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Race for 6th District wide-open Fields not seeking reelection after redistricting

ton Rouge Parish Metro Council; Pat Forbes, who spent 20 years in highstate’s best-known Democrats, BY TYLER BRIDGES level state governdidn’t think he could win a conStaff writer gressional district that remains ment positions for three governors; Two years after his election, U.S. anchored in Baton Rouge but now and Lindsay GarRep. Cleo Fields chose not to run strongly favors a Republican. That has not stopped three Fields again this year for a simple reason. cia, a former social Republican state legislators re- Democrats from running for the studies teacher in drew his 6th District’s boundar- seat. They are Chauna Banks, who New Orleans who obtained a law ies in May, and Fields, one of the served 12 years on the East Ba- degree from Southern University

last year. The three are facing an uphill battle in an open primary that includes state Sen. Rick Edmonds, R-Baton Rouge; state Sen. Blake Miguez, R-Erath; and Larry Davis III, an elected member of the Livingston Parish Republican Parish Executive Committee. The election will be an open primary on Nov. 3 in which the top two ﬁnishers, regardless of party,

will advance to a runoff in December. The runoff is likely to pit the top Republican and Democrat vote-getters in the primary. The six House elections were supposed to take place in May and June, but Gov. Jeff Landry canceled them after the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling that invalidated the existing congressional

ä See 6TH DISTRICT, page 4A

Cole challenges validity of grand jury Superintendent argues AG misrepresented text messages BY PATRICK SLOAN-TURNER Staff writer

— even amid mounting tensions between the judiciary and President Donald Trump’s administration’s immigration crackdown. DeGravelles has accused federal ofﬁcials of violating due process laws while trying to deport Mohammed, whom ICE wants to

Two weeks after he was indicted on corruption charges, former Baton Rouge Metro Council member and current schools Superintendent LaMont Cole argued in court filings Friday that Attorney General Liz Murrill’s office was misrepresenting his text messages to make it seem he was taking bribes. “The attorney general’s office isolated Cole and took innocent text messages … out of context, weaponized them” and “wrapped them in a garment of criminal narrative,” Cole’s attorneys wrote. Cole’s defense team filed a motion Moore Friday challenging the validity of the grand jury that charged him and other current or former city-parish officials. His attorneys question whether District Attorney Hillar Moore submitted a written request for Attorney General Liz Murrill’s office to get involved in the grand jury proceedings, which they say is required by law. Absent a request from Moore, a judge would have needed to sign off on the attorney general’s involvement, the filing states. Martin Maley, one of Cole’s attorneys, wrote that, if there was no written request, Murrill and Moore “exceeded” their authority and “the

ä See CONTEMPT, page 4A

ä See CHALLENGE, page 4A

STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

NEW TO CAMPUS

LSU freshman mingle on the steps of the French House during an event held by the Roger Hadﬁeld Ogden Honors College on Friday in Baton Rouge. LSU has been bustling as students make their way through campus in preparation for the start of school on Monday.

La. federal judge holds ICE official in contempt case of a judge holding the Rare rebuke stems from repeated attempts to deport Ethiopian man rare federal government in contempt

BY JAMES FINN

rights and defied court orders as it repeatedly sought the man’s Staff writer deportation after his release A Louisiana-based federal from immigration detention at judge held a senior U.S. Im- the Louisiana State Penitentiary migration and Customs En- at Angola. Federal officials were ordered forcement official in contempt Wednesday, finding the agency to pay Ibrahim Mohammed, 43, violated an Ethiopian detainee’s attorneys’ fees stemming from

WEATHER HIGH 99 LOW 75 PAGE 6A

his most recent arrest by ICE on July 28, as well $180 for “compensatory damages,” according to court records. The order from U.S. District Judge John W. deGravelles, which applies to an ICE ﬁeld office director in Mohammed’s home state of Maryland, marks a

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Court slashes judgment against Alex Jones

AUSTIN, Texas — A Texas court on Friday slashed a $50 million judgment that conspiracy theorist Alex Jones was ordered to pay families of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre over his false claims that one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history was a hoax. The Infowars founder can only be forced to pay about $6 million, the Texas Third Court of Appeals ruled in a unanimous opinion, citing state laws that limit lawsuit damages. The ruling does not affect a separate $1.25 billion judgment against Jones in Connecticut, where he was also found liable for defaming and causing emotional distress to relatives of the 20 ﬁrst-graders and six educators killed in the Newtown shooting. The punishing financial verdicts against Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems, in recent years have forced him into bankruptcy, led to some of his personal property being put up for auction and led to him leaving his Infowars platform. For decades, he used the platform to push conspiracy theories about the United Nations, the federal government, gun control and more. Sandy Hook families have yet to collect any money from Jones, who has waged lengthy appeals in state and bankruptcy courts as his company faces liquidation. He remains on air after moving onto new websites and streaming platforms. Friday’s ruling did not throw out the trial court’s finding of defamation against Jones. Still, he called it “a gigantic victory for the First Amendment,” and said he will continue to appeal the case to the state Supreme Court to get the remaining damages thrown out.

Man with sword attacks school in Sweden

GENEVA — An 18-year-old man with a sword attacked a school Friday in central Sweden, leaving one person dead and at least two others seriously injured, a police chief said. Police Chief Tommy Alriksson told a news conference that the suspect had been arrested following the attack at the school in the central town of Fagersta, northwest of the capital, Stockholm. Police confirmed that shots were fired during the arrest. It was not clear whether the suspect had been injured, but he was being held in custody — not treated in a hospital. The attack took place at the Brinell School in Fagersta while classes were in session, with about 400 to 500 students, officials said. There was no immediate word on the attacker’s possible motive. “We have no reason at this time to believe that there are multiple perpetrators,” Alriksson said, adding that an investigation was continuing. Sweden’s national police said investigators have already carried out two house searches in connection with the suspect. Many witnesses were expected to be interviewed as part of the investigation. “That’s why we can’t give out too much information, because we don’t want to influence witnesses,” Alriksson said.

U.S. to pay $850M of $5B it owes to U.N.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. government has notiﬁed Congress of its plans to pay $850 million of the several billion it owes to the United Nations, the largest payment the Trump administration would make to the world body since it demanded sweeping reforms in exchange for continued support as its largest donor. The State Department laid out its plans to transfer $725 million as part of its dues to the regular U.N. budget and $125 million toward U.N. peacekeeping operations in Haiti and the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to notiﬁcations sent to lawmakers this month and obtained by The Associated Press. The U.S. is behind on about $5 billion in dues related to its U.N. membership, with more than $2 billion owed toward the regular budget and $3 billion for peacekeeping operations, the United Nations says.

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Ballroom building allowed to continue Roberts signs temporary order as high court weighs case

BY LINDSAY WHITEHURST and MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Chief Justice John Roberts on Friday allowed the White House to continue construction on President Donald Trump’s $400 million ballroom project for now, as the Supreme Court considers the Trump administration’s emergency request to intervene in lawsuits over the project. The temporary order came hours before lowercourt rulings would have forced a halt to aboveground construction of the project because Trump didn’t get congressional approval. It will remain in place until the Supreme Court issues a more durable decision, though the one-page document does not detail Roberts’ reasoning or indicate when another ruling will be handed down. Roberts signed the order because he oversees emergency appeals of cases ﬁled in the capital. The case is coming before the nation’s highest court as Trump, a Republican, exercises unparalleled assertions of presidential power and increasingly seeks to mold the capital in

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO BY TIERNEY L. CROSS

Construction continues on Aug. 5 on a helipad and the White House ballroom on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington. his own image. The administration has argued that the president has total authority to renovate the White House and other federal buildings as he sees ﬁt and that the ballroom project must be completed due to national security concerns. When Trump first announced the plans for a new ballroom, he did not emphasize national security. He said the project would be funded by private donations, including from himself. The National Trust for Historic Preservation argues that Trump has no

unilateral authority to undertake the work, which has included demolishing the East Wing. Lawyers for the preservation group accused the White House of trying to “outrun the courts” by accelerating construction. A spokesperson for the trust said Friday that the order from Roberts is not a ﬁnal decision and the group is awaiting further action. The full Supreme Court will likely weigh in next on whether construction can continue for the potentially long duration of the lawsuit. Trump said his adminis-

tration is grateful for Friday’s decision, writing in a social media post that the project is “under budget and ahead of schedule.” The Trump administration says 65% of the work has already been completed on the planned 90,000-square-foot ballroom, where the East Wing stood before the president ordered its demolition. Crews are working 20 hours a day, seven days a week, on the project, where about $200 million in private donations has been spent or committed, according to court documents ﬁled by the Justice

Department. The work has proceeded against the backdrop of the litigation winding through the courts. In April, a district court judge ordered a stop to the aboveground construction of the planned ballroom. That ruling was briefly suspended, then upheld by an appeals court panel. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon in Washington allowed work to continue only belowground on bunkers and military installations. Leon was nominated by President George W. Bush, a Republican. Leon’s decision was upheld by an appeals court panel, as two judges appointed by Democratic presidents found the project was for Congress to decide and “not a matter for Executive self-help.” A third judge, appointed by Trump, found that the preservationist group challenging the project had no legal standing to sue. Solicitor General D. John Sauer picked up on that argument, calling the decision halting the work “extraordinary and unlawful.” He said the completion of the project was “vitally required by national security.” The Trump administration has scored a series of victories on the Supreme Court’s emergency docket, though the justices have ruled against some of the president’s signature policies after fuller review.

Officials: Russian drones kill 15 at Ukrainian mall By The Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine — Russian drones struck a shopping center in the city of Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine on Friday, killing at least 15 people and wounding scores more, authorities said. The shopping mall strikes, plus two other separate Russian attacks in the Mykolaiv and Kharkiv regions, left a total of 21 people dead across Ukraine on Friday, authorities said. Kryvyi Rih is the hometown of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who described the attack as a double-tap strike, in which an initial wave of drones hit the area, followed by a second wave as rescue workers responded. “Attacks like these are nothing less than terrorist acts,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media. In a video address several hours later, he said Ukraine would respond to the shopping mall attack. Oleksandr Hanzha, who

statement from Ukraine’s air 54 civilians killed and 202 inforce on Telegram. jured. Friday’s attacks came Moscow’s forces have rejust 24 hours after Russia cently intensified their balpounded the capital of Kyiv listic missile attacks on Kyiv, with scores of missiles and exploiting Ukraine’s chronic drones in a nighttime aerial shortage of U.S.-made Patriattack that killed 16 people. ot air defense interceptors, Large-scale Russian the sole weapon in its arsestrikes have become a regu- nal able to shoot down the lar occurrence this summer. missiles. A Ukrainian drone attack Just over two weeks ago, a Russian attack on Kyiv killed one person and woundand its surrounding region ed four others when a car killed 17 people, and nine was struck Friday in Russia’s were killed in the city two Belgorod region near the vilPHOTO PROVIDED BY UKRAINIAN EMERGENCY SERVICE days before that. The United lage of Razumnoye, local offiFirefighters battle a blaze at a shopping mall on Friday Nations said last week that cials said, adding that two of following a Russian drone attack in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine. Kyiv was one of the hardest the injured were in serious hit cities in July, with at least condition. heads the Dnipropetro- Ukraine’s Kharkiv region vsk regional military ad- killed two women, aged 73 GET IN TOUCH ministration, said Friday and 66, and wounded two evening that the attack on others, said regional head Customer Service: HELP@THEADVOCATE.COM or 225-388-0200 the mall killed at least 15 Oleh Syniehubov. News Tips / Stories: NEWSTIPS@THEADVOCATE.COM Another Russian atpeople and injured 130, inObituaries: 225-388-0289 • Mon-Fri 9-5; Sat 10-5; Closed Sun tack on Friday evening cluding 23 children. Advertising Sales: 225-388-0262 • Mon-Fri 8-5 Kryvyi Rih has been hit killed four people, inClassified Advertising: 225-383-0111 • Mon-Fri 8-5 multiple times during the cluding three children, in Subscribe: theadvocate.com/subscribe more than 4-year-old war, Ukraine’s southern MykoE-Edition: theadvocate.com/eedition with one of the deadliest laiv region, emergency Archives: theadvocate.newsbank.com occurring in April 2025, services said. when 20 people, including Ukraine shot down or TheAdvocate(USPS363-040)ispublisheddailyinBatonRougeandatadditionalmailingoffices.Periodicals postagepaidatBatonRouge,LA.ISSN:1061-3978.CapitalCityPress,proprietor.POSTMASTER:Send nine children, were killed. suppressed 107 out of 135 addresschangestoTheAdvocate,CirculationAccounting,P.O.Box588,BatonRouge,LA70821.Newspaper Earlier on Friday, a drones launched by Russia carriers are independent contractors and not employees of Capital City Press. Russian drone attack on overnight, according to a

Tornadoes touch down in Delaware, N.Y.’s Long Island Cleanup underway after storms

By The Associated Press NEW YORK — Cleanup efforts and damage assessment were underway Friday in Delaware’s capital and on Long Island, New York, after tornadoes touched down during storms that battered the Northeast with heavy rains and left dozens of people stranded in their cars during flash flooding. Officials said there were no reports of any serious injuries. The National Weather Service said a trained spotter reported a tornado in Dover, Delaware, during Thursday’s storms. Photos and video on social

media show the roof of a motel being blown off and damage to other buildings along U.S. 13 northeast of downtown. In Atlantic Beach on Long Island, images posted on social media show a large funnel cloud over the water and small buildings torn apart at a beach club. The weather service conﬁrmed a tornado touched down on the shore, saying it started as a waterspout over the Atlantic Ocean. Weather service crews were going to view the Delaware and Long Island damage on Friday to determine the strengths and paths of the tornadoes. Dover Mayor Robin Christiansen said a state of emergency was lifted Friday morning to allow residents and businesses to resume normal activities. Police urged residents

to be patient and set aside extra time for travel. “There is still debris throughout the city, and crews will be out working on cleanup, repairs, and restoring services. You may encounter blocked lanes, utility crews, emergency personnel, and other delays,” police said on social media. On Long Island, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said first responders rescued people trapped in their vehicles during ﬂooding. In other parts of New York, flooding caused part of the Long Island Expressway in Queens to close in both directions, according to New York City Emergency Management. Photos on social media showed lines of stopped cars as emergency crews traversed the water.

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Enrollment in SNAP aid drops faster than expected BY GEOFF MULVIHILL and MIKELLA SCHUETTLER Associated Press

PHOENIX — Enrollment in the biggest federally funded food aid program in the U.S. dropped by more than 13% in a 12-month span — a decline far steeper than the government estimated as work requirements and other provisions of President Donald Trump’s “big beautiful bill” take hold. Those losing coverage in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, include people who don’t meet the tightening requirements to participate, and, advocates say, some who qualify for the help but are rejected because they miss deadlines or don’t have the needed documentation handy. It’s too early to tell exactly how many fall into each group. It’s also unclear how many have lost coverage because some state agencies that run the programs are overwhelmed trying to keep up with changes. That was the case in Arizona, which saw the nation’s largest enrollment drop. Tia Fields, who analyzes social safety net policies at the advocacy group Invest in Louisiana, said the main reason she’s seeing people lose coverage is not failure to meet work requirements. “A lot of it is administrative paperwork,” she said. Proponents of welfare reform hope the roll reductions are driven by people earning too much to keep qualifying — a sign that policy changes are behaving as intended for a program they assert is riddled with fraud. “If there are people that

are leaving the welfare rolls because they’re working and they’re moving forward,” said Rachel Sheffield, a research fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, which pushed for stricter requirements for SNAP, “that would be a step forward.” Arizona has had the steepest decline so far, with a 12-month drop of more than 50%, according to data compiled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which runs SNAP. The decline was more than 20% in Georgia, Louisiana and Nevada — and in Florida, where the Department of Children and Families said in a statement that the decreasing number “is reflective of the state’s strong focus on advancing opportunities for Floridians and their families to achieve economic self-sufficiency.” SNAP helps more than 1 in 10 people in the U.S. buy food. Most of the beneficiaries have incomes below the poverty line. The monthly benefit, which is delivered on debit cards that can be used only for groceries, is $344 per household on average. Newly released federal data found SNAP enrollment fell from 42.2 million in May 2025 to 36.6 million in May, a drop of more than 13% in a year. The May data are preliminary and could be revised. Since 2010, the average number of monthly beneficiaries has been below 40 million for only two years — 2019 and 2020. The rolls started dropping after a recent peak of 43.3 million in October 2024. They’ve fallen much faster since implementation began last year for Trump’s “one big beautiful bill,” which cut taxes and

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO BY NAM Y. HUH

Enrollment in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in the U.S. dropped by more than 13% in a 12-month span — a decline far steeper than the government estimated as work requirements and other provisions of President Donald Trump’s ‘big beautiful bill’ take hold. overhauled social safety net programs. The expanded SNAP work requirement has now kicked in for most of the country, but it won’t begin in some places until next year. Many adults 54 and younger without minor children have long been required to work to get SNAP benefits. The new law requires most people who previously had been exempt from requirements to either work, volunteer or go to school to get benefits. It now includes those ages 55 to 64, and those with children ages 14 to 17. Those 65 and older or with children younger than 14 remain exempt, as do those with health limitations. Some other groups that had been exempted from the requirement — including homeless people — no longer are. In February, the Congressional Budget Office projected that the new requirements

and other factors would push SNAP enrollment down over the next decade, falling below 34 million by 2036. But the nonpartisan office did not expect the drop to be as fast as it’s been. By May, the number of people receiving the benefits was about as low as it was forecast to go in 2030. Experts expect another impact when states are required to pay part of the cost of benefits if their rate of payment errors — when recipients receive more or less than they should — is above 6%. Advocates for recipients say states may deny benefits to some people entirely rather than risk errors. The cost-sharing is scheduled to start in October 2027, though Congress has considered a delay. In Arizona, enrollment plummeted by 55% from April 2025 to April 2026 — the biggest drop in the country, with more than 400,000 fewer

people getting benefits now. The state said the drop was driven largely by the state’s own struggles putting new federal requirements in place. “Implementing the federally mandated changes triggered unprecedented call volumes and administrative hurdles, including additional verification requirements, creating real barriers for applicants,” said Brett Bezio, a spokesman for the Arizona Department of Economic Security. Bezio said that hiring more staff members and introducing ways for people to submit their documents online have stemmed the enrollment drop in recent months as the state has reduced the chance for people who qualify to lose benefits. In Phoenix, LaDiamond Lopez lost her benefits in January, with officials telling her she needed more docu-

mentation about her income and household — something that’s needed for officials to determine whether enrollees meet work requirements. She’s been skipping meals and some bill payments to ensure her children have enough to eat. In her quest to be reinstated, she had previous employers sign forms confirming she no longer worked for them and added her children — ages 3 and 9 — to her apartment lease. She expected payments to resume in August, but she doesn’t know if they’ll last. “I was approved at the end of May, but now they’re asking me for more documents,” she said. “It’s a panic.” The Heritage Foundation’s Sheffield says that some of the drop in SNAP use is likely a natural decline after peaks in the coronavirus pandemic era. Paco Velez, the president and CEO of Feeding South Florida, said the 22% oneyear enrollment drop in Florida is driven partly by immigrants who are in the U.S. legally but fear being targeted by Trump’s immigration crackdown if they’re seeking government benefits. Invest in Louisiana’s Fields said SNAP enrollment declines have broader consequences. For instance, children in households that receive the benefit can be automatically enrolled in free school lunch programs or in the SNAP for Women, Infants and Children program for low-income mothers, young children and expectant parents if they meet the other criteria. “What happens when that child can’t pay for lunch?” she asked.

Mother of Hind Rajab seeks independent probe into killing Palestinian girl killed by Israeli forces in 2024

“I couldn’t physically reach interview at the Red Cres- was my voice. My voice was Hind, embrace her or help cent headquarters in Ramal- with her, and it might have her feel safe,” she said in an lah, West Bank. “All I had comforted her.”

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Associated Press JERUSALEM — The mother of a 5-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed after Israeli forces fired on her family’s car in Gaza City wants an independent inquiry into her death, saying an Israeli military investigation announced this week is insufficient. Wesam Hamada said her daughter Hind Rajab’s final pleas still haunt her. “All I remember is her voice pleading, ‘Mama, I’m scared. Mama, I’m hungry. Mama, I’m hurt,’” she said. “Her voice keeps repeating in my ears.” The widely publicized recording of Hind’s January 2024 phone call with her mother and emergency dispatchers made her one of the Israel-Hamas war’s most prominent casualties. Israel’s military this week admitted to firing at the family’s car as it fled an Israeli invasion and firing toward an ambulance dispatched to help them. It said it would launch a criminal investigation into its troops’ conduct. All six people in the car and two paramedics were killed. But both Rajab’s family and emergency responders from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society doubt the Israeli investigation can deliver justice. “Why did the investigation

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and the acknowledgment of the shooting at Hind’s car and at the paramedics come only after more than two years?” Hamada said in an interview with The Associated Press. “It’s an attempt to distract from what’s happening in Gaza and improve the (Israeli) army’s image to the world. That’s it.” The story of their deaths drew international outcry after the Palestinian Red Crescent Society released recordings of Hind and her 15-year-old cousin Layan Hamada calling for help. It was further amplified by “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” a film that excerpted the recordings and was nominated for an Oscar. On the recordings, as audible gunfire erupts around them, Hamada asks for help and tells Red Crescent dispatchers that her family had been killed. Seconds later, more gunshots are heard, and Layan’s screaming stops. Ambulance dispatchers

called back and found Hind on the other end of the line. She told them Layan was dead and Israeli tanks were advancing. The Red Crescent sent an ambulance and stayed in contact with Hind until the call dropped. Hind and five relatives were found dead in the family car 12 days later. The two medics sent to rescue her were also found dead nearby, their ambulance blackened and destroyed. Israel initially said its troops were not in the area. A U.N. commission of inquiry and an investigation by the research group Forensic Architecture found evidence placing Israeli forces near the car and attributed the attack to them. Rana Al Faqih, a dispatcher who was in contact with Hind for more than three hours, said the day remains seared in her memory. She tried to calm Hind and eventually patched her mother onto the call.

Court asked to block Kennedy Center from returning Trump’s name to building BY STEVEN SLOAN Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Rep. Joyce Beatty made an emergency request on Thursday that a federal court block the Kennedy Center from returning President Donald Trump’s name to the building. The Trump-aligned board at the Kennedy Center voted earlier this month to inscribe the president’s name on the venue’s facade so it would read “The John

F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated By President Donald J. Trump.” If the Trump Kennedy Center Fund reached $100 million, another inscription would be added reading “Endowed by the Trump Kennedy Center Fund.” The plaza in front of the Kennedy Center would also be renamed to recognize Trump. The Kennedy Center has said it wouldn’t attempt to

engrave Trump’s name on the building before Sept. 8 to allow for legal arguments to unfold. Beatty, an Ohio Democrat and ex ofﬁcio member of the Kennedy Center, has led the effort to prevent Trump from memorializing himself there. In asking for the court’s intervention, her lawyers, Norm Eisen and Nathaniel Zelinsky, wrote that the board’s actions amounted to “clear violations” of an earlier court order.

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6TH DISTRICT

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send to a “third country” because he has shown he could be tortured in his native Ethiopia. Mohammed entered the U.S. legally and earned asylum but was convicted of child sexual abuse. He was released under GPS monitoring from the “Camp 57” immigration lockup at Angola on a February order from deGravelles. The judge found ICE was letting him languish there without plans to deport him. Mohammed was rearrested two months later after ICE ofﬁcials said they found two potential countries that had agreed to accept his deportation: Eswatini and Equatorial Guinea. He was released again after deGravelles found ICE failed to properly serve him papers saying where he would be deported, among other allegations raised by Mohammed’s attorneys. Immigration agents arrested him for a third time last month. Again, they failed to serve Mohammed with proper documents, according to an Aug. 6 hearing in which deGravelles demanded federal officials show why he should not hold them in contempt for appearing to violate his multiple orders. “The issue is not whether I can make a contempt finding, but whether I should,” he said then. Mohammed’s legal team lauded Wednesday’s contempt ruling as much-needed accountability. “Today’s decision makes it clear that ICE, like all law enforcement agencies, must follow the law,” said Gracie Willis, a National Immigration Project attorney representing Mohammed, in a statement. “Though Mr. Mohammed will never get back the time he lost to repeated, unlawful detentions, the compensation the court ordered today is important recognition of the very real harm he suffered.” A DHS spokesperson in an emailed statement highlighted Mohammed’s prior conviction, saying he had overstayed a visa after arriving in the country. “Under President Trump and DHS Secretary (Markwayne)

map. Freed from having to consider race in their deliberations, Landry and legislators then redistricted the boundaries in a way that cost Fields his Black-majority district. Nearly half of the newly designed 6th District voters live in East Baton Rouge Parish, while nearly 20% live in Livingston Parish, 15% are in Ascension Parish, and the rest live in Assumption, Iberville, Lafourche, Pointe Coupee, St. Charles, St. John, St. Martin and West Baton Rouge parishes. The 6th District now has more Republicans (41%) than Democrats (30%), and Donald Trump carried it with 65% of the vote in the 2024 presidential election, according to John Couvillon, a Baton Rouge-based political analyst. An early survey by New Orleans pollster Greg Rigamer, taken on Aug. 12-13, showed that nearly half the voters hadn’t yet chosen a candidate.

STAFF FILE PHOTO BY HILARY SCHEINUK

Gov. Jeff Landry, left, and former Attorney General Pam Bondi walk to the entrance of Camp 57 at Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola on Sept. 3, 2025. Mullin, if you break the law, you will face the consequences,” the statement said. The recipient of deGravelles’ contempt order is Vernon Liggins, an ICE field office director in Maryland who ordered Mohammed’s arrest in both cases. DeGravelles’ order found that Liggins violated two of his judicial orders — first in February when deGravelles ordered Mohammed released from Angola, and then in April when the judge ordered ICE to honor his due process rights in its attempts to deport Mohammed. Liggins testified this month that Mohammed may have not been properly served because of a high volume of arrests ICE has been making. “We try to get all detainees served as quickly as possible, but we’re arresting a lot of people nowadays,” Liggins said in the Aug. 6 hearing. Judges have issued contempt rulings against federal officials involved in immigration enforcement in select cases amid the

CHALLENGE

Continued from page 1A

indictment should be quashed.” “At minimum, the court should conduct an evidentiary hearing” to show that the grand jury was put together correctly, Cole’s attorney said. In Cole’s request for an evidentiary hearing, his attorney asks that such hearing would require materials to show who examined witnesses during closed grand jury testimony, who gave legal advice and who “controlled the presentation of Mr. Cole’s case.” Reached Friday afternoon through a spokesperson, Murrill said, “We have no comment. The evidence speaks more loudly than anything I could say.” Moore said Friday that the grand jury was properly formed and presented. “We do not ﬁnd any irregularities in the selection or formation of the grand jury, or any action taken by the grand jury that’s contrary to any law or statute,” Moore said. “My ofﬁce did not participate in the investigations.” The district attorney added that he believes that many of the materials Cole asks to be produced in an

Banks led with 18.8%, followed by Edmonds with 15.6%, Miguez 8.6%, Forbes 8.4%, Davis 6% and others 1%. A whopping 40.4% of voters were undecided. “The race is open,” said Rigamer. He did not include Garcia in the poll of 500 registered voters, which had a margin of error of 4.4%. Super lobbyist Alton Ashy paid for the survey along with another individual whom Rigamer would not identify. The latest campaign finance reports cover donations through July 17, which was three weeks before candidates had to formally qualify for the race. Forbes and Banks hadn’t raised anything, while Garcia had collected $65,000 and had $36,000 on hand. Miguez had easily raised the most money, $6 million, with a personal loan of $3 million accounting for half of that money. He had $2 million in hand. Edmonds had raised $530,000 (including a $155,000 personal loan) and had $320,000 on hand. Davis had raised $21,000 and had

Email James Finn at jﬁnn@ theadvocate.com.

evidentiary hearing are confidential under state law and not able to be brought into court. “I think that on the face of what was filed, based on my review of the grand jury law, that this matter should be denied,” Moore said of Cole’s motion. On Aug. 5, Cole was charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit bribery, two counts of money laundering and a count of malfeasance in office for acts that prosecutors say happened when he was a council member. Murrill’s investigators say Cole took kickbacks from his friend Terral “TJ” Jackson — who was also indicted — after he helped steer city-parish contracts to Jackson. In text messages obtained by investigators, Cole told Jackson and another unnamed contractor that a fourth person “knows I’m getting a kickback from both of you.” The texts also discuss various contracts awarded to Jackson and the splitting of funds between the two friends, investigators say. In one message, Cole tells Jackson “Just took care of you in a MAJOR way which means I just took care of us.”

general is not limited in her power to investigate, but her office is limited in its power to prosecute. In the recent indictments, prosecutors with Murrill’s office have presented the cases to the grand jury. Prosecutors for Murrill’s office will be given the chance to file a response to the motion, then the court will decide whether to grant Cole’s request. Last September, Moore’s office filed a motion to impanel a special grand jury. In the filing, Moore’s first district attorney, Tracey Barbera, told the court a special grand jury was needed, as it would overburden the two grand juries currently in use by the district attorney. At jury selection, Judge Brad Myers asked whether potential jurors were family members, business associates or close friends of anyone who has or is currently serving in the Mayor’s Office, the Metro Council or the East Baton Rouge Parish school system. Cole is the eighth person the grand jury has indicted since it was empaneled last year. Sitting council member Cleve Dunn Jr. was indicted in January on a slew of corruption charges related to a transit system contract. Grand jury questioned Investigators say more than 90% Cole’s attorneys say the attorney of the funds for that contract went

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‘The race is open’

administration’s crackdown. A federal judge in California this month held the government in contempt for slow-rolling her order to provide digital copies of devices used by immigration agents during sweeps in the Los Angeles area. DeGravelles, who was appointed by Democratic former President Barack Obama, became a target of attacks from Republican Trump administration ofﬁcials over his handling of the case. DHS leaders blasted his initial February order to release Mohammed and other petitioners as a “lawless abomination.” Pushback to the administration’s immigration enforcement tactics has spanned judges appointed by presidents of both political parties. Last spring, a Trump-appointed federal judge in north Louisiana castigated the government for deporting a 2-year-old U.S. citizen to Honduras “with no meaningful process.”

to Dunn after he helped steer it to his associate. The next month, the grand jury indicted Courtney Scott, an aide to former Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome. According to prosecutors, Scott is accused of receiving around $200,000 in kickbacks from a city-parish contractor.

FBI investigates Cole

$1,000 on hand.

What the candidates say Banks, 64, said she believes she can win the race because she has a deep set of contacts through the district. She said the main issues are making housing and healthcare more affordable. Forbes, 65, said he believes he can win because he has a long history of working with Republicans and Democrats, while in state government, to improve the lives of Louisiana citizens. “The 6th District and Louisiana need someone who will represent them, not the president and not a party,” he said. Garcia, 40, said she spent 10 years working as a social studies teacher in New Orleans before pivoting to obtain a law degree from Southern University last year. “We need to get back to the system of checks and balances and reafﬁrming rule of law,” Garcia said, adding, “Congress needs to rein in Trump on Iran.” Edmonds, 69, a Christian minister, is in his 11th year in the Legislature. He sponsored the legislation to create LA GATOR, which allows parents to use taxpayer dollars to send their children to private schools. “We need someone elected to this seat who knows this district, serves this district and lives in this district,” said Edmonds, making a pointed reference to Miguez, who owns a house in Baton Rouge but lives miles outside of the district. Davis, 29, said he is running “because we have elected the same individuals who have said they would carry out positive change to people’s lives, but that has not been done, not due to an unwillingness or capability but a lack of actual beliefs in what they are saying.” He said his biggest issue is working for the complete ban on abortion. Miguez did not return phone calls. Other candidates in the race include Monique Appeaning, a Republican from St. George; Michael Mebruer, a Republican from St. Francisville; Stephen Wagley, a Republican from Baton Rouge; and Rufus Craig, a Libertarian from Baton Rouge.

ently focused on Mr. Jackson’s business relationship with the city-parish and whether Mr. Cole had influenced decisions regarding contracts Mr. Jackson entered into with the city-parish, and, ultimately, whether Mr. Cole received cash or anything of value in return for his alleged influence,” Cole’s attorneys wrote. Cole says he denied receiving anything in return from Jackson and added that agents questioned him about his own business interests. Soon after that initial meeting, agents subpoenaed Cole’s wife and demanded she produce financial records of her own. On July 25, 2024, a day after Cole was named as the new superintendent, he said FBI agents arrived at his home and seized his cellphone, which ultimately led to the text messages that are now public. The U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Louisiana never charged Cole. Instead, the evidence the FBI collected was later brought to the Attorney General’s Office and Murrill’s investigators took over, she has said.

In a fiery memo filed along with Cole’s motion Friday, his attorney said Murrill’s case is predicated upon innocent texts used out of context against him. Murrill’s office has said the state investigation stems from a previous FBI probe in 2024. The memo provides a number of new details illustrating what feds were looking into. According to Cole, his contact with the FBI began in May 2024 when agents showed up at CSAL Middle School in Baton Rouge to question him. Cole’s attorneys say the agents “used a ploy” and said they needed to speak regarding a school employee — and later revealed that employee was him. They also questioned Cole about his relationship to his friend Jack- Email Patrick Sloan-Turner at patrick.sloan-turner@ son, he says. “The agents questions appar- theadvocate.com.

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The Advocate ■ theadvocate.com ■ Saturday,August 22, 2026 ■ 5A

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Lindsay Clancy’s defense rests at her murder trial BY LEAH WILLINGHAM and MICHAEL CASEY Associated Press

BOSTON — The defense rested its case Friday in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial after eliciting several days of testimony about her mental state before and after she strangled her three young children. Prosecutors then began calling rebuttal witnesses in the trial, which is likely entering its ﬁnal days. Closing arguments are expected next week. Clancy, 36, has pleaded not guilty to murder charges in the deaths of her children Callan, Dawson and Cora Clancy, who ranged from 8 months to 5 years old. They were found in the basement of the family’s home in coastal Duxbury, Massachusetts. Clancy jumped from a second-story window after strangling the children and remains paralyzed from the waist down. Prosecutors argue that Clancy, a former labor and delivery nurse, planned the killings. Clancy’s lawyer, Kevin Reddington, hasn’t disputed that she killed the children but says she should not be held criminally responsible because she had postpartum psychosis, a rare mental ill-

ness linked to the stress, sleep deprivation and hormonal changes that follow childbirth. He sought to bolster that defense by having the jury hear from more of Clancy’s family members, who detailed her worsening mental health and attempts to fix it through psychiatric treatment and medications before the January 2023 killings. The jury also heard from a psychologist and a hospital chaplain who met with Clancy after the killings. For his final witness on Friday, Reddington called Dr. Phillip Resnick, a forensic psychiatrist and expert in filicide, or the killing of a child by a parent. Resnick testified that Clancy was “clearly psychotic” on the day she killed her children and was not in control of her actions. “It was almost like she was a puppet and someone else was pulling the strings,” said Resnick, who testified for the defense in the 2006 trial of Andrea Yates, the Texas mother who drowned her five children in 2001. Resnick said he spent hours interviewing Clancy four months after the killings and believed she tended to minimize rather than exaggerate her symptoms.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO BY MARK CHAVOUS

Defendant Lindsay Clancy watches as her attorney Kevin Reddington prepares to interview a witness Friday during proceedings in her murder trial in Plymouth, Mass. He said she suffered from severe depression, showed evidence consistent with bipolar disorder and reported hearing a voice commanding her to kill her children. Resnick described several categories of ﬁlicide, including killings involving abuse. Others involve psychosis or what he calls “altruistic”

ﬁlicide — a killing committed “out of love rather than hostility.” He said he found Clancy’s case involved both of the latter categories, but he didn’t find evidence of abuse. Resnick said Clancy had a delusional belief that if social services took the children or if she killed herself,

her children would suffer without her, and believed that they would be better off dying with her and going to heaven. “She believed that she was doing what was right for her children,” he said. Under cross-examination by prosecutor Jennifer Sprague, Resnick acknowl-

edged that Clancy did not disclose thoughts of harming her children to medical providers who asked, but said that was “very common because people fear their children will be taken away.” “So it’s better to kill them than have them taken away?” Sprague asked. The judge struck the question. Prosecutors argue that Clancy contrived to get her husband out of the house the day of the killings. They have attempted to show that while she was getting treatment for anxiety, insomnia and depression, she wasn’t suffering from psychosis or bipolar disorder. After the defense rested, prosecutors called forensic psychiatrist Dr. Avram Mack as a rebuttal witness. Mack agreed that Clancy suffered from a major depressive episode but said he found no evidence of mania or hypomania to support a bipolar diagnosis — or of psychosis — leading up to the killings. Mack said Clancy recounted the killings to him, saying she heard a loud male voice telling her to kill the children so she could kill herself. She recalled strangling the children and saying “go to God” as she did so, he told jurors.

Plane crashed on second attempt to land in fog in Alaska

to stab an Israeli soldier during an overnight operation. No Israeli soldiers were injured. The Israeli official said Khazem was the father of Raed Khazem, who shot and killed three people in Tel Aviv in April 2022. Violence has escalated in the West Bank where at least 87 Palestinians have been killed in almost 1,500 attacks by Israeli settlers and soldiers this year, according to Palestinian officials. Three Israelis have been killed by Palestinians in 2026.

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A 17-year-old Palestinian was killed and another man wounded by Israeli settler gunfire after rocks were thrown Friday in Sa’ir, north of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry said. The ministry identiﬁed the teenager as Karim Sanad Raja Shalaldeh. The teenager’s father told The Associated Press at the hospital that Israeli settlers had killed his son. The Israeli military said

soldiers were dispatched to Sa’ir after Palestinians threw rocks at Israeli civilians who were in the area without prior authorization. Some Israelis were injured and a security ofﬁcial opened ﬁre. Separately, the Palestinian General Authority for Civil Affairs informed the Health Ministry that 58-year-old Fathi Khazem was fatally shot by Israeli forces early Friday in Jenin. An Israeli army official speaking on condition of anonymity in line with military rules said Khazem attempted

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By The Associated Press

maintenance on the system. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said the two employees who died were part of a “project delivery team en route to a project site in support of the U.S. Air Force.” The statement did not provide additional details about the work. National Transportation Safety Board investigators were traveling to the scene Friday.

Israeli settlers kill Palestinian teenager in clash in West Bank

Paciﬁc Air Forces Regional Support Center. It’s part of a network of remote radar sites that tracks aircraft operating in Alaska’s airspace and along its borders, the statement from Alaskan Command said. The outpost at Cape Newenham closed in 1983 after a new radar was installed, and now the site is visited only occasionally by civilian contractors who perform

SIG

JUNEAU, Alaska — A small plane crashed on its second attempt to land in heavy fog at a remote military airport in Alaska, killing all eight people aboard, federal investigators said Friday. The National Transportation Safety Board said the pilots could not see the runway and had to rely entirely on instruments as they tried to land Thursday at the Cape Newenham Long Range Radar Site Airport about 450

ity of about 10 miles in the minutes before the crash, but the next update about 15 minutes after the crash showed visibility reduced dramatically to less than one-quarter mile, according to Carrie Haisley, the meteorologist in charge of the National Weather Service’s Alaska sector operations center. The airport is a private military site managed by the

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Associated Press

they land there. Those on board were “dedicated professionals carrying out a vital mission in a demanding environment,” U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Robert Davis, commander of Alaskan Command, the Alaskan North American Aerospace Defense Command Region and Eleventh Air Force, said in a statement. “This is a devastating loss for our military family and the communities we serve,” Davis said. Weather conditions were changing Thursday as heavy fog rolled through the area. An automated observation system not far from the airport reported a low cloud ceiling, fog and visibil-

BY BECKY BOHRER and JOSH FUNK

miles west of Anchorage. The two pilots and six passengers who died in the crash around midday Thursday were not immediately identified. Two U.S. Army Corps of Engineers employees were among those killed. The radar site was built in the 1950s as part of a network designed to provide early warning of a missile attack by the Soviet Union. Today, it monitors the skies off the coast in the direction of Russia, North Korea and China. The site has a gravel airstrip built on the slope of a mountain. The Federal Aviation Administration recommends that pilots use GPS and other instruments when

BH S

Officials say all 8 aboard killed

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6A ■ Saturday,August 22, 2026 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

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TODAY

SUNDAY

MONDAY

TUESDAY

A t-storm around in the p.m.

Partly sunny and humid

HIGH

LOW

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99° 75°

LOW

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100° 76°

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95° 77°

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Port Arthur 98/77

High/low Normal high/low Last year’s high/low Record high Record low

Hattiesburg 99/73

Alexandria 103/76 Baton Rouge 99/75

Lafayette 99/78 Lake Charles 100/78

10s

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Houma 97/77

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YESTERDAY

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Sunrise today Sunset tonight Moonrise today Moonset today

90s 100s 110s

24-hour total Month to date Normal month to date Year to date Normal year to date

HIGH

4:02p 9:34a 4:33a 6:21a 5:52a 5:01a 7:00a

6:35 a.m. 7:39 p.m. 4:14 p.m. 1:15 a.m.

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AUG 27

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Shown are areas of precipitation and high temperatures for the day.

PRECIPITATION

99°/75° 92°/73° 99°/73° 102° in 2023 63° in 1946

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

New Orleans 97/79

40s

HIGH

92° 75°

TEMPERATURE

Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.

LOW

95° 77°

Jackson 101/73

Beaumont 99/75

-0s

LOW

94° 76°

Baton Rouge through 5 p.m. Friday

Longview 107/78

Many 104/73

There are two areas of disturbed weather in the Atlantic with some potential for development into tropical systems, neither of those is a threat to the U.S. We got some rain and storms yesterday, and we’ll see more of those storms again today. Extreme heat will be an issue for many of us today as well. We are under either a major or an extreme heat risk. Take frequent breaks and stay hydrated to avoid heat illnesses, as temperatures will be in the upper 90s with the heat index up to 110 or higher.

THURSDAY

Humid; heavy p.m. Humid; heavy p.m. t-storms t-storms

Monroe 103/75

Shreveport 105/75

-10s

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WEDNESDAY

Atlanta Austin Boston Charlotte Chicago Dallas Denver Houston Las Vegas

92 106 70 87 80 107 92 103 108

TODAY Lo

71 74 66 69 61 82 63 77 87

pc s sh t t t t t s

91 105 75 89 77 108 91 102 108

SUN. Lo

67 76 66 64 59 84 65 79 85

s s sh s s s t s s

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0.15” 0.88” 4.24” 42.37” 41.33”

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0.8 3:50a 0.0 1.6 10:33p 0.0 2.0 5:30p 0.0 2.0 9:38p 0.3 1.4 5:49p 0.1 1.7 4:03p 0.0 1.7 6:51p 0.1

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MAIN POLLUTANT Particulates

SOURCE: LOUISIANA DEQ AND AIRNOW.GOV

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The solunar period schedule allows planning days so you will be fishing in good territory or hunting in good cover during those times. Major periods begin at the times shown and last for 1.5 to 2 hours. The minor periods are shorter. MAJOR MINOR MAJOR MINOR

Today 7:35a Sunday 8:21a Monday 9:07a Tuesday 9:51a Wednesday 10:34a Thursday 11:17a Friday 12:01p

City

Los Angeles 93 Miami 93 Nashville 93 New York City 75 Philadelphia 79 Phoenix 114 St. Louis 86 San Francisco 73 Seattle 73

1:23a 8:01p 2:09a 8:47p 2:54a 9:31p 3:39a 10:15p 4:22a 10:57p 5:06a 11:40p 5:50a ----

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70 79 65 68 73 91 67 58 59

s t pc r t c pc pc sh

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1:48p 2:34p 3:19p 4:03p 4:46p 5:28p 6:12p

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s t s t t pc pc pc pc

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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TODAY

MODERATE

FRI.

24-HOUR

MISSISSIPPI STAGE STAGE CHANGE Memphis 34 10.90 +0.59 Vidalia-Natchez 48 20.53 +0.51 Red River Landing 48 22.57 +0.37 Baton Rouge 35 8.44 +0.34 Donaldsonville 27 4.29 -0.31 Reserve 22 3.29 +0.07 New Orleans 17 2.23 -0.88 OHIO Cairo 40 28.30 +0.83 COMITE Near Olive 19 -1.68 -0.16 AMITE Near Darlington 18 -1.21 -0.21 Denham Springs 29 10.04 -0.02 Port Vincent 8 1.16 -0.07 TICKFAW Montpelier 13 2.49 -0.04 Holden 15 0.82 -0.01 ATCHAFALAYA Simmesport 47 8.24 none Melville 34 5.20 -0.01 Krotz Springs 29 3.75 +0.09 Butte La Rose 20 3.82 +0.05 Bayou Sorrel 12 2.80 -0.10 Morgan City 6 1.52 -0.01

data as of 7 a.m. Friday

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S at u r d ay, au g u S t 22, 2026

1BN

Housing developments move forward Donaldsonville recognizes needs for Hyundai steel mill

BY ANNAKATE FREELAND Staff writer

Developers and city ofﬁcials are taking the ﬁrst steps to bring more new housing options to Donaldsonville as Hyundai prepares to break ground on its $5.8 billion steel mill in the area. On Thursday, the Donaldsonville Planning and Zoning Commission

recommended the city approve a zoning request and development agreement for two proposed residential developments. The commission also began discussing temporary housing related to construction at Hyundai Steel. The commission recommended rezoning nearly 52 acres along Loop 945 from commercial to residential, clearing the way for a pro-

posed 187-lot subdivision. The request was submitted by Lyn Levy Land Company, a Baton Rouge-based developer. Commissioners said preliminary plats, trafﬁc studies and drainage studies for the development have already been completed. The plans were originally submitted by T Veenendaal Real Estate, which purchased the proper-

ty July 22 for $960,000 and sold it the following day to Lyn Levy Land Company for almost $1.5 million. Mayor Leroy Sullivan and multiple commissioners said they were not opposed to the development but wanted the change in ownership to be more transparent, even if the two parties were working together. “I just want to make sure that there’s transparency and everybody knows he bought the property and then he turned around

LEGENDARY

LEGACY

and sold it at a proﬁt the next day,” Sullivan said. Although Lyn Levy Land Company is now the property owner and developer, Chair Carl Capone said the company must follow the plans that were previously submitted and approved. Sullivan said the developer did not provide estimated home prices or square footage of the houses, but that lot widths are expected

ä See HOUSING, page 2B

Trial continues in defamation case Grandmother describes confrontation with judge

BY DAVID J. MITCHELL Staff writer

ABOVE: Flowers and a banner to sign decorate the Skip Bertman statue in Legacy Plaza at Alex Box Stadium in Baton Rouge on Thursday. Bertman died Aug. 14 at the age of 88. His legacy at LSU as a coach and athletic director will live on forever. LEFT: A message to

A woman who received an apology letter from state Supreme Court Justice Jeff Hughes III in a custody case when he was a district judge took the witness stand Friday to describe a 1999 confrontation with him during a protest outside his parish courthouse. Brenda Nicholson testified she organized the demonstration to focus attention on Hughes’ handling of her grandson’s custody case, which plays a key role in the ongoing trial of his defamation claims against The Advocate. She told jurors that Hughes, wearing his judicial robes, tore up placards calling for “Justice for Austin” and took down the license plate numbers of vehicles that bore the signs. Hughes, at the time a state district judge in Livingston Parish, had recently granted custody of Nicholson’s 6-year-old grandson — over her objections — to her daughterin-law, whose husband had been accused of abusing the boy. Nicholson told jurors that when Hughes headed toward her car, she stood in his path. “I told him not to touch my vehicle,” she said. When he responded, “Who are you?”, Nicholson testified, she explained she was the boy’s grandmother. The judge laughed, turned around and walked away, she said. Her recounting of the episode came on the third day of testimony in the defamation case, which stems from an editorial The Advocate wrote about Hughes’ alleged ethical lapses as a jurist. Hughes, seeking $10 million in damages, claims The Advocate mispresented the timing of a romantic relationship he had with an attorney for the parents of Nicholson’s grandson and rulings he made in the case. Hughes has testified he didn’t start dating

ä See TRIAL, page 2B

Bertman and a newspaper sit near the Bertman statue on Sunday. STAFF PHOTOS BY MICHAEL JOHNSON

Livingston sheriff creates traffic division amid growth Unit assigned to enforcement, crashes

BY GIGI LIMAN Staff writer

In response to continued growth in Livingston Parish, the Sheriff’s Office this summer launched its first division specifically focused on traffic control. Before the five-deputy unit was created, traffic enforce-

ment was primarily handled by road patrol deputies, who also respond to most other calls to the office. A major crash could tie up those deputies for hours, delaying response times to calls elsewhere in the parish. The new division assigns specific officers to traffic enforcement and crashes, allowing road patrol deputies to remain available for other calls. The unit’s officers will be stationed throughout the parish. “The mission of these deputies is to go out there and do what they have to do to make our

roadways a safe place to travel,” Sheriff Jason Ard said. Traffic issues have risen across the parish in recent years as the population has ballooned. In 2025, 32 trafﬁc-related fatalities were reported in Livingston Parish, the seventh-highest number in the state, according to LSU’s Center for Analytics & Research in Transportation Safety. That is nearly double the number in 2015, when Livingston had 18 trafﬁc-related fatalities, the state’s 15th-highest number at the time. “This is a new Livingston

Parish, a lot more people, and there’s a lot of traffic going on, and there’s just a lot of moving parts,” Ard said. In its first 22 days, the traffic division responded to 61 crashes, investigated five hitand-runs, issued 120 traffic citations and gave 68 warnings, according to a Sheriff’s Office spokesperson. Creation of the unit comes a few months after the death of Katy Wells, a beloved traffic guard who was struck and killed outside Gray’s Creek Elementary School on April 30.

STAFF PHOTO BY DAVID J. MITCHELL

Louisiana Supreme Court Justice Jeff Hughes III, left, and one of his plaintiff’s attorneys, Chuck Hughes Jr., leave the Iberville Parish Courthouse in Plaquemine on Tuesday following jury selection and opening statements in a defamation trial.

CORRECTION In an Aug. 1 story, The Advocate incorrectly stated that the suspect in a drug case, Ronny Howard, owns Howard Construction Co. The company is owned by Ronnie Howard, the suspect’s father. Ronnie Howard has not been implicated in the case. The Advocate regrets the error.

2B ■ Saturday, August 22, 2026 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

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Upcoming Ye concert in N.O. sparks concern Officials, Jewish community wary of Superdome show

rector of Jewish-Multicultural and Government Affairs. That mental health may have played a role in Ye’s behavior should also be taken into consideration, Bloch said. “But when you go that far BY KEITH SPERA into a ‘Heil Hitler’ song, it Staff writer may take more time to conYe, the rapper formerly known vey it was a sincere apolas Kanye West, is scheduled to per- ogy,” Bloch said. “Also, form in New Orleans for the ﬁrst there’s concern that what Ye time in 13 years on Aug. 28 at the you put out into the world can’t fully be taken back. There is Caesars Superdome. But the local appearance of the damage that is irretractable.” controversial star is raising concerns in the area’s local Jewish Coordinated response community, with some members The Jewish Federation of Greater worried about the potential for Ye’s New Orleans and the Anti-Defaconcert to promote antisemitism mation League, South Central coland hate. lectively sent an email to members Ye has made antisemitic and rac- of the local Jewish community acist comments in recent years, pro- knowledging “real concern” about moted Nazi symbols and released the upcoming Ye concert. The goal was not to cancel the various forms of a song called “Heil Hitler,” which sampled an Adolf show, Bloch said. “But we don’t want the concert to be a breeding ground Hitler speech. In January, he took out a full- for hate.” They also sent a letter to Legends page ad in The Wall Street Journal to apologize for his offensive com- Global, the company that manages ments and behavior. He blamed the Superdome, which responded them on bipolar disorder, which he by saying there are contracts that said resulted from an undiagnosed prevent antisemitic rhetoric, songs brain injury sustained in a 2002 car or merchandise; the company is monitoring the other tour dates for accident. “I am not a Nazi or an antisemite,” concerning statements and actions; he stated in the letter addressed “To and the ADL Center on Extremism Those I’ve Hurt.” “I love Jewish will train Dome staff on how to recpeople.” ognize symbols associated with exYe’s apology was “a good step,” tremist groups. said Aaron Bloch, the Jewish FedLegends Global Superdome Generation of Greater New Orleans’ di- eral Manager Evan Holmes spoke

about the issue during a Thursday board meeting of the Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District, the state agency that oversees the Dome. He conﬁrmed he had met with representatives of the Jewish community and that Dome staffers would receive additional training. “We wanted to understand more of what to look out for,” Holmes said. Ye, Holmes acknowledged, “comes with some challenges, given some of his statements and positions he’s taken. “We’ve been really mindful of this event. We wanted to make sure, if we were even going to consider this event, that we weren’t going to have any issues.” Meanwhile, the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience is offering what amounts to counterprogramming the weekend of Ye’s concert. It will offer free admission Aug. 28-30 at its facility at 818 Howard Ave. to “welcome a broader audience to learn from, engage with, and celebrate Southern Jewish life.”

A turbulent history Kanye West ﬁrst made a name for himself with his 2004 album “The College Dropout.” His 2005 follow-up, “Late Registration,” contained the massive hit “Gold Digger” and established West as one of the most respected and successful new voices in hip-hop. Over the next nearly two de-

cades, he branched out into lucrative side hustles, including his Yeezy sneaker partnership with Adidas. His personal life, including a tumultuous marriage to media personality and reality TV star Kim Kardashian, provided continuous fodder for tabloid news. Ye was still going by Kanye West when he headlined what was then called the New Orleans Arena in 2013 during his Yeezus Tour. He previously performed at the Essence Festival in the Superdome. More recently, his erratic public behavior, racist and antisemitic statements and promotion of Nazi symbolism damaged his brand. Adidas cut ties with him in 2022. In his Wall Street Journal mea culpa, he described being in a “fractured state” mentally, during which he “gravitated toward the most destructive symbol I could ﬁnd, the swastika, and even sold T-shirts bearing it.” He suffered “disconnected moments” that “led to poor judgment and reckless behavior that oftentimes feels like an out-of-body experience. I regret and am deeply mortified by my actions in that state, and am committed to accountability, treatment, and meaningful change. It does not excuse what I did though.” In early 2025, he writes, he “fell into a four-month long manic episode of psychotic, paranoid and impulsive behavior that destroyed my life.” He released “Heil Hitler” in

May 2025. He eventually sought help, with his wife’s encouragement. With the aid of medication, therapy, exercise and clean living, he said, he has a “newfound, much-needed clarity. I am pouring my energy into positive, meaningful art: music, clothing, design and other new ideas to help the world.” “I’m not asking for sympathy, or a free pass, though I aspire to earn your forgiveness.”

‘No issues’ so far He was to have headlined the Wireless Festival in London in July. But organizers canceled the festival after the British government denied Ye entry into the country and several festival sponsors pulled out of the event. He headlined two sold-out shows this spring at Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium without incident. In June, he performed twice in Tampa, despite a public campaign by U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., to cancel the concerts at the at Raymond James Stadium, which, like the Superdome, is publicly funded. On the current tour, he performs atop a LED screen sphere set in the middle of the stadium floor. The available capacity for Ye’s concert at the Superdome is closer to a Saints game’s 70,000-plus rather than the 43,000 or so seats available for the Essence Festival of Culture. Based on Ticketmaster’s seating chart, many thousands of tickets are still available.

Health Department warns of blue-green algae in lakes Blooms can be toxic to people, pets

Department of Health said Thursday. The algae bloom in Henderson Lake, in the Atchafalaya Basin, was conﬁrmed with satellite imagery. BY ELLYN COUVILLION People should be on the lookout for Staff writer it in other waterways as well, acBlooms of blue-green algae, like cording to the department. An algae bloom is a rapid growth one spotted recently in a lake in St. Martin Parish, can produce toxins of algae on the surface of the water. “Blooms may appear blue, bright harmful to people and animals and should be avoided, the Louisiana green, brown or red and can have

a strong odor similar to rotting plants,” the department said in a statement. “Foam or scum may also form on the water’s surface.” Blue-green algae is the common name for cyanobacteria, which can produce toxins when it blooms in freshwater lakes and rivers. It thrives in warm, calm and sunny conditions in water temperatures above 75 degrees, according to the department.

People should avoid swimming, wading, boating or other water activities where a bloom is active, and they should keep pets away as well. The water should not be used for drinking, cooking or preparing food. If a person or pet comes in contact with a bloom, the affected area should be washed quickly with soap and clean water. Symptoms of exposure to a blue-

green algae bloom can include rashes, stomach cramps, coughing, nausea, diarrhea or vomiting. High levels of exposure can affect the liver and nervous system. “Contact a healthcare provider if you develop symptoms after exposure,” the Department of Health said. Email Ellyn Couvillion at ecouvillion@theadvocate.com.

Former Port Allen mayor dies days before trial BY BLAKE LESCHBER Staff writer

Former Port Allen Mayor Derek Lewis died Thursday at 65, the West Baton Rouge Parish Coroner’s Ofﬁce conﬁrmed. Lewis died at 7 p.m. Thursday at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, according to Sahajda “Doc” Willis, chief death investigator for the West Baton Rouge Parish Coroner’s Office. The cause of death is currently undetermined.

In a Friday morning statement on the City of Port Allen’s Facebook page, Mayor Terecita Pollard Pattan said the city sends condolences to the Lewis family and asks for the community to “remain respectful and compassionate toward everyone impacted by this loss.” “As a former elected Mayor of Port Allen, Mr. Lewis will remain a part of our city’s history. At this time, we respectfully acknowledge his passing while keeping in our thoughts all families and members

Donaldsonville officials are considering new residential developments and temporary housing as the city prepares for growth tied to Hyundai Steel’s $5.8 billion plant.

of our community who may be affected by this news,” Pattan said in the statement. Lewis served as the Port Allen mayor from 2005 to 2011. In August 2025, he was arrested on one count each of indecent behavior with a juvenile and third-degree rape. Lewis was set to go to trial for these charges this week, according to court records. Lewis stepped down as mayor in 2011 following racketeering and bribery charges brought against him after an FBI sting.

STAFF PHOTO BY MICHAEL JOHNSON

HOUSING TRIAL

Continued from page 1B that attorney, Berkley Durbin, until after she stepped down from the custody cases in late August 1998. The custody case led to an FBI inquiry that resulted in no charges, an investigation by the state commission that disciplines judges and a letter of apology from Hughes to Nicholson five years later in which he called his own actions “inimical” to the pursuit of justice. Jurors heard from Nicholson that she asked Hughes in July or August 1998 to recuse himself from the custody case because the family had learned about his relationship with Durbin. “He said he wasn’t stepping down,” she said. “He said he thought he could do it without stepping down.” The day Hughes awarded full custody to the boy’s mother, Nicholson testified, she picked up the child from school at the direction of her son, the boy’s biological father. Her son, who objected to the stepfather’s presence in the home because of the alleged abuse, took the boy out of state, she said. She was jailed 11 days for contempt of court until the boy was returned, she testified. Suzy Montero, an attorney for The Advocate, had Nicholson review the 2004 apology letter from Hughes. Asked why she had kept it, Nicholson replied: “It was like a slap in the face.” She added that when she first read it, she felt “he thinks he’s untouchable.” Nicholson was among the first witnesses The Advocate’s attor-

neys called Friday to the stand. Lawyers for Hughes rested their case Thursday. Hughes claims the editorial portrays him in a false light. Eighteenth Judicial District Judge Kevin Kimball has focused the trial on the editorial itself but has allowed some of the news stories about Hughes into evidence. Hughes argues the original story had a “secret lie.” That story downplayed when Durbin dropped out of the child custody case, while a related timeline failed to mention it at all, leaving a false impression, his lawyers claim. Called to the stand by Hughes’ attorneys Thursday as a media expert was Woody Jenkins. A local Republican Party official who owns Central City News and other publications, Jenkins testified that an ethics expert was quoted in the newspaper based on a false premise. Jenkins said the original story buried the timing of when Durbin removed herself from the case, calling it a “hit piece.” He also criticized the editorial for not running down facts. In its original story The Advocate quoted an expert as saying that a judge in a romantic relationship with an attorney should recuse himself because the situation presents “a classic conflict of interest, an obvious source of bias.” The last part of the quote was the headline of a story about Hughes. Court records presented at trial show Durbin on Aug. 14, 1998, filed a request to drop out of the Nicholson case, and an order granting it was signed Aug. 27 by another judge. The Advocate issued a clarification of the editorial, saying it failed to note that Durbin had left

the Nicholson case in August 1998 and that her departure preceded Hughes’ final ruling in it the following year. The clarification also said objections raised by child welfare advocates about Hughes’ final custody decision didn’t happen until after he ruled in late March 1999. On Wednesday, Montero went line-by-line with Hughes through part of the editorial, asking if the facts were true. “In 1999, while on the state bench in Livingston, Hughes was romantically involved with lawyer Berkley Durbin, according to several people familiar with the situation,” Montero read, asking him if that was accurate. Hughes agreed. The next line of the editorial said that despite the relationship, Hughes didn’t recuse himself from a custody case and related legal matters involving the boy. Hughes argued that wasn’t exactly true. He said he tried to have another judge consider his recusal, but the parties seeking it didn’t show up for the hearing, which was set a day before his final ruling in the case. Hughes acknowledged, under Montero’s questioning, that he could have recused himself, but said he wasn’t going to let litigants fail to show up for court on a lastminute recusal motion and delay the other side, who was there. He said that would be “an insult to the judiciary system.” Pressed further by Montero on the recusal, Hughes replied: “A half-truth is a whole lie if you include it with that, but I did refer it to another judge and that would be true.” Testimony in the trial continued into Friday evening.

Continued from page 1B to range from about 50 feet to between 120 and 140 feet. The proposed lot sizes prompted residents at the meeting to ask why the sizes and prices of the proposed houses were not provided. “Because it would seem to me, I don’t know, I’m not that good at numbers, but if I know how big a lot is, and I know where the setasides are, and I know how much space I’ve got to give in the front of the subdivision, I could probably estimate the maximum amount it could be,” Randy Lanoix said. If the City Council gives ﬁnal approval, the developer can begin the permitting process for construction.

Development agreement The commission also recommended a development agreement with J. Breaux Enterprises, a Carencro-based company, for a roughly 46-acre residential development on Thibaut Drive called Cane Field Crossing. Under Louisiana law, development agreements allow local governments and developers to establish expectations and responsibilities before a project moves forward, helping address issues before work begins. The subdivision will consist of roughly 130 single-family homes priced between $250,000 and $280,000. Most homes are expected to be three-bedroom, two-bath, with some four-bedroom, two-anda-half-bath. The developer has also agreed to install natural gas service throughout the subdivision. The item will be up for ﬁnal approval from the City Council on Tuesday.

Temporary housing The commissioners also began early discussion of temporary housing in connection with the $5.8 billion steel mill, which is to break ground in September. The mill is expected to bring about 4,800 construction jobs at the peak building phase. Capone, the planning commission chair, said he has been speaking with a West Virginia-based developer about a potential temporary housing project. He said the concept could include small units of about 900 square feet designed to house one or two people. The developer is considering a project with between 400 and 1,200 temporary housing units on a site somewhere in the city, Capone said. “Something to this level will happen. We’re going to need that. The plant is coming,” he said. Capone said any site would need adequate infrastructure, including water, gas and roads. Capone said once the temporary houses are no longer needed, property could be made into a subdivision as it has the infrastructure for residential development. Sullivan said more discussion on temporary housing development would ﬁrst need a resolution from the City Council. Plans could then be recommended by the Planning Commission, with the council getting ﬁnal approval.

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Funerals Today Albarez, Junius

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Finister, Mary J. 'Mae Pooh', 'Tudda', 'MoMo'

Seale Funeral Home, 1720 S. Range Ave., Denham Springs at 3:00pm.

Armwood, Velma

Hall Davis & Sons at 1pm.

Baldwin, Jack

Place, Alicia Jean

8/20/1930-08/07/2026 A service celebrating Jean's life will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, September 5, 2026, at Dillon Funeral Home in Sand Springs, Oklahoma. 918-245 -4142 dilloncares.com

Trinity Lutheran Church, Haskell, Texas at 2:00pm.

Robert, Glenn Jacques

Blanchard, Alvin

New Light B.C., 76765 Cedar St., Grosse Tete, LA at 2pm.

Dearman, Linda

Greenoaks Memorial Park, 9595 Florida Blvd., Baton Rouge at 2pm.

Edwards, Mary

St. James Catholic Church, 6613 LAHighway 18, St. James at 11:00am.

Finister, Mary

Greater Morning Star Baptist Church, 1002 Mavis Drive, Baton Rouge at Noon.

Green, Elizabeth

Shady Grove First Missionary Baptist Church, 16443 Plank Road, Baker, La at 11am.

Jones, Joan

Kutz residence at 2:00pm, Please contact family for service location.

Lewis, Ann

Hall Davis & Son Funeral Service, 9438 Scenic Hwy., Baton Rouge at 8:00am.

McKenzie-Zuber, Norma

First Pentecostal Church, Denham Springs at 1:00pm.

Moses Jr., Gerald

First Christian Church, 8484 Old Hammond Hwy., Baton Rouge at 11:00am.

Myers, Diane

Neely United Methodist Church at 11:00am.

Pino, Wilton

Resthaven Funeral Home, 11817 Jefferson Hwy in Baton Rouge at 2:30pm.

Ponseti Jr., Sidney

Trinity Lutheran Church at 11:00am.

Raby, Barbara

Mount Pilgrim Baptist Church, 9700 Scenic Hwy. at 10am.

Robert, Glenn

Ascension Catholic Church, 716 Mississippi St., Donaldsonville at 11:30am.

Mary J. Finister, was born on June 26, 1948 to the late Harry and Alberta Jenkins, Jr. in Sicily Island, La. She passed away peacefully on Wednesday, August 5, 2026, at the age of 78. Visitation will be held on Saturday, August 22, 2026 from 10:00 am 11:50 am, followed by religious service at 12:00 pm at Greater Morning Star Baptist Church, 1002 Mavis Drive, Baton Rouge, La. Interment in Winnfield Memorial Park, 7221 Plank Road, Baton Rouge, La.

Lewis, Ann Gene

Ann Gene Lewis departed this earthly life peacefully on Tuesday, August 11, 2026 at the age of 75 at Baton Rouge General MidCity Butterfly Wing with The Hospice of Baton Rouge. Ann was the oldest of 7 children to the late Eugene Lewis and Annie Mae Simmons Lewis. She leaves to cherish her loving memories to her daughter, Theresa Ann Lewis; One grandson Chase Michael Beverly; one sister Irene Spears; one brother Willie Lewis; two sister in laws Helen Lewis and Brenda Lewis; one brother in law Roosevelt Stewart Jr; a host of nieces, nephews, great nieces and nephews. A visitation will be held from 8:00 AM to 10:00 AM on 2026-08-22 at Hall Davis & Son Funeral Service, 9348 Scenic Highway.

President of Pierre Part Natural Gas, Co., from 1959 to 1997. He was a board member of Ascension Savings & Loan and Prevost Memorial Hospital. He was also a long-time member of the Elks, Rotary Club and Donaldsonville Chamber of Commerce. A lifelong active parishioner of Ascension Catholic Church, he served as a Eucharistic Minister, was on the Building and Finance Committees and was part of the

Angola Outreach ministry. He spent the last six years of his life at St. James Place in Baton Rouge, La. where he was a cherished member of that community. He will be truly missed by all who knew and loved him. Relatives and friends are invited to attend the Funeral Mass at Ascension Catholic Church, 716 Mississippi St., Donaldsonville, LA on Saturday, August 22, 2026, at 11:30 a.m. Visita-

tion at the church beginning at 9:30 a.m.

FIND OUT WHAT YOUR HOME

YOURIS WORTH HOME

Glenn Jacques Robert, age 99, of Donaldsonville, LA, passed away peacefully on Wednesday, August 19, 2026. Loving father of Alan J. Robert (Tessie), Glena Robert Harlan (Eric), Roy M. Robert, and Randal J. Robert (Jane). Grandfather of six grandchildren, Alana Haynie (Ryan), Kyle Robert, Austin Robert (Rebekah), Scott Harlan (Elizabeth), Stephen Harlan (Kelly), Sarah Paul (Dave) and nine great-grandchildren. Preceded in death by his devoted wife of 72 years, Lena Mistretta Robert. Also pre-deceased by his parents, Remy P. Robert and Ethel Landry Robert, and siblings Hulin J. Robert, Cecil P. Robert, Lois Robert Simoneaux, Shelby L. Robert and Joyce A. Robert, and daughter-inlaw Laurie S. Robert. A native of Burnside, La., he graduated from Catholic High School in Donaldsonville in 1944 and Louisiana State University (petroleum engineering) in 1950. He served in the U.S. Maritime Service from 1945 to 1947. He was co-owner of Home Furnishings & Appliance Co., retiring in 1992. He was also co-owner and

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Shafer, Raychel

New Life Church, 806 Hospital Rd., New Roads at 1:00pm.

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Wilbert Funeral Home, Plaquemine at 1pm.

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Friendship Chapel Baptist Church, 2111 North Street, Baton Rouge at 11:00am.

Obituaries

obits@theadvocate.com 225-388-0289

Armwood, Velma

Zachary, La - Velma Teen Armwood, a beloved Mother, sister and friend, enternal rest on August 15, 2026 visitation will be held August 22, A viewing (wake) will be held from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM on 2026-08-22 followed by service at Hall Davis & Sons funeral service , 9348 scenic highway .

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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.

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BUSINESS

The Advocate ■ theadvocate.com ■ Saturday,August 22, 2026 ■ 5B

T H E A D V O C AT E.C O M/news/business

DOW 53,277.01 517.80 0.98%

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Stars and Stripes editor fired for insubordination

The Pentagon on Friday ﬁred the editor-in-chief of Stars and Stripes, as well as its publisher and a reporter, the editor said. He said he was dismissed for insubordination after an interview he gave that objected to potential censorship by the U.S. military. Erik Slavin, editor-in-chief of the military newspaper that is partly funded by the Pentagon but has a long legacy of editorial independence, told The Associated Press that he and the others had received notices of separation. Trump or other parts of the executive branch have also, in policy and in the courts, grappled with The Wall Street Journal, The Associated Press and The New York Times in addition to using the FCC to target broadcast networks. Slavin said he was being ﬁred “for stating in a CBS interview that hypothetical censorship of news for service members would constitute a red line.” He said he stands by the principle “that Stars and Stripes must remain editorially independent.” Earlier this week, publisher Max Lederer announced his retirement effective at the end of September. He too received a separation notice, according to Slavin, as did Middle East reporter Lara Korte, who was cited for the same CBS interview as Slavin. Neither Lederer nor Korte immediately responded to requests for comment. Lederer made his announcement a few weeks after the Pentagon installed a new deputy publisher, an active duty service member, under Lederer at the newspaper without his prior knowledge.

Alfalfa sprouts linked to poisoning outbreak NEW YORK — U.S. health officials say a food-poisoning outbreak tied to alfalfa sprouts and involving multiple germs has sickened people in 15 states. State officials announced the outbreak earlier this week, saying they documented more than three dozen cases in Minnesota and Wisconsin. On Friday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the agency is aware of 55 cases nationally, including four people who have been hospitalized. Of 34 sick people interviewed, 26 reported eating alfalfa sprouts, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Food poisoning outbreaks tend to be defined by one type of germ, but this outbreak involves people with salmonella and different strains of E. coli. Officials are linking cases to alfalfa sprouts produced by Everything Sprouts, a Minnesota grower, and sold under the Calco and Everything Sprouts brands to restaurants and grocery stores. The company has yet to issue a recall, the FDA said. Last year, the FDA sent a warning letter to Everything Sprouts, saying inspections the year before identified several points of concern, including a leaking roof that was dropping water onto bean sprouts and workers’ smocks. The Associated Press left messages for Everything Sprouts seeking comment.

Tesla recalls nearly 3M vehicles in China HONG KONG — Tesla and other Chinese carmakers are making a major recall over safety concerns mostly related to their door handles, according to Chinese authorities on Friday. The U.S. carmaker is recalling about 2.98 million Chinamade and imported EVs including Model 3, Model Y, Model X and Model S over door handle safety risks, according to China’s State Administration for Market Regulation. The recall comes a few months after Chinese authorities said in February that starting next year, it would be banning hidden car door handles that are commonly seen on Tesla electric vehicles and many Chinese EV models.

S&P 500 7,674.37 33.21 0.44%

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CRUDE OIL 86.64 -0.19 -0.22%

GOLD 4,611.80 95.50 2.11%

6-MO T-BILLS 3.92 0.01 0.26%

30-YR T-BONDS 5.28 0.03 0.55%

Bond market puts pressure on stocks BY STAN CHOE Associated Press

NEW YORK — U.S. stocks rose Friday and trimmed their losses from a shaky week. That was even though the bond market, which has been the center of Wall Street’s action, remained jumpy and continued to add pressure. Ross Stores helped lead the way and rose 4.4% after reporting stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. CEO Jim Conroy said it saw both an increase in new cus-

tomers and more interest from existing customers, while the offprice retailer at the same time benefited from refunds on tariffs. Most U.S. companies have reported bigger profits for the spring than analysts expected, which has helped drive stocks to records. Stock prices tend to follow the path of corporate profits over the long term. Hopes for continued profit growth got a boost from a preliminary report by S&P Global suggesting growth for U.S. business activity hit a 52-month high. But the other big lever that helps set

stock prices, interest rates, has been much shakier. After soaring through the summer and then hesitating following this week’s surprise move by the U.S. Treasury Department to repurchase more U.S. government bonds, yields climbed further on Friday. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.73% from 4.69% late Thursday. It’s back above its level from before the Treasury market made its move, which analysts said at the time would likely have only a temporary effect. The 30year Treasury yield also rose and

is near its highest level since 2007. Contributing to Friday’s gains for bond yields was continued uncertainty about when the war with Iran will allow oil tankers to freely exit the Persian Gulf again. One of the biggest beneficiaries of U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s move to try to get longer-term yields lower is bitcoin. Cryptocurrencies often rise when interest rates are lower and more money is flowing through the ﬁnancial system. Bitcoin has climbed above $77,000 from less than $63,000 a week ago.

Cattle producers, rural Republicans balk at Trump order on beef imports President says reduction of tariffs will lower beef prices

BY SEUNG MIN KIM and JESSE BEDAYN Associated Press

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced Friday that his administration will allow more beef to be temporarily imported into the U.S. without triggering higher tariffs, which drew swift pushback from cattle producers and conservative rural-state Republicans. Beef prices have climbed to record highs amid a drop in the number of U.S. cattle, consistent consumer demand and limits on cattle from Mexico, where the animals are facing a ﬂesh-eating pest. The U.S. president has also imposed 50% tariffs on Brazil, a major beef exporter. Trump remains under pressure to cut costs and address affordability issues ahead of November’s midterms. But ranchers, normally some of the president’s biggest supporters, are enjoying some rare profitable years and worry cheap Trump beef imports will reduce cattle prices — and with it, the incentive to increase herd sizes. “We all want lower grocery prices, but as I’ve said for months, we cannot do it at the expense of American producers,” Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., said in a statement. “Flooding the market with foreign beef hurts our livestock industry and undermines the long-term solution: growing the U.S. cattle herd to meet demand.” Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., said in a social media post just hours after Trump’s announcement that the president’s “heart is in the right place,” but importing beef will “harm our ranching families who feed the nation.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO BY JACK DURA

Beef prices have climbed to record highs amid a drop in the number of U.S. cattle. And Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., said that while he appreciates the administration’s focus on grocery prices, “short term policy shifts do not equal long term solutions.” The deal, Trump said, allows up to 300,000 metric tons of ground beef to be imported into the U.S. for the next 90 days without activating an “out of quota” tariff, which is a tax that goes into effect once a certain quantity of that product enters the country. The president said on social media that he had committed to ensuring the imported beef would be sold at 25% below current market rates, making it cheaper for American consumers. A White House ofﬁcial said the deal is with foreign beef exporters who have agreed to the discount on beef. “You don’t put America first by putting U.S. cattle producers last,” U.S. Cattlemen’s Association President Justin Tupper said in a statement. “This move will weaken our markets and gamble with food safety in the process.”

The president’s announcement and other market interventions sacriﬁce “long-term stability for short term messaging,” Colin Woodall, CEO of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, said in a statement. Glynn Tonsor, a professor at Kansas State University who focuses on the cattle and beef industry, said he would like to see more details about the latest deal but that his immediate assessment was that it wouldn’t have a big effect on prices. That’s because 300,000 metric tons amounts to roughly 3% of what Americans eat yearly, he said. “The relative magnitude we are talking about is pretty small.” David Anderson, professor of agricultural economics at Texas A&M University, said he was skeptical other countries could redirect so much beef to the U.S. in such a short time period. “Is that even achievable?” he questioned in a phone interview. The White House ofﬁcial, who spoke on condition of anonym-

ity to discuss a plan that has yet to be ﬁnalized, said the beef in question is lean beef trimmings that are used for ground beef production. Trump plans to sign an executive order formalizing the directive within two weeks, the ofﬁcial said. The administration made a push last year to buy more beef from Argentina to try to bring down prices. The president said Friday that his plan would help grow the U.S. cattle supply, which is the smallest it’s been in decades. Some ranchers and experts said the opposite effect was more likely. “Imports have been a major contributor to the decline in the U.S. cattle inventory,” said Bill Bullard, the CEO of the RCALF USA, which represents independent cattle producers. “Using more imports today will exacerbate that decline and will prevent herd expansion.” Associated Press writers Sarah Raza in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and Sudhin Thanawala in Atlanta contributed to this report.

MAHA activists oppose promotion of coal to power data centers BY ALI SWENSON Associated Press

NEW YORK — Nearly 200 activists in Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” movement are criticizing President Donald Trump’s promotion of coal to fuel the rise of artificial intelligence data centers, according to a letter sent Friday. The letter, signed by at least two former staffers from Kennedy’s 2024 presidential campaign, marks the first major MAHA movement mobilization over fossil fuels and the latest in a series of rifts between the diverse group of activists and the Trump administration over environmental policy. The letter to Trump, Kennedy and various other Cabinet officials, first obtained by The Associated Press, laments a 2025 executive order that aimed to boost coal to power data centers over pollution concerns and asks the administration to consider renewable options, including solar and geothermal energy. “We understand the importance

of American leadership in artificial intelligence, national security, innovation, and economic growth,” the letter reads. “But American AI leadership should not come at the cost of a more toxic burden for American children.” In response, White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers noted that greenhouse gas emissions dropped to a 30-year low during Trump’s first term and said Trump “was given a mandate to roll back the radical climate policies that are burning a hole through taxpayers’ wallets.” The agencies receiving the letter didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Although it may not reflect the views of all MAHA activists, the new line of criticism against one of the administration’s signature policies less than three months before November’s midterm elections could present another challenge for Republicans as they seek to win over the voting bloc in key races. As health secretary, Kennedy has carried out several policy changes that cater to the MAHA

movement, including attempting to scale back childhood vaccine recommendations, a central priority for some activists. He also has sought to remove artificial dyes from food and encouraged Americans to have healthy diets free of ultraprocessed foods. But many in the MAHA movement, which Trump credits with helping him win back the White House two years ago, say they have grown frustrated with the administration over its embrace of pesticides such as glyphosate and its deregulatory environmental agenda. Some have said they plan to vote on issues over party this fall, raising the political stakes of their increasingly public tensions with the Republican administration. As president, Trump has enthusiastically embraced what he calls “big, beautiful coal” despite outcry from environmentalists about planet-warming greenhouse gases and toxic chemicals released by coal-ﬁred power plants. His administration has moved to reverse tighter Biden-era standards on greenhouse gas emissions,

which, in addition to their climate impacts, can harm brain development in children and increase rates of heart attacks in adults. He also has been a vocal advocate for data centers, which power artiﬁcial intelligence and cloud computing, framing them as a necessary component of winning the AI race against China. “If I were the mayor of a town or the governor of a state, and I had a chance to get a big plant in, an AI plant or a data center,” Trump said this week, “I would absolutely want it because the jobs are enormous and the money paid, the taxes paid, are just enormous.” Voters across the political spectrum have criticized data centers for jacking up electricity bills, draining water supplies, and creating unhealthy amounts of air and noise pollution. Friday’s letter asks the administration to require transparent review of data center location and power sourcing decisions, and respect existing environmental review requirements in the permitting process.

6B ■ Saturday,August 22, 2026 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

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

ANOTHER VIEW

Democrats try to crack the presidential primary calendar code Changes made to the political system are usually motivated by self-interest. But that doesn’t mean the changes produce expected results. New campaign finance rules that Congress enacted in the 1970s and afterward were supposed to take money out of politics. Obviously, that didn’t happen. The amount of money flooding into campaigns since then has increased astronomically. The latest major change to Louisiana election law, passed by the Legislature in the early days of Gov. Jeff Landry’s term, brought back party primaries, the system under which the current U.S. Senate race is being run. This time, there wasn’t even a good-government pretext. Everybody knew it was meant to defeat Sen. Bill Cassidy, and it did. The most recent change in the election process came last week, when the national Democratic Party adopted a new presidential primary schedule. State parties fight over the calendar because early primaries get more attention and have outsized influence on nominations. For decades, New Hampshire held the nation’s first presidential primary. Beginning in 1972, the Iowa caucuses emerged as a competitor, but procedural mishaps in recent caucuses have diminished Iowa’s credibility. Ron In 2024, Democrats cast aside New HampFaucheux shire as its first primary and gave that honor to South Carolina. Why? President Joe Biden wanted it that way. First, it was a thank you to South Carolina Democrats and U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn for the decisive primary victory they handed Biden in 2020. Second, it was meant to open the 2024 primary season with a guaranteed win for Biden. Third, it was recognition that New Hampshire lacks racial diversity; only about 1% of New Hampshire’s electorate is Black, compared to 26% in South Carolina. The third reason lives on, even now that Biden is out of the picture. Here’s another important fact: Black voters make up 26% of South Carolina’s overall electorate, but they made up 56% of the state’s Democratic primary electorate in 2020, according to exit polling. Why the difference? Most Black voters are Democrats. So, while Black voters represent a bit more a quarter of all voters in South Carolina, they represent more than half of the voters who participate in the Democratic primary. Under the newly adopted rules for 2028 Democratic delegate selection, South Carolina’s primary remains first, on Jan. 22. Nevada moves into second place, on Feb. 1. New Hampshire follows on Feb. 8, then New Mexico on Feb. 15, Michigan on Feb. 22 and Virginia on Feb. 29. New Mexico and Nevada make the early states’ list largely because of diversity and their location in the West: 43% of New Mexico’s eligible voters are Hispanic and nearly a third of Nevada’s are Hispanic or Black. Virginia — 19% Black, 5% Hispanic and 5% Asian — houses numerous federal employees, an important voter group for Democrats. Don’t discount the fact that Virginia is close to the nation’s capital, making it convenient for campaign consultants and party activists to go back and forth during the primary. It’s also a reward for Virginia’s shifting from red to blue in federal elections. Michigan’s electorate is 18% Black, Hispanic or Asian, and home to powerful labor unions. Moreover, it’s a voterich swing state. Which raises the question: Why didn’t Democrats select swing states for all six of their early presidential primaries? Wouldn’t that give Democratic candidates valuable familiarity in the states most likely to determine the general election? Why aren’t Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Georgia and Arizona in the first tier, alongside Michigan and Nevada? South Carolina isn’t a swing state; it voted Republican in the last 12 presidential elections, and Trump carried it by 18 points in 2024. Neither New Hampshire nor New Mexico are considered swing states; the former voted Democratic in the last six elections, and the latter in the last five. Did party leaders put identity politics ahead of generalelection strategy? You could make that case. But there’s another explanation: Putting all the early primaries in swing states would expose Democratic candidates to attacks from one another in the very states they would later need to win the general election. Those wounds could hurt more than the early exposure would help. According to T.S. Eliot, “The last temptation is the greatest treason: to do the right deed for the wrong reason.” In politics, it’s sometimes hard to know the right deed — and whether the reason is right or wrong. Even taking selfinterest into account, it’s still hard. Ron Faucheux is a nonpartisan political analyst, pollster and writer based in Louisiana.

YOUR VIEWS

Insulin is not a luxury; legislation would cap the monthly cost

What will donors to Trump’s ballroom expect in return? A recent letter to the editor argued that ”no government money” is being used for the new White House ballroom. While the letter’s focus on accuracy is appreciated, official records show the claim is not entirely factual. Private donors are covering a substantial share of the ballroom itself, estimated at roughly $600 million. But that sits inside a greater effort. The Washington Post reporting from August 2026 puts total White House grounds construction, the ballroom, an underground complex, a new helipad, Lafayette Square and a visitor screening center at upward of $900 million, mostly taxpayer-funded. Roughly $500 million was transferred from the U.S. Secret Service and the White House Military Office, both taxpayer-funded agencies, and put into an account called ”White House Repair and Restoration” that normally holds about $2.5 million a year for routine upkeep. Since Trump took office, the administration has funneled $875

million into that account. The remaining funding comes from a small group of billionaires and corporations. Donors include Stephen Schwarzman, Harold Hamm and the Adelson family, as well as tech giants such as Amazon, Google and Meta. These “private” contributions raise serious ethical concerns. Nearly all corporate donors, including defense contractors like Lockheed Martin and Palantir, have significant business before the federal government. These companies hold multi-billion-dollar contracts or face major antitrust litigation and regulatory reviews. By using a nonprofit to funnel these gifts, these contractors have largely avoided disclosing these payments in lobbying filings. Hundreds of millions in tax dollars are being spent alongside money from billionaires seeking government favor. This is what oligarchy in America looks like.

For more than two decades as a pharmacist in New Orleans East, I have seen how difﬁcult it can be for patients to afford the insulin they need to survive. Some have told me they take only half their prescribed dose to make a vial last longer. That is not a budgeting strategy; it is a medical emergency waiting to happen. People across Louisiana are being forced to choose between insulin, utility bills, groceries and gas. As a heart health advocate, I also know that the stress of affording lifesaving medication can place an additional burden on people who are already managing diabetes. Congress can help by passing the bipartisan Improving Needed Safeguards for Users of Lifesaving Insulin Now Act of 2026. The INSULIN Act would cap monthly out-of-pocket insulin costs at $35 for people with private insurance and establish a pilot program to provide low-cost insulin to uninsured patients. I thank U.S. Sen. John Kennedy for supporting this legislation and urge other elected ofﬁcials to help move it forward. Insulin is not a luxury. Congress must act so that no Louisianan has to ration the medication that keeps them alive.

KARL ALBRITTON Central

Behind political fights, a disturbing trend I recently read a few articles that have upset me. I read that the governor was not talking to the mayor of New Orleans. I found it hard to understand why the governor was not speaking to the mayor of the most visited city in the state. As I read, it became obvious that some people believe the mayor has the ability to control a grand jury. It bothered me because I thought a grand jury was not under the control of the mayor but was an independent body of citizens who were empaneled to look at evidence and decide whether to move forward with indictments. I became upset as I read articles and learned that my brother, retired Judge Calvin Johnson, was, according to the attorney general, an innocent bystander. I could not understand why the attorney general felt the need to mention my brother, because he was only doing what the law allowed.

Today, with all the things going on, I am becoming very afraid for my people, especially as I see those in power constantly believe that only they have the sense and ability to make decisions, and the rest of us are incapable of reading and understanding what we read and are not capable of making decisions. I am afraid that students in school will not understand the three branches of government as I was taught and understand them. I am afraid that students in school will not develop the desire to participate in those branches of government because they will become discouraged. According to Lord Acton, in his correspondence with the historian Bishop Mandell Creighton: “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” I pray we are not there.

ALISHA REED New Orleans

Why did Trump abandon staff on plane? So, is everyone else just live bait? If President Donald Trump believed there was a credible threat to his life, why did he sneak off Air Force One and leave everyone else to suffer the consequences? Hmmm.

LINDA JOHNSON Plaquemine

JOSEPH SPEARS JR. New Orleans

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

Coaching cohesion helps Weis with LSU transition

S at u r d ay, au g u S t 22, 2026

1CN

P R E S E A S O N • S A I N T S A T R A M S • 3 P. M . S A T U R D A Y • W A F B

BY JON BLAU Staff writer

Charlie Weis Jr. is no stranger to this strange land. The 33-year-old play-caller entered LSU’s offensive meeting room Friday morning and saw several familiar faces from his days at Ole Miss. Eight staff members in all followed Lane Kifﬁn to Baton Rouge, including six on the offensive side. Weis has the unenviable task of coaching up quarterbacks and receivers who have spent as little time in the Bayou as him. But he’s not coaching up the coaches, whether that’s George McDonald (receivers), Kevin Smith (running backs) or Joe Cox (tight ends). “I could come in and go, ‘Hey guys, we’re going to run this. Remember we ran this in 2024 against whoever?’ ” Weis said. “And they could be like, ‘Yeah. Got it. Let’s go.’ “ The institutional knowledge that’s migrated from Oxford, Mississippi, to Baton Rouge has helped Weis play a game of catch-up. Not only was LSU quarterback Sam Leavitt limited in the spring as he recovered from a foot injury but Weis’ offense also has been pitted against a Tigers defense that heads into Year 3 under coordinator Blake Baker.

‘ S TA R ’

TURN

ä See COACHING, page 3C

LSU OC Charlie Weis Jr.

STAFF PHOTO BY MICHAEL JOHNSON

Saints safety Jonas Sanker runs through drills on Aug. 3 at training camp in Metairie. AP PHOTO BY GERALD HERBERT

Saints put second-year pro Sanker in Staley’s featured position BY LUKE JOHNSON Staff writer

LSU adds ﬁfth-year DE after court ruling

BY JON BLAU Staff writer

Just two days after a Louisiana court ruled 16 former college football players eligible for another season of competition, LSU has added one of them for the 2026 season. Former Notre Dame defensive end Junior Tuihalamaka announced Friday on his Instagram account that he has committed to the Tigers. Tuihalamaka collected 61 tackles, including nine for loss, in four seasons with the Fighting Irish from 2022-25. The 6-foot-2, 255-pound Californian played in 12 games for Notre Dame last season, including three starts. Prior to this year, NCAA athletes had five years to play four seasons, barring medical redshirts or additional years granted after the COVID-19 pandemic. The NCAA recently changed its eligibility model, allowing athletes five years to play five seasons. But the NCAA didn’t offer another year to the Class of 2022 recruits who had exhausted their eligibility. That prompted another wave of lawsuits, including Wednesday’s filing in Baton Rouge that resulted in a judge granting a temporary restraining order

ä See LSU, page 3C

WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. — This isn’t where the star was born, but it is where it took off — and where, currently, we are seeing its latest iteration take shape. Brandon Staley’s ﬁrst opportunity to call defensive plays in the NFL came here, with the Los Angeles Rams in 2020. At that point, he’d spent only three seasons as an NFL position coach, all under Vic Fangio with the Bears and Broncos. Staley’s defensive structure was heavily supported by that Fangio tree, but he also incorporated a bit from his time coaching Division III John Carroll University. Staley, now the New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator, carried the star position with him from John Carroll. It’s not just a slot cornerback; Staley calls it a “featured position” in his defense, a sort of hybrid player who can

cover like a corner but bring a linebacker’s thump to run support. This year, Staley is trying out a new player in his featured position: Second-year defensive back Jonas Sanker, who impressed when pressed into duty early in his rookie season — at safety. It’s a big transition, but nothing that has transpired since the Saints took the field this summer has convinced Staley the job is too big for Sanker. “He’s a player,” Staley said. “And what you really need in there is you need a player. You need a guy that can play and figure things out quickly, and he has that.” The Saints need Sanker to figure it out fast, but he has help, because he’s far from the only player on his own team who has made the transition from safety to star. He’s not even the first to have done it under Staley — Terrell

ä See SANKER, page 5C

ANALYSIS

RB Miller, kickers among Saints’ points of interest BY MATTHEW PARAS Staff writer

WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. — Earlier this month, New Orleans Saints running backs coach Joel Thomas was asked about Kendre Miller and whether the oft-injured running back faced any pressure to return as fast as he could from the back injury that had him sidelined. The assistant coach didn’t disagree with the premise. “Well, the pressure should be on himself,” Thomas said Aug. 11. “The NFL doesn’t stop for anybody.” Miller would miss another week, marking a 13-day absence amid a competitive battle at his position. But after returning to practice Tuesday, the 24-year-old has a chance to prove that he still belongs in the NFL. And he’ll get to make his latest argument in Saturday’s preseason game against the Los Angeles Rams. With the starters resting, Miller is in line to get ample opportunities. But so are Devin Neal and Ty Chandler, two other running backs ﬁghting for

mara, if he can avoid injured reserve with his sprained MCL, ﬁgures to be as well. That leaves Miller, Chandler, undrafted rookie C.J. Donaldson and veteran Audric Estime — who won’t play Saturday because of a foot injury — to vie for one or two spots. The pressure is on. Here are four other topics to consider entering Saturday’s exhibition.

Smyth’s footing The kicking competition has been tight throughout training camp, but STAFF PHOTO BY DAVID GRUNFELD Charlie Smyth is at risk of falling behind if he can’t generate some posiSaints running back Kendre Miller tive momentum against the Rams. runs a drill during training camp on Smyth missed a 52-yard ﬁeld goal in last week’s game against the JackJuly 29 in Metairie. sonville Jaguars and has been in a bit a roster spot. of a slump over the last two weeks. How the Saints sort out their runTanner Brown, challenging Smyth, ning back room is one of the biggest hasn’t run away with the job in that remaining questions before they’ll stretch. But he has been the more make cuts to set their initial 53-man consistent of the two. Neither got a roster by the Aug. 30 deadline. Will lot of opportunities to kick during they keep four backs or just three? ä See SAINTS, page 5C Travis Etienne is a lock. Alvin Ka-

2C ■ Saturday, August 22, 2026 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

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BROADCAST HIGHLIGHTS On TV

AUTO RACING 8 a.m. NTT IndyCar: Practice FS1 9 a.m. Formula 1: Qualifying Apple TV 9:30 a.m. NASCAR Cup: Practice TRUTV 10:35 a.m. NASCAR Cup: Qualifying TRUTV Noon NTT IndyCar: Practice FS2 Noon Pro Motocross: Budds Creek NBCSN 12:30 p.m. Truck Series: Team EJP 175 FS1 2:30 p.m. Pro Motocross: Budds Creek NBC 4 p.m. NTT IndyCar: Qualifying FS2 BIG3 BASKETBALL Noon Week 10: All-Star Game CBS CFL 6 p.m. Hamilton at Toronto CBSSN WOMEN’S COLLEGE VOLLEYBALL 3 p.m. Wisconsin vs. Louisville Fox 6 p.m. Texas vs. Arizona State FS1 GOLF 10 a.m. LIV Golf: Third Round Fox Noon PGA: BMW Championship Golf 2 p.m. PGA: BMW Championship CBS 2 p.m. Korn Ferry: AdventHealth Champ. Golf

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Dallas at Arizona NFLN RODEO 6:30 p.m. PBR: Team Series CW MEN’S SOCCER 8:55 a.m. Wolves at Preston CBSSN 9 a.m. Leeds at Nottingham Forest NBCSN 9 a.m. Crystal Palace at Everton USA 9:55 a.m. Sevilla FC at Athletic Club ESPN2 11:30 a.m. Como at Udinese CBSSN 11:30 p.m. Spurs at Brentford FC NBC 1:30 p.m. Bayern at Dortmund USA 2 p.m. Cagliari at Parma CBSSN 2:25 p.m. Real Madrid at Espanyol ABC 9 p.m. Tulsa at Orange County CBSSN WOMEN’S SOCCER 5:30 p.m. Seattle at Kansas City ION 7:45 p.m. Denver at Portland ION SOFTBALL 6 p.m. Team Landry vs. Team Klinger ESPNU TENNIS 10 a.m. Cincinnati-ATP/WTA Tennis WNBA 6 p.m. Indiana at New York Prime 8 p.m. Connecticut at Los Angeles Prime

Texas Tech eyes another Big 12 title BYU looks to continue momentum after 12-win season BY STEPHEN HAWKINS Associated Press

The Big 12 Conference has had six different champions in the past six seasons. While No. 12 Texas Tech seeks a repeat after winning its ﬁrst Big 12 title and making the College Football Playoff, teams like No. 14 BYU, No. 21 Utah and No. 23 Houston could make a push to extend the league’s streak to seven. “We want to do something that very few teams have been able to do, and that’s to win the Big 12 championship again,” Tech coach Joey McGuire said. The Red Raiders reloaded again through the transfer portal after setting school records with 12 wins and nine NFL draft picks. Will Hammond is healthy after an ACL injury last season and will start at quarterback after the offseason legal saga surrounding transfer Brendan Sorsby, who was declared ineligible by the NCAA because of gambling. BYU is coming off its ﬁrst 12win season since 2001, and both its losses were to Texas Tech, 29-7 in Lubbock, then 34-7 in the Big 12 title game. “We know that last year was some really cool things, some awesome success,” 11th-year Cougars coach Kalani Sitake said. “At the same time, we know what we can do better.” The Cougars return Big 12 rushing leader LJ Martin (1,305 yards, 12 TDs rushing) and QB Bear Bachmeier, who threw for 3,033 yards, ran for 527 and accounted for 26 TDs (15 passing, 11 rushing) after being thrust into the starting role as a freshman. Houston went from four wins to 10 in its second season with coach Willie Fritz and returns dual-

Less than two weeks after coach Will Wade added Skyy Clark to LSU’s roster, his former teammate joins the program. UCLA transfer Donovan Dent is the latest to commit to LSU, the point guard announced on Instagram on Friday. The 6-foot-2, 185-pound point guard played his senior season last year and is eligible to play another season. The UCLA transfer was among more than 70 players granted a temporary restraining order in an age-based eligibility lawsuit ﬁled in California against the NCAA, according to the Texas Trial Group, which represented these players. Dent averaged 13.3 points on 49% shooting from the ﬁeld, 7.6 assists, 2.3 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game last season.

ESPN’s ‘College GameDay’ to attend LSU-Ole Miss

ESPN’s “College GameDay” crew will be on location in Oxford, Mississippi, for LSU’s Week 3 contest at Ole Miss, the network announced Friday. The game will be Lane Kiffin’s return to the stadium where he coached six seasons. Kiffin stirred up controversy by leaving Ole Miss ahead of a College Football Playoff run to become LSU’s head coach. This means two of the Tigers’ first three games will have the national spotlight because “GameDay” is already slated to be in Baton Rouge for LSU’s opener against Clemson. Kiffin is under immense pressure to perform in his debut season following LSU’s decision to relieve Brian Kelly of his duties with $54 million remaining on his contract.

Top-ranked Sinner exits U.S. Open with knee injury ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO BY GEORGE FREY

BYU quarterback Bear Bachmeier, left, hands the ball off to running back LJ Martin during a game against Utah on Oct. 18 in Provo, Utah. threat QB Conner Weigman (3,405 total yards and 36 TDs.) Utah has 82% of its total offense back (QBs Devon Dampier and Byrd Ficklin, and RB Wayshawn Parker) from an 11-win team, but two offensive linemen were first-round NFL draft picks and coach Kyle Whittingham left after 22 seasons for Michigan.

Out west Arizona quarterback Noah Fiﬁta, the national active leader with 73 TD passes, is a rarity going into his fourth season starting for the same team. With him back and the unexpected return of leading rusher Ismail Mahdi, the Wildcats hope to build on a 9-4 ﬁnish and be a Big 12 contender. Arizona State won the Big 12 title and made the playoff in its league debut in 2024. The injury-plagued Sun Devils weren’t able to repeat last year and now are without QB Sam Leavitt (transfer to LSU) and

receiver Jordyn Tyson (ﬁrst-round NFL pick by New Orleans). Deion Sanders, who last year had surgery for bladder cancer, said he feels like his old self going into his fourth season at Colorado. He hired new offensive and defensive coordinators after a ﬁvegame losing streak to end last season with a 1-8 conference record. He is 16-21 overall with the Buffs.

New faces The Big 12’s four new head coaches include Kansas State’s Collin Klein and Utah’s Morgan Scalley at their alma maters replacing their former bosses. Jimmy Rogers took over at Iowa State when Matt Campbell left after 10 seasons for Penn State, and Eric Morris is at Oklahoma State. Klein had been gone for two seasons as Texas A&M’s offensive coordinator when Chris Klieman suddenly retired from K-State. Scalley was Utah’s defensive

coordinator when Whittingham resigned. Rogers won an FCS national championship three seasons ago as head coach at his alma mater, South Dakota State, and was at Washington State last year. Oklahoma State’s 88 newcomers include 21 who came with Morris from North Texas, which lost to Tulane in the American Conference championship to miss out on a CFP berth. Among the Mean Green transfers were QB Drew Mestemaker, the national passing leader with 4,379 yards as a freshman, RB Caleb Hawkins (1,434 yards and FBS-best 25 TDs rushing as a freshman) and WR Wyatt Young (70 catches, 1,264 yards, 10 TDs). This is the ﬁrst time since 2004 the Cowboys enter a season without Mike Gundy as head coach. They have lost 19 conference games in a row, with consecutive 0-9 conference records since a 4921 loss to Texas in the 2023 Big 12 championship game.

Ole Miss QB welcomes pressure of his fame Chambliss aims to refine his game after risky plays BY BRETT MARTEL Associated Press

When Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss watches the Houdini acts from last season that made him a college football sensation, there is a part of him that would rather avoid doing that again. The ability to escape converging pass-rushers, and seemingly ad-lib his way into clutch gains on the ground or through the air, was never more evident than during the Rebels’ CFP quarterfinal victory over favored Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. When Chambliss saw the postgame highlights, one of his first thoughts was: “That was kind of dumb in the moment. Like, if I would have gotten sacked or I would have fallen down, I’m putting myself — and I’m putting my team — in a really bad position.” Chambliss appreciates that some of the crazy plays he pulled off during a heady first season with Ole Miss have inspired analysts to refer to him as “the

LSU men’s hoops gains another UCLA transfer

AP FILE PHOTO BY MATTHEW HINTON

Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss throws during the Sugar Bowl College Football Playoff quarterfinal game against Georgia on Jan. 1 at the Superdome.

face of college football” in 2026. EA Sports even considered putting Chambliss on the cover of a new edition of its popular college football video game, but decided against it because of a legal dispute with the NCAA over whether he would be eligible to play this season. As Chambliss enters his ﬁnal season, with Ole Miss ranked ninth in the preseason AP Top 25 poll, he aims to work with new offensive coordinator John David

Baker on a more mature, composed and reﬁned style of play. “I’m trying to attack this year more as a pro ... knowing that I’ll be draft eligible and I’ll be going to the NFL,” Chambliss said. “So, just making sure that my football IQ is increasing, leadership role is increasing, and just clean up the little details as a quarterback and as a leader on the team.” In 2024, Chambliss played at Division II Ferris State in his native Michigan. Before that, he says he nearly quit football in favor of playing point guard for a Division III basketball program. But after leading Ferris State to a Division II national title, he took an offer to be a projected backup at Ole Miss in 2025. An injury to season-opening starter Austin Simmons thrust Chambliss into the spotlight, and his ability to run circles around frustrated pass-rushers while ﬁnding receivers breaking open downfield made him such a hit in Oxford, Mississippi, that fans there began flying flags of his namesake Caribbean island nation, Trinidad and Tobago. “The Ole Miss fans, they’re very creative and it’s awesome to see,” Chambliss said. Meanwhile, Chambliss said that while serving as a counselor at the Manning Passing Academy in Thibodaux this summer, he met a

Trinidad and Tobago native who told him that many in his country have become captivated by Ole Miss football in the past year. All that attention can mean a lot of pressure for a quarterback who doesn’t even have one full season as an FBS starter on his resume yet. “Pressure is a privilege. I prayed to be in this situation,” Chambliss said. “It’s what I’ve asked for. So, I’ve just got to do what I’ve been taught to do, what I’ve been doing my whole life, which is just play ball.” This year, Chambliss could have opted to transfer to any number of programs, including perhaps LSU, where his former coach, Lane Kifﬁn, accepted a job right after the 2025 regular season. That led Ole Miss to order Kifﬁn out immediately and promote defensive coordinator Pete Golding as Kiffin’s successor heading into the 2025 postseason. But Chambliss wanted the chance to capitalize on what he accomplished at Ole Miss, to honor relationships there and leave a more lasting legacy. “If you know me, you know that I’m a very loyal person. I value relationships a lot,” Chambliss said. “There was just too much at Ole Miss and too many relationships that I couldn’t just throw away.”

NEW YORK — Top-ranked Jannik Sinner withdrew from the U.S. Open on Friday, unable to recover from a right knee injury that has sidelined him since winning the Wimbledon title. Sinner beat Alexander Zverev last month for his second straight title at the All England Club, but then pulled out of the hard-court tournaments in Montreal and Cincinnati that serve as a warmup for the U.S. Open. The 25-year-old Italian wrote in a post on X on Friday that he won’t be ready when the main draw begins on Aug. 30. It will be the ﬁrst time Sinner has missed a Grand Slam tournament since making his major debut at the U.S. Open in 2019.

DeRozan, Nuggets agree on 1-year deal for $3.9M

DENVER — DeMar DeRozan has agreed to sign a one-year contract with the Denver Nuggets worth the veteran minimum of $3.9 million, a person with knowledge of the deal said Friday. It will be DeRozan’s fifth team in his 18th season for a six-time AllStar looking for his first championship. The addition of DeRozan gives the Nuggets a veteran backcourt presence after sending young, versatile wing Peyton Watson to Cleveland as part of a four-team trade. DeRozan, the ninth overall pick by Toronto in 2009, spent his first nine seasons with the Raptors, only to get traded to San Antonio for Kawhi Leonard as his former team won the title in Leonard’s only season in 2018-19.

Mavs buy out Thompson, who intends to join Heat

DALLAS — The Dallas Mavericks and Klay Thompson have agreed on a contract buyout, ending a twoyear tenure that was wrecked by the shocking trade of Luka Doncic. Thompson intends to sign with the Miami Heat once he clears waivers, according to a person familiar with the ﬁve-time All-Star’s plans. Assuming he is not claimed by another club, Thompson may be able to sign with the Heat as early as Sunday. The buyout announcement comes after the Mavericks missed the playoffs in both of Thompson’s seasons, which came after Doncic led Dallas to the NBA Finals in 2024. Thompson joined Dallas in a sign-and-trade with Golden State, giving the Mavericks one of the league’s all-time great 3-point shooters to complement Doncic.

The Advocate ■ theadvocate.com ■ Saturday,August 22, 2026 ■ 3C

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NCAA gets federal win on 5-year eligibility rule BY EDDIE PELLS AP national writer

STAFF PHOTO BY SOPHIA GERMER

Grambling running back Byron Eaton runs past Southern defensive end Ckelby Givens during the first half of the Bayou Classic on Nov. 29 at Caesars Superdome.

Southern DE Givens’ eligibility gets new twist BY TOYLOY BROWN III

Staff writer

Two days after Ckelby Givens’ first official practice as a player, the Southern defensive star’s football future is no longer certain. On Friday, the NCAA’s request to stay the class-wide preliminary injunction in the Colorado case, Wisne v. NCAA, was granted by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit. This order temporarily pauses the preliminary injunction that a U.S. District Court judge in Colorado granted, allowing college athletes from the 2022 high school graduating class who exhausted their fourth seasons of eligibility to compete in a fifth college season in 2026-27. The stay isn’t a final ruling that completely shuts down the hopes of thousands of athletes such as Givens, who are attempting to play. But it puts the 6-foot-2, 245-pound defensive end in a position where he is currently prevented from competing in the Jaguars’ season opener against Alabama State at

2 p.m. Aug. 29 in Birmingham, Alabama. Not all prospective fifth-year players are relying on the nationwide injunction in Colorado. Others are protected by injunctions granted in lawsuits they are specifically named in. Givens isn’t publicly named in a separate lawsuit, which makes him reliant on the class-wide preliminary injunction in Colorado. Givens, who played all four years at Southern, ofﬁcially rejoined coach Marshall Faulk’s team in practice on Wednesday after announcing his return Monday. The Shreveport native went through what Southern defensive line coach Kyle Kramer called an acclimation process to prove he still deserves a roster spot. After Givens went undrafted in the 2026 NFL Draft and was invited to Buffalo Bills’ training camp, he returned to Baton Rouge to serve in a graduate assistant role, primarily working with the defensive line. While the Southern staff was

COACHING

Continued from page 1C Reading between the lines of Kiffin’s statements in camp, it appears the defense is ahead of the offense. But there was a rally by Weis’ unit, Kiffin said, after some struggles early in last Saturday’s scrimmage. Leavitt, who couldn’t push off of his surgically repaired foot with full force in the spring, is starting to make some “adult throws” that show off his arm strength, Kiffin said. The process of rebuilding the LSU offense has been as efficient as the inefficiencies of a rehabbing quarterback, completely revamped receiving corps and slightly reworked offensive line have allowed. But the continuity of the coaching staff has helped. “There’s still work to be done in terms of establishing the depth chart … and that moves throughout the season, too, as players step up and make plays,” Weis said. “But in terms of the scheme and kind of knowing who we’re gonna be, I do feel pleased in where we’re at.” It’s not hard for Kiffin and Weis to be on the same page. They go back to 2015 when Kiffin was the offensive coordinator at Alabama and Weis, formerly a manager at Kansas under his dad, joined the Crimson Tide as an offensive analyst. They’ve periodically parted ways, Weis joining Steve Sarkisian with the Atlanta Falcons in 2017 before he rejoined Kiffin at Florida Atlantic as offensive coordinator. Weis didn’t tag along initially when Kiffin went to Ole Miss, spending a couple of seasons at South Florida before he landed in Oxford in 2022. “His wife holds that against me at times,” Kiffin joked Thursday. Kiffin made things a bit stressful when he left Ole Miss before the

STAFF PHOTO BY MICHAEL JOHNSON

LSU offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. watches a drill on Friday at the team’s practice facility.

reintegrating Givens into the upcoming season’s plans, defensive coordinator Todd Lyght said last week that the Jaguars are ready to play with or without him. “Either if he plays or if he just remains a coach, he’s going to make a positive impact on our team,” Lyght said on Aug. 11. “So to have him either as a player or as a coach is going to be great, and we’re excited to have him. He’s doing great in the GA role. If we can get him on the ﬁeld, that’ll be wonderful. But if not, we’ll make it happen, and we’ll win without him.” Givens has been a dominant force in the Southwestern Athletic Conference for the previous three years. In 2024, he was named HBCU Defensive Player of the Year, SWAC co-Defensive Player of the Year, a second-team FCS All-American and a Buck Buchanan Award finalist after leading the FCS with 271/2 tackles for loss and ﬁnishing third with 12 sacks. Despite Southern’s struggles in 2025, he again led the SWAC with 181/ 2 tackles for loss and 91/ 2 sacks.

Building chemistry with a remade roster takes time, though. Especially with the LSU quarterbacks, who are on a headset with Weis and Kiffin before every play. That’s where Leavitt’s experience as a two-year starter at Arizona State has helped. “He likes to be very involved,” Weis said. “It’s really fun being in the quarterback room when you’ve got a really veteran, experienced guy that understands football at a really high level and you can kind of bounce things off of each other.” In turn, Leavitt has been finding a connection with his top target, Trey’Dez Green. “He’ll just go all day if you let him,” Weis said of the 6-foot-7 tight end’s work ethic. “What’s cool, too, is how much he can handle mentally putting on his plate, which allows us the ability to put him in a lot of different positions and do some really cool things with him.” The other particulars of the offense are a bit opaque heading into a Sept. 5 opener against Clemson. Weis likes the depth of the LSU receivers, but he’s still waiting to “iron out” who will be their top contributors. Jordan Seaton afforded the offensive line a pillar at left tackle, but left guard Bo Bordelon and right tackle Weston Davis aren’t especially proven and Kiffin has expressed concerns about the depth behind the top five. This season will reveal where the Tigers stand, and Weis is ready for it. And he’s definitely ready to match wits against somebody other than the LSU defensive coordinator. “I’m about ready to start working on somebody else other than coach Baker,” Weis said, “because we’ve been going at it, it feels like, for 50 practices.”

College Football Playoff and Weis contemplated staying or leaving. Weis was too focused on the here and now Friday to reminisce on a tumultuous season that probably aged him 10 years. This season’s task could age him as well. The LSU offense was dreadful last season, ranking in the bottom third of college football at just under 23 points per game. Expectations for this season far exceed that because Ole Miss averaged 36 points per contest in Weis’ four years alongside Kifﬁn in Oxford. Those years also included Smith, McDonald and Cox, as well as quarterbacks coach Dane Stevens, who helped mold the likes of Jaxson Dart and Trinidad Chambliss. “I can trust them to get it done the right way,” Weis said. “Very, very fortunate to have the staff that we Email Jon Blau at have.” jon.blau@theadvocate.com

DENVER — The NCAA notched an important win in federal court Friday over its much-disputed five-year eligibility rule, though it fell short of shutting down the last-minute shuffling threatening to upend college sports rosters with football season fast approaching. A 2-1 decision by a panel of the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals halted, for now, a judge’s order that would have granted thousands of athletes an extra season of eligibility. But it did nothing to resolve dozens of other lawsuits and court orders piling up across the country that allow players in the same situation to join teams for the upcoming season. Virtually all these lawsuits involve players who graduated from high school in 2022, whose college eligibility ended last season and who were not included in the NCAA’s controversial new rule — less than 2 months old — that grants most Division I athletes five years of eligibility over five years but doesn’t take effect until next season. “There’s a reason we saw so many state-court lawsuits filed” after the now-paused federal court ruling that came down July 31, said Sam Ehrlich, a former lawyer who now works at Boise State and operates the College Sports Litigation Tracker. “It was a ‘just in case.’ They did it just in case what we just saw happen actually happened.” Among the many athletes watching this unfold and wondering where it winds up are defensive linemen Kellan Wyatt and Stephan Daley, both members of the national championship team at Indiana last season who decided to return after the lower-court decision. So are former Ole Miss starters Dae’Quan Wright, Zxavian Harris and Wydett Williams, who won a ruling from a Louisiana state court giving them another season of eligibility even though they had signed with NFL teams

this summer. While some players hope to land back at their schools, whatever the impact on the rosters, how that works isn’t at all clear in many cases. The judge in the case involving the Ole Miss players, for example, gave them a week to enter the transfer portal, which for football players is only open in January. In appealing the state court cases, the NCAA is expected to invoke parts of Friday’s ruling, which agreed with NCAA arguments that it was likely to win the case when it’s heard in full — probably several months from now — and that the NCAA would suffer more harm than the players if the court didn’t pause the order. The NCAA can also take heart in an Ohio appeals court that paused a similar injunction involving Xavier basketball player Filip Borovicanin and others. But other than those two cases, Ehrlich said, judges across the country “are unanimous that the NCAA is in the wrong” on the five-year eligibility issue when it comes to the Class of 2022. Plaintiffs’ attorney Rob Shelquist issued a statement calling the appeals court ruling procedural and “not a decision on the merits of the athletes’ antitrust claims.” “We are exploring every available option given the split in the panel’s ruling and remain committed to fighting for these college athletes whose opportunities and eligibility have been unfairly restricted,” he said. The NCAA’s chief legal officer, Scott Bearby, sent a memo to schools telling them they would not be subject to NCAA punishment for allowing any player to compete between the time the July 31 ruling came down and Friday. But he reiterated that those players are no longer eligible. Bearby also acknowledged that the NCAA would continue to defend lawsuits around the country — a signal that the NCAA knows Friday’s ruling offers no guarantees of an end to the roster chaos.

Notre Dame defensive lineman Junior Tuihalamaka celebrates after a sack against Georgia on Jan. 2, 2025, at the Caesars Superdome. AP FILE PHOTO BY MATTHEW HINTON

LSU

Continued from page 1C against the NCAA. Four ex-LSU athletes were among the plaintiffs, including defensive end Jack Pyburn, who is currently on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers roster as an undrafted free agent. Unlike Pyburn, Tuihalamaka wasn’t rostered by an NFL team, though the judge’s order said an athlete can return to the college ranks if his contract was terminated and he paid back whatever he earned as a pro. The judge’s ruling also demanded the NCAA allow the plaintiffs access to the transfer portal, which closed for football players on Jan. 16. It also nullified NCAA penalties against programs signing “ghost transfers” who hadn’t entered the portal previously. LSU coach Lane Kiffin declined Thursday to discuss the newly eligible seniors from the Louisiana lawsuit, which also includes three players who started for Kiffin at Ole Miss in 2025. But he did hint that a move could be coming when he answered another question about the Tigers’ depth along the offensive line. “Normally we’d say our team is our team, and so it’s what we got. But I guess that potentially changed yesterday,” Kifﬁn said with a laugh. LSU had an obvious need at defensive end. Aside from transfers Princewill Umanmielen (Ole Miss) and Jordan Ross (Tennessee), the Tigers are looking at a ﬁve-star recruit, Lamar Brown, to potentially play meaningful

snaps as a freshman. The defensive end rotation became shallower when Gabriel Reliford tore his ACL in the spring; the Tigers also have been without redshirt freshman Damien Shanklin, though Kiffin has not explained why he’s been absent from preseason camp. Tu i h a l a m a k a w o u l d a d d depth, but it remains unclear how everything will work out in court. A federal, class-wide restraining order for Class of 2022 athletes out of Colorado was just stayed Friday by an appeals court. That means fifth-year athletes who used up their four seasons are no longer eligible — unless a state court, like in Louisiana, granted them a restraining order. But the restraining order in Louisiana is temporary, and an Aug. 31 hearing in Baton Rouge will allow the NCAA to argue its side and bring up the stay granted in the Colorado case. During basketball season, Alabama was able to make former G League center Charles Bediako eligible via a court ruling, but that held up for only five games before he was deemed ineligible again. Kiffin was asked Thursday how much clarity he needed on an athlete’s eligibility to add them to the roster. “There’s a lot into that and the questions that come from that,” Kiffin said. “Fair question, but I’m not going to comment on any of it because there’s just too many directions of questions I can go to.” A day later, Kiffin made a move. Notre Dame didn’t bring back Tuihalamaka because head coach Marcus Freeman doesn’t think it makes sense to add athletes this late.

4C ■ Saturday, August 22, 2026 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

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TRACK AND FIELD

Pole vault champ Mondo can sing?

Duplantis releases ‘Gold’ as anthem for upcoming Ultimate Championship

By The Associated Press

STAFF FILE PHOTO BY MICHAEL JOHNSON

Catholic running back Jayden Miles breaks free for a touchdown against Alexandria during a playoff game on Nov. 28 at Memorial Stadium. Miles, a Florida State commitment, had a 64-yard TD run in a scrimmage against Southside on Thursday.

New QB Estep highlights explosive Catholic offense Three takeaways from Bears’ scrimmage against Southside

BY JACKSON REYES

Staff writer

Catholic High showed off a new starting quarterback and its potential to be a state title contender for the ﬁrst time this season. The Bears faced Southside in a scrimmage at Dale Weiner Field on Thursday night and scored early and often. The scrimmage featured one half where the ﬁrst-stringers played eight downs twice and a second half where the two teams played one live quarter. Here are three takeaways from the scrimmage.

Estep takes over for Bears The Bears broke in new starting quarterback Camden Estep, and the 6-foot-3, 180-pound junior showed his quickness and throwing ability. Estep went 4 for 9 for 156 yards with two touchdowns. He was able to maneuver in the pocket and showed touch on his throws. He found several open wide receivers, but a few dropped passes hurt his completion percentage. Estep also scrambled for two ﬁrst downs, showing his ability to run.

“Great operation by him tonight,” coach Hudson Fuller said. “He saw the ﬁeld well and was able to make the decisions that he needed to, and he managed the (scrimmage) well.” Estep’s teammates have liked what they’ve seen from their new quarterback. “He’s really impressed me,” tight end Jude Chamberlain said. “That was the big question from the end of last year to now. How’s Camden going to look? He’s a dog.”

Playmakers everywhere Catholic’s offense could be one of the best in the state again with dynamic athletes all around the ﬁeld. During one of the eight-play stretches for Catholic’s offense, the Bears scored four touchdowns in ﬁve plays. Running back Jayden Miles, a fourstar Florida State commitment, broke off a 64-yard touchdown run. The drive reset to the 24-yard line, and Estep found Chamberlain, a three-star Stanford commitment, on a screen pass for a 76-yard touchdown run. Running back Greg Williams and Miles added two more 76-yard TD runs

in the next three plays. During the live quarter, wide receiver Jordan Culotta broke off a 38-yard touchdown on a screen. “I think we could have the best offense ever to come out of Catholic High,” Chamberlain said.

BUDAPEST, Hungary — Swedish pole vaulter Armand “Mondo” Duplantis is singing about his favorite color in a promotion for the ﬁrst Ultimate Championship. The two-time Olympic champion, who starred at LSU, released “Gold” with World Athletics on Friday as the anthem of the upcoming meet that boasts a total prize fund of $10 million. Ultimate Championship will be staged in Budapest from Sept. 11-13 showcasing Olympic, world and Diamond League champions over three evening sessions. Gold medalists in individual events will win $150,000. The 26-year-old Duplantis has dabbled in music for several years and released his first single, “Bop,” in 2025. Duplantis, the world-record holder, said he dreams of winning a Grammy. “Gold” was written by Duplantis with Carl Silvergran and Oscar Chase, and was produced by Chase, the World Athletics announcement said. “I wrote the song around representing something that’s a lot bigger than yourself,” Duplantis said in the announcement. “I think that’s what we all do when we’re on the track. We represent our family, our team, our coaches, and

I love that concept. Music and sports are the two things that bring people together in the best way, and ‘Gold’ is an expression of that.” The accompanying music video was ﬁlmed in the Hungarian capital and includes archival footage of Duplantis as a young athlete. A Lafayette native, Duplantis told the Olympics channel last year he uses his music “as a way of therapy. I really love to have something else to be able to do, and to kind of take myself away from sports a little bit.” At the Ultimate Championship, his new song “will be woven into the broadcast and live-event experience, connecting fans in-stadium with audiences around the world,” World Athletics said. Duplantis is scheduled to perform “Gold” live in-stadium to close out the event. “The Ultimate is purposefully designed to showcase the talents and passions of our sport’s biggest stars, on and off the track,” World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said. “Mondo is one of our most recognizable and accomplished athletes, and we could not be more excited that he is the one who created the Ultimate Anthem.” The championship will be a biennial event.

Defensive line flexes muscle While the team will look to replace several key graduates in the secondary, the defensive line was impressive. Against a Sharks team that usually racks up a lot of yards rushing in their triple-option offense, the Bears stiﬂed Southside throughout the contest. Catholic forced two fumbles early on and another in the live quarter. With Oklahoma State commitment Jayden Vessell and promising defensive tackle Jack Stokes back, the Catholic line could be dominant this season. Fuller said he believes his defense will continue to improve. “A lot of new faces there, but a lot of guys that, once they get some of this season under their belt, we feel really good about what they’re going to be able to do,” Fuller said.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO BY MORGAN HARLOW

Sweden’s Mondo Duplantis, a former LSU star and current world-record holder, bites his gold medal as he celebrates winning the pole vault final at the European Championships on Sunday in Birmingham, England.

Clark making it look easy at BMW Championship Clark has no such con- hind. Open and Maybank ChampiAmerican builds narrow lead; Kansas native Woodland 1 back cerns Rory McIlroy managed onship last year. at No. 5 in the FedEx

By The Associated Press

ST. LOUIS — Wyndham Clark made it through another bogey-free round at Bellerive on Friday, posting a second straight 6-under 64 to build a one-shot lead over Gary Woodland going into the Woodland weekend at the BMW Championship. He might need to brace for another gallery supporting the other guy. Woodland grew up just under four hours away — one of the few times Missouri likes someone from Kansas — and is on the cusp of making it to the Tour Championship all while coping with side effects from his 2023 brain surgery. Woodland birdied his last two holes, belting a 2-iron into the 608-yard 17th hole and stuffing a wedge to 8 feet on the 18th for a 65. Clark, who endured a New York gallery pulling for Scottie Schefﬂer at the U.S. Open, has looked comfortable over 36 holes. His only real stress over a par came on the 10th hole Thursday when he had to make an 18-foot putt. He has no complaints about his game, and the two-time U.S. Open champion is tough when he starts heating up.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOS BY JEFF ROBERSON

Wyndham Clark walks on the 14th fairway during the second round of the BMW Championship on Friday in St. Louis. Clark shot a second straight 64 to take the lead. Clark was at 12-under 128. J.J. Spaun had a 66 on his 36th birthday and was two shots behind. All three of them are already assured of ﬁnishing in the top 30 in the FedEx Cup and advance to the FedEx Cup ﬁnale next week at East Lake in Atlanta. Woodland hasn’t been there in six years, and while he has looked great for two days, there are reminders that keeping his heart rate and energy under control is a constant battle. After ripping his tee shot on the 18th, Woodland sat down. “I’m tired,” he said after his round with a grin. His post-round routine includes sitting in a cool, dark room and trying to reset his brain. Adding to the pressure is trying to move from

No. 31 into East Lake. “My focus right now is one day at a time. I don’t have that luxury to look ahead,” Woodland said. “I’ve got to focus on making sure I take care of myself right now. (Saturday’s) a new day, and hopefully I get some rest tonight and I’ll show up tomorrow and see how it comes.” Those who still have plenty of work ahead of them include Sungjae Im, who had a 64 and was three shots back. Im is at No. 40 as he tries to extend his streak of reaching the Tour Championship every season since he joined the PGA Tour in 2019. Another shot behind at 8-under 132 were Patrick Cantlay (No. 43) with a 65 and Rocket Classic winner Michael Thorbjornsen (No. 41) with a 66.

Cup, a product of winning the U.S. Open and blowing away the field in The CJ Cup Byron Nelson. Plus, he is helped by getting a harsh reminder to stick to golf. Clark agreed to throw out the first pitch at a Detroit Tigers game when he was at the Rocket Classic. He warmed up about 20 minutes before his big moment, started feeling good, and decided to throw a little harder. His pitch was right down the middle. It was the day after that got him. “I woke up the next day and, oh my gosh, my arm was hurting,” he said. Clark went on to miss the cut at the Rocket Classic. But he tied for fifth in the PGA Tour playoffs opener last week at the TPC Southwind, and he’s in prime position at the BMW Championship. He can’t catch Scottie Scheffler at No. 1 — Scheffler already is assured the $23 million bonus for leading the points race going to East Lake — and anyone at the Tour Championship only has to win to capture the FedEx Cup. Scheffler is still battling an illness. He spoke quietly and quickly, though at least he had something to talk about. He recovered from his 72 with a 65, though he actually lost ground on the lead because of Clark. Scheffler was nine shots be-

only two birdies in his round of 69 and was five shots back. This is a big opportunity for Woodland, the 36-hole leader at Bellerive in the 2018 PGA Championship until he couldn’t keep up on the weekend. But his speed and power is still evident and he’s been through enough to handle what’s in front of him. “I feel very comfortable. It’s nice being close to home. It’s nice having so much support out here,” Woodland said. “The fans have been amazing. I’m deﬁnitely feeding off that energy for sure.”

LPGA Tour YAMASHITA OPENS BIG LEAD IN CANADA: In Edmonton, Alberta, Miyu Yamashita opened a ﬁve-stroke lead in the CPKC Women’s Open as players again fought mosquitos on the tree-lined course tucked in a bend in the North Saskatchewan River. A stroke ahead Thursday after an opening 8-under 62, the 4-foot-11 Yamashita shot 64 in the afternoon to get to 14 under at Royal Mayfair. “I’m really happy,” Yamashita said through a translator. “With two rounds to go, I just want to focus on my game and keep playing like this.” The 25-year-old Japanese player won the Meijer LPGA Classic in June after taking the Women’s British

“Rather than focus on the score, I’m thinking about how I can make birdies,” the 2025 LPGA rookie of the year said. American Kiara Romero was tied for second in her ﬁrst event as an LPGA Tour member. She followed an opening 64 with a 67. The 20-year-old Romero is the second player to earn LPGA Tour membership through the LPGA Elite Amateur Pathway, following Lottie Woad last year. “Honestly, I’m just really grateful to be out here,” Romero said. “I just came out here with the mindset to just go out and have fun and just enjoy it and just remember that it’s just golf at the end of the day.” Soo Bin Joo (63) and Yuri Yoshida (66) joined Romero at 9 under. “I like this golf course. I love Canada. It’s so pretty,” Joo said. “All the trees are so pretty and I’m enjoying it, except for the mosquitoes. Gosh, it’s so bad.” Ruoning Yin closed with a double bogey for a 67, leaving her 8 under with Nasa Hataoka (69). Seventeen-year-old Anna Huang was the top Canadian. She was 7 under after a 68. Canadian star Brooke Henderson, the 2018 and 2025 champion, was 5 under after a 68. Top-ranked Nelly Korda shot 70 to remain 3 under.

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The Advocate ■ theadvocate.com ■ Saturday, August 22, 2026 ■ 5C

NFL Tempers flare, fists fly during joint practices BY ROB MAADDI

cause I’m a little troublemaker sometimes, but I was good this week.” Fights are inevitable considering players are going at each other, talking trash, grinding in the hot sun on humid days. It takes plenty of discipline to show restraint. “I love joint practices, being able to play in our defense, in our style against another team,” Arizona Cardinals safety Budda Baker said. “Yeah, the cons are ﬁghting, but at the end of the day, we’re professionals. ... As long as you can play the game at a high level and respect the other team, ﬁghts won’t happen.”

Associated Press

Joint practices are out of control when a guy like Jameis Winston, viewed as being easygoing on the field, is throwing punches and getting decked in the middle of a brawl. Tempers have been flaring around the NFL as many teams are practicing against each other ahead of preseason games. Winston was at the center of a fight between the New York Giants and Miami Dolphins on Thursday. The Dallas Cowboys and the New Orleans Saints were fined $500,000 apiece by the NFL after a brawl-filled joint practice Tuesday. There were several skirmishes between the San Francisco 49ers and Tennessee Titans last week that led to two players from each team being tossed out of practice. “It’s not a game, so you don’t have the same, quite, guardrails on it,” Giants coach John Harbaugh said. “And it’s a violent game. And so, in this sort of an environment, you have these rules of engagement that aren’t really rules of the game. And then somebody perceives somebody else goes over the line, or they do go over the line, and somebody needs to protect somebody, and that’s where it goes. And I think as long as it doesn’t get out of control where we get a violent type of situation, it’s fine. We decided that anybody that threw a punch in those scrimmages would be treated like the game.” The joint sessions have become the preferred way to give starters valuable repetitions in a competitive environment. Most coaches

SANKER

Continued from page 1C Burgess also played some star under Staley in 2020. Burgess’ advice is simple: “Just play free.” “He’s still a kid at heart,” Burgess said. “I remember where I was my second year in the league, still trying to figure things out. With the way he played last year, it’s giving him confidence to go in there and play just as well in the slot and make a lot of plays.” Starting safeties Justin Reid and Julian Blackmon have also, at various stages of their careers, dropped down from safety to fill in as the starting nickel. Calling back on his own experience, Reid said the biggest adjustment is not in coverage but in how fast things happen when you’re closer to the line of scrimmage. “The closer you get to the ball, you have to react more,” Reid said. “You have to see the puller and just go, and you’ve got to just trust it. Because if not, you’re going to get sealed, you’re going to get caught, right? And if you want to make a play, you got to have that quick trigger and just kind of go and let it happen.” Sanker needs to be instinctive and decisive. Burgess compared the position to the quarterback of the defense, not because the star is making the call but because the rest of the back end is keying off the way he’s reacting. That is where these training camp practices and joint practices have been invaluable, and it is why there has not been much cross-training at other positions to this point. Sanker is putting learned experience in the bank, figuring out the best way to align against certain looks — is it better to be 5 yards off the line or 6? And he’s getting a feel for how fast things happen. “Now he can start to solidify how he wants to play, how he’s going to feel best playing,” Staley said. “And so I think that you’re seeing that with him. He’s been able to absorb all this knowledge from different people and then get out here and play his game.” Sanker is a willing and aggressive tackler, and he should be an upgrade over last year’s star, Alontae Taylor, against the run game. He is also going to have different responsibilities in coverage than he did a year ago at safety, but Staley is not concerned about how he is going to handle that aspect of the job. When Staley looks at Sanker, he sees someone with the ideal build (6-foot-1, 211 pounds) and the right set of physical attributes. Staley noted that Sanker’s 10-yard split during the 40-yard dash — an easy way to gauge acceleration — was among the best in his class.

Respect is key

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO BY MARK J. TERRILL

Dallas Cowboys linebacker Demarvion Overshown, left, and outside linebacker Sam Williams, center, fight with New Orleans Saints tight end Moliki Matavao, below, during a joint practice on Tuesday in Oxnard, Calif. defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said. “The way I explain it to the players, every time we do one of these — you have 90 teammates in camp. Now you’ve got 180 teammates. We’re just working against each other. OK, they’re in a different jersey, a different helmet. Fights not OK at joint practices We’re not here to ﬁght. We’re here Coaches have warned their play- to get better as an individual and a ers about ﬁghting, making it clear team, and hopefully we’ll all treat it’s disruptive and counterproduc- it that way.” Philadelphia held two joint sestive. “We don’t tolerate it,” Eagles sions with the New England Paprefer to keep key starters or all their starters, in some cases, out of preseason games so facing opponents within a controlled setting has become a priority for most teams. Overall, 28 of 32 teams are holding joint practices this year.

Though Sanker has long speed, too, the short-area quickness is what matters most while covering receivers in the slot. “I never would have thought this was a good idea if I didn’t think he could cover,” Staley said. “I would never even consider it. I think that he’s an outstanding slot cover player because he has the physical characteristics and then the skill set to be a very good slot defender.” Judging by Staley’s history, it’s probably worth trusting his judgment. He’s typically put the best player in his secondary in this role, and they’ve all had success. When Staley started out with the Rams, that meant Pro Bowler Jalen Ramsey moving from the outside — where teams could avoid him if they wanted — right in the mix near the line of scrimmage. When Staley took the Los Angeles Chargers job, it was safety Derwin James who played the star. Both Ramsey and James earned All-Pro honors under Staley. Last season, Taylor matched his career highs in interceptions (two) and tackles for loss (seven) while adding 11 pass breakups, two sacks and 83 tackles. He turned that into a rich free agent deal with the Tennessee Titans. Staley did not invent the concept of the star — it has its roots in the Cleveland Browns defenses of the 1990s, coached by Bill Belichick and Nick Saban. A lot of his own inspiration came from watching Hall of Famer Charles Woodson during his time with the Green Bay Packers. “When Charles went to Green Bay, (then-Packers defensive coordinator) Dom Capers put him at nickel and he was the Defensive Player of the Year,” Staley said. “He gave you, as a play-caller, way more options and then put way more pressure on the offensive coaches because of what you could do. “He could play man-to-man, he could blitz, he could play zone. If you did play base defense, he could go play corner or safety and start because he was that good of a player.” That, Staley thought, was revolutionary. It informed the way he wanted to call defenses. Now he’s putting a young and relatively untested player in his unit’s most crucial spot. If Staley has faith in him, that’s as good of a sign as any that he can ﬁgure it out — maybe in an evolved way. “What I’ve told him from the jump when we decided to do this in the winter time was the way that you’re going to play this is going to be different than a lot of other people in the league are doing it,” Staley said. “Your body type’s different, your engine’s different. Your skill set’s different, and we’re going to really coach to that, design to that.”

triots this week. There was one minor scufﬂe, prompting Eagles star running back Saquon Barkley to say: “I hate joint practices, to be honest.” “More times than not nothing good comes out of it,” he said. “When you have the work, it’s good, but then you get the pushing, the shoving and someone says this about you and it’s ‘I don’t know about that but you’re this.’ It’s immature when you get to that level. I have to do a better job, too, be-

Baker said teams are supposed to maintain the same etiquette in joint practices as they do against each other. “If the ball is in the air and you see the receiver in a compromising position, and I’m coming downhill on the ball, I’m not going to hit him,” Baker said. “I’m going to let him catch it and tap off. I might talk my little (trash) and tell him, ‘You probably wouldn’t have caught that.’ But you’re being a professional. You wouldn’t want to hurt your own teammates so you don’t want to hurt the opposing team in a practice.” Fights occur when players breach that etiquette or hit a quarterback. “You should never get close to the QB,” Baker said. “Quarterbacks are the most important position in football. Losing a quarterback in practice against another team — that’s something where ﬁghts will deﬁnitely happen.”

Raiders’ veteran QBs help Mendoza BY MARK ANDERSON Associated Press

HENDERSON, Nev. — Much has been made of Kirk Cousins’ impact on Raiders rookie quarterback Fernando Mendoza’s development. But there’s another veteran QB in Las Vegas who could have a role in helping Mendoza begin to live up to the expectations that come with being the NFL’s No. 1 overall draft pick. Aidan O’Connell enters his fourth season and provides guidance through words and actions. He led two lengthy fourth-quarter touchdown drives to rally the Raiders to a 22-20 preseason victory at Houston on Thursday. “I think we’ve said all offseason how much we value Aidan, and what a heck of a second half,” coach Klint Kubiak said Friday. “He goes out and leads us to (a) 19-point half and two 90-plus yard drives in the fourth quarter. He did it with his teammates, but he was a big part of it and was very happy for him.” Kubiak said he and the staff were considering keeping all three quarterbacks this season. “Those guys are going to make us make hard decisions, which is a great thing, that competition,” Kubiak said. “We’re talking through it.” Much of the discussion likely also centers around when Men-

SAINTS

AP PHOTO BY DAVID J. PHILLIP

Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Fernando Mendoza is pressured by Houston Texans defensive tackle Kayden McDonald in a preseason game Thursday in Houston.

doza will get the chance to start this season. He played the entire ﬁrst half against the Texans with mixed results. Mendoza threw behind running back Mike Washington only to see an interception go the other way for an 80-yard touchdown. But he also completed six passes in a row during one stretch. By the time he was done, Mendoza had completed eight of 15 passes for 86 yards, his ﬁve drives totaling just three points. He was victimized by two dropped passes from rookie wide receiver Malik Benson, one that would have been a big gain on third down.

done enough to secure a spot, even if the Saints stick with RatContinued from page 1C tler at QB2. The Saints opted not to keep three quarterbacks on cutdown this week of joint practices, with day last year, preferring to have Smyth and Brown each getting roster flexibility elsewhere. But five reps Tuesday and none Thurs- as a franchise, New Orleans has shown it’s plenty comfortable day. “I’m really bringing my best keeping three quarterbacks. every day, stepping up and just focusing on making the next WRs look to step up kick and not worrying too much The Saints’ first snap of Thursabout anything else,” Brown said. day’s practice saw Bryce Lance, “That’s really it.” Kevin Austin and Barion Brown line up at wide receiver. Wilson’s surge New Orleans could end up needSaints coach Kellen Moore de- ing all three in 2026. Chris Olave, Jordyn Tyson clined to state whether Wilson or Spencer Rattler would start Satur- (when healthy) and Devaughn day’s contest. But there was a no- Vele are clearly the top receivtable shift in Thursday’s practice, ers, but injuries and rest days when Wilson was the first quarter- have pushed the other three into back up after Tyler Shough. The expanded roles. Like running back, the wide swap came days after Wilson outperformed Rattler against the Jag- receiver room faces a fascinating numbers crunch. If Tyson uars. Will Wilson become Shough’s (hamstring) opens the season on primary backup? That depends injured reserve, that may help on how the rest of the preseason Austin’s chances of making the goes. But the more interesting roster. But can any of the other question might be whether the wideouts — such as Bub Means former second overall pick has or Ronnie Bell — make enough of

Kubiak praised Mendoza’s work in the meeting room Wednesday night and said much of it translated to the game. “I was pleased with watching the tape,” Kubiak said. “I really like what he did on third down. We were only 1 of 5 on third down in the first half. However, we did drop the ball twice, and we threw one short of the sticks on thirdand-long. He had really good ball placement on the first third down of the game with a guy in his face. So, in the critical downs, I thought he was playing his best. “There are things that we must get corrected that will be addressed ASAP.” As Kubiak indicated, there were issues at wide receiver. Benson had appeared to calm some nerves about the position with his excellent play in training camp, but Kubiak clearly had a hard time overlooking those two drops. One of the main questions this preseason is what the Raiders will do without a true No. 1 receiver. Tight end Brock Bowers, who has had a tremendous camp, will likely get most of the targets. “I learned a lot in that we have to get a lot better very fast, that we took a step backward,” Kubiak said of the receivers. “Doesn’t mean we can’t go forward. But right now, we are trying to find someone that is accountable and can help us on Sunday. Still looking.”

an impression in the last two preseason games to cause a change on the depth chart?

Rookie DBs T.J. Hall picked off Rams quarterback Ty Simpson in Thursday’s practice, which quietly provided a reminder that the Saints drafted two young cornerbacks in April. Have they been lost in the shuffle? Much has been made about Jayden Price’s potential path to locking down a roster spot. Martin Emerson, who signed in free agency, looks like a great fit in Brandon Staley’s defense. KoolAid McKinstry has taken a leadership role in the secondary. But fifth-rounder Lorenzo Styles — who has played inside cornerback and special teams on the second and third units — and Hall haven’t been talked about nearly as much. Is that because they’re flying under the radar? Or because they haven’t done enough to be noticed? The last two games should answer that. Email Matthew Paras at matt.paras@theadvocate.com

6C ■ Saturday, August 22, 2026 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

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SCOREBOARD Odds

Saturday’s Games

Sports Betting Line NFL Saturday

FAVORITE OPEN at DETROIT 1½ at MIN 2½ at CLE 1½ at IND 2½ NY Giants 1½ New Orleans 1½ Chicago 3 Philadelphia 1½ at TAMPA BAY 3 at ARIZONA 1½

TODAY O/U UNDERDOG 1½ (36½) Wash 3½ (36½) Baltimore 3 (36½) Buffalo 3½ (36½) Atlanta 3½ (36½) at MIAMI 2½ (37½) at RAMS 1½ (36½) at CIN 1½ (36½) at NE 5½ (37½) Knsas City 1½ (37½) Dallas

FAVORITE OPEN at TENNESSEE 3

TODAY O/U UNDERDOG 4½ (37½) Seattle

Sunday

MLB

Saturday

American League FAVORITE LINE at N.Y YANKEES OFF at TEXAS -142 at BALTIMORE OFF at HOUSTON -184 Detroit -115 National League FAVORITE LINE at MILWAUKEE OFF at MIAMI OFF at PHILA OFF at LA DODGERS -234 at ARIZONA OFF Interleague FAVORITE LINE at WHITE SOX OFF Chicago Cubs -109 at BOSTON OFF at COLORADO OFF at SAN DIEGO OFF

UNDERDOG LINE Toronto OFF LA Angels +125 Tampa Bay OFF Athletics +161 at KANSAS CITY +101 UNDERDOG Atlanta Washington St. Louis Pittsburgh Cincinnati

LINE OFF OFF OFF +202 OFF

UNDERDOG N.Y Mets at SEATTLE San Francisco Cleveland Minnesota

LINE OFF -105 OFF OFF OFF

Pro basketball WNBA Glance EASTERN CONFERENCE Indiana Atlanta Washington New York Chicago Toronto Connecticut

W 24 23 21 22 14 10 9

L 13 13 14 15 22 25 26

Pct .649 .639 .600 .595 .389 .286 .257

x-Minnesota x-Golden State x-Las Vegas Dallas Portland Phoenix Los Angeles Seattle

W 30 25 25 21 15 13 12 7

L 7 10 13 16 20 23 24 30

Pct GB .811 — .714 4 .658 5½ .568 9 .429 14 .361 16½ .333 17½ .189 23

WESTERN CONFERENCE

x-clinched playoff spot Thursday’s Games

GB — ½ 2 2 9½ 13 14

Dallas 91, Indiana 85 Las Vegas 101, Connecticut 78 Atlanta 124, Los Angeles 88

Friday’s Games

Minnesota 94, Washington 84 Chicago 73, Golden State 70 Portland at Toronto, n

Saturday’s Games

Indiana at New York, 6 p.m. Connecticut at Los Angeles, 8 p.m. Atlanta at Phoenix, 9 p.m.

Pro football NFL Glance Thursday’s Games

Las Vegas 22, Houston 20 San Francisco 41, L.A. Chargers 17

Friday’s Games

N.Y. Jets 17, Pittsburgh 0 Carolina 34, Jacksonville 17 Green Bay at Denver, n

B. Rechstnr 89 V. Broughton 91 D. Godchaux 92 N. Shepherd 93 C. Jordan 94 J. Ridgeway 95 C. Grandrsn 96 K. Boyd 97 T. Wilson 98 C. Young 99

Washington at Detroit, 11 a.m. Atlanta at Indianapolis, noon Baltimore at Minnesota, noon Buffalo at Cleveland, noon N.Y. Giants at Miami, 3 p.m. New Orleans at L.A. Rams, 3 p.m. Chicago at Cincinnati, 6 p.m. Philadelphia at New England, 6 p.m. Kansas City at Tampa Bay, 6:30 p.m. Dallas at Arizona, 9 p.m. Seattle at Tennessee, 7 p.m.

Ht. 6-2 5-11 6-0 5-10 6-2 6-0 6-5 6-1 6-1 6-0 6-0 6-3 6-5 6-2 6-3 6-3 5-11 6-3 6-1 6-2 6-0 5-11 6-2 5-11 6-1 6-3 5-11 5-11 6-0 5-11 6-0 6-0 6-0 6-1 5-11 6-4 6-4 5-10 6-2 6-1 6-1 6-1 6-0 6-2 6-3 6-4 6-3 6-2 6-2 6-2 6-4 6-6 6-2 6-1 6-4 6-3 6-3 6-5 6-4 6-4 6-5 6-7 6-3 6-5 6-4 6-6 6-7 6-6 6-6 6-4 6-7 6-6 6-2 6-4 6-4 6-5 6-0 6-5 6-4 6-4

225 311 330 315 287 321 261 320 263 265

24 25 31 32 37 27 29 26 26 27

Player M. Tipton

No. Pos. 15 WR

Ht. 5-11

Wt. 187

Age 25

Player B. Bresee D. Radunz

No. Pos. 90 DL 77 OL

Ht. 6-5 6-6

Wt. 305 301

Age 24 28

Player N. Saldiveri

No. Pos. 64 OL

Ht. 6-6

Wt. 316

Age 26

Reserve/Injured

Saints preseason roster Pos. WR CB QB RB QB RB QB S WR WR WR QB WR WR P WR WR/RS LB S CB S RB CB S CB LB CB RB DB RB CB S S CB CB K EDGE RB CB RB LB LB K LB LS C/G DL LB EDGE LB EDGE DL LB EDGE DL DL EDGE G G DL G T T T OL T T/G T G C/G T TE WR TE TE TE WR TE TE TE

6-2 6-5 6-3 6-4 6-4 6-5 6-5 6-2 6-5 6-5

Wt. 203 199 211 215 214 220 219 211 190 192 187 215 210 215 245 204 177 242 207 201 202 213 193 202 188 233 195 227 209 205 189 190 194 200 185 210 257 215 200 230 215 222 177 240 255 316 321 240 255 238 252 278 244 222 293 299 268 331 300 287 312 310 308 315 307 307 320 324 308 303 310 263 200 240 245 257 172 271 249 245

Age 22 23 25 27 27 24 26 23 25 26 26 25 28 25 26 24 22 27 29 25 27 23 25 27 30 23 25 22 26 28 22 24 23 23 26 25 24 31 24 22 26 31 26 26 33 27 22 24 29 31 N/A 26 27 26 N/A 25 23 24 27 23 24 27 23 22 25 24 25 24 29 28 24 23 26 25 29 27 25 22 28 23

Reserve/PUP

Tampa Bay New York Boston Toronto Baltimore

GB — 3 7 14 14½

Chicago Minnesota Cleveland Detroit Kansas City

W 67 63 62 61 56

L 61 65 66 67 74

Pct .523 .492 .484 .477 .431

GB — 4 5 6 12

Houston Texas Seattle Los Angeles Athletics

W 64 63 60 51 49

L 64 65 68 77 79

Pct .500 .492 .469 .398 .383

GB — 1 4 13 15

Cleveland 5, San Francisco 2 Toronto 5, Tampa Bay 1 Atlanta 2, Chicago White Sox 0 Kansas City 6, Athletics 2 Milwaukee 7, Seattle 4 N.Y. Yankees 6, Baltimore 1 Texas 2, Washington 0 L.A. Angels 18, Houston 3

Friday’s Games

L 49 54 64 66 67

Pct .620 .578 .508 .488 .477

GB — 5½ 14½ 17 18½

Pct .602 .531 .523 .406 .394

GB — 9 10 25 26½

W 77 68 67 52 50

L 51 60 61 76 77

National League L 54 58

Pct .581 .550

GB — 4

69-68—137 66-72—138 71-67—138 66-72—138 69-69—138 70-69—139 67-72—139 68-71—139 71-69—140 71-69—140 72-68—140 72-68—140 71-69—140 70-70—140 68-73—141 72-69—141 69-72—141 73-68—141 73-69—142 69-74—143 71-72—143 73-71—144

Western & Southern Open Results

Atlanta (Elder 8-7) at Milwaukee (Henderson 7-2), 1:10 p.m. Washington (Irvin 2-7) at Miami (Pérez 6-9), 3:10 p.m. St. Louis (Pallante 12-6) at Philadelphia (Painter 2-8), 5:05 p.m. N.Y. Mets (Scott 4-3) at Chicago White Sox (Castillo 4-9), 6:10 p.m. Chicago Cubs (Peterson 7-7) at Seattle (Anderson 0-0), 6:15 p.m. Pittsburgh (Jones 2-5) at L.A. Dodgers (Skubal 7-7), 6:15 p.m. San Francisco (Tidwell 0-0) at Boston (Sandoval 1-2), 6:15 p.m. Cincinnati (Lowder 4-8) at Arizona (Soroka 8-3), 7:10 p.m. Cleveland (Bibee 4-13) at Colorado (Hughes 0-4), 7:10 p.m. Minnesota (Kremer 2-4) at San Diego (Mize 5-7), 7:40 p.m.

Men’s Singles

Friday

Saturday’s Games

At Bellerive Country Club Saint Louis, Mo. Purse: $20 million Yardage: 7,448; Par: 70 Second Round Wyndham Clark 64-64—128 Gary Woodland 64-65—129 J.J. Spaun 64-66—130 Chris Gotterup 64-67—131 Sungjae Im 67-64—131 Patrick Cantlay 67-65—132 Michael Thorbjornsen 66-66—132 Russell Henley 67-66—133 Rory McIlroy 64-69—133 Maverick McNealy 67-66—133 Collin Morikawa 68-65—133 Michael Brennan 69-65—134 Viktor Hovland 71-63—134 Kristoffer Reitan 67-67—134 Justin Thomas 67-67—134 Akshay Bhatia 67-68—135 Eric Cole 67-68—135 Ryo Hisatsune 65-70—135 Ryan Gerard 70-66—136 Justin Rose 69-67—136 Xander Schauffele 70-66—136 Adam Scott 68-68—136 Cameron Young 71-65—136 Ludvig Åberg 66-70—136 Matt Fitzpatrick 65-72—137 Robert MacIntyre 68-69—137 Matthew McCarty 70-67—137 Scottie Schefﬂer 72-65—137

-3 -2 -2 -2 -2 -1 -1 -1 E E E E E E +1 +1 +1 +1 +2 +3 +3 +4

Tennis

BMW Championship

Toronto (Cease 7-5) at N.Y. Yankees (Weathers 5-7), 12:35 p.m. L.A. Angels (Johnson 2-7) at Texas (Bradford 0-1), 6:05 p.m. Tampa Bay (McClanahan 9-6) at Baltimore (Young 9-3), 6:05 p.m. Athletics (Lopez 5-4) at Houston (Brown 3-3), 6:10 p.m. N.Y. Mets (Scott 4-3) at Chicago White Sox (Castillo 4-9), 6:10 p.m. Chicago Cubs (Peterson 7-7) at Seattle (Anderson 0-0), 6:15 p.m. Detroit (Anderson 4-4) at Kansas City (Wacha 6-8), 6:15 p.m. San Francisco (Tidwell 0-0) at Boston (Sandoval 1-2), 6:15 p.m. Cleveland (Bibee 4-13) at Colorado (Hughes 0-4), 7:10 p.m. Minnesota (Kremer 2-4) at San Diego (Mize 5-7), 7:40 p.m.

Alex Smalley Jacob Bridgeman Sam Burns Alex Fitzpatrick Tommy Fleetwood Si Woo Kim Jake Knapp Aaron Rai Rickie Fowler Ryan Fox Kurt Kitayama Hideki Matsuyama Alex Noren J.T. Poston Ben Grifﬁn Tom Kim Min Woo Lee Sepp Straka Bud Cauley Nicolas Echavarria Sahith Theegala Nicolai Højgaard

Milwaukee 2, Atlanta 1 Philadelphia 7, St. Louis 6 Boston 6, San Francisco 4 Chicago White Sox 6, N.Y. Mets 4 Miami 3, Washington 2 Cleveland at Colorado, n Cincinnati at Arizona, n Minnesota at San Diego, n Chicago Cubs at Seattle, n Pittsburgh at L.A. Dodgers, n

At Lindner Family Tennis Center Cincinnati Purse: $9,415,725 Surface: Hardcourt outdoor Results Friday from Western & Southern Open at Lindner Family Tennis Center (seedings in parentheses): Quarterﬁnals Brandon Nakashima (27), United States, def. Taylor Fritz (6), United States, 7-6 (9), 4-6, 6-3.

Women’s Singles

Quarterﬁnals Sara Bejlek, Czechia, def. Madison Keys (20), United States, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5).

Men’s Doubles

Quarterﬁnals Marcel Granollers, Spain, and Horacio Zeballos (2), Argentina, def. Tomas Martin Etcheverry, Argentina, and Luciano Darderi, Italy, 6-3, 7-6 (8). Robin Haase, Netherlands, and Constantin Frantzen, Germany, def. Albano Olivetti and Theo Arribage, France, 7-6 (1), 7-6 (3). Rafael Matos and Orlando Luz, Brazil, def. Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori (4), Italy, 7-6 (7), 6-3. Edouard Roger-Vasselin, France, and Hugo Nys, Monaco, def. Fabien Reboul and Sadio Doumbia, France, 4-6, 7-6 (5), 11-9.

Women’s Doubles

Friday

Saturday’s Games

W 75 71

W 80 74 66 63 61

Golf

N.Y. Yankees 3, Toronto 1 Boston 6, San Francisco 4 Baltimore 5, Tampa Bay 3 Chicago White Sox 6, N.Y. Mets 4 Athletics at Houston, n Kansas City 5, Detroit 2 L.A. Angels at Texas, n Cleveland at Colorado, n Minnesota at San Diego, n Chicago Cubs at Seattle, n

Atlanta Philadelphia

Milwaukee Chicago St. Louis Pittsburgh Cincinnati

Friday’s Games

Pct .594 .570 .539 .485 .481

East Division

10 14½ 17

St. Louis 10, Cincinnati 9 Cleveland 5, San Francisco 2 Atlanta 2, Chicago White Sox 0 Milwaukee 7, Seattle 4 Texas 2, Washington 0

L 52 55 59 67 67

Thursday’s Games

.504 .469 .450

Thursday’s Games

W 76 73 69 63 62

West Division

64 69 71

Los Angeles San Diego Arizona San Francisco Colorado

American League

Central Division

65 61 58

West Division

Major League Baseball East Division

Miami Washington New York

Central Division

Active/Physically Unable to Perform

Sunday’s Games

Player No. J. Tyson 0 K. McKinstry 1 S. Rattler 2 T. Etienne 3 Z. Wilson 4 K. Miller 5 T. Shough 6 J. Sanker 7 T. Palmer 10 R. Bell 11 C. Olave 12 H. Dekkers 13 D. Vele 14 B. Means 16 R. Wright 17 B. Lance 18 B. Brown 19 P. Werner 20 J. Reid 21 M. Emerson 22 J. Blackmon 23 D. Neal 24 R. Wright 25 T. Burgess 26 I. Yiadom 27 D. Stutsman 28 Q. Riley 29 A. Estimé 30 J. Howden 31 T. Chandler 32 TJ Hall 34 E. Davison 35 L. Styles 36 D. Beanum 37 J. Price 38 C. Smyth 39 F. Diggs 40 A. Kamara 41 M. Reid 42 CJ Donaldson 43 I. Stalbird 44 D. Jones 45 T. Brown 46 J. Sirmon 47 Z. Wood 49 C. Ruiz 51 C. Miller 52 J. Ford 53 A. Jennings 54 K. Elliss 55 M. Williams 56 M. Cole 57 C. Rumph 58 G. Nelson 59 B. Taylor 60 J. Suggs 62 M. Heldman 63 J. Wright 65 W. Sherman 66 K. Saunders 67 T. Simpkins 68 B. Wesley 69 A. Herron 70 K. Banks 71 A. Richards 72 E. Kilty 73 X. Truss 74 T. Fuaga 75 D. Edwards 76 E. McCoy 78 A. Wllschlgr 79 M. Matavao 80 K. Austin 81 T. Welch 82 J. Johnson 83 Z. Mtchll-Pdn 84 J. Mrn-Crppr 85 C. Hardy 86 N. Fant 87 O. Delp 88

WR DL DL DL EDGE DL EDGE DL EDGE EDGE

-12 -11 -10 -9 -9 -8 -8 -7 -7 -7 -7 -6 -6 -6 -6 -5 -5 -5 -4 -4 -4 -4 -4 -4 -3 -3 -3 -3

Semiﬁnals Alexandra Panova, Russia, and Magali Kempen, Belgium, def. Hsieh Su-wei, Taiwan, and Jelena Ostapenko (5), Latvia, 6-3, 7-5. Marie Bouzkova and Linda Noskova, Czechia, def. Caty McNally and Iva Jovic, United States, 6-3, 6-2.

Transactions Major League Baseball

American League ATHLETICS — Transferred 1B Nick Kurtz to the 60-day IL. Placed SS Jacob Wilson on the 10-day IL. Selected the contract of 2B Michael Stefanic from Las Vegas (PCL). Recalled RHP Kade Morris from Las Vegas. Optioned RHP Taylor Rashi to Las Vegas. Claimed OF Johnathan Rodríguez off waivers from Pittsburgh. BALTIMORE ORIOLES — Designated RHP Albert Suárez for assignment. Recalled RHP Anthony Nunez from Norfolk (IL). HOUSTON ASTROS — Optioned LHP Bryan King to Sugar Land (PCL). Recalled RHP KaiWei Teng from Sugar Land. KANSAS CITY ROYALS — Placed 3B Maikel Garcia on the 10-day IL. Sent RHP Beck Way on a rehab assignment to Omaha (IL). Recalled RHP Jose Cuas and OF Matthew Lugo from Omaha. Optioned RHP Carlos Duran to Omaha. NEW YORK YANKEES — Placed 3B Ryan McMahon on the 10-day IL, retroactive to Aug. 20. Recalled OF Max Schuemann from Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (IL).

Why you need dental insurance in retirement. Many Americans are fortunate to have dental coverage for their entire working life, through employer-provided benefits. When those benefits end with retirement, paying dental bills out-of-pocket can come as a shock, leading people to put off or even go without care. Simply put — without dental insurance, there may be an important gap in your healthcare coverage.

When you’re comparing plans ...  Look for coverage that helps pay for major services. Some plans may limit the number of procedures — or pay for preventive care only.  Look for coverage with no deductibles. Some plans may require you to pay hundreds out of pocket before benefits are paid.  Shop for coverage with no annual maximum on cash benefits. Some plans have annual maximums of $1,000.

Medicare doesn’t pay for dental care.1

Previous dental work can wear out.

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S at u r d ay, au g u S t 22, 2026

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Terry Robinson FAITH MATTERS

New senior pastor not new to Camphor United Much has changed for Tiffanie Postell since she last served at Camphor United Methodist Church in Baton Rouge. For one, Postell, 45, is now fully ordained. “It feels good, but it feels different,” said Postell, who left Camphor seven years ago as an associate pastor and recently returned as the new senior pastor. “I’ve been taking time to reintroduce myself to them. When they knew me in 2016 to 2019, I had just entered ministry and was serving as an associate pastor for the first time. I was new to Louisiana. ... They met me in a different way. I wasn’t Postell ordained yet.” She now has years of pastoral leadership, denominational service and personal growth. The United Methodist Church uses an itinerant system, in which bishops assign pastors to serve specific congregations. Postell initially left Camphor for her first senior pastorate at Newman United Methodist Church in Alexandria, where she served for about three years. She then spent the past four years as the senior pastor of Hartzell Mount Zion United Methodist in Slidell prior to her return to Camphor. “We love each other, but it is also an understanding that I’ve been gone and now I’m back. And I want to show them why the conference and the bishop chose to send me back here,” said Postell, a Georgia native who worked as a biologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta before answering her call in ministry. During her first tenure at Camphor, Postell also served as the director of the Wesley Foundation at Southern University, connecting college students to Camphor through worship and community projects. She won’t hold that dual role this time, but she hopes to see that partnership continue between the university and the church at 8742 Scenic Highway. “I built a bridge, and my students were present here at the church,” she said. “I’ve been sent back to strengthen a connection between the church and the school. That’s one of the reasons why they chose me to come back here, but not to do both.” For Postell, ministry begins with relationships. She embraces technology as a tool to engage younger generations while staying committed to relationships with older members. “I’m all about building and connecting across the ages,” she said. “I love to sit with 80and 90-year-olds because I love their stories.” She added, “Wisdom is not defined by age. You can sit with someone who is 5 years old, and they would give a little piece of wisdom if you allow them to.” Connecting with people has seemingly always been one of Postell’s gifts. It was one of the qualities that helped Postell recognize her calling in ministry during her 16 years at the CDC. Her CDC background would become an unexpected ministry years later during the COVID pandemic. She remained connected with former CDC colleagues, and churches and

ä See MATTERS, page 3D

Pianist River Eckert at his home studio in New Orleans on Aug. 3 STAFF PHOTOS BY CHRIS GRANGER

BY KEITH SPERA

Staff writer

Is 16-year-old River Eckert the next great piano player from New Orleans?

iver Eckert will never delete the Instagram message he received as a Willow School eighth grader on Oct. 27, 2023. It read, “Hey River. You sound great. I have a question for your mom and dad.” The sender? Harry Connick Jr. The star of stage and screen had watched online videos of the River Eckert plays on a piano in his home studio in New then-13-year-old A fleur-de-lis necklace Orleans. By 3 years old, Eckert was plinking away at keys. around the neck of pianist Eckert playing New River Eckert Orleans-style piano — As a former piano prodigy himself who’d been tutored by troubled genius think Professor Longhair, James Booker, Fats James Booker, Connick was curious. Who was this new kid and how had he learned Domino, Allen Toussaint, Dr. John, Art Neville, to play like that? etc. — with the ﬂuency and feel of a much older Now 16, River Eckert has burst onto musician. ä See RIVER ECKERT, page 2D

‘THE GREAT FOOD TRUCK RACE’

LSU alum credits degree with family success Stuph’d Beignets and Burgers’ team member Dionne Lewis competes on season 19 of ‘The Great Food Truck Race.’ PROVIDED PHOTO BY JAKE GILES NETTER/ THE FOOD NETWORK

BY JOY HOLDEN Staff writer

LSU got a big shoutout when Dionne Lewis, a contestant on season 19 of the “Great Food Truck Race,” showed off her graduation pictures from LSU. The former Tiger, her mother and father run a stuffed beignet business, Stuph’d Beignets & Burgers, in New Orleans. The Louisiana parents and their daughter are still

in the “Great Food Truck Race” after four episodes. On episode three, “Sweet and Savory: Knoxville Part 1,” which aired on Food Network on Aug. 9, the food trucks stopped at the University of Tennessee, their ﬁrst location of a “three-legged race.” When the food truck teams got their instructions from host Tyler Florence, Lewis threw up

ä See STUPH’D, page 3D

2D ■ Saturday,August 22, 2026 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

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New friend unwittingly gives triggering gift to leave the room when gambling Dear Miss Manners: I received a ads come on during sporting birthday card from a newish events. friend in the neighborThis is not a particularly hood. The card was unsogood friend, so I do not licited, though the giver want to get into my family had previously asked history, but I do see them whether a party I was around the neighborhood throwing had something to and for shared activities do with my birthday, and Judith from time to time. I admitted that it did hapMartin Is there any way to avoid pen to fall on that day. encouraging this friend MISS The card had a few MANNERS to ever give me such a scratch-off lottery tickets gift again? I want to thank in it. My family happens them for thinking of me, but am to have a horrible history with gambling, even involving several not sure how. I don’t want this to become a habit for holidays, etc. gambling-related deaths and Gentle reader: All you have to do other traumas. I have a horror of anything related to gambling and is say “thank you” and discreetly often change the channel or have give the tickets away. If your

friend asks if you won, Miss Manners suggests you say vaguely, “I’m not a gambler, but I appreciate the thought” and leave it at that. Dear Miss Manners: May I ask, has it become acceptable to bring additional, uninvited guests to a casual gathering? We have a pool, and had family in from out of town. Some additional family members (also in from out of town) came for a casual cookout and brought friends of theirs — informing, not asking, the other family members (not the hosts) only one day in advance. As the hostess, I was appalled at the very apparent lack of what I would call good manners and eti-

RIVER ECKERT Continued from page 1D

the New Orleans music scene seemingly out of nowhere. His self-titled debut was one of the best-selling albums during the 2026 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. He earned a standing ovation in the Blues Tent. His high-profile hometown appearances span Mayor Helena Moreno’s inauguration to WWOZ’s Piano Night to White Linen Night. This summer, he traveled to California for the first time to perform at the High Sierra Music Festival and accept its Emerging Artist Award. He also made his first trip abroad for a two-week tour of France. The novelty of his age partly explains River’s rise. But he’s also a legitimately gifted piano player with a natural feel for the nuances of the New Orleans style. “He’s something special,” said Ivan Neville, the Dumpstaphunk keyboardist and scion of a New Orleans music dynasty. “Out of the gate, he’s playing piano like nobody’s business, sounding like Professor Longhair and Dr. John and all those guys, just killin’ it. “And his work ethic is impressive. That will take him a long way.” Neville lobbied to be on the “River Eckert” album. He appears on a song called, fittingly, “Pass That Torch.” “This kid has got some swag to say that, and he’s actively doing it,” Neville said “He’s grabbing that torch. And he’s just getting started.”

Backstage in the womb A bunker-like recording studio dominates the Eckert family’s Carrollton backyard. It’s where River made his ﬁrst album and where he recently started recording his second album a week before his junior year at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts commenced. River’s father, Jake Eckert, is a guitarist and producer who spent years in the Dirty Dozen Brass Band and co-founded the New Orleans Suspects. His mother, Jen Eckert, is a fourth-grade teacher. River, their only child, grew up immersed in New Orleans music. “I was backstage at Dirty Dozen concerts since I was in the womb,” he said. “I was always aware of New Orleans music and what my dad does.” Not that he fully appreciated it. When River was 3 or 4, his father tried to introduce him to the legend Allen Toussaint. River yelled “No!” and ran away. Sitting on the stage steps watching the Dirty Dozen at Tipitina’s one night, he refused to move as Dr. John came up the stairs. He was, in his own words, a “stubborn” little kid. By 3, he was plinking away at an upright piano. Jake showed him how to play the melody of Bill

STAFF PHOTO BY CHRIS GRANGER

Pianist River Eckert, left, and his dad, Jake, work on one of River’s songs in the control room at their home studio in New Orleans. Withers’ “Lean On Me” with one ﬁnger. The Ukrainian woman who gave River classical piano lessons at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School was “very strict” about technique. He remembers being “real scared” of her. Classical music bored him. While practicing Bach, he’d shift into a 12-bar blues: “I’d see my dad onstage playing funk music and be like, ‘I want to get into that.’” In hindsight, River realized his classical foundation “was a very important part in me being able to learn the New Orleans stuff on my own, not needing a lot of help from teachers.”

Cleary gave him ‘Flu’ One teacher who did help — unknowingly — was Jon Cleary, the British-born, Bywater-based pianist and singer who is a proﬁcient practitioner of the New Orleans style. During the COVID shutdown, Cleary livestreamed “One Finger At a Time” piano lessons on Facebook. Jake suggested River, a bored 10-year-old stuck at home, check them out. River absorbed Cleary’s lesson about Huey “Piano” Smith’s New Orleans rhythm and blues classic “Rockin’ Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu.” It rocked his world. “That’s how I got deep into New Orleans piano,” River said. “From Cleary’s lessons. “That put me down the rabbit hole of New Orleans R&B, which progressed into the funk of The Meters and the Neville Brothers. Now I’m stuck in that rabbit hole. I’m happy to be there.” Pianist and composer Michael Pellera taught at Loyola University and NOCCA for a combined 36 years. He first encountered 13-year-old River at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation’s Don “Moose” Jamison Heritage School of Music, an intensive program for gifted young musicians.

“I was astonished that such a young person had such a commanding knowledge of scales and chords,” Pellera said. “After a few weeks of saying, ‘Can anyone other than River answer the question,’ I had him moved to a more advanced class.” Watching River in a piano lab, Pellera recalled, “it was clear that he had a solid technique and a real love of the classic New Orleans style of piano, especially Professor Longhair and James Booker.” Pellera, who also taught Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews and Jon Batiste, continued to work with River during holiday breaks. They’d analyze pop songs such as “Let It Be” and “House of the Rising Sun;” River would transpose them to alternate keys or new chord progressions. After ﬁnishing eighth grade at Willow, he entered NOCCA as a full-time Jazz Department student who could compose, arrange and record his own songs. “From a young age, I would look at my dad and try to picture where I would be when I grew up,” he said. “I could only picture myself doing music. As I got older, I got more into music and found more love for it. And here we are today.”

Consulting with Connick His earliest gigs involved sitting in with his father at Seither’s Seafood in Harahan. Eventually, River took over the gig. Meters bassist George Porter Jr. sometimes showed up at Seither’s and dropped a $100 bill in the tip jar. “He’d make sure I got it, not my dad,” River said, grinning. Porter became one of River’s main mentors. Cyril Neville, an alum of both the Meters and the Neville Brothers, is another one. Jake and River bonded as a father/son duo with Cyril and Cyril’s son, Omari, a drummer and bandleader. Omari and River are bandmates in the New Orleans Legacy Coalition, a group of second-generation musicians.

quette; I would never put a host/ hostess in this position. I hate to say anything, as it is family I am dealing with, and I also don’t want to be rude. However, I feel that if rudeness is to be corrected, it should be pointed out to the offender, albeit politely. Am I overreacting? Gentle reader: The only choice when one is not informed beforehand is to act pleasant, but shocked, when they show up — and to make a small show of laboriously procuring extra plates, towels, food, etc. Miss Manners never wants to shame the uninvited guests — who may have been brought there under false pretenses — but

River was in third grade when he met Trombone Shorty at the House of Blues. Seven years later, he joined Shorty on the bill at Moreno’s inauguration. “Those were both things I would not expect to happen at this age,” River said. “I’ve looked up to Troy since I was very young, so that was a dream come true.” Seeking insight, he had deep conversations with acclaimed pianists Josh Paxton and Tom McDermott. And Harry Connick Jr. Four days after he reached out via Instagram, Connick visited the Eckerts’ home studio on Halloween afternoon in 2023. He and River sat at a piano, talking shop. “He showed me some of what Booker showed him as a kid,” River recalled. “He kept saying, ‘Me and you, we’re not very different.’” For River, Connick’s 1994 New Orleans funk album “She” is an important touchstone. He considers Connick “a beast. I look up to him just as much as James Booker, Dr. John and Professor Longhair.” That pivotal afternoon with Connick “was the ﬁrst time I ever really sat down with a person to talk about New Orleans piano. He had a lot of inspirational advice.”

Standing on his own

rather to subtly betray that they were unexpected. If supplies are scarce, she would apologetically ask the offenders for indulgence, not their guests. Of course, subtlety may not be effective here. Which is why afterward, or for future invitations, you should pointedly tell the offending relatives that your pool cannot accommodate large groups — or that you wish to keep the party just family. At the very least, they should let you know directly, in advance, if they are inviting strangers into your home. Send questions to Miss Manners at her website, www. missmanners.com.

out there what he’s hearing and living. He’s starting to experience things.” During such new experiences as his summer tour of France, River was grateful that Jake was there as his guitarist and more. “Me and my dad have lots of fun playing together. We’re more than father/son. We’re more than musicians. It’s something higher than that.”

School vs. schedule For all his youthful energy, River has not accepted every offer. He declined an invitation to be an “American Idol” contestant. The televised singing competition “may be, for many young people, their big chance,” Jake said. “That’s not the world we live in. This is a steep, long, emotional climb if you want to stay in the game.” For River, the decision came down to, “Do I want to be known as ‘River Eckert’ or ‘River Eckert from American Idol’”? He recently signed with Mint Talent Group, the booking agency that represents several prominent New Orleans acts. He’ll occasionally miss school for out-oftown gigs. In January, he’ll spend a week aboard the Big Easy Cruise alongside Samantha Fish, Galactic, Jon Cleary and John Boutte. His parents are trying to balance his schooling and tour schedule in such a way that keeps his options open. “You don’t want to deprive anybody of any opportunities academically, career-wise, financially,” Jake said. “We’re looking at the road signs to point us in the most positive direction. “Music is a long road — you don’t ﬁgure it out in two years, or three or four or ﬁve or 50 years. But you can see the signs of somebody that has natural abilities from a very young age. What they do with them, that’s up to them.” Jake knows the hazards of the music business as well as anybody. “I’m not going to tell you what to do, but I’ll tell you what not to do. I have a Ph.D. in what not to do. River has watched all that. He was there. That’s the most organic way of learning.” What River knows for certain is that the stage is his happy place. While traveling in France, he thought about how he’d never been so far from home. “Looking forward to more of those trips is something that will keep me going.” At 16, he’s full of ideas. Maybe he’ll record a traditional rhythm & blues album, or a Duke Ellingtonstyle album, or a Dumpstaphunkinspired funk album, or a solo piano album. “I have all these creative avenues that I want to run down but I can only run down so many at once. “Over time, I’ll touch them all.”

Released this spring, the “River Eckert” album is, in its namesake’s words, “my roots meets me.” His pleasant singing voice suits the tone and temperament of the songs he co-wrote with his father. He also revisits the traditional “Stack-A-Lee,” which Dr. John recorded for his “Gumbo” album, and “Tico Tico,” a Brazilian-flavored solo piano showcase that both Booker and Connick covered. Nineteen veteran local musicians contributed to the album. River was only 14 when the project started. He and his father are both credited as producers; Jake served as River’s guide throughout the process. “I would have felt almost irresponsible not giving him some guidance,” Jake said. For River’s second album, the music will flow mainly from him. He compiled a couple hundred song snippets and another 300 or so lyrical ideas on his phone. This summer, he fleshed out songs in his bedroom on a keyboard and two laptops. He wrote with The Revivalists singer David Shaw and Andriu Yanovski, the keyboardist in The Rumble. One person River didn’t write with was his dad. Jake didn’t even hear the songs-in-progress until River downloaded them to the backyard studio’s hard drive a few days before they started recording. “I intentionally didn’t get involved,” Jake said. “I wanted to let him walk on his own feet, because I know he can.” River’s first album “was the community stepping forward,” Jake Email Keith Spera at kspera@ said. “This one is River putting theadvocate.com.

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The Advocate ■ theadvocate.com ■ Saturday,August 22, 2026 ■ 3D

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TODAY IN HISTORY By The Associated Press Today is Saturday, Aug. 22, the 234th day of 2026. There are 131 days left in the year. Today in history: On Aug. 22, 1851, the schooner America outraced more than a dozen British vessels off the English coast to win a trophy that came to be known as the America’s Cup. Also on this date: In 1791, the Haitian Revolution began as enslaved people of Saint-Domingue rose up against French colonizers. In 1910, Japan annexed Korea, which remained under Japanese control until the end of World War II. In 1922, Irish revolutionary Michael Collins was shot to death, apparently by Irish Republican Army members opposed to the Anglo-Irish Treaty that Collins had co-signed. In 1965, a 14-minute brawl ensued between the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers after Giants pitcher Juan Marichal struck Dodgers catcher John Roseboro in the head with a baseball bat. (Marichal and Roseboro would later reconcile and become lifelong friends.) In 1968, Pope Paul VI arrived in Bogota, Colombia,

for the start of the ﬁrst papal visit to South America. In 1972, John Wojtowicz and Salvatore Naturile took seven employees hostage at a Chase Manhattan Bank branch in Brooklyn, New York, during a botched robbery; the siege, which ended with Wojtowicz’s arrest and Naturile’s killing by the FBI, inspired the 1975 movie “Dog Day Afternoon.” In 1989, Black Panthers co-founder Huey P. Newton was shot to death in Oakland, California. In 1992, on the second day of the Ruby Ridge siege in Idaho, an FBI sharpshooter killed Vicki Weaver, the wife of White separatist Randy Weaver. In 1996, President Bill Clinton signed welfare reform legislation that ended guaranteed cash payments to the poor and demanded work from recipients. In 2003, Alabama’s chief justice, Roy Moore, was suspended for his refusal to obey a federal court order to remove his Ten Commandments monument from the rotunda of his courthouse. In 2007, a Black Hawk helicopter crashed in Iraq, killing all 14 U.S. soldiers aboard. In 2016, a bomb attack targeting an outdoor wedding party in Turkey killed

RELIGION BRIEFS FROM STAFF REPORTS

at least 30 people and wounded 94 others. The attack came as the country was still reeling from a failed coup attempt weeks earlier. In 2022, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the United States’ top infectious disease expert who became a household name — and the subject of partisan attacks — during the COVID-19 pandemic, announced he would be leaving the federal government in December after more than ﬁve decades of public service. Today’s birthdays: Author Annie Proulx is 91. Baseball Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski is 87. Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Bill Parcells is 85. Writer-producer David Chase is 81. International Swimming Hall of Famer Diana Nyad is 77. Baseball Hall of Famer Paul Molitor is 70. Rock guitarist Vernon Reid is 68. Country singer Collin Raye is 66. Rock singer Roland Orzabal (Tears For Fears) is 65. Singer Tori Amos is 63. International Tennis Hall of Famer Mats Wilander is 62. Rapper GZA/The Genius is 60. Actor Ty Burrell is 59. Celebrity chef Giada De Laurentiis is 56. Actor Rick Yune is 55. Comedian-actor Kristen Wiig is 53. Pop singer Dua Lipa is 31. Actor Raphael Alejandro is 19.

MATTERS

Continued from page 1D hospital officials turned to her for guidance and perspective. “That was my first career. I just found that I was good at talking to people, and people liked talking to me,” said Postell, who earned her undergraduate biology degree from Hampton University in Virginia. “I was good at science. I loved my job, but I used to always tell people that I’m not going to retire there. I just always felt there was more. I didn’t know the move was connected to ministry.” Postell, who was confirmed in the United Methodist Church at 12, finally acknowledged her call to ministry at 29. She had been active in the church, teaching and participating in various other ministries. In 2010, she was named the children’s minister, the same year she started at Gammon Theological Seminary in Atlanta. “There’s a whirlwind of change that happened in my life that was no denying that God had called me,” she said. “I believe that sometimes in life, when God is ready for you to move to the next level or destination, he does it so fast that you don’t have time to question it.” She graduated from Gammon in 2014 with a master

PROVIDED PHOTO

Camphor United Methodist Church, 8742 Scenic Highway, Baton Rouge of divinity. Three months later, she resigned from the CDC to complete a chaplain residency program in Wilmington, North Carolina. One month later, her mother died. However, Postell said it wasn’t until the chaplaincy program ended that she was able to grieve. She eventually moved to Delaware, where she lived near an old college friend and found work as a behavioral interventionist at an alternative school. That helped Postell get her life back on track. “I hadn’t grieved because I spent a year helping other people start their grieving process,” she said. After eight months in Delaware, Postell relocated to Baton Rouge to become the associate pastor at Camphor and director of the Wesley Foundation. “God opened the door for

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me to come down here,” she said. Seven years later, the door opened for her return to Camphor, an appointment she admits was bittersweet because of her deep relationships with the Hartzell Mount Zion congregation. “We had become family,” she said. “We just did life together, and when I told them I was leaving to come here, it was the saddest time. ...You never see it coming, but you live with it, you say yes, and then go from there.” Meanwhile, Postell is getting reacquainted with Camphor. “I have all the love in the world for my Camphor people,” she said. “I know we will ﬁnd our way, and I’m just living in that space.” Contact Terry Robinson at terryrobinson622@gmail. com.

Star of Bethlehem to Religious Liberty host guest speaker Weekend at Berean Star of Bethlehem Baptist Church, 1204 St. Joseph St., Baton Rouge, will celebrate its Men’s and Women’s Day at 10 a.m. Sunday. The guest speaker will be the Rev. KeyRichard sha Dominick Richard, of Promised Land Baptist Church. The theme is “Brothers and Sisters United: One Church, One Faith, One Mission,” based on Ephesians 4:4-6. The public is invited.

STUPH’D

Continued from page 1D the “L” and said “Geaux Tigers” multiple times. “She just graduated from LSU this past May,” her mom, Duana Lawrence, the head chef and owner of Stuph’d, said. “The Great Food Truck Race” followed that up with graduation pictures of Lewis in purple. Having just graduated from LSU, Lewis said she loved being back on a college campus. The show showed photos of Lewis in a cap and gown outside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. She explained that she graduated with a degree in chemistry, business administration/entrepreneurship. “The business administration and entrepreneurship comes back to trying to bring it back to my mom’s business — to take it to the next level,” Lewis said on the show. As the Stuph’d team came up with their menu and prices for the college leg of the race, Lewis reminded her mom and dad that college students love a good deal. “I reﬂect on the days I was in college, and I just remember always wanting something free or feel like I was getting something out of the deal,” Lewis said on the show. Lewis said that one thing she learned in studying business at LSU was to limit the menu to just a few items and price them strategically — a practice that worked out well for LSU alum Todd Graves and Raising Cane’s. “Pricing and understanding my customer came from textbook learning from school,” Lewis said. “My mom feels like we need 100 menu items, but I learned in business classes to give (the cus-

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tomer) small things so that you can focus on something. It’s less wait time. It’s less decisiveness.” Her father, Sherman Clarke, said he is very proud of his daughter. The stuffed beignet truck, which has perfected sweet and savory dishes, has won three taste challenges on “The Great Food Truck Race.” In episode three, they sold Creole crawfish stuffed beignets, cheesecake stuffed beignets with berries and cookies and cream stuffed beignets. “We’re making all of our stuff from scratch,” Lewis said. “So if we have 10 items, that prolongs everything for people to figure out what they want, and we already are taking too long. This show is a sales game, so I need to be fast at making sales.”

Freeman Baptist Church, 4628 La. 955, Ethel, will host its ﬁfth Sunday fellowship service at 8:30 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 30. The guest speaker will be the Rev. Ted Major, pastor of New Philadelphia Baptist Church in Slaughter. All are invited.

At the end of episode four, which also aired Aug. 9, Lewis’s strategies had paid off. Stuph’d was one of the ﬁve trucks remaining. In a phone interview Friday, Lewis said that when it comes to advice for future entrepreneurs, she recommends capitalizing on opportunities and paying attention in class. Because she frequently went home to New Orleans to work at Stuph’d, she missed networking events. “LSU is such a huge opportunity for everybody,” Lewis said. “It’s people from all over the world. Always interact with these people. Email your professors. Always go to the career fairs.” Lewis offered a ﬁnal suggestion for business majors. “As boring as it gets, sometimes you really do have to pay attention because you never know what is necessary in your life,” Lewis said. “I struggled in accounting, but I run our payroll now. Take in all of these tools because you really may need them down the line.” The fifth episode of “The Great Food Truck Race” airs on Food Network at 8 p.m. on Sunday. The episodes are also available the next day on HBO Max. Email Joy Holden at joy. holden@theadvocate.com.

WATERFRONT CUL-DE-SAC LOT with

GOLF COURSE VIEWS! 19820 SOUTHERN HILLS AVE.

UNIVERSITY VIEW CONDOS

Seniors Real Estate Specialist (SRES) means that I have extensive training and experience to support clients 50+.

Accredited Buyer’s Representative® (ABR)® Certified Residential Specialist® (CRS)® Seniors Real Estate Specialist® (SRES)® LisaB@coldwellbankerone.com www.BatonRougehomeswithLisa.com

PROVIDED PHOTO

Duana Lawrence, from left, Dionne Lewis and Sherman Clarke are Team Stuph’d on this season of ‘The Great Food Truck Race.’

5th Sunday fellowship service

R E N T O R B U Y C LO S E TO C A M P U S

® ISeniors AMReal AN SRES Estate Specialist (SRES)

Lisa Busceme, REALTOR® 225-931-4112

Berean Seventh-day Adventist Church, 5100 Osborne Ave., Baton Rouge, will host its seventh annual Public Affairs and Religious Liberty weekend Friday-Saturday, Aug. 28-29, in the Berean School complex. The theme is “The Seal of the Living God: Signs of Jesus’ Soon Return.” The weekend begins at 6 p.m. Friday with praise and worship, followed by a presentation on “Signs of Jesus’ Soon Return.” A light meal will be served. Activities resume at 11 a.m. Saturday with “The Seal of the Living God — Revelation 7,” followed by a full-course

meal and an afternoon session from 2 to 3 p.m. The guest speaker will be the Rev. Stephen Brooks, executive secretary of the Southwestern Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists and director of evangelism and personal ministries. The public is invited.

SANTA MARIA’S CHARLESTONTOWNE COMMUNITY $163,500

Dianne 225.806.8979 Adams Find us on Instagram

225-615-7755

Facebook

Each office independently owned and operated Licensed REALTORs in the State of Louisiana

SANTA MARIA 19335 BELLERIVE CT. UNDER CONTRACT

PENDING

HUNTER’S TRACE

300,000

Precious DSLD-built 3BR/2BA home with open floor plan, granite countertops, kitchen island/breakfast bar, Frigidaire appliances, wood floors, tankless water heater, fenced landscaped yard, and spacious primary suite with garden tub, separate shower, double vanity, and walk-in closet.

ROBIN HEBERT REALTOR R

2 225.975.3434

www.robinheberthomes.com w

201 Briarhaven Drive 4 Bedrooms - 2.5 Bathrooms 1,697 Living Square Feet

www.CB-201Briar.com for Photos & Information

$220,000.00

CRS, GRI, GRI SRS Eaton, CRS Barbara Anne Eaton

Associate Broker • 225-733-6874

Luxury custom home backing up to Ward’s Creek on almost an acre with resortstyle pool, waterfalls & exceptional outdoor living. Gourmet kitchen with Wolf & Sub-Zero appliances. Primary suite downstairs with two additional bedrooms, two full baths & office; upstairs offers two bedrooms, media & game room. Premier neighborhood g amenities. 4951 Sqft. $1,095,000 q $ , , 0

CHARISSE HANCHEY, REALTOR®,CRS, ABR,

225.315.0512 • www.charissehanchey.com

4D ■ Saturday,August 22, 2026 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

FrAnK And erneSt

roSebUdS

zItS

For better or For WorSe

lll

zodIAC LEo (July 23-Aug. 22) You know how to play the game, so don't sit on the sidelines. Look for every opportunity to display your skills and to reach your goal. A positive change will come from the connections you make. VIRGo (Aug. 23-sept. 22) You may crave change, but don't jump too quickly. Ask questions, be resourceful and set up a time frame and budget that ensure you are doing what's best for you. LIBRA (sept. 23-oct. 23) Take the back roads, be observant and when in doubt, stick close to home. How you deal with others will make a difference in what you get in return. Be specific, realistic and ready to honor your promises. scoRPIo (oct. 24-nov. 22) Your options show promise and despair. Take the time to sort through the pros and cons and to eliminate anything that may pose a problem for you. Speak on your behalf. sAGIttARIus (nov. 23-Dec. 21) Close in on what you want. You have plenty to gain if you trust and believe in yourself and you recognize how you can use your skills and experience to get ahead. cAPRIcoRn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) If you express your honest opinion, you'll spare yourself turmoil. Addressing issues instead of letting them fester and grow will help you remove yourself from unsavory situations. AQuARIus (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Step up, make things happen and celebrate your success. It may seem impossible, but once

you take the first step, you'll discover how to sprint toward happiness. PIscEs (Feb. 20-March 20) Redefine what you want and what you've already got. It's time to shake up your routine, rethink your future and consider what truly makes you happy. Engage in pastimes that encourage you to be physical. ARIEs (March 21-April 19) Be specific. Leave nothing to chance or up to someone you aren't sure you can trust. Be resourceful, research and source information carefully. Refuse to let anger surface. tAuRus (April 20-May 20) Learn from past mistakes. Don't indulge or get involved in joint ventures. Be true to yourself, stick to your budget and choose pastimes that help you get ahead and put you on a path to self-improvement. GEMInI (May 21-June 20) A change will turn into a learning experience. Get into the nitty-gritty of whatever is being offered, and expand your plans to meet your demands. Life is about growth. cAncER (June 21-July 22) A steady pace is your best bet. Taking on too much will lead to frustration and regret. Don't limit what you can do; instead, focus on what's most important to you. Face facts when it comes to your current situation. The horoscope, an entertainment feature, is not based on scientific fact. © 2026 by NEA, Inc., dist. By Andrews McMeel Syndication

WonderWord

peAnUtS

SALLY Forth

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

toDAy's cLuE: K EQuALs o

Mother GooSe And GrIMM

SherMAn’S LAGoon FAMILY CIrCUS

dooneSbUrY

The Advocate ■ theadvocate.com ■ Saturday,August 22, 2026 ■ 5D

lll

CurTiS

Hi and LoiS

Sudoku 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 Sudoku increases from Monday to Sunday. Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer

BaBY BLueS

BLondie

THe wiZard oF id

nea CroSSwordS

La TimeS CroSSword

6D ■ Saturday,August 22, 2026 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

lll

B.C.

Bridge By PHILLIP ALDER Alfred Hitchcock said, “I am a typed director. If I made ‘Cinderella,’ the audience would immediately be looking for a body in the coach.” Which one of the ugly stepsisters would it be? It couldn’t be Cinderella; you cannot kill off the heroine. In most bridge deals, declarer must start on his campaign immediately. If he waffles early, his contract will die. How should South play in this four-heart contract after West leads the diamond queen? Many Norths would have jumped straight to four hearts. “Partner, we had 10 trumps, so I had to bid to the 10-trick level as advocated by the Law of Total tricks.” I am not fond of that bid, especially in an uncontested auction, with a balanced hand containing so many losers. South has four losers: two spades, one heartandoneclub.Buthehas10winners: one spade, five hearts, two diamonds and two clubs. So it will be tempting to take the first trick and play a trump. However, East will win and shift to the club queen. Then the defenders can defeat the contract. Declarer must establish his spade trick immediately, so that he can dispose of his club loser. At trick two, South leads his spade queen. East wins with his king and switches to the club queen. Declarer carefully wins with his ace and plays the

garfield

Pearls Before swiNe

hagar the horriBle

spade 10. When in dummy with the club king, South discards his last club on the spade jack. Then West will wonder how he might have found a club lead (or a heart lead with East’s shifting to the club queen), which would have given the defense the edge. © 2026 by NEA, Inc., dist. By Andrews McMeel Syndication

wuzzles Each Wuzzle is a word riddle which creates a disguised word, phrase, name, place, saying, etc. For example: NOON GOOD = GOOD AFTERNOON

PiCKles

Previous answers:

mallard fillmore

word game InstRuctIons: 1. Words must be of four or more letters. 2. Words that acquire four letters by the addition of “s,” such as “bats” or “dies,” are not allowed. 3. Additional words made by adding a “d” or an “s” may not be used. 4. Proper nouns, slang words, or vulgar or sexually explicit words are not allowed.

toDAy’s WoRD — VInEGAR: VIN-ih-ger: A sour liquid made from fermented

Bizarro

marmaduKe

alcohol. Average mark 28 words Time limit 50 minutes Can you find 44 or more words in VINEGAR? yEstERDAy’s WoRD — BALsAMIc bail balas balm balsa balsam basal basic basil bias acai alas

alias alms laic lama lamb limb sail salami samba scab scam

slab slam slim mail mica iamb cabal calm claim clam climb

loCKhorNs hidato Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer

today’s thought “And the men took of their victuals, and asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord.” Joshua 9:14

Be sure to check in with the Lord before you make that decision. — G.E. Dean

The Advocate ■ theadvocate.com ■ Saturday,August 22, 2026 ■ 7D

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classifieds.theadvocate.com Search Search& &Place PlaceAds AdsOnline Onlineatatclassifieds.theadvocate.com classifieds.theadvocate.com* Call * Call -Friday Us Monday-Friday 8AM-5PM at 225-383-0111 8AM-5PM at 225-383-0111

Announcements 1XKYD49X3GJ475844 KENWORTH is stored at 4835 North St, Baton Rouge, LA, 70806. If all current charges are not paid and vehicle claimed by the owner by 09/09/2026 a Permit to Sell may be obtained. 198437-Aug 22 & 24, 2t $81 Anyone knowing the whereabouts of Alana Leach please contact Atty. Benjamin Beychok at (225) 906-0050. 198188-Aug 22-24, 3t $64.90 Anyone knowing the whereabouts of an agent for TRD Consult LLC please contact attorney Larry McAlpine at 225-317-1956 198146-Aug 20-22, 3t $71.20 ANYONE knowing the whereabouts of any property owner, heir or other related person, in regard to the properties listed below, please contact the East Baton Rouge CityParish, Department of Development – Neighborhood Revitalization Ofﬁce at 225-389-8680. 8034 KINGFISHER AVE JESSEE J DEMER 859 GOOSE ST EDDIE ADAMS BROWN 4449 CANNON ST THE ESTATE OF LEROY L FRANKLIN, SR JOANN H FRANKLIN 4188 MOHICAN ST ONE HUNDRED FOLD II, LLC 5238 WINBOURNE AVE MELISSA A HEATLEY 3247 SHELLEY ST TARRON R AND DENISE JAMES 3128 CHIPEWA ST JOHN T ROBINSON 1021 S 15TH ST EDDIE ROY SPEARS 822 N 28TH ST CAREY L FORD 2427 KAUFMAN ST ANGELA MACHEN 4936 LINDEN ST JAMES A GILMORE, JR 3062 EATON ST NEW FOUNDATION, LLC 1154 N ACADIAN THWY E LOURETTA MILTON 865 N 39TH ST ESTELLA NICHOLAS 3609 CLAYCUT RD JAMES MURRAY WATSON 2237 YAZOO ST JOSEPH WILLIAMS 8227 BAYOU FOUNTAIN AVE PALMETTO 24, LLC NORTHWEST REGISTEREDED AGENT LLC 5763 HARTFORD AVE JESSIE B STEWART 1375 KENNON DR ROY YOUNGBLOOD 3468 RIDGEMONT DR TRAVIS THOMAS 9749 SPIKE RIDGE AVE RHONDA PENNINGTON VIOLA 4588 CORAL DR JAYDEN MARTINEZ 5215 SYCAMORE ST SCHORTEN PLACE, INC C/O ROY HEBERT, CPA 1965 72ND AVE TTDS INVESTMENTS, LLC 2033 CURTIS ST JAMES BYRD JR 9677 JONES ST / 9665 JONES ST JONES STREET REDEVELOPMENT, INC 1150 SHERWOOD FOREST BLVD TRIBE OF MOSES IRREVOCABLE (FOREIGN) SPENDTHRIFT TRUST 1576 SWAN AVE CMG REAL ESTATE FUND, LLC 4987 PACKARD ST LEVI BRADLEY 6150 LOTUS ST THE ESTATE OF MADIE C WRIGHT LANGLEY

Public Notices

Public Notices Bids/Proposals

PUBLIC NOTICE --NOTICE TO BIDDERS Sealed bids for the fol‐ lowing will be received by the Louisiana Depart‐ ment of Transportation and Development, Pro‐ curement Section, 1201 Capitol Access Road, 4th Floor, East Wing Room S447, Headquarters Ad‐ ministration Building, Baton Rouge, LA 70802, Telephone number (225/379-1444) on date(s) shown below, until 10:00 A.M. No bids will be ac‐ cepted after this hour. At 10:00 A.M. of the same day and date, they will be publicly opened and read in Headquarters Ad‐ ministration Building, 4th Floor, East Wing S-447. Evidence of authority to submit the bid shall be required in accordance with R.S. 38:2212 (A)(1)(c) and/or R.S. 39:1594 (C)(2) (D). BID TO BE OPENED September 10, 2026 DOTD TS2 Timer Unit Controller RFx 3000026624 Full information may be obtained upon request from the above address. The Department reserves the right to reject any and all bids and to waive any informalities. GLENN P. LEDET, JR. SECRETARY, LADOTD JULIE KENNISON, CPPB, NIGP-CPP DOTD PROCUREMENT DIRECTOR 198361 Aug. 22, 2026 1t $16.34

Public Notices Conservation

PUBLIC NOTICE In accordance with the laws of the State of Louisiana and the particular reference to the provisions of LA R. S. 30:4, and the provisions of Statewide Order No. 29-B as amended and adopted by the Office of Permitting and Compliance of the State of Louisiana Hilcorp Energy Company P.O. Box 61229 Houston, Texas 77208-1229 713-209-2400 Is applying to the Injection and Mining Division of the Office of Conservation for a permit to dispose of produced fluids generated from oil and gas production by means of an injection well, which is identified as SL 212 SWD Well No. 2 Serial 237073. The Number injection well will be located in Section 011 Township 20S 26E, Lake Range Washington (5759), Field, Plaquemines (38) Parish, Louisiana. The injection Zone is Proposed to be f f

9410 GREENWELL SPRINGS RD MOUTAIN PORTFOLIO OWNER LA 2, LLC C/O BLUE OWL REAL ESTATE CAPITAL 2806 EATON ST TAYLOR WILLIAMS 2924 72ND AVE THE ESTATE OF RICHARD R GRADNEY, SR 205 SONORA ST MICHAEL MATROODNEJAD 6833 VAN GOGH AVE MARJOE SANCHEZ HOLMES, SR 3517 CHIPPEWA ST CAB ENTERPRISES, INC 3874 CHIPPEWA ST AARON ARDOIN 2536 DAYTON ST RICHARD AND GLADYS TAYLOE WALLS 205 TAFT ST LILLIE MAE K EDWARDS 1455 W ROOSEVELT FPH S 16TH ST, LLC 2872 INDIANA ST CHARLES E WILLIAMS TORLIEF ERIC WILLIAMS 7750 GREENWELL SPRINGS RD BUILDERS CENTER, INC C/O GATEWAY PROPERTIES, INC 2956 WASHINGTON AVE THE CHARLES EDWARD HOLLIS SEPARATE PROPERTY TRUST 2738 MICHELLI AVE EARNEST ROBERTSON 1715 N 24TH ST MARY L ALEXANDER 2803 DUKE ST RARE PROPERTIES, LLC 1734 W CATALPA DR CHASITY ROTINA BLAKES 2503 TORREY PINE DR DWAYNE N HINTON, JR 845 ELIZABETH DR THE ESTATE OF ROSE ETHELDA MACLEAN 10723 RED OAK DR RYAN CHASE LOCICERO 905 N 38TH JAMES BERNARD ROBERTSON 9154 REDBUD ST LAURIE ANN MCNEIL 738 N ACADIAN THWY E LILLIAN K GARNER 5241 MONARCH AVE HUGHES CONSULTANT GROUP LLC 425 E BUCHANAN ST VIOLET SCOTT RUSSELL 2816 75TH AVE FELICIA ANN MYLES 4237 PROVOST ST CARY WESTON 2880 PLANK RD ARTHUR G MURRAY 2960 MADISON AVE DAVID J EVERITT 3115 MONROE AVE KELVIN L TURNER 6265 GREENWELL SPRINGS RD ETHEL HARRIS 4265 WOODLAWN AVE CHERRIE R LEWIS 2108 THOMAS RD TOMMIE E SMITH 12844 WARFIELD ST GWENDOLYN FAYE CAGE 2693 VANDERBILT DR GOULD PROPERTIES OF BATON ROUGE, LLC BRIAN E GOULD 1855 KANSAS ST IRMA FUENTES 1847 KANSAS ST EUGENE NILES PRESTLEY 1960 HELM DR KENDALL VONKEITH FONTENOT 786 FAWN LAKE DR SHANDA RENEE TROTTER 6765 AUTUMN AVE FRED MARVIN BUTLER, SR 4582 STEARNS ST FELTON WHICKER 2966 69TH AVE ROSA MOORE 2219 70TH AVE ADRIAN J SPURLOCK 4639 EVANGELINE ST DAVID J EVERITT 1984490Aug 22-28, 7t $4,271.62

Public Notices Conservation p at 1200 ft. to 2970 ft. All interested parties are hereby given an opportunity to submit written comments no later than fifteen (15) days from the date of this publication. Identify the well when corresponding direct comments to: Office of Permitting and Compliance Engineering Division P.O. Box 94275 Baton Rouge, La 70804-9275 Re: Comments for SWD Applications 198362 Aug. 22, 2026 1t $252.12

Legal Notices

PUBLIC NOTICE --18TH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT PARISH OF WEST BATON ROUGE STATE OF LOUISIANA NO. 50,583-B SHEILA JACOB YOUNG, ET AL. VERSUS JOYCELYN SNEARL NOTICE OF AUTHORITY TO MAKE PARTITION BY LICITATION BY PRIVATE SALE Notice is hereby given that Sheila Jacob Young, one of the petitioners herein, has obtained a Judgment authorizing her to execute a partition by licitation by private sale of the undivided in‐ terest of the Defendant Joycelyn Snearl in and to below-described prop‐ erty, on Defendant’s be‐ half, after the advertise‐ ments required for judi‐ cial sales under execu‐ tion are made. The parti‐ tion by licitation by pri‐ vate sale may be ho‐ mologated after the expi‐ ration of ten (10) days from the date of the ser‐ vice of the rule to show cause why it should not be homologated. Any op‐ position to the proposed partition by licitation by private sale must be filed before homologation. SUBJECT PROPERTY: A certain lot or parcel of ground together with all buildings and improve‐ ments thereon and to be constructed thereon and with all rights, ways, privileges and servitudes thereunto appertaining, or in anywise belonging, lying, being and situated in the Parish of West Baton Rouge, State of Louisiana, in that subdi‐ vision designated as ADDIS PLACE Subdivi‐ sion, said lot being des‐ ignated as LOT THREE (3) on a map or plat of said subdivision filed in Map Book 2, No. 111 of the of‐ ficial records of West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, entitled “Final Plat of Addis Place Sub‐ division,” dated March 8, 1979 by Wiggins and As‐ sociates Consulting Engi‐ neers, said LOT 3 being more particularly de‐ scribed as measuring Eighty (80’) feet front on h h id f h i

Legal Notices

g y the north side of Chris Drive, by a depth of One Hundred Seventy-Four and 65/100 (174.65’) feet on its west line, One Hun‐ dred Sixty-Six and 45/100 (166.45’) feet on its east line and Eighty and 53/100 (80.53’) feet in the rear and is bounded South by Chris Drive, West by Lot 1 and East by Lot 4, all of said Addis Place Subdivision, all as will more fully appear by reference to said subdivi‐ sion map. Said lot is sub‐ ject to servitudes ap‐ pearing on said subdivi‐ sion map, and to restric‐ tions of record in Book 157, Entry 237 of the con‐ veyance records of West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana. Improvements bear the municipal address of 3918 Chris Drive, Addis, Louisiana 70710 s/Andrea Hebert DEPUTY CLERK OF COURT, 18TH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT PARISH OF WEST BATON ROUGE 196068 Aug. 1, 22, 2026 2t $109.32 PUBLIC NOTICE --Great Hearts Louisiana, Inc. HEREBY GIVES NO‐ TICE that it has taken all actions required by La. R.S. 39:1301 et seq. (“Local Government Bud‐ get Act”) for the adop‐ tion of its budget for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2027. The budget was first made available to the public on June 8, 2026 (15 day rule), notice was first published in the Ad‐ vocate on May 21, 2026 (10 day rule), two (2) meetings to discuss the budget were conducted on June 2, 2026 and Au‐ gust 18, 2026 respec‐ tively, and the budget was adopted on August 18, 2026. (David Whid‐ den/Secretary, Board of Directors) (August 18, 2026).

Anyone knowing the whereabouts of Boun Siripanyo please contact Atty Benjamin Beychok at (225) 9060050. 198191-Aug 22-24, 3t $64.90 Anyone knowing the whereabouts of Cedric Antonio Williams, Deborah R Williams and Cynthia Williams Wells please contact Benjamin Beychok at (225) 906-0050. 198194-Aug 22-24, 3t $79.60 Anyone knowing the whereabouts of Charles Chenier, the Estate of Joseph Chenier, Gladys Lemelle, the Stephanie Lemelle Living Trust and Ronald Stevenson please contact Atty. Benjamin Beychok at (225) 9060050. 198216-Aug 22-24, 3t $96.40 Anyone knowing the whereabouts of DEONTE CRYER (DOB: 12/02/06), please contact attorney at law A.J. Sabine at 255-259-0052 or aj@sabinelawﬁrm.com. 198445-Aug 22-24, 3t $75.40 Anyone knowing the whereabouts of Harriet Duncan Ford and Joe Nathan Ford please contact Atty. Benjamin Beychok at (225) 906-0050. 198205-Aug 22-24, 3 $75.40 Anyone knowing the whereabouts of Leola Collins, Annie Collins, Charles Edward Collins, Patricia Collins, Melvin Dewayne Collins, Sharon Denise Collins and David Louise Collins please contact Atty. Benjamin Beychok at (225) 906-0050. 198209-Aug 22-24, 3t $75.60 Anyone knowing the whereabouts of Mary Patin and the Estate of Joe Johnson please contact Atty. Benjamin Beychok at (225) 906-0050. 198203-Aug 22-24, 3t $77.50 Anyone knowing the whereabouts of Ollie Richardson and the Estate of Jessie Richardson Sr please contact Atty. Benjamin Beychok at (225) 9060050. 198196-Aug 22-24, 3t $79.60 Anyone knowing the whereabouts of Steven Jerome Gray please contact Atty. Benjamin Beychok at (225) 906-0050. 198199-Aug 22-24, 3t $67 Anyone knowing the whereabouts of the Estate of Florence Chambers and the Estate of Peter Chambers please contact Atty. Benjamin Beychok at (225) 906-0050. 198207-Aug 22-24, 3t $83.80 Crepe Corner LLC DBA Brusly Food Mart is applying to the Ofﬁce of Alcohol & Tobacco Control of the State of Louisiana for a permit to sell beverages of high and low alcohol content at retail in the Parish of West Baton Rouge at the following address: 142 N Vaughan Dr Ste C Brusly LA 70719 Brusly Food Mart Member: Adam Ashour 198179 Aug. 22 1t $91.66 NOTICE OF PERMIT TO SELL JN1HZ14S1GX149953 NISSAN is stored at 14407 Hwy 431, St Amant, LA, 70774. If all current charges are not paid and vehicle claimed by the owner by 09/03/2026 a Permit to Sell may be obtained. 198221-Aug 22 & 31, 2t $88

Legal Notices

PUBLIC NOTICE --Notice is hereby given that Turn Services, L.L.C., located at 9100 Safety Drive, Convent, LA 70723, has applied for a 401 Water Quality Certifica‐ tion to commercially dredge the Mississippi River and stockpile ma‐ terial in a 460’ x 850’ pit at 15730 River Road in Hahnville, St. Charles Parish. Turn Services, L.L.C. is applying to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, Office of Environmental Services for a Water Quality Certification in accordance with statu‐ tory authority contained in the LAC 33:IX.1507. A-E and provisions of Section 401 of the Clean Water Act. Comments concerning this application can be fil d i h h

Employment BUSINESS OPERATIONS

Positions Available: * Accounting * Bookkeeper * Account Coordinator * Finance * Payroll Officer * Sales Representatives * Customer Service * Business Admin Representative As part of our ongoing expansion, we are seeking part-time, work-fromhome candidates. The position offers a monthly salary of $1,300, in addition to benefits, and requires minimal time commitment. The role involves just 2-3 hours of internet access per week. Requirements: * Must be computer literate * Must have 2-3 hours of internet access per week * Must be efficient and dedicated Interested candidates may reach out via email at michelle.appliedit@gmail.com for further information GENERAL HELP The Diocese of B.R. Child Nutrition Pro‐ gram is seeking FT school Cafeteria Mgrs., Cooks, & Porters. HS Diploma or Equiv. and BG Check req. Apply at www.cnpbr.org/employment

Merchandise CEMETERY PLOTS 2 Burial Plots in Baton Rouge, Green Oaks Memorial. Sec 17, Lots 146-2 & 146-4, Side by Side. $4300 each, negotiable 803-215-0456. For Sale: (Crypts) 2 Double Depth, Double Companion Niches(Crypts). Located-Lake Lawn/Metairie. $5500 ea. 757-647-6748 cq5280@aol.com I am interested in purchasing old United States currency. For example, looking for star notes, silver certificates, Series 1928 and Series 1934 notes, etc. Cash upon sale. Call 225-229-5070.

Baton Rouge Rental

Garage Sales BATON ROUGE 1500 Government Street Lighting & Warehouse Pricing! Saturday 8am-10am Decorative, functional. architectual, utility lighting & fans. BATON ROUGE 1713 Briar Oak Dr. Saturday 8am12pm. Furniture, jewelry, clothing & more. BATON ROUGE Garage Sale Saturday 8/22, 8am-until 10951 Stanley Aubin Lane

APARTMENT AREA 5 1BR $600, 2BR $700 Tigerland. $500 Deposit. 225-475-1737

APARTMENT Fabulous French Quarter Furnished 1BR $1625. INCLUDING UTILITIES/WIFI. Brand new Bath & Kitchen (Custom Cabinets, SS Appliances). 504-388-2880

APARTMENT 655 North St Subsidized Efﬁciency Apartments cpabr.org 225-383-5551 TDD/TTY 711 RELAY

BATON ROUGE Estate Sale - Everything Must Go Furniture, antiques, pictures, Anna Lee dolls, Christmas decorations, patio furniture, planters, tools, lawn equipment, books, & more. ZACHARY Ms. Ruby's Cafe & Tea Salon Inventory Reduction Sale 4823 Waywood Drive Saturday 9am-12pm HOUSE Very quiet area. 1BR/1Ba, large Laundry room. $350/deposit. $650 per month. 225-802-8603

Baton Rouge Real Estate For Sale AREA 2

NEWLY UPDATED! 6726 PINE ISLAND AVE. $245,000, Approx. P & I $1,480 Forest Heights S/D Off Mickens Rd, 3BR 2BA, w/Cent/H/A Freshly Painted Int./Ext. New Ceramic FLR thru out, & New Kit Countertop Enclosed Screen Patio, Rear Dbl Carport w/Storage Shed & F'd B.Y. Call Charles for Your Showing 225-266-4078 Roy Carter Realty 225-357-6436

COMMERCIAL PROPERTY Selling Business only not building. Don't have enough workers to run. Has great potential in Reeve's shopping center. Has all equipment needed to boil crawﬁsh, fry seafood plates amongst other foods with warmer in front. Asking price 50k negotiable and rent is needed to negotiate with landlord. Call or Text Steve 225-341-9235

MOBILE HOME 1, 2 & 3 BR mobile homes, $675 & up 6061 Plank Rd. CALL 225-978-4653 ROOMS FOR RENT Furnished Rooms. $125/wk. $500/mo. 225-933-7560

Automotive Auto Dealerships are NOT WELCOME TO CALL ME Gray exterior and interior, turbo eco boost titanium, keyless entry. No dents or dings. No wrecks. Excellent condition. One owner. $19,500.00 985-513-1775 terribird2023@protonmail.com

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Pets / Pet Services Directory PETS • SUPPLIES • SERVICES • OBITUARIES • LOST & FOUND

PLACE YOUR PET SERVICES INFORMATION IN THE PET SERVICES DIRECTORY TODAY! • IT IS FAST AND EASY! • CALL 225-383-0111 Akc Dachshunds wormed $600.00 rio.remi@yahoo.com

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AKC long hair miniture Dachshunds Shots and wormed $800.00 985-2220577 rio.remi@yahoo.com

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Legal Notices

pp ﬁled with the Water Per‐ mits Division within ten days of this notice refer‐ encing WQC 260622-03, AI 44677 to the following ad‐ dress:

y on the Electronic Docu‐ ment Management Sys‐ tem (EDMS) on the LDEQ public website at www. deq.louisiana.gov.

p S, R-1-W, Sect 73 & T-5-S, R-1-W, Sects 65 & 88

Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality Water Permits Division P.O. Box 4313 Baton Rouge, LA 708214313 Attn: Water Quality Certiﬁcations Comments may be sub‐ mitted by email to DEQWaterQualityCertiﬁca‐ tions@la.gov A copy of the application is available for inspec‐ tion and review at the LDEQ Public Records Center at 602 North Fifth Street, Baton Rouge, LA 70802, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The available information can also be accessed electronically h l i

198181 Aug. 22, 1t $201.53

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Public Notices Sex Offenders

Convicted: 07/01/2020.. My Address is: 2175 RHODES AVE BATON ROUGE, LA 70802

PUBLISH: August 22, 23, 24, of year 2026 198258-aug 22-23-24-3t $54.46

PUBLIC NOTICE --Public Hearings will be held at Zachary City Hall 4700 Main St. during a regular meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission meetingMonday, September 14, 2026 – 6:00 pm and the City Council meeting Tuesday – September 22, 2026 - 6:30 pm for the purpose indicated:

Petition of Annexation 19900 & 20100 Samuels Road , Zachary, La 70791 Tracts CA-1 & CA-2 of the J.N. Lipscomb Tract, T-4&

PUBLIC NOTICE --The Louisiana Ofﬁce of State Parks is requesting proposals for a PublicPrivate Partnership pro‐ ject to design, construct, and operate a high-qual‐ ity recreational vehicle campground and related amenities. For more in‐ formation go to opportu‐ nitiesinlouisiana.com. 192994-jul 2-aug 31-t

I, Morris L Dantzler AKA MORRIS DANTZIER AKA MORRIS D DANTZLER AKA MORRIS L DANTZLER, have been convicted of 14:92 - Contributing to the Delinquency Of A Minor. Date Convicted: 12/25/2016. 14:43 Simple Rape. Date

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198288-aug 22-1t $104.54 PUBLIC NOTICE --Notice is hereby given that Southern Disposal & Recycling, LLC does in‐ tend to submit to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, Office of Environmental Services, Waste Permits Division, an application for renewal of a solid waste permit to operate a Type III Separation and Woodwaste Processing Facility in Bossier Parish, Range 13W, Township 18N, Section 23, which is located at 3350 Old Shed Road, Bossier City, Louisiana 71111. Comments concerning the facility may be filed with the Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality at the following address: Office of Environmental Services Waste Permits Division Post Office Box 4313 Baton Rouge, LA 708214313. 198182 Aug. 22, 1t $122.39

Public Notices Sex Offenders

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