 - Freebies: Fill in the single-box cages with the number in the top-left corner.

instructions: Sudoku is a number-placing puzzle based on a 9x9 grid with several given numbers. The object is to place the numbers 1 to 9 in the empty squares so that each row, each column and each 3x3 box contains the same number only once. The difficulty level of the Conceptis Sudoku increases from Monday to Sunday.

hidato directions: Complete the grid so that numbers 1–132 connect horizontally, vertically or diagonally.

AnsWers to ALL PuZZLes Are on inside BAcK PAGe

Los angeLes Times sunday Crossword puzzLe — Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis “a+ in FiLm sTudies”

By Joe deeney aCross 1 Some latte orders 7 Enemy of ancient Athens 13 Alpaca kin 18 “Play slowly,” in music 19 Peanut butter and jelly 21 Keeps occupied 22 Public square that gets really sticky in the heat?

24 Would rather not 25 Biblical suffix 26 Sp. address 27 Quite the commotion 28 Ski lift 30 Actor Kilmer 31 Chuckle syllable 33 Founded, as a co.

36 “Don’t play,” in music 38 Phi __ Kappa 39 One who can only rasp quietly?

44 Title for Judi Dench 46 Fox or ox 47 __ monster 48 Spot in a store with toys, water bowls, and leashes?

51 Castle-breaching explosive 53 Sandbox visitor 54 Rapper Dr. __ 55 Matar paneer vegetables 57 Cause friction 60 Cookie whose website has recipes for cheesecake and empanadas 62 Derby-sporting Addams 64 Ancient hulled wheat 66 Old Jutland resident 67 “Fiddlesticks”

68 Warning before a particularly scary monster flick?

71 Lysol target 72 Chemist Mendeleev who created the periodic table 74 Castle trenches 75 Hit the slopes 76 Blackthorn berry 77 Beyoncé’s “I Am... __ Fierce” 78 In the mail 79 Blunder 81 Liberty Mutual’s bus.

82 Hybrid synth instrument 84 R-rated NASA event?

89 Pedal pushers 90 __ roll 92 “What fun!”

93 Oak trees?

99 Golfer McIlroy 100 Broadcast again 101 Hurdle for an aspiring JD 102 Halloween mo.

105 Off-rd. wheels 106 “Stranger Things” actor Wolfhard 107 Hoppy fave 110 Wireless std.

112 “Midsommar” director Aster 114 Minor flaw 116 Glass ceilingbreaking event?

121 Musical weakness 122 Invertebrate found in every ocean 123 Hackers’ shout of success 124 Go out for a while?

125 Beguile 126 Jaunty neckwear down 1 Broad valley 2 “Ethan Frome” novelist Wharton 3 Browser storage 4 In the past

5 Many Christmas trees 6 Fancy affair 7 NNW reversal 8 “Play very, very softly,” in music 9 Met highlight 10 Assessment 11 Lipton division 12 Curved cutting tool 13 “Nothing you say is true!”

14 Tennis do-over 15 Affectionate sign-off 16 Change genetically 17 Like molecules that cannot form permanent bonds 20 Nickname for Louis Armstrong 21 “There isn’t anything else!?”

23 Lettuce or cabbage 29 Neutral shades 32 Web design code 34 Warty amphibian 35 Paul of “The Batman” 37 Piercing tool 38 Tight squeezes 40 Listen to 41 Fix badly?

42 Texting tech 43 Put a name to 44 Natural history museum display 45 “M*A*S*H” star?

48 Not on the same page 49 Savanna antelope 50 Glam gala 51 Trails 52 Intro to many a newsreel 55 Calligraphy tools 56 Some city trains 58 As a departure from the norm 59 Snare 61 Without any planning 63 More family-

friendly 64 Walks or runs 65 Where some get tired quickly?

66 Movement while asking “How do I look?”

69 Junior 70 Rubber-stamped 73 Like a daisy 78 Shiny fabric 80 Sultry growl 83 Boston University

goren Bridge

athlete 84 Trivial objection 85 Product of incomplete combustion 86 Ship stabilizer 87 Noted times 88 “Um, think again” 90 Showy carp 91 From Cairo or Cape Town 93 Makes with skill 94 Medium for

wuzzLes

111 Short-horned bighorns 113 Some Tripadvisor recommendations 115 Buzzer?

117 “Told you!”

118 Washington’s Sea-__ Airport 119 Minecraft material 120 Battle of Helm’s Deep combatant

super Quiz Take this Super Quiz to a Ph.D. Score 1 point for each correct answer on the Freshman Level, 2 points on the graduate Level and 3 points on the Ph.D. Level.

Use the fork, Luke!

North knew from the bidding that his partner was void in hearts, so he reasoned that his black suit “quacks” would be very useful. He was right.

Should the trumps split no worse than 3-1, there could never be more than two losers and a winning diamond finesse would provide 12 tricks. South ruffed the opening heart lead and led a spade to dummy’s queen. The 4-0 split complicated things. If South took the diamond finesse and it lost, West would lead another heart, forcing South to ruff. It would then take all of South’s trumps to draw East’s trumps and East would eventually get a club and a heart. If South led a club instead of drawing trumps right away, East could win and lead another heart. South would then have fewer trumps than East and would have to lose a trump trick.

South abandoned trumps for the moment. He led a low club from dummy and caught East on “Morton’s Fork.” Had East risen with his ace, South would have three club tricks to go with six trump tricks and two

deep-frying 95 California city near Santa Ana 96 Grams 97 Young hippopotamus 98 Capital west of Montreal 103 Brief appearance 104 Hair texture, e.g.

106 Dust jacket part 108 Ramona, per Beezus 109 Voting against

SUBJECT: STRAITS, CANALS, CHANNELS AND GULFS (Example: This Canadian gulf is the largest estuary in the world. Answer: Gulf of St. Lawrence.)

FRESHMAN LEVEL 1. This channel separates Great Britain from northern France.

Answer________ 2. This canal connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean.

Answer________ 3. This strait connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea. Answer________ 4. This large gulf is to the south of the U.S. Answer________ 5. This canal connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea. Answer________

diamonds. When East ducked his ace, South took the king and drew trumps. He then played the ace, king, and jack of diamonds, again having 11 tricks.

It was a difficult problem, but South found a neat solution.

Tannah Hirsch welcomes readers’ responses sent in care of this newspaper or to Tribune Content Agency inc., 2225 Kenmore Ave., Suite 114, Buffalo, Ny. 14207. E-mail responses may be sent to gorenbridge@ aol.com. © 2026 Tribune Content Agency

GRADUATE LEVEL 6. This strait is the narrowest part of the English Channel.

Answer________ 7. This American gulf is part of the northern Pacific Ocean.

Answer________ 8. This strait is a vital waterway connecting the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman.

Answer________ 9. This Canadian bay is known for having the highest tides in the world.

Answer________ 10. This bay borders France and Spain.

Answer________ PH.D. LEVEL 11. This gulf is the northernmost arm of the Baltic Sea between Finland and Sweden.

Answer________ 12. This strait separates the North and South islands of New Zealand.

Answer________ 13. This gulf is enclosed on three sides by northern Australia.

Answer________ 14. This Chinese canal is the longest canal in the world.

Answer________ 15. This canal connects the Hudson River to Lake Erie.

Answer________

ANSWERS TO ALL PUZZLES ARE ON NEXT PAGE

zodiaC LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) Learn as you go, ask questions and try something new and exciting. Chance encounters will lead to a host of emotions that change your perspective regarding how and what you pursue next.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Helping others is admirable, but sometimes you need to pay more attention to your needs. A change of heart will be necessary if someone puts you in a vulnerable position.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) Nurture, pamper and refuse to let emotional situations consume you. Put your energy into learning, personal growth or a new project that motivates you

to engage in what fascinates you most.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 22) Read the room before you trust someone’s hype. Overindulgence and circumstances that can give someone control of a situation you find yourself in will require attention and discipline.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23-Dec. 21) You can make headway if you pay attention to investment opportunities and look at your options regarding professional opportunities and updating your skills and resume.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Take time to process information and

to consider how best to respond. A well-thought-out plan can save you from having to revisit a sensitive issue. Put your energy into physical activities.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) If you keep the momentum flowing, the rewards will help you pay the bills. A lifestyle change that allows you to use your physical skills as well as your intelligence will lead to a long-term investment.

PISCES (Feb. 20-March 20) Uncertainty will surface due to misinformation.

Don’t offer personal information or sign up for subscriptions or something you don’t really want or need.

Deal with an emotional matter.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) Problems will grow if you don’t pay attention.

Use your intuition to assess and tame your fury. A change to how you earn your living or use your money will make a difference to what you pursue next.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) Easy does it. If you take on too much, there will be a price to pay. Focus more on yourself and less on what others are doing. Being less critical and putting more onus on yourself will help you overcome flaws.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) Change is in your DNA. You’ll thrive if

you engage in conversations and debates or pursue whatever grabs your attention. The outcome of your vast interests will help you find your purpose.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) Emotional energy is mounting, and personal issues are better off being addressed sooner rather than later. Get more than one opinion, and surround yourself with people you trust.

The horoscope, an entertainment feature, is not based on scientific fact. © 2026 by NEA, inc., dist. By Andrews McMeel Syndication

dustin / by Steve Kelley & Jeff Parker

Answers to puzzles super quiz 1. English Channel. 2. Panama Canal. 3. Strait of Gibraltar. 4. The Gulf of Mexico. 5. Suez Canal.

6. Strait of Dover. 7. Gulf of Alaska. 8. Strait of Hormuz. 9. Bay of Fundy. 10. Bay of Biscay.

11. Gulf of Bothnia. 12. Cook Strait. 13. Gulf of Carpentaria. 14. Grand Canal. 15. Erie Canal.

SCORING: 24 to 30 points — congratulations, doctor; 18 to 23 points — honors graduate; 13 to 17 points — you’re plenty smart, but no grind; 5 to 12 points — you really should hit the books harder; 1 point to 4 points — enroll in remedial courses immediately; 0 points — who reads the questions to you?

Cryptoquote Answer Saturday's Cryptoquote: Summer has filled her veins with light and her heart is washed with noon. — C. Day Lewis

word GAme Answer mail mailer main male mane manlier mare marine marl marlin meal mean menial merlin mien mile miler

mine miner mineral mire airmen alien amen amir anile anime rail rain rale ramen ramie rani real

realm ream rein remain renal rile rime lain lair lame lamer lane lean learn liar lien lime

limn line linear line nail name namer near earl earn elan email emir

sudoKu Answer jumble Answer

Crossword Answers

jeFF mACnelly’s shoe / by Gary Brookins & Susie MacNelly

sCrAbble Answers

FoXtrot / by Bill Amend

wuzzles Answers

Ken Ken Answers

hidAto Answers