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W e d n e s d ay, s e p t e m b e r 23, 2026

Southern says power outages resolved for now

$2.00X

St. George planning indoor sports facility New taxing district proposed for project

BY CLAIRE GRUNEWALD Staff writer

STAFF PHOTO By PEARL SPURLOCK

Bethune Hall was one of four dormitories on the Southern University campus to lose power on Sept. 7.

University to ask Legislature for permanent fix

BY HALEY MILLER Staff writer

Southern University sophomore Hannah Smith cooked dinner for her friends while the power was out in their dorms earlier this month. She knew they liked to heat up food in their rooms, and she wanted to do what she could to help while they waited for the lights to come back on, Smith said. “Spaghetti, rice and gravy, something simple, something that I know can be fast and quick for them,” Smith said. “We didn’t lose power in the back, so it wasn’t that bad.” It was a familiar scene for the South-

“We have severe deferred maintenance challenges across higher education in the state of Louisiana. We’re just the first one; we’re like the canary in the coal mine.”

Tuesday classes and move classes online for the rest of the week after four dorms and most academic buildings lost power. Repairs took several days as the facilities crew worked to diagnose the problem and replace the faulty equipment. The campus returned to in-perJOHN PIERRE, son classes and activities Sept. 14, with Southern University chancellor power fully restored, per a statement from the university. Southern has dealt with ongoing elecern University campus in Baton Rouge, trical issues in the past year. In the which has experienced sporadic power spring, the university reported three outages that ramped up in frequency disruptive incidents requiring classes this fall. In the second week of Sepä See POWER, page 9A tember, the university had to cancel

St. George is planning to build a new public facility for indoor sports and local events — and is proposing a new taxing district to support the project. The city is developing the new facility off Airline Highway to host events from basketball and volleyball tournaments to concerts and conventions for the entire region. The first “We have public step the city is taking is proposing a essentially new Economic Develan ability opment District for the to create a currently vacant land true asset for where the future facilSt. George; ity would be located. “All the dollars genwe have erated out of the EDD the ability are going back to a fato expand cility that the public recreational is going to own,” St. George Mayor Dustin opportunities Yates said. “We have for our kids.” essentially an ability to ST. GEORGE create a true asset for St. George; we have the MAyOR DUSTIN yATES ability to expand recreational opportunities for our kids.” The proposal for the “Economic Development District No. 1 of the City of St. George” will be introduced at Tuesday’s City Council meeting; later, on Oct. 13, public comment and a vote on the item will take place. The council has not set tax rates for the district yet. An economic development district is a specialized area that can promote economic growth, levy new sales and hotel occupancy taxes, and reinvest that revenue into projects in the district. East Baton Rouge Parish currently has several active economic development

ä See ST. GEORGE, page 9A

DA candidate Thompson fined over unfiled finance reports BY QUINN COFFMAN Staff writer

The Louisiana Board of Ethics has ﬁned Ryan Thompson, a Baton Rouge attorney running for district attorney, $2,500 for weeks of missing campaign ﬁnance reports.

WEATHER HIGH 96 LOW 72 PAGE 8B

Thompson was required to file a campaign finance report 90 days out from the primary election date of Nov 3. That filing was due Aug. 5, the same day he qualified as a challenger to longtime District Attorney Hillar Moore. Speaking briefly Tuesday,

Thompson said he had not yet received a notice for the fines. He declined to provide records of his current campaign finance. When asked last month about his campaign finances, Thompson said his campaign intended to file the 30-days-out campaign

ﬁnance report, due Oct. 5. For some district attorney races in the state, this would have been legal. However, the district attorney’s race in the 19th Judicial District is considered a “major” election, on par with statewide offices like governor or

attorney general. Candidates in these races must ﬁle earlier reports, including the one due Aug. 5. “Mr. Thompson failed to ﬁle the (90-day) report by the Aug. 5 deadline,” said David

ä See CANDIDATE, page 9A Thompson

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

102ND yEAR, NO. 85

WAR WITH US

2026 Women’s Soccer Home Schedule October 1 (Thursday) October 11 (Sunday) October 25 (Sunday) Novembeer 5 (Thursday)

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2A ■ Wednesday, September 23, 2026 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

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FROM WIRE REPORTS

Administration to admit South African refugees

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration plans to limit the number of refugees admitted to the country to 17,500 mostly white South Africans, the administration told Congress Tuesday, as it continues to transform a program that at one point served as a pathway to safety for people ﬂeeing war and strife from countries around the world. In a notice to Congress obtained by The Associated Press, the administration said the white South Africans faced seizures of their land and other forms of persecution and would be likely to assimilate when they come to America. The South African government has repeatedly rejected the idea that the white South Africans, who are Afrikaners, are a persecuted minority in the home country. The Trump administration has dramatically altered a refugee program that historically enjoyed strong bipartisan support as it welcomed tens of thousands of refugees from countries around the world to new lives in America, and instead the administration has transformed it into a vehicle to resettle white South Africans in America. The administration told Congress in the announcement that it intended to spend about $500 million to resettle the new arrivals to the U.S.

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ACA enrollees to be removed Officials allege 760,000 fraudulently applied or don’t exist BY FATIMA HUSSEIN and MICHELLE PRICE Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Vice President JD Vance and other Trump administration ofﬁcials said Tuesday they plan to remove 760,000 Affordable Care Act enrollees from public healthcare exchanges, alleging that the individuals were fraudulently enrolled in the program, or simply do not exist. Vance said the discovery and canceled subsidy payments for hundreds of thousands of people from the exchanges, part of an administration-wide crackdown on fraud, would result in $2.2 billion in cost savings. “We’re actually making sure that the people receiving Obamacare subsidies are actually entitled to receive them,” said Vance, who leads a government task force to eliminate fraud. He was ﬂanked by

Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and other administration officials. Vance said the cancellation of approximately 315,000 enrollments covering 760,000 people was done in part because the government was not checking whether people enrolled were eligible. Vance said another 419,000 enrollments will get additional verification to make sure they are eligible for the benefit. The Trump administration also announced a six-month suspension on new agents or brokers who sign up enrollees for healthcare coverage, who officials say commit a disproportionate amount of the fraud they uncovered. Roughly 19.2 million Americans are actively enrolled in ACA marketplace health plans as of early 2026, according to the Department of Health and Human Services website. The number of enrollees

grew during the COVID-19 pandemic when enhanced subsidies became available through the American Rescue Plan Act and Inﬂation Reduction Act, both signed into law by former President Joe Biden. Tuesday’s announcement is the latest in an initiative by the Trump administration to address fraud around the country, including in federal healthcare programs, which officials say is needed to rein in runaway spending and protect taxpayers. Some healthcare policy experts are calling for more transparency on how the Trump administration decided to cut hundreds of thousands of enrollees — and question how many people may have been wrongly cut from the program. Cynthia Cox, a vice president and director of the ACA program at the healthcare research nonproﬁt KFF, said “I think there’s no

Supreme Court won’t intervene in surrogate custody dispute BY ANNA WILDER and LINDSAY WHITEHURST

Yom Kippur shooting suspect dies from injuries BELLEVILLE, Ontario — A 29-yearold man suspected of opening fire on a police officer stationed outside an Ontario synagogue during Yom Kippur has died from his injuries, the province’s police watchdog said Tuesday. Belleville police identified the man as Sean Ward of Quinte West. Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit, an independent civilian agency that investigates police shootings, said Ward died Monday night. The Department of National Defense said its records show that a former Canadian Armed Forces member named Sean Ward, who was released in June 2022 at the rank of corporal, matches the description of the shooting suspect. The Special Investigations Unit has said a man armed with a shotgun opened fire on a police officer stationed outside the Sons of Jacob synagogue on Sunday night, triggering a shootout that left him and the officer seriously injured. Police have not established a motive or said whether the Sons of Jacob Synagogue or the Jewish community was targeted.

Priests, nuns march, call for end to ‘genocide’ ROME — Some 150 Catholic priests and friars, a bishop and nuns from around the world marched to the Vatican and prayed Tuesday in front of St. Peter’s Basilica to call for an end to what they called the “genocide” in Gaza. The protesters carried a banner down the main boulevard leading to the Vatican bearing the names of 300 children who died during Israel’s war in Gaza and southern Lebanon. The marchers didn’t enter Vatican territory and had an Italian police escort. The “Priests Against Genocide” network was born in August 2025 and currently includes over 2,500 priests and bishops from ﬁve continents, organizers said. Among those marching Tuesday was the bishop of Manfredonia, Italy, Franco Moscone. After praying near the Vatican, the protesters moved to the Palestinian and Lebanese embassies, and then onto the Rome headquarters of Italian defense manufacturer Leonardo SpA. It was a signiﬁcantly larger turnout than the march the group held last year.

CORRECTION An article Sunday about Louisiana technology ﬁrm 365Labs provided incorrect employee and revenue ﬁgures. The company has 70 employees or contractors and generates between $30 million and $50 million a year in revenue.

question that somebody who was fraudulently enrolled should have their coverage canceled,” however, “I think the question is whether this was the appropriate process by which to identify fraudulent enrollees, and also whether all of them were indeed fraudulently enrolled.” Cox said the elimination of the people from ACA programs was done outside of the normal regulatory process. The announcement comes as stubbornly high inﬂation and rising healthcare costs pressure the Trump administration to come up with a plan to bring down costs for Americans as affordability remains a central issue in the fall midterm elections. The price of ACA insurance has skyrocketed for many Americans during Trump’s second term, after Republicans opposed extending COVID-era subsidies that had helped offset the costs of health insurance for most enrollees during Biden’s term.

Associated Press

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By MARK SCHIEFELBEIN

President Donald Trump, left, participates in a welcome ceremony with China’s President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in May in Beijing.

Trump, Xi see tensions flare over AI, trade, Iran two geopolitical strongmen circling Leaders still seek stability cally each other on the playground, trying to determine what their next move may as U.S. hosts Chinese be.” president in Washington The countries appeared to be enter-

BY DIDI TANG and E. EDUARDO CASTILLO

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — State visits usually occur when two countries are on warm terms, but U.S. President Donald Trump is hosting Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Washington this week as their economic and tech competition is only escalating, especially through an artiﬁcial intelligence race. Neither expects any grand bargain, but the leaders are expected to play nice in their third meeting since Trump returned to the White House to try to steady fragile ties. That is despite the world’s two largest economies seeking the upper hand on AI developments and trade, while pushing for leverage in persistent hot spots like Iran and Taiwan. “The fact that they are meeting, and there’s dialogue occurring and building that relationship, is probably as important as outcomes from the meeting,” said Sen. Steve Daines, a Montana Republican who advises Trump on China and recently traveled there to lay groundwork for the summit. Cui Tiankai, a former Chinese ambassador to the U.S., said at a recent forum in Beijing that there are “always problems, sometimes very big problems” between the two countries, but “we’ll make our best efforts to maintain overall stability.”

Shift from sky-high tariffs Xi’s visit to Washington, which begins Wednesday, is his ﬁrst in 10 years. He and Trump are meeting after their countries climbed down from last year’s intense trade war, where they traded titfor-tat sky-high tariffs that threatened the global economy. China also choked off its world-leading supplies of critical minerals needed in products from electric cars to ﬁghter jets. The U.S. is not only trying to balance trade but also maintain its tech dominance to protect national security and global leadership. China, which has amassed tremendous economic, technological and military power over the past several years to close gaps with the U.S., is seeking to solidify its place in the global order. The stability both sides are seeking is “for deeply competitive reasons,” said Evan Medeiros, a senior adviser at The Asia Group consultancy. “This is basi-

ing a “new normal” of “overall stability” despite blacklisting each other’s companies and restricting the ﬂow of hightech products, said Da Wei, director of the Center for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University in Beijing. The leaders now should produce deals that their governments can carry out, he said, noting that “we need to move fast.”

AI race could strain any cooperation Developing AI technology has emerged as a key battleground, with both sides showing little interest in slowing down despite warnings from tech CEOs about threats that rogue AI could pose to humanity. “Whoever wins AI wins,” Trump has repeatedly said. He claimed on social media Monday that the U.S. is leading over China and that he was “not going to stiﬂe Growth, of something that will be bigger than the Industrial Revolution, or the Internet, itself.” China cannot afford to lose either. In a rare, blunt essay, Chen Yixin, head of China’s Ministry of State Security, warned that AI poses a direct threat to Communist Party rule if foreign and hostile forces achieve superior capabilities. The U.S. is already restricting exports of the most powerful AI chips to China and has accused Chinese developers of tapping into American AI models at an industrial scale to extract their capabilities. Beijing says the practice, known as distillation, is widely used, including by American companies, and has criticized the U.S. for trying to monopolize the industry. Beijing also is upset about U.S. efforts to build an alliance that excludes China, so it is seeking to craft new global AI guardrails by appealing to developing nations. However, the U.S. and China are taking a small step to cooperate on AI. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday after meeting with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in New York that the U.S. has proposed a new “notification mechanism” for AI incidents that could affect national security. “We think that just like any cross-border activity, that moving from opaque to more transparency between the No. 1 and the No. 2 AI powers in the world is very important,” Bessent said.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to intervene in a custody dispute over a 5-week-old child who was born in Texas after a surrogate refused a California couple’s wishes to have an abortion. Justice Elena Kagan denied the request from McKenna West, who was seeking conservatorship over a baby boy she gave birth to in Dallas. The brief order did not detail the legal reasoning, as is typical in emergency appeals. The decision came from Kagan because she handles appeals of cases out of California. West had previously been rejected by other courts in her efforts to have a say in the treatment of the child, who was born with a lifethreatening heart condition. She gave birth to the boy in Dallas, where most

abortions are banned, after she refused the couple’s wishes to end the pregnancy. West had asked the Supreme Court to halt a California court order that recognizes Omar Ahmed and Nausheen Gilkar as the parents of the child whom she calls Gabriel and they call Rumi. Lawyers for the couple had urged the court to reject the request, questioning what an intervention would do for medical decision making at an already chaotic time. They also accused West of overstating the prognosis for children born with the heart condition. “Such chaos would be devastating for Respondents and, most importantly, their child,” the couple told the court. West has said she believes the couple will not provide life-saving care, citing their request for an abortion at 23 weeks. Gilkar and Ahmed have denied those claims.

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NATO commander warns Putin becoming cavalier Senior official cautions members to be more aware

of a failure by NATO nations to stop them but as a direct consequence of Western support for Ukraine.

Break NATO support for Ukraine

BY EMMA BURROWS

AP European security correspondent

TALLINN, Estonia — Russian President Vladimir Putin is becoming “increasingly cavalier, dangerous and risk accepting,” as his war in Ukraine drags on and as he seeks to divide Western allies, NATO’s deputy commander in Europe said Tuesday. Air Chief Marshal Sir John Stringer spoke to The Associated Press at a security conference in Estonia amid warnings from some European leaders that Moscow is planning to test NATO’s collective defense pact with bolder attacks that have already included sabotage and espionage. Stringer warned that NATO members need to be aware of the “febrile environment” and be careful in their response because Putin would like to provoke the alliance into an “overreaction.” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said last week that Russia might target NATO nations with deliberate drone or missile strikes while claiming they were accidental. French President Emmanuel Macron agreed and has asked his government to prepare a plan to protect critical infrastructure against potential drone attacks and cyberattacks. Other European officials say the threat from Russia is serious but have called for calm. A British defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive security matters, said the U.K. assessment is that Putin is not seeking direct confrontation with NATO. Officials in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which border Russia, have also been more cautious about the pros-

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By EVGENIy MALOLETKA

A municipal worker carries plywood on Tuesday to board up windows of an apartment building damaged by a Russian drone strike in Kyiv, Ukraine. pect of a serious escalation after years of calling on Western nations to adopt a more hawkish approach to Moscow. “Ukraine is fighting. Russia is absorbed in Ukraine. We do not observe any buildup near our borders. And from that part, I think that most would agree that the perspective of direct military attack is not correct,” Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics told a small group of reporters late Tuesday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York. European countries have already faced multiple incursions of Russian drones — and several missiles — as well as a campaign of covert Russian disruption which began after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. An AP interactive map tracking that campaign shows the escalation, from 59 incidents in March 2025 to more than 210 incidents ranging from vandalism, propa-

ganda and inﬂuence operations to arson, sabotage and cyberattacks.

Testing NATO defenses In August, German officials accused Moscow of being behind a plot at Leipzig airport where a drone with explosives was found next to a Ukrainian plane laden with jet fuel. Last month, British officials said they disrupted a Russian plot to sabotage a drone factory outside London. In August, an Estonian defense company was set on ﬁre and a weapons storage facility in Bulgaria exploded, though neither has been publicly attributed to Russia. Many saboteurs have been recruited online by Russia’s intelligence services and some have no idea they are working for Moscow. That makes uncovering a plot challenging and attribution often difﬁcult. When asked by the AP in May if Russia was waging a covert campaign against the West, Putin re-

sponded: “Name one proven fact.” The line between “accidental and deliberate is quite a ﬁne one,” Stringer said, referring to incursions of drones sent off course into NATO airspace by Russian GPS jamming or other electronic countermeasures to defend against Ukrainian drone strikes. It would be possible for Russia to escalate that activity but it does not mean Moscow has decided to do so, said Stringer, NATO’s deputy supreme allied commander for Europe. While there are “a lot of different opinions as to how acute the threat is ... Russia’s attitude towards negligence” and deliberately targeting NATO neighbors “is almost the same,” Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal told AP at the security conference. Both Stringer and Michal suggested the increase in covert attacks by Moscow was not because

Putin, Stringer said, is “looking at a whole number of things” to try to create division between NATO allies because his campaign in Ukraine is going badly. Michal likened the Russian leader to a “rat in the corner,” who is escalating activity in Europe in an attempt to break Western support for Kyiv at a time when Moscow is under pressure. Russia’s gains on the front lines in Ukraine have been slow and at a steep cost of more than half a million dead, even as Kyiv’s deep-strike campaign targeting the country’s energy industry has caused fuel shortages in 80 of 83 Russian regions, Air Chief Marshall Sir Richard Knighton, chief of the U.K.’s defense staff, said earlier this month. Still, there’s no suggestion the Russian leader is backing away from his goals in Ukraine. Baltic leaders like Rinkevics argue that Moscow will dig even deeper now as winter is approaching, saying that attacks on infrastructure are likely to increase over the next several months and that any possibility of diplomatic progress will likely not be seen until the spring. Putin is trying to undermine NATO’s collective defense pact by testing nations with covert attacks that are hard to attribute, Michal said. But the Estonian leader said it’s currently “improbable,” that Putin will launch a conventional military attack on Europe because of the threat of a NATO response and because his forces are tied down in Ukraine. The high level of malign activity from Russia is “here to stay” until Putin changes his military goals, Michal said, adding that the best way to deter him is to “back Ukraine.”

‘Looksmaxxing’ inﬂuencer known as ‘Clavicular’ charged with rape BY LEAH WILLINGHAM Associated Press

BOSTON — The social media inﬂuencer “Clavicular,” who gained a following promoting the online “looksmaxxing” trend, has been charged in Massachusetts with raping a 17-year-old girl who told police she became heavily intoxicated after he gave her alcohol at his family’s Cape Cod home. Braden Peters, 20, is charged with rape, administering a substance for sexual intercourse and procuring alcohol for a person under 21 in the alleged May 23, 2025, assault in Chatham, according to court records. A clerkmagistrate found probable cause for the charges on Sept. 4, and a criminal complaint was issued Sept. 8. An email and text message were sent to Peters’ publicist seeking comment Tuesday. Peters, who lives in Florida and is not in custody, is scheduled to be arraigned in Massachusetts on Oct. 14. “We are not commenting at this time since the proper authorities are handling this,” said Andrew Moss, one of the teen’s attorneys. The accuser told Chatham

police that she and Peters began messaging on Instagram and that he later paid her to appear in “looksmaxxing” videos he streamed online. She said Peters knew she was 17 but that he told her to tell his viewers that she was 18 and that vodka he gave her was water, according to a police report. On May 23, 2025, the girl said she took a rideshare from her grandparents’ home to Peters’ family home on Morris Island, a gated community of multimilliondollar homes overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. She told police she was greeted by Peters’ mother and grandmother before being escorted by Peters to his room, where he was livestreaming on Twitch. She told police she drank what she believed amounted to two or three shots of vodka and became increasingly intoxicated. An ofﬁcer who reviewed clips from Peters’ livestream said one showed the girl telling Peters, “Wait I’m so drunk though.” Peters responded, “It’s OK,” before the two kissed, according to the police report. After the livestream ended, she said, they went to his bedroom, where she later fell

asleep and awoke the next platform Kick. “involuntary celibate” or primarily men, who believe morning to Peters raping her. “Looksmaxxing” has ori- “incel” community, an online society unjustly denies them The alleged assault was gins that trace back to the subculture made of people, sexual or romantic attention. previously described in a lawsuit filed against Peters in Florida in April. An amended complaint ﬁled in June accused Peters of sexual battery over the Cape Cod encounter. The lawsuit also accuses Peters of later injecting the girl with a fatdissolving substance during a livestream without consent. Peters’ attorneys have denied the lawsuit’s allegations, Attorneys for Peters in the Florida civil matter did not return an email seeking comment about the Massachusetts charges. Peters, the face of the “looksmaxxing” trend, is a well-known social media and internet personality whose pursuit of achieving traditional attractiveness by any means necessary became the subject of intense interest and discourse early this year. He livestreams his activities on close to a daily basis, 225-400-8040 & 225-938-0748 often streaming his time at parties and clubs or talking with women. His largest folinfo@weknowblinds.com lowings are on TikTok, Instagram and the streaming customblindsbr.com

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Judge strikes down Fat Bear Week opens for Alaska’s heavyweight crown Trump policy on

Head Start preschools

Last year’s winner, Chunk, was estimated at 1,200 pounds

Democratic attorneys general Administration directive from 20 states and the District of would have barred Columbia sued. They said the change upended some immigrants three decades of policy allow-

By The Associated Press ANCHORAGE, Alaska — After a summer spent packing away sockeye salmon, Alaska’s heftiest brown bears are ready to throw their weight around. Online voting began Tuesday for Fat Bear Week, the annual contest that pits the rotund residents of Katmai National Park and Preserve against each other for the title of most oversized ursine. Last year’s winner, Chunk — known officially as Bear 32 — is hungry for a repeat. Chunk’s weight in 2025 was estimated at 1,200 pounds, which gave him a narrow victory. This year he’s back and facing corpulent competition like Gully — aka Bear 903 — the offspring of two-time champion Grazer. The contest, which is in its 12th year, celebrates the resilience of the 2,200 brown bears that live in the preserve on the Alaska Peninsula, which extends from the state’s southwest corner toward the Aleutian Islands. Fat Bear Week was started in 2014 as an interactive way to inform the public about brown bears, the coastal cousins of grizzlies. The event this year features 16 bears facing off in a single-elimination, bracket-style tournament. All voting is done online at www. fatbearweek.org, with the winner declared Sept. 29. The public can watch the bears on explore.org’s livestream cameras before deciding on their favorite. “Fat bears are successful bears,” the nonprofit’s website says. They gorge on the abundant salmon that return to the Brooks River starting in late June in order to accumulate fat reserves, sometimes chomping the fish in midair as they make their way upstream to spawn. Adult male brown bears typically weigh 600 to 900 pounds in midsummer. By the time they are ready to hibernate after feasting

BY MORIAH BALINGIT AP education writer

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE FILE PHOTO By E. JOHNSTON

Bear 32, known as Chunk, was estimated to weigh 1,200 pounds at Katmai National Park in Alaska in 2024.

A bear munches a salmon in Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve. KATMAI CONSERVANCy PHOTO By GUy RUNCO

on migrating and spawning salmon — each eats as many as 30 ﬁsh per day — large males can weigh well over 1,000 pounds. Females are about one-third smaller. During winter hibernation, the bears do not eat or drink and lose one-third of their body weight. Voters in the online contest can review before-and-after photos of the bears, lean at the start of summer and fattened at the end. The bears are not actually weighed — imagine that process — and some fans choose their favorite based on their looks or backstory.

To be featured in the contest, the bears must frequent the area around the river. The live cameras at Brooks Falls captured the moments in 2024 when mother bear 128 Grazer’s cub slipped over the waterfall and floated into the ﬁshing spot occupied by Chunk, who attacked and injured the cub. Grazer fought Chunk, but the cub ultimately died. After the dramatic ﬁght, voting fans handed Grazer a victory over Chunk. Then Chunk returned in 2025 to take the title.

WASHINGTON — A federal judge in Rhode Island has struck down a Trump administration directive that would have barred some immigrants from accessing certain federal programs, including Head Start preschools, community health clinics and adult education initiatives. U.S. District Judge Mary McElroy, who was appointed by President Donald Trump in 2019, temporarily barred his administration from moving forward with the rule last year, so it was never implemented. On Monday, she made the injunction permanent. Officials from the Republican administration had said the directive would stop “illegal aliens” from accessing federal benefits by reclassifying broad swaths of social services programs under a Clinton-era law, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act. But the rule also would have swept up many immigrants in the U.S. legally, including work and student visa holders. It also would have barred services from Temporary Protected Status holders, who are granted work permits if the U.S. government determines conditions in their home country are too dangerous to return, along with recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, who were brought to the country illegally as children and receive temporary protection from deportation and work authorization. Those groups, which are considered “nonqualified aliens” under the law, are already unable to access full Medicaid benefits and federally funded food aid and cash assistance. The Trump administration issued its directive in July 2025.

ing people to access community health clinics, domestic violence shelters and Head Start centers without proving their immigration status. They warned the harms could spread, deterring any immigrant from seeking services and throwing up barriers even for U.S. citizens unable to document their legal status. The new rules also would have put administrative burdens on underfunded social service agencies, including Head Start operators, which might have been forced to close if they were unable to comply with the directive’s new requirements, the lawsuit said. In her ruling, McElroy declared the directive “unlawful” and said the Trump administration did not follow the proper avenues to rewrite the rules. She called the administration’s actions “procedurally invalid.” She added that the administration still could pursue rule changes through the federal notice-and-comment process, which officials bypassed when they issued the directive last year. Requests for comment were sent to the departments named as defendants in the wide-ranging lawsuit. The Administration for Children and Families, a division of the Department of Health and Human Services that oversees Head Start, said it does not comment on ongoing litigation. The Labor Department referred inquiries to the Justice Department, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a statement, New York Attorney General Letitia James, who was among those who sued, hailed the judge’s ruling. “From cancer screenings to food banks to early childhood education, the federal government’s attempts to decimate the social safety net would have been catastrophic for working families,” James said.

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6A ■ Wednesday, September 23, 2026 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

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UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Trump: U.S., Iranian officials met after address President threatened to ‘annihilate’ Islamic Republic

BY AAMER MADHANI, FARNOUSH AMIRI and EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS — President Donald Trump said U.S. and Iranian officials met on Tuesday, an unexpected engagement that came even as he threatened in his address to the U.N. General Assembly that he may “annihilate” the Islamic Republic if a deal isn’t reached soon to end the nearly seven-month war. Trump told reporters that his chief envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, met with the Iranian officials on the sidelines of the annual gathering of world leaders but he offered few details about how the discussions transpired or the substance of the exchange. “It was a very good meeting,” Trump said. The president later added that the Iranian officials were “not the highest level, but it’s something.” The engagement comes after months of U.S.-Iran communications languishing following the collapse of a short-lived ceasefire that was brokered in June. U.S. and Iranian negotiators met separately with Qatari and Pakistani mediators in Doha in early July for indirect talks. Earlier Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Trump is open to meeting with Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, while he’s in New York for the General Assembly. “This is a president that will meet with anybody for the most part, because he believes that engaging with people is important if you’re going to solve problems,” Rubio said on NBC’s “Today” show. “It doesn’t mean you’re going to end up agreeing with them, but it’s important.” Trump also met on Tuesday with leaders and senior officials from Gulf Cooperation Council nations — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates — as well as Jordan to discuss the way ahead with the war in Iran. In his address to the General Assembly, Trump made the case that he’s shown fortitude while other leaders have equivocated as he defended his decision to start a war with Iran. But Trump also suggested that he could be at a crossroads in the conflict even as he called on the Islamic Republic to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz and return to the negotiating table to find a settlement to end the conflict. “I have a big decision to make,” Trump said. “Will a

address — a conflict that with Trump’s energy truce during his 2024 campaign proposal if Western energy he predicted would be re- sanctions on Moscow were solved on Day One of his lifted first. The two sides have continsecond term. He once again expressed hope that the con- ued carrying out strikes on refineries and other energy flict will soon be resolved. Trump hasn’t obscured infrastructure. Trump noted that last that his patience is being tested by Ukraine’s target- week he signed a new sancing of Russia’s diesel re- tions bill targeting Moscow. fineries — an issue that’s It empowers him to impose added to the global oil mar- up to 100% tariffs on the top kets’ volatility — and Rus- five importers of Russian oil sia’s targeting of Ukraine’s or natural gas. The legislation includes an energy grid. Trump last week asserted exception for countries that that he got the two sides to import less than 15% of Rusagree to not target each sia’s natural gas exports and ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JULIA DEMAREE NIKHINSON other’s energy infrastruc- have taken significant steps President Donald Trump speaks to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday at the to reduce those imports. ture. U.N. headquarters. Zelenskyy had said he Trump, however, has yet to was willing to go along enact the stiff penalties. deal be made with Iran that ing on Tuesday evening with dent also touched on Rus- with Trump’s plan if Rus“If necessary, I will have lets them rebuild and create Venezuela’s acting President sia’s continuing war against sia abided by it. Russia to use them,” Trump said. a far greater country than it Delcy Rodríguez, according Ukraine during his U.N. said it could only go along “It’s time to stop the killing.” ever was before, maybe one to the White House. of the greatest in the Middle Trump also took part in an East or even the world. Or event on the Shield of Amerdo I annihilate the Islamic icas, an initiative Trump Republic and do it quickly, launched with Latin Amerinever giving them a chance can countries earlier this FINF OUT WHAT to kill and destroy people year focused on combatting YOUR HOME and countries again?” violent cartels. The president’s comments came in his wide-ranging Iran war looms large address to the international The visit to the U.N. comes body in which he also cel- as Trump’s foreign policy ebrated this year’s U.S. approach — particularly his military operation to oust decision to start a war with Venezuelan President Nico- Iran — has become a drag lás Maduro from power, a on his fellow Republicans’ new agreement to expand hopes of retaining control of the U.S. military presence both chambers of Congress in Greenland, and pushed during the coming midterm back against calls for great- elections. Nevertheless, er regulation of the artificial Trump made the case in his speech that the world is betintelligence industry. But at the heart of the ad- ter off for his leadership. “I have no interest in leavdress was a fulsome defense of the war and pushback on ing dangers to grow for anthe notion that Iran has shown other day,” Trump said. a measure of resilience. In last year’s address at “The terrorist regime is the U.N., Trump claimed the behaving badly, not because U.S. had “demolished” Iran’s they are strong and confi- nuclear capabilities after he dent, but because they are ordered the June 2025 bomweak and desperate,” Trump bardment of three key facilisaid. ties. Most of Iran’s delegation He returned to the Genwalked out of the chamber eral Assembly nearing the as Trump railed against the seven-month mark of a new Islamic Republic. war against Iran that he insists is necessary to address A busy day of diplomacy a nuclear threat posed by After his speech, Trump Iran. The war has grown more gathered with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen complicated even though and Greenlandic Prime Min- strikes by the United States ister Jens-Frederik Nielsen and Israel have killed much on the sidelines of the Gen- of Iran’s top leadership and eral Assembly to sign a new destroyed its air force and navy, while a U.S. blockade security agreement. The deal, announced last of Iranian oil has left Tehran week, came together after in economic shambles. The energy market conTrump repeatedly threatened to “take over” Greenland, a tinues to be spooked by the territory of NATO-ally Den- war and oil prices remain A home evaluation mark, by military force if elevated. Saudi Arabia earnecessary. Trump said Tues- lier this month shuttered a is a great place day the U.S. will immediately key pipeline that acted as a to start begin the process of devel- relief valve for oil blocked in oping a larger military pres- the Gulf. The kingdom made ence in Greenland including the move after the pipeline “building two very major came under attack by Iranbacked militants in Iraq. military bases.” At the same time, territoriUnder the deal, Greenland remains Denmark’s terri- al grabs by the Yemen-based Houthi rebels, another Iratory. Trump also held talks nian-backed group, near the with new British Prime Bab al-Mandab Strait has Minister Andy Burnham, now made it treacherous for Japanese Prime Minister oil carriers to use that Red Sanae Takaichi and Ukrai- Sea shipping lane. DRE#01901536 nian President Volodymyr Trump’s frustration mounts This website is a marketing and information program that Zelenskyy. He’s expected to hold a more informal meetIn his address, the presisends all inquiries to state-licensed real estate professionals.

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8A ■ Wednesday, September 23, 2026 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

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UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY

‘Killer robots’ or ‘super intelligence’? Attendees see both

World leaders paint different views of technology

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, top left, listens alongside Khalilur Rahman, president of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly and foreign minister of Bangladesh, top right, as President Donald Trump speaks during at U.N. headquarters on Tuesday.

BY SETH BORENSTEIN AP science writer

UNITED NATIONS — It’s killer robots versus super intelligence. Visions of the future straight out of comic books are playing out at the United Nations as world leaders talk about the threat — or promise — of artificial intelligence. Once again it was Donald Trump against the U.N, chief and other leaders on a pressing issue involving science and the future, echoing ongoing disputes over the threat of climate change. Armed with a new U.N. science report that warns of a slight but real potential of catastrophic and irreversible harm, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres kicked off the parade of world leaders speaking at the General Assembly by calling for more oversight of AI, warning in vivid if not ominous terms of what could go wrong. “Let us resolve that lifeand-death decisions must never be surrendered to machines. Killer robots must have no place in our future,” Guterres said in his farewell address to world leaders. He also warned about AI in his first General Assembly address a decade ago. With Guterres saying the world needs to “advance the conditions for the responsible pacing of AI and the additional safeguards needed to address risks,” the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday will address how to place some kind of controls on the technology and it will feature some of the biggest names in the field.

It’s super, not artificial Less than an hour later, Trump was having none of that. “The United States also totally rejects any attempt to construct a globalist scheme to control for the artiﬁcial intelligence being spoken of so much. Now here and after ofﬁcially called super intelligence, changing the name,”

he said. World leaders speaking after Trump used “artiﬁcial intelligence” — not “super.” “Every major new technology brings challenges, and superintelligence is no exception,” Trump said. “Yet the very same people who said we’ll all be dead in 12 years because of global warming, a name since reborn to climate change, because the planet was cooling, not warming, and nobody was dead. These are the same people that are now saying that AI is going to kill us all, that robots are going to attack us, and that everything is going to be a total disaster.” Trump was referring to a 2018 UN report that outlined the danger of human-caused climate change for long-term breaching of the internationally agreed-upon threshold of 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit of warming since pre-industrial time and said it was 12 years away. Studies now say that breach is imminent in the next few years. That report — along with other science documents — did not say everyone would die. It said extreme weather would get more dangerous and that reducing pollution could prevent 100 million premature deaths over the next 82 years. Also, the world has not cooled, but warmed 0.8 degrees Fahrenheit in the past 12 years, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and

kind. It will impact science, the economy, politics, security and the very essence of our humanity,” Stubb said. “Humans can and should be in the driver’s seat. We have a choice. We can compete, cooperate or slow down. For me, cooperation if the best way forward.” British Prime Minister Andy Burnham told a meeting of business leaders on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly that he wants to see “a single set of global principles and standards” that can unlock AI’s potential while mitigating its risks. ASSOCIATED PRESS He said forging “AI for PHOTO By SETH WENIG good” will be the main focus of the UK’s presidency of the G20 group of nations Atmospheric Administra“Artificial intelligence is next year. Before Monday’s speechthe most consequential techtion. nology in the history of man- es, Ian Bremmer, president

Go slow but cooperate

The problem is both Trump and Guterres reduce the issue to something that’s not useful, says University of Chicago computer science department chairman Henry Hoffmann. “One turns it into a science-ﬁction movie; the other turns it into a nonissue,” Hoffmann said in an email. “Both push people to pick a team instead of engaging with the real risks and the possible mitigations. There shouldn’t be ‘sides’ on whether we need adequate control over powerful autonomous systems. The interesting debate is over what mechanisms actually provide that control.” Other nations want to make sure they are not left behind during an AI race between the U.S. and China, which Trump said America is winning. French President Emmanuel Macron and Guterres also made the issue about protecting children. “Let’s not wait for the consequences to come raining down on AI,” Macron said. “We must act now to protect our children and our young people.” Finland President Alexander Stubb, like other leaders, said AI will change the world, potentially for good, but needs strong controls.

Federal judge orders Texas to have air conditioning at all prisons by end of 2029 BY JAMIE STENGLE

Associated Press

DALLAS — A federal judge on Tuesday ordered Texas to install air conditioning in all of its prisons by the end of 2029, saying that inmates in lockups without it are being given punishments that violate their constitutional rights. The ruling was hailed as a major victory by advocates who have fought for years for air conditioning in prisons across Texas, where summer heat routinely soars above 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman said in the 150-page order that the Texas Department of Criminal Justice must immediately begin developing a plan for the installations. He ruled that a lack of air conditioning violates the constitutional right to not be given “cruel and unusual punishments.” “Witnesses in this case who had been incarcerated in un-air-conditioned Texas Department of Criminal Justice prisons described themselves and their fellow inmates getting sick, passing out, and reaching a level of

desperation to cool off that made it ‘common’ to splash toilet water on themselves,” Pitman wrote in the ruling. “These are not humane conditions.” The ruling said that the state prison agency has estimated that systemwide air conditioning would cost about $1.5 billion. The state prison agency said Tuesday that it will appeal the court’s decision, adding that it has “robust heat mitigation efforts in place” and is already committed to installing air conditioning in units.

of the Eurasia Group, a political risk advisory ﬁrm, said AI has the potential to make the world cleaner, improve technology and improve lives — but can be scary. Trying to deal with AI might be, like climate change, one of the most meaningful roles the United Nations could have, but its power is limited, Bremmer said. Wednesday’s Security Council AI meeting will include some of the biggest names in AI, including those who have recently sounded the alarm about the need for guardrails. Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, followed by Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic, and finally Clément Delangue, who is the CEO of and co-founder of Hugging Face, which was hacked by a rogue OpenAI program.

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The Advocate ■ theadvocate.com ■ Wednesday, September 23, 2026 ■ 9A

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POWER

energy generated during off-peak hours in batteries on campus, he said. A possible arrangement to that effect has been considered with Entergy, though the proposal discussed publicly had Entergy storing its own power on Southern’s campus and the university as an equity partner. Southern wants to partner with “anyone who can help us with developing long-term solutions,” Pierre said.

Continued from page 1A be delayed or suspended in three months. Leaders say the rapid repairs on the electrical infrastructure, which so far have cost them over $1.7 million, are not a permanent fix. The university is calling for the Louisiana Legislature to invest around 30 times that figure to address the strain on the power grid in the long term. “The reality is we need about a $50 million investment in electrical infrastructure,” said John Pierre, chancellor of the Baton Rouge campus. “This is not going to be something that’s going to be contained just within Southern University and A&M College. We have severe deferred maintenance challenges across higher education in the state of Louisiana. We’re just the first one; we’re like the canary in the coal mine.”

Students adapt

How it happened The electrical problems reached their peak the week of Sept. 7, when the Bethune, Grandison, Reed and White residence halls lost power, as well as most academic buildings. Pierre said generators were used to bring the dorms back online quickly. Southern University did not respond to questions about how many hours the dorms went without electricity across the week. Facebook updates from the university show the residence halls experienced outages several hours at a time as a result of the initial blackout, the connection to the generators and the transition back to the main electrical system. Pierre said aging electrical infrastructure, including transform-

ST. GEORGE

Continued from page 1A districts, like the Bayou Fountain EDD, which aims to expand sports tourism by growing the Elite Training Academy complex near Burbank Drive and Lee Drive. Youth sports tournaments in 2024 were reported to provide an indirect economic impact of $37 million for Baton Rouge, according to an estimate by Visit Baton Rouge. The proposed boundaries of the new district would cover about 55 acres from seven separate tracts all located northwest of the in-

CANDIDATE

Continued from page 1A Bordelon, ethics administrator. “As such, he was assessed the maximum late fee of $2,500.” Thompson now has 20 days from the receipt of the notice to request a waiver from the Board of Ethics and to submit the unfiled report, according to Bordelon. Campaign finance reports are a document the Board of Ethics requires candidates to file to show who they are accepting funds from and where those funds are being spent.

STAFF PHOTO By PEARL SPURLOCK

Students walk on campus at Southern University on Tuesday. ers and switches, caused the loss of power. The university replaced transformers at a handful of locations when they realized the issue, he said. He added that a power usage assessment study is underway. “What it did was it probably accelerated the things we needed to do,” Pierre said. “We thought we had nine to 10 months ahead to do it. We’ve got to do it now.” He said the problem is currently under control, but when the Legislature convenes in the spring, Southern will have a “huge” capi-

tersection of Airline Highway and Antioch Road, according to a proposal document. Near this area is the Long Farm Village mixeduse development, which includes single family homes, upscale apartments and a retail center anchored by a Rouses Market. The mayor said the idea is to add new developments — like restaurants and hotels — around the sports facility to increase tax revenue to the city and improve the return on the sports facility investment. “We have the opportunity to really drive what that looks like for the next 50 years. I see it being that corridor where we can go to a

tal outlay request to shore up its infrastructure and prevent future disruptions. The strain on the grid will only worsen as Southern expands its campus — such as the completion of a new $68 million sciences complex. Baton Rouge Metro Council member Anthony Kenney Jr., an alum of Southern whose district includes off-campus land in the Scotlandville area, said he hated to see the power issues occur so early in the semester, but he appreciated the university keeping

kid’s sporting event … and if we’re coming from out of town, we have the ability to stay at a hotel somewhere in that vicinity. There’s restaurants; there’s things to do,” Yates said about the area off Airline Highway. The facility would not be used only for sporting events; ideally, it would also host local events like graduations or conventions. St. George does not currently have a large public venue that can host those types of events. Yates additionally said it will be used as an asset to support and attract new charter schools apart of the city’s recently announced plan to partner with charter

Students said their Wi-Fi has remained spotty since the incidents. “I could join the classes, and it would kind of be blurry, but I could still join and listen,” Smith said about her experience with remote work. “They’ll upload the videos to me once everything is ﬁxed, and I can just go back and relisten to it.” Freshman Ronald Ward said his assignment deadlines have been extended due to the power disruptions. Some professors chose not to hold class at all during the remote week, he said. “Towards the second week, probably like two classes went online, but pretty much everybody else was still canceling them,” Ward said. “They just pushed all of our dates back for our tests and assignments.” “I think I was kind of lucky,” he joked. He said he doesn’t blame Southern for the interruptions but hopes the university can secure funding from the state for a more lasting ﬁx. “We’ll see how that goes,” Ward said. “They’re stingy with the money, man. I hope it goes through, though, because that would help a lot.”

the community updated throughout the outages. “I just think it’s an optimal time to upgrade the infrastructure on the campus,” Kenney said. “For a long time, Southern University has been advocating for more funding from the state to help with the infrastructure.” Though the transformers at issue have been replaced, Pierre said, the pressure on the electrical system will remain. In an ideal scenario, he sees Southern get- Email Haley Miller at haley. ting “behind the grid” by storing miller@theadvocate.com.

operators. The mayor emphasized that voting on the economic development district is the ﬁrst step, but he does not know a timeline for the facility. He also said the city will own the facility, but other partners will be involved and will be announced later. City Council member David Dellucci said while the facility will be able to host

youth sports, he also wants the building to be capable of hosting small concerts or spelling bees. The council member believes this addition will be able to “ﬁll the void” of indoor event facilities in St. George. “I look at it more than an indoor sports facility, I look at is as a civic center,” Dellucci said. “It’s much larger than that. We want to book it 365 days a year.”

Dellucci said the council has not yet set what the tax rate, or rates, could be within the economic development district and hopes to get public feedback ﬁrst before those numbers are set in a few weeks. “This just starts the process,” he said. Email Claire Grunewald at claire.grunewald@ theadvocate.com.

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Moore issued a written statement Monday, saying the fine shows Thompson can’t be trusted to know the law. “It’s clear Ryan Thompson doesn’t know or has not researched the ethics laws applicable to becoming district attorney, not followed them. His ethics violation and fine speak volumes about his lack of experience as an attorney and whether citizens can trust him to follow a law as simple as filing an ethics report on time,” the statement read. Moore’s own 90-day-out campaign filing showed he had nearly $800,000 on hand as of Aug. 5, with Moore saying that number was in-

creasing with recent fundraisers. It is the most he has ever raised in a race. Thompson, 45, is a Democrat who has served in Baton Rouge’s Public Defenders Office. He’s recently represented plaintiffs suing the city-parish in separate cases involving the “BRAVE Cave,” a now-shuttered interrogation facility where his clients allege police abused them. He was born in Birmingham, Alabama, and earned a law degree from Southern University Law Center. Email Quinn Coffman at quinn.coffman@ theadvocate.com.

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10A ■ Wednesday, September 23, 2026 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

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Experts say 160 noncitizen GOP senator calls for probe of Trump Jr. voting arrests show it is rare Wedding party bankrolled by oligarch raises concerns of corruption

Data was released during briefing about Utah postal worker throwing out ballots

BY JOEY CAPPELLETTI and MARY CLARE JALONICK

BY ALI SWENSON

Associated Press

NEW YORK — The Trump administration’s whole-of-government effort to find and prosecute noncitizens illegally on state voter rolls has resulted in about 1,600 voter fraud cases that have led to 160 arrests, Homeland Security Investigations senior official Matthew Millhollin said in a news briefing Tuesday. The numbers unveiled just six weeks before Election Day provide a rare status update on an initiative that has redirected federal resources and hundreds of employees to search for foul play in elections at the direction of President Donald Trump. They fall far short of the hundreds of thousands of noncitizen voters that Trump and the Department of Homeland Security have previously suggested were on the rolls. They also represent a tiny fraction of the country’s more than 211 million active registered voters, underscoring what former election officials and election law experts say is a proven fact: Voter fraud, including voting by noncitizens, is rare. “They have tried to manufacture evidence of widespread noncitizen voting, and every time they do, their numbers are incredibly small, even when they’re overstated,” said David Becker, a former U.S. Justice Department attorney who leads the nonprofit Center for Election Innovation and Research. “They confirm what we’ve known for years, which is that states have been doing an extraordinarily good job of keeping noncitizens off their voter lists.” Millhollin shared the arrest data at a joint news briefing with the Justice Department and the U.S. Postal Service about DOJ charges against a Utah postal worker for throw-

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ELLEN SCHMIDT

Poll workers stand outside despite rainy weather on the first day of early voting in Minnesota at the Elections & Voter Services building on Friday in Minneapolis. ing out more than 300 mail ballots during the state’s June primary. In the same briefing, Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter said the DOJ had charged 70 people since the start of the administration with “unlawful voting and registration offenses.” Neither Millhollin nor McCotter clarified exactly what charges their data included, or whether they overlapped. Homeland Security Investigations, as a subagency of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is generally focused on immigration-related crimes. A Justice Department spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to an emailed request for clarification. Ahead of November’s midterms, which will determine control of Congress for the final two years of his term, Trump has taken extensive measures to try to crack down on noncitizen voting. It’s something he claims is rampant and marring elections across the nation, but research shows it is incredibly rare. He signed two election-related executive orders designed in part to address the issue, both of which are tied up in legal challenges. He also has pressured states to

use a controversial federal voter database that has been blocked by a federal judge for violating Americans’ privacy, and tried repeatedly to get lawmakers to pass a stagnant documentary proof of citizenship bill. In a last-ditch effort to hunt for noncitizen voters without detailed data from all states, DHS in August ordered a group of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services staff to pivot to a full-time manual investigation of state voter rolls, according to a federal whistleblower’s report. The whistleblower said the effort is directing federal employees to misrepresent themselves on state voter lookup tools in a way that could violate state laws. The person also warned the initiative leans on unreliable data that could wrongly implicate U.S. citizens in federal documentation. State election officials in Texas investigated registered voters who were flagged as noncitizens on their voter rolls by Trump’s federal voter database before a judge blocked its use. Of the 2,724 registered voters, it referred 117 cases to the Texas attorney general’s office for investigation.

WASHINGTON — Republican Sen. John Curtis, of Utah, is calling on the Senate Judiciary Committee to investigate whether Donald Trump Jr. used his proximity to the presidency for financial beneﬁt, after his recent wedding party was partially bankrolled by a Russian oligarch. In a letter sent Tuesday, Curtis called on the committee to subpoena Trump Jr. over his business dealings, relationships with foreign individuals and entities, gifts or other beneﬁts he has received and any instances in which his relationship to President Donald Trump “was invoked or understood to provide value.” Curtis called for the same scrutiny of Hunter Biden, the son of former President Joe Biden. “The country should not have to accept one standard for the family of a Republican president and another for the family of a Democratic president,” Curtis wrote in the letter addressed to GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley, of Iowa, chairman of the committee, and Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the top Democrat on the committee. The request by Curtis, a freshman senator who does not sit on the Judiciary panel, was a rare criticism of Trump’s family as most Republican lawmakers have stayed clear of weighing in on the president’s son. Grassley told reporters on Tuesday that he had not yet read Curtis’s letter, while Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said he did not “have an observation on that.” Still, the letter comes as a few Republicans have shown a recent willingness to criticize Trump’s policies after largely avoiding public breaks with Trump during much of his second term. The unpopular war in Iran, high gas

prices and mounting concerns about the GOP’s prospects in November’s midterm elections have brought increased scrutiny of the president from within his own party.

The Trumps say it was a gift ProPublica first reported last week that Umar Kremlev, who has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, helped pay to rent a private island and for a ﬁreworks show when Trump Jr. and socialite Bettina Anderson were married in the Bahamas in May. In a subsequent post on her Instagram page signed by the couple, Bettina Trump wrote that Kremlev, head of the International Boxing Association, was a “dear friend” who “very generously hosted two incredible nights of celebrations for us AFTER our wedding.” The president, who did not attend his son’s wedding, defended Kremlev’s involvement but said the money would be paid back.

Curtis calls funding ‘corruption’ Curtis, first elected to the Senate in 2024, vowed upon taking office not to shy away from disagreeing with Trump. He has publicly broken with the president several times since, including rejecting Trump’s calls to eliminate the Senate filibuster. In a July Wall Street Journal op-ed, Curtis wrote that “under no circumstance” would he support efforts to end or alter the filibuster, which requires 60 votes to advance most legislation in the 100-member chamber. Curtis’ criticism involving Trump’s son goes beyond those policy disagreements. Curtis last Friday called the gift “corruption” and vowed to say more in the coming days. “A Russian oligarch paid for a lavish wedding after-party for Donald Trump Jr., which to me just stinks. It’s corruption. I don’t like it,” Curtis said in a video posted on social media. Curtis wrote on social media that Republicans “nearly wore out the subpoena machine investigating Hunter Biden’s foreign relationships” and that they “should not unplug it now.”

Lindsay Clancy’s lawyers ask judge to investigate lone juror, dismiss case BY MICHAEL CASEY Associated Press

BOSTON — A lawyer for Lindsay Clancy is asking a judge to investigate the conduct of the lone juror who wanted to convict the Massachusetts mother of murder in the deaths of her three young children. In a motion ﬁled Friday but made public Monday, Clancy’s lawyer asked the court to question juror Michael Desronvil about his alleged use of a cellphone during deliberations, his truthfulness on a questionnaire that prospective jurors ﬁlled out before the trial began and his truthfulness when jurors were questioned by the judge a day before the trial ended. Among other things, lawyer Kevin Reddington asked

the court to obtain a record of any calls or texts Desronvil made between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. on each day the jury deliberated. Phone use during deliberations is prohibited in the state. The judge declared a mistrial Sept. 4 after the jury insisted it couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict, despite days of trying. Eleven of 12 jurors were ready to clear Clancy of criminal responsibility, with the majority feeling that she was in the grip of a rare condition called postpartum psychosis when she strangled her kids. But Desronvil sided with the prosecutors, who had argued that Clancy knew what she was doing. Desronvil hasn’t been accused of any wrongdoing in connection with his service on the jury, though some oth-

er jurors complained that he was inﬂexible in his opinion that Clancy was guilty. Prosecutors have yet to say whether they plan on putting Clancy on trial again. She remains charged with murder and is in a psychiatric hospital until her case is resolved. In another motion on Monday, another lawyer for Clancy, Martin Weinberg, asked the judge to take the unusual step of dismissing the criminal case, rather than putting on a new trial, on the grounds that a mistrial shouldn’t have been declared in the ﬁrst place. Weinberg argued the judge should have replaced Desronvil with an alternate during the deliberations after the jury foreperson complained he was refusing to listen to the law on reasonable doubt.

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The Advocate ■ theadvocate.com ■ Wednesday, September 23, 2026 ■ 11A

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Family: Man complained about lack Report: Panettiere died from an overdose of care for diabetes before death Detainee is third in involving fentanyl less than six months to die at ICE facility

BY JACK BROOK and DORANY PINEDA Associated Press/ Report for America

NEW ORLEANS — A 36-year-old Costa Rican man whose family says he complained of missing insulin shots and meals to manage his diabetes is the third detainee to die in less than six months at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Louisiana. Carlos Josue Marchena Marchena was found unresponsive Sept. 18 at Winn Correctional Center in Winnﬁeld, ICE said in a statement. It said staff began lifesaving measures before he was taken by ambulance to a hospital where he was later pronounced dead. The man’s sister, his girlfriend and a detainee held in the cell beside Marchena’s told The Associated Press that he complained of missed meals and shots and not drinking enough water to control his type 1 diabetes as he was moved between facilities in multiple states. Marchena’s condition worsened after he arrived at Winn, and he died less than a week later, his family said. The official cause of death is pending further medical examination. The correctional center had recently been found to have fallen short of federal standards, including for medical care, by the Department of Homeland Security’s Ofﬁce of Inspector General. Two other ICE detainees have died at the complex since April.

Nearly 60 have died Marchena is at least the 58th ICE detainee to die since President Donald Trump returned to ofﬁce in January 2025, according to tracking by AP. Immigrant advocates say the deaths are a sign that authorities are failing to properly oversee the detention of tens of thousands of immigrants swept up in the administration’s aggressive deportation strategy.

ICE said Marchena’s medical care was appropriate. “Marchena received proper medical care and was seen by medical professionals,” an agency statement said. Sufficient food, water and insulin at regular intervals is crucial with type 1 diabetes for managing blood sugar levels to avoid a lifethreatening health condition, said Dr. Rajesh Garg, who heads the diabetes unit at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. “If they are under any stress, then they need even more care and then they need to test their blood sugar at regular times,” Garg said. “If there isn’t proper food and water, that is going to stress his system.” Scott Sutterfield, a spokesperson for LaSalle Corrections, the contractor managing the facility with the Winn Parish Sheriff’s Office, said the death is under review and declined to answer questions. He said the company is committed to “the highest standards of care.” Winn Parish Sheriff’s Office and the Winn Parish Coroner’s Office did not respond to requests for comment. Medical examiners and coroners have ruled diabetes was a contributing factor in at least six of the ICE detainees’ deaths during Trump’s second presidency. Detainees with diabetes have frequently complained in court filings of inconsistent access to insulin and other medications. The deaths come amid mounting scrutiny of ICE detention facilities and whether they are medically neglecting detainees and forcing them to live in inhumane conditions, charges that ICE denies.

Detainee: man was vomiting Homeland Security’s Ofﬁce of Inspector General issued a report in June that said an unannounced inspection at Winn found violations of standards governing medical care, food service, use of force and other subjects. Among violations, it reported frozen food not being stored properly. Medical staff at Winn failed to keep updated treatment documents and laboratory testing records, which could “negatively impact detainee health care and

safety,” the report warned. It said ICE agreed with nine recommendations to improve conditions at Winn, and had implemented several of them. Marchena’s sister, Franciny Marchena, said her brother told her no one was checking his blood sugar levels to ensure they were stable. “A person who is healthy and taking their diabetes medication has no reason to collapse the way my brother did,” she told AP, speaking in Spanish from Costa Rica. His sister said his health began to worsen about two weeks ago when he was in an immigration detention center in Michigan and was put in a security cell after an argument with another detainee. After being transferred to Winn, Marchena told his sister and girlfriend that he had chest pain and was not getting enough to drink or eat, including because the food was sometimes spoiled. It was not known if he had an underlying heart condition. Marchena also voiced these concerns to Luis Herrera Andy, a Honduran man detained at Winn in the adjacent cell, who noted Marchena only received irregular insulin shots. A doctor gave Marchena pills for his chest pain but he returned angry, Herrera said, recalling his words: “This place is crap. They don’t help you with anything here. You could even die here.” The day before Marchena was found dead, he had stomach pain, headaches, chills, and was vomiting, Herrera said. He was a pale purple color and wet with sweat. Hours before his death, Marchena’s girlfriend Ana Leon Castro said, he called around midnight to say the pills weren’t helping. “All they gave him was a pill — that was it for the treatment,” Leon Castro said. Cardiac arrest — when the heart suddenly stops pumping — can occur from too little or too much insulin in a diabetic person, said Garg at Harbor-UCLA. Vomiting, headaches, nausea and stomach pain are all symptoms that can indicate a life-threatening insulin deﬁciency, though there could be other causes such as an infection.

Authorities: Sea turtle eggs laid on California beaches are a first for the West Coast A protective fence surrounds a sea turtle nesting site on the beach in Huntington Beach, Calif., on Tuesday.

BY EUGENE GARCIA and ED WHITE Associated Press

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. — A reptile believed to be struggling in sand at a Southern California beach was simply making history: a sea turtle laying eggs on the U.S. West Coast. And three days later, there were more. An olive ridley turtle — maybe the same one — laid eggs on Sept. 19, a few miles away near the Huntington Beach Pier in Orange County, authorities said. “This is the ﬁrst-ever recorded natural nesting for any sea turtle species” on the West Coast, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s West Coast Fisheries division said on Facebook. Olive ridley turtles are the

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JAE C. HONG

smallest of sea turtles, with adults weighing up to 100 pounds. NOAA said they’re found worldwide but primarily in the tropical waters of the Paciﬁc, Indian and Atlantic oceans. The ﬁrst nesting spot was near Seal Beach on Sept. 16, followed by the discovery at Huntington Beach. Both sites were subsequently fenced off. Incubation typically lasts 45 to 60 days,

NOAA said. “We’re excited about it,” said Trevor McDonald, marine safety chief at the Huntington Beach Fire Department. Lifeguards patrolling at night saw a turtle digging in the sand and thought “maybe this turtle is sick. We just don’t see this very often,” McDonald said. “Then they observed the turtle starting to lay eggs.”

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BY JEFFREY COLLINS Associated Press

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Actor Hayden Panettiere died from an accidental overdose of several drugs, including fentanyl, and had been in rehab just weeks before, according to a coroner’s report obtained by The Associated Press. Panettiere, 36, was found unresponsive in an apartment in Greenville, South Carolina, on Aug. 16. Her on-and-off boyfriend Brian Hickerson and his brother Zach Hickerson were at the home. A combination of fentanyl and its chemical byproduct, as well as the anti-anxiety medication alprazolam, a muscle relaxer and a drug used to treat major depression and other serious mental health disorders, was found in Panettiere’s system, according to a statement from the Greenville County Coroner’s Ofﬁce.

Authorities found pills, powder A more detailed report released to the AP said a senior deputy coroner who came to the Airbnb apartment to investigate Panettiere’s death found blue pressed pills and a straw on a table that would later test positive for fentanyl. A white powdery substance was found in her suitcase in a sunglasses case, according to the report. When the investigator called Panettiere’s father, he said she planned to spend her birthday five days later in Greenville, then head to Ukraine to visit her daughter. The investigator talked to two men in the apartment with Panettiere. Both names were blocked out, but police have said her boyfriend Brian Hickerson and his brother Zach were with her.

Fame brought success, struggle Panettiere soared to fame in the TV shows “Heroes” and “Nashville.” In her memoir “This Is Me,” released in May,

Panettiere described lifelong scars from her early fame and acknowledged being addicted to alcohol and enduring postpartum depression after the birth of her daughter, Kaya, with Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko in 2014. She also endured family struggles and tragedy. Her parents’ marriage was strained and eventually ended. Her younger brother, Jansen Panettiere, who was also an actor, died of a heart condition in 2023, at age 28. Panettiere also talked about her long relationship with Hickerson and allegations that the aspiring actor physically abused her. He was charged in 2020 with multiple counts of felony abuse, and he pleaded no contest to two counts of injuring a spouse or partner and served a short time in jail due to the case. He was sentenced to four years of probation and anger management and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. Hickerson completed the terms and recently asked a judge to reduce his conviction to misdemeanors; that request was denied. In 2015, Panettiere said she was in a horrible cycle of using alcohol and drugs to battle depression and anxiety and had to find a way out of the darkness. She had also entered rehab while filming the show “Nashville.” “I was the one who put myself in the first treatment center. I was drowning,” she said in a 2023 interview with Women’s Health magazine. As a child, Panettiere acted in commercials and soap operas, including as the evertroubled Lizzie Spaulding on “Guiding Light.” In “This Is Me,” she wrote that the traumas her character endured, from being kidnapped to killing her mother’s boyfriend, led her to associate “catastrophe with adoration.”

12A ■ Wednesday, September 23, 2026 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

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Man shot by ICE in Texas is back in detention Attorney says he was taken to the hospital a second time

BY ANNA WILDER and JESSE BEDAYN Associated Press/ Report for America

AUSTIN, TEXAS — A judge has ordered a Venezuelan man shot in Texas by a federal immigration officer to appear in court as his attorneys seek to stop his removal from the U.S. and criticize his medical care, saying he remains in pain from a bullet lodged in his back. Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, 28, was back in a federal detention center Tuesday after being treated and released at a hospital for a second time since he was shot by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent on Sunday in Austin, according to his attorney, Kate Lincoln-Goldﬁnch. Austin police on Tuesday released body camera footage showing Garces Perez hunching over in the front seat of his car and grabbing his shoulder and rocking back and forth after the shooting. An ofﬁcer later cut off Perez’s shirt, and a wound can be seen in his upper back.

processing center before being transferred to a detention center in the rural town of Pearsall. They also alleged that he was questioned without an attorney present. Garces Perez entered the U.S. in 2024 using CBP One, a program begun under President Joe Biden that allowed migrants to make appointments with U.S. authorities to be considered for asylum, Lincoln-Goldfinch said. President Donald Trump ended the program on his first day in office. Garces Perez was an asylum seeker and had a valid work permit, according to Lincoln-Goldfinch. She said a judge issued a deportation order after the man missed an immigration court hearASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JOEL ANGEL JUAREZ ing because the notice was Demonstrators gather on Monday in response to the shooting of Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, sent to a former address.

a Venezuelan man who was shot in his vehicle by an ICE officer on Sunday in Austin, Texas. Democratic U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro of Texas said he planned to visit Garces Perez on Wednesday to “check on his condition and demand his release.” The Department of Homeland Security defended Garces Perez’s treatment and its operations, saying ICE would not slow down or leave Austin. Castro has joined other Democrats in sharply criticizing the shooting, which came amid a surge in enforcement during President

Donald Trump’s second term. The encounter has sparked protests in Austin, including a gathering outside the Texas Capitol on Monday night.

Judge sets court hearing Garces Perez was making a DoorDash delivery Sunday afternoon when ICE ofﬁcers in an unmarked truck sideswiped his car twice, Lincoln-Goldﬁnch has said. He was shot and taken to a hospital, then released into ICE custody with a bullet

still in his back, she said. U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia ordered Garces Perez to appear in person at a hearing Sept. 30 in San Antonio in response to a lawsuit ﬁled by his attorney, who is seeking to stop attempts to remove him from the country. In the order, Garcia wrote that “petitioner must be present at the hearing.” In court filings, Garces Perez’s lawyers said he was forced to sleep on a cement floor at an ICE temporary

Police release footage Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said Tuesday that an off-duty detective reported the incident after witnessing and recording black SUVs surrounding a dark blue Toyota Corolla. Ten to 15 minutes later, Davis said, he takes a video where three gunshots and sirens can be heard. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, did not immediately respond to questions Tuesday about whether the federal officer who shot

Garces Perez was wearing a body-worn camera. Davis said she did not know whether federal officers on the scene were wearing body cameras. ICE has said its field officers nationwide will have body-worn cameras by the end of September. Davis said there was a pursuit that went through some side neighborhoods that ended on a side street about 200 yards from where Perez was eventually shot. The body worn camera videos released by Austin police do not show what led up to the shooting. The body warn camera footage begins with an officer walking up to Garces Perez’s car after the shooting and interacting with federal officers on the scene. The videos are partially muted, and Garces Perez is speaking Spanish to the officers. State troopers are also on the scene. An officer asks one of the federal officers if Garces Perez is under arrest and is told yes. On Monday, Perez called into a news conference and told reporters he had received no pain medication and slept on the floor. DHS said in a statement Tuesday that Garces Perez was receiving medical care “around the clock, including pain medication” and had slept on a bed.

Amateur archaeologist ﬁnds Germany’s biggest hoard of Roman silver coins Associated Press

The hoard of coins, which weighs 6.8 pounds, went on display at the LVR-LandesMuseum Bonn on Tuesday. The collection of coins was probably buried deliberately in the second quarter of the second century A.D., according to the LVR Ofﬁce for the Preservation of Archaeological Monuments in the Rhineland. “Of course, we can only speculate about the motives, but it’s very likely that some-

one wanted to keep this money safe. After all, banks didn’t exist back then,” said Erich Classen, state archaeologist and the director of the ofﬁce. Classen said it wasn’t clear why the treasure was never recovered before, adding that “perhaps the owner died before that could happen, without being able to pass on the knowledge about the coins.” Treasure troves from ancient Roman times or other

distant eras are not uncommon. However, few from the second century are as extensive as the one found in Wesseling, the archaeological ofﬁce said, adding that it was difﬁcult to estimate the coins’ value at the time. However, the pay of Roman legionaries, which is well documented in written sources, provides a point of reference. “At that time, an ordinary soldier in the legion earned

300 denarii a year. However, about half of that was withheld for food and equipment,” said Rahel Otte, a research associate at the archaeological ofﬁce. “A legionary would therefore have had to save all of his disposable income for about six years to amass the Wesseling hoard,” Otte said. She added that it remains unclear exactly who ultimately amassed this considerable fortune.

SELF-SCH TO

ULE ED

SCAN

BERLIN — An amateur archaeologist who discovered several Roman silver coins in a field in western Germany realized he had stumbled upon something bigger when his metal detector kept beeping. Oliver Riedl called the authorities for help and a group of experts who began digging immediately discovered a to-

tal of 934 Roman silver denarii. It is the biggest coin treasure ever found in Germany from the time of Roman Emperor Hadrian, the local ofﬁce in charge of archaeological monuments said Tuesday. “It was clear to me that there was something bigger buried here,” Riedl said, describing how his metal detector continued signaling even after he had found several coins near Wesseling, south of Cologne a year ago.

AP P

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Alleged sexual assault investigated “Now that a criminal complaint Police Department and the East District attorney says case involves LSU athlete, student Baton Rouge Parish Coroner’s has been ﬁled, our role is to con-

BY BLAKE LESCHBER

ish District Attorney Hillar Moore said Tuesday. Staff writer The assault reportedly occurred An investigation is underway on LSU’s campus in October, surrounding an alleged sexual as- Moore said. He said the matter sault involving an LSU athlete and was previously addressed through a student, East Baton Rouge Par- a “campus-level investigatory and

review process.” Moore said the matter was brought to his ofﬁce Tuesday, and he has requested all reports, interviews, evidence and other records from LSU, the LSU Police Department, the Baton Rouge

Office. In a statement, LSU said the incident was first reported to police by the student-athlete himself, but no criminal complaint was filed. A spokesperson said LSU “properly followed its Title IX policies and processes to a conclusion.”

tinue operating with our law enforcement partners as they work through their investigatory process,” LSU President Wade Rousse said in a statement. Citing the ongoing investigation, Moore said he would not comment further.

Woman seeks hearing on mental capacity Daycare owner charged with child’s drowning death

BY ANNAKATE FREELAND

Staff writer

A Prairieville woman charged with negligent homicide after a 3-year-old boy drowned while at her in-home daycare has asked a judge to determine whether she is mentally competent to stand trial. Joann Johnson, 38, was charged in connection with the May 18 drowning of Ian Catellanos. She faces up to 10 years in prison. Police found she was operating an at-home daycare from her Roy Rogers Road residence in Prairieville at the time. Using surveillance video, detectives found that Castellanos and another child in Johnson’s care were playing in the backyard near the pool with no supervision. The child fell into the pool and was unconscious in the water for 20 minutes before Johnson was seen retrieving the child. First responders attempted lifesaving procedures and CPR before airlifting Castellanos to the hospital, where he died.

STAFF PHOTOS By PEARL SPURLOCK

DANCE PARTEA

ABOVE: From left, Jordan Hicks, Angelina Gutierrez and Juju Nicholas dance onstage Saturday at the K-Pop water bomb event at Boba ParTea. LEFT: Juju Nicholas dances onstage.

ä See HEARING, page 2B

EAST FELICIANA PARISH

Police Jury supports nuclear energy effort

BY JAMES MINTON Contributing writer

The East Feliciana Parish Police Jury expressed support via a resolution Monday for the state’s effort to land a federally backed project that could involve recycling spent radioactive fuel rods from the River Bend nuclear power plant. East Feliciana could be in line for what the U.S. Department of Energy is calling a “Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campus.” The federal department is looking at ﬁve states for possible sites, including Louisiana. A state publication given to the jurors says the federal energy department estimates that each NLIC will see at least $10 billion in investments, 5,000 direct full-time jobs and “billions in local tax revenues.”

ä See NUCLEAR, page 2B

Authorities: Items found in search at home Zachary police announced they have found several items at the Ash Street home of Thomas Morris in the ongoing search for Madison Allen and Stephanie Hevia. Police said that after a thorough search of the property, which started on Sept. 14, they have recovered several items that are being investigated. Ofﬁcials said the search of the Zachary house was planned for weeks and was part of a broader and ongoing search in West Feliciana Parish. Morris, 43, is believed to have been living at the Zachary home when Allen, 32 at the time of her

disappearance, was reported missing in 2023. Hevia, who was 38 at the time of her 2025 disappearance, is believed to have last been at Morris’ West Feliciana property CRIME before she was BLOTTER reported missing, said West staff Feliciana Parish reports Sheriff Brian Spillman. Morris is being held at the West Feliciana Parish Detention Center on charges of second-degree kidnapping and false imprisonment that are not connected to the Allen and Hevia

disappearances. Morris was arrested in July after deputies received a report he was holding a woman at a store against her will. West Feliciana deputies responded to the store after a woman called to say she was hiding in the bathroom. Morris is alleged to have met the woman in Montana in early July and then brought her against her will to West Feliciana, where she could not leave or use her phone.

Police: Man arrested after motorcycle crash A man was arrested after allegedly attempting a U-turn on

a West Feliciana Parish highway, which caused a motorcyclist to fatally collide with the vehicle. Andre Jones, 40, of Vicksburg, Mississippi, was arrested and booked into the West Feliciana Parish jail for negligent homicide, careless operation, no insurance and window tint. Shortly before 6:30 p.m. Monday, Louisiana State Police troopers started investigating the crash, which occurred on U.S. 61 near West Feliciana Parkway, that killed a 28-year-old man from St. Francisville. They did not identify the man.

ä See BLOTTER, page 2B

2B ■ Wednesday, September 23, 2026 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

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Grand jury refuses to indict in death of teen HEARING

Continued from page 1B

Nolan Wells disappeared on Mississippi island

BY KASEY BUBNASH, POET WOLFE and MARCO CARTOLANO Staff writers

A Mississippi Coast grand jury unanimously refused to issue an indictment in the death of Ocean Springs teen Nolan Wells, citing a lack of evidence of a crime, Jackson County District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath announced Monday evening. In a grand jury report released to the public Monday, jurors said they found “no credible evidence” to support the public allegations that anyone who was with Wells when he disappeared while celebrating the Fourth of July on Horn Island engaged in criminal conduct related to his death. The state also released the autopsy of the 18-year-old high school football star, ruling Wells’ death undetermined. Wells, who was Black, had traveled to the island — a popular boating and Fourth of July destination — with a group of friends from high school, all of whom are White. He did not return with them to the mainland that evening, officials said. His body was found two days later off the island’s coast, fueling rampant online speculation regarding the circumstances of his death. Well-known figures in the Black community have since stepped in, including high-profile attorney Ben Crump and the Rev. Al Sharpton, many of whom have expressed concerns about the investigation. In a video posted to social media Monday, McIlrath called the grand jury’s in-

PHOTO PROVIDED By CHRISTINE WONSLEy

Nolan Wells, left, was last seen on Horn Island, in Mississippi, on July 4. vestigation “thorough and exhaustive” and said there is “absolutely no evidence” that Wells’ death was racially motivated. “The death of Nolan Wells has devastated our community,” she said in the video. “Outsiders and inﬂuencers have attempted to exploit Nolan’s death to divide and create chaos here. But we are better together.”

The response

“My question is, how can a jury come to the conclusion of drowning, despite knowing there was trauma to his body and despite hearing many inconsistencies?” Christine Wonsley said. Crump called for further investigation in a post on social media. “No true bill does not resolve how Nolan Wells died,” he said. “The public still deserves a clear account supported by records, evidence, and independent scrutiny.” Edward Andrew Paltzik, the attorney for three friends who were among those with Wells the day he went missing, praised the grand jury report in a Facebook post: “We said it all along: Warren Hudson, Jax Pitalo, and Morgan Seymour were always completely innocent. There was never any doubt. They are terriﬁc people,” Paltzik said. Calling the investigation “unprecedented both in care and scope,” Paltzik called for Crump to apologize to his clients, saying Crump had “some serious explaining to do.”

Wells’ family and Crump spoke publicly about the grand jury’s ﬁndings at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Georgia, where they held a news conference Tuesday that largely focused on the independent autopsy performed on Wells. The independent autopsy — commissioned by Wells’ family and Crump and released in July — found the cause of his death to be undetermined, matching the autopsy from the state Medical Examiner’s Ofﬁce. Crump, however, noted that bruises were found on Wells’ back and the back of his head and alleged that Mississippi medical examiners did not photograph the Evidence, autopsy report injuries during the investiThe grand jury, which was sworn in on April 20, is made gation.

up of 23 jurors from Jackson County, ranging in age from 27 to 68. Twelve jurors are White, five are Black, one is Asian, two are Hispanic, two are Native American and another identified as “other,” according to the report. Jurors issued 132 subpoenas and heard from 43 witnesses as part of their investigation. Seven individuals were called to testify before the grand jury. The jury also had full access to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office investigation into Wells’ death, including witness testimony, cellphone records, and videos and recordings. The grand jury heard testimony from the forensic pathologist Wells’ family retained to conduct an independent autopsy and requested all additional evidence gathered by the family’s legal team, according to the report. While the pathologist confirmed that Wells’ “internal neck structures” were “appropriately” retained by Mississippi’s medical examiner, the independently hired doctor was able to review them and received all other body parts and organs needed for the autopsy. Both the medical examiner and independent pathologist could not determine Wells’ cause or manner of death and called drowning the “diagnosis of exclusion,” meaning all other possibilities were ruled out. While the report states that the medical examiner and pathologist disagreed about the presence of bruising on Wells’ shoulder and buttocks, the cause of that injury and the bruising found on the back of his head remain undetermined, though a witness said Wells at one point slipped awkwardly off the boat the day he disappeared. He continued to socialize af-

ter the fall and did not seem seriously injured, according to the report. Apparently addressing rumors spreading online about potential drug use the day Wells went missing, the grand jury also determined the teen did not have cocaine in his system at the time of his death and found no evidence that he had ever used the drug. He had purchased alcohol with a fake ID, according to the report.

On Sept. 4, a motion for a sanity commission was filed by Johnson’s lawyer. A sanity commission is a panel of medical and mental health experts appointed by a judge to evaluate a defendant’s mental state. The motion asks the court to appoint at least two qualified physicians to evaluate Johnson’s mental capacity to stand trial and assist her attorney. According to the motion, Johnson suffers from schizophrenia, intractable epilepsy and dysgenesis of the corpus callosum, a congenital condition that causes the brain to not form properly. Johnson takes four medications to manage her conditions. “The cumulative effect of the defendant’s underlying organic brain anomalies, combined with the heavy sedating daily pharmacological footprint required to keep her neurologically stable, creates an environment where she cannot accurately process the complex legal posture of a felony prosecution,” the motion states. A hearing has been scheduled for 9 a.m. Oct. 15 in Gonzales regarding the motion. Johnson’s attorney, Jim Holt, could not be reached for comment. Under Louisiana law, raising mental incapacity halts all prosecution steps, except filing and instituting charges, until capacity is proven.

What’s next? The grand jury ultimately found that Wells chose to stay on Horn Island as his friends left by boat, and that the condition of his body and location where it was discovered are consistent with drowning. Jurors also acknowledged that there is no statute of limitations on homicide cases in Mississippi and extended sympathies to Wells’ family and friends. “If credible evidence comes to light in the future that suggests Mr. Wells’ death was nonaccidental,” the report states, “this matter should be represented to the Jackson County Grand Jury for further consideration.” Crump, alongside attorney Eric Hertz, announced that another news conference will be held in Orlando on Thursday, where they will address the findings of a digital forensic expert who examined Wells’ phone, including its location data and how the phone was handled before it was turned over to police. “(McIlrath) will have you accept that Nolan Wells’ death can be summarized in three words: We’ll never know,” Crump said. “But Nolan’s family offers three other words: We will never stop.”

P.O. BOx 2406 BatOn ROuge, La 344-STOP

Submit a tip anonymously from our website www.crimestoppersbr.com, or download the free anonymous P3 Tips App. CaLL tOLL FRee 1-877-723-7867

9/23/2026

The victim, a 69-year-old Plaquemine man, was struck on La. 75, near La. 404, by a 2024 Chevrolet Silverado traveling south, State Police said. The victim of the crash was near the southbound edge of the road, at his mailbox, when he was struck. The incident happened about 4 p.m. The man was airlifted to a hospital but did not survive, ofﬁcials said. The driver of the Silverado was uninjured, State Police said. The crash remains under investigation.

The investigation showed that a 2002 Chevrolet Tahoe driven by Jones was traveling north in the right lane on U.S. 61 while a 1998 Honda Shadow motorcycle was in the left lane. Jones attempted to make a U-turn from the right lane to travel south and entered the path of the motorcycle, which caused the motorcyclist to hit the Tahoe. The motorcyclist was wearing a helmet, but he sustained life-threatening injuries and died in the hospital. Jones suffered minor injuries and was taken to the hospital while two other passengers in the Tahoe Using DNA testing, Baton Rouge were uninjured. police have identiﬁed a woman reThe incident is under investiga- sponsible for a fatal hit-and-run on Scenic Highway. tion. Robin Taylor, 48, is wanted for hitand-run death and obstruction of justice in connection with the July 11 incident that killed 35-year-old A man checking his mail in Iber- Travis Barconey. Barconey was found dead at the ville Parish on Monday afternoon was struck by a vehicle and later 4800 block of Scenic Highway at 1:21 a.m. During the initial investidied in the hospital, ofﬁcials said.

Police ID woman accused in fatal hit-and-run

Man fatally struck by vehicle while checking mail

Continued from page 1B Jury President Louis Kent said “everyone in the parish” will beneﬁt if East Feliciana is chosen for a “nuclear campus.” “If we accept it, it will change the whole lifestyle of this parish,” Kent said. He and other jurors emphasized that adopting the resolution does not bind the parish in the future. Juror Kyle Fleniken said the parish is two or more steps away from being chosen, while Assistant District Attorney Bruce Dodd said the resolution is “just in principle until you get more information.” The resolution states, in part, the jury supports “the responsible evaluation and development of a campus in Louisiana, subject to all applicable safety, environmental regulatory, siting and public engagement requirements.” The resolution also says it is an expression of general support for Louisiana’s participation in the initiative. It “does not select or endorse a particular site, approve any permit or land

use, appropriate or obligate parish funds, waive any legal requirement or limit the Police Jury’s authority to review any future proposal affecting East Feliciana Parish,” the resolution states. Juror Kristin Chasteen, who voted against the resolution, called for a delay in adopting it, saying the jury should have a special meeting to allow the public more opportunity to comment on the proposal. “You’re talking about serious damage to people’s lives … ruining their lives,” opponent Paul Davidson said. The Louisiana Department of Conservation and Energy is meeting with officials of several parishes and is seeking resolutions of support from interested parish governments. Ed McGinnis, the head of startup company Curio Energy, and state officials met with East Feliciana police jurors and other parish officials Thursday to discuss a possible “nuclear campus” for recycling spent nuclear power plant fuel rods to recover usable isotopes and reconcentrate the fissionable materials for new fuel rods. The officials said East Feliciana property off U.S. 61

CHRISTOPHER DICKSON

03/05/1996 BLACK / MALE 6’01 HGT / 165 LBS BLACK HAIR / BROWN EYES FTA: POSS OF FIREARM BY CONVICTED FELON, ILLEGAL USE/POSS./CONTROL OF A WEAPON IN THE PRESENCE OF CDS OR VIOLENT CRIME & PWITD MARJUANA

Coroner: Victim of shooting in BR ID’d as 17-year-old The man found injured on Bardwell Street early Monday, who later died at the hospital, has been identiﬁed as a 17-year-old, the East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner’s Ofﬁce said. Kelvin Jackson, 17, was found lying in the 2200 block of Bardwell at 12:15 a.m. Monday and was taken to the hospital, Baton Rouge police said in a news release. While preliminary information indicated that Jackson had been struck by a vehicle, it was learned at the hospital that he had been shot. He later died at the hospital of his injuries. Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call the Police Department’s Violent Crimes Unit at (225) 389-4869 or Crime Stoppers at (225) 344-7867.

in the Port Hudson area is a tion by the end of Septempossible site for recycling ber. “If we don’t do the resospent fuel from the nearby River Bend nuclear power lution by the 30th, they’re plant in West Feliciana Parish. River Bend’s spent fuel rods are first stored in a large pool of water and later transferred to large steel and concrete casks for storage on the site. Eight East Feliciana residents spoke during the jury’s discussion. Several told the police jurors they were caught by surprise by the With LeafFilter announcement. While some said they had questions, others said they Heavy Pinecones opposed the jury’s resoluleaves tion. Jurors said they also have questions about the proposPine Seed needles pods al but added state ofﬁcials were pushing for the resolu-

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IMPORTANT: ALL PERSONS ARE PRESUMED INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY

If you have any information on these fugitives contact: CRIME STOPPERS at 344-STOP (7867), submit a tip anonymously from our website www.crimestoppersbr.com, or download the free anonymous P3 Tips App.

going to take us off the list,” said Juror Richard Oliveaux, who lives near the site mentioned by McGinnis.

REMEMBER YOU DO NOT HAVE TO GIVE YOUR NAME TO COLLECT THIS OR ANY CRIME STOPPERS REWARD BUT YOU MUST CALL CRIME STOPPERS.

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phone showed that she was in the area at the time of the crash. On Sept. 11, the Louisiana State Police Crime Lab confirmed that the DNA found on the car’s damaged front bumper matched Barconey’s DNA.

Continued from page 1B

gation, police found that Barconey had stopped in the right lane of the highway in a white 2012 Honda Accord because of a flat tire. While standing outside his vehicle, Barconey was struck by a black Chevrolet Tahoe and thrown several feet in front of the car. The driver of the car fled the scene immediately. During the follow-up investigation, police used video surveillance cameras to see that a black SUV drove by with two working headlights and no damage to the front of the car. After the second video, the SUV is seen with a broken headlight and damage to its front bumper. Police received a tip from Crime Stoppers that said the black SUV was at a body shop on 2704 North Ardenwood Drive getting work done. Detectives contacted the body shop, confirmed the damage was caused by striking a pedestrian, and confiscated the SUV to search for evidence. An attorney representing Taylor reached out to police and said she wanted to make a statement. She went to police headquarters but provided no statement. A search warrant for Taylor’s cell-

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DoorDash to pay $131M for underpaying workers

NEW YORK — DoorDash will pay $131.5 million to settle claims that it underpaid delivery workers in New York City, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced Tuesday. The agreement, which ofﬁcials described as the largest worker settlement in city history, also requires the company to submit to a new monitoring system to ensure compliance with delivery worker pay laws in the city. In a statement, DoorDash admitted errors, saying: “Simply put, we screwed up.” “While these mistakes weren’t intentional, that doesn’t make them okay. We pride ourselves on operational excellence at DoorDash — and this was not excellent, nor was it acceptable. Dashers should be paid in full, on time, every time. We are sorry to the Dashers we let down,” the company said. Most of the settlement will be returned to more than 260,000 workers who were underpaid, not paid or paid late for deliveries by DoorDash, according to City Hall. The company will also pay about $16 million in civil penalties and other costs to the city. “When a worker earns a wage, they deserve to be paid that wage — not tomorrow, not after a lawsuit, but on time and in full,” Mamdani said in a statement. “DoorDash underpaid more than 260,000 workers, and today we are getting that money back.”

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Wall Street holds near record Brent oil falls below $100 per barrel

BY STAN CHOE

AP business writer NEW YORK — The U.S. stock market held near its record high on Tuesday after oil prices eased again. Stocks had been higher in the morning, when the price for a barrel of Brent crude brieﬂy fell below $98. But oil prices later trimmed their losses, and Brent settled at $99.25 per barrel, down 1.1%. That’s down from the nearly $110 that it touched last week, but it’s

still much more expensive than the $72 it was fetching before the war with Iran began. It’s been swinging with uncertainty about when the war will allow crude to freely flow again from the Middle East to customers worldwide. On Wall Street, AutoZone rose 3.3% after the retailer reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected, though its revenue fell short. CEO Phil Daniele said the auto parts seller faced “a difficult selling environment” in the first two months of the quarter, but it improved afterward and “we feel we are well positioned for sales growth” in its

upcoming fiscal year. At Thor Industries, which sells recreational vehicles, the mood was more muted. CEO Bob Martin said expensive fuel, high interest rates and still-high inflation are stretching its customers’ budgets, and business “never reached the inflection point many in the industry expected” in its latest fiscal year. Its stock rose 5.5%, though, after it delivered a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Such strong profit reports are one of the main reasons the U.S. stock market has reached the

brink of its all-time high despite expensive oil and jitters about whether stocks in the artificialintelligence industry shot too high. Many companies are close to closing the books on their third quarter of the year, which ends with September. And analysts are forecasting companies in the S&P 500 will report overall growth of nearly 29% for the quarter from a year earlier, according to FactSet. If they’re right, it would be the third straight quarter of growth better than 25% for the index. And stock prices tend to follow the track of corporate proﬁts over the long term.

Xbox layoffs again hit hundreds in Washington Microsoft is laying off about 300 Washington-based employees, among about 450 companywide, as part of ongoing efforts to reset its gaming division. The Redmond-based tech giant told employees Tuesday morning that it was cutting roles that would mostly fall under the Xbox banner. Across the company, 268 gaming employees were let go. The move comes two months after the company laid off 4,800 gaming and sales team employees companywide, including 605 in Washington. Microsoft has been trying to keep a ceiling on its head count for more than a year as it grapples with the rising costs of an ongoing artiﬁcial intelligencerelated development and a workforce that swelled during the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, the company laid off 15,000 employees, 3,202 of whom were based in Washington, according to state data. Microsoft’s global workforce shrunk from 228,000 to 223,000 employees last year, the first overall drop in a decade. The company chalked that decline up to layoffs and the voluntary retirement program it offered to about 8,750 employees in June, with about 30% of eligible employees taking the offer.

China expands control on drug precursors BEIJING — China said Tuesday that it is now requiring permits for exports to the United States, Mexico and Canada of two additional chemicals that can be used to make illegal drugs, expanding controls on shipments to the three countries. The Commerce Ministry and other authorities jointly announced the new regulations ahead of this week’s meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump. The additions bring the number of chemicals under such controls to 18. The U.S. has called China the world’s largest producer of many of the precursor chemicals used in the illicit production of fentanyl, methamphetamine and other deadly synthetic drugs. It has urged Beijing to take more aggressive action to reduce the flow of unregulated precursor chemicals. In November 2025, Beijing announced export restrictions on 13 “drug-making” chemicals to the U.S., Canada and Mexico, including chemicals used to produce the synthetic opioid blamed for tens of thousands of overdose deaths in the U.S. every year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By BEBETO MATTHEWS

Planes line up for takeoff in 2023 in front of the air traffic control tower at LaGuardia Airport in New york.

Air traffic control calamity disrupting U.S. flights spotlights aging system BY JOSH FUNK

AP transportation writer Communications failures that snarled hundreds of flights across the Northeast on Monday have put the spotlight back on the aging systems that air traffic controllers rely on in the U.S. Congress already handed the Federal Aviation Administration $12.5 billion last year to overhaul technology after the deadliest U.S. plane crash in more than two decades killed 67 people when an American Airlines flight collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter over the Potomac River and a series of radar outages later that spring led to widespread cancellations at Newark Liberty International Airport. The same Philadelphia facility that had the radar outages in the spring of 2025 lost both its primary and backup data lines at the same time on Monday. But that regional air traffic control center isn’t alone; similar communications outages have also disrupted flights in Minneapolis and Dallas over the past year. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy quickly turned Monday’s disruption that hit every major airport in the New York area into the latest example of why he’s asking Congress for $20 billion more to pay for the next phase of the air traffic control overhaul.

Airlines were working to recover from the outage on Tuesday, but FlightAware.com showed nearly 100 flights had been canceled by midday because a number of planes and crews were out of position after Monday’s cancellations. “I have money for some of the telecom replacing old copper wires. Bringing in new fiber so it’s faster. The problem is this is a 40-year-old architecture or design,” Duffy said on Fox News Tuesday. “I need new money to do a whole new design — a new architecture of telecom so it will never go down.” The aviation industry’s Modern Skies Coalition backed Duffy’s plan again and urged Congress to approve the money because the latest disruptions “demonstrate how critical it is to replace the antiquated technology and outdated systems that underpin our nation’s air traffic control infrastructure.” A switch on the primary communications line at the regional FAA air traffic control facility in Philadelphia failed Monday morning, but when it turned to the backup fiber optic line authorities discovered that it had been inadvertently severed by railroad construction workers. The failures left controllers without radar or communications for hours. The switch is part of the equipment scheduled to be replaced. The outage brought commercial air traffic

to a near-standstill at Newark for much of the day, with no commercial flights landing at the airport from about 9:40 a.m. to just after 5:20 p.m. local time, according to flight tracking site Flightradar24. More than 200 flights into and out of Philadelphia International Airport were also canceled, while disruptions hit LaGuardia and Kennedy airports in New York. Flights had resumed by Monday evening. Technical problems that affect Newark Liberty Airport tend to get outsized attention because it’s a key hub for United Airlines. During the spring of 2025, controllers in Philadelphia briefly lost radar several times and then staffing shortages at the facility prompted the FAA to restrict traffic. The Dallas outage last September disrupted American Airlines’ key hub, and last month’s communications failure at a regional air traffic control facility in Minneapolis halted flights across several Midwestern states and led to numerous diversions and delays. Sheldon Jacobson, whose research contributed to the design of the TSA PreCheck system, said the FAA needs to make sure that its backup systems are independent of the primary line to reduce the chance that both will fail at the same time. And he said maybe the agency should look at adding a third line to have an additional backup system.

N.Y., Calif. sue to block deals canceling offshore wind projects BY MATTHEW DALY and JENNIFER MCDERMOTT

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Democratic attorneys general from California and New York sued the Trump administration Tuesday over its plans to buy back offshore wind leases as President Donald Trump seeks to discourage the expansion of wind energy in favor of fossil fuels. California Attorney General Rob Bonta said he is suing over removal of a project off his state’s coast planned by Chicago-based Invenergy. The Trump administration said in June that it’s buying back the company’s U.S. offshore wind

leases for four wind projects on the East and West coasts. New York Attorney General Letitia James, meanwhile, led seven states in suits seeking to block the Invenergy deal and another proposal with Bluepoint Wind, which agreed in April to end a wind farm under development off the New York and New Jersey coast. The deals would hand energy companies $1.4 billion in taxpayer dollars in exchange for the cancellation of multiple projects. ln all, the Trump administration has pledged nearly $4 billion to companies to walk away from projects across the country. The Interior Department start-

ed buying back offshore wind leases in March after federal courts thwarted Trump’s efforts to stop offshore wind development through executive action. In exchange for reimbursements of lease fees, companies are investing in fossil fuel projects and geothermal energy. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has said that companies “are shifting investment back toward dependable, secure energy infrastructure that can power our economy and lower utility costs.” James called the deals illegal and said they will ultimately increase Americans’ electricity bills by sabotaging states’ ability to meet growing energy demands.

“Americans are facing increasing energy costs because this administration would rather pay off energy companies than let us build the new power sources we need,” James said in a statement. “These illegal backroom deals take money that should have gone toward lowering New Yorkers’ bills and hand it to fossil fuel projects in other states.” Bonta said that as a national and global leader in the ﬁght against climate change, California finds itself enmeshed in “avoidable and unnecessary battles with our own federal government” to advance climate action and move toward clean energy.

4B ■ Wednesday, September 23, 2026 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

Funerals Today Primeaux, Emile

Resthaven Gardens of Memory, 11817 Jefferson Hwy., Baton Rouge at 1:00pm.

Primeaux, Raymond

Resthaven Gardens of Memory, 11817 Jefferson Hwy., Baton Rouge at 1:00pm.

Sims, Charles

Rabenhorst Funeral Home, 11000 Florida Boulevard, Baton Rouge, LA at 11am.

Singer, Shirley

Greenoaks Funeral Home, Baton Rouge at 2:00pm.

Williams, Shirley

Pine Grove Baptist Church, 6670 LA-412, Slaughter at 11:00am.

Obituaries Benson, Helene Morgan

Vegas, Nevada; 5 grandchildren, 4 Great grandchildren; four sisters and brothers-in-law, Molly and David Gautreaux, and Erin and Mark Vignes, Cynthia and Brian Southern, Anita and Tom Axt; sister Karen Benson; one brother and his partner, Kevin Morgan and Jonathan Timken; and step-brother Scott Seymour; Father in Law, Richard Benson Sr of Savannah GA: ten nieces and nephews and many beloved cousins.

Funeral services are being held as follows: Visitation on Wednesday, September 23rd from 4pm 6pm at Sauls Funeral Home in Bluffton, SC; Mass will be celebrated on Thursday, September 24th at St. Anthony's Mission in Hardeeville, SC at 10:30am (with reception to follow), and family burial at Beaufort National Cemetery in Beaufort, SC on Friday, September 25th at 10am. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Morgan and Braud Memorial Trust at Vicksburg Catholic School, Vicksburg, MS.

Clement, Joseph 'Jerry' Helene Morgan Benson, 65, died Tuesday September 15th while on a cruise. She was a native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and a resident of Hardeeville, South Carolina. She was a graduate of Woodlawn High School and Northwestern State University in Louisiana and Spring Hill College in Alabama. She held Masters degrees in Elementary Education and Theology. She moved to Vicksburg, Mississippi after completing her bachelor's degree and teaching certificate, where she taught at Saint Frances Xavier Elementary school and later served as director of religious education for St. Michael Catholic Church in Vicksburg. Upon her retirement, she and her husband relocated to Hardeeville, South Carolina and enjoyed an active life, especially enjoying cruising and socializing with new friends in their community. She was preceded in death by her parents, Falcon and Nancy Morgan of Baton Rouge. She is survived by her husband, Richard Benson Jr of Hardeeville; two children, Christin Benson (Shawn Carter) of Ponchatoula, Louisiana and Stacy Benson (Chris Gorman) of Las

Joseph "Jerry" Clement Sr. passed away on September 21, 2026, at the age of 92. He was born in Thibodaux, LA and was a current resident of Gonzales, LA. He was a loving husband, father, grandfather, brother and friend to many. He was married for 68 years to his loving wife, Rolane T. Clement. He is also survived by his children, Joseph "Joey" Clement Jr. (Donna), Janet Clement Poole (late Robert), Roland Clement (Raelynn) and Ronnie Clement (Amber); numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren and his brother, George Clement. He was preceded in death by his daughter, Rose Clement; his parents, Alcide Rose and Claude Clement (Anita); his sisters, Mildred Ockmond, Inez Becnel, Florence Math-

N O R T H A M ER I CA’S

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erne, Nellie Clement and Elizabeth Clement and his brothers, Edward Clement, Thomas Clement, Lloyd Clement, Romsey Rome, Claude Clement Jr. and Howard Rome. Jerry was hard working man who did all he could to provide for his family. He retired after 38 years from Avondale Shipyard. A parishioner at St. Theresa of Avila Catholic Church and a member of the Knight of Columbus. Jerry truly was a man of faith and family. He will be greatly missed by all of those who knew and loved him. The family would like to extend a heartful thank you to Dr. Baird, Dr. Khuri, the Carpenter House, St. Joseph Hospice and his caregiver Sue Brown for their compassion and care for Mr. Jerry. Visitation will be held at St. Theresa Of Avila Catholic Church, 1022 N Burnside Ave, Gonzales, Louisiana 70737, on Friday, September 25, 2026, from 8:30 am to 10:30 am, followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at 10:30 am. He will be laid to rest at Cornerview Cemetery. Those honored to server as pallbearers are Joey Clement, Caleb Clement, Roland Clement, Justin Clement, Jeff Diez and Randy Delaneuville.

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Juneau, Col. Jerald J. 'Jerry'

Colonel Jerald J. "Jerry" Juneau, beloved husband, father, grandfather, brother, and friend, passed away on Sunday, September 20, 2026, at the age of 90. Jerry was born January 1, 1936, in Bordelonville, Louisiana, and had been a resident of Baton Rouge since 1971. A graduate of

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Louisiana State University, he proudly served his country as a United States Army officer for 28 years, including service in Vietnam. He was awarded two Legions of Merit, along with numerous other military honors. He later retired as Deputy SecretaryTreasurer of the Teachers' Retirement System of Louisiana. Jerry loved his country, his Catholic faith, his Bordelonville roots, LSU athletics, and, above all, his family. Some of his greatest joys were preparing breakfast for his grandchildren and taking his grandson Patrick to LSU football and baseball games. He is survived by his daughter, Renée McCoy and her husband, David; three grandchildren, Madeline, Patrick, and Evangeline "Evie" McCoy; his brother, Richard Juneau; his sister, Jane Armand and her husband, Wayne; his brother-in-law, Victor Belba and his wife, Sandy; and numerous nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Betsy Belba Juneau, and his parents, Herbert and Lilla Juneau. Jerry was a longtime parishioner of St. Jude Catholic Church, where he served as a lector, and was a Fourth Degree Knight of Columbus at St. Aloysius Catholic Church. "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." — 2 Timothy 4:7 Visitation will be held at St. Aloysius Catholic Church beginning on Friday, September 25, 2026 at 10 AM, a Rosary will be prayed at 11 AM and a Funeral Mass will begin at 11:30 AM. Interment will follow at Greenoaks Memorial Park with full military honors. In lieu of flowers, the family invites memorial gifts to FOCUS (Fellowship

of Catholic University Students) in support of his grandson Patrick McCoy's missionary work at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. Patrick's mission can be supported at focus.org/missionaries/ patrick-mccoy/.

Primeaux, Emile Raymond 'Ray'

Peterson, Essie Brown

Primeaux be made to Tunnels to Towers Foundation or a charity of your choice. Relatives and friends are invited to the graveside service at 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, September 23, 2026, at Resthaven Gardens of Memory, 11817 Jefferson Highway in Baton Rouge.

The Advocate ■ theadvocate.com ■ Wednesday, September 23, 2026 ■ 5B tives and friends are invited to the graveside service at 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, September 23, 2026, at Resthaven Gardens of Memory, 11817 Jefferson Highway in Baton Rouge.

Robert, Hulin Joseph

Peterson, Brown

Essie

Mae

Entered into eternal rest at her residence in Zachary, Louisiana on September 15, 2026. She was a 99-year-old native of Zachary. Viewing at Miller & Daughter Mortuary, Thursday, September 24, 2026 from 4-6 pm; viewing resumes at Greater New Hope Baptist Church, Rev. Geoffrey Sykes, pastor, on Friday, September 25, 2026 at 9:00 am until Celebration of Life Service at 11:00 am conducted by Dr. Chad Cooper; interment, Port Hudson National Cemetery. Survivors includes her children, Willard Peterson(Karen), Larry Peterson(Alret), Debra Peterson -Franklin, and Linda Scott(Garrett); other relatives and friends.

Emile Raymond "Ray" Primeaux, 87, was born in Rayne, Louisiana, and passed away peacefully surrounded by family in his home in Alabama on Tuesday, August 25, 2026. Ray spent four years as a Radio Intercept Operator for the US Air Force, with three of those years being stationed in RAF Kirknewton, Scotland where he intercepted Soviet radar, voice, and morse code communications during the Cold War. After his return to the states, he met the love of his life, Carolyn Holmes Stell, while on a fishing trip to Grand Isle. They married at Our Lady of the Isle Catholic Church in Grand Isle and together had two children, Lisa and Scott._ Ray had a love like no other for his family, welding, and of course, fishing. He lived his life as a devoted catholic and loved the Lord._ Ray is preceded in death by his parents, Elsie Cecile Dumesnil and Louis Albert Primeaux; his sister Betty Primeaux Fruge; and his son, Raymond Scott Primeaux._ He is survived by his loving wife, Carolyn Stell Primeaux; his daughter, Lisa Primeaux; his granddaughter Lauren Brown and husband Russ; grandson Austin Primeaux; and great-grandsons, Russell "Rustin" Brown IV, and Hayden Brown._ In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials in honor of Emile Raymond "Ray"

Primeaux, Raymond 'Scott'

Raymond "Scott" Primeaux, age 50, passed away on Wednesday, March 25, 2020. He was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Scott worked in the shipping industry, where he served as a terminal manager. Outside of work, he enjoyed the simple things in life and especially loved fishing, hunting, and cooking. Scott had a special gift for making people smile, and those who knew him will remember how he could always light up a room with his personality and presence. Scott loved his father and mother, Emile "Ray" and Carolyn Primeaux; his son, Austin; his sister, Lisa Primeaux; and his niece, Lauren Brown and her husband, Russ Brown. Scott will be remembered for his warm spirit, his love of family and friends, and the happiness he brought to those around him. Rela-

Hammond, LA — Hulin Joseph Robert, 102, died peacefully on July 26, 2026, in Conway, Arkansas, after a brief illness that followed a family reunion at Petit Jean State Park. Born December 26, 1923, in Darrow, Louisiana, he was preceded in death by his parents, Ethel and Remy Robert; brothers Cecil Paul Robert (Betty) and Shelby Lawrence Robert; sisters Joyce Ann Robert and Lois Robert Simoneaux (Kelly); infant son Michael; grandsons Jeffrey DeVries, Mordecai Robert, and Luke Robert; former wife Elizabeth Stewart Robert; and sister-in-law Lena Mistretta Robert. His brother Glenn Jacques Robert survived him but passed away shortly thereafter. The Boy Scouts gave shape to his life; LSU, ROTC, and the Army carried it forward. He trained at Camp Hale and served in Italy with the 10th Mountain Division. As a sergeant he earned the Combat In-

fantryman Badge and the Bronze Star Medal, and he cross-country skied into his early 90s. In Hammond he built a respected business, served Holy Ghost Catholic Church, led Troop 170 as Scoutmaster, and gave years to the Sierra Club and the Bayou Haystackers. He loved being outdoors, trained every day, and recited long poems from memory. That fiercely active life made him something of a legend.

Hulin's survivors include his seven children: Robin Robert Birdsong (Edmond), David B. Robert (Jo Lynn), Nancy Robert DeVries (Bob), Philip S. Robert, Martha M. Robert, Nolan J. Robert (Kim), and Remy P. Robert (Jessica); sister-inlaw Betty Cicero Robert; 12 grandchildren; 14 greatgrandchildren; and many family and friends. Funeral services are Friday, September 25, at St. Anthony of Padua Church in Darrow. Visitation is 10:00 to 11:45 a.m. The Funeral Mass follows at noon, with burial immediately after at Hope Haven Garden of Memory.

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

OUR VIEWS

No reason why La. shouldn’t be launchpad for U.S. Space Academy Louisiana has a long history of helping to support the nation’s space exploration goals — from the Apollo program to the space shuttle to the most recent Artemis trip to the dark side of the moon. While the Michoud Assembly Center in New Orleans East built key parts of the rockets that powered those missions, our state’s role has largely remained in the background. That could change if Louisiana is successful in its bid to become the home for the proposed U.S. Space Academy that will train engineers, scientists and warfighters in the aerospace sector long into the future. It would be the elite training ground for Space Force, which President Donald Trump created in 2019. Like the military academies at West Point, New York for the Army; Annapolis, Maryland for the Navy; and Colorado Springs, Colorado for the Air Force, this new academy would train thousands of students to join the military branch it serves. Classes could begin at a temporary campus as early as 2028. We believe there could be no better place than Louisiana for such an endeavor. Specifically, New Orleans is literally at the center of a corridor that is home to several key NASA facilities. That includes but is not limited to: NASA’s headquarters at the Johnson Space Center in Houston; the Kennedy Space Center in Florida; Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama; and the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. In addition, with the arrival of Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which is building the massive spaceport Starbase Louisiana in Vermilion Parish, the state is well positioned to become a major player in private sector space exploration. So public and private sector collaborations would be facilitated by a U.S. Space Force Academy located in New Orleans. Aside from these advantages, we are encouraged that the state has leaders who have been working to raise our profile in the aerospace industry. Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser has long championed efforts to build the aerospace workforce in the state, including at Nunez Community College in St. Bernard Parish, which offers an Aerospace Manufacturing Technology program. Gov. Jeff Landry and Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Susan Bourgeois were instrumental in bringing SpaceX to the state. In Washington, our congressional delegation, especially Speaker Mike Johnson and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, should have powerful sway with the president and others to make the state’s case. Landing the U.S. Space Academy would add to the growing momentum Louisiana is seeing as it diversifies its economy beyond the energy sector. It would give many of our young people a window to entirely new jobs they might not have ever imagined, and it would cement our state’s position in a growing industry. Indeed, this academy could give Louisiana a launchpad to the future.

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

Taxing, spending and debt are forever problems

Do Entergy customers want to share the grid with data centers? Haley Miller’s recent article, “Southern University considers deal to build energy storage facility on campus for use by Entergy,” outlines the current status of a deal between Entergy and Southern University to build a large battery energy storage facility on Southern’s campus. This deal will allegedly improve the capacity of the local grid to meet energy demands during peak hours — demands which rise as a result of data center strain. Since Entergy has recently faced major backlash on its data center projects with Meta (particularly Hyperion in Richland Parish), I am concerned that the facility will not address the stated goals of the project and merely attempt to garner goodwill with Louisianans after repeatedly acting against ratepayer interests. For instance, a Meta spokesperson claimed Meta was committed to being a reliable partner to the Richland Parish community, despite agreeing to pay only a fraction of the parish’s usual required construction permit

costs. The current proposal has Southern entering the deal as an equity partner rather than leasing the land to Entergy, meaning that both parties have stakes in the facility accruing proﬁt. This puts emphasis on more energy running through the facility, and might incentivize more energy to be produced and stored, further straining the grid and reinforcing a problem it is intended to solve. In addition, while I believe it is a good thing that Southern is taking steps to remedy the longstanding funding gap between HBCUs and other public universities, this deal fails to address the systemic inequities at the national level that cause that funding gap. Rather than piling on more capital expenditures to combat increased grid volatility as hyperscale data centers are built, perhaps Entergy should pay more attention to whether its ratepayers want those data centers on the grid at all.

Re: “What happened to the party of ﬁscal responsibility?” Letters, Sept. 16. I would like to ask Retired Col. George Lange III where he has been for the last 46 years. Since the Reagan administration, Republicans have cut taxes but continued to spend out of control. The Democrats raised taxes and continued to spend out of control. When are Americans going to stop electing politicians afﬁliated with these two dysfunctional, crooked organizations? We all better wake up and stop all of this tribalism politics. If we don’t address the national debt and spending crisis, we are not going to have a country.

KENNETH G. KIRSCH New Orleans

Clock was ticking while the OMV stayed closed

JOSEPHINA OLAGUES New Orleans

I have made three OMV appointments to renew my driver’s license over the past three weeks, and each one has been canceled by OMV (“Ofﬁce of Motor Vehicles sites remain closed statewide as work continues on new computer system,” Sept. 15). I wonder if the state is going to cover my ﬁne if my license expires while I’m waiting for them to do their job?

‘Good news’ is a matter of opinion I was pretty appalled by the headline in the newspaper Sept. 7 declaring that “Donald Trump’s deal for Venezuelan oil could be good news for Louisiana.” Whether the expropriation of Venezuelan oil by the United States is “good news” for Louisiana is obviously a matter of editorial judgment, not simply reporting the news, so this headline should never have appeared in the news section. Moreover, the author never estab-

lishes why readers should consider U.S. imperialism in South America to be “good news” for Louisiana. Instead, your headline simply relies on the fact of Trump’s imperialist policy to somehow imply its own righteousness. How about we just stick to the facts and leave the moral judgment to your readers, or at least restrict the latter to your editorial section where it belongs?

MICHAEL GALLAGHER Prairieville

Tragedy deserved to be front and center on 9/11

JOHN O’DAY New Orleans

How do you determine what items get front and center in every newspaper? Many times the main featured item appears to be very trivial, while more important items are relegated to the back pages and even to other sections. I don’t understand the thinking when a bar or restaurant closing is deemed more important than serious events — i.e., you neglected to highlight 9/11 until the next day. To my way of thinking, 9/11 should always be at the forefront of everyone’s minds.

‘Arch’ of Triumph may be in store for Texas campus TO SEND US A LETTER, SCAN HERE

The Arc de Triomphe was completed in 1936 in Paris to honor those who fought for France. Add a few more winning performances like the Ohio State-Texas football game to his resume, and Arch Manning may not only earn an “Arch” of Triumph on the University of Texas campus, but he may also become the ﬁrst Manning to win the Heisman Trophy. Grandfather Archie Manning was voted third in 1970. Uncle Peyton was runner-up in 1997 and Uncle Eli was third in voting in 2003.

Should Arch win the Heisman in 2026, it would be an added family jewel that would rival the four Super Bowl rings Peyton and Eli won as NFL quarterbacks. I believe Arch’s fans enjoy watching him play football almost as much as he enjoys playing it. It’s a hoot to speculate what the Arch of Triumph would look like and where on campus it would be built. Have fun, Arch, and enjoy the ride.

WESLEY T. RALSTON Metairie

LEE BLOTNER Metairie

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COMMENTARY Both parties aiming for a loss This election is a contest to see which party can do its best to lose. Looking forward from mid-September, President Donald Trump’s Republicans seem to be well ahead at this. But the Resistance (or don’t they call themselves that anymore?) Democrats are putting up a contest. Second-term presidents tend to make political mistakes by doing things they think are right. Franklin Roosevelt and Michael court-packing, Ronald Barone Reagan and Iran-Contra, George W. Bush and the Iraq surge. You can see two examples of this in the second Trump term. One is his insistence on haphazardly imposing tariffs. It is an example of providing a plentiful quantity of something for which there is no demand among the electorate. That’s been true for a long time. William McKinley, cited by Trump as a tariff advocate, called for switching from protective to reciprocal tariffs in his last public speech in 1901. Over the next half-century, as economist Douglas Irwin points out in his definitive book “Clashing Over Commerce,” Republican presidents were leery of tariffs, which were supported by congressional leaders as a way of holding their majorities together: You vote for a tariff that helps my local industry, and I’ll vote for one that helps yours. The definitive moment may have been when, as Jude Wanniski argued years ago, a proposal for a tariff on the dairy product casein got the progressive Wisconsin delegation to join the legislative mob that passed Smoot-Hawley in 1930. Over 1,000 economists signed a petition begging Herbert Hoover to veto the bill, but he signed it anyway, and the Great Depression followed. Almost no one without a lobbyist wants tariffs now. And voters don’t have to read Irwin to realize that Trump’s tariffs raise prices for consumers and many manufacturers as well. Trump stands on sounder ground, in my view, in attacking the regime in Iran, which has preached and practiced “death to America” since 1979. But, apparently believing that he could compel a surrender as he had against the Chavista gangsters in Venezuela, he launched a devastating assault without preparing the public for it and while promising a speedy resolution. That hasn’t happened; wars turn out to be hard to predict. But it has brought higher gasoline prices and continued inflation and has destroyed Republicans’ previous edge on the economy. Meanwhile, the president, in childish self-aggrandizement, is devoting political capital to his beloved ballroom, to renaming the lowest-latitude Great Lake “Lake America,” to Hunter Biden-

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JULIA DEMAREE NIKHINSON

President Donald Trump arrives to sign a security agreement with Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen on Tuesday at the United Nations headquarters. style enrichment of his family members, to closing the Kennedy Center if he can’t put his name on it. If Republicans’ weakness is the selfindulgence of a second-term president, Democrats’ weakness is their propensity to embrace the wildest and least popular impulses of their political left. There’s abundant videotape back from the left-wing craze that followed the death of a Minneapolis fentanyl user in May 2020 of Democrats’ demands for defunding the police, abolishing prisons and abandoning enforcement of immigration laws. Which is exactly what the Biden administration did, raising the number of foreign-born by 8.3 million in four years, 30% more than the Obama administration did in eight years. That was five times as many as the foreign-born increase in the first Trump administration, and in the 20 months of Trump 2.0, the Census Bureau reports, the foreign-born population was declined by 2.8 million. Democrats’ no-enemies-to-the-left posture is most obvious, perhaps, in Democrats’ reluctance to oppose boys playing in girls’ sports, their support for government-paid transgender surgeries for prison inmates and illegal immigrants, and their policy in states they govern removing teenagers professing gender dysphoria from the custody of their parents. As the most effective pro-Trump ad of the 2024 campaign cycle put it, “Kamala is for they/them. President Trump is for you.” That still could be a lively issue. So is the reluctance of Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed to distance himself from Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, the internet personality who campaigned by his side in the Democratic primary. Piker has said that “America deserved 9/11,” and that Hamas was justified in its Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack

on Israel. Piker has also been a prominent supporter of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. Reporters and analysts who have been eager to ask Republican candidates whether they denounce extremist Republicans, even those from faraway venues, have rarely asked Democrats to denounce extremist Democrats. Politicians of both parties, including centrist-demeanor governors like Democrat Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Republican Greg Abbott of Texas, have been quick in recent weeks to switch and oppose artiﬁcial intelligence data centers, and many ofﬁceholders are giving serious consideration to AI regulation. The danger for Republicans is that imposing regulation may seem at odds with traditional party beliefs and, at least at the moment, is directly contrary to the stand of Trump. The danger for Democrats is that they may seem to be switching too readily from one cause to another. The general trend in off-year elections, the Trump slump in job approval, and Republicans’ continuing weakness in generic polls make Democrats the favorites to gain House and maybe Senate majorities this year. Their leads in the South — big in North Carolina and Georgia, narrow in Texas — are good news for them. But voters’ continuing low regard for the Democratic Party, and Republicans’ poll showings in Northern states that seemed earlier this year to be gimmes for the opposition — Maine and Minnesota — suggest there may be surprises. Which may be what you should expect in a year when both sides seem to be trying their hardest to lose. Michael Barone is on X, @MichaelBarone.

Inspiration from a Hong Kong cell “It’s hard to bear yourself at the foot of the cross. And it’s hard to recognize your own shortcomings, but it’s also the only thing that helps.” Claire Lai had been reading Fulton J. Sheen, the archbishop and trailblazing American TV host who is advancing on the road to sainthood in the Catholic Church this week with a beatification Mass at the Dome at America’s Center in downtown St. Louis. Sheen was meditating on “the Blessed Mother, Kathryn Mary Magdalene, and St. Jean John, the most beloved disciple, at the foot of Lopez the cross” of Jesus. Lai brought up the Scriptural image and quote from Sheen in an interview earlier this year about her father, Jimmy Lai. He has been living his own hell — away from his family, the sacraments of his beloved Catholic Church and the freedom he fought for as a newspaper editor and entrepreneur. He’s a political prisoner — mostly in solitary confinement — in Hong Kong, incarcerated under trumped-up charges under a bogus national-security law that pretty much exists to silence — and make an example of — him. And now his daughter has been diagnosed with cancer — and with it her plea for her father’s release has only intensified. My anger at China only in-

creases by the day, knowing that Claire can’t have her father with her, knowing he can’t be at her side. Claire recently shared advice that her father gave her in a letter shortly before she was diagnosed: “Hold on to hope and don’t be impatient. You have to know and trust that God’s way is not your way.” “The humid Hong Kong summers are the harshest,” Claire writes about her father’s confinement. “Summer 2026 was particularly volatile, with both heatwaves and thunderstorms that left the prison floors damp. The windows in his cell are covered over, blocking access to fresh air and natural light.” Locked away for six years and counting, Jimmy Lai’s condition declines. But the man, despite his age, 78, and ailments, is an icon of resilience. “[H]e has seldom been overwhelmed — by anything,” Claire writes. “But when he was told recently that I have cancer, he broke down.” Within a month of his imprisonment, Jimmy Lai committed to fasting on Fridays. When the weather is cold, it makes him shiver — he’s lost so much weight while there. Claire worries about the fasting, but his reasoning is difficult to argue with. The guards would set a tray of food before him anyway, and he has admitted he has considered breaking the fast. “I was tempted, of course, but I did not yield,” she quotes him explaining. But then he “looked at the picture of Christ on the

Cross I put on the wall” — he has taken up religious art during this time of isolation. He draws Christ on the cross, often with Mary. He’s also worked on the image of the Pieta — Mary holding her cruciﬁed son in her arms. While gazing on the Savior on his instrument of execution, he wrote: “I realized how trivial my shivering was compared to what the Lord suffered for our sins.” Having learned from her father, Claire writes: “My father bears all his ills patiently and joyfully, recognizing the graces they bring. Over the last six years, he has offered up his physical and emotional ailments in union with our Lord. Knowing that, when united with Christ’s suffering, it carries redemption and divine grace. This is a profound mystery.” Strikingly, she adds: “I hope to bear my much smaller cross half as well as he has. That this will unite me more deeply with both Christ and my earthly father. Taken this way, it’s hard to see my diagnosis as anything but a blessing.” God loves these beautiful, courageous people, to borrow a phrase from Fulton Sheen’s famous “Life is Worth Living” sign-off. We may not be worthy of them, but they show us how to imitate the goodness of our creator. This is the Christian life. Thanks be to God for this family.

Could Essence find new roots in Philadelphia? Imagine an acorn of a festival idea with $100 and a few neighbors who wanted an African-inspired block party. Imagine a few more dollars and a few more neighbors and friends joining the next year. Imagine that acorn cracking, growing shoots and saplings and becoming a tall oak tree. Imagine that thin, tall tree becoming a mighty oak. You might think that I’m talking about the Essence Festival of Culture, but I’m not. Philadelphia’s Odunde Festival is much older than the festival we welcome in Louisiana each summer. It started as a single-block gathering and grew into the massive, 15-block festival of Black culture. I moved to the Philly market a couple of years after it started, and I watched it grow. There are similarities between Essence and Odunde, and some differences. For starters, Odunde is a nonprofit. Essence is a business. Odunde was a grassroots effort for about a dozen years before it Will became a formal, official nonprofit Sutton in 1991. Since then, with financial help from the city and sponsors who want to be associated with thousands of people who love Black culture, the festival has become a can’t-miss event each June. Essence was never a grassroots effort. It was an Essence corporate idea to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Essence magazine in a special place, with lots of community support. Both attract more than 300,000 people, sometimes close to 500,000. Odunde festival organizers and city leaders decided to dream bigger. In recent years, there’s been something called Odunde 365, a year-round cultural and educational extension of the festival. Think the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and the foundation that benefits the city yearround. Essence is working to regain community support. In a column last year, I challenged Essence to dream bigger, to consider a 365 presence, to become a part of our community, to create a festival host committee. According to Essence representatives, when Mayor Helena Moreno was mayorelect, she challenged them to dream bigger. They responded with Essence 365, a year-round Louisiana Essence presence that would grow the Essence brand and the organization’s impact across the city, the region and maybe the state. Odunde will happen. It is scheduled for June 6-12 with a huge culmination on Sunday, June 13. We don’t know whether the 2027 Essence Festival will happen. If there’s an agreement, the first order of business is to tell the public the tentative July 2-5 dates are definite. Odunde and Philadelphia continue to work on their maturing relationship. Essence and New Orleans can, too —with new parameters in light of our changing reality. Last year, Odunde commissioned a forwardlooking review by Econsult Solutions Inc. The study compared Philadelphia’s annual June festival to other city festivals and similar festivals elsewhere in the nation — including the Essence Festival and AfroPunk, both operated by Essence Ventures, part of the Sundial Media Group. According to ESI, it examined the “vendor ecosystem, sponsorship expansion, programming enhancement, and audience growth.” Sounds similar to what the City of New Orleans wants and what Essence needs. ESI identified “underutilized sponsorship categories,” suggested a sports platform alignment, recommended a “year-round digital content strategy modeled on national peers” and “an expanded year-round community engagement platform.” ESI said these and other steps would move Odunde from a “transactional, permitting-and-grantcycle posture to a strategic civic partnership.” Those are reasonable next steps. I wouldn’t want to see the Essence Festival leave New Orleans, but imagine a back-to-back, June-July, Black-to-Black summer up north. Philadelphia is one major American city that would love to host Essence. Odunde isn’t going anywhere. It’s become central to what it means to be Philadelphia. Philadelphia City Council President Kenyatta Johnson called Odunde “a Philadelphia institution and a powerful celebration of African and African American culture,” in a statement. Asked whether Philly would consider the Essence Festival as its new home, he said: “If an opportunity ever arose to make Philadelphia the new home of Essence Festival of Culture, I would absolutely want our city at the table.” If Moreno’s Essence steering committee insists on a request for proposals for anyone or any group to host a major festival the Fourth of July weekend in New Orleans, maybe Essence would bounce to Philly. If Odunde and the city of Philadelphia are still figuring it out after 50-plus years, Essence and the city of New Orleans can figure it out after 30plus years. Email Will Sutton at wsutton@theadvocate.com.

Email Kathryn Jean Lopez at klopez@ nationalreview.com.

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8B ■ Wednesday, September 23, 2026 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

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TODAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

MONDAY

Partly sunny and hot

Sun mixing with clouds; warm

Mostly sunny

Some sun

Sunshine and a few clouds

Partly sunny, a stray t-storm

HIGH

LOW

96° 72°

LOW

93° 72°

LOW

90° 68°

90° 69°

90° 68°

Beaumont 96/75 Port Arthur 96/78

Alexandria 97/68 Baton Rouge 96/72

Lafayette 96/73 Lake Charles 97/73

10s

20s

30s

Houma 94/72

50s

YESTERDAY

60s

70s

80s

Sunrise today Sunset tonight Moonrise today Moonset today

90s 100s 110s

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

HIGH

6:48p 1:07p 4:05a 6:32a 8:16a 7:47a 9:24a

6:53 a.m. 7:00 p.m. 5:22 p.m. 3:48 a.m.

FULL

LAST

NEW

FIRST

SEP 26

OCT 3

OCT 10

OCT 18

City

Atlanta Austin Boston Charlotte Chicago Dallas Denver Houston Las Vegas

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

PRECIPITATION

94°/71° 88°/67° 91°/70° 98° in 1921 46° in 1983

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

New Orleans 94/77

40s

89° 71°

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

Hattiesburg 96/70

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

LOW

Baton Rouge through 5 p.m. Tuesday

Jackson 95/68 Many 96/67

LOW

TEMPERATURE

Longview 95/68

-0s

LOW

Monroe 96/65

Shreveport 96/69

-10s

HIGH

Expect a mostly sunny, very hot and humid day with a light breeze. Temperatures will rise into the mid-90s and with high humidity the heat index values could rise to 105 or higher. Also, parts of our area are under a major heat risk, so be sure to take precautions. Tonight, a cold front will move through Southeast Louisiana and bring lower temperatures and dry air tomorrow. Rain chances for the remainder of the week will remain close to zero.

TODAY

81 98 63 68 67 96 76 97 93

64 73 53 58 58 75 57 75 73

c t pc t c s t t s

75 98 62 65 68 95 70 96 95

THU. Lo

62 69 54 51 55 72 52 70 75

c pc pc c pc pc t pc s

FT.

LOW

0.01” 0.01” 3.33” 44.48” 46.79”

FT.

HIGH

0.8 5:06a 0.2 1.8 10:39p 0.6 2.1 7:42a 1.9 1.9 12:12p 1.4 1.4 6:40p 0.5 1.7 4:57p 0.6 1.7 7:42p 0.6

FT.

MODERATE

READING 77 MAIN POLLUTANT Ozone

MAIN POLLUTANT Ozone

SOURCE: LOUISIANA DEQ AND AIRNOW.GOV

LOW

FLOOD

FT.

--- ----- ----- ----- --1:09p 2.0 7:05p 0.6 3:19p 1.5 10:57p 0.6 --- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ---

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

9:20a 10:00a 10:40a 11:23a 12:10p 12:37a 1:33a

Los Angeles Miami Nashville New york City Philadelphia Phoenix St. Louis San Francisco Seattle

88 85 83 67 69 95 74 76 67

3:09a 9:43p 3:49a 10:22p 4:29a 11:02p 5:11a 11:45p 5:58a ---6:49a 1:02p 7:47a 2:01p

TODAY Lo

67 76 64 52 54 78 59 56 51

s t c pc r t pc s pc

TODAY

MODERATE

84 90 83 67 68 97 73 77 63

3:31p 4:11p 4:51p 5:34p 6:21p 7:15p 8:14p

THU. Lo

68 76 64 54 54 78 60 60 53

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

s t pc pc pc t pc s sh

TUE.

24-HOUR

MISSISSIPPI STAGE STAGE CHANGE Memphis 34 -1.80 -1.04 Vidalia-Natchez 48 16.10 +0.60 Red River Landing 48 18.90 +0.50 Baton Rouge 35 6.50 +0.30 Donaldsonville 27 4.00 none Reserve 22 3.35 +0.29 New Orleans 17 3.00 -0.22 OHIO Cairo 40 14.87 +1.73 COMITE Near Olive 19 -1.71 -0.10 AMITE Near Darlington 18 -1.26 +0.01 Denham Springs 29 9.82 none Port Vincent 8 2.36 -0.14 TICKFAW Montpelier 13 2.46 none Holden 15 0.64 -0.01 ATCHAFALAYA Simmesport 47 6.61 +0.26 Melville 34 4.47 +0.10 Krotz Springs 29 3.02 none Butte La Rose 20 3.62 +0.19 Bayou Sorrel 12 3.10 -0.10 Morgan City 6 2.05 +0.04

data as of 7 a.m. Tuesday

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Previous dental work can wear out.

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Treatment is expensive — especially the services people over 50 often need. Consider these national average costs of treatment ... $274 for a checkup ... $299 for a filling ... $1,471 for a crown.3 Unexpected bills like this can be a real burden, especially if you’re on a fixed income.

1 “Medicare & You,” Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2025. 2 “Aging changes in teeth and gums”, medlineplus.gov, 4/17/2022. 3 FairHealth, Inc. National average dental fees. Data current as of July 2025; subject to change.

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SPORTS

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 23, 2026

T E X A S A & M A T L S U • 6 : 3 0 P. M . S A T U R D A y • A B C

DIGGING DEEPER

1Cn

Saints beating Ravens checks all the boxes as quality win BY MATTHEW PARAS Staff writer

STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

LSU tight end Trey’Dez Green races up the field after a catch against Ole Miss in the fourth quarter on Saturday in Oxford, Miss. Green suffered a lower-body injury later in the game and his playing status is in doubt moving forward.

Kiffin’s fears realized with loss of two key players BY KOKI RILEY Staff writer

Lane Kiffin knew it was a problem. LSU lacks depth. It wasn’t noticeable after the Tigers smacked Clemson and beat Louisiana Tech in the first two weeks of the season, but injuries to two starters and a 32-24 loss at Ole Miss on Saturday exposed a serious roster flaw Kiffin said he knew eventually would rear its ugly head. “In your first year, you come in, and in the portal era, there’s so much transition that you can build top-heavy teams STAFF FILE PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK and sign really good players,” Kiffin LSU safety Dashawn Spears celebrates said. “But in your first year, you’re goa pick-six against Florida on Sept. 13, ing to have a depth issue.” That issue became obvious in the 2025, in Tiger Stadium. Spears suffered a fourth quarter Saturday night in Ox- season-ending injury Saturday at Ole Miss. ford, Mississippi, when star tight end Trey’Dez Green needed two trainers to Green’s rare skills as a 6-foot-7 tarhelp him off the field with a knee injury. get would be difficult for any team to

replace, but LSU’s lack of a dual-threat tight end after Green — a credible blocker and pass-catching threat — hampered the offense after LSU scored 17 unanswered points to tie Ole Miss. Zach Grace, Green’s replacement, dropped a potential touchdown pass with 1:07 left and LSU trailing by eight points. The throw wasn’t perfect, but it was good enough for Green to snatch if he’d still was in the game. Grace is a capable blocker, but his ability to catch passes needs work. Kiffin has been complimentary of Grace’s progress since arriving from Oregon, but he knew tight end depth was a problem that needed correcting even before Green’s injury. Green seemingly won’t be out for the season, but his likely absence this weekend against Texas A&M (6:30 p.m., ABC)

BALTIMORE — As he caught up with friends and family after the game, Chris Olave spent a moment trying to contextualize the gravity of Sunday’s 24-17 win over the Baltimore Ravens. The Saints wide receiver had a realization. “I feel like since I’ve been here, we haven’t really beaten a good team,” Olave said. “To come in here and get a ‘W’ was huge ä Raiders at Saints. for us.” 3:25 P.M. SUNDAy, CBS The Ravens check all the boxes of Olave’s “good team” threshold. Despite not making the playoffs last year, Baltimore has been a perennial contender, has a two-time MVP in Lamar Jackson and is favored to win the AFC North. And Olave is right: That kind of win has been few and far between in the wide receiver’s five-year tenure with the Saints. It’s even rarer than one might realize. Sunday marked just the eighth time the Saints beat an opponent that entered the game with a record better than .500 since trading up for Olave in 2022. The Saints have 28 victories in that span. Of those seven wins before Baltimore, five came against teams that went on to finish under .500. The exceptions? The 2023 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who went 9-8. And the 2022 Philadelphia Eagles, who made the Super Bowl that season but were without starting quarterback Jalen Hurts when they played the Saints. Here’s a look back at each game: JAN. 1, 2023: SAINTS 20, EAGLES 10. In the best win of former coach Dennis Allen’s first season, the Saints upset the 13-2 Eagles. But Philadelphia fans will quickly, and fairly, note that backup quarterback Gardner Minshew played over an injured Jalen Hurts (thumb). But the win gave New Orleans its third straight victory at the time. The rest of the Saints’ victories that season came against teams that entered without a winning record, although the 2-2 Seattle Seahawks went on to make the playoffs as a 9-8 wild card.

ä See SAINTS, page 3C

ä See KIFFIN, page 4C

Maybe LSU should adopt NFL-like approach Back in four downs mode for Wednesday’s column, as the Tigers try to get over the 32-24 loss last Saturday at Ole Miss and prepare to take on Texas A&M at 6:30 p.m. this Saturday in Tiger Stadium: FIRST DOWN: LSU coach Lane Kifﬁn spoke Monday about the difﬁculty his team was having getting over the loss to the Rebels. Not surprising, since it was such an emotional game. Players on both sides said they were happy to get it over with. Now the Tigers and Rebels have to keep that game from lingering. LSU

Scott Rabalais has the slightly easier task since it’s returning home to face the Aggies. Ole Miss gets Trap Game City at Florida, which is off to a surprisingly impressive 3-0 start under former Tulane coach Jon Sumrall and is a three-point

favorite. Considering how much college football has become like the NFL, it’s important the Tigers take an NFL-like approach. Especially in this era of a 12-team College Football Playoff. Unlike the old days, one loss in September — especially on the road against a quality opponent — won’t sink your season. Two straight losses could do so. The Aggies are in exactly the same boat after a 31-21 upset loss to Kentucky. This is the game plan for LSU that

ä See RABALAIS, page 4C

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By STEPHANIE SCARBROUGH

New Orleans Saints wide receiver Chris Olave pulls in a 21-yard touchdown reception against the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday in Baltimore. The Saints, who were 81/2-point underdogs, won 24-17.

Southern coach Faulk: Offensive playbook same despite role switch BY TOYLOY BROWN III Staff writer

Marshall Faulk made his ﬁrst notable adjustment during his rookie season as a head coach. Southern’s leader revealed Saturday that he handed offensive play-calling duties to senior adviser Fred McNair after previously having offensive coordinator Ken Merchant in that role. In response, the Jaguars had 539 total yards during a 50-31 win over NAIA program Louisiana Christian. Does a change in play-callers mean that Merchant’s Go-Go offense is no longer used? Faulk was STAFF PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS adamant that’s not the case. Southern coach Marshall Faulk looks on during Saturday’s game against “We are running the same ofLouisiana Christian at A.W. Mumford Stadium. The Jaguars won 50-31. fense,” he said Tuesday. “It’s

ä Southern at Jackson State.

Southern (2-2) will need to continue leaning into what it does well when it faces rival Jackson State (3-0) at 6 p.m. Saturday at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium in Jackson, Mississippi. The Jaguars have lost the last seven meetings. The motivation behind Southern’s change in offensive play-caller is the communication ﬁt with redshirt junior quarterback ChrisMcNair Merchant tian Johnson, who completed 16 of 22 passes for 172 yards and four still the same stuff. It’s just we re- touchdowns with no turnovers duced a lot of things, and we did against Louisiana Christian. “I feel that Christian responds the things that we do well — we did more of them. That’s what we did, better to someone that’s a little bit but the same plays that Fred was more slower pace, that’s going to calling are the plays that Ken was ä See SOUTHERN, page 4C calling.” 6 P.M. SATURDAy, ESPN+

2C ■ Wednesday, September 23, 2026 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

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BROADCAST HIGHLIGHTS On TV

WOMEN’S COLLEGE VOLLEYBALL Miami at Florida St. ACCN Missouri at Nebraska BTN South Carolina at Georgia SECN Kentucky at Vanderbilt SECN MLB 6 p.m. Cleveland at Boston ESPN 6 p.m. 6 p.m. 6 p.m. 8 p.m.

9 p.m.

Houston at Seattle ESPN NHL PRESEASON 6 p.m. Toronto at Ottawa NHLN MEN’S SOCCER 2:50 p.m. Bahamas vs. St. Martin FS2 5:50 p.m. Aruba vs. Antigua and Barbuda FS2 WOMEN’S SOCCER 7:45 a.m. Italy vs. Spain FS2

IN BRIEF

FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

7:45 a.m. North Korea vs. Colombia Noon Lyonnes at Servette 2 p.m. Austria Wien at Chelsea TENNIS 9 p.m. Billie Jean King Cup Finals WNBA 7 p.m. Atlanta at New york 9 p.m. Dallas at Seattle

FS2 CBSSN CBSSN Tennis USA CNBC

Parkview Baptist sweeps St. Amant BY JACKSON REYES

Staff writer

Parkview Baptist entered its match against St. Amant looking to prove it could finish after letting early leads slip away in two matches this past weekend. The Eagles’ opportunity came after they took an early 2-0 set lead. The Eagles built a 22-14 advantage in the third set before the Gators ripped off an 11-2 run to take a 25-24 lead. Parkview then flipped the switch and exorcised this past weekend’s demons. Junior outside hitter Marin Price recorded three kills down the stretch, including the match-sealing point, to win a seesaw third set 29-27. The Eagles (7-6) won 3-0 (25-21, 25-20, 29-27) on Tuesday night at Parkview Baptist High. “I know that we have it in us to be able to do that,” Parkview coach Allison Leake said. “I was pleased to see the kids fight back and find a way to put the ball away. The fight was there, which I didn’t see this past weekend.” Price played a key role with 24 kills and nine digs.

“Everybody knows that we’re going to go to her when she’s on the front row,” Leake said. “She did a really good job tonight of moving the ball around. It made it a little bit harder for St. Amant’s defense.” Eagles sophomore Olivia Kohn also tallied 14 kills. Parkview Baptist took a 6-2 lead in the first set before St. Amant rallied to tie it 6-6. The first set included 10 ties and three lead changes. Parkview closed the set on an 8-4 run to seal it 25-21. St. Amant (14-5) jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the second set. Parkview rallied with five straight points, including two Price kills to tie the match. The second set featured 10 ties and seven lead changes. The Gators led 19-18 late before a tipped point and a Kaylee Walker ace put Parkview back in front 20-19. Parkview closed the second set on a 7-1 run, including five straight points to clinch it 25-20. The two sides traded the lead again in the third set. Parkview trailed 11-10 before storming back on an 11-4 run to take a 2214 lead. Price recorded five kills

STAFF PHOTO By PEARL SPURLOCK

Parkview outside hitter Marin Price celebrates a point against St. Amant on Tuesday at Parkview Baptist High School. across the run. St. Amant then went on an 11-2 run that included eight Parkview hits that either hit the net or landed out. Price smacked a kill to tie the match at 25 points apiece. The Gators hit it into the net to put Parkview up by one. An errant serve and a kill by Calli Hargarve restored a one-point St. Amant lead. The comeback ended there

BY JACKSON REYES

after a serve out of bounds, a ball hit into the net and Price’s kill gave Parkview a 29-27 win to seal the sweep. “I think playing this good team tonight made them realize we know what we have to work on,” St. Amant coach Lucie Hunt said. “I have really good hope for us in the future. The ﬁght’s just starting for them.”

gosh, this is where I want to be.’ ” McDonald knew a move from Baton Rouge to Provo, Utah, would be a big step, but with each visit, she felt she belonged at BYU. She committed to BYU in July of last year. “It’s such a great place, the culture of that team, and what they’re built on,” McDonald said. “It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen, and it really is a blessing.” Herrington believes BYU is a program where McDonald can be herself. “Honestly, Katherine is kind of the volleyball nerd,” she said. “BYU is such a great place to be that volleyball nerd because the culture loves volleyball.”

Staff writer

For as long as Dunham coach Meagan Herrington can remember, Katherine McDonald has always had a volleyball in her hand. From being 6 years old trying to set at LSU team camps to her senior season of high school, volleyball has become interwoven with her life. Herrington has coached McDonald since she was 12 and watched her blossom into a threetime All-Metro honoree and the leader of Dunham’s squad that is one of the top-ranked in the state. McDonald helped Dunham win a state title in 2022 and ﬁnish as runner-up in 2024 and 2025. “I have not been shy about the fact that I think she is the best setter in the state,” Herrington said. “She just performs at a really high level and makes our team look better than we are sometimes.”

Remembering her time

Becoming a star PHOTO By PATRICK DENNIS

Dunham senior setter Katherine McDonald has committed to play volleyball at ByU. she is ﬂexible in her thinking.” That ﬁrst year on varsity in the state title match is when Herrington knew her setter could be great. She played sparingly, but Herrington remembers her fearlessness. “For an eighth grader to walk behind the service line, and serve and play defense, and then put a ball up and handle that pressure was definitely the first moment that we were like, ‘She can do this,’ ” Herrington said.

recruiting neared. For volleyball, high school athletes don’t hear from coaches until the summer before they enter their junior year. McDonald recalled the chaos of emailing coaches, trying to put herself out there. She formed a long list of schools that included Brigham Young, a team that was ranked in the top 25 at the time. Once McDonald reached out to the Cougars, a mutual interest developed and she fell in love with the program. College recruitment “I went to camp twice, went up As McDonald continued to im- for my visit,” she said. “I got on prove, the daunting task of college campus, and I was like, ‘Oh, my

McDonald hopes to close out her time at Dunham with a state title, but she knows she’ll always have the bonds with her teammates. The memories made off the court stick out. It’s the team sleepovers, bus rides and mini golf games that she holds onto, even if everyone else cheats, as McDonald claimed with a laugh. “The wins are great, and the medals are awesome,” she said. “They collect dust, but all the memories we have, I can just think of so many things that have happened, like the past couple of years, that I will always remember.” Herrington said she will always be attached to McDonald and the seniors. It would mean a great deal to her to send them off with a state title. “It would mean that they’ve invested in the purpose that God has called them to be resilient in the face of adversity,” she said. “It would be a true testament that this is an incredible group of really physical and really athletic kids.”

Week 4 All games 7 p.m. unless noted.

Thursday’s games

District 6-5A Hammond at Mandeville District 9-5A Chalmette vs. Rummel at Yenni Holy Cross vs. Edna Karr at Morris F. X. Jeff Sr. Stadium Nondistrict Haynes vs. Thomas Jefferson at Memtsas, 6:30 p.m. Ellender vs. Morris Jeff at Joe Brown

Friday’s games

District 6-5A Covington at Northshore Ponchatoula at St. Paul’s Slidell at Fontainebleau District 7-5A H.L. Bourgeois at East St. John District 8-5A East Jefferson vs. Bonnabel at Yenni Higgins vs. John Ehret at Memtsas District 9-5A Jesuit vs. Brother Martin at Gormley Nondistrict Amite at Salmen Booker T. Washington at Springﬁeld Carver vs. Sarah T. Reed at Joe Brown

Central Lafourche at Destrehan Country Day at Episcopal E.D. White at Shaw Fisher at Hannan Franklinton at Jewell Sumner Hahnville at Lutcher Jefferson Rise at Istrouma Kennedy vs. L.B. Landry at Morris F.X. Jeff Sr. Stadium Lakeshore at Vandebilt Catholic McDonogh 35 at Belle Chasse Pope John Paul II at Northlake Christian Patrick Taylor vs. Kenner Discovery at Bertolino Pearl River at Pine Warren Easton at Zachary West St. John at St. Thomas Aquinas Willow at Newman Sophie B. Wright at St. Martin’s St. Charles vs. De La Salle at Pan American Varnado at Ben Franklin Young Audiences at Riverside

Saturday’s games

District 8-5A Riverdale vs. West Jefferson at Memtsas, 2 p.m. District 9-5A John Curtis vs. St. Augustine at Gormley, 3 p.m. Nondistrict Abramson vs. Cohen at Pan American, 2 p.m.

South Plaquemines vs. McMain at Morris F.X. Jeff Sr. Stadium

Volleyball Week 4 Tuesday’s scores

St. Michael def. Episcopal 25-14, 25-18, 25-12 Brusly def. Catholic-PC 25-19, 25-21, 25-17 Central def. Covington 25-20, 16-25, 25-8, 18-25, 15-13 Central Private def. Ascension Christian 25-23, 30-28, 16-25, 25-16 Port Allen def. False River 25-21, 23-25, 25-23, 25-22 McKinley def. White Castle 25-18, 25-10, 20-25, 25-23 West Feliciana def. Plaquemine 25-18, 25-10, 21-25, 25-23 Dunham def. Prairieville 25-17, 25-23, 20-25, 25-19 Slaughter Community Charter def. Belaire 25-13, 25-11, 25-12 U-High def. Zachary 25-12, 25-14, 25-8 Walker def. Liberty 25-12, 25-14, 25-19 Vidalia at Baker, canceled

Wednesday’s matches

North Iberville at Collegiate-BR, 5 p.m. Baker at Northeast, 5 p.m. McKinley at Port Allen, 5 p.m. Belaire at Tara, 5 p.m.

Kawhi Leonard and the Toronto Raptors have agreed on a two-year contract extension that could be worth $115 million if he plays both seasons, a person with knowledge of the negotiations said Tuesday. The second year of the deal, the 2028-29 season, is at Leonard’s option, according to the person who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. Leonard, 35, led the Raptors to the 2019 NBA title and is now locked into a new deal with a team with eyes on competing for another title. He is coming off the highest-scoring season of his career, averaging 27.9 points for the Los Angeles Clippers. Leonard will make just over $50 million this season, the last year of his current contract.

Red Sox remove interim tag for manager Tracy

The Boston Red Sox are heading to the postseason after a remarkable run over the second half of the season. On Tuesday, they rewarded the two chief architects of that turnaround. Boston removed the interim tag and named Chad Tracy the 49th manager in team history, signing him to a three-year contract with a club option for 2030. The Red Sox also exercised the 2029 and 2030 team options on chief baseball ofﬁcer Craig Breslow. The elevation Tracy, 41, comes after the Red Sox secured a wildcard spot on Sunday. Tracy took over in April after former manager Alex Cora was ﬁred after a 10-17 start to the season. Tracy has guided the Red Sox to a 74-55 record.

Bears backup QB Bagent in NFL concussion protocol

Chicago Bears quarterback Tyson Bagent has been placed in the NFL concussion protocol, according to a person familiar with the situation, adding another wrinkle to the team’s plans for Monday night’s game against Philadelphia. Bagent was expected to take most of the ﬁrst-team reps in practice after Caleb Williams left Sunday’s 9-3 loss to Minnesota with a right hamstring injury. Coach Ben Johnson said Williams is “week to week,” and he left open the possibility he could play against the Eagles. If Williams and Bagent are unable to play Monday night, the Bears likely would turn to Case Keenum. The 38-year-old Keenum has 66 career starts, but he hasn’t thrown a pass in a regular-season game since Dec. 24, 2023, for Houston against Cleveland.

Jets add Levis to practice squad, release Zappe

PREP REPORT Football

The New Orleans Pelicans’ two games in Europe against the San Antonio Spurs are sold out. The NBA announced the sellouts Tuesday morning. The Pelicans will play the Spurs at Accor Arena in Paris on Jan. 14. Three days later, the teams will play in Manchester, England, at Co-op Live. The games, which were announced in May, are part of the league’s multiyear slate of regular-season games in Europe. The game in Paris will be the 16th game featuring an NBA team in France since 1991 and the league’s sixth regular-season game in Paris. The game in Manchester will be the 20th game featuring an NBA team in England since 1993, and the ﬁrst-ever regular-season game in Manchester.

Leonard, Raptors agree to a two-year extension

Dunham’s star setter redeﬁning position

McDonald played basketball and volleyball growing up. She attended clinics for both, and one thing became clear. She hated playing basketball. “I quit basketball,” she said. “It was all just volleyball.” She began playing club volleyball, and her love for the sport has only deepened. “It’s so competitive,” McDonald said. “It’s also like an art.” McDonald has grown from a nervous eighth grader playing varsity for the ﬁrst time to a senior leader on this year’s team. Herrington went from calling plays to her setter every play to letting her take the reins on the court. “She’s really pushed the limits of what a setter in the state of Louisiana means,” Herrington said. “She’s also very smart, volleyball IQ-wise, and she’s creative, and

European games between Pelicans, Spurs sold out

Istrouma at Thrive Academy, 5 p.m. Denham Springs at Brusly, 6 p.m. East St. John at East Iberville, 6 p.m. Southern Lab at Scotlandville, 6 p.m. East Ascension at St. Amant, 6 p.m. Catholic High Pointe Coupee at St. John, 6 p.m.

Thursday’s matches

Northeast at Louisiana School for the Deaf, 5 p.m. Loranger at Glen Oaks, 5:30 p.m. Houma Christian at Ascension Christian, 6 p.m. Central Private at Brusly, 6 p.m. Dutchtown at Central, 6 p.m. South Beauregard at Collegiate Baton Rouge, 6 p.m. St. Michael at Denham Springs, 6 p.m. GEO Next Generation at East Iberville, 6 p.m. White Castle at False River, 6 p.m. Slaughter Community Charter at Istrouma, 6 p.m. Edna Karr at Liberty, 6 p.m. Destrehan at Live Oak, 6 p.m. Episcopal at Prairieville, 6 p.m. Mentorship Academy at Scotlandville, 6 p.m. Dunham at U-High, 6 p.m. Walker at West Feliciana, 6 p.m. Catholic High of Point Coupee at Zachary, 6 p.m. False River at Family Christian, 6 p.m.

The New York Jets signed former Tennessee Titans quarterback Will Levis, a second-round draft pick in 2023, to their practice squad Tuesday. The Jets released QB Bailey Zappe from the practice squad to make room for Levis, who worked out for the team earlier this month. The 27-year-old quarterback was released by the Titans last month as part of their ﬁnal roster cuts. New York has starter Geno Smith and rookie Cade Klubnik, a fourth-rounder, on its active roster, so Levis would be the thirdstring quarterback and inactive on game day unless he’s promoted from the practice squad. The Jets also announced they signed linebacker Troy Reeder to the active roster.

The Advocate ■ theadvocate.com ■ Wednesday, September 23, 2026 ■ 3C

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NFL QB Penix ‘excited’ to ﬁnally return as Falcons’ starter ä Falcons at Packers.

BY CHARLES ODUM AP sportswriter

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By NICK WASS

Saints quarterback Tyler Shough passes against the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday in Baltimore. Shough, who has a 95.7 passer rating, leads the NFL in yards passing (662) and completions (62).

Brohm not surprised by Shough’s NFL success Louisville coach saw QB’s talent, work ethic firsthand

BY JEFF DUNCAN, LUKE JOHNSON and ZACH EWING Staff writers

Jeff Brohm isn’t surprised by Tyler Shough‘s strong start to his NFL career. The Louisville coach said the Saints quarterback has earned his success through hard work and commitment to his craft. “Really happy for him,” Brohm said when asked about Shough’s impressive start at his weekly news conference MonBrohm day. “When we had him here (at Louisville), he was a great worker. He wanted to make a difference. He was hungry. He wanted to stay healthy, prove that. He did a great job for us.” Shough has led the Saints to fourth-quarter comebacks in each of the first two games. He fell one play short of upsetting the Lions in a 31-30 overtime loss in Detroit during the team’s opener. He led the Saints to two fourth-quarter touchdown drives to upset the Ravens 24-17 on Sunday. He now has three fourth-quarter comebacks in 11 career starts. He leads the NFL in passing yards (662) and pass completions (62). He also is completing 68.9% of his passes with a 95.7 passer efficiency rating. “He’s a big, strong quarterback who can see the field,” Brohm said. “He can make all the throws. He’s got enough athleticism to escape and make plays. He’s on a good, young team with a good, young head coach, and they’re finding ways to get wins. (The victory against the Ravens) is a big win for him.” In his lone season at Louisville, Shough passed for 3,195 yards

SAINTS

Continued from page 1C DEC. 31, 2023: SAINTS 23, BUCCANEERS 13. The Saints’ 9-8 campaign in 2023 remains Olave’s only season as a pro in which New Orleans ﬁnished above .500. But they did it mostly by beating up on bad-to-mediocre teams. Still, a Week 17 upset over the then-8-7 Buccaneers meets the over .500 criteria for this list. Hang the banner. One other note from this season: The 3-4 Indianapolis Colts went on to ﬁnish 9-8 after losing to the Saints in Week 8, if you’re looking for another victory over a team that ended up with a winning record. SEPT. 15, 2024: SAINTS 44, COWBOYS 19. Ah, what a time. This was back when the Saints looked like the Greatest Show on Turf 2.0, when their offense stormed out of the gates with back-to-back 40 pieces. After beating the 1-0 Cowboys, the Saints lost seven straight, Allen was fired and New Orleans changed the coaching staff the next offseason. What you might not remember: The Cowboys

SAINTS NOTEBOOK and 23 touchdowns while leading the Cardinals to a 9-3 record. The Saints selected him with the No. 40 overall pick in the second round of the 2025 NFL Draft. “I think he went to a great spot where they were investing in him,” Brohm said of the Saints. “But at the same time, he didn’t have to start at the very beginning (of his rookie season), which I thought was a good thing. And then their team struggled, and he got a chance to go in there. And everybody loves the backup quarterback. “So he got to go in there, and they all loved him. And he did great things, and he kind of took it and ran with it, which is great.”

the Bears because New Orleans opted to keep him on the practice squad, using a standard elevation to make him active for its Week 2 win in Baltimore. The Saints used Wood’s spot on the 53-man roster on running back C.J. Donaldson. Saints coach Kellen Moore was complimentary of Daly after his lone performance, in which he handled seven snaps — three ﬁeld goals, three punts and one extra point.

Saints waive RB Estime

From the start of the 2017 season through the ﬁrst week of this season, the Saints played 150 regularseason games with Zach Wood as the only long snapper. Now they are about to use their third different player at the position in the span of three games. Scott Daly, who signed with the Saints in the middle of last week after Wood suffered a calf injury in practice, is signing with the Chicago Bears, according to a report from the Chicago Tribune. Wood is on injured reserve and is not eligible to return until Week 6 at the earliest, so New Orleans will need to sign another replacement. According to a league source, the team is expected to sign Cal Adomitis to replace Daly. Adomitis has 58 games of NFL experience, including nine last season with the Philadelphia Eagles. He spent this offseason with both the Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers. Daly was eligible to sign with

The Saints previously placed running back Audric Estime on injured reserve with a thigh injury. Now, he’s being released. The Saints waived Estime with an injury settlement Tuesday, parting ways with the 23-year-old who impressed during training camp. Estime, a 2024 ﬁfth-round pick, made New Orleans’ initial 53-man roster after appearing in seven games for the Saints last season. He joined the team in October after stints with the Philadelphia Eagles and Denver Broncos, rushing for 198 yards on 46 carries. Despite making the roster, Estime suffered a few minor injuries in the preseason. He injured his ankle in the team’s Aug. 15 preseason opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars and then hurt his thigh in the Aug. 29 preseason ﬁnale against the Dallas Cowboys. The latter ailment led the Saints to place Estime on injured reserve on Sept. 12, a day before the season opener in Detroit. With Estime waived with an injury settlement, he won’t be eligible to return to the Saints until however long he and the Saints agreed that his injury would take to heal, plus an additional four weeks after that. A team also can claim him off waivers and if he goes unclaimed, he’s free immediately to sign elsewhere.

finished 7-10, which might not qualify for Olave’s “good team” threshold. NOV. 10, 2024: SAINTS 20, FALCONS 17. What a weird season for the Falcons. Atlanta entered the matchup 6-3 and looked on track to win the NFC South. But in the first game under interim coach Darren Rizzi, the Saints pulled the upset — and Atlanta spiraled to finish 8-9. Unfortunately for Olave, he didn’t even participate in this victory. The wide receiver saw his season end a week earlier with a concussion. Nov. 9, 2025: Saints 17, Panthers 7. Look, the Panthers went 8-9 in 2025, but at the time, Carolina was 5-4 and just coming off a big win over the Green Bay Packers. For the Saints, this would be quarterback Tyler Shough’s first victory as a starter. That matters. Olave also had a big day, catching five balls for 104 yards, including a 62yard bomb for a touchdown. Dec. 7, 2025: Saints 24, Buccaneers 20. If beating the Panthers was promising, pulling out a comefrom-behind victory was Shough’s coming-out party. Tampa Bay’s collapse over the second half of the season may have overshadowed this win in hindsight, but the Buc-

caneers still entered the matchup 7-5. It was a sign of how Shough could elevate the situation around him, notably rushing for two electric touchdowns against the NFC South foe. Dec. 14, 2025: Saints 20, Panthers 17. The Panthers won the NFC South despite being under .500 and clinched a playoff spot due to tiebreakers. And the Saints played a large part in forcing them to sweat out the ﬁnal week of the season. In New Orleans’ second victory over the Panthers, Shough spoiled Carolina’s party with another comefrom-behind drive. The Panthers were 7-6 heading into the game and were coming off their best win of the season, a 31-28 upset over the Los Angeles Rams. Sept. 20, 2026: Saints 24, Ravens 17. The Ravens were 81/ 2-point favorites entering Sunday’s matchup, making this the Saints’ biggest upset on the list. Time will tell just how much of a quality win this was for the Saints. It won’t matter nearly as much, for instance, if the Ravens somehow ﬁnish 4-13. But that would be a truly shocking outcome. For now, this win looks pretty darn good.

New long snapper

7:15 P.M.THURSDAy, PRIME

FLOWERY BRANCH,Ga.— Michael Penix said Tuesday he finally began feeling healthy enough to play in a game late last week and had his rising confidence confirmed when his surgically repaired left knee reacted well to a strenuous workout Saturday. The Falcons announced Monday that Penix will start on Thursday night at Green Bay. The decision came one day after Cooper Rush again struggled as the fill-in starter in Sunday’s 34-3 loss to NFC South rival Carolina. “I’m very excited, you know, obviously excited to be able to be out there,” Penix said after Tuesday’s practice. “You know, I’m going to war with my brothers, so it’s very exciting when you make the final decision.” When asked whether he had been targeting the Week 3 game at Green Bay, Penix said “being healthy” was his only target. Penix said he still had been experiencing some soreness in the knee until last week. He said he spoke with coach Kevin Stefanski on Saturday. The conversation followed what Penix described as “a big workout” after he had been ruled out of the game against Carolina. Penix said the workout Saturday was designed “just to see how my knee reacted from a big workout and it was good. So that’s really kind of what helped me with that decision, my workout on Saturday, and just pushing to the limit and seeing what I can take.” Penix said when he felt no soreness on Sunday, he spoke with Stefanski to talk about how his knee had felt better through the week. Penix said he decided then he would be ready to play against the Packers but spoke with Stefanski again on Monday “just to obviously solidify that.” Falcons offensive coordinator Tommy Rees said Tuesday that

Penix has “looked sharp without any limitations” in practice. “He’s moved in the pocket,” Rees said. “He’s gotten outside of the pocket.” The Falcons were 3-6 in Penix’s nine starts last season. He completed 60.1% of his passes for 1,982 yards with nine touchdowns and three interceptions. Rush and rookie Jack Strand have combined to throw five interceptions with only one touchdown in two games this season. Penix, Tua Tagovailoa, Rush and Strand practiced Tuesday. Tagovailoa missed the first two games after suffering an oblique injury before Atlanta’s 20-13 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers to open the season. The Falcons (0-2) have not announced who will be Penix’s backup at Green Bay. Rush struggled with accuracy and arm strength against Carolina. Rees said arm strength shouldn’t be an issue for the left-handed Penix. The Falcons are looking to better utilize wide receiver Drake London and tight end Kyle Pitts, who have a combined seven receptions through two games. “There’s not a ton of guys out there with that arm talent,” Rees said of Penix. Penix will make his first start since a 30-27 overtime loss to Carolina on Nov. 16. Penix tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in the third quarter. He previously had two ACL injuries to his right knee and was determined to make sure he was fully recovered before returning this season. “Whenever I felt like I can go out there, like I said, get out of all that soreness and get stronger each and every day, that’s what it was always about,” Penix said. “So once I felt healthy, it felt like I was ready to go.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By BRyNN ANDERSON

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Penix looks to pass during a training camp practice on Aug. 24 in Flowery Branch, Ga. Penix is expected to start Thursday night’s game against the Green Bay Packers.

Giants still evaluating QB Dart’s knee injury BY STEPHEN WHYNO

AP sportswriter

Jaxson Dart’s injured left knee is being evaluated and no decisions have been made, New York Giants coach John Harbaugh said Tuesday in the aftermath of the starting quarterback exiting the game against the Los Angeles Rams on Monday night. Harbaugh refused to conﬁrm reports that Dart’s injury is worse than the initial diagnosis of a sprained medial collateral ligament and that the 23-year-old would be out an extended period of time, with season-ending surgery a possibility. “We’ve learned a lot more,” Harbaugh said on a video call with reporters. “When we know what direction we’re going to have to go or whatever it might be, we’ll announce that. But we don’t have that yet, so I don’t want to get out over our skis on that.” After the 28-6 loss, Harbaugh said it was “in the neighborhood” and that an MRI would lead to more information. He was unwilling to share where the Giants were in the testing and evaluating process on Dart.

“It’s an ongoing conversation about the health of a player, of a person,” Harbaugh said. “We’ve got to prepare for the range of possibilities, and then once we know where we’re at, make a plan going forward. And that’s what we’re going to do.” Dart was 3-of-5 passing before getting injured on the ﬁrst drive against the Rams. He threw for three touchdowns, had 230 yards passing and 54 rushing in a season-opening victory against Dallas. The Giants have not had a QB start every game of a season since Eli Manning in 2018. That dubious streak looks to continue, with Jameis Winston expected to step in for however long Dart is out. Winston was 11 of 27 for 111 yards in relief against the Rams.

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4C ■ Wednesday, September 23, 2026 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

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COLLEGE FOOTBALL Sanders says he’s dismissing players from Colorado team BY PAT GRAHAM AP sportswriter

BOULDER, Colo. — Although Deion Sanders said he dismissed a few players from the team on the heels of Colorado’s ﬁrst loss, the process has not be ﬁnalized, the school said in a statement Tuesday. An updated roster will be released later in the week. Sanders, the coach of the Buffaloes, didn’t specify which players were no longer with the program but indicated it was for a pattern of behavior and not just what transpired in a 41-7 loss at Northwestern. “It’s never one thing,” Sanders said. “Those guys will tell you: I’m the most loving, giving and forgiving man you can ever meet. But when you start being conduct detrimental to the team that will set us back in things that you’re doing, you don’t care about the team. You care about you. I have a problem with that.”

Sanders referenced last season when things went sideways and the team ﬁnished 3-9. “A year ago, I didn’t put my foot down in it enough,” he said. “It lingered a little bit. Then, it imploded. I’m not doing that. I’m not doing that anymore.” Defensive back Ben Finneseth spoke to reporters before Sanders and apologized on behalf of the team in regard to negative comments caught on video about Northwestern’s temporary stadium. A player in a video posted on social media can be heard saying, “(expletive) sounds like a (expletive) library. It’s football.” Finneseth said Tuesday: “It was childish. It was a stupid thing that I said. It won’t happen again, and the way I handled it was horrible. I promise you guys that it will not happen again, and it will be much more mature moving forward. So I apologize.” Before Finneseth left, Sanders shook his hand and added: “That’s

why I love you.” Sanders expressed his frustration Saturday night and acknowledged that he got on a few players for their reaction after the loss. “I don’t understand how you can have joy in a loss, especially when I’m upset and I’m walking right behind you,” he said. The coach took accountability, too. “I don’t push the buck and push the blame on anyone else. It’s on me,” Sanders said Tuesday. “We want to win the right way, and we want to do what’s right. But the whole thing is about winning. We don’t want to ever employ a losing type of sentiment. We don’t want to do things that are associated with losers and bad-mouth opponents and do that kind of stuff. That’s not who we are.” The Buffaloes (2-1) are trying to rebound after a game in which they had four turnovers and committed nine penalties for 80 yards. “A loss by 10, a loss by three, a

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MIKE STEWART

Colorado coach Deion Sanders walks on the field before a game against Georgia Tech on Sept. 3 in Atlanta. After a 2-0 start, the Buffaloes were routed 41-7 by Northwestern on Saturday. loss by 30 — it hurts me. There’s no degrees of loss,” Sanders said. “Like, there’s no degrees of sin. A sin is a sin. A loss is a loss to me.” Sanders is putting everything under a microscope as the Buffaloes prepare for Saturday’s game at Baylor. At the top of the list: penalties. Colorado has 28 penalties for 247 yards so far this season. It’s frustrating to Sanders, who pointed out the team is disciplined in everything it does on the practice ﬁeld.

SOUTHERN

Ole Miss defensive end Blake Purchase makes a diving tackle on LSU quarterback Sam Leavitt during the third quarter on Saturday in Oxford, Miss.

Continued from page 1C

STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

RABALAIS

Continued from page 1C will have the Tigers in the CFP: finish September 3-1, hold service in October (4-0), then go 3-1 again in November with a gauntlet of Alabama, Texas and a trip to Tennessee on the slate. October looks tougher than it once did with games at Kentucky, against Mississippi State and at Auburn, but LSU likely will be favored against all three. SECOND DOWN: For all its issues Saturday, the Tigers still had two throws into the end zone on their final possession to try to tie it up. It would have taken a touchdown and a two-point conversion, but the opportunity was there. That opportunity came despite lots of issues, namely Sam Leavitt’s happy feet in the pocket, poor blocking by the offensive line and pass coverage that was too soft in the first half. The first and third factors improved after halftime. Leavitt stood his ground in the pocket

KIFFIN

Continued from page 1C could hurt LSU’s attack. “There’s a reason why we had Dae’Quan Wright practicing, ready to play,” Kifﬁn said. “Knowing that this could potentially be an issue.” Similar problems arose in the second quarter Saturday on defense when safety Dashawn Spears suffered a season-ending knee injury and was replaced by

“Then when you get out from the ﬁeld and you’re undisciplined, I don’t understand,” Sanders said. “It’s hard to fathom. We’re challenging them to be who they say they want to be.” Sanders had several leaders approach him about how to get ahead of this so more dismissals don’t occur. They want to help stay on top of the situation. “I applaud them for that,” Sanders said, “coming to me ready to get ahead of it.”

and LSU got more pressure on Trinidad Chambliss. As a result, the Tigers went from trailing 24-7 at halftime to tying it up, outscoring the Rebels 17-8 over the final 30 minutes. The offensive line remained a problem, one that Kiffin indicated the LSU coaches would address this week. “We’ve got to play better around him,” Kiffin said. “We’ve got to protect him better.” It certainly sounds like there could be personnel changes, though Kiffin didn’t elaborate. Out of the five starters — left tackle Jordan Seaton, left guard Ben Bordelon, center Braelin Moore, right guard Aliou Bah and right tackle Weston Davis — I figure only Seaton and Moore’s starting roles are safe against the Aggies. Even if changes are made, don’t expect the offensive line to turn into Fordham’s famous “Seven Blocks of Granite.” Kiffin’s coaches didn’t pick the starters they did for the first three games because those guys won a popularity contest. They were judged in preseason practice.

Making a change against a desperate, talented opponent isn’t the best way to fly. But it’s become increasingly apparent that LSU’s 644 yards of total offense against Clemson was something of a mirage. I have expected since August that the LSU offense would improve as the season goes along. Shaking up the offensive line may be required to achieve that improvement. THIRD DOWN: Speaking of Kentucky and Mississippi State, early Southeastern Conference returns show it is the toughest top-to-bottom conference in the country, despite the Big Ten’s three straight national championships. Out of 16 SEC teams, the only ones that look to be in real trouble are South Carolina and Arkansas. Because of the difficulty of the league and its new nine-game format, it wouldn’t be a shock to see a 9-3 SEC team become the first with three losses to make the 12-team CFP. Can’t count on that, but it’s plausible. FOURTH DOWN: As Kiffin was leaving the field Saturday night

in Oxford, TigerBait.com publisher Mike Scarborough was taking a video of the LSU coach with his cellphone. As Kiffin passed by, a full beer can hit Scarborough’s phone and spilled open as it fell to the ground. I won’t say I’ve never seen projectiles lobbed in Tiger Stadium, because over the years, I’ve seen plenty. And I’m also not saying that Kiffin was subjected to a shower of beer cans from the Ole Miss crowd. But it only takes one. Luckily, neither Scarborough, Kiffin nor someone else on the field was hurt. LSU and Ole Miss remain permanent football opponents for the foreseeable future. That means Ole Miss will play at LSU in 2027 and the Tigers will return to Oxford in 2028. Assuming Kiffin is still the LSU coach then, one has to fervently hope that the only things flying around Vaught-Hemingway Stadium will be the footballs.

redshirt freshman CJ Jimcoily. Because of his length, coverage skills and ability to hold up against the run as a defensive back, Kiffin saw Spears as an integral part of the defense. With Spears, LSU could play five defensive backs and still have enough bulk to handle physical rushing attacks. Pulling that off now will be difficult with Jimcoily, who is bigger than Spears but lacks the coverage range and speed that made Spears valuable. “You can play the run with

(Spears), but you can cover manto-man with him,” Kiffin said. “It makes you able to play a lot of unique defenses.” As Kiffin has said, Spears and Green’s skills are hard to replace. If LSU had lost a linebacker or a wide receiver, the Tigers would have been better equipped to replace those starters with backups with similar skills. It’s hard to feel bad for a coach who, according to The Athletic, spent between $47 million and $50 million on his roster, a top-five mark in the sport. LSU still has a

lot of healthy talent on its roster, but aside from losing Sam Leavitt at quarterback or Jordan Seaton at left tackle, few players on Kiffin’s team are harder to replace than Green or Spears. “Depth is an issue,” Kiffin said. “I got through the game, and losing the game was a lot. But really, I was way more concerned about these two significant players.”

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Email Koki Riley at koki.riley@ theadvocate.com. For more LSU sports updates, sign up for our newsletter at theadvocate.

talk him through what he needs,” Faulk said. “And Ken is more of a New York, you know, he gets the juices flowing, and the conversations between them two weren’t how I wanted them to (be). Because Christian’s already a fiery guy. Ken’s a fiery guy. You put them two together, you get a hyped-up quarterback. I don’t want my quarterback hyped up to start the game.” When Johnson was asked about the offense’s success, he said that the team kept it “very basic, very simple.” Faulk said McNair, a former Alcorn State quarterback and head coach, has a grasp of Merchant’s offense after being in every quarterback meeting this year. McNair, who is in his third year at Southern, also was given play-calling duties last season after beginning the 2025 season as the quarterbacks coach. In 2024, the Mount Olive, Mississippi, native was the tight ends coach. Before former Southern coach Terrence Graves was fired after a 1-6 start in 2025, McNair’s role changed to co-offensive coordinator with play-calling duties. Once Graves left, McNair became the interim coach for the remaining five games. Faulk believes he made the right call by allowing the more relaxed McNair handle play-calling and communication with Johnson. “Fred really talked him through the game, and kind of slowed him down and calmed him down,” Faulk said. “I like what I saw.” Faulk said the play calls remain a “collaborative effort.” When Merchant called plays, Faulk and rungame coordinator Nick Williams helped make some decisions. That remains true with McNair relaying plays to Johnson from the sidelines and Merchant in the coaches’ booth. “At times, if you’re on the headset, you’ll hear Ken, ‘Hey, here’s what I see, this, this and this,’ and boom, Fred will call it,” Faulk said. “But we all do that. I mean, I’ll give him suggestions sometimes. I would do that to Ken, and Nick is doing it to both of them. ‘What runs do you like?’ ” Faulk said he never planned for his offense to “belong to one person” on the coaching staff. He said that when a staff member leaves for another opportunity, he wants another coach to have ample experience to fill in. McNair’s cool demeanor when dealing with quarterbacks and his overall offensive acumen are just a couple of traits Southern values. Faulk also appreciates the “wealth of knowledge” he’s gathered after playing and coaching in the SWAC at the highest level. Before arriving in Baton Rouge, McNair was the head coach at Alcorn State (2016-23), leading the Braves to four SWAC East titles and two SWAC championships (2018 and 2019). He was also the SWAC Coach of the Year twice. “When you’re a first-time head coach, the more guys you can have around you that’s been head coaches, that’s won at the level that you’re at, it really helps,” Faulk said. Email Toyloy Brown III at toyloy. brown@theadvocate.com.

The Advocate ■ theadvocate.com ■ Wednesday, September 23, 2026 ■ 5C

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More matches mean lopsided Presidents Cup series for U.S. MEDINAH, Ill. — The Presidents Cup has been more of an exhibition than a competition, and the PGA Tour is partially to blame for that. The idea behind these matches was to give the international stars born outside Europe a chance to compete against the Americans every two years, Doug just like the RyFerguson der Cup. Only it’s not just like the Ryder Cup. They play for 30 points at the Presidents Cup this week at Medinah, not the 28 points at stake in the Ryder Cup since 1979, and at the Solheim Cup since it began in 1990. Those two points can make a huge difference when one team has greater depth. “If the Ryder Cup was the same format as the Presidents Cup, the Europeans wouldn’t historically be as successful as they have been,” Rory McIlroy said. “It’s the points.” McIlroy, who has played in eight Ryder Cup matches for Europe, is a casual observer this week, if he even bothers watching. And he’s not alone in his thinking. The PGA Tour owns the Presidents Cup and thus sets all the rules (along with keeping all the income). But it wanted to put its own stamp on the matches when they began in 1994. So instead of starting Friday with three days of relentless action that force captains to strategically decide which eight players to activate in team matches, the event is spread over four days and has additional matches for the paying customers to watch. That meant 32 matches when the Presidents Cup began, which then went up to 34 points before a compromise was reached in 2015 reducing it to the current format of 30 points. It’s still too many. “The Solheim Cup, the Ryder

Cup, they have the same points system and look at what they have,” said Nick Price, a threetime International captain and the loudest voice for change. “Why should we be different?” What those cups have is a close competition — overall, not necessarily every event — and the numbers bear that out. Europe has a 13-9-1 advantage over the United States in the Ryder Cup since 1979. The American women lead 11-8-1 over Europe in the Solheim Cup. The Presidents Cup? The Americans lead the series 13-11. The outcome has been about as predictable as Tiger Woods wearing a red shirt on Sunday. Adam Scott of Australia is playing for a record-tying 12th consecutive time. He has yet to be on a winning team. This International team has two players — Ryo Hisatsune and Tom Kim — who weren’t even born the one time their team won the Presidents Cup in 1998 at Royal Melbourne. “If they adapt the Ryder Cup format, that would help the Internationals immensely because they don’t have the depth,” McIlroy said. “It’s ﬁve teams out there instead of four, those two extra players. America is always going to have more depth. That to me ... it’s one reason, but not the only reason. But it’s the biggest reason.” The Americans have won 10 in a row dating to the tie in South Africa in 2003. Price, when he was appointed captain for 2013, lobbied the PGA Tour to reduce the points from 34 to 28. That was rejected by PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem who said: “I increasingly feel like unless it’s broke, don’t really mess with it. And the Presidents Cup has been very, very successful.” Successful in sales? Sure. As a competition? Not so much. Two years later, Finchem reached a compromise and lowered the points to 30.

“The less points you play for, the closer it’s always going to be,” Brendon de Jonge, who played on the 2013 team for the Internationals, said on the “Subpar” podcast. “You’ve got a proven product with the Ryder Cup, 28 points, and that was the thing that Nick Price worked really hard for — and then following captains — to try to get those points to come down. “The American team is always going to be deeper, so the more points you are playing for, the bigger advantage for them,” he said. “Points have come down now, so we are getting closer and closer, but I still think if you can get that to 28 you are improving the chances of the International team.” This U.S. team has 10 players among the top 25 in the world. Two others from the top 25, J.J. Spaun and Ryan Gerard, were not chosen. Half of the 12-man International team is outside the top 50. “The average golfer doesn’t understand what those two points mean,” Price said. “It’s not a question of hiding your worst players. It’s not that. You’re putting your best eight forward because you have no choice. “All I wanted for the Presidents Cup was for it to be more exciting, more competitive.” It’s not the only thing. The Internationals struggle to find cohesion playing for a flag the PGA Tour created for them in 1994. Ernie Els was given permission in 2019 to design their own logo. Now an International team with players from seven countries on five continents is starting to meld. This takes time. But the tour missed its opportunity to keep it relatable to the other cups, and perhaps keep it closer. Who knows? The International team is due — that’s been said for 20 years — and maybe Medinah is where it happens. But it’s been the one cup Americans could count on winning.

Bregman might return before playoffs despite facial fractures BY JAY COHEN

AP baseball writer CHICAGO — Cubs third baseman Alex Bregman could play again in the regular season after he suffered multiple facial fractures when he was struck in the face by a foul ball Sunday. Chicago manager Craig Counsell said Bregman did a light workout in the weight room Tuesday and tracked pitches from a machine in a batting cage. There are no plans to place him on the injured list. “He’s got still signiﬁcant swelling in his face and his eye that needs to improve,” Counsell said. “But all things considered, he’s in a good place.” Bregman was on deck in the fourth inning of a 9-1 win at Cincinnati when he was hit on the left side of his face on Michael Busch’s check-swing foul ball. Bregman immediately jogged toward the dugout and covered his face before going back to the clubhouse with an athletic trainer. “When everything was going down on Sunday afternoon, I think that we all thought the worst case might be a possibility,” president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said. “And all the news since then has been really good. He’s had a lot of different doctor’s appointments, and they’ve been positive. And I think we have to take it one

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By KAREEM ELGAZZAR

Chicago Cubs third baseman Alex Bregman celebrates after a one-run single against the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday in Cincinnati. step at a time.” Pedro Ramírez was in the starting lineup at third for Tuesday night’s game against Miami. Matt Shaw also could fill in at third while Bregman is out. Following their series opener against Miami, the Cubs have five games left in the regular season. But the schedule for their weekend series at Boston is in flux because of heavy rain in the forecast. “I think Alex is going to be fine. I really do,” Counsell said. “The guy is ... he’s driving home from Cincinnati and he wants to play.

So he’s planning on playing. He knew he had to get some good news from the doctors. He got that good news. So he’s going to do everything in his power, and as long as I think symptoms don’t kind of increase or happen as he increases activity, I think you’re going to see him play.” Bregman, 32, is batting .262 with 26 homers and 89 RBIs in 153 games during his ﬁrst season with Chicago. The three-time All-Star signed a $175 million, five-year contract with the Cubs in free agency.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MATT SLOCUM

U.S. team member Sam Burns, left, high-fives teammate Scottie Scheffler during a practice round Monday before the start of the Presidents Cup on Thursday at Medinah Country Club in Medinah, Ill.

Scheffler a solo star but team record less shiny BY DOUG FERGUSON Associated Press

MEDINAH, Ill. — Scottie Scheffler is the undisputed No. 1 player in the world, a winner of 25 tournaments worldwide and three legs of the career Grand Slam, all within the past five years. It just doesn’t look that way when it comes to team competition. His record in the two Presidents Cups he has played is 3-5-1. Scheffler avoided a complete shutout in the Ryder Cup last year by beating Rory McIlroy in singles to go 1-4-0 for the week at Bethpage Black, lowering his record in those matches to 3-6-3. This is of little concern to Scheffler, or to U.S. captain Brandt Snedeker. “Scottie Scheffler being Scottie Scheffler is the most important thing for us as a team,” Snedeker said Tuesday after another day of practice at Medinah. “We can’t ask him to do more than he can do. He can only deliver five points at his best if he goes out and plays unbelievable. We just want Scottie to go out there and be comfortable.” Snedeker was at Medinah in 2012 for the Ryder Cup when Tiger Woods didn’t win any of his four matches as Europe rallied to win. That was always the most curious part of Woods’ incomparable career — a world beater except in the Ryder Cup, where he had a career mark of 13-21-3. He fared much better in the Presidents Cup (27-15-1), a product of being on so many winning teams. Being the best in golf often comes with a target on the back, that extra level of motivation for the player — or players in team formats — trying to beat him. Scheffler made his Ryder Cup debut in 2021 before he had won on the PGA Tour. Most memorable that week was starting with four straight birdies to go 4 up in four holes and beating Jon Rahm, 4 and 3. Scheffler, a captain’s pick, was unbeaten in three matches at Whistling Straits. Remarkably, he went eight consecutive matches in both cups without winning (three matches were halved) until he and Russell Henley won the opening match at

the 2024 Presidents Cup. Some of it Scheffler attributes to the fickle nature of match play over 18 holes. He has played well and lost, played mediocre and won. That happens with everyone. There’s another part of him, however, that wonders if the effort is in overdrive. “When you look at this format — and maybe my record hasn’t matched up to what I think that it should be — could it be trying too hard? I think that’s definitely a factor, for sure,” Scheffler said. “For me, it’s different in the sense that you also have a partner with you and you’re playing for somebody outside yourself, and that’s a lot different as well. “Striking the balance between how much do you care, I think that’s something I’m always trying to figure out. Definitely for me, I think just trying less would be really important. It’s just one of those things that’s a lot easier said than done.” Scheffler has been playing practice rounds this week with Sam Burns, his best friend on the PGA Tour. They have yet to win a match as partners (0-3-1) in the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup. “Do I think we have unfinished business? I don’t know if I would call it that,” Burns said. “It’s been frustrating the times we have played together, and we feel like we’ve played really well and ultimately not won. This week we’re going to go out and compete as hard as we can and try to get as many points for the U.S. team as possible.” That hasn’t been a problem for the American team, heavy favorites on paper and in history. They have won 10 in a row dating to 2005, though Burns was quick to point out a message Snedeker is trying to hammer home that “this team hasn’t done anything.” Scheffler is the key player on the American team — it’s been that way the past four years. Snedeker served up a reminder that Scheffler is not the only player. “Scottie Scheffler is not going to be the reason we win or lose,” Snedeker said. “It’s going to have to be 12 people pitching in and doing their job.”

Yankees star Judge gets calf treatment, unlikely to play in Wild Card BY LARRY FLEISHER Associated Press

NEW YORK — Yankees slugger Aaron Judge is unlikely to play in the Wild Card Series after having an injection in his sore right calf, manager Aaron Boone said Tuesday. Before the Yankees faced the Rays in a day-night doubleheader, Boone said Judge had a plateletpoor plasma injection during the team’s off-day on Monday following its return from Arizona. “We’re planning on him not being a part of that (Wild Card Se-

ries), but we’re also at the time of the year, you hear all the time with injuries, you give ranges two to four weeks, four to six weeks,” Boone said. “The range is for a reason, and we’re at a point of the year where obviously we push it a little bit if that was in play, but that’s a week away. I’m Judge not expecting it, but I’m not ruling it out, either.” The Yankees will most likely play the Boston Red Sox in the

ﬁrst round of the postseason. Judge was put on the 10-day injured list Saturday with a strained soleus muscle, which is in the lower part of his calf. Boone did not say what grade the strain is but described it as “moderate.” Judge is eligible to be activated for the regular-season finale on Sunday against Baltimore but will not do much activity in the next few days. Judge injured his calf during last Wednesday’s game at Minnesota. The eight-time All-Star was lifted in the sixth inning for

a pinch hitter because of discomfort in his leg and said at the time it was a precautionary move. Boone said symptoms persisted and an MRI revealed the strain. Judge was 4 for 23 with 13 strikeouts and one extra-base hit in seven games after returning Sept. 8 from a broken rib, which kept him out of the lineup for more than three months. Judge is hitting .241 with 18 homers and 41 RBIs in just 66 games this year. He hit a long homer on Sept. 14 in Minnesota and had the next game off before straining his calf.

The Yankees entered Tuesday with a 48-41 record in the games Judge has missed and a 41-25 mark in games he has played. New York also began Tuesday a loss away from being eliminated from the AL East race, setting up a second straight wild-card series against the Red Sox next week. “We’ve played much of the year without him and for the most part, we’ve done a pretty good job,” Boone said. “So guys are used to it. Obviously you always want your best player in the mix, but we understand we’ve got a job to do and an expectation to win.”

6C ■ Wednesday, September 23, 2026 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

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SCOREBOARD Odds NFL Thursday

FAVORITE OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG at GREEN BAY 7½ 6½ (44½) Atlanta

Sunday

FAVORITE OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG Seattle 3½ 7 (40½) at WASH. Kansas City 7 11½ (46½) at MIAMI Carolina 2½ 2½ (41½)at CLEVELND at BUFFALO 2½ 7 (50½) LA Chargers Cincinnati 1½ 3½ (42½) at PITTSBGH Houston 2½ 2½ (43½)at INDIANPLS at DETROIT 9½ 6½ (48) NY Jets at JAX 1½ 3 (45½)New England at NY GIANTS 3 3 (39½) Tennessee at SAN FRAN. 11½ 8½ (48½) Arizona Minnesota 1½ 1½ (42½)at TAMPA BAY at N. ORLEANS 3 3 (44½) Las Vegas Baltimore 2½ 3 (52½) at DALLAS LA Rams 3 2½ (45½) at DENVER

Monday

FAVORITE OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG Philadelphia 1½ 4½ (41½) at CHICAGO

College football Thursday

FAVORITE Liberty

OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG 1½ 2½ (50½)at C. CAROLN

FAVORITE Army Navy at RUTGERS at INDIANA Clemson

OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG 3½ 3 (48½) at TEMPLE 12½ 7 (51½) at UAB 42½ 42½ (53½) Howard 23½ 20½ (49½) N’western 1½ 1½ (50½) at CAL

Friday

Saturday

FAVORITE OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG Texas 6½ 5½ (56½) at TENN. Virginia Tech 14½ 13½ (48½) at BOS. COLL at KENT ST 3½ 3½ (51½) Ball State at LOUISVILLE 13½ 12½ (58½) Wake Forest at TX TECH 40½ 34½ (55½)Sam Houston at BAYLOR 6½ 10 (55½) Colorado UNLV 13½ 13½ (52½) at AKRON at OHIO ST 26½ 27½ (53½) Illinois at PITT 49½ 49½ (60½) Bucknell at UTSA 10½ 13½ (58½) Colorado St at TOLEDO 3½ 3 (51½) San Diego St at KENTUCKY 20½ 20½ (54½) S. Alabama at E.MICHIGN 28½ 26½ (50½) Lindenwood UCLA 1½ 1½ (56½)at MARYLND Notre Dame 27½ 27½ (58½) at PURDUE at GEORGIA ST8½ 10 (55½) Nor. Illinois Hawaii 5½ 3 (44½)at WYOMING at FLORIDA ST 43½ 44½ (60½) Cent. Ark at DUKE 43½ 43½ (62½) Will. & Mary at BUFFALO 28½ 28½ (44½) Rob. Morris at MARSHALL 26½ 22½ (51½)Gardner-Wbb TCU 1½ 3 (48½) at UCF at FLORIDA 1½ 3½ (58½) Ole Miss at MIAMI (OH) 5½ 3½ (51½) UConn Utah 11½ 8½ (48½) at IOWA ST Boise State 7½ 7½ (49½)at W.MICHGN at MICHIGAN 4½ 5½ (39½) Iowa at OHIO 37½ 32½ (51½) Stonehill at GEORGIA 10 14 (44½) Oklahoma New Mexico 13½ 11½ (48½) at N MEX ST Houston 20½ 18½ (56½)at GA STHRN at E. CAROLIN 31½ 34½ (54½) NC Central at AUBURN 8½ 9½ (55½) Vanderbilt South Florida 14½ 17½ (48½)at BOWL GRN at PENN ST 11½ 10 (44½) Wisconsin Nebraska 5½ 5½ (48½) at MICH ST at FLA INT’L 34½ 34½ (51½) LIU J. Madison 1½ 6 (45½)at OLD DOMN. at TEXAS ST 30½ 30½ (61½) Incarnt Wrd at VIRGINIA 21½ 19½ (52½) Delaware at MIAMI (FL) 42½ 41½ (53½) C.Michigan UL 13½ 10½ (48½) at CHAR. at JAX STATE 12½ 7 (51½)Middle Tenn. at WEST VA 2½ 1½ (59½)Oklahoma St Kansas State 6½ 6½ (55½) at CINCINNT at ALABAMA 11½ 12½ (53½) S.Carolina at TULANE 16½ 18½ (52½) So.Miss at ARK. ST 5½ 5½ (52½)Kennesaw St at WEST. KY 37½ 37½ (54½) Mercyhurst Oregon 5½ 3 (62½) at USC at LSU 3 8½ (51½) Texas A&M at NC STATE 11½ 14 (55½) App. State at N.TEXAS 38½ 38½ (59½) Houston Chr at UTAH ST 1½ 3½ (48½) Troy Arizona 12½ 10 (48½) at WASH ST at MISS. ST 1½ 6½ (58½) Missouri at ARKANSAS 10½ 7 (50½) Tulsa Fla. Atlantic 11½ 13½ (57½) at UL MONR at SMU 34½ 34½ (59½) Missouri St UMass 5½ 4½ (48½) at SAC. ST Oregon State 10½ 10½ (55½) at UTEP at FRESNO ST. 12½ 13½ (44½) Rice Georgia Tech 5½ 3½ (48½)at STANFORD Air Force 3½ 5½ (50½) at NEVADA at WASH. 8½ 10 (46½) Minnesota

MLB Wednesday

American League FAVORITE LINE at BALTIMORE OFF at BALTIMORE OFF at N.Y YANKEES -143 at BOSTON -141 Chi. White Sox -118 LA Angels -132 at SEATTLE OFF National League FAVORITE LINE at PITTSBURGH OFF Milwaukee -139 at ATLANTA -262 at CHICAGO CUBS -183 Arizona -165 at LA DODGERS OFF Interleague FAVORITE LINE at DETROIT -199 Minnesota -135 at TEXAS OFF

x-Las Vegas 29 x-Dallas 26 Los Angeles 16 Portland 16 Phoenix 16 Seattle 8 x-clinched playoff spot

13 17 26 27 27 35

.690 .605 .381 .372 .372 .186

2½ 6 15½ 16 16 24

Monday’s games

UNDERDOG St. Louis at PHILA. Cincinnati Miami at COLORADO San Diego

LINE OFF +115 +208 +148 +133 OFF

UNDERDOG Washington at SAN FRAN N.Y Mets

LINE +158 +112 OFF

Pro basketball WNBA glance EASTERN CONFERENCE W x-Atlanta 29 x-Indiana 28 x-Washington 27 x-New York 26 Chicago 16 Toronto 11 Connecticut 10 WESTERN CONFERENCE W x-Minnesota 32 x-Golden State 31

L 14 15 16 17 27 32 33

Pct .674 .651 .628 .605 .372 .256 .233

GB — 1 2 3 13 18 19

Washington 79, Connecticut 69 Chicago 97, Toronto 85 Indiana 96, Minnesota 77 Golden State at Portland, n Los Angeles at Las Vegas, n

East

Buffalo New England N.Y. Jets Miami South

Atlanta at New York, 7 p.m. Dallas at Seattle, 9 p.m.

Pro baseball

Jacksonville Tennessee Houston Indianapolis North

MLB glance AMERICAN LEAGUE x-Tampa Bay z-New York y-Boston Toronto Baltimore Central Division Cleveland Chicago Detroit Minnesota Kansas City West Division Texas Houston Seattle Athletics Los Angeles

Monday’s games

W 96 90 84 77 76

L 61 67 73 80 81

Pct .611 .573 .535 .490 .484

GB — 6 12 19 20

W 82 81 74 73 67

L 75 76 84 84 90

Pct .522 .516 .468 .465 .427

GB — 1 8½ 9 15

W 78 77 73 61 60

L 78 79 83 95 96

Pct .500 .494 .468 .391 .385

GB — 1 5 17 18

Detroit 9, Washington 2 Baltimore 4, Toronto 3 San Francisco 5, Minnesota 2

Tuesday’s games

N.Y. Yankees 2, Tampa Bay 0, 1st game Washington 3, Detroit 1 Cleveland 3, Boston 2 Tampa Bay 6, N.Y. Yankees 1, 2nd game Chicago White Sox 14, Kansas City 11 N.Y. Mets at Texas, n Houston at Seattle, n L.A. Angels at Athletics, n Minnesota at San Francisco, n Toronto at Baltimore, ppd.

Wednesday’s games

Washington (Cavalli 13-5) at Detroit (Valdez 10-11), 12:10 p.m. Toronto (Scherzer 3-8) at Baltimore (Bassitt 8-5), 12:35 p.m., 1st game Minnesota (TBD) at San Francisco (Perdomo 0-1), 2:45 p.m. Toronto (TBD) at Baltimore (TBD), 5:35 p.m., 2nd game Tampa Bay (Seymour 9-7) at N.Y. Yankees (Cole 9-9), 6:05 p.m. Cleveland (Grifﬁn 15-5) at Boston (Gray 175), 6:10 p.m. Chicago White Sox (Fedde 8-9) at Kansas City (Lugo 7-9), 6:40 p.m. N.Y. Mets (McLean 11-10) at Texas (TBD), 7:05 p.m. L.A. Angels (Ureña 9-10) at Athletics (Springs 4-14), 8:40 p.m. Houston (TBD) at Seattle (Kirby 9-11), 9:10 p.m.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

L 11 11

Pct .744 .738

GB — ½

x-Atlanta Philadelphia Miami Washington New York Central Division x-Milwaukee Chicago Pittsburgh St. Louis Cincinnati West Division x-Los Angeles San Diego Arizona San Francisco Colorado x-clinched division y-clinched wild card z-clinched playoff berth

W 92 87 76 74 71

L 65 70 80 84 85

Pct GB .586 — .554 5 .487 15½ .468 18½ .455 20½

W 98 87 80 76 73

L 59 69 77 81 84

Pct GB .624 — .558 10½ .510 18 .484 22 .465 25

W 96 87 82 65 57

L 60 69 74 92 99

Pct GB .615 — .558 9 .526 14 .414 31½ .365 39

Detroit 9, Washington 2 San Francisco 5, Minnesota 2

Tuesday’s games

Pittsburgh 2, St. Louis 0 Philadelphia 6, Milwaukee 4 Washington 3, Detroit 1 Cincinnati 4, Atlanta 0 Miami at Chicago Cubs, n N.Y. Mets at Texas, n Arizona at Colorado, n Minnesota at San Francisco, n San Diego at L.A. Dodgers, n

Wednesday’s games

Washington (Cavalli 13-5) at Detroit (Valdez 10-11), 12:10 p.m. Minnesota (TBD) at San Francisco (Perdomo 0-1), 2:45 p.m. Milwaukee (Henderson 10-3) at Philadelphia (Nola 7-10), 5:40 p.m. St. Louis (Liberatore 5-14) at Pittsburgh (TBD), 5:40 p.m. Cincinnati (Abbott 6-11) at Atlanta (Sale 14-9), 6:15 p.m. Miami (Gusto 1-5) at Chicago Cubs (Gausman 9-12), 6:40 p.m. N.Y. Mets (McLean 11-10) at Texas (TBD), 7:05 p.m. Arizona (Kelly 9-14) at Colorado (Adams 0-1), 7:40 p.m. San Diego (Ray 13-8) at L.A. Dodgers (Yamamoto 14-8), 9:10 p.m.

Wild Card glance z-New York y-Boston Chicago Houston Toronto

Pct .558 .558 .554

WCGB +½ +½ —

Cincinnati Baltimore Pittsburgh Cleveland West Kansas City Las Vegas Denver L.A. Chargers

W 2 1 1 0

L 0 1 1 2

T Pct PF PA 0 1.000 77 62 0 .500 30 16 0 .500 40 30 0 .000 26 62

W 1 0 0 0

L 1 2 2 2

T 0 0 0 0

W 2 1 1 1

L 0 1 1 1

T Pct PF PA 0 1.000 53 33 0 .500 58 47 0 .500 23 33 0 .500 33 53

W 2 2 1 0

L 0 0 1 2

T Pct PF PA 0 1.000 64 40 0 1.000 53 27 0 .500 30 44 0 .000 28 52

W 2 1 1 0

L 0 1 1 2

T Pct PF PA 0 1.000 48 42 0 .500 34 48 0 .500 57 48 0 .000 42 61

W 1 1 0 0

L 1 1 2 2

T 0 0 0 0

W 2 1 1 1

L 0 1 1 1

T Pct PF PA 0 1.000 48 25 0 .500 62 71 0 .500 62 46 0 .500 42 56

W 2 2 1 1

L 0 0 1 1

T Pct PF PA 0 1.000 44 17 0 1.000 62 20 0 .500 35 33 0 .500 33 45

NATIONAL CONFERENCE East

Philadelphia N.Y. Giants Dallas Washington South Carolina New Orleans Tampa Bay Atlanta North Minnesota Detroit Chicago Green Bay West Seattle San Francisco L.A. Rams Arizona

Late Monday

Pct PF PA .500 47 30 .000 30 47 .000 37 56 .000 53 74

Pct PF PA .500 71 62 .500 54 48 .000 46 56 .000 16 54

L.A. Rams 28, N.Y. Giants 6

Thursday’s games

Atlanta at Green Bay, 7:15 p.m.

Sunday’s games

Carolina at Cleveland, noon Cincinnati at Pittsburgh, noon Houston at Indianapolis, noon Kansas City at Miami, noon L.A. Chargers at Buffalo, noon N.Y. Jets at Detroit, noon New England at Jacksonville, noon Seattle at Washington, noon Tennessee at N.Y. Giants, noon Arizona at San Francisco, 3:05 p.m. Minnesota at Tampa Bay, 3:05 p.m. Baltimore vs. Dallas at Rio de Janeiro, 3:25 p.m. Las Vegas at New Orleans, 3:25 p.m. L.A. Rams at Denver, 7:20 p.m.

Monday’s game

Philadelphia at Chicago, 7:15 p.m.

East Division

W 90 84 81 77 77

L 69 69 70

AMERICAN CONFERENCE

Wednesday’s games

American League

Chicago San Diego Philadelphia

W 87 87 87

NFL glance

Tuesday’s games

Monday’s games UNDERDOG LINE Toronto OFF Toronto OFF Tampa Bay +118 Cleveland +117 at KANSAS CITY -104 at ATHLETICS +108 Houston OFF

National League

Clemson (2-1) at California (2-1), 9:30 p.m.

Pro football

Atlanta 95, New York 84 Phoenix 87, Dallas 86

East Division

FAR WEST

y-clinched wild card z-clinched playoff berth

L 67 73 76 79 80

Pct .573 .535 .516 .494 .490

WCGB +9 +3 — 3½ 4

Bucknell (1-3) at Pittsburgh (3-0), 11 a.m. Virginia Tech (3-0) at Boston College (2-1), 11 a.m. UCLA (3-0) at Maryland (2-1), 12:30 p.m. Gardner-Webb (1-3) at Marshall (2-1), 2:30 p.m. Robert Morris (2-1) at Buffalo (1-2), 2:30 p.m. Wisconsin (2-1) at Penn St. (3-0), 4 p.m. Oklahoma St. (2-1) at West Virginia (3-0), 6 p.m.

SOUTH

Wake Forest (2-1) at Louisville (2-1), 11 a.m. Texas (3-0) at Tennessee (3-0), 11 a.m. South Alabama (2-1) at Kentucky (2-1), 11:45 a.m. N. Illinois (0-3) at Georgia St. (2-1), 1 p.m. Cent. Arkansas (2-2) at Florida St. (1-2), 2 p.m. TCU (2-1) at UCF (2-1), 2:30 p.m. Ole Miss (3-0) at Florida (3-0), 2:30 p.m. Oklahoma (2-1) at Georgia (3-0), 2:30 p.m. William & Mary (2-2) at Duke (3-0), 2:30 p.m. Houston (2-1) at Georgia Southern (1-2), 3 p.m. NC Central (2-2) at East Carolina (1-2), 3 p.m. Vanderbilt (3-0) at Auburn (2-1), 3:15 p.m. LIU Brooklyn (0-4) at FIU (1-2), 5 p.m. Delaware (2-1) at Virginia (2-1), 5 p.m. James Madison (3-0) at Old Dominion (1-2), 5 p.m. Cent. Michigan (2-1) at Miami (3-0), 5:30 p.m. Middle Tennessee (2-1) at Jacksonville St. (2-2), 6 p.m. South Carolina (2-1) at Alabama (3-0), 6 p.m. Appalachian St. (3-0) at NC State (1-2), 6:30 p.m. Missouri (3-0) at Mississippi St. (3-0), 6:45 p.m.

MIDWEST

Ball St. (1-2) at Kent St. (1-2), 11 a.m. San Diego St. (1-2) at Toledo (2-1), 11 a.m. UNLV (1-2) at Akron (1-2), 11 a.m. Illinois (2-1) at Ohio St. (2-1), 11 a.m. Lindenwood (Mo.) (1-2) at E. Michigan (1-3), noon Notre Dame (3-0) at Purdue (1-2), 1 p.m. UConn (2-1) at Miami (Ohio) (1-2), 2:30 p.m. Utah (3-0) at Iowa St. (2-1), 2:30 p.m. Boise St. (2-1) at W. Michigan (2-1), 2:30 p.m. Iowa (3-0) at Michigan (3-0), 2:30 p.m. Stonehill (1-3) at Ohio (1-2), 2:30 p.m. Nebraska (3-0) at Michigan St. (2-1), 4 p.m. South Florida (3-0) at Bowling Green (0-3), 4 p.m. Kansas St. (3-0) at Cincinnati (3-0), 6 p.m.

SOUTHWEST

Colorado (2-1) at Baylor (2-1), 11 a.m. Colorado St. (2-1) at UTSA (2-1), 11 a.m. Sam Houston St. (1-2) at Texas Tech (3-0), 11 a.m. Houston Christian (2-2) at North Texas (1-2), 6:30 p.m. Tulsa (3-0) at Arkansas (1-2), 7 p.m. Missouri St. (1-2) at SMU (2-1), 8 p.m. Oregon St. (1-2) at UTEP (1-2), 8 p.m.

FAR WEST

Hawaii (1-2) at Wyoming (1-2), 2 p.m. New Mexico (2-1) at New Mexico St. (1-2), 2:30 p.m. Oregon (2-1) at Southern Cal (4-0), 6:30 p.m. Troy (2-1) at Utah St. (0-3), 6:30 p.m. Arizona (2-1) at Washington St. (1-2), 6:30 p.m. UMass (3-0) at Sacramento St. (1-3), 8 p.m. Rice (1-2) at Fresno St. (2-1), 9 p.m. Georgia Tech (1-2) at Stanford (1-2), 9:30 p.m. Air Force (1-1) at Nevada (1-2), 9:30 p.m. Minnesota (2-1) at Washington (3-0), 10 p.m.

State schedule

Late Monday

Saturday

L.A. Rams 28, N.Y. Giants 6

N.Y. Giants 0 3 3 0 — 6 L.A. Rams 7 7 7 7 — 28 First Quarter LAR—Adams 31 pass from Stafford (Mevis kick), :11. Second Quarter LAR—Williams 10 pass from Stafford (Mevis kick), 11:07. NYG—FG Zvada 24, :25. Third Quarter LAR—Adams 11 pass from Stafford (Mevis kick), 6:21. NYG—FG Zvada 52, 3:49. Fourth Quarter LAR—Ferguson 5 pass from Stafford (Mevis kick), 8:57. A—73,773. NYG LAR First downs 11 23 Total Net Yards 182 481 Rushes-yards 21-52 28-163 Passing 130 318 Punt Returns 0-0 4-32 Kickoff Returns 4-105 2-29 Interceptions Ret. 1-0 1-22 Comp-Att-Int 14-32-1 22-31-1 Sacked-Yards Lost 2-1 1-9 Punts 6-52.5 3-47.667 Fumbles-Lost 1-0 2-1 Penalties-Yards 3-20 6-50 Time of Possession 27:25 32:35 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING—N.Y. Giants, Skattebo 12-36, Singletary 3-9, N.Harris 4-6, Winston 2-1. L.A. Rams, Williams 12-85, Corum 12-79, Stafford 4-(minus 1). PASSING—N.Y. Giants, Winston 11-27-1-111, Dart 3-5-0-20. L.A. Rams, Stafford 22-31-1327. RECEIVING—N.Y. Giants, Likely 5-33, Skattebo 4-19, Mooney 2-48, Fields 2-30, Nabers 1-1. L.A. Rams, Adams 8-195, Ferguson 6-54, Parkinson 2-15, Williams 2-12, Atwell 1-19, Corum 1-13, Mumpﬁeld 1-12, Allen 1-7. MISSED FIELD GOALS—L.A. Rams, Mevis 43.

College football

Lamar (2-1) at Nicholls (2-2), 3 p.m. UL (2-1) at Charlotte (0-3), 5:30 p.m. East Texas A&M (1-3) at McNeese (1-3), 6 p.m. Okla. Panhandle St. (2-2) at Louisiana Christian (3-1), 6 p.m. Prairie View (1-3) vs. Grambling (2-1) at Dallas, 6 p.m. Southeastern (2-2) at Northwestern St. (0-4), 6 p.m. Southern (2-2) at Jackson St. (3-0), 6 p.m. Southern Mississippi (1-2) at Tulane (1-2), 6 p.m. Texas A&M (2-1) at LSU (2-1), 6:30 p.m. FAU (2-1) at UL-Monroe (0-3), 7 p.m.

Tennis WTA Singapore Open Results Tuesday At Kallang Tennis Hub Singapore, Singapore Purse: $1,206,446 Surface: Hardcourt outdoor Women’s Singles Round of 32 Oleksandra Oliynykova, Ukraine, def. Vivian Wolff, United States, 6-1, 7-6 (1). Alycia Parks, United States, def. Mei Yamaguchi, Japan, 6-4, 6-3. Tatiana Prozorova, Russia, def. Soﬁa Costoulas, Belgium, 5-7, 7-6 (2), 6-2. Wang Xinyu, China, def. Donna Vekic (8), Croatia, 6-1, 6-2. Barbora Krejcikova, Czechia, def. Anna-Lena Friedsam, Germany, 6-0, 5-7, 7-6 (4). Women’s Doubles Round of 16 Alexandra Panova, Russia, and Kristina Mladenovic (4), France, def. Ingrid Neel, Estonia, and Giuliana Olmos, Mexico, 6-4, 4-6, 10-8. Storm Hunter, Australia, and Desirae Krawczyk (1), United States, def. Makoto Ninomiya, Japan, and Nika Radisic, Slovenia, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (4).

WTA Korea Open Results

National schedule Thursday’s games SOUTH

Liberty (2-1) at Coastal Carolina (1-2), 6:30 p.m.

Friday’s games EAST

Army (1-1) at Temple (1-2), 3 p.m. Howard (1-2) at Rutgers (0-3), 6 p.m.

SOUTH

Navy (1-1) at UAB (1-2), 6 p.m.

MIDWEST

Saturday EAST

Northwestern (2-0) at Indiana (3-0), 7 p.m.

Tuesday At Seoul Olympic Park Tennis Center Seoul, South Korea Purse: $283,347 Surface: Hardcourt outdoor Women’s Singles Round of 32 Elena-Gabriela Ruse (4), Romania, def. Eva Lys, Germany, 6-1, 6-2. Taylah Preston, Australia, def. Himeno Sakatsume, Japan, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2. Sohyun Park, South Korea, def. Robin Montgomery, United States, 7-6 (4), 6-3. Anna Bondar (6), Hungary, def. Renata Zarazua, Mexico, 2-6, 6-3, 6-1.

Yexin Ma, China, def. Emerson Jones, Australia, 3-6, 6-0, 6-2. Yeon Woo Ku, South Korea, def. Alevtina Ibragimova, Russia, 6-3, 6-2. Kimberly Birrell (2), Australia, def. Tamara Zidansek, Slovenia, 7-6 (2), 6-4. Jelena Ostapenko (1), Latvia, def. Anastasia Zakharova, Russia, 6-4, 6-1.

Transactions BASEBALL Major League Baseball

American League ATHLETICS — Reinstated 3B Joshua Kuroda-Grauer from the 60-day IL. Placed 3B Max Muncy on the 10-day IL. Transferred RHP J.T. Ginn from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL. HOUSTON ASTROS — Sent CF Jorge Barrosa outright to Sugar Land (PCL). NEW YORK YANKEES — Reinstated 2B Jazz Chisholm from the 10-day IL. Optioned LF Max Schuemann to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (IL). TAMPA BAY RAYS — Released RF Jake Fraley. TEXAS RANGERS — Reinstated RHP Peyton Gray from the 15-day IL. Optioned LHP Adam Macko to ACL Rangers. National League ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS — Sent RHP Ryan Thompson to Amarillo (TL) on a rehab assignment. CINCINNATI REDS — Recalled RHP Connor Phillips from Louisville (IL). Placed RHP Tony Santillan on the 15-day IL, retroactive to Sept. 19. Sent CF TJ Friedl outright to Louisville. COLORADO ROCKIES — Sent SS Vimael Machín outright to ACL Rockies. LOS ANGELES DODGERS — Released LF Ryan Ward. NEW YORK METS — Reinstated RHP Devin Williams from the 15-day IL. Placed RHP Christian Scott on the 15-day IL. PITTSBURGH PIRATES — Reinstated RHP Kirby Yates from the 15-day IL. Designated RHP Camilo Doval for assignment. SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS — Recalled RHP Braxton Roxby from Sacramento (PCL). Placed RHP Blade Tidwell on the 15-day IL.

BASKETBALL National Basketball Association

CHARLOTTE HORNETS — Waived G DJ Armstrong and C Tre Carroll. DENVER NUGGETS — Waived G Reese DixonWaters and F Keonte Jones. DETROIT PISTONS — Signed G Ausar Thompson to a rookie-scale contract extension. Waived G Drake Allen. MIAMI HEAT — Claimed G Bez Mbeng off waivers. Signed G Pelle Larsson to a veteran contract extension.

FOOTBALL National Football League

ATLANTA FALCONS — Placed CB A.J. Terrell Jr. on injured reserve. Signed OL Zach Harrison to the 53-man roster. Released OL James Brockermeyer from the practice squad. Signed OL Colby Sorsdal to the practice squad. BALTIMORE RAVENS — Signed WR Shedrick Jackson to the practice squad. CAROLINA PANTHERS — Signed WR Ihmir Smith-Marsette to the practice squad. Released WR E.J. Williams from the practice squad. CHICAGO BEARS — Signed LS Scott Daly from New Orleans’ practice squad. Waived LS Beau Gardner. Signed DB Nick McCloud to the practice squad. Released G Kyle Hergel from the practice squad. CLEVELAND BROWNS — Signed LB Krys Barnes to the practice squad. Placed LB Nathaniel Watson on practice squad/ injured. DETROIT LIONS — Released LB Joe Bachie. Signed DB Bishop Fitzgerald from Pittsburgh’s practice squad. Placed DB Avonte Maddox on injured reserve. INDIANAPOLIS COLTS — Signed WR Darius Slayton. Placed DE Micheal Clemons on injured reserve. Released RB Anderson Castle from the practice squad. JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS — Signed TE Brenden Bates to the practice squad. LOS ANGELES CHARGERS — Signed TE Hayden Rucci from Jacksonville’s practice squad. Waived WR Gary Jennings. MIAMI DOLPHINS — Signed LB Andre Jones Jr. off Buffalo’s practice squad. Signed LS Luke Basso to the practice squad. MINNESOTA VIKINGS — Signed P Johnny Hekker and RB Jaret Patterson to the practice squad. Released WR Trayvon Rudolph and CB Bryce Phillips from the practice squad. Waived DL Taki Taimani from reserve/injured. NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS — Placed OL Michael Onwenu on injured reserve. Signed P Mitch Wishnowsky from the practice squad. Signed TE Tanner Conner to the practice squad. NEW ORLEANS SAINTS — Waived RB Audric Estime from injured reserve with an injury settlement. NEW YORK GIANTS — Signed DT C.J. Ravenell and T Ryan Schernecke to the practice squad. Released C Kingsley Eguakun and DB Elijah Jones from the practice squad. NEW YORK JETS — Signed LB Troy Reeder from the practice squad. Signed LB Jaden Keller and QB Will Levis to the practice squad. Released QB Bailey Zappe from the practice squad. PHILADELPHIA EAGLES — Signed TE Zach Ertz to the practice squad. Released DT Gabe Hall from the practice squad. PITTSBURGH STEELERS — Signed WR Isaiah Hodgins and DB Darius Rush to the practice squad. TENNESSEE TITANS — Signed G Drew Moss to the practice squad. Released LB Jimmy Ciarlo from the practice squad.

HOCKEY National Hockey League

DALLAS STARS — Loaned G Arno Tiefensee to Texas (AHL). NEW YORK RANGERS — Placed F Justin Dowling and D Urho Vaakanainen on waivers. WASHINGTON CAPITALS — Placed F Ludwig Persson on waivers for the purpose of assignment to Hershey (AHL).

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W e d n e s d ay, s e p t e m b e r 23, 2026

1dn

Lauren Cheramie BON VIVANT

Try a new cocktail menu, September food specials Bon vi·vant /noun/ a sociable person who has cultivated and reﬁned tastes, especially with respect to food and drink.

New food, drinks on the block Frankie’s Dawg House Perkins, 2318 Cedardale Ave., Baton Rouge, is now serving brunch. The menu includes boudin omelets, chicken and wafﬂes, breakfast bowls, kolaches, beignets, bottomless mimosas and more. There’s a new cocktail menu at DiGiulio Brothers, 2903 Perkins Road, Baton Rouge, featuring a pepperoncini-tini, “Peach on Perkins” with peach liqueur and bourbon, “Flamingo to MARS” with cucumber lemon gin and more. Don’t miss the September menu at Ruby Slipper, 3535 Perkins Road, Baton Rouge, featuring a peanut butter bacon burger, hot sausage smashburger, candied apple beignets and more.

PROVIDED PHOTO

Don’t miss the September menu at Ruby Slipper, featuring apple beignets. CC’s Coffee House, with multiple locations in Baton Rouge, welcomes fall with seasonal beverages like pumpkin pie and caramel apple pie Mochasippis, pumpkin chai and toasted marshmallow matcha — available through Nov. 3.

In the know Shipley Donuts is celebrating its 90th birthday with specials, including a new “Birthday Bullseye” doughnut with strawberry icing and a 1936 Shipley Favorites Box with a dozen classic donuts — both available through Oct. 18. The shop is located at 5565 Essen Lane, Baton Rouge. For every LSU football regular season game, 7 Brew Coffee is hosting a new special, “Sips for Kicks.” Any time LSU’s kickers score seven or more points in a game, customers get a

STAFF PHOTOS By JOHN BALLANCE

Brandon Jackson pulls french fries out of the fryer. Dearman’s sells 650 pounds of fries a week.

Where old souls feel young again and devour 400 burgers a day

THE PEOPLE OF DEARMAN’S DEARMAN’S DINER

BY MADDIE SCOTT Staff writer

It takes one glance at an incoming regular for the cooks at Dearman’s Diner to start whipping up their order from memory before the ticket even reaches the kitchen. Some customers visit the diner once a month, while others are there three times a week. Regulars make up 70% of the restaurant’s customer base, and they have a hunger for old-school burgers paired with a yearning for childhood memories. Step inside and travel back in time: Checkered floors, retro chairs, vintage photos of icons such as Marilyn Monroe or the Little Rascals. It feels like 1958, when Dearman’s Diner first The top picture is the founder of opened its doors at 7633 Jefferson Dearman’s William (Bill) Dearman Highway, originally serving as a and the bottom picture is of David pharmacy and lunch counter, ac- Van Gelder, the second owner. cording to current owner Casey Evans. Throughout the years, not Even as the business opens Deartoo much has changed other than man’s South, a second, experimenrenovations and removing the tal location at the Brickyard South pharmacy. patio with specialty burgers, cus-

7633 Jefferson Highway, Baton Rouge l Open daily 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays; 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays tomers shouldn’t worry that the 68-year-old establishment is looking to change. “People have asked for it at times,” Evans said. “‘Why don’t you do this? Why don’t you do that?’ Because that’s not what this place is. This is a classic place. It’s been like this for 70 years.” Learning Dearman’s recipes was basically an oral tradition until about two years ago, when Evans decided it was time to get a written record for training cooks. It wasn’t until three years ago when the cash register was upgraded to a modern point of sale system, but the cashiers don’t use all of the modern features. Each order is written by hand on a paper ticket.

ä See DEARMAN’S, page 2D

ä See BON VIVANT, page 3D

THE BEST THINGS WE ATE THIS WEEK | STAFF REPORT

Variety is the spice of life with recent favorites Baked chicken plate

that told me I ordered right. The taste conﬁrmed n Dorothy’s Soul that — the cabbage Food Kitchen, 1221 had a little kick, Gardere Lane, Baton and the mac and Rouge cheese brought the comfort I was I haven’t had time looking for. to cook lately, and STAFF PHOTO By I scarfed down I was aching for MADDIE SCOTT the chicken and some home-style red beans, and an employee cooking. Dorothy’s Soul Food joked that I should slow down Kitchen had the ﬁxings. eating. It felt like I was in my I ordered the baked chicken mom’s kitchen. I loved it! and had the choice of three Dorothy’s has a kind staff, sides, so I chose the mac and good food and big portions — cheese, cabbage and red beans the best kind of bang for your and rice. After about 10 minbuck. utes, the plate came hot with — Maddie Scott, a piece of cornbread. Just off looks, it was the kind of spread features reporter

Brownie

n Sunday’s

Soda Fountain, 431 Jefferson St., Lafayette

The brownie a la mode at Sunday’s Soda Fountain in PROVIDED PHOTO downtown Lafayette is a warm brownie topped with caramel and vanilla ice cream. I choose to keep things classic, while other dessert lovers have opted for additional toppings such as olive oil and sea salt, maple syrup, walnuts, Oreos and more. My favorite part about this dessert is the warm brownie in the center. Ice cream ﬂavors can also be substituted. — Jakori Madison, features reporter

Chicken hibachi plate

For my entree, I ordered the chicken hibachi plate, n Daruma Ramen which came with Bar and Grill, 3669 Daruma’s signaGovernment St., ture fried rice. The Baton Rouge chicken was deliI met a friend cious and stir-fried for lunch at with zucchini, STAFF PHOTO By Daruma, and I broccoli, mushJOy HOLDEN was so excited to rooms, onions try more dishes. I’ve been there and a sweet sauce. Everything once, and there were so many tasted fresh. I even had enough things on the menu I wanted to to take home in one of Daruma’s order. This time, I started with reusable to-go bags. Next time, the honey chicken bao buns, I may try something new, or which come with ﬂuffy bao, I may get the chicken hibachi crispy honey fried chicken, plate again, because I’m already pickled onions, cilantro and craving it. green onions. They are a ﬂavor — Joy Holden, bomb. features reporter

2D ■ Wednesday, September 23, 2026 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

lll

TODAY IN HISTORY By The Associated Press

STAFF PHOTOS By JOHN BALLANCE

Casey Evans stands out front of his restaurant. Evans started working at the diner as a high school server around 20 years ago, eventually becoming the manager before purchasing the restaurant in 2022.

DEARMAN’S

Continued from page 1D “All I need that thing to do is check people out,” Evans said about the cash register. “We’ll do the rest.”

Nostalgia for regulars Manager Madi FaKouri often hears stories of yesteryear from older customers — ones who used to ride their bikes to the diner, read comic books at the counter and get in trouble for putting food on their parents’ tabs. “We have people that come every single day pretty much,” FaKouri said. “If I don’t see one of our regulars roaming, I’m like, ‘That’s weird. I don’t know what he’s doing today.’” Whether they’re reminiscing on a ﬁrst date, a burger tasting like childhood or a crossword puzzle, regulars mostly come to Dearman’s for the nostalgia. High school sweethearts Patti and Kevin Banes go to Dearman’s Diner once a week, deciding day-of when it feels right. On a Wednesday, the couple sat in a window booth and ordered a cheeseburger and chicken salad sandwich with sweet potato fries. “As a matter of fact, I was telling my grandson the other day, other than my dad taking me and a girl to a party one time, she’s the only person I’ve ever been on a date with,” Kevin said. The diner’s retro vibes make it easy to go down memory lane. The couple met in Vicksburg, Mississippi, in 1975, before Kevin could even drive. Patti was a senior, he was a sophomore, and his brother convinced her to give him rides to band practice. She didn’t care more about him than “a moon in the moon,” he said. Two adult children, four grandchildren and weekly dates to Dearman’s Diner later, Kevin won Patti’s heart after all. Their oldest grandchild just got his driver’s license. On Wednesday, there was also Cherie Bennett, who has been a customer at Dearman’s for the past 10 years. A resident of Slaughter, she ventured about 30 to 45 minutes to the diner to sit down and enjoy her favorite burg-

Chantay Grayer began working at Dearman’s when she was 15 and continued through the birth of six daughters. er. She loves them because they’re old-school style. “My dad had a snack bar, so we cooked them there, and you can’t get them anywhere else but here,” Bennett said. A couple of tables over, Scott Cowart was halfway through a hamburger and halfway through the Los Angeles Times crossword puzzle. It’s his lunch ritual, and Dearman’s gets its turn in his lunch rotation about once a month. Crosswords are something he picked up from his grandfather, who played them for 50 years. “When he passed away at 91, his mind was still so sharp as a tack,” Cowart said. “I ﬁgured it was good practice.”

Menu rundown Dearman’s Diner gets the most hype for its classic, no-frills burgers. The handheld has been recognized by several awards over generations, including this year’s Best of Baton Rouge competition, where it landed ﬁrst place in the burger category. There are other dishes patrons return to: BLTs, tuna or chicken salad sandwiches, hot dogs, grilled cheese sandwiches and garden salads. Though most of the menu hasn’t changed, there are some recent additions that partake in some food trends, including the burger bowl, which has tomatoes, onions, pickles, a choice of dressing and a patty with a mayonnaise and mustard mix on top. There’s also the dreamsicle soda, introduced by Evans. A longtime treat on the menu is the nectar soda, a Pepto-Bismol-colored beverage with cream, soda water, scoops of ice cream and ﬂavoring that Evans compares to a petit four. Some, including Evans, believe the drink started in New Orleans in the

early 1900s, and it’s become a sentimental sip for old souls. Another iconic drink on the menu is the phosphate, but younger generations may know them as dirty sodas. “We had dirty sodas before dirty sodas were called dirty sodas,” Evans said. “We now have Dearman’s dirty sodas, which are a little different, but the phosphates are the same way: soda water, cream, ﬂavoring, crushed ice.”

A community Evans started working at Dearman’s Diner in 2005 when he was about 16 years old. He left his job at Raising Cane’s to work with his brother and his friends. “I started serving here, loved it, stayed and just kind of became ingrained in the community of it all,” he said. The business has changed ownership three times. It was founded by William Dearman and his wife, passed to Davis Van Gelder in 2007 and then Evans in 2022. Some staff members have been here longer than Evans. The longest-serving employee is Chantay Grayer, 59, who has worked at Dearman’s since 1984. She initially applied to the job because her sister worked there, and about 40 years later, she’s still around. Her children, nieces and nephews have gone on to work in the business. She said it’s a family tradition. “I’ve been knowing Casey since he was young,” Grayer said. “I’ve been here longer than him, and I fell in love with him and his family. I watched his family grow up.” She’s been there so long that she doesn’t need to weigh the burger patties. She just holds it in her hand, and she can tell if it’s 6 ounces. The business sells about 300 to 400 patties on an average day, she said, plus about 50 children’s patties. The community, built by regulars and staff, is what keeps FaKouri coming back to work every day. Even on bad days, she says her ﬁrst thought is, “Let’s see if I can pick up a shift,” because the friendly environment seldom fails to pick up spirits. “It’s almost like being transported back into a whole different community here,” FaKouri said. “People are here for the vibes, the atmosphere, the food and the community.”

Today is Wednesday, Sept. 23, the 266th day of 2026. There are 99 days left in the year. Today in history: On Sept. 23, 1952, Republican Sen. Richard M. Nixon of California salvaged his vice presidential nomination by appearing on TV from Los Angeles to refute allegations of improper campaign fundraising in what became known as the “Checkers” speech for its reference to his family’s cocker spaniel. Also on this date: In 1780, British spy John Andre was captured along with papers revealing Benedict Arnold’s plot to surrender West Point to the British. In 1806, the Lewis and Clark expedition returned to St. Louis, more than two years after setting out for the Paciﬁc Northwest.

In 1955, a jury in Sumner, Mississippi, acquitted two White men, Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam, of killing Black teenager Emmett Till. (The two later admitted to the crime in an interview with Look magazine.) In 1957, nine Black students who entered Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas were forced to leave under police escort because of a White mob outside. The Little Rock Nine returned under federal troop escort two days later for their first full day at the school. In 2002, Gov. Gray Davis signed a law making California the first state to offer workers paid family leave. In 2018, capping a comeback from four back surgeries, Tiger Woods won the Tour Championship in Atlanta, the 80th victory of his PGA Tour career and his first in more than

ﬁve years. In 2022, Roger Federer played his ﬁnal professional match after an illustrious career that included 20 Grand Slam titles. In 2024, Israeli strikes on Lebanon killed more than 490 people, including more than 90 women and children in one of the deadliest barrages since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war. Today’s birthdays: Singer Julio Iglesias is 83. Actor/ singer Mary Kay Place is 79. Rock star Bruce Springsteen is 77. Director/playwright George C. Wolfe is 72. Actor Rosalind Chao is 69. Actor Jason Alexander is 67. Actor Chi McBride is 65. Singer Ani DiFranco is 56. Producerrapper Jermaine Dupri is 54. Filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos is 53. Actor Anthony Mackie is 48. Actor Skylar Astin is 39. High diver Molly Carlson is 28. Singer Artemas is 27.

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The Advocate ■ theadvocate.com ■ Wednesday, September 23, 2026 ■ 3D

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Planning for a tense trip with the in-laws Dear Miss Manners: My lovely of museums, shops, etc. for us to visit together. But we sister, Grace, married a cannot spend all day, every man who is difficult. Keith day with her and Keith, or is loud, often inebriated, Jason will go nuts! and quick to anger. Jason is still hurt So much so, that and angry by what after a misunderhappened before standing at Grace the wedding. He’s and Keith’s wedding afraid if he’s around rehearsal dinner, Keith for too long, harsh words were Judith especially with alscreamed, and Keith Martin cohol, that this time challenged my husMISS he may not be able band, Jason, to a MANNERS to be the bigger man fistfight. and walk away if He issued a pretty Keith tries to provoke him. weak apology, and for my But I cannot reveal to sister’s sake, Jason accepted it. But he has not re- Grace that Jason didn’t forally gotten over it and feels give Keith’s behavior last like things will never be the year! So how do I delicately same between them. Grace, explain our desire to exthough, thinks everything is plore the city by ourselves hunky-dory now. without offending her? When Grace recently Gentle reader: The conversacame into some money, as tion to have with your sister a milestone birthday gift is about how much you to me, she paid for a group are looking forward to the vacation for the four of us! trip — and how much you Of course this was insanely hope everyone will enjoy generous. We’ve both the sights and one another’s thanked her profusely, and company. she’s refused my husband’s As a mere side comment, efforts to reimburse her. you can slip in that you and How can I gently tell her your husband intend a few that, in order to keep the side excursions for some peace, it will be necessary husband-and-wife time. for my husband and me Miss Manners expects that to do things on our own? I will make the point that the have a feeling she already former is not to be taken has an hour-by-hour agenda for granted, and the latter

is not up for debate. But there are also some expectations to be set on your side, which she says while fully appreciating that your husband was the aggrieved party last year. Your husband accepted your brother-in-law’s apology. That he remains suspicious is understandable. But that is different from reserving the right, in advance, to misbehave — or asserting that your brotherin-law was not actually forgiven. If that is true, then he needs to know that, as it would not be fair to accept the trip under such circumstances. Dear Miss Manners: What are the table manners when there is no table? I’m talking about picnics, backyard barbecues, etc. Doesn’t that make the idea of table manners stupid? Gentle reader: Nope.

Reprogramming car functions Dear Heloise: A suggestion hearing-aid batteries from was made to have your car the package. I wear hearkey fob reprogrammed by ing aids and use scissors a mechanic to only unlock to cut around the battery. the driver’s door so that Also, I store my batteries it’s safer when refueling in a small, empty mediat a gas station. A cine bottle. If there mechanic isn’t necare small children around, one can use essary. The doors a childproof bottle. are programmed I also keep a through the car itbottle with batterself in the vehicle’s utility menu. Each ies in my purse. It’s make of car has dif- Hints from always handy when Heloise I’m not at home and ferent ways of reneed to replace a setting the unlocked doors or other doors’ func- battery. — Mary M., via email Mary, keeping your heartions. The owner’s manual can walk you through it, ing aid batteries in a pill or you can watch a video bottle is such a good idea. online, as there are many This way, they can’t get short videos on reprogram- lost, and I’m sure you know ming car functions. — James that they aren’t cheap. Thanks for your letter! — J.M., Retired United States Army Heloise Veteran

Hearing aid batteries

Tiny trick-or-treat toys

Dear Heloise: This is in reference to the person who has trouble removing

Dear Heloise: Every Halloween, people buy bags of candy. While children

enjoy sweets, I like to add other things as well. You can go to any dollar store and find small action figures, plastic dinosaurs (always a big hit!), yo-yos and other tiny items that children love to place in their bags. I have a very large wicker basket that I fill with these toys and candy. Then I just tell the little ones to take a handful. Needless to say, my house is popular on Halloween! — Irene W., in Bloomington, Illinois

Quilting hint Dear Heloise: As a quilter, I use empty toilet paper tubes to hold my quilt binding. I fold it accordionstyle, tuck it inside and write which quilt the binding is for on the outside. — Dixie A., in Auke Bay,Alaska Send a hint to heloise@ heloise.com.

Send questions to Miss Manners at her website, www.missmanners. com; to her email, dearmissmanners@gmail. com; or through postal mail to Miss Manners, Universal Uclick, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.

Friend still owes for $8K move that a year later, I would Dear Harriette: My friend still be waiting. I have tried owes me $8,000 and hasn’t to be patient because been able to pay me I know moving to a back for a year. I new state and gethave been asking her for so long, and ting settled can be every response I get expensive, but I am is her telling me she starting to feel like will have it for me she is taking advanHarriette tage of my kindness. “soon.” I lent this Cole money to her a year I don’t want to ruin SENSE AND ago, and she moved our friendship, but SENSITIVITy to the state I am also I’m afraid this has located in. She used already made me the money for her security not want to be friends with deposit, ﬁrst month’s rent her once I get the money and additional moving exback. I worked hard for that $8,000, and there are penses. At the time, I was things I could have used the happy to help, but now I wish I hadn’t given her that money for this past year. How can I get my friend to kind of money. I trusted pay me back without anythat she would pay me back, and I never imagined thing legally binding her to

BON VIVANT

Continued from page 1D buy one, get one free offer on all drinks immediately after the game and through the close of business the following day. Visit 7 Brew in Baton Rouge at 5117 Essen Lane and 5821 Creek Centre Drive. Metairie’s Il Supremo Pizza is headed to Overpass Merchant, 2904 Perkins Road, Baton Rouge, on Thursday, with pizza slices, salads, wings and more. The restaurant will serve cocktails with LALO Tequila as well.

Wine and spirits Shafter wine dinner: 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Oct. 8 at Bin 77, 10111 Perkins Rowe, Baton Rouge Enjoy a four-course wine dinner paired with wines of Shafer Vineyards. The menu includes an amusebouche with a cocktail, an arugula and roasted beet salad with blood orange vinaigrette, barbecue pork belly, pan-roasted duck breast with roasted garlic polenta and Brussels sprouts, braised lamb neck and chocolate macarons with coffee buttercream. An ambassador from Sha-

do so? — Payback Dear Payback: You may not be able to force your friend, but try another approach. Ask her to pay you back in monthly installments. Stress that you need the money and you don’t want her negligence to destroy your friendship. If that doesn’t work, try smallclaims court. Even without a contract, you may be able to argue your point effectively. Send questions to askharriette@ harriettecole.com or c/o Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.

fer will be there for questions, and customers will be able to buy bottles at a discounted price. Tickets are $250 per person, available for purchase at resy.com. If you have an upcoming food event or a kitchen question, email lauren. cheramie@theadvocate. com. Cheers!

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4D ■ Wednesday, September 23, 2026 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

FrAnK And erneSt

roSebUdS

zItS

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zodIAC LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) — Pursue your dreams. Let your creative ideas flow and your mind take you on a tour of what's possible. Refuse to let laziness stand between you and your heart's desires. Live up to your potential. SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 22) — Don't settle for less than what you want. Being a tagalong will not satisfy your needs. Follow your heart and pursue what inspires and motivates you to find and develop your niche. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23-Dec. 21) — It's up to you to make things happen. If you delve into the where, why and what of every situation and opportunity, you'll find the people and options that suit your needs best. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) — Pay more attention to what you do, and keep your thoughts to yourself. Flying under the radar at work or at home will give you greater freedom to complete what's necessary. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — Assess your financial, medical or legal position before you make a move. Be sure to stick to the rules and maintain up-to-date paperwork. Go through the proper channels to avoid setbacks. PISCES (Feb. 20-March 20) — Don't carry burdens that don't belong to you. Your highest returns will come from following your heart and pursuing what makes you happy. ARIES (March 21-April 19) — Be honest with yourself and those you encounter. Question anything that seems dodgy or

unrealistic. Refuse to align yourself with groups that don't share your beliefs or objectives. TAURUS (April 20-May 20) — Protect your reputation, meaningful relationships and lifestyle from scammers. Spend more time taking care of your mental and emotional health and protecting what you've worked so hard to achieve. GEMINI (May 21-June 20) — Stop worrying about what others think and do what makes you happy. Rather than having regrets, pick up the pace and put what you want in place. When one door closes, another will open. CANCER (June 21-July 22) — Give whatever isn't running smoothly a chance to dissipate before you start something new. Distance yourself from negativity and those trying to rewrite history. Know what's important to you. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) — Refine your lifestyle to reflect your health and well-being. Taking better care of yourself will lead to new possibilities and desires. Refuse to let temptation result in overspending, bad habits and overindulgence. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) — Spend more time nurturing meaningful relationships. How you conduct your personal and professional life will have an impact on your ability to earn and to function properly in whatever situation comes your way. 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: X EQUALS R

Mother GooSe And GrIMM

SherMAn’S LAGoon FAMILY CIrCUS

dooneSbUrY

The Advocate ■ theadvocate.com ■ Wednesday, September 23, 2026 ■ 5D

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CurTiS

Hi and LoiS

Sudoku InstructIons: Sudoku is a number-placing puzzle based on a 9x9 grid with several given numbers. The object is to place the numbers 1 to 9 in the empty squares so that each row, each column and each 3x3 box contains the same number only once. The difficulty level of the Sudoku increases from Monday to Sunday. Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer

BaBY BLueS

BLondie

THe wiZard oF id

nea CroSSwordS

La TimeS CroSSword

6D ■ Wednesday, September 23, 2026 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

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B.C.

Bridge BY PHILLIP ALDER Ernest Dimnet, a French priest, writer and lecturer who wrote “The Art of Thinking” and died in 1954, said, “Education is the methodical creation of the habit of thinking.” How true — why didn’t we think of that? When I teach a class, I try to get my students to think like bridge players, not to bid the first thing that comes into their minds or to play the card nearest their thumbs. This deal from a social game is instructive. What do you think of the auction? What should happen in four hearts after West leads the spade king? North was right to respond two clubs, Stayman. If South had replied two diamonds, North would have rebid two hearts, showing a weak major two-suiter with no game aspirations. When South bid two hearts, though, North should have passed. And South, with a minimum 15 high-card points, ought to have passed out three hearts. In four hearts, South probably has to play the trump suit without loss. To do that, he can either cash dummy’s ace, playing West for a singleton king, or lead his queen, hoping East has a singleton jack. They are mathematically equal, but leading the queen is better because West might fail to cover with king-dou-

garfield

Pearls Before swiNe

hagar the horriBle

bleton. However, before that, South won the first trick and returned his second spade. Here, West defended perfectly, winning with his queen and shifting to a club. However, when declarer won with his ace and led the heart queen, West erred by playing low, so the contract made. © 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 — DIFFIcuLtY: DIH-fih-kul-tee: The quality of being hard to deal

Bizarro

marmaduKe

with. Average mark 17 words Time limit 35 minutes Can you find 28 or more words in DIFFICULTY? YEstERDAY’s WORD — tILLAGE tail tale tall teal tell tile till late legal

ligate lilt lite agile aglet alit gait gale gall

gate gelt gill gilt

loCKhorNs hidato Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer

today’s thought “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities; who heals all your diseases;” Psalms 103:2-3 Amen! God is good and gracious. G.E. Dean

The Advocate ■ theadvocate.com ■ Wednesday, September 23, 2026 ■ 7D

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

Announcements ANYONE knowing the whereabouts of any property owner, heir or other related person, in regard to the properties listed below, please contact the East Baton Rouge CityParish, Department of Development – Neighborhood Revitalization Ofﬁce at 225-389-8680. 23911 PLANK RD BOOKER T DOTY 4206 KILKENNY DR CHARLES E DAVIS JR 3678 ONTARIO ST RHINO VENTURES, LLC 16709 ELLIS AVE JOSEPH LEO CHRISTOPHER JR 255 S 21ST ST ISAAC HORACE PATTERSON SR 2322 MARYLAND ST EARLINE LATHAN C/O ANNNETTE THOMAS 748 SOUTH BLVD SUSAN BIENVILLE 249 N 19TH ST 249 19TH STREET, LLC 641 EDUCATION ST BEACON HOMES & INVESTMENTS, LLC 841 FOUNTAINBLEAU DR WILLIAM MIDDLETON REED JR 1195 SEABORD DR TODD & LANYA GRAMMER 1626 JADE AVE SHAWN L BARROW 8012 KEEL AV BSC INDUSTRIES, LLC 3222 ELM DR ROBERT JOHNSON, JR 6588 CLINTON AVE MERICK LALIN 5432 MADISON AVE JAMES W WILLIAMS 5835 ADAMS AVE TERRY ZIMMER 4043 N BARROW DR ANGEL WINGS PROPERTIES, LLC 1665 N 44TH ST DESAMAS MOORE 1205 N 37TH ST FELTUS MARIE COLLIER 5224 SYCAMORE ST THE ESTATE OF ALFRED J BRADY

Public Notices

Public Notices Bids/Proposals

PUBLIC NOTICE --ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS BID EVENT NO. 159 Sealed Bids will be re‐ ceived electronically through our E-Procure‐ www. ment site at jeffparish.gov/supplier until 2:00 p.m., October 8, 2026 and shall, at the below listed time and place, be publicly opened and read aloud. At no charge, bidders may sub‐ mit via Jefferson Parish’s electronic procurement page by visiting www. jeffparish.gov/supplier to register for this free site. Bids will be accepted and received through Bridge until 2 p.m. The public bid opening will be held at the West Bank Pur‐ chasing Department at 200 Derbigny Street, Suite 4400, Gretna, LA 70053 beginning at 2:30 p.m. on each bid opening date for the following project: Labor, Materials, and All Other Incidentals Necessary to Demolish and Properly Dispose of 3133 Edenborn Avenue, Metairie, LA 70002 Late bids will not be ac‐ cepted Jefferson Parish strongly encourages the involve‐ ment of small busi‐ nesses, minority busi‐ nesses, women's busi‐ ness enterprises, and veteran-owned busi‐ nesses to stimulate par‐ ticipation in procurement and assistance pro‐ grams. work in accor‐ dance with the speciﬁca‐ tion with no additional cost to the owner. Megan Grantham Director Purchasing Department Misty A. Camardelle Assistant Director Purchasing Department ADV: The Baton Rouge Advocate: September 9, 16, and 23, 2026 For additional informa‐ tion, please visit the Pur‐ chasing Webpage at https://www.jeffparish. gov/464/Purchasing or you may call 504-3642678. 199624-sept 9-16-23-3t $109.03

PUBLIC NOTICE --ADVERTISEMENT FOR BID Sealed Bids will be re‐ ceived by the Purchasing Office, University of New Orleans, Admin. Annex, Room 1004F, 2000 Lakeshore Dr., New Or‐ leans, LA 70148 for: BOILER AND CHILLER REPLACEMENT FOR NET CHARTER SCHOOL EAST CAMPUS Sealed Bid No. BTB2933 until: October 22, 2026 @ 2:00 PM at which time and place the Bids will be opened and read. There will be a NONMandatory Pre-Bid Con‐ ference held on October 14, 2026 at LSU New Or‐ leans, Administration Bldg, Room 112 at 10:00AM CONTRACTORS MUST BE LICENSED BY THE LOUISIANA STATE LI‐ CENSING BOARD FOR CONTRACTORS UNDER CATEGORY MECHANICAL WORK. Evidence of authority to submit the bid shall be required in accordance with R.S. 38:2212a(1)(c) (i). The right is reserved to reject any or all bids and to waive informali‐ ties. UNO is an equal op‐ portunity/affirmative ac‐ tion employer. Specifications may be obtained from the Pur‐ chasing Office by calling (504) 280-6172 or email at tabacino@uno.edu. By: Troy A. Bacino, Asst. Director Procurement, LSU New Orleans 201161-sept 23-30-oct 73t $81.73

PUBLIC NOTICE --ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS Sealed bids will be re‐ ceived by the Louisiana Tech University, Purchas‐ ing Ofﬁce, Keeny Hall Room 408, 208 Keeny Cir‐ l h

1119 N ACADIAN THWY W KENDRIC C HINTON 1115 N ACADIAN THWY W KENDRIC C HINTON 1855 HARELSON ST ALBERTHA HAYES 1472 N 43RD ST AUDREY CHARLES WILLIAMS, SR 1450 N 43RD ST IRA MAE FOREMAN 3116 DALTON ST THE ESTATE OF LONNIE WHITE ATTN: FANNIE WHITE 3045 ERIE ST AMEKA THOMAS 3858 TYRONE DR LEONA LEE FORD LEBLANC 2349 MISSISSIPPI ST LATOYA SAUNDERS 9957 AVENUE H LOUIS J WHITE 9956 AVENUE I THELMA CHRISTOFF 8565 WILBUR ST FATISHA D BOYD 4526 MONARCH AVE LLOYD JONES 7772 N MARIBEL CT MONICA T AUGUSTUS 1280 CARDINAL ST PRESTON MORRISON 10200 GREENWELL SPRINGS RD SULLIVAN EQUIPMENT CO, INC 8832 HICKCOCK DR RUFUS E JACKSON, JR 2040 PICKETT AVE RICHARD LEONIDAS BILES, III 12020 FLORIDA BLVD GMGC VENTURES LLC 1665 N 44TH ST DESAMAS MOORE 432 EAST DR COLLIS B TEMPLE, JR 5835 ADAMS AVE TERRY ZIMMER 1650 N ACADIAN THWY W BIG RIVER PLANTING & REFINING, CO 7863 MEADOW AVE GREGORY COATES 2151 GLENMORE AVE HOUSE OF GOD OF BATON ROUGE, INC 4043 N BARROW DR ANGEL WINGS PROPERTIES, LLC 6588 CLINTON AVE MERICK LALIN 3675 FAIRWOODS DR EVELYN BELL 5103 WOODLYN DR

Public Notices Bids/Proposals

y cle, Ruston, LA 71272. The deadline for receipt of bids is 2:00 PM on Wednesday, October 7, 2026 at which time bids will be opened and read aloud in Keeny Hall Room 408, 208 Keeny Circle, Ruston LA 71272.

g y y mail, private courier or submit electronically through Bidnet www.bid netdirect.com//audubon natureinstitute Bids will be publicly opened and read aloud at the place and time that the bids are to be received. In ac‐ cordance with LA RS 38: 2212.E(6), bids for this project may be submit‐ ted electronically via up‐ load to BidNet www.bid netdirect.com//audubon natureinstitute. All bid documents shall be up‐ loaded by October 15, 2026, at 10 am. Questions about this

FOR: Replace Chiller Lomax Hall Louisiana Tech University Ruston, Louisiana BID NUMBER: 50012-66427 Complete Bidding Docu‐ ments for this project are available in electronic form. They may be ob‐ tained without charge and without deposit from Aillet, Fenner, Jolly & Mc‐ Clelland, Inc. Printed copies are not available from the Designer but arrangements can be made to obtain them through most repro‐ graphic firms. Plan hold‐ ers are responsible for their own reproduction costs. Questions about this pro‐ cedure shall be directed to the Designer at: Aillet, Fenner, Jolly & Mc‐ Clelland, Inc. 3003 Knight Street, Suite 120 Shreveport, LA 71105 Telephone: 318-425-7452 E-mail: mmiddleton@ afjmc.com All bids shall be accom‐ panied by bid security in an amount of five per‐ cent (5.0%) of the sum of the base bid and all al‐ ternates. The form of this security shall be as stated in the Instructions to Bidders included in the Bid Documents for this project. The successful Bidder shall be required to fur‐ nish a Performance and Payment Bond written as described in the Instruc‐ tions to Bidders included in the Bid Documents for this project. A MANDATORY PRE-BID CONFERENCE WILL BE HELD at 10:00 AM on Thursday, September 24, 2026 at Lomax Hall, 1201 Lomax Drive, Ruston, Louisiana 71270 Bids shall be accepted from Contractors who are licensed under LA. R.S. 37:2150-2192 for the classification of Mechan‐ ical Work. Bidder is re‐ quired to comply with provisions and require‐ ments of LA R.S. 38:2212(B)(5). No bid may be withdrawn for a pe‐ riod of forty-five (45) days after receipt of bids, except under the provisions of LA. R.S. 38:2214. The Owner reserves the right to reject any and all bids for just cause. In ac‐ cordance with La. R.S. 38:2212(B)(1), the provi‐ sions and requirements of this Section; and those stated in the bidding documents shall not be waived by any entity. When this project is fi‐ nanced either partially or entirely with State Bonds or financed in whole or in part by federal or other funds which are not readily available at the time bids are received, the award of this Con‐ tract is contingent upon the granting of lines of credit, or the sale of bonds by the Bond Com‐ mission or the availabil‐ ity of federal or other funds. The State shall incur no obligation to the Contractor until the Con‐ tract Between Owner and Contractor is fully exe‐ cuted. ANY PERSON REQUIRING SPECIAL ACCOMMODA‐ TIONS SHALL NOTIFY LOUISIANA TECH UNIVER‐ SITY OF THE TYPE(S) OF ACCOMMODATION RE‐ QUIRED NOT LESS THEN SEVEN (7) DAYS BEFORE THE BID OPENING. 199335-SEP 9-16-23-3T $128.76 PUBLIC NOTICE --Audubon Commission in‐ vites bids from qualified licensed general contrac‐ tors to renovate and alter portions of Wolden‐ berg Park which will in‐ clude renovations and repairs to hardscapes, landscape, site furnish‐ ings, and some terraced earthwork specified in the Eskew+Dumez+Rip‐ ple, APC. Drawings titled Goldring Woldenberg Park Phase III – Above Deck dated May 1, 2026, located at Audubon Aquarium, 1 Canal Street, New Orleans, LA 70130. Bids are due on or before October 15, 2026, at 10 am. Bids shall be submit‐ ted in a sealed envelope marked “Woldenberg Park Phase III- Above Deck” Contractors should supply one (1) original by hand delivery, il i i

procedure should be di‐ rected to Bidnet Direct Vendor Support Team at 800-835-4603 Option 2 or email at support@bidnet. com. A bid bond will be required, according to the contract documents, and should be uploaded with the rest of the re‐ quired Bid Documents. If a scanned copy of the Bid Bond is uploaded, the original notarized bid bond must be produced “on-demand” per the Owner’s request. There will be a non-mandatory pre-bid site visit meeting at Audubon Aquarium, 1 Canal Street, New Or‐ leans, LA 70130 on Octo‐ ber 1, 2026, at 1 pm in the Gulf Conference Room. Submit to the following: Audubon Commission c/o Audubon Nature In‐ stitute - Administrative Building at Audubon Zoo Attn: Cecilie H. Primeaux 6500 Magazine Street New Orleans, LA 70118. Bids received after the day, and time specified above will be rejected by the Audubon Commis‐ sion as non-responsive and returned to the bid‐ der unopened. All ques‐ tions regarding this invi‐ tation shall be addressed in writing, (7) seven cal‐ endar days prior to bid opening excluding Satur‐ days, Sundays and holi‐ days and shall be sub‐ mitted to Cecilie H. Primeaux at ch‐ primeaux@auduboninst itute.org. Bid packages shall be available on the first date of advertise‐ ment. Complete Bidding Documents for this pro‐ ject are being distributed in electronic form on be‐ half of the Owner by Bidnet Direct. They may be obtained without charge and without de‐ posit. Printed copies are not available from the Owner or Designer. Bonds shall be written by a surety or insurance company currently on the U.S. Department of the Treasury Financial Management Service list of approved bonding companies, or by a Louisiana domiciled in‐ surance company with at least an A- rating in the latest printing of the A.M. Best’s Key Rating Guide to write individual bonds up to ten percent of poli‐ cyholders’ surplus as shown in the A.M. Best’s Key Rating Guide, or by an insurance company that is either domiciled in Louisiana or owned by Louisiana Residents and is licensed to write surety bonds. Sureties used for obtaining bonds for this project must ap‐ pear as acceptable on the U.S. Department of the Treasury Circular 570. The construction period begins when a notice to proceed is issued after the contract is signed; the Liquidated Damages are one thou‐ sand ($1000.00) dollars per day. The construction period is 215 calendar days. Contractor Licens‐ ing, the State of Louisiana public bid laws, LA Revised Statutes Sections 37 and 38, apply to the award of this Contract. Bids shall be accepted from Contractors who are licensed, under the laws of the State of Louisiana, for the classi‐ fication of “Building Con‐ struction”. This procurement is un‐ dertaken pursuant to LRS 38:2212 et seq. and CFR 2 Part 200 Federal Contract Provisions. This project is funded by the U.S. De‐ partment of Housing and Urban Development FY 2022 Community Project Funding Program and is subject to that program’s requirements. The atten‐ tion of bidders is called particularly to the re‐ quirements of Section 3 of the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968, Section 109 (Non-Dis‐ crimination) of the Hous‐ ing and Community De‐ velopment Act of 1974, Section 503 (Non-Dis‐ crimination Against Em‐ ployees with Disabilities) and Section 504 (NonDiscrimination Against Individuals with Disabili‐ ties) of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Segregated Facilities, Executive

KEJAMLEA R HOWELL 1645 BELLROSE DR MELVILLE ROGERS & KIMBERLY PIERSON 1887 ERLANGER DR MARIO A SAENZ 854 N DONMOOR BATON ROUGE MULTI-FAMILY HOLDINGS, LLC / KASHIF KHAN

Merchandise 3 CEMETERY PLOTS GreenOaks Cemetery, Section 3, Lot 40-1, 5, 6. Please Make an Offer. 914671-1546 or beharmeyer@gmail.com

201436-Sept 21-27, 7t $3,009.10 Anyone knowing the whereabouts of Stephen White please contact attorney Larry McAlpine at 225-3171956. 201501-Sept 21-23, 3t $62.80 If anyone has knowledge of the whereabouts of Kiriah Key Beamslight, then please contact Attorney Raven Jamerson via email at cavalierlawofﬁce@gmail.com or via telephone at (225) 757-5483. 201691-Sept 23-25, 3t $90.10

APARTMENT 3060 N. Acadian Thrwy (Wtr/Swr Pd) 1BR/1BA, Rent $500, Dep $100 225-357-6436

PETS • SUPPLIES • SERVICES • OBITUARIES • LOST & FOUND 8wk old Pittbull puppies 1st shots and deworm done. M/F available $300 OBO 225-316-6999

CATS RAGAMUFFIN & RAGDOLL KITTENS www.CatsByFrancy.com/kittens $1500up! Reg. Shots & Guaranty 337-230-3150

Order 11246, equal op‐ portunity requirements, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and all re‐ quirements of the HUD CPF Construction Con‐ tract Compliance Provi‐ sions included in the Pro‐ ject Manual.

p y upon request from Chuck Hurst, Louisiana Sheriffs' Task Force, 1175 Nichol‐ son Drive, Baton Rouge, LA 70802, by phone at 225-343-8402, or by email at Chuck@lsa.org. The right to reject any and all bids and waive informali‐ ties is reserved. 201274-sep 23-30-2t $178.98 PUBLIC NOTICE --Sealed bids will be re‐ ceived by the Louisiana Sheriffs' Task Force at it's ofﬁce located at 1175 Nicholson Drive, Baton Rouge, LA 70802 until 10am/Tuesday, October 13, 2026 for the follow‐ ing: 100KW MOBILE GENERA‐ TOR Full information and bid specs may be obtained upon request from Chuck Hurst, Louisiana Sheriffs' Task Force, 1175 Nichol‐ son Drive, Baton Rouge, LA 70802, by phone at 225-343-8402, or by email at Chuck@lsa.org. The right to reject any and all bids and waive informali‐ ties is reserved. 201274-sep 23-30-2t $148.86

Legal Notices

PUBLIC NOTICE ---

Jonathan Loveall, Supervisor (225) 683-8277 East Feliciana Parish School Board 12732 Silliman Street Post Office Box 397 Clinton, LA 70722, during regular office hours of 7:00 am until 4:15 pm, Tuesday through Friday. The Board re‐ serves the right to reject any and/or all bids. Sealed bids should indi‐ cate whether any and/or all items bid are on State Contract Pricing (by indi‐ cation of State Contract Number on each item), be delivered to the above address and identified by marking on the envelope "E-Rate Sealed Bid," due 2:00 pm, Tuesday, Octo‐ ber 27, 2026. Bids may also be accepted online at http://centralauctionh ouse.com. The East Feli‐ ciana Parish School Board has the right to re‐ ject any and/or all nonresponsive bids/quotes. Keisha L. Netterville, Superintendent of Schools 200393-sep 16-23-30-3t $58.77 PUBLIC NOTICE - -Notice to Proposers SP# 172 Sealed proposals will be received by the Office of State Procurement, 1201 North Third Street, 2nd Floor, Suite 2-160, Baton Rouge, LA until 10:00 AM CT on 10/22/26 for Solici‐ tation Number Doc Doc2392478233 - Request for Proposal (RFP) for Site Investigations for the Remediation Division for LDEQ. The RFP may be accessed at https:// portal.us.bn.cloud.ariba. com/dashboard/public/ appext/comsapsbncd iscoveryui#/RfxEvent/ preview/1110025247?anI d=ANONYMOUS. No proposals will be con‐ sidered after the date and hour specified. The right is reserved to reject any and all proposals and to waive any infor‐ malities. Amy Vincent Chief Procurement Offi‐ cer Phone (225) 342-8010 201532-sep 23-1t $11.77 PUBLIC NOTICE --Sealed bids will be re‐ ceived by the Louisiana Sheriffs' Task Force at it's office located at 1175 Nicholson Drive, Baton Rouge, LA 70802 until 10am/Tuesday, October 13, 2026 for the follow‐ ing: 100KW MOBILE GENERATOR Full information and bid specs may be obtained f h k

HOUSE 3Br/1Ba $950/month $700/deposit. 2571 72nd Avenue. Section 8 welcome. Call 225-284-9954

PLACE YOUR PET SERVICES INFORMATION IN THE PET SERVICES DIRECTORY TODAY! • IT IS FAST AND EASY! • CALL 225-383-0111

Public Notices Bids/Proposals

Speciﬁcations may be obtained at the ofﬁce of:

ROOMS FOR RENT Furnished Rooms. $125/wk. $500/mo. 225-933-7560

Pets / Pet Services Directory

Public Notices Bids/Proposals

NOTICE TO BIDDERS The East Feliciana Parish School Board is accept‐ ing sealed bids until 2:00 pm, Tuesday, October 27, 2026 in connection with E-rate and related items utilized in East Feliciana Parish School Board owned schools/facilities.

MOBILE HOME 1, 2 & 3 BR mobile homes, $675 & up 6061 Plank Rd. CALL 225-978-4653

Dogs German shepherd puppies 6 1/2 weeks old. Shots and wormed $600.00 225-572-9423 tksawy43@yahoo.com

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Invested Enterprise seeks Senior Appli‐ cation Programmer to work in Baton Rouge, LA. Applicants please send CVs to Invested Enterprise, at info@Investe dEnterprise.com

200866-SEP 17-24-30-3T $278.83

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

Baton Rouge Rental

Employment

Institute no later than seven (7) days prior to bid opening: ADA Coordi‐ nator, 6500 Magazine Street, New Orleans, LA 70118, (504) 861-2537.

HOUSE 70805 Area 3: Large 3 Bedroom, 1 Bath. beautiful home. Call 225-2887494 for details.

CEMETERY PLOTS Selling a Tandem (space for 2) at Greenoaks Memorial Park. Located in the West Interior of the of the Garden View Mausoleum. $14,000.00. Contact 225 772-9206

Julia N Noor, LLC d/b/a Break Express 3 is applying to the Ofﬁce of Alcohol & Tobacco Control of the State of Louisiana for a permit to sell beverages of high and low alcohol content at retail in the Parish of East Baton Rouge at the following address: 2147 Staring Lane, Baton Rouge Louisiana 70808 Julia N Noor, LLC Break Express 3 Members: Rami Altabakhi & Mostafa Bani Hani 201788-Sept 23, 1t $98.14

Audubon Nature Institute is an Equal Opportunity Employer. The provisions of these statues shall govern and control all procurement hereunder notwithstanding any pro‐ visions herein to the con‐ trary. The Contractor shall begin procurement of materials within ten (10) working days of the receipt of the Notice to Proceed. Audubon Na‐ ture Institute strongly encourages small busi‐ nesses, minority busi‐ nesses, women's busi‐ ness enterprises, vet‐ eran-owned businesses, and labor surplus area ﬁrms ’s, and Section 3 Business Concerns to participate in this pro‐ curement process. Any person with disabilities requiring special accom‐ modations must contact Audubon Nature

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

Public Notice *** Notification is given that Bonvenu Bank, National Association, 2711 E. Texas Street, Bossier City, Louisiana 71111, has filed an application with the Comptroller of the Currency on September 17, 2026, as specified in 12 CFR 5 for permission to establish a branch at 29118 Walker South Road, Suite B, Walker, Louisiana 70785. Any per‐ son wishing to comment on this application may file comments in writing with the Director for Dis‐ trict Licensing, 1700 Pa‐ cific Avenue, Suite 3600, Dallas, Texas 75201, or Li‐ censingPublicCom‐ ments@occ.treas.gov within 30 days of the date of this publication. To request a copy of the public portion of filing, contact the Director of Licensing at 1700 Pacific Avenue, Suite 3600, Dal‐ las, Texas 75201 or email Licensing@occ.treas.gov . 201743 Sept. 23, 1t $122.39

PUBLIC NOTICE --East Feliciana Parish Emergency Communications Commission P O Box 293 12486 Feliciana Drive Clinton, LA 70722 225-683-9007 225-683-6907 email: ef911@bellsouth.net Posting Date: September 9, 2026, 1:00 PM Meeting Date: September 10, 2026, 1:00 PM 1. Call to Order 2. Opening Prayer 3. Pledge 4. Roll Call 5. Additions to Agenda 6. Approve Agenda 7. Approve Minutes 8. Approve Monthly Invoices 9. Committee Reports 10. New Business a) Adopt the Millage Rate(s) b) Installing GPS Trackers on 911 Vehicle(s) c) Delivery of Ofﬁce Supplies 11. Old Business 12. Director’s Notes 13. Public Comments 14. Adjournment 200911-sept 23-1t $15.55 PUBLIC NOTICE --NOTICE Notice is hereby given, pursuant to article IV, section 21(D)(1) of the Louisiana Constitution, that on September 17, 2026, Delta South Louisiana Gas Company, LLC (“Delta South”), a natural gas public utility having facilities to per‐ mit the local distribution of natural gas to residen‐ tial and commercial cus‐ tomers in the parishes listed below, ﬁled with the Louisiana Public Ser‐ vice Commission (“LPSC”) its Evaluation Report pursuant to its Gas Operation Rate Sta‐ bilization Plan (“RSP”) Rider for the test year ended June 30, 2026 (“TY

DOGS CKC Registered Rat Terrier & Teddy Roosevelt Terrier Pups Available $200. (985) 217-2950

Legal Notices

2026”), in accordance with LPSC Order No. U37345. Delta South’s Gas Operations RSP ﬁling, if approved by the LPSC as ﬁled, will result in a rate increase of approxi‐ mately $9.30 million an‐ nually inclusive of im‐ pacts due to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“TCJA”), ef‐ fective as of December 16, 2026.

THAT YOUR RIGHTS OR INTEREST IN THE FOL‐ LOWING DESCRIBED PROPERTY LOCATED IN WEST BATON ROUGE PARISH, LOUISIANA MAY BE TERMINATED BY SALE OF THE PROPERTY AT PUBLIC AUCTION IF YOU DO NOT TAKE FURTHER ACTION IN ACCORDANCE WITH LAW. PROPERTY DESCRIPTION: Lot P-11, containing 0.369 acres, being partition of Abe & Janie Parker Property 53A-73 CB410 E6 CB415 E28 (MB3 E45) Improve‐ ments thereon bear Mu‐ nicipal No. None. Parcel Number: 305319007300 West Baton Rouge Parish, State of Louisiana Tax sale title to the above-described prop‐ erty has been adjudi‐ cated to the Parish of West Baton Rouge for failure to pay taxes, by act recorded June 28, 2021, at Book 602, Page 72, Instrument No. 202100054934, of the con‐ veyance records of West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana. You have been identified as a person who may have an inter‐ est in this property. TERMS OF SALE: Date and time of public sale: Tuesday, September 29, 2026, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., Central Time Online www. bidding: bid4assets.com/WestBat onRougeTaxSales Written bids: Written bids will be accepted through the Bid4Assets offline bid‐ ding process. The re‐ quired bid deposit must be received and fully funded no later than 4:00 p.m., Central Time, on Fri‐ day, September 25, 2026, and a completed Offline Bid Form must be re‐ ceived no later than 12:00 p.m., Central Time, on Monday, September 28, 2026. Bid4Assets staff will enter the bidder's maximum authorized bid into the auction system as a proxy bid, which will bid on the bidder's be‐ half up to, but not ex‐ ceeding, the stated maxi‐ mum amount. Minimum bid: $3,598.90, represent‐ ing taxes, interest, penal‐ ties, fees and costs, to‐ gether with the costs of notification and publica‐ tion Other terms of sale: The property is being sold subject to the re‐ demptive period pro‐ vided by law. The prop‐ erty is sold as is, where is, without representa‐ tion or warranty of title, condition, merchantabil‐ ity, fitness for ordinary or a particular purpose, ac‐ cess, acreage, bound‐ aries, zoning, occupancy, environmental condition, or suitability for develop‐ ment. Neither the Parish nor Bid4Assets guaran‐ tees that title is clear, marketable, or insurable or that the purchaser will b i i di

Affected Parishes: Aca‐ dia, Allen, Avoyelles, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Cameron, Evangeline, Iberia, Jefferson Davis, Lafayette, Rapides, St. Helena, St. Landry, St. Martin, St. Mary, St. Tam‐ many, Tangipahoa, Ver‐ milion, Vernon, and Washington. Delta South’s RSP filing for the 2026 Test Year re‐ flects an Earned Return on Equity (“EROE”) of 5.30% and pursuant to the RSP’s cost of service sharing mechanism, the EROE requires a rate ad‐ justment by Delta South. It is estimated that the requested net rate in‐ crease will have the fol‐ lowing effect on average monthly bills: a Residen‐ tial customer using 27 CCF will increase approx‐ imately $4.99; and a Small Commercial-Firm Service customer using 155 CCF will increase ap‐ proximately $28.65. The Company’s filing and its attachments may be viewed in the Records Di‐ vision of the LPSC at the following address: Records Division 602 N. 5th Street, 12th Floor Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70802 Telephone: (225) 342-3157 Toll Free (800) 256-2397

DELTA SOUTH LOUISIANA GAS COMPANY, LLC 201781 Sept. 23, 2026 1t $272.96 PUBLIC NOTICE --NOTICE Notice is hereby given, pursuant to article IV, section 21(D)(1) of the Louisiana Constitution, that on September 17, 2026, Delta North Louisiana Gas Company, LLC (“Delta North”), a natural gas public utility having facilities to per‐ mit the local distribution of natural gas to residen‐ tial and commercial cus‐ tomers in the parishes listed below, filed with the Louisiana Public Ser‐ vice Commission (“LPSC”) its Evaluation Report pursuant to its Gas Operation Rate Sta‐ bilization Plan (“RSP”) Rider for the test year ended June 30, 2026 (“TY 2026”), in accordance with LPSC Order No. U37346. Delta North’s Gas Operations RSP filing, if approved by the LPSC as filed, will result in a rate increase of approxi‐ mately $8.5 million annu‐ ally inclusive of impacts due to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“TCJA”), effec‐ tive as of December 16, 2026. Affected Parishes: Bi‐ enville, Bossier, Caddo, Claiborne, De Soto, Jack‐ son, Lincoln, Ouachita, Union, and Webster Delta North’s RSP filing for the 2026 Test Year re‐ flects an Earned Return on Equity (“EROE”) of 5.94% and pursuant to the RSP’s cost of service sharing mechanism, the EROE requires a rate ad‐ justment by Delta North. It is estimated that the requested net rate in‐ crease will have the fol‐ lowing effect on average monthly bills: a Residen‐ tial customer using 39 CCF will increase approx‐ imately $4.16; a Small Commercial-Firm Service customer using 232 CCF will increase approxi‐ mately $24.74. The Company’s filing and its attachments may be viewed in the Records Di‐ vision of the LPSC at the following address: Records Division 602 N. 5th Street, 12th Floor Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70802 Telephone: (225) 342-3157 Toll Free (800) 256-2397 DELTA NORTH LOUISIANA GAS COMPANY, LLC 201705 Sept. 23, 1t $255.11

English & French Bulldog Pups Male/Female. Registered. $1600UP. Champion/European lines. Rare colors. Shots/Dewormings/Health Guarantee. 601-297-1330 Chad_hollingsworth2002@yahoo.co m TopBulldogs.com

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p obtain immediate pos‐ session. Each bidder is solely responsible for in‐ vestigating the legal de‐ scription, ownership record, taxes, assess‐ ments, liens, privileges, mortgages, servitudes, rights-of-way, occu‐ pancy, access, zoning, code violations, environ‐ mental conditions, and any other matter affect‐ ing the property or the interest offered. Bidders should obtain indepen‐ dent legal, title, tax, sur‐ vey, and other profes‐ sional advice before bid‐ ding. TAX COLLECTOR: Sheriff Jeff Bergeron West Baton Rouge Parish Post Office Box 129 / 850 Eighth Street Port Allen, Louisiana 70767 (225) 343-9234 This notice is published pursuant to La. R.S. 47:2202 and 47:2203 in The Advocate, the official journal of the Parish of West Baton Rouge. This advertise‐ ment shall be published twice: once at least thirty (30) days prior to the date of the public sale, and again, no more than seven (7) days prior to the date of the public sale. 198770 Aug. 27, Sept. 23, 2026 2t $746.04 PUBLIC NOTICE --NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC IBERVILLE PARISH REGISTRAR OF VOTERS OFFICE The Department of State and the Iberville Parish Registrar of Voters Office will be conducting VOTER REGISTRATION WEEK be‐ ginning September 21st – 25th, 2026. The purpose of this effort is to inform the general public of im‐ portant election informa‐ tion and to encourage participation in voter registration. Voter registration is now made easier by visiting the Secretary of State’s www. website at: GEAUXVOTE.com where online voter registration is available. This website provides helpful informa‐ tion about voter registra‐ tion and the election process, as well as sta‐ tistics and educational materials. The Geaux Vote mobile app is also available to provide voter information. Registration applications and other important in‐ formation can be ob‐ tained by visiting our of‐ fice located on the 2nd floor of the Iberville Parish Courthouse, 58050 Meriam Street, Plaquem‐ ine, LA 70764.

The last day to register to vote for the November 3, 2026 election in person or by mail is October 5, 2026. The Geaux Vote on‐ line electronic registra‐ tion deadline is October 13, 2026. Visit GEAUXVOTE.COM for more information. Early voting for the November 3, 2026 election begins Tuesday, October 20, 2026 through Tuesday, Octo‐ ber 27, 2026, excluding Sunday. The early voting hours are 8:30 am- 6:00 pm. Citizens who want to vote early may do so in person at the following early voting sites and schedules listed below. October 20 – 27, 2026 (ex‐ cluding Sunday): Iberville Parish Registrar of Vot‐ ers Office, 2nd floor of the Iberville Parish Cour‐ thouse, 58050 Meriam Street, Plaquemine, LA 70764 October 20-21, 2026: St. Gabriel Community Cen‐ ter, 1400 Gordon Simon Leblanc Dr, St. Gabriel, LA 70776 October 26-27, 2026: North Iberville Commu‐ nity Center, 75700 Rosedale Rd, Rosedale, LA 70772 Kirsha D. Barker Iberville Parish Registrar of Voters 225-687-5201 201050-SEP 23-1T $33.07 PUBLIC NOTICE --OFFICIAL PUBLIC NOTICE CITY OF BATON ROUGEPARISH OF EAST BATON ROUGE METROPOLITAN COUNCIL UPCOMING BOARD AND COMMISSION APPOINTMENTS In accordance with Sec‐ tion 5 of Ordinance 13496 adopted by the Metropol‐ itan Council on January 25, 2006, the following is a listing of upcoming openings to Metropolitan Council appointments to the indicated Boards and Commissions. Persons interested in serving should contact the Coun‐ cil Administrator-Trea‐ surer’s Office at 389-3123 for additional informa‐ tion. Please note the ap‐ propriate deadline for applying for this position is noon on November 19, 2026 and the Council will consider on November 24, 2026. Board/Commission Library Board of Control Incumbent

NOTICE OF SPECIAL ELECTION NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that an election will be held on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, within Cross Gates Subdivision Crime Prevention and Neighborhood Improvement District (“District”) and that at said election all registered voters in the district shall be entitled to vote on the following: CROSS GATES SUBDIVISION CRIME PREVENTION AND NEIGHBORHOOD IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT Shall the Cross Gates Subdivision Crime Prevention and Neighborhood Improvement District (“District”) be authorized to levy and collect an annual parcel fee of $150 on each improved and unimproved parcel within the District for a period of 10 years, beginning in 2027 and ending in 2036, as provided in La. R.S. 33:9097.42 with the proceeds of the parcel fee to be used to aid in crime prevention and to add to the security of the District residents by providing for an increase in the presence of law enforcement personnel and to add to the betterment of the District by providing for beautification and other improvements (an estimated $11,700.00 is reasonably expected to be collected from the initial collection)? The estimated cost of said election, as determined by the Louisiana Secretary of State, is $600.00 based on the actual cost of similar elections. The election will be held in accordance with the Louisiana Election Code at the following polling places in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana from 6:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m: Precinct

Polling

Place Location

03/015A&B (P)

Shenandoah Elementary School

16555 Appomattox Ave. Baton Rouge, LA 70817

NOTICE IS HEREBY FURTHER GIVEN that the district will meet on November 5, 2026, at 6:00 p.m. at 16445 N. Antioch Crossing, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70817, and shall then and there in open and public session proceed to examine and canvass the returns and declare the result of the special election.

PUBLIC NOTICE --NOTICE OF PUBLIC SALE OF ADJUDICATED PROP‐ ERTY LOCKETT, ROBERT THIS NOTICE BY PUBLICA‐ TION IS NOTIFICATION

Legal Notices

200706-687478-sep 16-23-30-oct 7-4t $ 2,310.00

8D ■ Wednesday, September 23, 2026 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate

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NOTICE Proposed Constitutional Amendments to be voted on at the U.S. Senate General/Open U.S. Representative Primary/Open Primary Election November 3, 2026 ---------CODING: Words which are struck through are deletions from existing law; words in boldface type and/or underscored are additions. Proposed Amendment No. 1 Regular Session, 2026 -------ACT No. 39 -------SENATE BILL NO. 180 BY SENATOR FOIL A JOINT RESOLUTION Proposing to amend Article VII, Section 21(K)(1) of the Constitution of Louisiana, relative to ad valorem tax exemptions; to provide relative to the ad valorem tax exemption for certain disabled veterans and their surviving spouses; to allow for the transfer of certain exemptions by a surviving spouse; to provide for limitations; to provide for effectiveness; and to specify an election for submission of the proposition to electors and provide a ballot proposition. Section 1. Be it resolved by the Legislature of Louisiana, two-thirds of the members elected to each house concurring, that there shall be submitted to the electors of the state, for their approval or rejection in the manner provided by law, a proposal to amend Article VII, Section 21(K)(1) of the Constitution of Louisiana, to read as follows: §21. Other Property Exemptions Section 21. In addition to the homestead exemption provided for in Section 20 of this Article, the following property and no other shall be exempt from ad valorem taxation: *** (K)(1)(a) In addition to the homestead exemption authorized pursuant to the provisions of Section 20 of this Article, which applies to the first seven thousand five hundred dollars of the assessed valuation of property, the next two thousand five hundred dollars of the assessed valuation of property receiving the homestead exemption that is owned and occupied by a veteran with a service-connected disability rating of fifty percent or more but less than seventy percent by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs shall be exempt from ad valorem taxation. The surviving spouse of a deceased veteran with a service-connected disability rating of fifty percent or more but less than seventy percent by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs shall be eligible for this exemption if the surviving spouse occupies and remains the owner of the property, whether or not the exemption was in effect on the property prior to the death of the veteran. If property eligible for the exemption provided for in this Subsubparagraph has an assessed value in excess of ten thousand dollars, ad valorem property taxes shall apply to the assessment in excess of ten thousand dollars. (b) In addition to the homestead exemption authorized pursuant to the provisions of Section 20 of this Article, which applies to the first seven thousand five hundred dollars of the assessed valuation of property, the next four thousand five hundred dollars of the assessed valuation of property owned and occupied by a veteran with a service-connected disability rating of seventy percent or more but less than one hundred percent by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs shall be exempt from ad valorem taxation. The surviving spouse of a deceased veteran with a service-connected disability rating of seventy percent or more but less than one hundred percent by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs shall be eligible for this exemption if the surviving spouse occupies and remains the owner of the property, whether or not the exemption was in effect on the property prior to the death of the veteran. If property eligible for the exemption provided for in this Subsubparagraph has an assessed value in excess of twelve thousand dollars, ad valorem property taxes shall apply to the assessment in excess of twelve thousand dollars. (c) In addition to the homestead exemption authorized pursuant to the provisions of Section 20 of this Article, which applies to the first seven thousand five hundred dollars of the assessed valuation of property, the remaining assessed valuation of property receiving the homestead exemption that is owned and occupied by a veteran with a serviceconnected disability rating of one hundred percent unemployability or totally disabled by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs shall be exempt from ad valorem taxation. The surviving spouse of a deceased veteran with a service-connected disability rating of one hundred percent unemployability or totally disabled by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs shall be eligible for this exemption if the surviving spouse occupies and remains the owner of the property, whether or not the exemption was in effect on the property prior to the death of the veteran. (d) Once a surviving spouse of a deceased veteran with a serviceconnected disability is eligible for and has taken the exemption, if the surviving spouse then acquires a different property which qualifies for the homestead exemption, the surviving spouse shall be entitled to a one-time transfer of the exemption to that subsequent homestead, the exemption being limited in value to the amount of the exemption claimed on the prior homestead in the last year for which the exemption was claimed. The assessor may require the submission of certain information concerning the amount of the exemption on the prior homestead for purposes of determining the extent of the exemption available for the subsequent homestead. *** Section 2. Be it further resolved that the provisions of this amendment shall become effective January 1, 2027, and shall apply to all taxable years beginning on January 1, 2027. Section 3. Be it further resolved that this proposed amendment shall be submitted to the electors of the state of Louisiana at the statewide election to be held on November 3, 2026. Section 4. Be it further resolved that on the official ballot to be used at said election there shall be printed a proposition, upon which the electors of the state shall be permitted to vote YES or NO, to amend the Constitution of Louisiana, which proposition shall read as follows: Do you support an amendment to allow the surviving spouse of a deceased veteran with a service-connected disability, who receives the additional property tax exemption, to make a one-time transfer of the additional property tax exemption property tax exemption to a subsequent qualifying property? (Effective January 1, 2027) (Amends Article VII, Section 21(K)(1)) Proposed Amendment No. 2 Regular Session, 2026 -------ACT No. 273 -------HOUSE BILL NO. 521 BY REPRESENTATIVES WILDER, AMEDEE, BAMBURG, BAYHAM, BERAULT, BILLINGS, BOUDREAUX, BOURRIAQUE, BRASS, CARVER, CHASSION, CHENEVERT, COATES, COX, CREWS, DESHOTEL, DEWITT, DICKERSON, EDMONSTON, EGAN, FIRMENT, FONTENOT, FREIBERG, GALLE, HEBERT, HORTON, KNOX, LACOMBE, JACOB LANDRY, MARTINEZ, MELERINE, OWEN, SCHAMERHORN, TAYLOR, TURNER, WILEY, AND WRIGHT A JOINT RESOLUTION Proposing to amend Article VII, Section 23(C) of the Constitution of Louisiana, relative to ad valorem property tax millage rate adjustments; to provide for maximum authorized millage rates; to provide for applicability; to provide for an effective date; to provide for submission of the proposed amendment to the electors; and to provide for related matters. Section 1. Be it resolved by the Legislature of Louisiana, two-thirds of the members elected to each house concurring, that there shall be submitted to the electors of the state of Louisiana, for their approval or rejection in the manner provided by law, a proposal to amend Article VII, Section 23(C) of the Constitution of Louisiana, to read as follows: §23. Adjustment of Ad Valorem Tax Millages Section 23. *** (C) Increases Permitted. Nothing herein shall prohibit a taxing authority from collecting, in the year in which Sections 18 and 20 of this Article are implemented or in any subsequent year, a larger dollar amount of ad valorem taxes by (1) levying additional or increased millages as provided by law or (2) placing additional property on the tax rolls. Increases in the millage rate in excess of the rates established as provided by Paragraph (B) above of this Section but not in excess of the prior year’s maximum authorized millage rate approved by this constitution and approved by the taxing authority until the authorized millage rate expires may be levied by a two-thirds vote of the total membership of a taxing authority without further voter approval but only after a public hearing held in accordance with the open meeting law; however, in addition to any other requirements of the open meetings law, public notice of the time, place, and subject matter of such hearing shall be published on two separate days no less than thirty days before the public hearing. Such public notice shall be published in the official journal of the taxing authority, and another newspaper with a larger circulation within the taxing authority than the official journal of the taxing authority, if there is one. *** Section 2. Be it further resolved that the provisions of the amendment

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contained in this Joint Resolution shall become effective January 1, 2027, and shall be applicable to all taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2027. Section 3. Be it further resolved that this proposed amendment shall be submitted to the electors of the state of Louisiana at the statewide election to be held on November 3, 2026. Section 4. Be it further resolved that on the official ballot to be used at the election, there shall be printed a proposition, upon which the electors of the state shall be permitted to vote YES or NO, to amend the Constitution of Louisiana, which proposition shall read as follows: Do you support an amendment to allow a local taxing authority to continue to levy a lower millage rate without losing its ability to adjust to the maximum authorized millage rate from a prior year’s reassessment? (Effective January 1, 2027) (Amends Article VII, Section 23(C)) Proposed Amendment No. 3 Regular Session, 2026 -------ACT No. 271 -------HOUSE BILL NO. 51 BY REPRESENTATIVE VILLIO A JOINT RESOLUTION Proposing to add Article I, Section 18(C) of the Constitution of Louisiana, relative to the right to bail; to prohibit bail for offenders who have been convicted of certain offenses; to provide for submission of the proposed amendment to the electors; and to provide for related matters. Section 1. Be it resolved by the Legislature of Louisiana, two-thirds of the members elected to each house concurring, that there shall be submitted to the electors of the state of Louisiana, for their approval or rejection in the manner provided by law, a proposal to add Article I, Section 18(C) of the Constitution of Louisiana, to read as follows: §18. Right to Bail Section 18.

*** (C) However, after conviction, a person shall not be bailable if the offense is an aggravated offense as defined by R.S. 15:541 that is committed against a victim who is a minor. Section 2. Be it further resolved that this proposed amendment shall be submitted to the electors of the state of Louisiana at the statewide election to be held on November 3, 2026. Section 3. Be it further resolved that on the official ballot to be used at the election, there shall be printed a proposition, upon which the electors of the state shall be permitted to vote YES or NO, to amend the Constitution of Louisiana, which proposition shall read as follows: Do you support an amendment to prohibit a defendant from being released on any post-conviction bail if the defendant is convicted of an aggravated offense against a minor child? (Adds Article I, Section 18(C)) Proposed Amendment No. 4 Regular Session, 2026 -------ACT No. 414 -------HOUSE BILL NO. 225 BY REPRESENTATIVES BAYHAM AND MANDIE LANDRY A JOINT RESOLUTION Proposing to amend Article IV, Section 3(B) of the Constitution of Louisiana, to provide for the term limit for the office of the governor; to provide for a lifetime term limit; to provide that the limit is not limited to service in successive terms; to provide for submission of the proposed amendment to the electors; and to provide for related matters. Section 1. Be it resolved by the Legislature of Louisiana, two-thirds of the members elected to each house concurring, that there shall be submitted to the electors of the state of Louisiana, for their approval or rejection in the manner provided by law, a proposal to amend Article IV, Section 3(B) of the Constitution of Louisiana, to read as follows: §3. Election; Term Section 3.

*** (B) Limitation on Governor. A person who has served as governor for more than one and one-half terms in two consecutive terms shall not be elected governor for the succeeding term. *** Section 2. Be it further resolved that this proposed amendment shall be submitted to the electors of the state of Louisiana at the statewide election to be held on November 3, 2026. Section 3. Be it further resolved that on the official ballot to be used at the election, there shall be printed a proposition, upon which the electors of the state shall be permitted to vote YES or NO, to amend the Constitution of Louisiana, which proposition shall read as follows: Do you support an amendment to prohibit a person who has served more than one and one-half terms as governor from being elected as governor for any future term? (Amends Article IV, Section 3(B)) Proposed Amendment No. 5 Regular Session, 2026 -------Act No. 606 -------HOUSE BILL NO. 27 BY REPRESENTATIVE MCMAKIN A JOINT RESOLUTION Proposing to amend Article VII, Section 10(D)(2)(b)(iii) of the Constitution of Louisiana, relative to application of certain state monies to state retirement system unfunded accrued liability; to remove requirement that such monies be applied to the oldest system liabilities first; to provide for submission of the proposed amendment to the electors; and to provide for related matters. Notice of intention to introduce this Act has neem published as provided by Article X, Section 29(C) of the Constitution of Louisiana. Section 1. Be it resolved by the Legislature of Louisiana, two-thirds of the members elected to each house concurring, that there shall be submitted to the electors of the state of Louisiana, for their approval or rejection in the manner provided by law, a proposal to amend Article VII, Section 10(D)(2)(b)(iii) of the Constitution of Louisiana, to read as follows: §10. Expenditure of State Funds Section 10. (D) Appropriations.

***

*** (2) Except as otherwise provided in this constitution, the appropriation or allocation of any money designated in the official forecast as nonrecurring shall be made only for the following purposes: *** (b) *** (iii) For Fiscal Year 2024-2025 and each fiscal year thereafter, the legislature shall appropriate no less than twenty-five percent of any money designated in the official forecast as nonrecurring to the state retirement systems for application to their unfunded accrued liability. Money appropriated pursuant to this Item shall be applied by the receiving system to its outstanding positive amortization bases in the order in which they were created, from oldest to newest. The legislature may provide by law for a formula to distribute the nonrecurring money between those state retirement systems that have unfunded accrued liability. If the legislature has not provided by law for a distribution formula, nonrecurring money shall be appropriated pursuant to this Item to each system in the proportion that the system’s total unfunded accrued liability bears to the total of all state system unfunded accrued liability, using the most recent system valuations adopted by the Public Retirement Systems’ Actuarial Committee or its successor. Any payment to a state retirement system made pursuant to the provisions of this Item shall not be used, directly or indirectly, to fund cost-of-living increases for such system. *** Section 2. Be it further resolved that this proposed amendment shall be submitted to the electors of the state of Louisiana at the statewide election to be held on November 3, 2026. Section 3. Be it further resolved that on the official ballot to be used at the election, there shall be printed a proposition, upon which the electors of the state shall be permitted to vote YES or NO, to amend the Constitution of Louisiana, which proposition shall read as follows: Do you support an amendment to authorize a state retirement

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system to apply any nonrecurring state monies it receives to any of its unfunded accrued liability rather than requiring application to its oldest unfunded accrued liability? (Amends Article VII, Section 10(D) (2)(b)(iii)) Proposed Amendment No. 6 Regular Session, 2026 -------ACT No. 274 -------HOUSE BILL NO. 514 BY REPRESENTATIVES FARNUM AND CHASSION A JOINT RESOLUTION Proposing to add Article VII, Section 21(P) of the Constitution of Louisiana, relative to ad valorem taxation; to extend an ad valorem tax exemption for property owners who are sixty-five years of age or older; to provide for the amount of the exemption; to provide for requirements and limitations; to provide for implementation of the exemption by parishes and municipalities; to prohibit the reappraisal and valuation of property for purposes of millage adjustments under certain circumstances; to provide for applicability; to provide for an effective date; to provide for submission of the proposed amendment to the electors; and to provide for related matters. Section 1. Be it resolved by the Legislature of Louisiana, two-thirds of the members elected to each house concurring, that there shall be submitted to the electors of the state of Louisiana, for their approval or rejection in the manner provided by law, a proposal to add Article VII, Section 21(P) of the Constitution of Louisiana, to read as follows: §21. Other Property Exemptions Section 21. In addition to the homestead exemption provided for in Section 20 of this Article, the following property and no other shall be exempt from ad valorem taxation: *** (P)(1) In addition to the homestead exemption authorized pursuant to the provisions of Section 20 of this Article, which applies to the first seven thousand five hundred dollars of the assessed valuation of property, an additional exemption shall apply to property receiving the homestead exemption that is owned and occupied by a person who is at least sixty-five years of age or older and who qualifies for the special assessment level pursuant to Article VII, Section 18(G) (1)(a)(i) of this constitution. The amount of the additional exemption shall be as follows: (a) For persons sixty-five years of age but not yet sixty-nine years of age, the next six thousand dollars of the assessed valuation of the property shall be exempt from ad valorem taxation. (b) For persons sixty-nine years of age but not yet seventythree years of age, the next twelve thousand dollars of the assessed valuation of the property shall be exempt from ad valorem taxation. (c) For persons seventy-three years of age but not yet seventyseven years of age, the next eighteen thousand dollars of the assessed valuation of the property shall be exempt from ad valorem taxation. (d) For persons seventy-seven years of age but not yet eighty-one years of age, the next twenty-four thousand dollars of the assessed valuation of the property shall be exempt from ad valorem taxation. (e) For persons eighty-one years of age and older, the next thirty thousand dollars of the assessed valuation of the property shall be exempt from ad valorem taxation. (2) The surviving spouse of a property owner claiming the exemption shall be eligible for the exemption provided for in this Paragraph if the surviving spouse occupies and remains the owner of or retains a usufruct on the property and is not more than five years younger than the owner. (3) The exemption provided in this Paragraph shall be applicable in any parish or municipality in which the exemption has been approved by a majority of the electors of the parish or municipality voting at an election called for that purpose. (4) Notwithstanding any provision of this constitution to the contrary, any decrease in the total amount of ad valorem tax collected by the taxing authority as a result of the exemption shall be absorbed by the taxing authority and shall not create any additional tax liability for other taxpayers in the taxing district as a result of any subsequent reappraisal and valuation or millage adjustment. Implementation of the exemption authorized in this Paragraph shall neither trigger nor cause for a reappraisal of property or an adjustment of millages pursuant to the provisions of Section 23(B) of this Article. (5) A trust shall be eligible for the exemption provided for this Paragraph as provided by law. Section 2. Be it further resolved that the provisions of the amendment contained in this Joint Resolution shall become effective January 1, 2028, and shall be applicable to all tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2028. Section 3. Be it further resolved that this proposed amendment shall be submitted to the electors of the state of Louisiana at the statewide election to be held on November 3, 2026. Section 4. Section 4. Be it further resolved that on the official ballot to be used at the election, there shall be printed a proposition, upon which the electors of the state shall be permitted to vote YES or NO, to amend the Constitution of Louisiana, which proposition shall read as follows: Do you support an amendment to authorize parishes and municipalities to extend an additional property tax exemption for property subject to the homestead exemption that is owned and occupied by a person who is at least sixty-five years of age and who qualifies for the special assessment level? (Effective January 1, 2028) (Adds Article VII, Section 21(P)) Proposed Amendment No. 7 Regular Session, 2026 -------ACT No. 607 -------SENATE BILL NO. 228 BY SENATOR DUPLESSIS AND REPRESENTATIVES BOYD, BRASS, BRAUD, BRYANT, CHASSION, FISHER, FREEMAN, GREEN, JACKSON, TRAVIS JOHNSON, JORDAN, KNOX, LAFLEUR, MANDIE LANDRY, TERRY LANDRY, LARVADAIN, LYONS, MARCELLE, MENA, MILLER, MOORE, NEWELL, THOMPSON, WALTERS AND YOUNG A JOINT RESOLUTION Proposing to amend Article VII, Section 14(B) of the Constitution of Louisiana, relative to water utility service lines; to provide for the use of public funds to remove or replace drinking water utility service lines located on property owned by utility customers; to provide relative to identifying, inventorying water utility service lines made of or affected by certain hazardous materials; to specify an election for submission of the proposition to electors and provide a ballot proposition. Section 1. Be it resolved by the Legislature of Louisiana, two-thirds of the members elected to each house concurring, that there shall be submitted to the electors of the state, for their approval or rejection in the manner provided by law, a proposal to amend Article VII, Section 14(B) of the Constitution of Louisiana, to read as follows: §14. Donation, Loan, or Pledge of Public Credit *** Section 14. (A) (B) Authorized Uses. Nothing in this Section shall prevent (1) the use of public funds for programs of social welfare for the aid and support of the needy; (2) contributions of public funds to pension and insurance programs for the benefit of public employees; (3) the pledge of public funds, credit, property, or things of value for public purposes with respect to the issuance of bonds or other evidences of indebtedness to meet public obligations as provided by law; (4) the return of property, including mineral rights, to a former owner from whom the property had previously been expropriated, or purchased under threat of expropriation, when the legislature by law declares that the public and necessary purpose which originally supported the expropriation has ceased to exist and orders the return of the property to the former owner under such terms and conditions as specified by the legislature; (5) acquisition of stock by any institution of higher education in exchange for any intellectual property; (6) the donation of abandoned or blighted housing property by the governing authority of a municipality or a parish to a nonprofit organization which is recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization and which agrees to renovate and maintain such property until conveyance of the property by such organization; (7) the deduction of any tax, interest, penalty, or other charges forming the basis of tax liens on blighted property so that

10D ■ Wednesday, September 23, 2026 ■ theadvocate.com ■ The Advocate Legal Notices

Legal Notices

they may be subordinated and waived in favor of any purchaser who is not a member of the immediate family of the blighted property owner or which is not any entity in which the owner has a substantial economic interest, but only in connection with a property renovation plan approved by an administrative hearing officer appointed by the parish or municipal government where the property is located; (8) the deduction of past due taxes, interest, and penalties in favor of an owner of a blighted property, but only when the owner sells the property at less than the appraised value to facilitate the blighted property renovation plan approved by the parish or municipal government and only after the renovation is completed such deduction being canceled, null and void, and to no effect in the event ownership of the property in the future reverts back to the owner or any member of his immediate family; (9) the donation by the state of asphalt which has been removed from state roads and highways to the governing authority of the parish or municipality where the asphalt was removed, or if not needed by such governing authority, then to any other parish or municipal governing authority, but only pursuant to a cooperative endeavor agreement between the state and the governing authority receiving the donated property; (10) the investment in stocks of a portion of the Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge Trust and Protection Fund, created under the provisions of R.S. 56:797, and the Russell Sage or Marsh Island Refuge Fund, created under the provisions of R.S. 56:798, such portion not to exceed thirtyfive percent of each fund; (11) the investment in stocks of a portion of the state-funded permanently endowed funds of a public or private college or university, not to exceed thirty-five percent of the public funds endowed; (12) the investment in equities of a portion of the Medicaid Trust Fund for the Elderly created under the provisions of R.S. 46:2691 et seq., such portion not to exceed thirty-five percent of the fund; (13) the investment of public funds to capitalize a state infrastructure bank and the loan, pledge, or guarantee of public funds by a state infrastructure bank solely for transportation projects; (14) pursuant to a written agreement, the donation of the use of public equipment and personnel by a political subdivision upon request to another political subdivision for an activity or function the requesting political subdivision is authorized to exercise; or (15) a political subdivision from waiving charges for water if the charges are the result of water lost due to damage to the water delivery infrastructure and that damage is not the result of any act or failure to act by the customer being charged for the water; or (16) the use of public funds by a political subdivision for the purpose of identifying, inventorying, removing or replacing drinking water utility service lines made of or affected by materials as specified or prescribed by the Lead and Copper Rule Improvements of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, promulgated October 30, 2024, or subsequent promulgation, on property owned by utility customers. *** Section 2. Be it further resolved that this proposed amendment shall be submitted to the electors of the state of Louisiana at the statewide election to be held on November 3, 2026. Section 3. Be it further resolved that on the official ballot to be used at said election there shall be printed a proposition, upon which the electors of the state shall be permitted to vote YES or NO, to amend the Constitution of Louisiana, which proposition shall read as follows: Do you support an amendment to allow for the use of public funds by a political subdivision for the purpose of identifying, inventorying, removing or replacing drinking water utility service lines made of or affected by materials as specified or prescribed by the Lead and Copper Rule Improvements of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, promulgated October 30, 2024, or subsequent promulgation, on property owned by utility customers? (Amends Article VII, Section 14) Proposed Amendment No. 8 Regular Session, 2026 -------ACT No. 277 -------HOUSE BILL NO. 192 BY REPRESENTATIVE OWEN AND SENATORS ALLAIN, BARROW, BASS, CATHEY, CLOUD, EDMONDS, FESI, HODGES, JACKSON-ANDREWS, MIGUEZ, PRESSLY, SEABAUGH, AND WHEAT A JOINT RESOLUTION Proposing to amend Article I, Section 4(B)(4) of the Constitution of Louisiana, relative to the right to property; to prohibit expropriation by foreign adversaries; to provide for submission of the proposed amendment to the electors; and to provide for related matters.

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p j from LaShonda DoganJones, 965 N. 18th Street, Baton Rouge, LA 70802, (225) 923-8000.

Delores Watts Term Expires May 15, 2030 201539-sept 23-1t $15.22 PUBLIC NOTICE --PUBLIC HEARING – Applications for Re-Subdivisions and Conditional Use-Permit The City of St. Gabriel Planning and Zoning Commission will hold a Public Hearing Meeting for the applications for Re-Subdivisions and a Conditional Use Permit on Wednesday, October 14, 2026, at St. Gabriel City Council Chambers – Room 32 – 5035 Iberville Street, St. Gabriel, La 70776 at 6:00 pm. During the public hear‐ ing, all interested parties will be given the right to appear and be heard on the matters of: - Re-Subdivision of Parcel ID: 0410569391 - Re-Subdivision of Parcel ID: 0500643312, 0510643350, 0510643352 - Conditional Use Permit for a Home Occupation Class 2. Accommodations will be made for persons with disabilities and non-Eng‐ lish speaking individuals provided that a seven (7) day notice is received by the City. Advertisement ments:

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Require‐

First Ad: Wednesday, September 23, 2026 Second Ad: Wednesday, September 30, 2026 Third Ad: Wednesday, October 7, 2026 201181-sept 23-30-oct 73t $57.78

PUBLIC NOTICE --Public Hearings will be held at Zachary City Hall 4700 Main St. during a regular meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission meetingMonday, October 5, 2026 – 6:00 p.m. and the City Council meeting - Tues‐ day – October 27, 2026 6:30 p.m. for the for the purpose indicated: Conditional Use Permit Alcoholic Beverage 5755 Main Street 201529-SEP 22-24-3T $46.39 PUBLIC NOTICE --PUBLIC NOTICE OPPORTUNITY FOR REQUESTING A PUBLIC HEARING All interested persons are hereby advised that the East Baton Rouge Council on Aging has ap‐ plied to the Louisiana De‐ partment of Transporta‐ tion and Development for project funding under Federal Transit Adminis‐ tration (Section 5310 and/or 5311) for the fol‐ lowing: PROJECT: East Baton Rouge Council on Aging is preparing to add addi‐ tional equipment to ex‐ pand transportation ser‐ vices in the Parish. Fur‐ ther details relative to the project are available f h d

Interested persons are advised that they may request that a public hearing be conducted to provide a means for the public to express their views relative to the pro‐ posed project on the probable social, eco‐ nomic, and environmen‐ tal effects involved. In lieu of requesting a pub‐ lic hearing, interested persons may submit their comments in writ‐ ing. Written requests for a public hearing and/or submittal of comments must be postmarked on or before October 1, 2026, and should be addressed to: LaShonda DoganJones, 965 N. 18th Street, Baton Rouge, LA 70802. Should a public hearing be required, a public no‐ tice will be published stating the date, time, and location of the hear‐ ing. 201784-sept 24-1t $47.96 PUBLIC NOTICE --September 21, 2026 Notice is hereby given that East Baton Rouge Council on Aging intends to apply for a federal grant for operating assis‐ tance and/or capital as‐ sistance to provide the Formula Grant Program for Enhanced Mobility of Seniors and Individuals with Disabilities of a nonemergency, ambulatory nature for the FY 20272028 program year. The application for assis‐ tance is pursuant to the Formula Grant Program for Enhanced Mobility of Seniors and Individuals with Disabilities Program of 49 CFR 5310. Services will generally be be‐ tween 7:00am and 3:30pm, Monday through Friday, in the area en‐ compassing East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana. Transit services are pro‐ vided without regard to race, color, and national origin in accordance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. Written comments on the proposed services may be sent within 15 days to 965 N. 18th Street, Baton Rouge, LA 70802 and to the Program Manager, Louisiana Department of Transportation and De‐ velopment, P.O. Box 94245, Baton Rouge, LA 70804 9245. Comments must be received by Oc‐ tober 1, 2026. 201786-sept 23-1t $43.25

Public Notices RFQ

PUBLIC NOTICE ---REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERING SERVICES Notice is hereby given that the Beauregard Parish Airport District 1 is requesting submittal of qualification state‐ ments from professional engineering and plan‐ ning firms interested in performing certified l i d f

Public Notices RFQ p g planning and profes‐ sional engineering ser‐ vices at the Beauregard Regional Airport, DeRid‐ der, LA for the project period of approximately 5 years. Projects are to be submitted to the Fed‐ eral Aviation Administra‐ tion and LADOTD Division for approval. The project descriptions: The se‐ lected consultant will be required to provide pro‐ fessional planning, de‐ sign, and constructionphase services for a se‐ ries of CIP projects, which include: Airside Pavement Reha‐ bilitation: Rehabilitation of the main terminal apron (Phase 3) includ‐ ing selective panel re‐ placements and crack sealing; construction of a new asphalt Agricultural Spray Ramp (Ag Ramp); asphalt taxiway pave‐ ment rehabilitation (crack sealing, localized patching, seal coating and remarking). Airfield Electrical Infra‐ structure Upgrades: Air‐ field Lighting Rehabilita‐ tion (replacement of con‐ ductors/transformers, conduit, runway/taxiway edge lighting, airfield guidance signage, visual glide-slope indicators (PAPI/REILS/ODAL), and associated airfield elec‐ trical vault modifica‐ tions. Safety & Obstruction Mit‐ igation: Runway Safety Area (RSA) grading cor‐ rections to satisfy FAA standard profiles, and Runway Protection Zone (RPZ) obstruction mitiga‐ tion, including avigation easement coordination and vegetative clearing. Drainage, Planning, Sup‐ port: Airfield-wide drainage modeling, ditch regrading, culvert/head‐ wall replacements, and an administrative update to the airport's Exhibit "A" Property Map using the latest SOP 3.00. Landside Rehabilitation: To include fuel farm, ter‐ and minal building hangar upgrades. To include project admin‐ istrative procedures and any additional projects that are funded within the timeframe of the profes‐ sional services contract. Project implementation is totally dependent upon FAA and DOTD funding. The selection process will be in accor‐ dance with the FAA’s Ad‐ visory Circular 150/510014E. The firm will provide preliminary and final plans and specifications, cost estimates, grant management, grant ad‐ ministration and grant close-out, including preparation of FAA/State grant applications. Firms interested in performing these services shall fur‐ nish a Statement of Qual‐ ifications on standard Form SF-330. Copies of the FAA Circular AC 150/5100-14E are avail‐ able from faa.gov and SF330 Form are available from GSA.gov. The criteria and weight‐ ing factors to be used by the Sponsor in evaluat‐ ing responses will be as follows: * Resumes of the pro‐ posed project team: (Weight value of 3) * Example projects which best illustrate the pro‐ posed team’s qualifica‐ tions: (Weight value of 4) * Key personnel’s partici‐ pation in past projects: (weight value of 4) * FAA/AIP project experi‐ ence: (weight value of 5) j i

lll

Legal Notices

Section 1. Be it resolved by the Legislature of Louisiana, two-thirds of the members elected to each house concurring, that there shall be submitted to the electors of the state of Louisiana, for their approval or rejection in the manner provided by law, a proposal to amend Article I, Section 4(B)(4) of the Constitution of Louisiana, to read as follows: §4. Right to Property Section 4.

***

(B)

*** (4) Property shall not be taken or damaged by any private entity authorized by law to expropriate, except for a public and necessary purpose and with just compensation paid to the owner; in such proceedings, whether the purpose is public and necessary shall be a judicial question. No private entity that is a foreign adversary or an agent of a foreign adversary, as defined by law, shall take or damage property. *** Section 2. Be it further resolved that this proposed amendment shall be submitted to the electors of the state of Louisiana at the statewide election to be held on November 3, 2026. Section 3. Be it further resolved that on the official ballot to be used at the election, there shall be printed a proposition, upon which the electors of the state shall be permitted to vote YES or NO, to amend the Constitution of Louisiana, which proposition shall read as follows: Do you support an amendment to prohibit expropriation of property by a foreign adversary or an agent of a foreign adversary? (Amends Article I, Section 4(B)(4)) Proposed Amendment No. 9 Regular Session, 2025 -------ACT No. 220 -------HOUSE BILL NO. 300 BY REPRESENATIVE MACK A JOINT RESOLUTION Proposing to amend Article VII, Section 18(G)(1)(a)(ii) of the Constitution of Louisiana, relative to ad valorem taxation; to provide for assessment of property for ad valorem tax purposes; to provide with respect to the special assessment level; to provide with respect to the income limit associated with qualifying for the special assessment level; to provide for an effective date; to provide for submission of the proposed amendment to the electors; and to provide for related matters. Section 1. Be it resolved by the Legislature of Louisiana, two-thirds of the members elected to each house concurring, that there shall be submitted to the electors of the state of Louisiana, for their approval or rejection in the manner provided by law, a proposal to amend Article VII, Section 18(G)(1)(a)(ii) of the Constitution of Louisiana, to read as follows: §4. Right to Property Section 18.

*** (G) Special Assessment Level. (1) (a) *** (ii) Any person or persons shall be prohibited from receiving the special assessment as provided in this Section if such person’s or persons’ adjusted gross income, as reported in the federal tax return for the year prior to the application for the special assessment, exceeds one hundred fifty thousand dollars. For persons applying for the special assessment whose filing status is married filing separately, the adjusted gross income for purposes of this Section shall be determined by combining the adjusted gross income on both federal tax returns. The assessor may establish an applicant’s income eligibility for the special assessment level by verifying the applicant’s federal adjusted gross income as reported on the Louisiana income tax return for the year prior to the application. Beginning for the tax year 2026 2028 and for each tax year thereafter, the one hundred fifty thousand dollar limit shall be adjusted annually by the Consumer Price Index as reported by the United States Government. Notwithstanding any provision of this constitution to the contrary, a decrease in the total amount of ad valorem tax collected by a taxing authority as a result of the special assessment level shall be absorbed by the taxing authority and shall not create any additional tax liability for other taxpayers in the taxing district as a result of any subsequent

Legal Notices

reappraisal and valuation or millage adjustment. Implementation of the special assessment level shall neither trigger nor be cause for a reappraisal of property or an adjustment of millages pursuant to the provisions of Article VII, Section 23(B) of this constitution. *** Section 2. Be it further resolved that the provisions of the amendment contained in this Joint Resolution shall become effective on January 1, 2027, and shall be applicable to all tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2027. Section 3. Be it further resolved that this proposed amendment shall be submitted to the electors of the state of Louisiana at the statewide election to be held on November 3, 2026. Section 4. Be it further resolved that on the official ballot to be used at the election, there shall be printed a proposition, upon which the electors of the state shall be permitted to vote YES or NO, to amend the Constitution of Louisiana, which proposition shall read as follows: Do you support an amendment to increase the maximum amount of income a person may receive and still qualify for the special assessment level for residential property receiving the homestead exemption? (Effective January 1, 2027) (Amends Article VII, Section 18(G)(1)(a)(ii)) Proposed Amendment No. 10 Regular Session, 2026 -------ACT No. 272 -------HOUSE BILL NO. 214 BY REPRESENTATIVES CHANCE HENRY AND CHASSION AND SENATORS BARROW, BOUDREAUX, JACKSONANDREWS, JENKINS, AND PRICE A JOINT RESOLUTION Proposing to add Article VII, Section 21(P) of the Constitution of Louisiana, relative to ad valorem taxes; to authorize the exemption of certain property from ad valorem taxes subject to conditions provided in law; to require the legislature to enact laws relative to implementation of the exemption; to provide for applicability; to provide for an effective date; to provide for submission of the proposed amendment to the electors; and to provide for related matters. Section 1. Be it resolved by the Legislature of Louisiana, two-thirds of the members elected to each house concurring, that there shall be submitted to the electors of the state of Louisiana, for their approval or rejection in the manner provided by law, a proposal to add Article VII, Section 21(P) of the Constitution of Louisiana, to read as follows: §21. Other Property Exemptions Section 21. In addition to the homestead exemption provided for in Section 20 of this Article, the following property and no other shall be exempt from ad valorem taxation: *** (P) There shall be an optional ad valorem tax exemption for blighted or derelict property that has been rehabilitated. The legislature shall enact laws defining blighted property, derelict property, and any other terms as may be necessary for implementing the exemption provided for in this Paragraph. The legislature shall establish in law the term of the exemption and the conditions, requirements, and procedures necessary for a political subdivision to administer the exemption. *** Section 2. Be it further resolved that the provisions of the amendment contained in this Joint Resolution shall become effective on January 1, 2027, and apply to tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2027. Section 3. Be it further resolved that this proposed amendment shall be submitted to the electors of the state of Louisiana at the statewide election to be held on November 3, 2026. Section 4. Be it further resolved that on the official ballot to be used at the election, there shall be printed a proposition, upon which the electors of the state shall be permitted to vote YES or NO, to amend the Constitution of Louisiana, which proposition shall read as follows: Do you support an amendment to allow property tax exemptions for blighted or derelict properties that have been rehabilitated, and to require the legislature to enact laws providing for administration of these exemptions? (Effective January 1, 2027) (Adds Article VII, Section 21(P))

201758-690697-sept 23-1t $1,049.82

Public Notices RFQ g * LADOTD project experi‐ ence: (Weight value of 5) *Adequate Aviation Engi‐ neering Staff: (Weight Value of 3) The success‐ ful firm will be required to execute a standard DOTD/Division of Avia‐ tion type of contract in conformance with all city, parish, DOTD, and FAA guidelines, stan‐ dards, and assurances. The Beauregard Parish Airport District encour‐ ages participation by dis‐ advantaged business en‐ terprises in all bids and proposals to the extent possible. The Statement of Qualifi‐ cations Form SF-330 shall be mailed or delivered to the Beauregard Regional Airport, 1220 1st Ave, De‐ Ridder, LA 70634 Atten‐ tion: Sam Lack, Airport Manager. Statement of Qualifications will be ac‐ cepted until 3:00pm, Oc‐ tober 19, 2026. Questions regarding this project should be ad‐ dressed to the airport manager. Firms wishing to apply must submit a fully completed SF-330 Form. Failure to provide all information requested shall result in the sub‐ mission being consid‐ ered non-responsive and the firm will not be given a total score in the evalu‐ ation process. Beauregard Parish Airport District 1 (337) 463-8250 SPONSOR

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200704-SEP 23-1T $507.08

WBR Public Notices

WBR Legal Notices

PUBLIC NOTICE --NOTICE The dates of the West Baton Rouge Parish School Board Committee meeting and regular board meeting for Octo‐ ber are listed below: Committee Meeting/s: Wednesday, October 21, 2026 Date Change 5pm Regular Board Meeting: Wednesday, October 21, 2026 Time Change 6pm Location: West Baton Rouge Parish School Board Board Room 3761 Rosedale Road Port Allen, Louisiana 70767 Matthew Daigrepont President West Baton Rouge School Board Publish: September 23, 2026 September 30, 2026 October 7, 2026 October 14, 2026 200509-sept 23-30-oct 714-4t $58.16

The newspaper of record for Baton Rouge