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SEC escalates threat to expel LSU

New filing made in league’s federal lawsuit BY JON BLAU and REED DARCEY

Staff writers

The Southeastern Conference ﬁled an amendment to its federal lawsuit against LSU on Tuesday in hopes of asserting its legal authority to expel the school from the league. The SEC said in its new complaint, which was ﬁled in an Alabama federal court, that its 16 presidents will meet Thursday “to decide whether to terminate” LSU as a member institution. According to league rules, the group needs a two-thirds vote to boot a school from the conference.

The updated complaint lists LSU’s entire Board of Supervisors, including Chair Lee Mallett, along with Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, as defendants. LSU President Wade Rousse, Athletic Director Verge Ausberry and LSU football coach Lane Kiffin were named as defendants in the SEC’s initial complaint. The league said in a statement Tuesday that it amended the lawsuit “to protect the right of the conference and its member institutions to govern themselves.” “The SEC and its member universities have the right to establish, through agreed-upon gover-

ä Scott Rabalais: SEC’s threat is serious but makes little sense. PAGE 1C

nance procedures,” the statement said, “the rules under which they voluntarily compete and to expect those rules to be followed. A commitment to those rules, and to the core principles of the Southeastern Conference, is an essential element of SEC membership. “Today’s filing is necessary to defend that right and preserve the conference’s ability to govern

STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

Coach Lane Kiffin is greeted by President Wade Rousse following LSU’s ä See SEC, page 4A win over Clemson on Saturday.

Trade war with Canada escalates

LEARNING TO FLY

UL engineering students build drone for military challenge

Trump moves to bar Canadian products from U.S. contracts

BY JOANNA BROWN

Staff writer

They managed to get their drone to fly just three days before the DARPA Lift Challenge was scheduled to begin — and they ended up taking it home in pieces days later. But despite the crash, it was a celebratory showing for the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns Drone Team at this year’s DARPA Lift Challenge, which took place over the first week of August at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. Teams are asked to build and fly a drone that can lift a payload of at least twice its weight — a difficult task with enormous implications for search-and-rescue operations, supplying remote areas, lifting goods and materials in urban areas, and more. “Almost everyone crashed,” UL team member Logan Livaudais said. “Out of nearly 80 teams that showed up to the competition and attempted the challenge, there were only a handful of teams that didn’t, most likely because they weren’t pushing their machine to the breaking limit, or they simply couldn’t get it off the ground.” It was a juried competition hosted by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which accepted 130 teams out of 480 that applied. The Ragin’ Cajuns Drone Team placed 19th in a field that largely consisted of university teams and industry professionals from aviation and aerospace companies. Out of the universities that participated, only Texas A&M and the University at Buffalo placed ahead of UL. AVIDrone Inc., a Maryland-based company, won $1.25 million for its first-place finish.

ä See DRONE, page 5A

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BY ROB GILLIES and PAUL WISEMAN Associated Press

PROVIdEd PHOTO

University of Louisiana at Lafayette mechanical engineering majors built and engineered an innovative drone as part of the U.S. department of defense dARPA Lift Challenge this summer.

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ELECTION

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TORONTO — U.S. President Donald Trump moved Tuesday to shut Canadian products out of large, longterm U.S. government contracts as Canada’s retaliatory tariffs took effect and Prime Minister Mark Carney vowed to speed efforts to reduce the country’s dependence ä Trump on the United threatens States. Canadian jet Trump directed company with the U.S. General extensive Services Administration to de- U.S. footprint. clare Canadian PAGE 5A products ineligible for those contracts until Canada allows “full and fair reciprocity for American products. Earlier on Tuesday, Carney said Canada’s strategy was about becoming more independent. “It’s about ensuring that no country can hold us hostage. And that we can live how we want to live.” Canada is exploring ties with the European Union that could stop just short of membership, a Canadian official familiar with the

ä See CANADA, page 5A

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Senate race expected to heat up as Election Day gets closer BY TYLER BRIDGES

Rep. Julia Letlow and farmer Jamie Davis — have been barnstorming the state to After a sleepy summer, rally supporters. But the Louisiana’s U.S. Senate cam- period immediately after paign appears likely to kick Labor Day is typically when into high gear now that the at least one of the candielection is less than 60 days dates begins to pitch their away. message directly to voters Both candidates — U.S. statewide with television Staff writer

WEATHER HIGH 91 LOW 74 PAGE 10C

advertising. Letlow, a Republican and the heavy favorite, likely will be first to hit the airwaves. Davis, the Democrat, has less money. Both candidates won their party nominations on June 27 in runoff elections that drew a light 17% turnout of

voters. Letlow collected 180,000 votes in winning 57% of the vote on the Republican side. Davis received nearly 157,000 votes in securing 80% of the vote on the Democratic side. Since then, neither candidate has attracted much

notice. “Louisianans are paying a lot more attention to the vote in Birmingham right now, LSU v the SEC, than to the one where two candidates are asking for a six-year contract to represent us in

ä See SENATE, page 4A Davis

Business ......................6A Commentary ................3B Nation-World ................2A Classified .....................4B Metro ...........................1B Opinion ........................2B Comics-Puzzles .....7C-9C Living............................5C Sports ..........................1C

Letlow

102Nd yEAR, NO. 71

2A ● Wednesday, September 9, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

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FROM WIRE REPORTS

TSA brings back gate access for some

LAS VEGAS — For decades, the airport security checkpoint has marked the end of the road for friends and relatives seeing off a traveler. That is changing for some travelers. The Transportation Security Administration has launched a new program at some U.S. airports allowing eligible TSA PreCheck members without plane tickets to pass through security and enter the gates, reviving a tradition that largely disappeared after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks nearly 25 years ago. “As an exclusive benefit for our most trusted travelers, this new program makes it easier to return to the gate for welcomes and send-offs, meet friends during a layover, and enjoy dining and shopping along the way, bringing back the moments that once defined air travel,” TSA said on its website. Before 9/11, people without tickets generally could accompany travelers to the gate. The attacks prompted sweeping changes to airport security, including restrictions on access to secure areas of airports. The program, called “Gateside by TSA PreCheck,” is free, but people must apply online one to three days before their planned visit and receive approval before going to the airport. If approved, they can enter through a TSA PreCheck lane with an acceptable form of identiﬁcation. The pass is valid for one calendar day, and visitors can re-enter that day.

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Funding cuts forcing clinic closure Aid groups say three dozen health facilities in Sudan shuttering BY FATMA KHALED Associated Press

into full-scale ﬁghting across the country. The war killed at least 59,000 people, displaced some 13 million and pushed parts of the country into famine. More aid organizations are pulling out as clinics are left without necessary medicine or funding, forcing patients to face costly transportation and dangerous journeys to get treatment, said Doctors Without Borders, or MSF. “These cuts are stripping away what little capacity remains, closing facilities, sending health workers home, and cutting off supply lines for medicines and nutrition treatment. The system is already stretched past its limit,” said Mesﬁn Teklu Tessema, senior technical health director for the International Rescue Committee, or IRC.

CAIRO — An additional three dozen health facilities serving more than 400,000 people in Sudan are closing this year due to global aid cuts, worsening a dire humanitarian situation in a country torn by more than three years of war, aid groups said Tuesday. The cuts come to a health care system that once numbered 6,500 primary healthcare facilities and 300 public hospitals, but that already was decimated in the ﬁrst year and a half of war. By September 2024, the World Health Organization said that up to 70-80% of facilities in the worst-hit areas were either closed or barely functioning. Sudan plunged into war in April 2023 when tensions between the Aid reaches fewer people army and the paramilitary Rapid Mohammed Mahdi, IRC direcSupport Forces, or RSF, escalated tor for East Sudan, told The Asso-

ing in and around the camp, down from about 35 in 2021, according to MSF. The MSF-supported hospital there ciated Press that funding cuts are forcing the closure of 36 IRC-sup- “is now the only lifeline left” for refported facilities and sites, cutting ugees and residents, said Fabrizio off access to essential services for Locuratolo, MSF humanitarian afan estimated 473,700 people. fairs manager in the statement. “A small number of facilities are able to keep running for a short pe- Risks of outbreaks riod using other funding sources, Ali Almohammed, MSF emerbut this bridge support is only ex- gency health manager, warned pected to last through the end of that “serious disease outbreaks September,” Mahdi said of facili- are already happening” in sevties across Sudan. eral parts of Sudan. He told the Healthcare providers couldn’t AP that measles reached a “major find alternative funding needed outbreak level” in Darfur, with apto provide healthcare services af- proximately 75% of measles pater grants to many organizations tients being unvaccinated. in Sudan ended in June following Sudan is also experiencing cholthe announcement of U.S. aid cuts era and malaria outbreaks. last year, according to MSF. Some Multiple attempts have been major European donors also de- made to end the war, including peace talks. Most recently, the creased their aid spending. The Um Rakuba camp in Gedar- United States urged the U.N. to ef State in eastern Sudan, which impose sanctions against the warshelters around 17,000 displaced ring parties as a means of pressurpeople, is now served by fewer ing them to negotiate an end to the than 10 aid organizations operat- conﬂict.

Kenya’s doctors threaten to join strike by nurses BY EVELYNE MUSAMBI Associated Press

Suspect arrested in Germany grid attacks BERLIN — Police arrested a suspect Tuesday in connection with a series of attacks on power distribution systems across Germany that led to a massive, dayslong search. A 48-year-old man was arrested near a power plant in Weisweiler, in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The man, whose name and nationality were not given in line with German privacy rules but who has been widely identified by local media as Daniel V., was in possession of explosives and offered no resistance at the time of his arrest, Cologne police said in a statement. The first acts of sabotage took place early last week at a substation near the Jänschwalde coal-fired power plant in Brandenburg in northeastern Germany. Hours later, a short circuit knocked power lines out of service at the Bergheim power substation near Cologne. Top security officials in both states raised alarms and said they couldn’t exclude that the attacks were committed by foreign powers. The incidents took place as the country was on high alert after the government blamed Russia for an attempted attack at Leipzig/Halle Airport on Aug. 4 using a drone laden with explosives.

Crime task force member arrested in DC WASHINGTON — A member of the Georgia National Guard deployed in Washington, D.C., as part of President Donald Trump’s task force to fight crime has been arrested for pulling a gun on a fellow Guard member in an alleged dispute over regulation haircuts. Zion Mitchell, 21, was arrested earlier this month and charged with assault with a dangerous weapon and possession of a firearm while committing a crime of violence or dangerous crime — both felonies — in connection with an Aug. 25 incident that occurred when a group of the Guard troops took a break, according to a Metropolitan Police Department report. The arrest warrant said Mitchell and the fellow guard member, a woman, were sitting in a van when they began arguing over whether their hairstyles met Army regulations. The argument went back and forth until she heard a holster click and thought Mitchell had opened his holster. She learned from fellow Guard members after getting out of the van that a weapon had been drawn and pointed at her. She told the investigating MPD officer that she assumed the gun was loaded since all National Guard firearms are generally loaded. Mitchell was arrested Sept. 1.

ASSOCIATEd PRESS PHOTO By ANdREW MEdICHINI

A section of the restored 15-meter ancient wall mosaic from ‘The Painted City’ site, discovered in the late 1990s within the underground structures that served as foundations for the Baths of Trajan, is seen in Rome on Tuesday.

Ancient Rome’s biggest fresco and mosaic opens Public welcome three decades after discovery

BY NICOLE WINFIELD

Associated Press

ROME — Authorities on Tuesday unveiled what is believed to be the largest fresco and mosaic complex of ancient Rome, a ﬁrst-century depiction of a maritime city in what became the largest bath complex in the world. Mayor Roberto Gualtieri presented the recently restored “Painted City” fresco and “Great Mosaic” that were discovered in an underground gallery during excavations in the 1990s of the Baths of Trajan on the Oppio hill near the Colosseum. The works are opening to the public for the ﬁrst time, initially in small groups of 15 and during a trial period of weekend access starting this month. The aim is to determine how the delicate works respond to increased humidity and climactic impacts before allowing more general access. Gualtieri said the fresco, which features images of a walled port city from a birds-eye view perspective, was the largest wall fresco of its kind from ancient Rome and as such needs to be open to the public. After being hidden undergound for centuries, its blues and terra cotta colors are still clear but faded.

“They are truly unique in the world, both from the point of view of artistic beauty and the historic and documental importance,” he said at the unveiling. Rome’s cultural superintendent, Claudio Parisi Presicce, said the grandeur of the port city as depicted in the fresco, with buildings, a theater and temple, public piazzas and towers, was particularly well conserved. The restoration work included techniques to preserve and improve visibility, remove surface deposits and consolidate the grouting to keep the decorated surfaces intact. “We don’t know what city it refers to, but it must have been a particularly wellknown one,” he said The mosaic, for its part, measures some 15 yards high and features intricately decorated columns and architectural elements and ﬁgures over four different levels. The top levels are up-close images with people that are almost like theatrical scenes, while at the bottom are views of the port city’s layout from above. The Baths of Trajan, which were dedicated by Emperor Trajan in A.D. 109, extended over 15 acres and were at the time the largest bath complex in the world. They incorporated an earlier baths complex, the Domus Aurea, and were designed on a different trajectory to take better advantage of the water temperatures to optimize the thermal experience for users.

Thieves steal 4 Renoirs from a French museum, ﬂee with 2 BY ANGELA CHARLTON

Associated Press

PARIS — Two thieves sliced through a fence, climbed through a window and stole four valuable Renoir paintings Tuesday from a small museum on the French Riviera, but abandoned two of the artworks as they fled, authorities said. Investigators launched a national search for the perpetrators. The whole operation took less than three minutes and targeted the most valuable works in the Renoir Museum in the town of Cagnes-sur-Mer, the regional prosecutor’s ofﬁce said. The theft conjured up painful memories of the spectacular heist of crown jewels at the Louvre Museum in Paris last year and revived calls for better security and better funding for the many cultural sites large and small that dot France’s landscape.

Cagnes-sur-Mer Mayor Bryan Masson estimated the value of the combined Renoir works stolen Tuesday at $10.5 million, but art theft experts warned they will be extremely hard to sell. The Renoir Museum is housed in the last home of painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, where he lived before his death in 1919. It’s the most famous attraction in Cagnes-sur-Mer, situated between Cannes and Nice on the Mediterranean coast. The “well-equipped” and “well-informed” thieves entered the Renoir Museum via the garden, Masson told reporters at the scene. Two of the stolen works were found dropped in the museum garden — Renoir’s ”Portrait of Madame Pichon” and “Coco Reading,” the prosecutor’s ofﬁce said in a statement. The two still missing are “Portrait of Madame Colonna Romano” and “Young Woman at the Well.”

NAIROBI, Kenya — Doctors in Kenya on Tuesday threatened to join a walkout by nurses that is now in its sixth week, citing an increased workload in hospitals as they cope with the impact of the strike. The nurses have been calling for the implementation of a collective bargaining agreement that was signed in 2017 following a six-month strike. The agreement remains unimplemented due to what the government has termed budgetary constraints. Dr. Davji Bhimji Atellah, secretary-general of the doctors’ union, said on Tuesday that doctors were overburdened and “cannot do the nursing jobs.” He said hospitals were already dealing with a shortage of doctors and that the healthcare system requires teamwork. “We will not watch silently as the healthcare system we have dedicated our lives to serving is allowed to deteriorate. When

one part of healthcare is compromised, we all suffer. And when we stand together, we protect our patients together,” he wrote in a post on X. On Tuesday, hundreds of nurses marched to the Council of Governors’ ofﬁce, a body established to bring the 47 county governments together. The governors and the Salaries and Remuneration Commission were due to meet on Tuesday to discuss remuneration. Atellah said the doctors’ union had given the government seven days to resolve the issues raised by the nurses. If the issues were not solved, the doctors would issue a strike notice. Seth Panyako, head of the nursing union, said on Monday that the government was not prioritizing healthcare during budgeting, leaving Kenyans to suffer in hospitals. He said the excuse that there was no budget to implement the 2017 agreement was unfair to nurses who work hard to provide healthcare services.

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U.K. bans goods from New grand jury subpoenas issued in Trump-Russia probe Israeli settlements Investigation looks to establish conspiracy theory against president

the eyes of the international comGovernment accuses munity.” “We will not acquiesce in the settlers of ‘ethnic destruction of the two-state solucleansing’ tion,” he said.

BY ERIC TUCKER

BY JILL LAWLESS

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department is demanding testimony before a Florida grand jury in an investigation aiming to establish an intelligence community conspiracy against President Donald Trump, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. New subpoenas being issued to former government officials represent an escalation in the yearlong investigation as the Justice Department pursues a loosely defined theory that members of the intelligence community who scrutinized Trump over the last decade, including over Russian interference in the 2016 election, conspired against him and violated his rights. Investigators in recent days contacted some defense lawyers for witnesses advising them of forthcoming grand jury subpoenas. It was not clear how many as of Tuesday had received a subpoena or were still waiting to receive one, and the identities of the witnesses receiving subpoenas were also not immediately clear. The people who confirmed the subpoenas spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss a secretive grand jury investigation. The contours of the conspiracy investigation aren’t fully known, but agents and prosecutors over the last several months have focused intensely on one of Trump’s chief grievances: the U.S. government response to Russian interference in 2016 and an intelligence community assessment that Moscow meddled on Trump’s behalf at the direction of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump, who spent much of his first term shadowed by an investigation into whether his campaign colluded with Russia to sway the outcome of the election, has for years lashed out at the intelligence community finding and cast it as a “deep state” conspiracy to undermine the legitimacy of his win.

LONDON — The United Kingdom on Tuesday banned trade with Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, where it says “settler terrorists” are carrying out “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians, in a signiﬁcant toughening of Britain’s stance toward a longtime ally. France and Canada announced they would take similar action in an attempt to prevent expanding settlements and growing violence from making it impossible to establish a future Palestinian state. Israel responded angrily and said it would close the British consulate in Jerusalem. Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said the U.K. will ban imports of all goods from the settlements and bar companies from providing services for the settlements, including ﬁnancing, construction, infrastructure, real estate and advertising. “I do not believe the British people want us supporting the occupation by accepting products from settlements in our shops and supermarkets,” Miliband said. In a joint statement, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said settlement expansion and settler violence in the West Bank “pose a direct and urgent threat” to the two-state solution. They said they decided to act “before it is too late.” The economic impact is likely to be limited, since the settlements produce only a small amount of largely agricultural exports. But the move is a symbolic expression of displeasure with Israel by some of its closest allies, and it offers a new sign of the Israeli government’s growing isolation as a result of the Gaza war. Miliband said that he feels “a deep sense of shame about what has unfolded in Palestine under

Associated Press

PROVIdEd PHOTO By JUSTICE dEPARTMENT

This image, contained in the indictment against former President donald Trump, and partially redacted by source, shows boxes of records being stored on the stage in the White and Gold Ballroom at Trump’s Mar-aLago estate in Palm Beach, Fla. Investigators searching for potential crimes in connection with the intelligence community response have conducted numerous voluntary interviews, but the subpoenas prepared for witnesses in recent days represent an apparent effort to lock down sworn testimony before a grand jury. It remains unclear whether anyone will be charged or for what offense, though lawyers for former CIA Director John Brennan have said they have been informed that he is a target as investigators examine whether he falsely testiﬁed to Congress — something he and his attorneys have consistently denied. The Justice Department last spring subpoenaed witnesses before a Washington grand jury as part of an investigation into Brennan, but swiftly withdrew the subpoenas in favor of voluntary interviews. The investigation is being run out of Florida, with the Justice Department in April bringing back into government service a top prosecutor from the Reagan administration, Joe diGenova, to serve as a counselor to the attorney general and help lead a team of agents and prosecutors. diGenova, who had previously asked then-Attorney General Pam Bondi to appoint him to the job and

has openly and repeatedly claimed Trump was the victim of an intelligence community conspiracy, declined to comment Tuesday when reached by the AP. In an indication of the wideranging nature of the investigation, the AP reported last month that diGenova’s team has sought interviews with law enforcement officials involved in the 2022 FBI search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property in Palm Beach, Florida. The search recovered a trove of classified documents that formed the basis of a since-abandoned Justice Department prosecution of Trump, who has long decried the FBI operation as an invasion of his privacy. Investigators have set up shop in Fort Pierce, Florida, the home court of U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, the Trump-appointed jurist who repeatedly appeared skeptical of the classified documents case against him and ultimately dismissed it after concluding that the prosecutor who filed the charges was illegally appointed. Lawyers for Brennan last year asked the chief judge of the federal court in Florida to prevent the investigation from being steered to Cannon, whom they described as a “favored” Trump judge.

Albanian protests against coastal development turn violent after 100th day Groups rally against Kushner-linked project BY ERI XHABAFTI and ZANA CIMILI Associated Press

TIRANA, Albania — Police in Albania blocked protesters from reaching parliament on Tuesday as the latest rally against a luxury development linked to U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner turned violent. The march was staged as parliament resumed from a summer recess and after the demonstrations marked their 100th day on Monday. They challenged a police cordon in the center of the capital, Tirana, pelting ofﬁcers in riot gear with eggs and tomatoes.

Cars transporting lawmakers to the parliament building were confronted by the crowds and were hit with plastic water bottles before police intervened to let them through. Dubbed the ‘flamingo revolution’ for protesters’ signs depicting the pink bird that could be harmed by the coastal development, the anti-government protests have rocked Albania. Although Albanian officials have avoided giving details of Kushner’s role in the project, Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, has spoken about her family’s involvement in the venture, describing it as an “incredible project.” The protests are aimed at stopping the massive project that critics say would cause environmental damage and limit public access

to the coast. The nightly Tirana protests initially only focused on the development but have since grown into a major challenge to the country’s long-ruling Socialist government. Prime Minister Edi Rama — a target of the demonstrations — strongly supports the investment project, arguing that it would help modernize a country that spent decades in Communist isolation. “We are here because we want change. Young people are struggling. Life is getting harder, and the government is not listening. We believe Albania can do better,” protester Elidon Mehmetaj said. “We are not asking for much. We are asking for a better future — for Albanian citizens, for our country, for our future,” he said.

y a D e m a G r Gear Up fo Victories with Sweet

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar condemned the “despicable” move. He said Israel would expel U.K. representatives from a joint military center monitoring the Gaza ceaseﬁre and end U.K. training of the Palestinian Authority’s security forces in the West Bank. In addition, Israel barred entry to a dozen British lawmakers and other U.K. citizens whom Sa’ar said were “involved in antisemitic and anti-Israel activity.”

Settlements expand Under the ultranationalist government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, settlement construction in the West Bank — seized by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war — has surged. Netanyahu’s government views the West Bank as the biblical and historical homeland of the Jewish people and is opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state. The international community overwhelmingly considers such construction to be illegal. Britain and other countries have voiced particular concern about the E1 settlement project approved by Israel, which would effectively cut the territory in two. There have been marked increases in attacks by settlers on Palestinians, evictions from Palestinian towns, Israeli military operations and checkpoints that choke freedom of movement, as well as several Palestinian attacks on Israelis. “The British government agrees that there is ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in areas of the West Bank, perpetrated by settler terrorists,” Miliband said. He said there had been “houses bulldozed, roads and public infrastructure destroyed, families displaced from their homes.” The ban on trade will be in place in six to nine months, Miliband said. He said Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Poland, Portugal and Sweden have pledged to “support further action.”

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SEC

Continued from page 1A competition among its members.” In the amended complaint, the SEC said it called the meeting in which its presidents will decide if they want to vote LSU out of the league because the school “demonstrated a lack of institutional control” over Kiffin and his football program. The league also took aim at Kiffin for some of the comments he offered Saturday when LSU opened its season with a 51-10 win over Clemson. The Tigers’ first-year coach quipped to the ABC broadcast in a halftime interview that the score would’ve been even more lopsided had LSU been able to add “pro players.” He also said in a news conference that he fought to sign tight end Dae’Quan Wright and defensive tackle Zxavian Harris — the two former Ole Miss starters at the heart of the legal saga — because he thought they should be eligible to play. Both Wright and Harris played four years of college football, then sued in search of a fifth after the NCAA decided not to grandfather them and the rest of their high school class into its new five-year eligibility model in June. Both players were cut from NFL rosters in August. “My job is what I believe is right,” Kiffin said, “and I believe we were fighting for what was right for those kids. I’m not going to get into all the reasons, but

SENATE

Continued from page 1A Washington,” said Mary-Patricia Wray, a lobbyist and strategist who is a Democrat but works with elected ofﬁcials in both political parties.

What they are saying Letlow, 45, worked as a high-level administrator at the University of Louisiana at Monroe before winning election to the U.S. House in 2021 in a district that stretches from Monroe south to the Florida Parishes. She succeeded her husband, Luke, who had just won the seat but then died from COVID-19, and has won reelection twice. In an interview Friday, Letlow identified two key issues in the Senate race: passing a catch-all bill aimed at beneﬁting farmers and a measure known as the SAVE act that Trump badly wants. Like other Republicans, Letlow says it would provide stricter safeguards to prevent voter fraud. Democrats say it would discourage voting and note that voter fraud is practically nonexistent. Davis, 56, has worked for decades as a farmer in Tensas Parish in northeast Louisiana, growing cotton, corn and soybeans. He served one term on the Tensas Police Jury and was defeated for reelection. As he campaigns, Davis is relying more on his personal biography than on a set of issues. “What I’ve learned most about Louisiana is that people are hurting,” he said during a recent cam-

STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

LSU coach Lane Kiffin runs to sing the alma mater with the team following the win over Clemson on Saturday. that’s what I believe. Many people don’t like that, but they don’t understand. “Maybe if they knew my relationship with Dae’Quan, they’d think a little different.” The SEC also said in the new complaint that Murrill “deployed the official powers” of her office to help LSU “compel the SEC to associate with conduct that violates its core principles.” Murrill filed an amicus brief in support of the athlete plaintiffs last Wednesday in the state lawsuit that led the SEC to file its initial federal countersuit. She then appeared at a preliminary

injunction hearing for the state suit, sitting alongside the plaintiff’s attorneys, and conducted interviews with reporters about the case. She’s called the SEC’s lawsuit “legal garbage.” The league ﬁled its initial lawsuit as a First Amendment claim, centering on the SEC’s “right not to be forced to associate its competitions, its name, its reputation and brand, and its championships with conduct that the conference has expressly condemned and that directly contradicts the stated values” of the league. Wright suited up for the Cleveland Browns in a preseason game

To be sure, that’s not how Davis and the grassroots team see the election. “Mr. Jamie seems like a person who has gotten into the community and listened to problems,” said Che Jones, a business owner in Harvey, outside the church. “We’ve got to send unbought fighters who repA hard road in a red state resent the people to WashDavis’ biggest challenge ington,” said Myles Cooper, is this: Can he reach voters publisher of the Algiers upset with Trump, Landry, Picayune. “This campaign the Iran war and moderate- represents ordinary Louisily high inflation? And can anans.” he convince enough people to give him money because Criss-crossing the state they believe he could pull In August, Letlow met off a major upset? Davis has a tough case to make. In a recent piece for Politico, Senior Columnist Jonathan Martin wrote how Trump’s sagging fortunes were pulling down Republicans and outlined the path for Democrats to win five seats that would allow them to take back control of the Senate. “Every wave election brings a late surprise, and if conditions deteriorate, there’s a chance Nebraska, Kansas and even Mississippi could fall,” Martin wrote. Note that he did not include Louisiana. “There are at least a dozen Republican-held seats where Democrats would have a ‘better’ chance (or less worse) than in Louisiana,” said Charlie Cook, a Shreveport native who founded and published The Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan tracker of political campaigns. “Even if Democrats had an absolutely fabulous year, the Louisiana Senate race would not be in the mix.”

paign appearance before a ﬁred-up crowd at a church with a Black congregation in Gretna. “Everybody is struggling.” Davis noted that he budgeted diesel at $3.25 per gallon when he drew up his expected farm costs this year. But it’s now more than $5 per gallon.

a problem for Letlow,” said Woody Jenkins, a former state representative from Baton Rouge who narrowly lost a Senate race 30 years ago. As chair of the East Baton Rouge Parish Republican Party, he backed Fleming during the Republican primary.

Bad blood in GOP? According to political analysts, the biggest challenge for Letlow heading to the Nov. 3 election is this: Can she unite the Republican base that splintered during the hard-fought primary campaign? And can she energize voters who supported President Donald Trump but are now disappointed with him? With the strong support of Trump and Gov. Jeff Landry, Letlow knocked out Sen. Bill Cassidy in the May 16 primary and defeated state Treasurer John Fleming in the June runoff. Fleming remains bitter at how an outside group run by Landry supporters attacked him repeatedly as soft on immigration, which Fleming labeled “an absolute lie.” On Tuesday, Fleming said he hasn’t heard from Letlow since his defeat and wouldn’t endorse her anyway. “They said all sorts of things about me that weren’t true,” Fleming said. “I don’t think we have enough honesty in Baton Rouge and Washington as it is.” Cassidy, who relentlessly attacked Letlow, has yet to endorse her. He didn’t respond to a text on Tuesday asking whether he will. “There hasn’t been a healing that I’m aware of. That’s

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with voters in 26 different parishes as part of a 64-parish tour before the Nov. 3 election. “Julia’s path to victory is clear: She will continue crisscrossing the state, meeting voters where they are and contrasting her record of delivering for Louisiana with a Democrat Party that has been overrun by socialists and communists,” the Letlow campaign said. Davis visited 18 cities from July 11 to Aug. 7 as part of what the Louisiana Democratic Party called “No More Silence: Road to the Polls.”

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but didn’t play. Harris briefly spent time with the New Orleans Saints, and he testified in court last Thursday that all he received from the franchise was $190 in gas money. Both have committed to LSU. Wright, Harris and dozens of other athletes were granted a preliminary injunction by Judge William Jorden in Baton Rouge last Thursday, permitting them a fifth season of eligibility. In response to LSU’s efforts to add former pros, including former NBA G-Leaguer RJ Luis to the men’s basketball team, the SEC adopted stiff penalties against such additions, including a fine equal to 50% of a

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sport’s budget and a half-season suspension for a team’s coach. The injunction given in Baton Rouge, which included the NCAA and SEC as defendants, sought to prevent the conference from instituting its penalties. In fact, LSU was enjoined by Jorden’s injunction, barring the university itself from preventing the plaintiffs from returning to NCAA competition. LSU played one of the plaintiffs, former Notre Dame defensive end Junior Tuihalamaka, in the opener against Clemson. Tuihalamaka didn’t sign a pro contract this offseason after suffering an injury in the NFL’s pre-draft process. Kifﬁn decided not to add Wright and Harris to LSU’s roster ahead of the opener because of the “uncertainties” around the potential repercussions for such a move. A lawyer for the plaintiffs, Ryan Downton, called it a “measured decision” that would the allow the school more time to sort out the legal complexities of the situation. Wright had been practicing with LSU but no longer can until he’s added to the roster. He could be added later because the Tigers have open roster spots for Wright and Harris. “Defendants, each of them a state actor, are forcing the conference to associate its competitions, brand and championships with conduct that the conference has expressly repudiated,” the SEC’s complaint reads. An LSU athletics spokesperson declined to comment for this story. A hearing on the SEC’s request for a temporary restraining order is set for 1 p.m. Wednesday.

“Folks are getting up every day to provide for their families but are being met with price hikes,” said Kaitlyn Joshua, the campaign’s statewide field director. “Jamie understands that because he deals with these issues every day.” Davis has won the support of Nick Albares, a policy wonk who received 26% of the vote in the May primary. But Gary Crockett, who lost the June runoff with 20%, has yet to endorse Davis. The two developed a testy relationship because Davis refused to debate Crockett during the runoff.

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The Acadiana Advocate ● theadvocate.com ● Wednesday, September 9, 2026 ● 5A

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Trump threatens Canadian jetmaker Company has an extensive U.S. footprint

By The Associated Press U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to ban the sale of aircraft from Canada’s Bombardier unless it manufactures planes in the United States. The maker of private jets in response pointed out that major components for its planes, from wings to engines, are produced in the U.S. and that its supply chain that relies heavily on U.S. companies. Since Canada-U.S. trade talks collapsed on Aug. 21, Trump and his administration have unleashed a barrage of tariffs, threats and personal attacks portraying Canada as weak and dependent. Canada retaliated Tuesday with tariffs on about $20 billion worth of U.S. goods. “NO MORE SELLING BOMBARDIER IN THE UNITED STATES! Their

CANADA

Continued from page 1A discussions said. Options could include expanding existing agreements, negotiating a new treaty or creating other forms of cooperation. The official said Canada is already consulting provinces, territories and labor groups about what a deeper relationship with the EU could look like, but no model has been chosen. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the talks publicly. Carney is due in Strasbourg, France, next week, where he will attend European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s State of the European Union address Sept. 16 and address the European Parliament the following day. The rupture has upended one of the world’s closest relationships. The countries have deeply integrated economies and close defense and security ties, but Trump has imposed a series of tariffs on Canadian goods despite negotiating and repeatedly praising the North American trade agreement during his first term. Many of those tariffs violate the pact. Carney acknowledged the trade actions would cause short-term pain but said they would push Canada to move faster on investment, infrastructure and trade diversification. “It was easy business, but it meant we relied too much on one economic partner,” he said. “That time is over.”

products aren’t good enough!” Trump said in a social media post Monday. “If they want our Market, they must build here, and stop treating America like a ‘piggybank.’ ” Bombardier said in a statement that the American aerospace industry is a “clear winner on trade and exports.” It said it creates tens of thousands of jobs both directly and through its supply chain. Bombardier’s supply chain includes about 2,800 U.S. companies in 47 states, it said. Among other things, wings for its business jets are made in Texas and ﬂight control components are produced near Los Angeles. Honeywell, a major U.S. aerospace manufacturer, makes engines for Bombardier’s Challenger jets in Phoenix, and Collins Aerospace makes avionics and communications equipment in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. “Bombardier values its great partnership with American companies and its U.S. employees. Our plan is to continue to invest in our

people, our customers, and the communities in which we operate across the country,” it said. Bombardier has significant operations in Kansas, where Republicans have held a solid grip on both U.S. Senate seats for a century. Trump won the state by about 16 percentage points in 2024. Both senators said they had contacted the White House to express concerns about the threat to the Canadian company and its potential impact on Kansas workers. “I reached out to the Trump administration to make certain the President is aware of the signiﬁcant contributions of Bombardier to Kansas and the importance of its presence in Wichita to many Kansas workers at Bombardier and in the Bombardier supply chain,” Sen. Jerry Moran wrote in a social media post. Moran promised to continue working to ensure that the planemaker’s manufacturing operations remain in Kansas.

More than 70% of Canadian exports still go to the United States, underscoring the scale of Carney’s push to diversify trade. He said Canada’s exports to other countries are rising sharply and are on track to double over the next decade. Carney defended the retaliation, saying Canada could not let American goods enter tariff-free while Canadian companies face U.S. tariffs Canada was not seeking to escalate the confrontation, he said, but the tariffs were necessary to protect Canadian workers. Carney said the larger problem was what Washington had sought in the failed negotiations. “The most fundamental issue is that the cumulative U.S. demands revealed that they wanted us to become even more reliant on them, not less,” he said. “In too many areas, they wanted dependency, not a true economic partnership.” The prime minister said Washington sought limits on French-language and cultural protections, influence over future trade deals and terms that would weaken the auto, steel and forestry sectors. How the trade war ends could carry consequences far beyond Canada, testing whether a smaller U.S. ally can resist Trump’s economic pressure without being forced to yield. Earlier on Tuesday, a Canadian official said Ottawa did not intend to change course regardless of whether Trump responded with nothing or what the official called a “nuclear response.” The government’s strategy will remain focused on

building more at home and diversifying trade abroad, the ofﬁcial said. The tariffs hit hundreds of American products, including steel, aluminum, cheese, appliances, clothing, cosmetics and farm equipment, at rates of 15%, 25% or 50%. They cover about $20 billion in American goods, roughly 6% of the $333.6 billion the United States exported to Canada last year. Since Canada-U.S. trade talks collapsed Aug. 21, Trump and his administration have imposed additional tariffs and issued a series of threats and attacks portraying Canada as weak and dependent. Trump’s trade war and repeated talk of making Canada the 51st state have fueled anger across the country. Canadians have sharply cut travel to the United States and boycotted U.S. goods, moves Carney praised as signs of national resolve. British Columbia Premier David Eby said the province will install new signs at U.S. border crossings reading: “Welcome to British Columbia, Canada. Strong, proud and will NEVER be the 51st state. Sorry!” “While our kindness is one of our greatest strengths, you should never, ever mistake that kindness for weakness,” Eby said. Gabriel Brunet, a spokesman for Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc, said officials from both countries remain in contact even though formal talks have not resumed. Former U.S. trade ofﬁcial Wendy Cutler said Carney’s public approval rating, now topping 70%, gives him little reason to restart talks.

STAFF PHOTO By BRAd BOWIE

Members of the Ragin’ Cajuns drone Team, from left, Logan Leger, Andres Gonzalez, and Cameron Strother, participated in a U.S. department of defense dARPA Lift Challenge this summer.

DRONE

Continued from page 1A “Our neighbor in the competition spent $100,000 on his aircraft and had been developing it for over 10 years. They’ve had at least a version of that aircraft in ﬂight. That was what we were competing against,” team member Cameron Strother said. “We had to do a lot of (design for manufacturing) work, because we only had so many means to manufacture our parts, and so many materials. We had to do manual machining. And we made our own rotor blades; that was a huge thing,” Strother said. “We ended up going through a lot of trial and error, actually, making the blade molds, and ended up with 15 blades.” Andres Gonzalez, who was on the team with Livaudais and Strother, and Collin Faucheux and Logan Leger — all mechanical engineering majors — said the drone combined multiple senior projects. Department instructors John

Carroll and Yasmeen Qudsi advised the team, alongside associate professor Jonathan Raush. All drones had to weigh 55 pounds or less and be able to ascend while carrying at least 110 pounds. Controllers had to fly the drone for 4 nautical miles, land and deposit the payload, and then fly an additional nautical mile. The UL students built a 17-foot-long, 44-pound drone largely using carbon fiber materials, modeled on a Chinook helicopter. They started in January, finished in early August, and the drone is now lying in disassembled parts in the engineering lab at Rougeou Hall. The team expects it’ll take about a month to get it flying again. “For us in mechanicals, we really enjoyed the process of going from complete zero design, all the way through manufacturing and software integration,” Livaudais said. “I think it was really cool, and it took everything that we learned from years of classes to where we were actually applying it in the

real world, in a very short time.” Their advisers pointed out that the team’s accomplishment was especially remarkable, given that a project of this scope would normally have groups of specialists working on the different components: from the drone’s propulsion to its energy system and flight aerodynamics. “It’s not often that a small group gets together and completes a project like this,” Carroll said. “It was a great learning experience for them.” “Some teams that were there were saying, ‘This is our first time flying it.’ For them to actually have three days before to practice was really good,” Qudsi said. “That was the point of the challenge: It was a really short time frame and a really ambitious goal. The state of the art for drones now is a one-to-one payload-to-weight ratio; getting beyond that is really difficult.” Email Joanna Brown at joanna.brown@ theadvocate.com.

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Singapore man guilty in $240M bitcoin theft

WASHINGTON — A 22-year-old man pleaded guilty on Tuesday to teaming up with friends to steal nearly a quarter-billion dollars in bitcoin from a Washington, D.C., resident — one of the largest cryptocurrency thefts in U.S. history — and then embarking on a wild spending spree with the laundered proceeds. Malone Lam, an eighth-grade dropout who came to the U.S. from Singapore, faces a maximum prison sentence of 20 years after pleading guilty to a federal racketeering conspiracy charge. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly didn’t immediately schedule Lam’s sentencing hearing in Washington. Lam was an organizer for a network of young men who carried out a string of crypto scams starting in 2023, prosecutors said. He is one of 18 defendants charged in the case and is the 11th to plead guilty, but his conviction marks a major breakthrough for the Justice Department’s investigation. In August 2024, Lam and others used “social engineering” techniques to dupe the Washington man out of bitcoin worth over $245 million. Two of Lam’s alleged co-conspirators posed as representatives of Google and the Gemini crypto exchange to manipulate the man into giving them access to his Google Drive and revealing security codes that allowed Lam to siphon off over 4,100 bitcoin, according to prosecutors. Lam helped launder and covert stolen crypto into cash that he used to buy a ﬂeet of sports cars, rent mansions in Miami and spend millions at night clubs, including $569,000 in one evening at one Los Angeles club, authorities said.

U.K. cancels 600 flights due to air traffic issue LONDON — More than 600 flights were canceled on Tuesday due to a technical issue in Britain’s air traffic control system that caused disruptions at major airports across the U.K., the flight monitoring website Flightradar24 reported. Britain’s National Air Traffic Services said a problem had been identified in its flight processing system and engineers were urgently working on the issue, which affected flights across the U.K. In an update, it said it had “our flight system is starting to recover.” At least 625 flights to and from U.K. airports, including London Heathrow, were canceled, affecting services operated by multiple airlines, including British Airways, EasyJet, KLM and Lufthansa, according to Flightradar24.

Seattle Times alleges copyright infringement The Seattle Times Co. has sued OpenAI and Microsoft, in the latest move by media companies to call out artiﬁcial intelligence players’ alleged copyright violations. In a lawsuit filed in federal court, The Seattle Times, joined by Newsday, accused OpenAI of using the outlets’ published work to train large language models, also known as chatbots. “This was not an easy decision,” Seattle Times President and CEO Alan Fisco wrote in an email to employees Friday. “However, we feel strongly that we must defend our content — which we spend millions of dollars a year to produce — from being used without our consent or compensation.” In the lawsuit, attorneys representing The Seattle Times and Newsday, a daily newspaper based in Long Island, New York, said that OpenAI’s models were causing substantial harm to media businesses, citing industry data that said search referral trafﬁc to midsize publishers declined by 47% year over year in December 2025. The two media outlets also accused OpenAI of diluting their trademark by generating content that falsely attributed fabricated content to The Seattle Times and Newsday.

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China tech company faces racketeering trial Huawei accused of stealing, bank fraud

BY LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press

NEW YORK — Huawei Technologies, a leading Chinese tech company, faces a criminal racketeering trial in New York over charges that it stole technology, plotted to steal U.S. trade secrets and committed wire and bank fraud, among other crimes. Jury selection began Tuesday afternoon. The indictment alleges that, besides stealing trade secrets, Huawei and some of its subsidiar-

ies did business in North Korea despite U.S. sanctions there and installed surveillance equipment that helped Iran spy on protesters during 2009 anti-government demonstrations in Iran. Huawei’s lawyers have tried to get the broad criminal case dismissed, arguing in court ﬁlings that the U.S. allegations were too vague and impermissibly tried to extend American authority abroad. The company said in a statement that the narrative pushed by U.S. prosecutors is “demonstrably false.” “Long-term investment in innovation, backed by the utmost respect for intellectual property, has been the driving force behind Huawei’s business success,” the company said.

Huawei is the world’s biggest supplier of gear for wireless telecom networks but the company is banned from selling equipment to U.S. carriers over fears it poses a security risk. It has also been blacklisted by other Western allies like Canada and Britain. The company makes phones and other consumer electronics but has been cut off from other lines of business. More recently, it has expanded into chipmaking as the boom in artiﬁcial intelligence fuels demand for microprocessors. During President Donald Trump’s first term in office, his administration raised national security concerns about Huawei and began lobbying Western allies against including the company’s

products in their next-generation high-speed wireless networks. The U.S. announced the criminal charges in early 2019 and has since expanded the allegations. Chinese officials said the U.S. government has engaged in “economic bullying” and improperly used national security as a pretext for “oppressing Chinese companies.” U.S. prosecutors accused Huawei of using a Hong Kong shell company known as Skycom to sell equipment to Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions. They also charged its chief ﬁnancial ofﬁcer, Meng Wanzhou, with fraud, saying she misled HSBC bank about the company’s business dealings in Iran.

Affordable housing remains empty as U.S.’s poorest can’t pay for it BY CLAIRE RUSH Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore. — Mathew Davis, who lives in a homeless shelter in Austin, Texas, would love an apartment of his own. But with the little money he makes donating blood plasma, even a $450-a-month tiny home with no running water and a communal bathroom would be a stretch. Meanwhile, over 4,500 units the city classifies as affordable — nearly 16% — sit empty. “I don’t make enough money really to afford anything,” Davis, 49, said of the few hundred dollars he earns a month. “I just keep trying to swim uphill.” The poorest people in the U.S. face the most acute shortages of affordable homes. But the majority of low-income housing financed in recent years is for those earning 50% of an area’s median income or above, according to a survey of state housing agencies. Some cities are now seeing an uptick in vacancies as rents for these units approach market rates. The result: Apartments designated as affordable sit empty because the poorest of the poor cannot afford them. Meanwhile, some people are forced into homelessness and others into desperate circumstances to pay for housing they can’t afford. There are only about 4 million affordable rental units available for the country’s 11 million extremely low-income renter households, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s most recent annual report. These are people with annual incomes either below the federal poverty guidelines — just under $16,000 for a single-person household — or 30% of the median income in their area, whichever is higher. They comprise about a quarter of U.S. renter households, and include many people working low-wage jobs, seniors and those with disabilities living on fixed incomes. About three-quarters of extremely low-income renter households pay over half their income on rent and utilities, the report said, leaving little leftover for other necessities. Yet homes set aside for these renters were only about 12% of the affordable housing units financed in 2024 by the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit — a federal program providing tax credits to developers in exchange for keeping rents low for at least 30 years, according to figures from the National Council of State Housing Agencies. The majority are for those earning at least 50% of an area’s median income, or AMI. In Austin, that’s a single person earning roughly $47,000 a year, as compared with an extremely low-income person earning under $28,000. The program has financed nearly 4 million affordable units nationwide since its creation 40 years ago. But some experts say it’s

ASSOCIATEd PRESS FILE PHOTO

In Austin, the vacancy rate for all affordable housing is nearly 16% with over 4,500 vacant units, according to real estate data and analytics firm CoStar. A healthy vacancy rate is around 5%. inefﬁcient — and more costly than housing vouchers. “It’s enormously complex and bureaucratic, and it raises the cost of construction enormously because the rules are so complicated,” said Chris Edwards, an economist at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, who told Congress the program’s complexity “spawned” an industry of law and accounting ﬁrms just to administer it. “If you’re going to subsidize affordable housing, you should give the money directly to tenants,” he said, referring to housing vouchers. Other experts say the two programs work together well because properties built with the tax credit are required to accept vouchers — while landlords of market-rate apartments in many states are not. Still, there’s a major federal funding shortfall: Experts estimate only one-in-four eligible families ever receive vouchers. Vouchers can help the poorest pay for housing that’s targeted to higher income groups, but the waitlist can be yearslong. Some affordable housing developers say that without vouchers, it’s not economically feasible to provide units for extremely lowincome people. True Ground Housing Partners, an affordable housing developer in the Washington, D.C., area, gives an example: A unit for those

earning 60% of the area’s median income — nearly $70,000 a year — brings in $1,715 per month in rent. But after $1,575 in mortgage and operating expenses, only $140 is left. “The math does not lie,” said president and CEO Carmen Romero, noting that an extremely low-income person would pay only half that rent. “Our expenses don’t make it really possible to create a 30% AMI unit, unless there was this extraordinary amount of subsidy that just doesn’t exist.” Meanwhile, affordable housing rents for 60% AMI units are approaching those of market-rate apartments in U.S. cities like Austin, Denver and Portland, Oregon. As a result, some people are opting to pay a bit more for market-rate apartments with less income-verification and faster approval — leaving growing numbers of affordable units vacant. In Austin, the vacancy rate for all affordable housing is nearly 16% with over 4,500 vacant units, according to real estate data and analytics firm CoStar. A healthy vacancy rate is around 5%. LDG Development, an affordable housing developer, cited a 12% vacancy rate for its 60% AMI units in Austin. Chief portfolio officer Rebekah Fischer said LDG is “in direct competition” with the thousands of new market-rate apartments recently built in Austin.

U.S. hits remaining parts of Iran’s aviation sector with sanctions It’s the latest move to isolate Tehran BY FARNOUSH AMIRI Associated Press

The Trump administration on Tuesday imposed sanctions on additional elements of Iran’s aviation industry, targeting more than two dozen commercial and private airlines as well as foreign cargo service providers in its new push to isolate Tehran from its remaining trading partners. The latest actions are part of the Trump administration’s Operation Economic Outcast campaign that is aimed at severing “critical

ﬁnancial lifelines” for the already heavily sanctioned Iranian government. The new penalties target the remaining facets of Tehran’s already beleaguered aviation ecosystem, which Washington has sanctioned for years. “Let this be a warning to anyone doing business with Iran’s remaining airlines, all of which we sanctioned today: You are at risk of being cut off from the global ﬁnancial system,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a news release. The Trump administration accused the 36 entities targeted this week of supporting the Islamic Republic’s efforts to use its aviation sector to move weapons, person-

nel, and illicit cargo. The moves will subject foreign ﬁrms and governments that do business with the targeted entities to sanctions themselves, including a freeze on any assets they may have in U.S. jurisdictions. In a post on X, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called out the longstanding U.S. sanctions campaign against Iran, saying that the fallout “has been disastrous for America, including its standing worldwide.” “After failing to achieve its aims through sanctions or war, Washington’s “novel” solution is…more sanctions. Seriously?” Araghchi wrote Tuesday afternoon. The administration also claimed

that private entities based in Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Kazakhstan and Malaysia have provided parts and logistics services to Iran’s Mahan Air. The major airline, which ﬂies from Tehran to a few dozen destinations in Asia, Europe and the Middle East, has been subject to U.S. counterterrorism sanctions since 2019 for its support for Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which the State Department has designated a foreign terrorist organization. The airline was ﬁrst targeted by the U.S. under the Obama administration in 2011, when it accused Mahan Air of being used to send weapons to Iranian proxies in Lebanon and Yemen.

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U.S. military: 5 Iranian oil tankers Houthi attacks on destroyed after attacks on Navy Saudi Arabia ignite

fires at oil facilities 73 people wounded in escalation

BY KONSTANTIN TOROPIN Associated Press

BY SAMY MAGDY Associated Press

ASSOCIATEd PRESS PHOTO By VAHId SALEMI

A motorboat travels past commercial vessels anchored amid haze in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, on Monday.

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warning that it would, “if necessary, destroy Iran’s limited and exposed oil fleet.” Iran later said it planned to announce a new “exclusion zone” near the Strait of Hormuz aimed at vessels intending to transit. The latest strikes are part of a dual economic and military approach by President Donald Trump as he struggles to bring an end to a more than six-month-old war with Tehran. The Trump administration on Tuesday also imposed sanctions on additional elements of Iran’s aviation industry, targeting more than two dozen commercial and private airlines as well as foreign cargo service providers in its new push to isolate Tehran from its remaining trading partners. Both the U.S. and Iran are seeking to exert control over the Strait of Hormuz, where about one-fifth of the world’s oil passed before the war began. Rising energy prices are posing political problems for Trump and his Republican Party ahead of the November midterm elections. A barrel of international standard Brent crude briefly climbed as high as $99.46 on Tuesday. A U.S. blockade of Iranian ports has squeezed the country’s economy by limiting its oil exports, while the American military has been helping a limited number of ships transit on a route through the Strait of Hormuz off Oman.

AP P

only risk more retaliation and further impact to the global economy. “There is no kinetic solution to the Strait of Hormuz problem,” he said on social media. “Every attempt to impose one only brings Washington and Tehran closer to an escalation that may become increasingly difﬁcult to control.” An Iranian state TV reporter in Jask said an Iranian tanker was struck near the coast of Yekbeni, while another explosion was heard in the area whose source and location were not immediately clear. State TV later reported that the U.S. military attacked a second tanker near waters off Jask. It said the crews of both vessels were being evacuated by lifeboat toward the Jask coast. Separately, state television reported that another Iranian tanker was attacked in Kharg Island anchorage area. It said the crew was safely evacuated shortly after the strike. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Navy on Tuesday warned crews of oil tankers near ports in Kuwait and Bahrain to immediately leave their vessels, saying the ships could be targeted in retaliation for U.S. attacks on Iranian tankers. It accused Kuwait and Bahrain of hosting U.S. forces and assisting in the attacks. On Saturday, the U.S. military said it had struck three Iranian oil tankers after Navy warships were targeted with ballistic missiles,

CAIRO — The Iranian-backed Houthi rebel group in Yemen launched a wave of attacks on Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, wounding more than 70 people and igniting fires at oil facilities and utilities in the kingdom, authorities said. The attack was a major escalation in renewed fighting between an important U.S. ally and the Iranian proxy group. It also threatened to further destabilize a region rocked by nearly three years of wars and deliver a new blow to the global economy. Weeks of clashes have added pressure to limited global oil supplies as the Houthis target a shipping route Saudi Arabia has used to transport oil to world markets while the Strait of Hormuz is throttled due to the U.S.-Iran war. Tuesday’s attacks hit Saudi oil facilities connected to an alternative route, the Bab el-Mandeb, a strategic waterway off the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula that connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. The attacks early Tuesday came hours after the rebels blamed Saudi Arabia for an airstrike that hit a prison in Yemen’s northern province of Jawf. At least seven people, including a child, were killed and seven others were wounded. The rebels hit “civilian and economic facilities” in the Saudi cities of Abha, Jazan, Najran and Khamis Mushait, said Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki, a spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen. Seventy-three people were wounded, including women and children, he said, calling the attacks a “serious escalation” and vowing retaliation. The attacks ignited fires at several oil facilities and utilities in Saudi Arabia’s southern region,

SCAN

WASHINGTON — Iran has launched missiles toward U.S. targets in Jordan, Iranian state-run media said, following the latest American strikes. It’s the latest tit-for-tat retaliation after the U.S. military said it destroyed five Iranian crude oil tankers following two attacks on a U.S. warship by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard over the past two days. U.S. Central Command, when asked about the strikes on the Jordanian airbase, said it had no information to offer. The Iranian tankers destroyed in the attack were the Kivik, Charminar, Horizon 1 and the Riesco in the Gulf of Oman, Central Command said. The U.S. military also destroyed the vessel Derya, which was located near Kharg Island in the Strait of Hormuz. Central Command said the crews of the five vessels were told to abandoned ship before the attacks. The strikes come just three days after U.S. forces destroyed three Iranian oil tankers after Iran’s Revolutionary Guards tried to attack a U.S. aircraft carrier and destroyer. Iranian state television also reported the U.S. strikes, saying U.S. forces attacked at least three Iranian oil tankers near the southern port of Jask and near Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf. It said the crews were evacuated. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. will not allow Iran’s attacks to go unanswered. “Iran continues to try to hit U.S. naval ships. And for every time they do that or try to do that, they’re going to lose tankers. And I think you’ll see that again today,” Rubio told reporters Tuesday when asked about the latest attacks in Iran while on a trip to Colombia. Danny Citrinowicz, an Iran expert at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies, warned that such back-and-forth strikes can

the kingdom’s Energy Ministry said, adding that operations at the oil facilities and utilities were temporarily suspended. The southern region houses major oil facilities, including a 400,000-barrel-per-day oil refinery in Jazan, which is one of Saudi Arabia’s largest. The Houthis previously attacked the Abha airport. The ministry said firefighters were battling the fires Tuesday morning. In a prerecorded video statement, Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, the Houthis military spokesman, said they fired dozens of ballistic missiles and drones at oil and economic facilities, as well as an air base in southern Saudi Arabia. He said they targeted Jazan City for Primary and Downstream Industries, a major industrial and logistics hub on Saudi Arabia’s southwestern Red Sea coast. The rebels also aimed at Aramco facilities in Najran and Abha, as well as King Khalid Air Base in Khamis Mushait. Saree blamed Saudi Arabia for the escalation, warning that “every aggression against our country and people will be met with a firm response.” While visiting Moscow Tuesday, Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan accused the Houthis of resorting to violence to serve their interests over those of Yemen, despite the Kingdom offering a chance to negotiate for peace. He added during a joint press briefing with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, that the latest escalation by the Houthis against the Kingdom is part of a series of provocations and that Saudi Arabia will not hesitate to defend itself The new fighting has threatened to reignite the country’s civil war, which began in 2014 when the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, and much of northern Yemen and forced the government into exile. A Saudi-led coalition intervened the following year to try to restore the government to power.

Central Command: Iranian crews told to abandon ship

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‘Words that will never seem real’

Louisiana contestant wins first runner-up in Miss America BY JUDY BERGERON Staff writer

“First Runner-Up to Miss America. Words that will never seem real,” Louisiana’s Shelby Bordelon said via Facebook on Monday. On Sunday night, the 24-yearold Sunshine native stood onstage in West Palm Beach, Florida, along with 51 other contestants, all hoping to bring home that coveted crown and title. After reaching the final five, Bordelon, the current Miss Louisiana, came up just shy of the win, but grateful for the experience nonetheless. “I have dreamed about the Miss America stage for as long as I can remember. Nothing I ever imagined could have prepared me for what it actually felt like to stand there tonight among some of the most extraordinary women I have ever known,” she posted on social media. “And how blessed am I that the woman standing beside me in those final moments was @ reganhuntsell. There could not be a more deserving, beautiful representative to wear that crown.” Miss Texas Regan Huntsell, 25 and a Houston native, captured the title. A dancer, she is a former member of The Rockettes and joined the Birmingham Royal Ballet in 2021.

ä See AMERICA, page 4B

PROVIdEd PHOTO FROM FACEBOOK

Louisiana’s Shelby Bordelon soaks in the moment after winning first runner-up in the Miss American pageant 2027.

STAFF PHOTOS By LESLIE WESTBROOK

Workers install an HVAC system Tuesday inside the old Jefferson drug Store, which the United Way of Acadiana and other partner agencies will open as a neighborhood grocery store early next year, at the corner of Jefferson Boulevard and St. Charles Street in Lafayette.

ESSENTIAL ACCESS United Way of Acadiana, partner agencies to open for-profit grocery store in north Lafayette

BY ADAM DAIGLE

Acadiana business editor The United Way of Acadiana and other partner agencies will open a neighborhood grocery store in north Lafayette early next year. Ofﬁcials announced the Jefferson Market & Deli, which will be housed at 620 Jefferson Blvd. in the 2,300-square-foot space that last housed Jefferson Drug Store. The for-profit store will offer fresh food, prepared items and everyday essentials for residents of the Pontiac Point, McComb-Veazey and Sterling Grove areas of Lafayette. Bradley Cruice and Craig Biddy, operators of Amis Grocery in downtown Lafayette, will operate the store, expected to open in early February. It will also address the food insecurity issues of north Lafayette, where many neighborhoods east of the Evangeline Thruway and north of Interstate 10 qualify as low income and low access to food, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data. About 65,000 Blanchard people live in low-income, low-access census tracts of Lafayette, according to United Way’s Community Health Needs Assessment. “Jefferson Market is designed to be a self-sustaining neighborhood business, not a short-term program dependent on ongoing charitable support,” United Way of Acadiana Director Heather Blanchard

The new store will help address food insecurity in north Lafayette, where many neighborhoods qualify as low income and low access to food, according to U.S. department of Agriculture data. said. “Our hope is to prove that this model of community investment, private capital and local ownership can work here and ultimately be replicated in other food deserts.” The store is the result of the agency’s years of research, community listening and persistent collaboration with other agencies, Blanchard said. The effort re-

Consultant named to UL system board BY JOANNA BROWN Staff writer

The newest member of the University of Louisiana system’s governing board says the University of Louisiana is an institution on the rise. Last month, Gov. Jeff Landry selected Ryan Furby, an international corporate consultant from the Lafayette area, to serve a six-year term on the Board of Supervisors for the University of Louisiana system. Furby took the oath of office at the Aug. 27 UL system board meeting, ﬁlling the seat held by Dr. John Nobles, of Lake Charles, who died June 11.

Recently, Furby served as a nonvoting member on the UL Lafayette Presidential Search Committee, which confirmed Ramesh Kolluru as the institution’s seventh president in February. With his appointment to the board, Furby said Furby he is excited to share the responsibility of overseeing the system’s eight universities, including UL Lafayette, which he called “one of the bright spots in the system.”

ä See CONSULTANT, page 4B

quired public funding, grant support, ﬁnancing and private investment to make it possible. It also received a contribution from upLFT Capital Access, which helps small businesses and projects that strengthen the local food ecosystem.

ä See ACCESS, page 4B

Former area United Way coordinator dies at 74 BY JOEL THOMPSON Staff writer

PROVIdEd PHOTO

Susan Fisher, a longtime community events coordinator and educator who worked for the United Way, died Monday at 74.

Longtime community events coordinator and educator Susan Fisher passed away at the age of 74 on Monday, leaving behind a legacy that includes service in both St. Landry and Evangeline parishes. Fisher, who was ofﬁcially employed as a special event coordinator by the United Way of St. Landry and Evangeline, passed away following a sudden hospitalization last week due to an infection that resulted in septic shock, according to family members. Fisher was ﬁrst hired by United Way in 2012, where she was instrumental in virtually every fac-

et of the organization, including raising money for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library through Women United and helping people affected by ﬂooding. “She brought joy, dedication, and a true heart for service to our United Way family and the community we serve. She was deeply loved by all who knew her, and the impact she made will be remembered with great fondness,” the United Way of St. Landry and Evangeline said in a social media post Monday. Prior to her tenure at United Way, Fisher had also worked with Lafayette Boys & Girls clubs and owned her own ﬂoral company.

ä See FISHER, page 4B

2B ● Wednesday, September 9, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

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

OUR VIEWS

Childcare funding cuts steepen climb from poverty There is nothing so American as a bootstrap tale — the story of a person, through hard work and determination, pulling themselves up from poverty to success. That’s why we are disappointed that the state and federal governments seem determined to make such journeys more difficult for parents with young children. A recent analysis by The Associated Press found that there are hundreds of thousands of children in 23 states and the District of Columbia on waitlists for state-assisted childcare. In Louisiana, more than 7,700 waiting for aid for which they have already been deemed eligible. That’s a 70% increase from the previous year. The assistance, which is designed to serve low-income families and foster children, is falling further and further behind. In Louisiana, with federal help, the program subsidized 25,000 children’s care in 2022, its peak enrollment. Even so, the state had enough demand to establish a waitlist that year. And after the pandemic funding expired in 2023, Louisiana tried to pick up the difference, kicking in $88 million to the program. But it still hasn’t kept up. This year, the state allocated about $79 million, and federal funding is about $66 million short of what it was at its pandemic-era high. That means there are about 10,000 fewer children in the program this year. Parents can wait years for their aid to come through. Sometimes their children age out and begin attending school before they ever receive it. One preschool director counsels families not to expect it even if they are eligible. “If you’re filling it out now, chances are you will not get on,” Sonjia Brown-Joseph, executive director of Clara’s Little Lambs Preschool in New Orleans, told this newspaper’s Patrick Wall. “And if you do, your child will probably be heading to school by that time.” The negative effects are obvious. When parents can’t afford childcare, it makes it tougher for them to work or pursue education or training that might afford them better prospects. What’s more, research indicates that children who receive good childcare are healthier emotionally and academically. That impacts people like Dynasty Bartholomew, an Alexandria mother trying to study to become a medical assistant. Putting her 2-year-old in daycare costs $720 per month, which soaks up most of her income. She’s had to rely on relatives and nonprofits to help her pay her other bills. Bartholomew’s eligibility was granted eight months ago, but she has yet to receive aid. Every time she calls, she told Wall, she hears the same thing: “I’m on the waiting list,” she said. Even so, her determination to improve her family’s financial situation is undimmed. If only our state and federal leaders had the same resolve.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ARE WELCOME. HERE ARE OUR GUIDELINES: Letters are published

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

YOUR VIEWS

Plan to narrow voters’ choices could have been disastrous in duke vs. Edwards race

Nancy Landry must ensure that polling places are safe As Louisiana prepares for the Nov. 3 election, I have two questions for Secretary of State Nancy Landry, the state’s chief elections ofﬁcial. First, what speciﬁc steps will Landry take to protect Louisiana’s polling places from anyone who attempts to intimidate or interfere with voters or election workers? Louisianans must believe we can walk safely into our polling places, cast our ballots and leave without interference. The right to vote is fundamental to our democracy. Every registered voter, regardless of political party, has a constitutional right to vote freely and without intimidation. Landry has said that Louisiana’s voting locations are secure. I ask her to go further and explain publicly how she intends to ensure that remains true if individuals or organized groups attempt to disrupt the voting process. I also ask Landry to make her position clear regarding Louisiana’s voter

registration rolls and the federal government’s efforts to obtain them through the U.S. Postal Service. If the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately rules that the federal government does not have the legal authority to require Louisiana to turn over its voter rolls to the Postal Service, will Landry respect that ruling and refuse to comply with an order that the court has determined to be unlawful? These are not partisan questions. They are questions about the integrity of our elections, the privacy of Louisiana voters and the responsibility of the state ofﬁcial entrusted with administering our elections. Landry has an obligation to protect the right of every eligible Louisiana voter to participate in our elections. I believe voters deserve to know, before they go to the polls, exactly how she intends to do that.

Quin Hillyer has produced an argument so transparent that one wonders why he bothered to drape it in Madisonian costume (“Louisiana Democrats are wrong to oppose amendment to limit governors’ terms,” Sept. 6.) Hillyer fears John Bel Edwards may return, run again for governor and defeat Jeff Landry. His solution is not persuasion. It is prophylactic disqualiﬁcation citing his nemesis, former Gov. Edwin Edwards. That theory is refuted by Edwin Edwards’ own record. The irony is that a lifetime ban is sold as a defense against entrenched power, while Edwards’ 1983 victory over incumbent Dave Treen shows the ordinary safeguard already at work: Voters can remove the person who actually holds power. Louisiana voters rejected Edwards in 1987, when Buddy Roemer defeated him. They rejected him again in 2014, when Garret Graves defeated him for Congress. The people did not need Hillyer’s constitutional training wheels. When they wanted Edwards out, they put him out. But Hillyer calls EWE “wily,” treats Treen’s 1983 loss as proof of a “shadow government” and skips the most important fact of all. In 1991, incumbent Gov. Roemer ﬁnished third and did not even make the runoff. Edwards faced David Duke, a former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard, and won 61% to 39%. Had Amendment 4 existed, Edwards would have been barred from that ballot. Duke would not have been. That is not an abstraction. It is the historical consequence of Hillyer’s argument. Edwards won elections in public, lost elections in public and answered to voters every time. Hillyer’s proposal does the opposite: It says voters may be trusted only when their future choice has already been narrowed by politicians. If JBE runs again, let Landry beat him. If Landry cannot, do not amend the Constitution to save him from the voters.

ROBIN MAYHALL Baton Rouge

Broke city can’t afford programs like recycling On the subject of the New Orleans sanitation fee increase, I was surprised that the administration and the City Council just raised the fee to cover the sanitation deﬁcit. There was no effort to reduce costs or reduce the scope of the contract by getting rid of the recycling contract, from which the city receives absolutely no funds from selling the material to a recycler. Instead, the contractors keep the money. As a result, the city spends $11 million for nothing. The tipping fee for recyclable material to go into the landﬁll would be less. Each time a garbage truck passes my house, it costs me $8.06 under the new rate. The mindset of the Moreno

administration and the City Council needs to change from a tax-and-spend attitude to asking how we can reduce the ﬁnancial impact on the homeowners of New Orleans. I am deeply concerned that the mindset of the City Council, to raise fees and roll forward millages to cover costs, will prevail when building the 2027 budget. That is not what the citizens expected when they elected the current mayor and City Council. A ﬁnancially broke city cannot afford feel-good programs like recycling any longer. Put the question of recycling on the ballot with a yes or no vote. Let the people decide.

JOHN KENNEDY New Orleans

Flood protection agency needs to focus on levees TO SENd US A LETTER, SCAN HERE

It is shocking to read about the shenanigans going on at the board charged with building levees to protect all of us. When do they have time to check the levees, with so much time spent spying on each other? (“Hunting leakers, New Orleans ﬂood agency spent $23,000 on a probe and swept ofﬁces for bugs,” Sept. 3.) I think it is time we ask a higher authority to take a look and see before

we all drown while they spend weeks, months and years ﬁghting each other. After all, I, like many others, thought it was their job to manage the levees and make sure they don’t leak or break. Nevertheless, considering all the headlines from this agency that we have encountered just this year, it is clear that a federal agency needs to take a look before we all drown.

BARRY RANSHI chairman, Jefferson Parish democratic Party Kenner

PAUL VALTEAU JR. New Orleans

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COMMENTARY What comes next in Essence Fest’s partnership with N.O. Anyone who has been married for more than seven years, and certainly decades or more, knows there are times when the two of you wonder why you got married in the first place. You might eat together every time, but this time is different; you eat when you want and I’ll eat when I want. You might always pray together, but you decide to say your prayers, wishing God would change the other person. There Will are times when you need Sutton some space, some time to breathe, catch your breath, lower your own temperature, test the temperature in the room and tiptoe into it, remembering why you love each other. I think the Essence Festival of Culture and the City of New Orleans need some space and time. Temperatures have risen. Fingers have been pointed. In some cases, gloves have come off. And certainly words that might not have been said were said, and they can’t take it back. Just like married people. The reality is that, for the first time in seven years, Essence and New Orleans no longer have an agreement that there will be another Essence Festival. I can’t imagine a Fourth of July weekend in New Orleans without Essence Festival. I don’t mean this literally, but we “Essies” would die. Louisiana Legislative Auditor Michael Waguespack has asked New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno to take a closer look at the “uncommon arrangement” with Essence. He wants to “determine whether public funds were used in accordance with applicable agreements, law, regulations and policies.” I’m all for that. Let’s audit the way public funds were used for the NFL Super Bowl, which was millions, the Sugar Bowl, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, and definitely LIV Golf, an event that didn’t even happen. One party wants millions. Another party says that’s unreasonable. One party says July wouldn’t be the same without us. Another party says don’t try

George Clinton performs during the Essence Festival of Culture at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. STAFF PHOTO By ENAN CHEdIAK

us; someone else might be interested. Few places can provide the same experience as the Essence Festival, born in New Orleans. It’s much larger than it was three decades ago. There are scores and hundreds, if not thousands, of repeat attendees. The event was in Houston in 2006 because Hurricane Katrina ruined those plans. I wasn’t there, but reports about the Reliant Stadium event said it was nice, but nothing like New Orleans. Post-Houston attendance grew in 2007, 2008 and 2009. In 2012, The New York Times called the event “an important event in nonhip-hop black pop for an entire generation.” There was an Essence Fest spinoff in Durban, South Africa in 2016. It wasn’t the same. Houston and Durban aren’t like us. They have versions of community, culture and music, but they’re not anything like New Orleans. People love New Orleans. Unfortunately, concert attendance and hotel nights have declined. However, there are short-term rentals these days. Still, the economic impact in recent years has been as high as $346 million. Efforts have been made to get the right decision-making parties to the table for in-person, real-talk conversations. Like a marriage, they won’t move forward without honesty, airing concerns and grievances, clarifying roles and setting parameters.

“I think there will be a high-quality festival next year,” one person close to the negotiations told me. Yes, but who would put it on? Maybe Essence. Maybe not. Instead of a multiple-year, five-, seven- or 10-year deal, I propose a two-year agreement. The parties involved — and we Essies and others — don’t want to see a year without Essence. Essence needs to be in New Orleans, the place where its childhood and teen years allowed it to mature, the place where it came into its own as a young adult festival. It’s matured with different owner-parents, and that’s part of the problem. Having multiple parents across 30-plus years has taken some getting used to. The baby has matured, there are new parents and the grown “kid” doesn’t want the newest parents to run their life. Here’s the thing: Like in marriages and families, if you’re committed to each other, you find a way to work it out. In this case, a pause, a time to figure out a long-term future, might be exactly what we need. I’m not looking for a “Can’t we all get along” moment. I want mature, grown folk to have a real talk about how to move this forward. Together. Email Will Sutton at wsutton@ theadvocate.com.

After working at Ground Zero, one question still haunts me At first we called it “the pile,” but my casual references to “the pit.” after some months, those of us who If you are too young to remember worked there started calling it “the the towers, it is hard to explain how pit.” I spent almost a year in a nearby that group must have felt. America had trailer, doing administrative work for always felt like a safe place, nesting one of the construction companies between two broad oceans, and now it clearing the site, so I watched the wasn’t. Almost 3,000 people died in the whole process day by day. terrorist attacks. The victims could The collapse of the twin towers on have been any of us, except that they Sept. 11, 2001, created an unfathomhappened to work in the wrong buildably large heap of smoking debris, ing or get on the wrong plane. A kind of including shards of the buildings that innocence had been torn from us, and jutted dramatically skyward. it seemed as if everyone’s life One of them was almost four would forever be divided into stories high. I can still see extwo halves: before and after. Those visitors had come trying actly what that sheet of twisted to comprehend this terrible thing steelwork looked like when I that happened to our country, first saw it a few days after the towers fell, misted by rain and Meega gan and all they found was a conMegan framed against a brooding sky. McArdle struction site where some young I stared at that shard for lady was chattering about slurry a good half hour and still walls. I understood how they felt. couldn’t believe it, even though I could I, too, had struggled to comprehend smell the noxious smoke streaming off it. I would walk around the site and the pile. It looked like something out of look at the wreckage, waiting for the a movie, and I kept expecting the direc- enormity of it to hit me. It never did, because that site was too big to be comtor to call cut. Over the next few months, the pile prehensible. The grief I expected came shrank. The flyers were taken down or instead when I was walking out of the blew away, and eventually the workers subway station at Union Square and got past the basements and subbasecame face-to-face with hundreds of “Have You Seen Them?” flyers posted ments, where some of the last human remains were recovered from the pile. by families of people who never came home. I suddenly found myself on my Now it looked like any other construcknees, weeping hysterically, while tion site, unless you happened to know commuters skirted around me at a that the sunken space where the engirespectful distance. Grief, I’d discovneers were fretting about the slurry wall was the hole in our country where ered, does not scale. the twin towers used to be. And neither does it sustain itself inPeriodically, VIPs would come to see definitely. As the pile disappeared and the site, and occasionally, one of the oth- the hole took shape, it became familiar to me. Perched in a trailer at the pit’s er “office girls” or I would be asked to give a tour. That spring, as I was leading edge, we told jokes, suffered through breakups and ate snacks. It had to hapa party around, I realized that I was appalling them with my cheerful descrippen, I suppose, but when I saw how those visitors reacted to my casual air, tions of the work that was ongoing and

I shared their revulsion. I had known three people who died in the towers. I had watched the towers fall on television, not knowing whether my boyfriend was inside, and later saw the smoke from the roof of my apartment building, still not knowing. Through all of it, I felt a fear and sadness and rage that I could not have imagined possible on Sept. 10. How could I forget all that, even for a moment? As the 25th anniversary approaches, that question occurs to me again. I barely hear 9/11 mentioned, and when I do, the invocation is casual, a historical reference, the way you’d refer to Gettysburg or Pearl Harbor. Intellectually, I understand that this, too, had to happen. The people who remember that awful day keep dying, and new ones keep being born who cannot know how it felt. Subsequent calamities created new befores and afters. As did better, more personal things, like babies and bachelorette parties and the nation’s 250th anniversary. Life went on, as it had to. Even the darkest grief cannot stay fresh forever. Yet emotionally, I cannot accept it. Life didn’t go on for 2,977 people. The photographs on the flyers were intended to commemorate the happiest days of their lives — weddings, birthdays and graduations. Instead, those snapshots became a memorial to the last and the worst day they ever lived. Eventually, that memorial was taken down and thrown away, or preserved as a museum exhibit that will never convey a fraction of what was lost. As I reflect on that fact, after 25 years, I find I am still capable of the most terrible grief. Megan McArdle is on X, @asymmetricinfo.

Both parties must learn to attract independents

There’s loads of talk about the struggle among the Democrats about how, or whether, to accommodate democratic socialists in the party. There’s loads of talk about the struggle among Republicans about the future of the MAGA movement once Donald Trump glides into formal political retirement. But what if those aren’t the most important moving parts in American political culture? There’s ample reason to think that the shape of American politics won’t be governed by the two parties’ choices, as important as they are. That’s because Americans increasingly are growing impatient with the two parties — and because more David than ever are identifying Shribman Americans not as members of the party of their fathers (as the old chestnut used to tell us) nor as members of any party at all. Indeed, nearly half of all Americans now identify as political Independents. That phenomenon — a new high in modern American life — has crucial implications that cascade across the immediate (the midterm congressional elections), the middle-term (the 2028 presidential elections) and the future (well into the 2030s, which aren’t so far away). For the immediate term, this development renders some of the established political principles irrelevant. Certainly, the conventional view that parties holding the White House still are at a disadvantage in the sixth year of a presidency makes the November midterms especially perilous for the Republicans. But other waves that are roiling the mainstreams of the country’s politics are emerging, and seem persistent. One of them is the growing contempt voters have for both parties, the impatience they feel with the internecine struggles that are dominating political conversation, and the concern Americans feel about the divisions that are separating them. Gallup found that 45% of American adults last year considered themselves political independents. The polling firm has been finding for many years that Independents are the largest group of Americans, but the percentage of Independents has increased significantly in the past decade and a half. In 2011, the level first registered 40%. The movement toward Independent status does not necessarily mean Americans are withdrawing from the Republican and Democratic ranks. It means that newer entries into the country’s political ranks are not associating with the parties. There is, however, increasing skepticism of the parties among all voters. A recent survey by the respected Marquette Law School Poll showed that a quarter of all Americans have an unfavorable view of both parties. Gallup noted that “a shift in Independents’ political leanings caused the Republican Party advantage that aided Trump’s reelection to dissipate almost as soon as he took office.” At the end of 2025, the president’s overall support rating was 36% — but among Independents it was only 25%, according to Gallup. Trump’s recent approval ratings generally fell in the high 30s. So what’s the implication of this for the midterms? It means that even if turnout operations by both parties are spectacularly successful, that alone won’t be enough to carry the day in states where Senate and House races are close. The winners in those races will have to appeal to Independents. That’s not so easy a task in an era of divisions prompted by lurches to the extremes. It requires some navigation toward the center, which itself is not so easy because one of the peculiarities of the American political system is that primaries generally produce candidates who lean right or left. In practical terms, candidates such as Abdul El-Sayed, who barely prevailed in the Democratic Senate primary in Michigan, will have enormous pressure to nudge toward the center for the general election. Some of his views — he’s not a democratic socialist but he shares some outlooks of the group — will be anathema to Independents. Indeed, a Fox News poll showed 55% of registered voters view El-Sayed negatively. Then again, 47% view his rival, Representative Mike Rogers similarly. The irresistible conclusion is that Independents will hold sway there, as they will elsewhere. And how about the situation in Montana, where 42% of voters identify as Independents, according to a recent Montana Free Press poll? In the Senate race in that reliably Republican state, Independent candidate Seth Bodnar, a former University of Montana president, has double the support of Democrat Lt. Col. (ret.) Alani Bankhead, though former U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme, the Republican, still holds the lead. As for Democratic Senate nominees in Nebraska, Idaho and South Dakota: They all dropped out, making way for surging Independent candidates. Email David Shribman at dshribman@postgazette.com.

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4B ● Wednesday, September 9, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

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FISHER

Continued from page 1B

STAFF PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK

An old cash register sits in the foreground as workers install an HVAC system inside the old Jefferson drug Store at the corner of Jefferson Boulevard and St. Charles Street.

ACCESS

the seller had planned on opening a similar concept Continued from page 1B in 2021. United Way will help coordinate programming, volunCastle Row Construction, teers and resource connecled by Sam Viator, bought tions, creating opportunities the building in June after for local chefs, dietitians,

nutrition educators and others to contribute. Public meetings will be held in the coming weeks for those interested, Blanchard said. “Expanding access to healthy food also means ex-

panding access to the capital needed to make healthy food businesses and projects possible,” said Shamika Boxie, upLFT Capital Access executive director. “Jefferson Market and Deli demonstrates what can

CONSULTANT Continued from page 1B

“Despite some of the financial challenges that they’re trying to navigate at the moment, I think the trajectory for the university is shooting up,” Furby said. “I know how important ULL is in this region, and I think it’s a big part of the economic development we’re seeing in the Lafayette area.” In addition to UL Lafayette, the University of Louisiana system schools include Grambling State University, Louisiana Tech University, McNeese University, Nicholls State University, Northwestern State University, Southeastern Louisiana University and University of Louisiana Monroe. UL Lafayette’s administration is still climbing out of a $50 million financial hole, including a $25 million structural deficit, that was announced at the start of the July 1, 2025, fiscal year. At last month’s State of the University address, Kolluru said the university is starting this year with a $3.6 million surplus, thanks to aggressive cost-cutting measures. At the June 25 Board of Supervisors meeting, he shared that UL Lafayette could generate a “worstcase scenario” $26 million deficit this year, with $297 million in revenue and $323 million in expenses. Furby is the CEO and founder of RAF Strategic

STAFF FILE PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK

Ryan Furby speaks during a meeting of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Presidential Search Committee in January. Furby will serve a six-year term on the Board of Supervisors for the University of Louisiana system. Communication and Public Affairs, and he serves on the board of directors for Ronald McDonald House Charities of South Louisiana and the Acadiana Symphony Orchestra. Originally from Mandeville, Furby said he left Louisiana for career opportunities elsewhere after graduating from Loyola University in New Orleans, and he wants the next generation of graduates to be able to choose to stay in state. “I had to leave and find

what I was looking for, which led me into these large multinational companies, so I was able to move around the world and create a reputation and career outside of Louisiana before coming back and applying those skills,” he said. “I don’t think I could have done that if I stayed here during that time.” After almost 20 years out of state, Furby and his family chose to settle in Lafayette, where his grandparents

Email Adam Daigle at adaigle@theadvocate.com.

portunities like the planned SpaceX rocket launch facility in Vermilion Parish. “All of the schools are going to benefit from this economic opportunity, and whatever companies come here, they’re going to benefit from whatever those schools can send out into the workforce,” he said. “That’s one of the things we’ll really have to focus on — are we focusing on the right areas of education? Are we sending out students and graduates who are going to have the skills that translate into the economic opportunities coming here?” “I take a lot of pride in the fact that the governor has conﬁdence in me to do this,” Furby said. “I’m extremely open-minded. I look for solutions. I start with yes. And I’m optimistic about the future, and I want to make sure that we apply all of those things in the university system so that the next generation of Louisiana residents make the most of what we have to offer.” Furby will serve on the ﬁnance, facilities and athletics committees for the UL system Board of Supervisors, and he is vice chair of the Student and Academic Affairs Committee.

are from. As universities across Louisiana deal with challenges around budgets, athletic spending, graduation rates and workforce preparation, he said he is looking forward to supporting the UL system in identifying opportunities to Email Joanna Brown lead — particularly when at joanna.brown@ it comes to economic op- theadvocate.com.

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Continued from page 1B “To every single person who believed in me, prayed for me, encouraged me, invested in me, and reminded me why I started when I needed it most, this belongs to you, too,” Bordelon also posted. “I came to Miss America hoping to make my state proud. I leave knowing I’ve done just that and that I gave this experience every piece of my heart.” As first runner-up, Bordelon, a graduate student at Southeastern Louisiana University, receives a $10,000 scholarship. She was also given a $3,000 scholarship for winning the preliminary evening gown competition Thursday night. Bordelon is the fifth Louisiana contestant to make it to first runner-up in Miss America, according to Debbie Wyatt, of the Miss Louisiana Organization. Louisiana has never had a Miss America winner. As first runner-up, Borde-

happen when mission-driven financing, community investment and committed partners come together around a shared goal.”

Her passion for investing in children and community service stemmed from her childhood when her mother founded Fisher’s Early Childhood Development Center in Lafayette. Additionally, both of her parents had been prominent University of Louisiana at Lafayette alumni, a legacy Fisher carried on through her love of tailgating. “She would often talk about those moments in her childhood and seeing the passion her mom had for her work,” said Ginger LeCompte, former executive director for United Way of St. Landry and Evangeline and longtime work colleague of Fisher’s. “I think it really helped mold her into the community-minded individual that she was. I was always so amazed by her ability to connect with people. She was always so interested in who they were and their personal stories.” Fisher’s personal story was defined by her presence in the community both in her work and in assisting through personal tragedy. The fatal shooting at the Grand Theatre on Johnston Street in 2015 touched her family very deeply. She had one daughter who was in the building at the time of the attack and another who was an EMT who responded to the scene. Both were instrumental in helping wounded people receive medical treatment, which led to her involvement in helping raise funds for victims through United Way of Acadiana. Memories of Fisher, however, are primarily defined by her optimism and love of life. “I find myself remembering the laughter, the decorations, the celebrations and that unmistakable Susan touch she brought wherever she went,” LeCompte said. “We shared a lot of years together. Life eventually took us in different directions, but there are some people who remain part of your story even when your paths separate. Susan is one of those people for me.”

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Anyone having any knowledge of the whereabouts of any heirs of the ESTATE OF RONALD GLENN MOUTON, please contact The Landry Law Firm, P.O. Box 3784, Lafayette, LA 70502, (337) 237-7135. 199983-Sept 8-10, 3t $98.50

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Miss Louisiana Shelby Bordelon, right, and Miss Texas Regan Huntsell await the announcement of which one of them will be Miss America 2027. lon would assume the title and responsibilities of Miss America if Huntsell is unable to serve or fulfill her duties, chooses to resign, is dethroned for violating organization policies, or is disqualiﬁed due to legal, health

or personal reasons. This has only happened once in Miss America’s history, in 1984. Email Judy Bergeron at jbergeron@theadvocate. com.

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PUBLIC NOTICE --NOTICE Administrator for the Succession of Mary Fern Cobb Briggs gives notice of his intent to sell via private sale, the follow‐ ing: 1. The immovable estate

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home and property lo‐ cated at 311 Sunny Lane, Lafayette, Louisiana 70506, Being the same property acquired by Mary C. Briggs by Cash Sale from Jeanie Slay Mellinger dated April 29, 1994, recorded on May 2, 1994, under instrument no. 1994-00016195 of the public records of Lafayette, Louisiana.; and 2. All movables within the estate home at 311 Sunny Lane, consisting of home furnishings, deco‐ rations, and kitchenware.

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Any objections to the sale of the above prop‐ erty can be ﬁled with the 15th Judicial District Court – Parish of Lafayette under probate docket number 20250640, pursuant to LA C.C.P. art 3282. 198202 Aug. 22 to Sept. 20, 30t $456.60

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W e d n e s d ay, s e p t e m b e r 9, 2026

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‘IMMERSIVE’ EXPERIENCE

FILE PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER

Saints quarterback Tyler Shough throws a foam football during the Krewe of Pygmalion parade as he reigns as the krewe’s grand marshal on Feb. 7 in New Orleans. It was Shough’s first Mardi Gras experience.

From food to Mardi Gras, Shough family becomes one with N.O.

1Cn

Seizing the day

Cajuns dE Williams making most of his time BY KEVIN FOOTE Staff writer

UL defensive end Lance Williams is locked in and focused for the season. The junior has spent most of his time with the Ragin’ Cajuns backing up such talented defensive ends as Jordan Lawson and Antoine Baylis. Now that it’s his time, he doesn’t want to squander the opportunity. “I’ve been thinking about this opportunity since January, honestly,” said Williams, whose Cajuns will play at Southern California at ä UL at 10 p.m. Saturday. There’s a few reasons Southern Williams is convinced California. he’s ready. For one, he’s not distracted by the 10 P.M. outside life of a college SATURdAy, BTN student. “Off the ﬁeld, I’m kind of a boring guy,” he said. “I don’t really do much. I kind of stay to myself. I’m a (video) gamer.” Williams also has a position coach he aims to please in Dennis Thomas. Since Williams arrived on campus from Holy Cross in New Orleans, Thomas has been in his corner. For years, he’s predicted big things from Williams. “I’m real close with coach Thomas,” Williams said. “Ever since I came in, he’s always pushed me to my max. He’s always talked highly on me, and he always gets on me. But I don’t take it as a bad thing. I take it as I got to get better. He wouldn’t do that for no reason.” Williams shares time with sophomore Priest Ashe at defensive end, and that duo has formed a motivating bond. “We’re tight, close,” Williams said. “We push each other every day and mo-

ä See WILLIAMS, page 3C

BY LUKE JOHNSON

Shough’s first experience with New Orleans’ biggest cultural event blew his expectations away. Performing in front of tens of thousands of people wasn’t a new yler Shough is so New Orleans now that he and experience, but as he stood atop a float as SEASON the Krewe of Pygmalion’s grand marshal his wife’s OB-GYN had to find a window during PREVIEW — chucking foam footballs at fans like he Mardi Gras where they were both sober for the was trying to put them through their chest — he was struck by how incredibly close it all felt. birth of his first child. “Mardi Gras was completely immersive,” Shough said. It was February in New Orleans, and Shough’s “You’re looking everybody in the eyes and throwing them stuff, trying not to kill ’em when you throw. You feel a connecimpressive rookie season had people in the city feeling tion. I remember everybody’s faces.” There is a famous quote that is often attributed to Drew better about the upcoming fall than they have in a Brees that makes its way around in situations like these: “If while. Jordan was due any day with their son, Grayson, you love New Orleans, it will love you back.” For more than a decade, Brees served as the avatar and a boy who would be born in New Orleans. A caravan of chief hype man for the city, and indeed, it loved him back. Not cars was waiting to clear a path through the revelers just because he was one of the best to play the game but also because of the way he became intertwined with the city. Staff writer

to the hospital if it came to that, but hopefully it didn’t,

because this was not part of the sober window.

ä See SHOUGH, page 3C

Depth emerges for LSU during Clemson rout

SEC’s threat to expel LSU silly, but serious

BY KOKI RILEY Staff writer

The LSU depth chart was a relative mystery heading into the season. Limited preseason access for ä Louisiana Tech the media and a bevy of new facat LSU. 6:30 P.M. es made projecting the two-deep before Saturday’s season opener SATURdAy. SECN+ against Clemson a fraught exercise. So many question marks, so few easy answers. But after LSU demolished Clemson 51-10 in Tiger Stadium, we ﬁnally have answers to depth chart questions that were previously elusive. Here are four takeaways from LSU’s depth chart after the Clemson win.

STAFF PHOTO By BRAd KEMP

UL defensive end Lance Williams is getting a chance to start after being a reserve the past three seasons.

STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

LSU running back Caden durham slaps hands with fans while walking to the locker room before the game against Clemson on Saturday in Tiger Stadium.

Jones, offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. turned to Central Florida transfer Stacy Gage as the No. 2 back. Gage averaged 4.1 yards on eight carries, while Jones nearly had 100 yards rushing by halftime and finished averaging nearly 5 yards per attempt. Kiffin has said on numerous occasions that he doesn’t plan on handing out playing time based on reputation or NIL dollars. Placing Gage and Jones Berry, Durham roles ahead of Durham and Berry on the depth chart was After leading LSU in carries and yards last season, Kiffin walking the walk. “Dilin wasn’t a big name coming in, had the least Berry and Durham didn’t see the field until the fourth quarter on Saturday. It was a shocking development, stats of some other people coming into the room even considering the rise of Wisconsin transfer Dilin from last year,” Kiffin said. “And so we just go off of Jones during the spring and preseason. ä See DEPTH, page 3C Instead of Durham or Berry splitting carries with

It has come to this. The Southeastern Conference on Tuesday amended its lawsuit against LSU in a Birmingham, Alabama, federal court to say its member schools will meet Thursday to decide whether to kick LSU out of the conference. That would be the conference LSU helped found in 1932. Let’s cut to the chase. I do not believe the SEC will make such a drastic move to expel one of its charter and most valuable members. The SEC has had member schools leave over the years, like Tulane in 1966, but that was on their own accord. But let’s be clear: This is a real thing. You may think the SEC is off its collective rocker for even considering such action, but if it’s in writing as part of a lawsuit — a federal lawsuit — it has to be taken seriously. How did this feud between LSU and the SEC get this heated? There isn’t just one factor,

Scott Rabalais though it was clearly triggered by coach Lane Kiffin’s attempt to add former NFL and Ole Miss players Dae’Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris to the LSU football roster. Ah, there are the magic words: “Lane Kiffin.” He’s been a thorn in the SEC’s side since he was the coach at Tennessee, and he raised everyone’s blood pressure when he left Ole Miss at the College Football Playoff altar to take the LSU job. And let’s throw Will Wade into the mix as well, because rehiring the once-fired, FBI wire-tapped coach doesn’t

ä See RABALAIS, page 3C

2C ● Wednesday, September 9, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

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BROADCAST HIGHLIGHTS On TV

COLLEGE GOLF 10:30 a.m. Folds of Honor Collegiate: Women Golf 3:30 p.m. Folds of Honor Collegiate: Men Golf WOMEN’S COLLEGE VOLLEYBALL 5 p.m. North Carolina at Kentucky SECN 5:30 p.m. Pittsburgh vs.Tennessee ESPN2 6 p.m. Missouri at Louisville ACCN 7 p.m. Miami at Florida SECN 8 p.m. Texas at SMU ACCN 8 p.m. Texas A&M vs. Stanford ESPN2

CYCLING 7:30 a.m. Vuelta a España NBCSN FIBA BASKETBALL WOMEN’S WORLD CUP 1:30 p.m. Italy vs.Australia TRUTV MLB 12:10 p.m. Minnesota at detroit MLBN 3:10 p.m. Texas at Seattle MLBN 6:15 p.m. Tampa Bay at Atlanta MLBN 9:10 p.m. Cincinnati at L.A. dodgers MLBN NFL 7:20 p.m. New England at Seattle NBC

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MEN’S SOCCER 11:45 a.m. Viking FK at VfB Stuttgart CBSSN 12:45 p.m. Abha at Al Nassr FS2 2 p.m. Galatasaray at Sporting CP CBSSN 6:30 p.m. Cincinnati at Philadelphia FS1 WOMEN’S SOCCER 7:45 a.m. Italy vs. New Zealand FS2 10:45 a.m. Japan vs. U.S. FS2 TENNIS 10:30 a.m. U.S. Open, Quarterfinals ESPN 6:30 p.m. U.S. Open, Quarterfinals ESPN

Longhorns take No. 1; Oregon slides I’ll say it. This wasn’t a great week in college football. I know — start throwing the tomatoes now if you must. The Michigan Hail Mary was crazy; so was the fourth quarter of Ole MissLouisville. And the power outage in Tallahassee was notable, even if the football itself wasn’t pretty Koki between Florida Riley State and SMU. But other than those stories, there wasn’t a lot of drama in a Week 1 where 24 of the 25 teams in my preseason poll all won. But as the saying goes, no matter the quality of the week, the show (or in this case, the poll) must go on. Here is my AP Top 25 poll after Week 1.

A change at No. 1 Texas was the beneﬁciary of Oregon’s underwhelming performance against Boise State, sliding into my No. 1 spot after beating the brakes off Texas State to open its season. Quarterback Arch Manning was fabulous against the Bobcats, but talking about the Longhorns here would be wasting precious space in the newspaper. What we really need to talk about is that my preseason No. 1 team was a few bad plays away from losing to a Group of Six team at home. Granted, Boise State entered the year as the undisputed top G6 team and was ﬁrmly in the next group of teams ready to crack

ASSOCIATEd PRESS FILE MICHAEL THOMAS

Texas quarterback Arch Manning, shown during a game against UL-Monroe on Sept. 21, 2024, and the No. 4 Longhorns take on No. 1 Ohio State on Saturday. my top 25. But for a program with the talent and expectations that Oregon has, the Ducks were maddeningly inconsistent and found themselves tied with the Broncos heading into the fourth quarter. The season is not over for Oregon. One ugly performance wasn’t enough for me to push coach Dan Lanning’s team outside of my top 5, but it was hard to rank them beyond ﬁfth after Texas, Ohio State and Indiana all held serve, and LSU squashed Clemson as if coach Dabo Swinney’s Tigers were an FCS team.

Bye-bye Michigan I’m not naive enough to pretend that the ﬁrst 59 minutes and 59 seconds of Michigan’s zombie performance against Western Michigan didn’t happen. If it weren’t for quarterback Bryce Underwood’s miraculous Hail Mary, the Wolverines would have lost. That’s why I’m treating this result the same way everyone else would have if the referees hadn’t controversially put an extra second on the clock: an in-

explicably bad loss. Look, I’m not going to pretend that one performance is gospel. I liked Michigan heading into the season and even had the Wolverines at No. 12 in my preseason poll. But clearly I underestimated Underwood’s struggles last season and should’ve baked in the possibility that Michigan would have ﬁts and starts with a new play-caller at the helm. Those warts and more were on display against Western Michigan. And even if the ﬁnal score will put a tally in the win column for coach Kyle Whittingham’s new team, I’m viewing this performance as what it really was.

Other notes Louisville and Boise State lost, but both teams played more than well enough to deserve spots in my rankings. The Cardinals shot themselves in the foot too many times against Ole Miss, but their talent on defense is real, and quarterback Lincoln Kienholz — in the second half — played like a man who can lead Louisville to an

ACC Championship Game. I have some concerns about Ole Miss after that game (the secondary… yikes!), but including Louisville in my rankings after it was No. 26 in my preseason poll was a nobrainer. It’s hard to imagine Boise State losing again after this week, although Memphis could give the Broncos a run for their money next weekend. I still believe they’re head and shoulders above the rest of the new-look Pac-12. Can you name 25 other teams that could’ve pulled off what they did this week? I didn’t think so. Forgotten in the chaos of Saturday, Sunday and Monday was Virginia’s crazy impressive performance against NC State in Week 0. The Wolfpack looked dreadful, but the Virginia defense and run game should allow the Cavaliers to be real contenders in a wideopen ACC after Miami. Now, if only I trusted Cavaliers quarterback Beau Pribula to throw that pigskin down the ﬁeld. Email Koki Riley at koki.riley@ theadvocate.com.

LSU cracks top 10; Michigan out of AP Top 25 AP TOP 25 POLL

BY ERIC OLSON Associated Press

LSU jumped back into the top 10 in the first Associated Press Top 25 college football poll of the regular season on Tuesday, Oregon slipped out of the top five and Michigan fell out of the rankings altogether after it needed a second-chance Hail Mary try at home to beat Western Michigan. Ohio State remained No. 1 by a wide margin entering its showdown with No. 4 Texas on Saturday. The Buckeyes received 46 first-place votes from the voting panel of 69 writers and broadcasters. The other 23 first-place votes were divided among six teams. Georgia, Notre Dame, Texas and Indiana each moved up one spot with Oregon going from No. 2 to No. 6 following a 34-27 win over Boise State as a 25.5-point favorite. Miami, LSU, Ole Miss and Texas A&M rounded out the top 10. Reigning national champion Indiana received the second-most No. 1 votes with eight. LSU got five, Notre Dame four, Oregon three, Texas two and Miami one. LSU made one of the biggest statements of Week 1 with its 51-10 rout of Clemson in Lane Kiffin’s debut in Baton Rouge. Courtroom drama over the eligibility status of LSU players trying to return to college from NFL training camps took the spotlight in the days leading up to the game, and then Sam Leavitt and his highly paid teammates made fast work of Clemson.

Aaron Judge has returned to the New York Yankees after a 99-day absence. Recovered from a broken rib, Judge started in right ﬁeld and batted third Tuesday night in a series opener against the Colorado Rockies. A three-time AL MVP, Judge had missed 84 games since his last appearance on May 31. The 34-year-old took batting practice at Yankee Stadium on Monday’s off day and was activated that night. Boone had spoken separately with Judge and strength and conditioning coach Brett McCabe, followed by the athletic training staff and Yankees brass. Judge sprayed several homers to right, center and left during batting practice Tuesday. He entered the game hitting .248 with 17 homers, 38 RBIs and a .907 OPS.

Chapter 11 bankruptcy filed for by LIV Golf

My AP Top 25 poll after Week 1 1. Texas, 2. Ohio State, 3. Indiana, 4. LSU, 5. Oregon, 6. Notre Dame, 7. Miami, 8. Georgia, 9. Oklahoma, 10. Southern Cal, 11. Texas A&M, 12. Alabama, 13. Ole Miss, 14. BYU, 15. Texas Tech, 16. Tennessee, 17. Florida, 18. Penn State, 19. Louisville, 20. Houston, 21. Boise State, 22. Virginia, 23. SMU, 24. Arizona, 25. Minnesota Just missed: Virginia Tech, Washington, Iowa, Michigan Newcomers: Louisville, Boise State, Virginia Dropped from my preseason poll: Michigan, Washington, Clemson

Judge back in Yankees’ lineup after 99 days away

Rec.

ASSOCIATEd PRESS PHOTO By PAUL SANCyA

Pts. Prev.

1. Ohio State (46) 1-0 1684 1 2. Georgia 1-0 1532 1 3. Notre Dame (4) 1-0 1512 2 4. Texas (2) 1-0 1462 3 5. Indiana (8) 1-0 1428 4 6. Oregon (3) 1-0 1422 10 7. Miami (FL) (1) 1-0 1405 7 8. LSU (5) 1-0 1315 5 9. Ole Miss 1-0 1154 9 10. Texas A&M 1-0 1079 12 11. Oklahoma 1-0 1039 12 12. Alabama 1-0 910 11 13. Texas Tech 1-0 900 14 14. USC 2-0 861 14 15. BYU 1-0 840 16 16. Penn State 1-0 621 14 17. SMU 1-0 501 15 18. Tennessee 1-0 491 16 19. Washington 1-0 489 21 20. Utah 1-0 381 19 21. Iowa 1-0 369 20 22. Houston 1-0 214 21 23. Missouri 1-0 182 21 24. Louisville 0-1 163 24 25. Virginia 1-0 89 4 Others receiving votes: Boise State 86, Florida 83, Michigan 69, Arizona 33, Memphis 23, South Carolina 19, Western Michigan 12, Pittsburgh 11, Navy 10, UCLA 7, Virginia Tech 6, Illinois 6, James Madison 4, Minnesota 4, Colorado 3, Auburn 2, Arizona State 2, Vanderbilt 2.

Michigan running back Jordan Marshall, right, runs the ball as Western Michigan defensive back Micah davis, left, defends during their game on Saturday in Ann Arbor, Mich. LSU’s rise from No. 11 to No. 8 gave the Tigers their first top10 ranking since they were No. 4 after a 4-0 start last season. The Tigers went 3-6 the rest of the way, Brian Kelly was fired at midseason and Kiffin was hired away from Ole Miss with the charge of restoring LSU to its former glory. LSU’s promotion bumped Oklahoma out of the top 10. The Sooners shut out UTEP 51-0 and will take a No. 11 ranking into their visit to Michigan. That matchup lost some luster in light of Michigan’s slogging offensive performance against Western Michi-

preseason poll. Michigan went from No. 16 to out of the Top 25, the ﬁrst time since at least 2008 that a team gan, a game the Wolverines won ranked so high was bounced after 13-12 after one second was put a win. Kansas State went from back on the clock at the end of the No. 17 to unranked after holding game. That was just enough time off North Dakota of the Football for Bryce Underwood to throw a Championship Subdivision last second Hail Mary, this one land- year. ing in the hands of JJ Buchanan.

In and out Virginia rode an impressive Week 0 win over North Carolina State to a No. 25 ranking. It’s the first time since 2005 the Cavaliers have been ranked in a first regular-season poll. They finished No. 16 in the final Top 25 last season but received just one vote in the

Ranked vs. ranked

No. 1 Ohio State at No. 4 Texas: It’s the ﬁrst regular-season, top-ﬁve matchup since these teams met in Columbus to open 2025. Texas was No. 1 that day and lost 14-7. The Buckeyes moved from No. 3 to No. 1 and stayed there until they lost to Indiana in the Big Ten championship game.

LIV Golf filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Tuesday in New Jersey with more than $500 million in debt, part of its goal to revive the league without Saudi funding. The move was widely expected after the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia abruptly ended its financial support after the final event of the 2026 season. LIV said it has agreed to a restructuring plan with BC Partners as the primary source of its capital. CEO Scott O’Neil has said “LIV Golf 2.0” would feature players as majority owners in a reduced schedule. In a letter to LIV Golf fans, O’Neil said the new look would expand the size of the field from 57 to 75 players and introduce a 54-hole cut.

QB Mayfield, Buccaneers agree to $165M extension

Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers agreed on a $165 million, three-year contract extension on Tuesday, a person with knowledge of the deal told The Associated Press. Mayfield revived his career in Tampa Bay after replacing Tom Brady in 2023. He was entering the final season of his three-year, $100 million deal. Mayfield, who was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft by Cleveland, made the Pro Bowl in each of his first two seasons while leading the Bucs to consecutive NFC South titles. He was an MVP candidate through the first half of last season when the team started 6-2, but he struggled with injuries and tailed off.

Patriots make Gonzalez highest-paid cornerback

New England Patriots cornerback Christian Gonzalez has the long-term job security he’s been seeking all offseason. Gonzalez has agreed to a fouryear, $135 million contract with the New England Patriots that makes him the highest-paid cornerback in NFL history, two people with knowledge of the deal told The Associated Press on Tuesday. One of the people said Gonzalez is getting $102 million guaranteed. Gonzalez surpassed Devon Witherspoon’s new contract from the Seattle Seahawks. Witherspoon received a four-year, $132 million deal with $101 million guaranteed last month. A ﬁrst-round pick by Bill Belichick in 2023, Gonzalez was a second-team AP All-Pro in 2024 and made the Pro Bowl in 2025.

CFP, ESPN to open talks on 24-team tournament

The College Football Playoff announced Tuesday that it will open discussions with broadcast partner ESPN about potentially doubling the tournament to 24 teams. The CFP deal that starts this season with ESPN is worth $7.8 billion over six seasons. That network would have ﬁrst dibs on the ﬁrst two games added to any package but the rest would be up for grabs. Fox has indicated it likes the 24team idea, but embedded within that equation is the calculation of how much any broadcast partner would pay for a new set of games involving teams that might not garner the same ratings. The CFP has been studying the impact of expanding the playoff from 12 to 16 or 24 teams for months.

The Acadiana Advocate ● theadvocate.com ● Wednesday, September 9, 2026 ● 3C

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WILLIAMS

Continued from page 1C

“I feel like I’ve seen everything I need to see on a college football level, and the game has slowed down a lot for me,” he said. “So I feel like when I go out there, I’m able to play to my full potential and my max speed, to go out there and make plays. “In the D-line room, we emphasize block reads. So, seeing the same blocks multiple, multiple times helped me out a lot. I know exactly what to do when I see a certain block and what not to do.” Williams is a bit undersized for an FBS defensive end, but he feels like he compensates for that with strength and a relentless approach. “Ever since I got here, they’ve always been on me about my weight ... always, always,” Williams said. “But I know that I’m physical. So I can hold up down there, but my weight is something that I got to keep improving on. But I’ve been doing good about that this spring and summer. So I’m ready for that.” Years of learning behind Lawson and Baylis also prepared him for this season. “Those guys helped me with play speed and being able to play smart,” Williams said. “Playing the edge is hard. It’s a lot of different things getting thrown at you. “So just being able to be out there and play fast, but think at the same time, was one key thing that I picked up from those two guys.”

tivate each other every day. We tell each other before we go in the ﬁeld, ‘Run to the ball.’ Every time, running to the ball. Me and him, we’re just locked in.” Coach Michael Desormeaux has taken notice. “I’m really excited about Priest and Lance,” he said. “They push each other. They both play with a motor. I mean, it’s every day. There’s no off switch.” There’s also the added layer of a new corps of leaders on the defense after the likes of Lawson, Tyree Skipper and Jaden Dugger graduated. “A lot of guys have stepped up for sure — guys like Collin Jacob, Jake St. Andre, Brent Gordon,” Williams said. “Even the younger guys. There’s no age on leadership ... Conor McPherson, too. Those are all guys that accepted their roles and are playing big-time football right now for us. “It feels amazing, honestly, because I know they’re going to hold me accountable, and I know I can hold them accountable to anything.” The dynamic certainly paid off in the 38-7 win over Lamar on Saturday. The Cardinals’ only points came on a pick-six. The 6-foot-3, 233-pound Williams believes he’s more ready than ever to produce big plays for defensive Email Kevin Foote at kfoote@ theadvocate.com. coordinator Jim Salgado.

RABALAIS

Continued from page 1C sit well with the SEC, either. The rest of the conference views LSU as a renegade program. Forget all the scandals that have enveloped virtually every other SEC member, including LSU, which had a booster give money stolen from a hospital foundation to a player’s father and covered up sexual harassment cases on a university-wide scale. But this is the Rubicon that LSU has crossed as far as the SEC is concerned. And it’s mainly because Kifﬁn is LSU’s version of Julius Caesar. What are the motivations at play here? LSU and

SHOUGH

Continued from page 1C Shough ﬁrst came across that line before he ever arrived in New Orleans, and it seems to be his guiding philosophy. Since he took the reins of the franchise last fall, Shough has hit all the right notes as New Orleans’ adopted son. He and his wife chose to stay in New Orleans this offseason, and it is not uncommon to see him out and about in the community, sampling all it has to offer. There was a period this spring when Shough seemed to be everywhere, making endless appearances on podcasts and TV shows. All of them featured some form of the quarterback speaking glowingly about his city. People noticed. “The people love him,” said center Erik McCoy, who rode in Pygmalion with Shough. “I think they have a legitimate reason to — he’s immersed himself in the city, in the culture, in the history and everything about this place. And he’s vocal about it. And I feel like that’s why the people love him, because he loves the things they love.” That night with Pygmalion is notable because Shough said it was the most fun he’d ever had in his life, cracking beers and jokes with his teammates atop a ﬂoat absorbing the experience. He was loving New Orleans and his role to play within it. At one point, Shough looked at his father-in-law, Derek Wormdahl, and caught him weeping. “It was probably because he was a little bit hammered,” Shough said with a grin, “but he was just looking at everybody, and it was the most raw experience.” Yes, Wormdahl said, he cried. In fact, he cried multiple times throughout the parade. Maybe his son-inlaw was right and the libations lubed up his emotions,

DEPTH

Continued from page 1C what we see (in terms of playing time).” Durham and Berry have at least 11 more games to prove they deserve more touches. But Jones — and to a lesser extent, Gage — did an excellent job of finding the hole and running downhill against Clemson. The Tigers rarely had negative rushing plays. “Dilin did a great job,” Kifﬁn said. “But again, that’s how he had performed in camp with us.”

Elzy starts at WR The LSU wide receiver room was the hardest position group to judge heading into the season. Outside of Phillip Wright, it was an entirely different unit. It turns out SEC transfers Winston Watkins and Eugene Wilson started, but the third wideout next to them was a surprise. Malik Elzy, a transfer from Illinois, took the last spot and wound up playing 15 snaps, according to Pro Football Focus. If it weren’t for a dropped pass on the ﬁrst drive that ended in an interception, perhaps Elzy would’ve played more Saturday. “Expect him to have more (opportunities) in the future,” Kifﬁn said. “But he really had a good camp, and that’s what we pride

ourselves (on) playing off of.” Watkins and Wilson led LSU in receiver snaps. They were followed by Kansas State transfer Jayce Brown (51 snaps) and Hawaii transfer Jackson Harris (40 snaps). Freshman Corey Barber also played 23 snaps, most of which came when the game was out of hand in the second half. Watkins quietly led all Tigers with seven catches for 110 yards and a score, and Wilson had four receptions for 35 yards. Despite quarterback Sam Leavitt’s accuracy waxing and waning throughout the night, he had six completions of 15 or more yards, and his average depth of target was nearly 10 yards downﬁeld.

Defensive line rotation Defensive coordinator Blake Baker wasn’t afraid to rotate bodies on the defensive line. LSU had four edge rushers and five defensive tackles play at least 13 snaps against Clemson, per PFF. None of the nine players upfront played more than 32 snaps, and all of them made a positive contribution. Ole Miss transfer Princewill Umanmielen and Tennessee transfer Jordan Ross combined for eight quarterback pressures and 21/2 sacks, and Ross had an interception returned for a touchdown. Dylan Carpenter, their lead backup, also had three pressures and a sack. Freshman Lamar Brown played 16 snaps in

his collegiate debut. Clemson transfer Stephylan Green and Auburn transfer Malik Blocton were stout at defensive tackle as Clemson didn’t have any rushing yards through three quarters. Freshmen Richard Anderson and Deuce Geralds earned reps with Dominick McKinley; each member of the trio had a quarterback pressure. With so many options to choose from, Baker’s defensive line can attack offenses in waves.

Offensive line depth Once Saturday’s score got out of hand, LSU offered a peek at who its sixth and seventh offensive linemen are at the moment. Tennessee transfer William Satterwhite and Baylor transfer Sean Thompkins rotated in for Braelin Moore and Colorado transfer Jordan Seaton at their positions, center and left tackle, in the third quarter. Satterwhite played in eight games as a redshirt freshman last season, while Thompkins started for Baylor over its ﬁnal ﬁve games last year. North Carolina Central transfer Ja’Quan Sprinkle, Ole Miss transfer Devin Harper and freshman Brysten Martinez eventually joined Satterwhite and Thompkins on mop-up duty during the fourth quarter. Martinez was the second-team right tackle, while Sprinkle and Harper were the second-team left and right guards.

Kifﬁn’s motivation was to add players he thinks can help the Tigers win football games, though there was ample evidence they weren’t needed Saturday as LSU crushed Clemson 51-10. The SEC’s motivation is bigger picture. In the rulesmaking vacuum created by the formerly iron-ﬁsted NCAA, the SEC and its fellow superpower the Big Ten want to have a model of self-governance. Selfgovernance starts with having rules that its member schools follow. For that reason, LSU is the SEC’s test case. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey and the league’s other 15 members need someone to make an example of. Someone they can hold up to say, “You have to abide

by the rules of the club or you can’t be a member.” If that means pushing back on LSU and Kiffin, even better. Some of the SEC’s arguments are flimsy, such as claiming LSU is showing “lack of institutional control” by Kiffin popping off at halftime of the Clemson game when he said, “Imagine if we had pro players” when his Tigers were up 31-3. That’s bogus. So is the SEC getting all bent about guys who were NFL camp castoffs being on the roster — we’re not talking about Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase coming back — while basketball players who played for years in European leagues being eligible is OK. All that said, the right of

an organization to decide who gets to be part of its organization — provided its decisions are not discriminatory — is quite real. Ultimately, the SEC really cannot afford to kick LSU to the curb. By numerous metrics, LSU is an integral and elite part of an elite conference. Forbes ranked LSU as the nation’s fourth most valuable college football program in 2013. CNBC last year ranked LSU as the 12th most valuable college athletic program (ﬁfth in the SEC) overall. Tiger Stadium is the seventh-largest stadium … in the world. Meanwhile, LSU’s national brand couldn’t be at a higher apex. The Tigers vaulted up to No. 8 Tuesday in The Associated Press Top 25

poll, with LSU even getting five first-place votes. But LSU can’t afford to cost itself a seat at the SEC table. If we play the “what if” game to its limit, LSU can’t be an independent like Notre Dame, which is only independent in football but is affiliated with the ACC (most other sports) and the Big Ten (hockey). Maybe an independent LSU could make a financially reasonable deal with say NBC (like Notre Dame) or Amazon or Apple, but the rest of its sports need a conference home. Realistically, LSU’s entire financial future is tied to the SEC’s next TV contract. LSU used that when it unveiled its new revenuegenerating model to its 40 biggest boosters at the Governor’s Mansion this

summer. Unless LSU got picked up by the Big Ten, then it would probably be getting less TV money, plus the added ﬁnancial strain of increased travel expenses. You not only have to send the football team to Oregon every few years for a game, you must send the softball team for a three-game series, too. LSU already showed a willingness to deescalate the situation by not playing or even rostering Wright and Harris against Clemson. Hopefully, the angels of the SEC’s better nature will do the same. Kicking LSU out over this makes no sense for the SEC, and risking being kicked out certainly makes no sense for LSU. But many wars have been waged that made no sense.

but it was more than that. It was all the setbacks that happened in the years leading up to that day, the dark moments of doubt that come with injuries. The times that made an NFL future feel less attainable. And it was how dizzyingly fast everything fell into place to lead to that nirvana on top of a ﬂoat amid a sea of people. Wormdahl took in the scene, and he was overwhelmed. He was watching New Orleans loving Shough back. “It was tough to soak it all in and not get emotional about it,” Wormdahl said. “You know, when we turned the corner — I can’t remember which street exactly we were on — and everyone is just screaming, chanting Tyler’s name all the way down the street. It was hard to keep it together.”

before he could place an order, someone approached and asked whether Shough would join his family for dinner. That person was Gerry Cvitanovich, whose family has operated Drago’s since the 1960s. “They were literally having a family dinner, and I was like, ‘Please don’t. I’m not going to interrupt this. I just have to go pee and I’m going to order something to go, don’t worry about it,’ ” Shough said. “We ended up sitting down for like three hours.” Tommy Cvitanovich, who owns and operates Drago’s along with his mother, Klara, was there for the dinner. He had no idea who Shough was at the time; he just looked like a tall guy in gym shorts. But even after he learned who was sitting at the family table, there was no pretense. Shough was completely at ease with strangers he did not realize were New Orleans royalty. He remembers Shough sampling a little bit of everything — Shough, in particular, remembered the pistachio beignets to close things out — and he remembered Shough’s sense of humor as he sat in on the dinner. Shough’s ears perked up when someone told him about Brees’ first meal being there, and someone turned it around on him. “Now that Tyler’s first meal was here, we expect a Super Bowl, and unlike Drew, we want more than one,” Tommy Cvitanovich said. “We were joking with him, talking to him, and I mean, he couldn’t have been any nicer.” The meal made an impression: When Shough’s family joined him in New Orleans, Drago’s was the first place he took them, too. It also laid a foundation for what was to come. Food is the easiest entry point for someone looking to dive into this community. It is often the first thing people will grasp for when describing what they love about New Orleans. The

right answers earn nodding heads, and the wrong answers can undercut someone trying to make inroads. Derek Carr never recovered from his introductory news conference when he said his ﬁrst meal in the city as a member of the Saints was at the fast-casual chain Chipotle. Even if the answer was defensible for a father of (then) four young children moving to a new town and looking for something familiar, it immediately put him in the red with the fanbase. Those who wanted him out of town after two forgettable seasons frequently referenced that line as proof that Carr was a bad ﬁt for the city. That won’t be an issue for Shough, who has been eating his way through the city like a mad man. He built his dining repertoire by tagging along for all but one or two of the weekly dinners the Saints offensive line put together last season. He’s

on text threads with teammates sharing recommendations. Of course he’s tried the high-end places — he said his best overall experience in New Orleans was at Emeril’s — but he loves the hipster picks, too. “He’s immersed himself in all the places you can think of,” McCoy said. “I saw an interview where he was talking about Radosta’s Poboys, and I’m like, ‘This guy knows ball.’ ” Going out to eat in the city is just as much about the experience as it is the food. There was one meal in particular that came to Shough’s mind. After one of his ﬁrst starts, he joined some teammates for a dinner at Neyow’s Creole Café in Mid City. Again, he didn’t think he’d be recognized, but as he walked in, the people in the restaurant came up to meet him and tell him he played a great game. He sat down and enjoyed the quirk of the

loud music without the cuss words edited out, the rich ﬂavors of the creole food, and the fact that he might have been the only White person in the building. ‘I’m like, ‘This is awesome,’ ” Shough said. This is the part about New Orleans that resonates with Shough on a personal level. It’s food, but it’s not really all about the food. It’s knowing that wherever you go, it is going to be vibrant, alive. The food, and the communal experience of sharing it, is where the soul of a place comes out. “I love New Orleans because of the shared community aspect and the ability for everybody to let their guard down and have fun,” Shough said. “Almost every single place, almost every single restaurant, wherever you go they’re authentic to what they do. And to me, that’s who I am. I don’t want to be anybody else; I want to be myself.”

‘This guy knows ball’ Before Shough wore a Saints uniform and won the city over, he found himself in one of those binds that always seem to arise during carnival season: He was walking around, and he just needed to find a place to pee. It was one of Shough’s first days in New Orleans in May 2025. The Saints had just drafted him, and after he landed, they put him up with the other draft picks in the Lakeway Marriott on the shore of Lake Pontchartrain. Shough was exploring, felt the urge and stumbled into the first place he could find that looked promising. He saw the sign, figured it was a Mediterranean restaurant, and walked in with the idea of hitting the bathroom and ordering takeout for his first meal in his new city. What Shough didn’t realize is he’d accidentally followed the footsteps of greatness. He was in Drago’s, which was also where Brees enjoyed his first meal. Shough also didn’t figure he’d be recognized, but

4C ● Wednesday, September 9, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

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Pelicans trade Back from injury, Erath QB guard Hawkins, gives Bobcats needed boost clear cap space BY MIKE COPPAGE

Contributing writer

BY ROD WALKER Staff writer

The Erath Bobcats are a different football team with Landen DeRouen on the ﬁeld. Last year, the Bobcats posted a perfect regular season with DeRouen starring at tight end, where he caught four passes for 122 yards and two touchdowns in one game. After missing the jamboree loss to Lafayette Renaissance with a foot injury, DeRouen returned to action at quarterback last week and was nearly perfect at 14-of-17 passing for 295 yards and four touchdowns. He also ran for a DeRouen score in the win at Loreauville. “He had a great game,” Erath coach Eric LeBlanc said. “We needed it from him.” When DeRouen went to the doctor for a check-up after the preseason scrimmage, an X-ray revealed a broken bone in his foot from an old injury. As a precaution, LeBlanc held him out of the jamboree. “He was a full go last week,” LeBlanc said. “We did a lot of quarterback runs.” Despite not playing since the scrimmage — and not taking a snap at quarterback since his freshman season — DeRouen’s performance didn’t surprise his coach. “Yes, honestly ... that’s what we expected,” LeBlanc said. “When

son. The trade comes less than a year after the Pelicans picked up Hawkins’ fourth-year option. Peavy was picked in the second round of the 2025 draft, part of the Pelicans’ stellar rookie class that also included first-round picks Jeremiah Fears and Derik Queen. Peavy was drafted for his defensive prowess, and he showed that ability throughout his rookie season. He also averaged 4.3 points in 61 games. The Pelicans will release the 41-year-old Gibson, according to a source familiar with the deal. They will owe him $100,000. The plan for now is to keep Johnson and evaluate him in training camp. The Grizzlies had just acquired Johnson in a six-team trade in July. The 6-foot-5 shooting guard split time last season with the Washington Wizards and Dallas Mavericks. Johnson split time with the Milwaukee Bucks and Wizards the year before that, his ﬁrst NBA season. He’s averaging just 4.9 points in his career while shooting only 24.5% on 3-pointers. He was the 23rd overall pick in the 2024 draft. The Pelicans start training camp on Sept. 29.

The New Orleans Pelicans have made their second move of the offseason, but the second move makes the first one possible. The Pelicans traded Jordan Hawkins, Micah Peavy, a future second-round pick and a future second-round pick swap to the Memphis Grizzlies, a source confirmed to The Times-Picayune on Tuesday. In exchange, the Pelicans are receiving AJ Johnson and Taj Gibson from the Grizzlies. Moving Hawkins gives the Pelicans the salary-cap space to complete the deal reported two weeks ago to acquire Bennedict Mathurin. The Mathurin deal, as reported in late August, is for two years and worth $16 million. He has a player option for the second year. Hawkins, selected by the Pelicans with the No. 14 overall pick in the 2023 draft, spent three seasons with the Pelicans. He showed promise during his first three months in New Orleans with his ability to knock down 3-pointers, but his productivity dwindled after that. Hawkins averaged 8 points and 2.3 rebounds in three seasons. He averaged Email Rod Walker at rwalker@ a career-low 5.1 points last sea- theadvocate.com.

you watch what he does in practice, that’s the kind of kid he is.” The 6-foot-2, 215-pound senior set a school record on his first touchdown pass, a 95-yarder to Carter Champagne that broke the previous mark set by quarterback Luke LeBlanc and receiver Matt Domingues in Eric LeBlanc’s first year as head coach. “Landen has some zip on his passes and can throw it a mile,” Eric LeBlanc said. “He’s definitely got a cannon.” The Bobcats’ offensive line, which is composed of all underclassmen, including two freshmen and two sophomores, feeds off DeRouen’s confidence. “Those guys are locked in,” LeBlanc said. Champagne, who also threw a TD pass, is committed to Northeast Texas Community College for baseball, as is DeRouen. Champagne caught four passes for 137 yards and two TDs. Tate Collins and Ean LeBlanc, who are also baseball standouts, combined for nine catches and 157 yards with Collins snagging two TDs. Ayden Tallmore, also a basketball player, added three receptions for 46 yards and a score. “Those are the kids we want (on the football team),” LeBlanc said of multi-sport athletes. “You have to be mentally tough in baseball.” The Bobcats host a pair of Class 5A programs the next two weeks, beginning with Walker High, which edged Ponchatoula 42-41. Lafayette High (1-0) visits Erath in Week 3.

“What you’d expect to see from a Class 5A school,” LeBlanc said of the scouting report on Walker. “They deﬁnitely have some talent. Every kid only plays one side of the ball. It will take some discipline to beat a school with that many players.” But the Bobcats feel good about their chances with DeRouen leading the offense. “He’s one tough kid,” LeBlanc said. “He had a broken foot a month ago and went out and threw for 300 yards with a rushing TD. That’s a tough kid who wants to be successful. We’re excited to have him back.” While reviewing the Loreauville game footage, the EHS coaches were in awe of one particular play. “Landen was running towards the line of scrimmage and threw a ball right to a kid’s chest,” LeBlanc said. “That’s just him, being an athlete who makes throws off-balance. “He’s a special human being whose talent really showed.” For many years, the Bobcats have thrived from great quarterback play, with Luke LeBlanc, Lynkon Romero and Jack Landry (Nicholls State) among the more recent signal-callers. “Our system is quarterback friendly,” LeBlanc said. “But we tell them every year when they get into the room that we’re going to practice running the ball ﬁrst. “We weren’t very successful at it Friday (21 carries for 55 yards), but the threat of running the football allows us to do what we do.”

SCOREBOARD Hole-in-one Dean Napoli Course: University Club Hole, yardage: No. 5, 154 yards Club used: 8 iron Witnesses: Ross Berthelot, Brian Terhaar, Mike Johnson, Jim Moran

High schools Area volleyball schedule Wednesday’s games

Southside at Westminster, Acadiana at Eunice, David Thibodaux at WestminsterLafayette, Westgate at Loreauville, Beau Chene at Port Barre, North Vermilion at Abbeville, Washington-Marion at Crowley, Iota at Breaux Bridge, Cecilia at Brusly, North Central at Carencro, Opelousas Catholic at False River, Hanson at Vermilion Catholic.

Odds NFL Wednesday

FAVORITE at SEATTLE

OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG 4½ 3½ (44½) New Eng

FAVORITE at LA RAMS

OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG 3½ 3½ (48½) San Fran

Thursday

Sunday

FAVORITE OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG at TENNESSEE 2½ 1½ (39½) NY Jets at DETROIT 7 7 (49½) N.Orleans at JACKSONVILLE 7½ 8½ (40½) Cleveland Chicago 2½ 3 (47) at CAROLN at CINCINNATI 3½ 3½ (50½) Tampa Bay at PITTSBURGH 3 3½ (41½) Atlanta Buffalo 1½ 1½ (44½) at HOUSTN Baltimore 3½ 3½ (47½) at INDINPLS at MINNESOTA 1½ 1½ (46½) Green Bay at PHILADELPHIA 4½ 5½ (44½) Washington at LAS VEGAS 3½ 3½ (40½) Miami at LA CHARGERS 10½ 9½ (47½) Arizona Dallas 2½ 3 (48½) at GIANTS

Monday

FAVORITE OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG at KANSAS CITY 2½ 2½ (43½) Denver

at WISCONSIN 36½ Texas Tech 29½ at COASTAL CAR.31½ at TEXAS 1½ at LSU 31½ Navy 6½ at IOWA 11½ at CLEMSON 26½ at OLE MISS 46½ at AUBURN 29½ at TCU 44½ at BAYLOR 38½ at SAN JOSE ST 21½ at UTEP 27½ North Dakota St 6½ at UTAH 10 at FRESNO ST. 18½ Montana State 3½ at USC 28½

MLB

Wednesday

American League FAVORITE LINE UNDERDOG LINE at DETROIT -134 Minnesota +109 Toronto -188 at ATHLETICS +152 at SEATTLE -162 Texas +136 Cleveland -116 at BALTIMORE -106 at BOSTON -215 LA Angels +173 National League FAVORITE LINE UNDERDOG LINE St. Louis -111 at SAN FRANCISCO -110 at SAN DIEGO -190 Washington +153 N.Y Mets -120 at MIAMI -101 at MILWAUKEE -136 Chicago Cubs +112 at LA DODGERS -317 Cincinnati +246 Interleague FAVORITE LINE UNDERDOG LINE at PHILADELPHIA-164 Houston +135 at N.Y YANKEES -257 Colorado +200 Tampa Bay -124 at ATLANTA +100 at WHITE SOX -179 Pittsburgh +135 at KANSAS CITY OFF Arizona OFF

Pro baseball MLB glance East Division

FAVORITE OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG at MIAMI (FL) 49½ 55½ (61½) Fla. A&M FAVORITE OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG at NC STATE 30½ 30½ (48½) Richmond at VIRGINIA 43½ 44½ (54½) Norfolk St. at LOUISVILLE 37½ 36½ (56½) Villanova at BOSTON COLL 6½ 3½ (54½) Rutgers Missouri 7 5½ (50½) at KANSAS

Chicago Cleveland Minnesota Detroit Kansas City West Division

FAVORITE OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG at TEXAS A&M 14½ 14½ (50½) Arizona St at INDIANA 55½ 55½ (64½) Howard at KANSAS ST 18½ 18½ (48½) Wash. St Oklahoma 2½ 5½ (43½) at MICHIGN at E. CAROLINA 8½ 7½ (56½) App State at KENT STATE 14½ 12½ (46½) Wofford at ARMY 1½ 3½ (46½) S. Florida at VIRGINIA TECH 14 19½ (49½) Old Domin Penn State 23½ 23½ (49½) at TEMPLE at N. CAROLINA 35½ 35½ (52½) E. Tenn. St. Oregon 19½ 22½ (57½) at OKLA ST at GEORGIA 35½ 40½ (55½) Western Ky at CENT. MICH. 26½ 24½ (50½) Colgate at W. VIRGINIA 34½ 39½ (56½) UT Martin at MIAMI (OH) 33½ 31½ (51½) Holy Cross at BALL STATE 18½ 15½ (56½)Stony Brook at AKRON 28½ 27½ (43½) Rob. Mrrs at UAB 9½ 9½ (55½) UL Monroe at JAMES MAD 45½ 46½ (55½) Wagner at WASHINGTON 24½ 26½ (55½) Utah State at TEXAS STATE 1½ 1½ (66½) UTSA at COLORADO 36½ 33½ (53½) Weber St Alabama 10½ 10½ (49½) at KENTCKY at NOTRE DAME 44½ 44½ (55½) Rice at MICHIGAN ST 16½ 17½ (49½) E.Michigan Maryland 10½ 12½ (52½) at UCONN Mississippi State 2½ 1½ (55½) at MINN. at BYU 6½ 7½ (47½) Arizona at PITTSBURGH 8½ 7 (57½) UCF at UMASS 24½ 21½ (54½) Sacred Hrt at TOLEDO 35½ 35½ (56½) C. Conn. St. at ILLINOIS 8½ 5½ (51½) Duke at SYRACUSE 2½ 3½ (56½) Cal UNLV 6½ 3½ (57½) at N.TEXAS at SMU 24½ 24½ (58½) UC Davis at NEW MEXICO 41½ 41½ (52½) Mercyhurst at TROY 24½ 22½ (52½) Alabama St at WYOMING 23½ 23½ (48½) Nor. Colo. at VANDERBILT 23½ 21 (54½) Delaware at FLORIDA 49½ 49½ (67½) Campbell at BOISE STATE 6½ 8½ (55½) Memphis at OHIO 1½ 2½ (50½) Jax St at LIBERTY 27½ 26½ (54½) Grdnr-Wbb at FLORIDA INT’L 7½ 10½ (47½) Buffalo at W. MICHIGAN 28½ 25½ (53½) Monmouth Illinois State 3½ 3½ (47½) at N. ILLINS Towson at S.CAROLINA 42½ 43½ (55½) at NEBRASKA 25½ 28½ (51½) Bowlng Grn Tulsa 12½ 13½ (51½) at S. HSTN at MISSOURI ST 21½ 20½ (53½) Lindenwd at CINCINNATI 36½ 36½ (60½) W.Carolina at HOUSTON 50½ 50½ (60½) Southern at TULANE 10 9½ (49½) S.Alabama at COLORADO ST 20½ 20½ (57½) So.Utah Tennessee 8½ 12½ (55½) at GA. TECH at MARSHALL 17½ 13½ (56½) Mid. Tenn. at KENNESAW STATE9½ 9½ (54½) Georgia St at UCLA 8½ 11½ (55½) S Diego St

Houston Texas Seattle Athletics Los Angeles

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Monday’s games

W 85 81 80 72 70

L 58 62 65 73 75

Pct .594 .566 .552 .497 .483

GB — 4 6 14 16

W 75 73 68 66 64

L 68 72 76 78 81

Pct .524 .503 .472 .458 .441

GB — 3 7½ 9½ 12

W 73 71 67 58 54

L 71 73 77 87 90

Pct GB .507 — .493 2 .465 6 .400 15½ .375 19

Boston 5, L.A. Angels 2 Baltimore 6, Cleveland 4 Arizona 5, Kansas City 4, 10 innings Detroit 5, Minnesota 4 Athletics 6, Toronto 5

Tuesday’s games

Cleveland at Baltimore, n Houston at Philadelphia, n Minnesota at Detroit, n L.A. Angels at Boston, n Colorado at N.Y. Yankees, n Tampa Bay at Atlanta, n Arizona at Kansas City, n Pittsburgh at Chicago White Sox, n Texas at Seattle, n Toronto at Athletics, n

Pct GB .604 — .531 10½ .528 11 .414 27½ .385 31½

Philadelphia 1, Atlanta 0 N.Y. Mets 9, Miami 4 Milwaukee 4, Chicago Cubs 3 Arizona 5, Kansas City 4, 10 innings San Diego 3, Washington 2 San Francisco 5, St. Louis 4, 11 innings L.A. Dodgers 6, Cincinnati 3

Thursday’s games

San Francisco vs. L.A. Rams at Melbourne, VIC, 7:35 p.m.

Sunday’s games

FIBA Women’s World Cup glance At Berlin x—clinched berth in quarterﬁnals; Note: Two points awarded for a win, one for a loss. GP 3 3 3 3

W 2 2 1 1

L 1 1 2 2

Pts. 5 5 4 4

GP 3 3 3 3

W 3 2 1 0

L 0 1 2 3

Pts. 6 5 4 3

Japan 102, Mali 97 Spain 83, Germany 53

Sept. 5

Mali 82, Spain 73 Germany 74, Japan 58

Monday

Spain 79, Japan 59 Germany 53, Mali 58

Group B France Hungary Korea Nigeria

Hungary 71, Nigeria 67 France 95, Korea 69

Sept. 7

Hungary 82, Korea 73 France 111, Nigeria 56

W 85 81 72 67 66

L 59 63 73 79 78

Pct GB .590 — .563 4 .497 13½ .459 19 .458 19

W 89 81 72 71 69

L 56 64 73 73 75

Pct GB .614 — .559 8 .497 17 .493 17½ .479 19½

Group C

Belgium Australia Puerto Rico Turkey

Sept. 4

GP 3 3 3 3

W 3 2 1 0

L 0 1 2 3

Pts. 6 5 4 3

W 3 2 1 0

L 0 1 2 3

Pts. 6 5 4 3

Australia 70, Puerto Rico 54 Belgium 89, Turkey 75

Sunday

Australia 87, Turkey 71 Belgium 76, Puerto Rico 64

Monday

Belgium 80, Australia 68 Puerto Rico 75, Turkey 71

Group D

United States Italy Czechia China

Sept. 4

GP 3 3 3 3

United States 94, China 61 Italy 63, Czechia 54

Sunday

China 74, Czechia 70 United States 55, Italy 52

Monday

United States 105, Czechia 64 China 71, Italy 51

Qualiﬁcation to Quarterﬁnals Tuesday

Hungary 84, Japan 63 Germany 94, Korea 56

3rd Group D/2nd Group C winner vs. Spain, TBD 3rd Group C /2nd Group D winner vs. France, TBD 2nd Group A/3rd Group B winner vs. Belgium, TBD United States vs. 1st Group D, TBD

New England at Seattle, 7:20 p.m.

St. Louis (Pallante 12-6) at San Francisco (Wilkinson 0-3), 2:45 p.m. Washington (Kent 1-3) at San Diego (Buehler 8-6), 3:10 p.m. Houston (Brown 5-3) at Philadelphia (Sánchez 16-5), 5:40 p.m. N.Y. Mets (Stock 1-3) at Miami (Junk 6-9), 5:40 p.m. Colorado (Sugano 12-8) at N.Y. Yankees (Fried 4-4), 6:05 p.m. Tampa Bay (Jax 6-10) at Atlanta (López 4-3), 6:15 p.m. Arizona (Kelly 9-13) at Kansas City (Lynch 4-5), 6:40 p.m. Chicago Cubs (Gausman 9-11) at Milwaukee (Henderson 9-3), 6:40 p.m. Pittsburgh (TBD) at Chicago White Sox (Martin 9-6), 6:40 p.m. Cincinnati (Lowder 6-9) at L.A. Dodgers (Yamamoto 12-8), 9:10 p.m.

Sept. 4

Quarterﬁnals Thursday

Wednesday’s games

Spain Mali Japan Germany

Puerto Rico vs. China, 10:45 a.m. Italy vs. Australia, 1:45 p.m.

NFL schedule

Houston at Philadelphia, n N.Y. Mets at Miami, n Colorado at N.Y. Yankees, n Tampa Bay at Atlanta, n Arizona at Kansas City, n Chicago Cubs at Milwaukee, n Pittsburgh at Chicago White Sox, n Washington at San Diego, n St. Louis at San Francisco, n Cincinnati at L.A. Dodgers, n

Group A

Wednesday

Pro football

Tuesday’s games

Sept. 5

National League

Milwaukee Chicago St. Louis Pittsburgh Cincinnati West Division

L 57 68 68 85 88

Korea 99, Nigeria 81 France 99, Hungary 53

Minnesota (Matthews 9-9) at Detroit (Montero 9-8), 12:10 p.m. Toronto (TBD) at Athletics (TBD), 2:05 p.m. Texas (Quantrill 7-5) at Seattle (Anderson 0-1), 3:10 p.m. Cleveland (Grifﬁn 15-4) at Baltimore (Baz 5-15), 5:35 p.m. Houston (Brown 5-3) at Philadelphia (Sánchez 16-5), 5:40 p.m. L.A. Angels (Johnson 3-8) at Boston (Bennett 9-6), 5:45 p.m. Colorado (Sugano 12-8) at N.Y. Yankees (Fried 4-4), 6:05 p.m. Tampa Bay (Jax 6-10) at Atlanta (López 4-3), 6:15 p.m. Arizona (Kelly 9-13) at Kansas City (Lynch 4-5), 6:40 p.m. Pittsburgh (TBD) at Chicago White Sox (Martin 9-6), 6:40 p.m.

Atlanta Philadelphia Miami Washington New York Central Division

Monday’s games

W 87 77 76 60 55

Sept. 4

Wednesday’s games

East Division

Los Angeles Arizona San Diego San Francisco Colorado

Pro basketball

American League Tampa Bay New York Boston Toronto Baltimore Central Division

College Football

36½ (49½) W.Illinois 26½ (53½) at ORGN ST 31½ (53½) Fordham 1½ (48½) Ohio State 35½ (56½) La. Tech 4½ (59½) at FLA ATLC 14 (40½) Iowa State 20½ (55½) Ga Southrn 47½ (61½) Charlotte 32½ (56½) So. Miss 43½ (54½) Grambling 38½ (55½) Prairie View 20½ (57½) Cal Poly 26½ (53½) Tex Southrn 2½ (47½) at AIR FRCE 12½ (55½) Arkansas 18 (45½) Sacrmnt St 3½ (50½) at NEVADA 30½ (59½) UL

Atlanta at Pittsburgh, noon Baltimore at Indianapolis, noon Buffalo at Houston, noon Chicago at Carolina, noon Cleveland at Jacksonville, noon N.Y. Jets at Tennessee, noon New Orleans at Detroit, noon Tampa Bay at Cincinnati, noon Arizona at L.A. Chargers, 3:25 p.m. Green Bay at Minnesota, 3:25 p.m. Miami at Las Vegas, 3:25 p.m. Washington at Philadelphia, 3:25 p.m. Dallas at N.Y. Giants, 7:20 p.m.

Monday’s games

Denver at Kansas City, 7:15 p.m.

College football National schedule Thursday’s games

SOUTH Florida A&M (1-1) at Miami (1-0), 7 p.m.

Friday’s games

EAST Rutgers (0-1) at Boston College (0-1), 6:30 p.m. SOUTH Richmond (2-0) at NC State (0-1), 6 p.m. Norfolk St. (1-1) at Virginia (1-0), 6 p.m. Villanova (1-1) at Louisville (0-1), 6 p.m. MIDWEST Missouri (1-0) at Kansas (1-0), 7 p.m.

Saturday’s games

EAST South Florida (1-0) at Army (1-0), 11 a.m. Penn St. (1-0) at Temple (1-0), 11 a.m. UT Martin (1-1) at West Virginia (1-0), noon Maryland (1-0) at UConn (1-0), 2:30 p.m. UCF (1-0) at Pittsburgh (1-0), 2:30 p.m. Sacred Heart (0-1) at UMass (1-0), 2:30 p.m. California (0-1) at Syracuse (1-0), 2:30 p.m. Middle Tennessee (1-0) at Marshall (0-1), 6 p.m. SOUTH Old Dominion (1-0) at Virginia Tech (1-0), 11 a.m. ETSU (1-1) at North Carolina (1-0), 11 a.m. Appalachian St. (1-0) at East Carolina (0-1), 11 a.m. W. Kentucky (0-1) at Georgia (1-0), 11:45 a.m. Alabama (1-0) at Kentucky (1-0), 2:30 p.m. UL-Monroe (0-1) at UAB (0-1), 2:30 p.m. Wagner (1-1) at James Madison (1-0), 2:30 p.m. Alabama St. (2-0) at Troy (1-0), 3 p.m. Delaware (1-0) at Vanderbilt (1-0), 3:15 p.m. Campbell (2-0) at Florida (1-0), 4:30 p.m. Buffalo (1-0) at FIU (0-1), 5 p.m. Gardner-Webb (0-2) at Liberty (0-1), 5 p.m. Tennessee (1-0) at Georgia Tech (0-1), 6 p.m. Georgia St. (1-0) at Kennesaw St. (1-0), 6 p.m. Towson (0-2) at South Carolina (1-0), 6 p.m. South Alabama (1-0) at Tulane (0-1), 6 p.m. North Alabama (1-1) at Southeastern (0-2), 6 p.m. Louisiana Tech (1-0) at LSU (1-0), 6:30 p.m. Navy (1-0) at FAU (0-1), 6:30 p.m. Georgia Southern (1-0) at Clemson (0-1), 6:30 p.m. Fordham (0-2) at Coastal Carolina (0-1), 6:30 p.m. Southern Miss. (1-0) at Auburn (1-0), 6:45 p.m. Charlotte (0-1) at Ole Miss (1-0), 6:45 p.m. MIDWEST Wake Forest (1-0) at Purdue (1-0), 11 a.m. Wofford (2-0) at Kent St. (0-1), 11 a.m. Howard (1-1) at Indiana (1-0), 11 a.m. Washington St. (0-1) at Kansas St. (1-0), 11 a.m. Oklahoma (1-0) at Michigan (1-0), 11 a.m. Colgate (2-0) at Cent. Michigan (0-1), noon Holy Cross (0-2) at Miami (Ohio) (0-1), noon Stony Brook (1-1) at Ball St. (0-1), 1 p.m. Rice (1-0) at Notre Dame (1-0), 2:30 p.m. E. Michigan (1-1) at Michigan St. (1-0), 2:30 p.m. Mississippi St. (1-0) at Minnesota (1-0), 2:30 p.m. CCSU (0-1) at Toledo (0-1), 2:30 p.m. Duke (1-0) at Illinois (1-0), 2:30 p.m. Robert Morris (2-0) at Akron (0-1), 2:30 p.m. Jacksonville St. (1-1) at Ohio (0-1), 5 p.m. Monmouth (NJ) (1-1) at W. Michigan (0-1), 5:30 p.m. Bowling Green (0-1) at Nebraska (1-0), 6 p.m. W. Carolina (1-1) at Cincinnati (1-0), 6 p.m. W. Illinois (1-1) at Wisconsin (0-1), 6:15 p.m. Iowa St. (1-0) at Iowa (1-0), 6:30 p.m.

SOUTHWEST Oregon (1-0) at Oklahoma St. (0-1), 11 a.m. Arizona St. (1-0) at Texas A&M (1-0), 11 a.m. UTSA (1-0) at Texas State (0-1), 2:30 p.m. UNLV (1-1) at North Texas (0-1), 2:45 p.m. UC Davis (2-0) at SMU (1-0), 3 p.m. Northwestern St. (0-2) at East Texas A&M (0-2), 6 p.m. Tulsa (1-0) at Sam Houston St. (0-1), 6 p.m. Southern U. (1-1) at Houston (1-0), 6 p.m. Ohio St. (1-0) at Texas (1-0), 6:30 p.m. Prairie View (1-1) at Baylor (0-1), 7 p.m. Grambling (2-0) at TCU (0-1), 7 p.m. Texas Southern (1-1) at UTEP (0-1), 8 p.m. FAR WEST Weber St. (1-1) at Colorado (1-0), 2:30 p.m. Arizona (1-0) at BYU (1-0), 2:30 p.m. Utah St. (0-1) at Washington (1-0), 2:30 p.m. N. Colorado (0-2) at Wyoming (0-1), 3 p.m. Mercyhurst (0-2) at New Mexico (1-0), 3 p.m. Memphis (2-0) at Boise St. (0-1), 5 p.m. San Diego (0-1) at Idaho St. (2-0), 5 p.m. San Diego St. (1-0) at UCLA (1-0), 6:15 p.m. Texas Tech (1-0) at Oregon St. (0-1), 6:30 p.m. Cal Poly (2-0) at San Jose St. (1-1), 8 p.m. N. Dakota St. (2-0) at Air Force (1-0), 9 p.m. Arkansas (1-0) at Utah (1-0), 9:15 p.m. Sacramento St. (1-1) at Fresno St. (0-1), 9:30 p.m. Montana St. (2-0) at Nevada (1-0), 9:30 p.m. UL (1-0) at Southern Cal (2-0), 10 p.m.

Sunday’s games

FAR WEST New Mexico St. (1-1) at Hawaii (0-2), 11 p.m.

Stats Perform FCS Top 25 poll Through Sept. 6

Rec. Pts. Prev. 1. Montana State (57) 2-0 1425 1 2. South Dakota State 1-1 1303 2 3. Montana 2-0 1292 3 4. Tarleton State 2-0 1272 5 5. Illinois State 2-0 1209 4 6. North Dakota 2-0 1037 8 7. UC Davis 2-0 1003 7 8. Rhode Island 1-1 994 6 9. Lehigh 2-0 941 10 10. Youngstown State 1-1 939 9 11. South Dakota 2-0 901 11 12. Tennessee Tech 2-0 836 12 13. Stephen F. Austin 2-0 806 13 14. Lamar 1-1 545 14 15. Austin Peay 1-1 540 15 16. William & Mary 2-0 506 17 17. Idaho State 2-0 478 23 18. Mercer 2-0 417 19 19. Yale 0-0 383 16 20. West Florida 2-0 317 25 21. Villanova 1-1 275 18 22. South Carolina State 2-0 270 21 23. Abilene Christian 0-2 196 20 24. Northern Arizona 1-1 160 22 25. Harvard 0-0 64 NR Dropped out: Western Carolina (24) Others receiving points (schools listed on two or more ballots): Alabama State (2-0), 55; Southern Utah (1-1, 0-1 Big Sky), 51; Campbell (2-0), 49; Cal Poly (2-0, 1-0 Big Sky), 46; Southern Illinois (1-1), 30; Richmond (2-0, 1-0 Patriot), 28; Houston Christian (1-1, 1-0 Southland), 24; Elon (2-0), 21; Jackson State (2-0), 21; Wofford (2-0), 19; Western Carolina (1-1), 15; Southeast Missouri (1-1), 14; UAlbany (1-1, 1-0 CAA), 13; UTRGV (1-1), 12; Prairie View (1-1, 1-0 SWAC), 8; Monmouth (1-1, 1-0 CAA), 4; The Citadel (1-1, 0-1 Southern), 3

Tennis U.S. Open Results Tuesday At The USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, New York Purse: $5,438,400 Surface: Hardcourt outdoor Men’s Singles Quarterfinals Frances Tiafoe (11), United States, def. Alex Michelsen, United States, 5-7, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (6). Women’s Singles Quarterfinals Aryna Sabalenka (1), Belarus, def. Linda Noskova (6), Czechia, 7-6 (1), 3-6, 7-6 (7). Men’s Doubles Third Round Marcel Granollers, Spain, and Horacio Zeballos (2), Argentina, def. Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni, Argentina, 6-3, 6-3. Rajeev Ram, United States, and Joe Salisbury, Britain, def. Brandon Carpico and Nikita Samuel Filin, United States, 7-6 (6), 4-6, 6-4. Christian Harrison, United States, and Neal Skupski (5), Britain, def. Jakob Schnaitter and Mark Wallner, Germany, 6-3, 7-6 (1). Mate Pavic, Croatia, and Marcelo Arevalo (3), El Salvador, def. Lucas Miedler, Austria, and Marc Polmans (13), Australia, 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-3. Women’s Doubles Quarterfinals Taylor Townsend, United States, and Katerina Siniakova (1), Czechia, def. Nicole Melichar-Martinez, United States, and Cristina Bucsa (6), Spain, 6-4, 6-2. Gabriela Dabrowski, Canada, and Luisa Stefani (2), Brazil, def. Zhang Shuai and Xinyu Jiang (7), China, 6-3, 6-4. Elise Mertens, Belgium, and Diana Shnaider (8), Russia, def. Hsieh Su-wei, Taiwan, and Jelena Ostapenko (4), Latvia, 7-5, 6-3.

LIVING

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

W e d n e s d ay, s e p t e m b e r 9, 2026

5Cn

By the bay

Gulf Coast city a wedding hot spot for Louisiana couples tying the knot BY MARTHA SANCHEZ Staff writer

Joseph Crapanzano’s family from New Orleans has owned a camp on the Mississippi Coast since just after Hurricane Katrina. His wife grew up outside Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and often visited the coast with her family. So getting married in Bay St. Louis earlier this summer made sense. “It’s where our two lives met,” Crapanzano said. The Crapanzanos — who were married in June — are among a growing number of couples from New Orleans and across Louisiana who are choosing to tie the knot in fast-growing Bay St. Louis. Some say venues in the Mississippi Coast city are less expensive than many in New Orleans. Others like the change of scenery. And many still feel at home. “The coast is becoming kind of an extension of New Orleans,” said Crapanzano, who works as a ﬁnancial advisor. He and his wife, Taylor Crapanzano, wed at Our Lady of the Gulf Catholic Church and hosted their reception at the Bay-Waveland Yacht Club. In Bay St. Louis, Crapanzano added, “everything you’re doing is overlooking either the bay or the Gulf, and it’s beautiful out there.”

STAFF PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK

Al Hebert, the Gas Station Gourmet, poses with a gas pump handle and his lunch while visiting Mire’s Grocery and Service Station in Carencro.

ROAD RULES From gas, groceries to great food, Al Hebert’s guide to Acadiana’s best gas-station eats

BY JA’KORI MADISON

here’s the fuel that fills your tank and the fuel that fills your stomach, but in Acadiana, both can sometimes be found under the same roof. Some of the best food may be waiting inside convenience stores or gas stations, according to Al Hebert, a morning reporter for Acadiana News and longtime food explorer known as the “Gas Station Gourmet.” Whether it’s shrimp pasta served on Fridays at a Lafayette-area gas station, fried ribs at a Church Point stop or homemade plate lunches and burgers in other parts of Acadiana, these convenience stores offer more than a quick fill-up. “I’ve probably visited roughly 25 to 30 gas stations in Acadiana, and that’s not including stops in other states,” Hebert said. “Still, there’s nothing like Cajun food.” Hebert estimated he spent nearly two decades searching for meals cooked inside convenience stores and gas stations. At Mire’s Grocery & Service Station in Vatican, owner Amanda Mire

PROVIdEd PHOTO FROM JOSEPH CRAPANZANO

Joseph and Taylor Crapanzano were married in June at Our Lady of the Gulf Catholic Church and hosted their reception at the Bay Waveland yacht Club in Bay St. Louis, Miss.

New Orleanians have retreated to Bay St. Louis for decades, and many families have long owned second homes there. But the city has been growing more busy and popular than ever in recent years. Martha Whitney Butler, who owns a Bay St. Louis ﬂoral shop called The French Potager, said up to half of her clients are Louisianans from cities including New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Bogalusa and Monroe. Some choose Bay St. Louis so they can wed at coastal homes that have been in their families for generations. Butler said she’s also seeing an increase in elopements from Louisiana. Others are incorporating New Orleans nods — including beads, second-lines and bands — into wedding celebrations in Bay St. Louis. “Even though we’re so different, we’re so close,” Butler said.

ä See WEDDING, page 6C

Staff writer

PROVIdEd PHOTO

Vautrots Mini Mart everyday food items include chicken tenders, southwest eggrolls, onion rings and fried ribs.

knows that getting people to discover the food can be the hardest part. Located at 2905 La. 93, the small country store can easily be mistaken for what it appears to be from the road: a place to stop for a snack and get back on the highway, but it’s home to burgers that

are gourmet enough for two, and home-cooked meals that remind you of granny’s house. “We may not look like a restaurant, because you see pumps,” Mire said, “but once customers make the decision to stop, they become regulars.” Mire’s has developed a kitchen operation that includes homemade burgers, daily plate lunches and weekend barbecue. It’s a one-stop shop for groceries, a deli, fresh meats or horseshoes and hardware. “I would tell anyone you have got to go in,” Hebert said. “And get a sense of culinary adventure.” With that sense of culinary adventure in mind, here are a few of Hebert’s stops around Acadiana worth pulling over for.

Vautrot’s Mini Market

n Church Point

Through the back roads of south Louisiana, make a stop in Church Point and ﬁnd Vautrot’s Mini Market at 1038 Peach Bloom Highway. Customers can ﬁnd gas outside, but once inside, daily dinner options include hamburger steak,

ä See GAS STATION, page 6C

THE BEST THINGS WE ATE THIS WEEK

Uncover classic dishes from new locations

The Almondine at Louisiana Lagniappe is a pan-sauteed fish topped with toasted almonds and a light lemon butter sauce, served with a stuffed baked potato. STAFF PHOTO By JAN RISHER

Staff report

Fish almondine

n Louisiana Lagniappe, 9990 Per-

kins Road, Baton Rouge

Sign me up. I’ll be back. Not only was the Almondine ﬁsh incredible, but the Sensation Salad was also, hands down, the best I’ve ever tried. I went to Louisiana Lagniappe because my mom was in town celebrating her birthday. She loves seafood and enjoyed her standby of fried shrimp.

Both my mother and my husband agreed that the fried shrimp and fried oysters (that my cousin ordered) were breaded perfectly. My mom even said that the Sensation Salad that came with her meal may have been the best salad she’s ever had in her 83 years. It was one of those meals that was as close to perfect as it comes. But back to that Almondine. It was a pan-sauteed trout topped with toasted almonds and a light

ä See BEST, page 6C

6C ● Wednesday, September 9, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

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Using salad spinner to give delicates safe cleaning PROVIdEd PHOTO

Tacos from Mezcal Mexican Restaurant

BEST

Continued from page 5C lemon butter sauce. At $30, the dinner came with a stuffed baked potato and the salad. I prefer rice to cheesy potatoes with ﬁsh, but on its own the potato was tasty. I ended up taking half the ﬁsh home and had it the next day for lunch — and it was still delicious. Highly recommend. — Jan Risher, Louisiana culture editor

Ravioli

n Nino’s, 7512 Bluebonnet

Blvd., Baton Rouge

I’ve tried a few pasta dishes at Nino’s over the years, but the ravioli was a ﬁrst for me this week. This particular version was stuffed with leeks and fontina cheese, then topped with braised pork cheek in a saffron cream. It was velvety and rich enough to need to take a

STAFF PHOTO By LAUREN CHERAMIE

Leek and fontina stuffed ravioli with braised pork cheek from Nino’s in Baton Rouge break halfway through. The fontina cheese is nutty and buttery, which paired well with the earthy ﬂavor of the cream sauce. The pork cheek pulled it all together, perfectly balancing the dish. For dessert, I recommend the panna cotta with thickened vanilla bean cream, lemon curd, frangelico and mixed berry sauce. — Lauren Cheramie, deputy features editor

Tacos

n Mezcal, 3546 Ambassador

Caffery Parkway, Lafayette

For the most part, I’m a true lover of traditional

Mexican dishes, so when I passed by Mezcal Mexican Restaurant, I had to stop and give it a try. For my entree, I ordered their Tacos Gringos. The dish came with three flour tortillas filled with grilled steak, grilled onions, fresh onions, cilantro, cheese and sliced avocado. The tacos were served with a side of rice and beans. Mezcal’s addition of grilled onions and avocado definitely gave the tacos a more filling taste. Did I mention they have all-day, every-day 2-for-1 margaritas? — Jakori Madison, features reporter

as usual. — Heloise Dear Heloise: I had a salad spinner that I never used. Removing mud stains It had been a Christmas gift. One day, as I was Dear Heloise: How do I get hand-washing some delirid of mud stains on my cate items, I wondered how husband’s work clothes? He works out in the fields I was going to get all the with wells and water but water out of these items. comes home caked in mud! Then it came to me — use Since he’s been prothe salad spinner! I put the items in moted to foreman, there and pressed I want him to look a the button that little better. So, how spins everything, do I get the mud and it worked. I stains out? — Bettydidn’t have to wring Ann, in Texas Hints from Betty-Ann, first, my delicates by Heloise try to remove as hand and damage the fibers. I hung up much dirt as posa couple of things and laid sible by using a mild to other items out flat. They soft bristled brush. Then dried in less than an hour. use a prewashed spray — Aileen G., in Kansas that’s sold in stores. You can also make your own Gum on clothing prewash formula by mixDear Heloise: My 7-year-old ing powdered detergent daughter had a large wad and ammonia. (This works of gum that got stuck to best with powdered deterher dress. Where it came gent that doesn’t contain from is anyone’s guess, but a bleaching agent, rather how can I get it off before than liquid detergent.) I wash it? — Patty J., in Lake Remember to test for colCharles orfastness before using Patty, put her dress in any stain-removing agent. the freezer for at least two — Heloise hours. Take it out; then Avoid a dryer fire with a dull knife (not a sharp knife), scrape the Dear Heloise: I recently gum off. It should come off read there are more than easily if it’s frozen solid. If 15,000 household fires that any gum should happen to are caused by dryers anremain, use prewash spray nually in the United States. on the underside of the In addition to emptying the fabric and wash the item lint trap after each load,

you should also remove the built-up lint in other places. But which places? Now I’m worried. — Ginger T., in Coos Bay, Oregon Ginger, here are suggestions from a major manufacturer of dryers: n Disconnect the dryer hose from the dryer, then reach in and pull out as much lint as you can. n Blow out the hose with a leaf blower, or use your vacuum if it has a reverseairﬂow ability. You can also use a shop vacuum. Blow air outward. gather up the lint outside, and place it in your trash bin. n Check the outside lint trap and remove all the lint from there. n Have a repairman remove the dryer drum and clean out any lint that might have collected around and underneath the drum. n In addition to these suggestions, I’d like to add: Never leave the house while there’s a load drying, and never go to bed with the dryer running. Never operate the dryer without your lint trap being in its correct place, and wash the trap by hand every so often. — Heloise Send a hint to heloise@ heloise.com.

TODAY IN HISTORY By The Associated Press

PROVIdEd PHOTOS

Al Hebert, morning reporter for KAdN News 15, right, shows off a plate of food from Port Quick Shop alongside co-owner Brandon duncan.

GAS STATION Continued from page 5C

fried catﬁsh and pork chops, which can be fried or grilled and are served with a side, breakfast sandwiches, baked potatoes, plate lunches, po-boys, wraps and more. Their fried ribs were delicious. I paired them with some onion rings and couldn’t get over how wellseasoned and fried to perfection they were. One of the standout menu items is the crawﬁsh potato, which also includes fresh shrimp and is among the store’s top sellers. For first-time visitors, Josh Venavle, owner of Vautrot’s, recommends trying the boudin, which he says is one of the store’s specialties.

South End Country Mart

n Lafayette

At first glance, when I walked into South End Country Mart at 7212 Johnston St., I thought it was an ordinary convenience store. After doing more than passing by, I discovered it’s an all-inone stop, almost like a mini grocery store — from pots and pans to groceries, dessert cakes, a meat market and homemade cracklings. “We offer good food and good vibes,” said Tye Jon Hebert, whose parents own the business, noting that most weekday plate lunches are priced at $8. Barbecue is particularly popular and is served on Sundays with rice dressing, baked beans, a choice of meat and a piece of sausage. The store also serves plate lunches seven days a week. Among the favorites is pork roast with creamed potatoes.

A plate from Riche’s y-Not Stop that includes a sausage patty, creamy grits, scrambled eggs and toast A customer can grab a plate lunch and pick up something from the market or, as Hebert put it, get “a pint of vodka, a boudin link and ice cream at the same time.”

Riche’s Y-Not Stop

n Broussard

At Riche’s Y-Not Stop, 6920 Ambassador Caffery Parkway in Broussard, breakfast is one of the reasons Hebert says drivers should pull in. His favorite? The Hungry Man Breakfast Platter, cooked fresh. This dish comes with three eggs, two choices of meat, grits or hash browns, and toast or a biscuit. Other platters include the Big Bad Tex breakfast sandwich, which features two eggs, cheese and two breakfast meat options served on Texas toast. Hebert points speciﬁcally to the company’s Corporate Works of Mercy program, which helps people in need. Other Y-Not Stop locations can be found in Moreauville, Simmesport, Marksville and Ville Platte.

Port Quick Shop

n New Iberia

At 4307 S. Lewis St. in New Iberia, Port Quick Shop is where, if you’re in the mood for some smoked meats, this stop is necessary. Port Quick Shop is a fam-

ily-owned Texaco-branded convenience store, gas station and restaurant where general manager and coowner Brandon Duncan works alongside his parents and is heavily involved in the kitchen. “We really consider it more of a restaurant and convenience store that sells gas versus a gas station that sells food,” Duncan said. Smoking meat is a major part of Port Quick Shop’s identity. The store uses a Southern Pride smoker that Duncan describes as a “world-class smoker,” helping give the business a barbecue program that stands apart from the typical conveniencestore hot-food counter. For a place to start, Hebert’s recommendation is straightforward: Try the smoked chicken or barbecue plate.

Today is Wednesday, Sept. 9, the 252nd day of 2026. There are 113 days left in the year. Today in history: On Sept. 9, 1971, prisoners seized control of the maximum-security Attica Correctional Facility near Buffalo, New York, taking 42 staff members hostage and demanding improvements to inmate treatment and living conditions. Also on this date: In 1776, the second Continental Congress formally adopted the name “United States of America,” replacing the “United Colonies of North America.” In 1850, California was admitted as the 31st U.S. state. In 1919, about 1,100 members of Boston’s 1,500-member police force went on strike. The strike was broken by Massachusetts Gov. Calvin Coolidge with replacement ofﬁcers. In 1948, the People’s Democratic Republic of

Korea (North Korea) was declared. In 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the ﬁrst civil rights bill to pass Congress since Reconstruction, a measure primarily concerned with protecting voting rights. It also established a Civil Rights Division in the U.S. Department of Justice. In 1985, President Ronald Reagan ordered economic sanctions against South Africa to target apartheid. In 1993, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat exchanged letters in which the PLO recognized Israel’s right to exist and renounced violence and Israel recognized the PLO as representing the Palestinian people. The exchange occurred days before an agreement under the Oslo peace process. In 2022, King Charles III gave his ﬁrst speech to Britain as its new monarch, vowing to carry on the “lifelong service” of his mother Queen Eliza-

beth II, who died a day earlier. In 2025, Israeli conducted a daylight airstrike targeting the Hamas political leadership in Doha, Qatar. The attack killed at least ﬁve lower-ranking Hamas members and inﬂamed Middle East tensions as Israel continued to wage war against Hamas in Gaza. Today’s birthdays: Singer Dee Dee Sharp is 81. Former NFL quarterback Joe Theismann is 77. Actor Angela Cartwright is 74. Musicianproducer Dave Stewart (Eurythmics) is 74. Actor Hugh Grant is 66. Actor Constance Marie is 61. Actor Adam Sandler is 60. Actor Julia Sawalha is 58. Model Rachel Hunter is 57. Actor Eric Stonestreet is 55. Actor Henry Thomas is 55. Actor Goran Visnjic is 54. Pop-jazz singer Michael Bublé is 51. Actor Michelle Williams is 46. Actor Zoe Kazan is 43. Country singer-songwriter Hunter Hayes is 35. Actor Ronni Hawk is 27. NHL hockey player Luke Hughes is 23.

Hit and Run

n Lafayette

At Hit and Run, 2007 Johnston St. in Lafayette, Hebert’s recommendation is to stop on Friday for the shrimp fettuccine, which he says is on the level of a white-tablecloth restaurant. “You will be amazed,” he said. The chili dogs are another favorite. The chili is made from scratch, and Hebert calls it “incredible.” And there is one ﬁnal recommendation that may be difﬁcult to pass up: one of the giant Ghirardelli chocolate chip cookies. Pair it with a cup of Louisiana’s own Community Coffee for lagniappe. The Johnston Street location is not far from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, making it an easy stop for people traveling through that part of town.

PROVIdEd PHOTO FROM EdWARd JENNINGS

Edward Jennings and his husband, david Mitchell, were married in 2018 at Jennings’ family property in Bay St. Louis, Miss.

WEDDING

Continued from page 5C

Cost comparison

Another factor driving some New Orleanians to Bay St. Louis is cost. Edward Jennings and his husband, David Mitchell, were married in 2018 at a Bay St. Louis home that has been passed down through Jennings’ family for generations. The New Orleans couple hosted their reception at the Court Street Community Center in Bay

St. Louis, which is owned by the city and only cost several hundred dollars to rent. Early on in their wedding planning, Jennings and Mitchell scouted venues in New Orleans and found that many are booked years in advance or cost more than $100 a head. In the end, Jennings said the couple’s rehearsal dinner in New Orleans was technically more expensive than their wedding in Bay St. Louis. “We realized that Mississippi, from a ﬁnancial point of view, would be a lot bet-

ter,” Jennings said. The couple also enjoyed Bay St. Louis’ small-town feel. Wedding guests who stayed in Bay St. Louis could ride golf carts from their accommodations to the ceremony and reception. Afterwards, guests walked downtown and kept celebrating at the city’s collection of beachfront bars and music venues. Bay St. Louis “really has a feeling of family and specialness,” Jennings said. “It was nice to actually hang out with people after the wedding downtown.”

The Acadiana Advocate ● theadvocate.com ● Wednesday, September 9, 2026 ● 7C

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FrAnK And erneSt

roSebUdS

zItS

zodIAC VIRGo (Aug. 23-sept. 22) Think outside the box. If you socialize, the topics of conversation will encourage you to pursue someone or something of interest. Branching out and seeing what's available will lead to a change in routine. LIBRA (sept. 23-oct. 23) Educate yourself and master something that will help you make your dreams come true. Stop letting anger or regret fill your dance card when knowledge and experience are what you need. scoRPIo (oct. 24-nov. 22) Proceed in secrecy and with caution. The less outside influence you encounter, the better. Come to terms with matters by looking in the mirror and taking responsibility for your life and what you pursue next. sAGIttARIus (nov. 23-Dec. 21) To play or not to play is the question. Consider what you want to achieve, and remove whatever is deadweight. Place more credence on walking away from temptation and toward a disciplined lifestyle. cAPRIcoRn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Refuse to let your desires tempt you to cut corners. Partnerships will undergo stress if you don't channel your energy and thoughts into getting along and finding common ground. AQuARIus (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Look out! Temptation will come to you in mysterious ways. Take a moment to sort the good from the bad and to put your effort and energy toward something that will satisfy your soul. PIscEs (Feb. 20-March 20) You'll ward off negativity by being calm in situations.

Take the opportunity to be the one to lead the way and to set an example that encourages others to strive for perfection, kindness and generosity. ARIEs (March 21-April 19) Add an original touch to whatever you pursue. If you go the distance, you'll open doors to new beginnings. Your chance to advance is met with passion and emotional input that make you impossible to defeat. tAuRus (April 20-May 20) Take your time, be aware of what's happening around you and gravitate toward the people and pursuits that make you feel grateful. Deal with situations that hold you back. GEMInI (May 21-June 20) Make changes, adjustments and gestures for the right reason. Put your heart and soul into making things better, not worse. Being true to yourself will change your perspective regarding love. cAncER (June 21-July 22) Let your intuition and emotions lead the way and your truth be known. Not everyone will be happy with the decisions you make, but if it satisfies your soul, move forward with your head held high. LEo (July 23-Aug. 22) A positive change is within reach, but it's up to you to navigate your way into the circles that can help you turn your dreams into a reality. Take control instead of letting others outmaneuver you. The horoscope, an entertainment feature, is not based on scientific fact. © 2026 by NEA, Inc., dist. By Andrews McMeel Syndication

For better or For WorSe 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: H EQuALs L

Mother GooSe And GrIMM

SherMAn’S LAGoon FAMILY CIrCUS

dooneSbUrY

8C ● Wednesday, September 9, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

CurTiS

Hi and LoiS

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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

The Acadiana Advocate ● theadvocate.com ● Wednesday, September 9, 2026 ● 9C

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B.C.

Bridge By PHILLIP ALDER Jeff Lynne, who has had a stellar musical career, in particular with the Electric Light Orchestra and the Traveling Wilburys, and has gone on to become a major record producer, said, “I think from the age of 13, I really wanted to be a producer, and I’ve always thought that the producer was the top of the tree.” Maybe you learned bridge when you were 13; but at whatever age you started playing, the number 13 is critical. Each suit has 13 cards and each hand starts with 13 cards. East forgot that in this deal. South was in four hearts after the given auction. West led the club ace. When East signaled with the nine (starting a highlow with his doubleton), West cashed the club king and gave his partner a club ruff. What should East have done now? The auction was natural. North’s twono-trump rebid was game-invitational. South’s three-heart bid indicated at least 5-5 in the majors. North naturally raised to four hearts. (Three no-trump fails if the defenders attack diamonds early in the play.) At trick four, East tried to cash the diamond ace to set the contract. However, South trumped and crossruffed home. East should have analyzed the auction and play. South showed at least 10 cards in the majors.

garfield

Pearls Before swiNe

hagar the horriBle

He also followed to three rounds of clubs. So South had to be void of diamonds. East should have put the diamond ace back into his hand and instead led a trump. Then the contract would have failed, South being victim to the bad spade break. Never stop counting. © 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 — AFFRonts: uh-FRONTS: Insults, especially to the face, by

Bizarro

marmaduKe

behavior or language. Average mark 24 words Time limit 35 minutes Can you find 31 or more words in AFFRONTS? yEstERDAy’s WoRD — cAtAcLysM calm cast clam clay cyst alas alms atlas talc lacy lama

last salt salty scaly scam scat slam slat slay stay malt

mast

loCKhorNs hidato Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer

today’s thought “He that walks with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.” Proverbs 13:20

Who are your friends? G.E. Dean

10C ● Wednesday, September 9, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

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TODAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

MONDAY

Humid; an afternoon t-storm

A heavy t-storm in the p.m.

Humid with a t-storm in spots

Humid with a thunderstorm

Humid with a couple of showers

Humid; a stray p.m. t-storm

HIGH

LOW

HIGH

91° 74°

LOW

87° 75°

LOW

90° 74°

Beaumont 90/75 Port Arthur 90/75

Baton Rouge 92/75

Lake Charles 92/75

New Orleans 90/78 Houma 87/74

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

Hattiesburg 95/73

Alexandria 96/73

Lafayette 91/74

10s

20s

30s

40s

50s

LOW

HIGH

90° 75°

LOW

91° 74°

YESTERDAY

TODAY

REAdING 43 MAIN POLLUTANT Ozone

MAIN POLLUTANT Ozone

Lafayette through 5 p.m. Tuesday

Jackson 97/72 Many 97/72

HIGH

TEMPERATURE

Longview 99/75

-0s

88° 74°

Monroe 98/73

Shreveport 98/76

-10s

LOW

Well, a lot of tropical moisture will be moving across southwest Louisiana over the course of today and the next few days, so our rain chances are staying at the moderate level. Today, expect a mostly sunny to partly cloudy, hot and humid day with scattered showers and thunderstorms. Temperatures this afternoon will be rising into the mid-80s to low 90s with “feels-like” temperatures in the upper 90s to low hundreds. Keep the umbrella with you; rain and thunderstorms will return tomorrow.

60s

70s

80s

90s 100s 110s

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

Sunrise today Sunset tonight Moonrise today Moonset today NEW

SEP 10

City

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

93°/74° 90°/72° 86°/64° 99° in 1925 51° in 1918

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

Austin Boston dallas Fairbanks Honolulu Las Vegas Louisville Miami Nashville

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

HIGH

7:58p 1:58p 4:43a 7:24a 9:44a 8:57a 10:52a

6:49 a.m. 7:21 p.m. 5:08 a.m. 6:32 p.m.

FIRST

SEP 18

98 77 99 54 89 104 94 92 95

TODAY Lo

75 71 79 48 77 83 73 81 74

FULL

LAST

SEP 26

t c s r sh s s sh s

OCT 3

98 85 97 55 84 107 82 91 96

GOOd

PRECIPITATION

THU. Lo

76 64 79 45 76 84 69 80 71

t t t r sh s t t t

FT.

LOW

0.03” 1.25” 1.53” 45.04” 45.21”

FT.

HIGH

0.8 6:12a 0.1 1.9 11:54p 0.4 2.1 7:48a 1.8 1.9 12:01p 1.5 1.4 8:04p 0.4 1.8 6:15p 0.4 1.8 9:06p 0.5

FT.

--- ----- --2:10p 2.1 3:48p 1.7 --- ----- ----- ---

SOURCE: LOUISIANA dEQ ANd AIRNOW.GOV

LOW

FT.

--- ----- --8:07p 0.2 --- ----- ----- ----- ---

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 Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday

City

10:28a 11:14a 12:00p 12:25a 1:14a 2:05a 2:57a

New Orleans Orlando Philadelphia Phoenix Pittsburgh Raleigh St. Louis San diego Tampa

90 91 89 106 84 88 95 90 92

4:15a 5:02a 5:48a 6:36a 7:25a 8:17a 9:10a

TODAY Lo

78 76 73 87 70 68 74 75 77

10:53p 11:38p 12:23p 12:47p 1:37p 2:28p 3:22p

t t pc t pc pc t s t

GOOd

88 93 87 108 74 93 81 84 92

4:40p 5:26p 6:11p 6:58p 7:48p 8:40p 9:34p

THU. Lo

76 75 69 87 60 72 65 71 78

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

t t t t t s t pc t

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

FLOOD STAGE

34 48 48 35 27 22 17

TUE. 24-HOUR STAGE CHANGE

-3.10 20.10 23.40 9.70 5.30 4.58 3.40

-0.49 -1.51 -1.88 -1.56 -0.39 -0.14 -0.17

13.46

-0.56

-1.45

+0.08

18 29 8

-0.89 9.94 1.93

+0.32 -0.07 -0.17

13 15

1.47 0.72

-0.01 -0.01

47 34 29 20 12 6

9.36 6.39 4.64 4.69 3.60 2.00

-0.72 -0.48 -0.45 -0.36 none -0.01

data as of 7 a.m. Tuesday

PRESERVE YOUR MEMORIES AND PUT THE KEEPSAKE ON DISPLAY

Memorialize your special day with quality reprints of any newspaper page.

Reproduced directly from our original newspaper, these custom-printed reproductions make an ideal gift to mark birthdays, anniversaries and other important dates.

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