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T u e s d ay, s e p T e m b e r 29, 2026

‘Today we write the next chapter’

Lafayette kids can now get a free book every month through the dolly Parton Imagination Library

$2.00X

Boulet names homeland security director Hebert served 26 years with the Louisiana National Guard

BY KRISTIN ASKELSON Staff writer

Lafayette Parish Mayor-President Monique Boulet has named Christopher Hebert as the new director of the Ofﬁce of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, marking the next chapter in the administration’s investment in public safety, emergency preparedness and resilient government. Hebert brings more than two decades of leadership experience in military service, business operations, healthcare administration Hebert and emergency response, according to a news release from Lafayette Consolidated Government. His professional experience includes senior leadership positions in healthcare, including practice administrator and director of operations for Cardiology Specialists of Acadiana, where he oversaw large teams, complex budgets,

ä See DIRECTOR, page 5A

STAFF PHOTOS By LESLIE WESTBROOK

Students listen as a storybook is read aloud during an event to kick off dolly Parton’s Imagination Library in Lafayette Parish on Friday at Truman Early Childhood Education Center. BY JOANNA BROWN

Staff writer

Dolly Parton’s initiative to deliver free books to children is officially open to families across Lafayette Parish. The Dolly Parton Imagination Library is a program that delivers one age-appropriate book per month to enrolled children up to 5 years old. There is no cost to the family, and all they have to do is register — as long as they live in an area covered by the program. On Friday, representatives from Lafayette Parish school system, Lafayette Consolidated Government, the state of Louisiana, Dolly Parton Imagination Library and Com-

munity Coffee gathered at Truman Early Childhood Education Center to announce that the program is relaunched and expanding in Lafayette Parish. Until recently, the library was open to area children on a limited basis, with United Way of Acadiana serving as the local partner. The initiative had limited funding and a waitlist, with preference going to lowincome children in rural areas. According to Dakota Henry, the community engagement coordinator for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library of Louisiana, United Way of Acadiana has delivered around 450,000 books to kids across the region

4 bars cited in underage alcohol sweep Nite Town, with 18 complaints since 2022, charged again BY DEAN BOUDREAUX Staff writer

Ginger Richard, the assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction in Lafayette Parish, prepares to read to students during Friday’s event.

ä See CHAPTER, page 6A

Police and state alcohol regulators cited employees at four of five bars during a Saturday compliance operation, including Nite Town, a Jefferson Street bar that state records show has drawn 18 complaints since 2022. The Lafayette Police Department’s Youth Services Section and the Louisiana Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control checked five establishments Saturday, the department said in a news release Monday. All five checks took place that night, Sgt. Robin Green said. The Bulldog, Corner Bar, Marley’s Sports Bar and Nite Town were cited. The Office Bar was found compliant. Officers issued misdemeanor

ä See CITED, page 5A

Trump denies asking Xi if China wanted to buy U.S. arms U.S. ambassador reported the offer during TV interview

BY BEN FINLEY, MICHELLE L. PRICE and DIDI TANG Associated Press

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump disputed that he asked Chinese leader Xi Jinping if he wanted to buy weapons from the United States, contradicting an account from the U.S. ambassador to China. Trump on Monday acted con-

WEATHER HIGH 91 LOW 71 PAGE 6A

fused when a reporter asked him about Ambassador David Perdue’s remarks over the weekend, suggesting the diplomat was confusing China with Taiwan. But then Trump said “maybe it’s a good idea” to make such an offer to China. The whiplash over the prospect of arms sales from the U.S. to its ascendant geopolitical rival underlines the Trump administration’s often uncoordinated and contradictory approach to China, including Xi’s pomp-filled state visit to Washington last week during which Trump appeared to get little in return on key issues.

Perdue, speaking to Shannon Bream on Fox News Channel’s “Fox News Sunday” days after the summit, didn’t specify when the offer was made. But such a proposal, if realized, would upend generations of U.S. policy toward China and Taiwan and expose U.S. technology to a potential foe. The State Department on Monday looked to distance the Trump administration from Perdue’s comments, saying that “U.S. law prohibits arms sales to China and there is no offer or plan to sell arms to China.”

ASSOCIATEd PRESS PHOTO By JACQUELyN MARTIN

President donald Trump greets China’s President Xi Jinping upon arrival ä See TRUMP, page 6A at the White House on Friday.

Business ...................10C Commentary ................3B Nation-World ................2A Classified .....................4B Living............................5C Opinion ........................2B Comics-Puzzles .....7C-9C Metro ...........................1B Sports ..........................1C

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2A ● Tuesday, September 29, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

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Mediators work to broker deal between U.S., Iran

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FROM WIRE REPORTS

$5M bail set for man in death of Miss. woman

JACKSON, Miss. — A Mississippi judge set a $5 million bond Monday for a third man charged in the death of a Black woman whose body was found hanging from a tree in August. Police disclosed Friday that Tasia Fortune, 29, was killed in a drug dispute before her body was placed in a tree behind an abandoned house in Jackson. Fortune was Black, and the discovery of her hanging body stoked fear because the scene recalled actual lynchings in the Southern state, which has a long history of racial violence. Some officials had called for a federal civil rights investigation before a Jackson police detective said the scene was “staged.” “People justifiably didn’t know if we had a killer on the loose who might hang people for racial reasons,” Judge Jeffery Reynolds said Monday. He said it was a “heinous” act that shocked the state capital. Reynolds presided at a hearing for Eric Clark, 45, who turned himself in Friday. The Hinds County Public Defender’s Office, which is representing him, declined to comment. Clark and two other men charged in Fortune’s death are Black. Later outside the court, Fortune’s mother, Christy Spivey, said Clark approached her at the courthouse last week and hugged her following a hearing for co-defendant Jarques Ratliff. “He never said he did it, but he said he was there to turn himself in for murder,” Spivey told reporters Monday. The body was discovered in a tree on Aug. 3. Jackson Police Chief RaShall Brackney said props were left at the scene “as part of the staging” of Fortune’s death and that more arrests were likely.

Congo’s Ebola outbreak tops 8,000 cases

BUNIA, Congo — The number of conﬁrmed cases of Ebola virus in Congo has surged past 8,000, as the country runs out of health workers to contain the deadly disease, ofﬁcials said Monday. The outbreak is the country’s 17th and its deadliest. Congo announced an outbreak on May 15, caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus, which has no known treatment or vaccine, and has struggled to contain it. The latest data from Congo’s health ministry released Sunday showed that 8,067 cases have been confirmed, with 3,901 deaths as of Sept. 26 across 63 health zones in seven of the country’s 26 provinces, with a fatality rate of more than 48%. “The continuously high crude case fatality ratio, and especially the continuously high rate of deaths occurring in communities, highlights the seriousness of the disease and the persistent challenges in timely case detection and access to early and adequate patient care,” the World Health Organization said in its latest report.

Man sentenced for saying Erdogan ‘dictator’

ISTANBUL — A Turkish court on Monday sentenced a comedian to more than 19 months imprisonment on charges of insulting religious values and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He was released pending appeal. Deniz Goktas, 32, had been held in prison since July 3 after clips of his routine, which included a reference to Erdogan as a “dictator,” were circulated online. He was convicted Monday of insulting the president and insulting religious values, receiving a combined prison sentence of 19 months and 10 days. Presenting a defense that caused laughter in the Istanbul courtroom, the comedian said he stood by his joke that described Erdogan as having evolved from a “shy dictator” to one “conﬁdent in his identity.” Goktas said political humor had been tolerated in the past and the laws regarding insult had not changed. “What has changed? Fragile leaders who can’t handle jokes or criticism,” he said in remarks published in Birgun newspaper and other opposition-backing outlets.

But major hurdles remain

BY SAMY MAGDY, MICHELLE L. PRICE and MATTHEW LEE Associated Press

ASSOCIATEd PRESS PHOTO By ALASTAIR GRANT

Police guard a road Monday leading to RAF Fairford in Fairford, England.

5 booked near U.S.-run base in U.K. out on bail

unfounded and malicious speculaU.K. police probe whether recent tions” about the incident. Residents were evacuated from 85 there’s a link to Iran homes in the village of Whelford near the

BY ALASTAIR GRANT and JILL LAWLESS Associated Press

FAIRFORD, England — Five young British men arrested on explosives and terror charges near a U.S.-operated air force base in England were released on bail Monday, and counterterror detectives said they were investigating “multiple lines of inquiry,” including whether there is a link to Iran. The men were detained early Sunday after three vans were spotted in the countryside near RAF Fairford, a U.K.owned base that has been used by American bombers during decades of conﬂicts in the Middle East, including this year’s war with Iran. Investigators haven’t concluded whether the incident was state-backed. They are investigating a possible link to Iran, Russia or nonstate militant groups. RAF Fairford has also been the focus of protests by anti-war campaigners. The five suspects, who haven’t been named, were initially held over suspected explosives offenses, and later also arrested on suspicion of preparing an act of terrorism. Police said the men are all British nationals from London and in their 20s. Britain’s national news agency, PA, reported without citing sources that police had not found viable explosives. Announcing that the suspects had been bailed, the head of U.K. Counter Terrorism Policing, Laurence Taylor, said that the suspects face stringent conditions and “absolutely remain under investigation.” Taylor said lines of inquiry include that the suspected offenses were committed by “proxies or individuals, either knowingly or unknowingly, working on behalf of a foreign state.” Iran denied involvement. The Iranian Embassy in London said that it “categorically rejects and strongly condemns the

base on Sunday, and army bomb-disposal experts used a robot to examine three white vans. The villagers were allowed to return home late Monday afternoon, though a cordon remained around the three vehicles, police said. Prime Minister Andy Burnham chaired a meeting of the government’s COBRA emergency committee on Monday “to make sure we have the full picture” of the incident, he said. It was unclear whether the arrested men had been on security services’ radar. Local residents described seeing heightened security around RAF Fairford in recent days, with heavy vehicles parked across entrance gates. U.S. President Donald Trump said the suspects had been detained following cooperation between the U.S. and Britain, and had been “under view” for some time. Police, however, said the arrests were triggered by a late-night call about “suspicious vehicles” near the base. A local farmer said she called police after seeing three oddly parked vans as she drove home late Saturday night, and that nearby she came across “a large group of men,” some with their faces covered. She said they scattered when they saw her vehicle. She declined to be identiﬁed to protect her identity because she was describing what she saw as potential security lapses. British Defense Secretary Wes Streeting said the farmer “did exactly the right thing” by calling police but only had “a partial view” of the operation. The arrests came at a time of heightened tensions around the threat from hostile states, with British intelligence services saying Russia and Iran have both used proxies to commit crimes on U.K. soil. In March, officials said the number of national security cases involving activity by hostile states, including Iran, increased by 50% in the six months to December 2025.

Polo could cause life-threatening ﬂooding in northern Mexico BY MARTÍN SILVA REY and MEGAN JANETSKY

GET IN TOUCH Customer Service: HELP@THEADVOCATE.COM or 337-234-0800 News Tips / Stories: NEWSTIPS@THEADVOCATE.COM Obituaries: 225-388-0289 • Mon-Fri 9-5; Sat 10-5; Closed Sun Advertising Sales: 337-234-0174 • Mon-Fri 8-5 Classiﬁed Advertising: 225-383-0111 • Mon-Fri 8-5 Subscribe: theadvocate.com/subscribe E-Edition: theadvocate.com/eedition Archives: theadvocate.newsbank.com The Acadiana Advocate (USPS # 25-866) is published daily by Capital City Press, LLC at 203 W. Third St., Lafayette, LA 70501. Periodicals postage paid at Lafayette, LA ISSN 2643-7252 and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Acadiana Advocate, Circulation Accounting, P.O. Box 588, Baton Rouge, LA 70821. Newspaper carriers are independent contractors and not employees of Capital City Press.

Associated Press

PUERTO SAN CARLOS, Mexico — Water began to flood the streets of Baja California Sur on Monday hours after residents boarded up homes and set up embankments as Hurricane Polo bore down on the peninsula Monday, threatening high winds, floods and mudslides. Meanwhile, Hurricane Nolo could still bring torrential rain to parts of Hawaii even as the storm edged away from the state. In Puerto San Carlos, a fishing town of about 5,700 people, high tides and pounding waves from Polo were already breaching sea barriers as residents worried for their homes in the mostly empty town. Hundreds of people in the region evacuated, hunkering down in nearby shelters in schools and other facilities. “Civil Protection told those of us here in San Carlos to evacuate because this is a high-risk area. With the current tides, the expected waves and the wind, the earthen barriers they built (to prevent flooding) could give way,” Rocío Sánchez, a fisherwoman, said. Polo was a Category 3 storm with top sustained winds of 115 mph Monday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said. Forecasters said it would hit the Mexican mainland after lashing Baja California Sur with heavy rains, and that “life threatening winds and flash floods (were) expected to occur soon.” It could bring heavy rain and flooding to parts of the U.S. Southwest later in the week. Residents of the area were bracing themselves, plagued by the uncertainty of what was to come. Margarita Bobadilla and her family were sheltered in

CAIRO — Mediators are working with Iran and the United States on trying to broker a deal to end the fighting and open the Strait of Hormuz, three regional officials and two U.S. officials told The Associated Press, but major hurdles remain between the sides. The indirect talks come as the conflict, which is entering its eighth month, has caused global economic damage and badly battered Iran. Multiple efforts to allow safe shipping on one of the world’s most crucial waterways have failed. The officials divulged that the behind-the-scenes efforts continue even after President Donald Trump initially said he spurned an Iranian proposal to reopen the strait in a week if the U.S. agreed to lift its blockade of Iranian ports, release frozen Iranian assets and waive sanctions on Iranian oil sales, among other conditions. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi — who stayed in New York after last week’s gathering of world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly — will meet with Qatari mediators Monday about the latest discussions, Iranian state media reported Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei as saying. Despite Trump’s often bellicose rhetoric, he is open to pursuing a nonmilitary resolution to the conflict if one can be achieved, a senior U.S. official said. But the Trump administration will not reach a deal with Tehran until nuclear issues are addressed, another U.S. official said. Trump is willing to grant sanctions relief to Iran, along with the release of some frozen funds, for concrete progress on nuclear issues, and while Iran has indicated it is flexible on nuclear issues, the sides are far apart on timing

and which side makes the first moves, the official said. All the officials were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity about the behind-the-scenes diplomatic negotiations. Two of the regional officials speaking to the AP confirmed that mediators are working with both sides on a proposal that would include reopening the strait and lifting the U.S. blockade, and then removing sanctions. According to the draft text being discussed, the strait would reopen in accordance with a separate deal that Iran has been discussing with Oman, on the other side of the strait, and it would include no tolls — something Tehran has pursued. That deal seeks to temporarily manage shipping traffic on what was seen as an international waterway before the war. One regional official said the U.S. is seeking Iranian concessions on nuclear issues that include allowing inspectors to enter the country. Under the memorandum of understanding the two sides signed in June that collapsed within days, Iran’s nuclear program was meant to be discussed over a 60-day period. The U.S. officials say the United States is skeptical about whether Iran can be persuaded to ultimately reach Trump’s conditions for a deal and would be serious about any promises it makes, especially after it broke the interim deal by firing on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz. U.S. officials feel their position is getting stronger as Tehran feels the impact of sanctions. While Iran’s latest proposal echoes the June deal, a key difference is speed. Araghchi told a closeddoor meeting on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly last week that Tehran had pitched the deal as benefiting Trump in the midterm elections. Araghchi later told journalists that “the seven-day timeline will start as soon as the United States accepts this plan.”

ASSOCIATEd PRESS PHOTO

People evacuate their homes Monday as Hurricane Polo approaches Puerto San Carlos, Baja California Sur state, Mexico.

a local school, saying it was safer than weathering the storm in her wooden house. “Material things can be replaced, but family can’t. My children and I decided to come here last night, and now we’re waiting to see what happens.” Others lingered in their mostly emptied town of Puerto San Carlos, crossing their fingers the light flooding and powerful winds would be the worst of Polo. Laura Velázquez, national coordinator of Mexico’s Civil Protection Agency, reported that Polo would make landfall later in the afternoon. With Polo approaching Mexico, the Mexican navy said it had personnel ready across the northern Pacific coast and deployed three vessels that could ship aid to coastal communities isolated by the storm. Local authorities along the Baja California Peninsula said they had shelters at the ready. At a Monday morning news briefing, Velázquez urged residents to stay off the streets and seek shelter if their homes are at risk.

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Pope says AI safety concerns not ‘fake news’ lll

BY NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press

ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE — Pope Leo XIV said Monday that concerns about artiﬁcial intelligence going rogue are not “fake news” and should be taken seriously, insisting that safety issues raised by AI experts should be discussed and acted on. Leo, who dedicated his ﬁrst encyclical to AI and protecting humanity in its wake, was asked during a news conference about what the United States and China especially should be doing to prevent AI from posing catastrophic risks to humanity. President Donald Trump has called concerns about AI going rogue a “hoax.” “This is a problem that I think we need to sit down and talk about,” the American pope told reporters returning home from France. “We can’t just sit back and pretend nothing is going to happen.” Trump has been a champion of AI, often warning that the United States must remain ahead of China in the technological arms race. He has said efforts to limit the technology were part of a “conspiracy” by his political opponents. Several AI giants, includ-

ing Anthropic, have called for a slowdown in development to give safety measures time to catch up to the fast-moving technology. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, for example, has warned that within six to 12 months AI could be capable of leading a swarm of agents that could take over the entire internet. Trump said on Sunday he planned to have a late dinner with Amodei, but he has not yet commented on the meeting. “If someone were to ask me ‘Am I in panic mode?’ No I’m not. I sleep at night,” Leo said. “I do think that the concerns raised by many of the experts, specialists in AI should be taken seriously.” “I don’t think that that is ‘fake news’ as some have said to try and cause whether financial or other some other kind of benefit,” Leo said. The pope, who called for robust regulation of AI and a slowdown of the technology in his encyclical “Magnificent Humanity,” is up to speed on developments in the field. Despite being at the end of a grueling four-day trip to France, Leo noted a news report Monday afternoon about Nvidia introducing guardrails into AI. He also noted that the company has previ-

ASSOCIATEd PRESS PHOTO By ALBERTO PIZZOLI

Pope Leo XIV speaks to journalists Monday aboard the flight from Metz, France, to Rome, at the end of his four-day visit to France. ously resisted outside regulation of AI development. Leo had identified AI as one of t he biggest challenges to humanity within days of his election and took the unusual step of personally launching his own encyclical alongside Anthropic’s cofounder Christopher Olah at a Vatican event in May. The initiative was part of the Vatican’s effort to engage Silicon Valley about the hu-

man costs of AI. “We need to continue to invite political leaders, leaders of AI, social organizations, associations to come together and look at what is happening already and what could be down the road,” he said Monday. “To simply say ‘Oh it’s not going to happen’ and close our eyes to it I think is probably not the most responsible way to go about that,”

he added. With his comments Monday about the legitimacy of safety concerns and AI development, Leo has conﬁrmed another area of disagreement with Trump. The two had a back-and-forth in April over Leo’s opposition to the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran and Leo has also criticized the Trump administration’s migration crackdown. Trump met with Chinese

President Xi Jinping last week in Washington and while Xi said that it was important to ensure AI is “always under human control,” Trump focused more on trying to rebrand it as “superintelligence” and dismissed calls for regulation. However, the two leaders agreed to explore a new “notiﬁcation mechanism” for AI incidents affecting national security. AI has become a major election-year issue in the U.S. as some of the country’s largest companies rush to build a national network of data centers while Americans from both parties increasingly raise alarms about the impact on farmland, water supplies and electricity bills. Worries about AI are continuing to grow inside and outside the industry and reports continue to emerge about increasingly powerful systems that solve problems beyond human capacity but could also go rogue and carry out other, more harmful tasks. The worries have grown so loud that the CEO of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, said in an interview with Fortune that his company would wait until next year to start selling its stock to investors on Wall Street as it focuses on safety.

Trump announces Prosecutor reopens gang rape probe at Cornell $15 billion steel plant in Iowa NEW YORK

BY DAVE COLLINS and JOHN SEEWER Associated Press

BY COLLIN BINKLEY Associated Press

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Monday announced a new $15 billion steel plant being built in Iowa, highlighting an economic victory in a key battleground state where Republicans face competitive midterm races. Trump announced the new plant at an Trump Oval Office event alongside steel executives and Iowa Republicans, including two running for ofﬁce. The event highlighted Iowa’s elevated status for Republicans and for Trump, who on Monday pledged to campaign there in coming weeks. “We’re going to do a great rally. We’ll all be there together,” Trump said alongside Rep. Ashley Hinson, who is running for the U.S. Senate, and Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, who is up for reelection. Also joining him were Gov. Kim Reynolds and Sen. Joni Ernst, who are not seeking new terms in ofﬁce. The new steel plant is being built by Mesabi Metallics, a Minnesota company owned by India’s Essar Group, an industrial conglomerate. Trump said the project will become the largest steel plant in the United States. It is expected to produce 10 million tons of

steel a year after it’s fully built out. The plant was projected to begin production in 2030, supplied by a new $2.5 billion iron ore mine that Mesabi developed along Minnesota’s Mesabi iron range. The resulting steel will be produced from start to ﬁnish in the United States, the White House said. Trump said the American steel industry is “roaring back to life,” crediting it to the 50% tariffs on steel imports that he imposed last year. “Everyone is building their plants here because they don’t want to pay tariffs,” Trump said. “It’s really not that complicated.” Trump in June also approved the takeover of iconic American steelmaker U.S. Steel by Japan’s Nippon Steel, a move that had been blocked by Joe Biden, his Democratic predecessor, and initially opposed by Trump as a 2024 Republican presidential candidate. After returning to office, Trump later backed a deal that gave the federal government a say in some company decisions. The Oval Ofﬁce announcement at times took on the tone of a campaign event. Introducing Hinson, Trump described her as a “young lady who is going to be hopefully elected to the Senate.”

Word of Faith leader gets probation in assault case BY JEFFREY COLLINS Associated Press

NORTH CAROLINA

A leader of a secretive North Carolina religious group was sentenced Monday to two years of probation in a plea deal that dropped a felony kidnapping charge, more than nine years after her trial ended without a verdict. Prosecutors said Word of Faith Fellowship leader Brooke Covington led a group of church members in 2013 who choked and beat a young man for two hours while they prayed to expel “homosexual demons.” Covington, 68, pleaded to two misdemeanor charges of false imprisonment and simple assault Monday by entering an Alford plea, according to court records. It’s technically a guilty

plea in which defendants maintain they are innocent while acknowledging prosecutors have enough evidence to convict them at trial. The judge sentenced Covington to 45 days in jail on the false imprisonment charge and 30 days for simple assault, but suspended them so she won’t have to serve the time if she completes her probation. Covington also was ordered to complete 30 hours of community service benefiting children or young adults. Covington’s original case ended in a mistrial after the jury foreman brought his own research into deliberations.

A New York prosecutor has reopened an investigation into gang rape allegations at a Cornell University fraternity in response to a lawsuit filed by a woman who says she was sexually assaulted in 2024 by seven students after being plied with alcohol and drugs. Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten said Monday that his office will present evidence to a grand jury as he faces questions from the public about why there were no criminal prosecutions in the case. The woman, identified only by a pseudonym in the lawsuit, filed the complaint Sept. 16, saying she was sexually assaulted at the Chi Phi fraternity house on the Ivy League campus in October 2024 after being pressured into snorting ketamine, smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol. She became completely incapacitated while frat members were sexually assaulting her, the lawsuit alleges. The lawsuit, the reopening of the investigation and Cornell’s response have sparked a flood of commentary on social media. Many people have criticized the school and the district attorney’s office in their posts, while some have expressed doubt about the lawsuit’s allegations. Some posted photos of the seven fraternity members. The accuser is suing the men, the Chi Phi fraternity, the university, an Ithaca bar and others, seeking undisclosed damages. Her attorney did not immediately respond Monday to messages seeking comment on the prosecutor’s decision. The woman went to campus police at the time, but Van Houten said the accuser did not make any claims of being gang-raped or drugged in her initial sworn statement to authorities. The prosecutor also said he was never contacted by the woman’s attorney about her statement or about reconsidering the decision not to prosecute, but he reached out to the attorney recently. “Seeking justice sometimes requires us to reconsider or reopen cases when we are provided with additional evidence,” Van Houten said in a statement. “I have been asked by the community to revisit the decision whether to pursue criminal charges against the seven fraternity members. I have already begun that process, starting with our conversation with Jane Doe and her attorneys.” The university said in a statement that it supports

the decision to reopen the investigation. The school said it conducted its own investigation and issued sanctions, including expelling some students and suspending others. It also said the on-campus Chi Phi chapter was closed in 2024 and remains barred from campus. School ofﬁcials on Monday declined to release more information on the sanctions, including how many students were expelled and

suspended. Cornell said last week that federal privacy law barred it from disclosing speciﬁc information on individual students. “Any suggestion that the university did not impose consequential punishments for those involved is false,” the university said. “A continuation of the false narrative that there were minimal consequences in this case is irresponsible, will make survivors feel less safe and sup-

ported, and will perpetuate the underreporting of sexual assault.” The national chapter of Chi Phi did not return phone and email messages Monday. The school said it conducted an internal disciplinary investigation in 2024. It said a panel of trained faculty and staff heard evidence over multiple days, and both the woman and the people accused had the opportunity to testify and present evidence.

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The Acadiana Advocate ● theadvocate.com ● Tuesday, September 29, 2026 ● 5A

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La. lets politicians use French Quarter apartment BY MEGHAN FRIEDMANN Staff writer

Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser’s Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism repeatedly let politicians from Louisiana and other states use a state-owned apartment in the heart of New Orleans’ French Quarter for short stays, a guest log for the apartment shows. The list raises further questions about whether Nungesser’s office consistently follows state law when it uses the so-called Irby Apartment, which is in the Lower Pontalba Building on Jackson Square. The Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s Office has long held that stays there are supposed to directly benefit Louisiana State Museums, which fall under Nungesser’s purview, while Nungesser’s office has said the apartment can be used for more general purposes. When submitting materials for its most recent audit, which was released Sept. 2, Nungesser’s office redacted the names of guests who stayed at the apartment. The Advocate | The Times-Picayune obtained an unredacted copy of the log from a person involved in overseeing Louisiana State Museums. The document says dozens of people used the apartment over the course of more than 60 visits that date from March 2024 to March 2026, including U.S. Rep. Troy Carter, D-New Orleans, Lafayette Parish Mayor-President Monique Boulet and Lee Mallett, chair of the LSU Board of Supervisors. All three of those officials said they reserved the apartment for business purposes. The log also names current and former legislators, several out-of-

CITED

Continued from page 1A summonses under City Ordinance 6-13 A, which covers sales to people under 21, to four people, the release said: n Allan B. Hayes III, The Bulldog, 109 General Mouton St. n Francesca Corbello, Corner Bar, 3103 Johnston St. n Elizabeth Tromblay, Marley’s, 407 Jefferson St. n Jacob Stokes, Nite Town, 524 Jefferson St. (two summonses). Stokes sold to two people under 21, Green said. A summons is a charge, not a ﬁnding of guilt. Ofﬁcers also issued summonses to four underage people in possession of alco-

DIRECTOR

Continued from page 1A organizational growth initiatives and multimillion-dollar government programs. Hebert served 26 years with the Louisiana National Guard and completed three overseas deployments. He served as an intelligence analyst with a top-secret security clearance and as an infantry operations noncommissioned ofﬁcer. He also supported multiple federal disaster response operations through-

state politicians, state employees and many visitors who do not appear to hold public office. Some visits only lasted the day, while others lasted multiple nights, according to the log. The guest log gives a purpose for about one-third of the stays, showing some apartment visitors were in town for museum-related events and fundraisers. Other former guests said their reasons for using the apartment ranged from attending meetings about the LSU system and hosting professional development sessions to attending prison programming conferences and meetings with law enforcement. Rebecca Mackie, director of Louisiana State Museums, issued a statement saying the apartment visits support the work of the state’s tourism department “particularly when cultural exchanges or events bring visitors to New Orleans and Louisiana, or during other activities and meetings.” “Elected officials, local, state, and federal government representatives — to include Louisiana congressional staff residing in the Washington, DC, area — and guests stay at the apartment when participating in those events to represent the Lieutenant Governor at his request or in his absence,” she added. Some of the visits predated Mackie’s tenure as museum director.

State officials on the calendar State Rep. Dustin Miller, DOpelousas, and state Rep. Larry Bagley, R-Stonewall, are on the guest log, though Bagley said he did not actually stay at the apartment during the April 2024 dates

in question. He was diagnosed with cancer that month, he said, adding that he did stay at the Pontalba once long before that, while touring a state museum. Miller did not respond to requests for comment. The guest log says both legislators stayed there to “build awareness with the Legislature.” The log indicates Nungesser himself used the Irby Apartment four times in 2025. During three of those visits, Nungesser attended museumrelated events, including exhibit openings, a hospitality event at The Cabildo Museum and a meeting with the Louisiana Museum Foundation, a spokesperson said. The lieutenant governor did not actually stay at the apartment the fourth time due to a change in plans, according to the spokesperson. In Louisiana, the lieutenant governor, whose job is to promote tourism, is elected separately from the governor. Nungesser is currently in Japan for an event meant to bring more Japanese tourists to Louisiana.

Guests defend apartment use Some high-ranking officials who used the Irby Apartment defended Nungesser’s office and said their stays were at least partly related to tourism or state museums. A spokesperson for Carter, the New Orleans-based congressman, said in a statement that Carter’s office used the apartment for professional development sessions lasting a few hours, and that no one stayed overnight. “Staff had an opportunity to engage with the Louisiana State Museum and its role in preserving

hol, two at Marley’s and two at Nite Town. The release did not identify them. Green said minors are cited only if they have alcohol in their possession when ofﬁcers make contact. She said officers ask bar staff beforehand how they mark patrons under 21, such as an X on the hand. Parents are notiﬁed only if the person is cited as a juvenile. “Seven LPD officers worked the operation,” Green said. “The bars this past weekend were chosen at random.” The Police Department’s previous compliance operation was Sept. 10. Officers checked convenience stores who were all found to be compliant with the law, Green said. ATC records show 18 com-

plaints against Nite Town since 2022. The complaints centered on alcohol and minors. The records, 138 pages, were produced in response to a public records request. Three cases ended in ﬁnes totaling $4,050: n $500 for a Nov. 12, 2022, sale to an 18-year-old with no ID check n $2,300 for violations found June 21, 2025 n $1,250 for violations found Dec. 20, 2025. The bar’s license was never suspended or revoked. It is valid through Oct. 31, the records show. The $2,300 ﬁne followed an operation ATC agents conducted with police juvenile detectives, according to an agent’s report. ATC opened the case after a complaint alleging about 50 minors left

out Louisiana. “Our responsibility is to ensure Lafayette is prepared before an emergency ever occurs,” Boulet said. “Chris Hebert’s experience and passion for service are going to continue to build on the foundation we’ve created with OHSEP over the past two years and help protect the people who call Lafayette Parish home.” Hebert replaces Chad Sonnier, who was appointed Louisiana state ﬁre marshal by Gov. Jeff Landry. The OHSEP director serves as the parish’s chief

emergency management professional, leading preparedness, mitigation, response, recovery and resilience efforts while overseeing the Lafayette Parish Emergency Operations Center. “I am honored to serve Lafayette as director of OHSEP,” Hebert said. “I am committed to not only serving the people of our parish, but utilizing all of the tools I’ve gathered over the years to make sure Lafayette Parish is prepared and confident to handle emergency situations before they take place.”

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and promoting Louisiana’s culture and history,” the statement said. Mallett, the LSU board chair, said he stayed at the Pontalba while in New Orleans on LSU business. He applauded Nungesser for supporting LSU, contending that the university system is a key part of tourism in the state. “Everything that we do at LSU, it affects and touches tourism,” he said. “We are part of the culture.” During one of the visits, Mallett said he attended meetings about the University of New Orleans, which recently rejoined the LSU system after a budget crisis. Losing UNO would have hurt tourism in Louisiana, Mallett said. Mallett’s time in New Orleans also pertained to his responsibilities to the Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors, he said. He chairs that organization’s commercial board.

Other stays Other politicians on the guest calendar described visits that were for events relevant to their roles as elected ofﬁcials but that did not appear directly related to tourism in Louisiana. Boulet, the mayor-president of Lafayette Parish, used the apartment twice. A spokesperson for Boulet said her ﬁrst visit was to attend Louisiana Innovation Day, an event centered around economic development. Boulet’s second visit, which the log says lasted only for the day, was to attend a conference and meet with the New Orleans Police Department, according to the spokesperson. Ben Gilmore, a former state senator from Arkansas, said he stayed

the bar drunk on Fridays and Saturdays. In the report, ATC Agent Anthony Solano wrote that a 17-year-old informant paid a doorperson $20 to skip the ID check. The report said agents could not identify the doorperson. It also said agents could not identify all the apparent minors inside because of ofﬁcer and civilian safety and manpower

at the Pontalba while attending a National Conference of State Legislatures event on prison programming, and to visit the Elayn Hunt Correctional Center in St. Gabriel. His stay lasted for three nights in May 2024, the guest log shows. Other out-of-state officials named on the log include Michigan Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II and Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin, along with former Indiana Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch and former Delaware Lt. Gov. Bethany Hall-Long. In a statement, Griffin’s office said he stayed at the apartment for a three-day event at the Jackson Barracks Military Museum. Gilchrist, Crouch and Hall-Long could not be reached for comment. The log says the visits from Gilchrist and Crouch were aimed to “build awareness” with their states. The Irby Apartment has drawn controversy for nearly a decade. In 2017, after Nungesser’s handling of Louisiana State Museums was criticized by the outgoing museums director, Nungesser said he had stayed in the apartment two or three times. And in reports dating back to 2020, the state auditor has told the agency to stop using the Irby Apartment “for its own purposes” unrelated to the state museum system. It has also accused Nungesser’s office of allowing guest stays in the Pontalba that may not comply with state law. Nungesser’s office has pushed back, arguing that any stays that benefit Nungesser’s Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism also benefit Louisiana State Museums.

limits. Nite Town owner George Favaloro said, “we get complaints about minors paying to get in here all the time,” according to the report. Similar complaints about $10 and $20 payments to skip ID checks reached ATC at least four times, in 2023, January 2025, March 2025 and December 2025, the records show.

Favaloro paid the $2,300 ﬁne himself Feb. 10, the records show. ATC reset the hearing four times after ﬁrst setting it for Sept. 9, 2025. Case notes show Solano worked with police Sgt. Duncan McGalliard for nearly three months before the June 2025 operation. The planning included a May 5, 2025, meeting at Police Department headquarters.

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6A ● Tuesday, September 29, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

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TODAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

A t-storm around in the p.m.

Partly sunny, a t-storm; humid

Humid; a p.m. t-storm or two

Humid; an afternoon t-storm

A shower and t-storm; humid

HIGH

LOW

91° 71°

LOW

89° 74°

LOW

90° 73°

87° 74°

88° 73°

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

Beaumont 90/78

Baton Rouge 92/70

Lake Charles 91/73

Port Arthur 89/80

10s

20s

30s

Houma 90/70

40s

50s

YESTERDAY

60s

70s

80s

Sunrise today Sunset tonight Moonrise today Moonset today

90s 100s 110s

LAST

OCT 3

City

Austin Boston dallas Fairbanks Honolulu Las Vegas Louisville Miami Nashville

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

PRECIPITATION

91°/69° 87°/67° 88°/64° 96° in 1933 41° in 1896

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 91/74

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

Hattiesburg 93/62

Alexandria 94/69

Lafayette 91/71

LOW

86° 69°

TEMPERATURE Jackson 93/65

Many 95/68

LOW

Lafayette through 5 p.m. Monday

Longview 95/71

-0s

LOW

Monroe 96/69

Shreveport 95/71

-10s

HIGH

The cloud cover will start returning, and rain chances will inch up, but today, expect another mostly sunny to partly cloudy and hot day with a light breeze. Temperatures this afternoon will rise to the low to mid-90s. Humidity will remain relatively low, so they may only feel like the mid-90s. Winds will be easterly today, and rain chances will remain at zero. We’re following one tropical system in the Atlantic that is moving away from the U.S.

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

HIGH

9:39a 4:08a 4:11a 5:37a 11:55p 11:16p 12:19a

FT.

FIRST

OCT 10

94 67 94 40 89 81 82 84 87

TODAY Lo

76 58 77 29 77 69 58 75 56

FULL

OCT 18

t c pc r c t s t s

OCT 25

94 68 92 41 86 92 87 87 93

WED. Lo

76 60 74 30 77 70 66 77 64

FT.

0.8 8:57p 0.2 2.0 1:04p 0.5 2.1 10:21a 0.2 1.6 2:11a 1.5 1.6 9:57a 0.3 2.0 8:23a 0.4 1.8 10:59a 0.4

7:00 a.m. 6:56 p.m. 8:43 p.m. 10:06 a.m. NEW

LOW

0.00” 2.37” 4.73” 46.16” 48.41”

t pc t c sh s pc t pc

HIGH

MOdERATE

REAdING 77 MAIN POLLUTANT Ozone

MAIN POLLUTANT Ozone

SOURCE: LOUISIANA dEQ ANd AIRNOW.GOV

FT.

LOW

FT.

--- ----- ----- ----- --8:22p 2.5 10:59p 2.2 11:15p 1.8 2:04p 0.2 --- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ---

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

Today Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday

1:37a 7:51a 2:39a 8:53a 3:44a 9:59a 4:50a 11:06a 5:54a 12:09p 6:53a 12:39a 7:47a 1:33a

City

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

TODAY

91 88 75 83 71 84 84 79 88

74 71 60 68 56 61 65 66 73

2:05p 8:18p 3:08p 9:23p 4:15p 10:30p 5:21p 11:37p 6:25p ---7:23p 1:08p 8:14p 2:01p

s t c t pc s s s t

TODAY

MOdERATE

90 87 80 86 75 87 90 79 88

WED. Lo

77 73 63 73 59 62 70 67 74

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

FLOOD STAGE

34 48 48 35 27 22 17

MON. 24-HOUR STAGE CHANGE

9.60 16.30 19.00 7.00 4.40 3.41 3.00

+2.57 +0.38 +0.10 +0.20 +0.20 -0.10 +0.12

27.19

+0.43

-1.74

-0.06

18 29 8

-1.30 9.75 1.91

-0.01 -0.03 -0.52

13 15

1.38 0.58

none -0.01

47 34 29 20 12 6

6.80 4.48 3.52 3.52 2.70 3.09

-0.33 -0.35 -0.01 -0.32 -0.30 +0.05

data as of 7 a.m. Monday

t t pc sh pc s pc s t

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

CHAPTER

Continued from page 1A since 2008. “That’s a lot of bedtime stories, and we are truly so grateful. But today we write the next chapter,” Henry said. “Starting right now, the Imagination Library of Lafayette Parish is open to every child in the parish from birth to their fifth birthday. That’s about 16,000 children.” The school system will be the local partner facilitating the new program, which is sponsored by Community Coffee. They announced the launch on “Give Like Dolly Day” on Sept. 25 — the annual day of giving established by The Dollywood Foundation. Representatives from state and local government each read a proclamation declaring that “Give Like Dolly Day” will be recognized on Sept. 25 every year in Louisiana and Lafayette. Community Coffee also provided samples of its new Cup of Ambition line of light, medium and dark roasts, developed in partnership with Parton. The coffee will be available nationwide Tuesday.

STAFF PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK

Ginger Richard, the assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction for Lafayette Parish, reads to students during an event to kick off dolly Parton’s Imagination Library on Friday at Truman Early Childhood Education Center. All children up to age 5 living in Lafayette Parish are eligible to enroll in the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. Lafayette Parish participants can register online on the Dolly Parton Imagination Library website, and there is no fee to en-

TRUMP

Continued from page 1A Hours later, Trump seemed to be doing the same. “To China? You mean to Taiwan?” he said when a reporter asked him about Perdue’s account. “I never heard of that one. I’m going to have to ask him,” Trump said. He then mused that China would probably like to buy U.S. equipment, which he said was superior, and added: “So maybe it’s a good idea. But we didn’t discuss it. He may have been talking about Taiwan. I think he was probably talking about Taiwan.” Perdue said Sunday that the Republican president was downplaying long-standing U.S. arms sales

roll. Families that enroll now will start receiving books in the mail in November. The project was founded by the late country star in 1995 as a way of honoring her father, who could not read or write. It was originally designed to serve Par-

to Taiwan — which have drawn protest from Beijing for years — by couching it as just one of many sales Washington makes around the world, and even asking Xi if he’d be in the market for U.S. weaponry. Bream had cited concerns from Republican and Democratic lawmakers over delayed aid packages and weapons orders to Taiwan, the self-ruled democracy that seeks to defend itself from China’s threat to invade the island. Bream asked if the U.S. is denying arms to Taiwan to appease the Chinese president. Perdue pushed back on the suggestion, stating that Trump “is as strong on Taiwan as I’ve ever seen anybody” and has sold it plenty of weapons. Perdue also said Trump and Xi continue to talk about future U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan.

ton’s hometown of Sevierville, Tennessee, and has since expanded across the world, delivering around 3 million books a month to enrolled children. “Kids take owning books very personally,” said Catherine Guillory, who is the el-

“But President Trump continues to say, ‘Hey, we sell arms to other people around the world,’” Perdue said. “He actually asked President Xi, would he like to buy some, at one point.” If so, that offer “speaks to (Trump’s) treatment of China in almost exclusively commercial terms, even at the potential expense of the U.S. military position in Asia,” said Evan Sankey, an analyst focused on U.S. policy toward China at the libertarian Cato Institute. He said the U.S. last sold arms to Beijing in the 1980s and resuming those sales would be “a shocking policy change.” Craig Singleton, a senior fellow at the hawkish think tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said the anecdote that Perdue told offers “a revealing window into

ementary English language arts library science academic specialist for the school system. “Some kids can’t go to the library for whatever reason, and having that book come home to them with their name on it — it’s so special. I can’t say enough good

Trump’s transactional worldview.” “He tends to see weapons, tariffs and market access as instruments of leverage, even across the traditional dividing line between allies and adversaries,” Singleton said. Such an offer to Xi also would come in contrast with U.S. obligations under a domestic law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself and deter invasion from Beijing, which has vowed to seize the island by force if necessary. While not recognizing Taiwan as a country, the U.S. is the island’s strongest informal backer and primary arms provider. But multiple U.S. leaders have left ambiguous whether they would commit military force to defend the island should China invade. China has pressed Washington

things about the program and its impact on kids, how special it makes them feel, and how it highlights the importance of literacy.” Email Joanna Brown at joanna.brown@ theadvocate.com.

to halt the arms sales, most prominently during a previous summit in May between Trump and Xi in Beijing. After that meeting, the United States paused the sale of a record-breaking $14 billion package — and Trump described arms sales to Taiwan as a “very good negotiating chip” with China. In their private talks at the White House last week, Xi pressed Trump to oppose Taiwan independence, according to Chinese state media. In Beijing, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun did not conﬁrm Perdue’s remarks when asked about the matter on Monday. But he told reporters that China has always strengthened its national defense capabilities based on its needs and is committed to maintaining world peace and stability.

METRO

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

Jan Risher

Basketball stars reuniting 60 years later My mother was a bona ﬁde basketball star. She’s told me so my entire life. She played for Sebastopol, a tiny school in central Mississippi. They played a style of basketball called 6-on-6: Three forwards stayed on one end of the court playing against three guards; neither guards nor forwards ever crossed midcourt. My mom graduated from high school in 1961. In the past four years, I’ve heard even more about my mother’s basketball prowess, thanks to Nell Sharkey, a reader who emailed me in 2022 because she grew up in Lake, Mississippi, 9 miles from my hometown. Sharkey moved to Baton Rouge more than 60 years ago. She’s one year older than my mom. In her email, she mentioned a relative who was a friend of my dad’s. My dad called him “Big Tommy.” I felt like I knew her well because many of the same places and people built us both. Sharkey also was quite the basketball star. When my mom visited, I arranged a get-together. At lunch at Parrain’s in Baton Rouge, the two ﬁgured out that in 1960, when Sharkey was a senior and my mother was a junior, Sharkey guarded my mother — in what turned out to be my mother’s highest-scoring game ever.

T u e s d ay, s e p T e m b e r 29, 2026

1bN

Deputies arrest Melville mayor Caretta Robertson was due in court related to garnishment procedure

BY JOEL THOMPSON

Staff writer

The mayor of Melville, Caretta Robertson, was arrested Monday after failing to appear at two separate court hearings involving a garnishment procedure against the town government. The court originally issued a subpoena for Robertson in advance of an Aug. 10 hearing. Robertson was arrested by the St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Of-

ﬁce after failing to appear at both hearings according to a daily arrest report. The hearing was in connection with a judgment against the town from last year that resulted in the town owing around $10,000 to Plaquemine Credit Inc. The case inquired into whether Melville possessed any property belonging to the defendant Demetria Burks after Plaquemine Credit Inc. executed a 2009 judgment for several thousand

dollars she owed the company. Plaquemine Credit claimed in its initial filing that there was reason to believe that the town continued to hold property belonging to Burks, a claim never denied by the town. Neither Melville nor Robertson were represented by an attorney or had any party present on their behalf throughout the case proceedings. The town never responded to any claims made by Plaquemine Credit Inc. or its at-

‘Strongest El Niño on record’ may bring wetter winter

All in a day’s work

Emergency officials warn of possible tornadoes

BY COURTNEY PEDERSEN Staff writer

More than three months into El Niño, the weather phenomenon is breaking records and is anticipated to continue impacting southwest Louisiana. National Weather Service Lake Charles storm warning coordinator Doug Cramer spoke at a recent Calcasieu Parish Local Emergency Planning Commission meeting, highlighting how El Niño could affect the next few months. “It’s the strongest El Niño on record,” Cramer said at the meeting. “It is forecast to continue to be the strongest El Niño ever through the winter, and that typically has ramifications at these latitudes.” El Niño, which is a warming of the ocean surface within the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean that happens every two to seven years, is forecast to bring a wetter winter with a higher potential for tornadoes to southwest Louisiana. “(In) south Louisiana, you’re typically going to have more tornadoes,” Cramer said at the meeting. “There’s definitely a signal for strong tornadoes, 2s and 3s potentially. (As well as) a big signal for flooding, (we) typically get increased rainfall through those types of situations.” Agency meteorologist Andrew Tingler said the northern Gulf Coast typically has a more active weather pattern overall, which does mean more storms and lower temperatures. “We can have a more active pattern when it comes to severe weather at times because we have numerous systems that do tend to roll through in the southern portion of the jet stream, the subtropical jet,” Tingler said. “So, generally what we expect here across the northern Gulf Coast is more often than not a wetter pattern, and we tend to have cooler days because of more cloud cover.” The transition into fall and winter is expected to see more influence from the

PHOTOS By ROBIN MAy

Parish Proud volunteers take out the trash at Northside High School on Saturday.

STAFF PHOTO By JAN RISHER

Nelda Risher, left, and Nell Sharkey enjoy an LSU women’s basketball game at the PMAC in 2025.

I asked Mom if she remembered how many points she scored that night. “I know exactly — 28,” she said. Jean Harrison Sharp, the team manager and my mother’s best friend since they were infants, kept up with the scores. Usually my mother scored 18 or 20. “In your story, be sure to say this was with no three-pointers,” she said. “Let’s get that straight right now.” Consider it straight, Mom. And know that in reality, my mother is a humble and gentle soul — talking about basketball brings something else out in her entirely. By the time I was playing basketball, high school girls played 5-on-5. I wondered when that changed. Kim Mulkey, LSU’s women’s basketball coach, said she wasn’t sure. She said she never saw 6-on-6 played until she went to Oklahoma on a recruiting trip. She also said that Pat Summitt didn’t recruit in Tennessee for years because they played 6-on-6. So I called coach Haywood Reeves, the high school coach in Forest when I was growing up. He never coached me or taught me, but he always made sure I knew he believed in me, which made a difference through the years. Reeves reminded me about Rover, a 4-on-4 game that came between 6-on-6 and 5-on-5, with one player allowed to run the length of the court. “That was a game that nobody liked,” Reeves said. As best he remembers, 1974 was the first season girls played 5-on-5. Tesa Townsend Duckworth confirmed Reeves’ timeline. Her senior season at Florence, 1973-74, was the last one for Rover. She played 5-on-5 for the first time at Mississippi College.

ä See RISHER, page 4B

torney. A garnishment package against the town was executed in July 2024 by Plaquemine Credit’s attorney, which according to an afﬁdavit received in May 2025, the town never responded to. The court ruled against the town shortly after on the failure of the town and its ofﬁcials to engage with the proceedings. The town of Melville did not issue an immediate response to a request for comment.

Parish Proud volunteers and organizers picked up trash, planted greenery and created outdoor spaces for students and staff at Northside High School on Saturday. Parish Proud volunteers feed hungry participants of all ages in the school’s gym.

ABOVE: Barrett Vancourt, 5, from left; Jillian dilmore, 5; Everett dilmore, 10; Evangeline Vancourt, 3; and Annabelle dilmore, 12, take a break after picking up trash and cleaning flower beds. LEFT: Andrew LeGros, 13, shovels dirt and mulch outside the school.

Shreveport-based taco spot to open near River Ranch The Baja beach fish taco is on the menu at don Juanz Baja Beach Tacos, which will open a Lafayette location next spring.

BY ADAM DAIGLE

Acadiana business editor A Shreveport-based taco restaurant will move into the former Super Chix space near River Ranch in the spring. Don Juanz Baja Beach Tacos, which has locations in Shreveport and Bossier City, has applied for a building permit with Lafayette Consolidated Government for the 2,800-square-foot space at 2011 Kaliste Saloom Road, records show.

PROVIdEd PHOTO The fast-casual restaurant, which started in 2006 by Don O’Byrne when he opened in Bossier City, specializes in Mexican food from the

Baja peninsula that is often a lighter cuisine that focuses on fresh and minimal ingredients,

ä See TACO, page 4B

ä See EL NIÑO, page 4B

Report dings state for slow air pollution violation response BY DAVID J. MITCHELL Staff writer

A new analysis contends state environmental regulators have been exceedingly slow in responding to most air quality violations in a heavily industrialized area of southwest Louisiana while also issuing weak penalties when investigations are complete. The analysis was carried out by the

Washington, D.C.based Environmental Integrity Project and Micah 6:8 Mission, a local community and environmental nonprofit based in Sulphur. The state Department of Environmental Quality argues the analysis was too limited to capture the full picture since it focused on the largest facilities in the Lake Charles area.

ä See DEQ, page 4B

2B ● Tuesday, September 29, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

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

OUR VIEWS

Insurers need to match state’s energy on fortified roofs When the state began offering grants to homeowners to add fortified roofs that would help their property become more resilient to storm damage, we thought officials had unlocked one key to lowering the skyrocketing insurance rates that were strangling communities on the coast. We gave credit to outgoing Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon for championing the program in 2023 after looking around at what other states were doing to stabilize their insurance markets. Only one problem: Three years later, demand for the grants has far outstripped supply. And even though Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple and Gov. Jeff Landry have been staunch advocates of expanding the Louisiana Fortify Homes program, it’s not been enough. This year, the program was set to provide a record 3,000 grants to homeowners after lawmakers approved a bill that sent $50 million in excess Katrina-era emergency bond money to the fortified roof initiative, which has a $30 million annual state allocation. Still, it hasn’t been enough. The demand indicates the desperation of homeowners along the coast to find some solution — any solution — to the inexorably rising cost of insurance. Now, Landry has announced his administration is proposing an additional $20 million in federal money be poured into efforts to expand grants for fortified roofs. The money would be redirected from U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development funds that were set to go toward affordable apartment development in areas affected by Hurricanes Laura, Delta and Ida in 2020 and 2021. While affordable housing is always a vital concern, we believe this shift makes sense. It comes after a statewide assessment in June by the Louisiana Housing Corp., which evaluated future housing needs across the state. We agree the most pressing issue right now is lowering insurance costs so people can stay in their homes. And Landry said this doesn’t mean the state will stop pursuing funds to build affordable housing. Once the number of homes with fortified roofs reaches critical mass in a community, he noted, that can lower property insurance costs for all. If the feds approve the reallocation, the $20 million in funding would go toward a new effort run by state’s Office of Community Development called the Restore Resilient Opportunities for Overhead Fortification, or Restore ROOF, program. We cannot but be impressed by how state officials keep seeking ways to tackle our insurance crisis. We knew in the beginning it was going to be a long battle, but we’d like to see more movement on the insurers’ side. So far, the discounts they offer for fortified roofs have varied widely. Starting in January, however, companies will be required by the state to give an actuarially justified standard discount to homeowners with fortified roofs. Hopefully, this starts turning the tide more quickly. We in Louisiana have done our part. It’s now time for insurers to do theirs.

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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

dissatisfied with How about Lafayette for current events? Maybe the new Space Academy? a change is in order Thanks to Gov. Jeff Landry for his efforts to attract the proposed U.S. Space Force Academy to our state. Please consider offering multiple Louisiana options in our proposal. While New Orleans would be a great location for all the reasons being reported, certainly there are other places in the state that can offer different but also attractive opportunities. What exactly bends the decision

Voting these days can be confusing because most politicians sound the same, making grand promises about their agendas and trying to paint a future world where they and their party have the solutions to all our current problems. To put things in perspective, I offer a simpler guide of how to vote this November based on the events of right now: If you are angry about gas and diesel prices that are 49% and 70% higher respectively because of an illegal war with Iran, maybe you should vote the political party that controls the White House, House and Senate out of office. If you are frustrated by a trade war against our allies that has caused rising inflation and 7% interest rates, maybe you should vote the political party that controls the White House, House and Senate out of office. If you are horrified by masked men grabbing people off the streets in America and the politicians in Washington staying silent, maybe you should vote the political party that controls the White House, House and Senate out of office. If you are appalled by attacks on press freedom, including demands that certain programs that make fun of certain presidents be canceled, maybe you should vote the political party that controls the White House, House and Senate out of office. And if none of these things bother you, and you feel America is on the right track and you like things just as they are, then you should vote to keep those people in office and in power and expect more of the same. But my guess is you feel differently. Maybe.

in the end may not be known. But unless we are told we can only offer one location, it seems a menu of three or four options will give Louisiana a larger chance. Acknowledging my own bias, I will point out the Lafayette area has many assets to be touted. Please give it some thought.

ANDRE COMEAUX Lafayette

More paperwork makes it harder for eligible voters While the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act did not pass the U.S. Senate, it does not mean our voting process is safe from further disruption. As proposed, this act would fundamentally change how we register to vote. The SAVE Act was presented under the guise of restricting noncitizens from voting. Federal law already prohibits “aliens” from voting in federal elections. The proposed act, however, would change required documentation for U.S. citizens registering to vote. That distinction matters, especially for the legal system-impacted women and girls we serve. It would require people to present proof of citizenship such as passports or birth certificates in person when registering. Half the people in this country don’t have passports. A REAL ID alone would not qualify; neither would military nor tribal IDs. For a woman returning home after incarceration, those requirements are anything but simple. She already faces difficult barriers to rebuilding her life. Documents may have expired or been lost, confiscated, destroyed or simply

never obtained. Depending on charges that resulted in incarceration, some people may not be eligible for a passport. Acquiring a birth certificate can be an exhausting process when a person does not know where it is, cannot afford a replacement or lacks identification needed to obtain a replacement. The issue is not whether citizenship should be verified. The issue is whether an eligible citizen should face barriers to exercising a fundamental right because she cannot readily produce a specific government document. At Operation Restoration, we believe successful reentry means restoring the ability to participate fully in community life. Civic participation is part of that process. We encourage anyone eligible to vote and exercise their right on Nov. 3. Voting is one of the ways we make our voices heard in our communities. Be heard.

SYRITA STEIB founder, president and CEO, Operation Restoration New Orleans

JOSH MAYER New Orleans

What does exit strategy look like in Iran war? TO SENd US A LETTER, SCAN HERE

Seven months into America’s war with Iran, it’s time to ask what the exit looks like. Tehran has now offered one: Reopen the Strait of Hormuz — the chokepoint for a ﬁfth of the world’s oil — within days, if Washington eases military pressure. That isn’t surrender. That’s a deal, and it deserves a serious answer. Here in Louisiana we feel this war at the pump and in our ports. Hundreddollar oil doesn’t just raise gas prices;

U.S. fortunate to have Trump defend us against Iran

it ripples through every reﬁnery shift, every shipping contract every grocery bill in New Orleans. The administration promised strength. Strength is knowing when to bank a win. Diplomacy isn’t weakness — it’s how wars end. Our congressional delegation should say so publicly. Take the Hormuz deal, wind this war down and let Louisiana get back to work.

“We make war that we may live in peace ... those who cannot bravely face danger are the slaves of their attackers.” — Aristotle Iran has threatened America for decades. Finally, someone is doing something about it. We (all Americans) are fortunate to have Donald J. Trump as president of this great country.

KEVAN SMITH New Orleans

PETER J. RAYOT Gretna

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The Acadiana Advocate ● theadvocate.com ● Tuesday, September 29, 2026 ● 3B

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COMMENTARY Trump, good economic news and the midterm elections Did you know that recently released Census Bureau statistics show the poverty rate in the United States fell to a record low in 2025? That’s an extraordinary development, but it has so far not attracted a lot of media coverage and discussion. What about a big White House event featuring Byron President Donald Trump York touting a welcome decline in poverty and increase in income? There hasn’t been one. “I dunno, but if I were president and the poverty rate dropped to the LOWEST RATE ON RECORD, I might make a big deal out of it — a lot bigger deal than the Trump White House is making,” commentator Mickey Kaus, who has been covering poverty and social policy for decades, remarked. One more note — the Census Bureau also announced that real median household income in 2025 was $87,460, an increase of $2,250 from the year before and “the highest on record dating back to 1967.” So Trump could brag about the highest income and the lowest poverty on record. Obviously, the good news comes amid bad news on prices. The yearover-year rate of inflation today is actually higher than it was when Trump took office in January 2005. That is largely due to energy prices. To use new figures from AAA: Last year, the average price for a gallon of diesel was $3.71. Now, it’s $6.53. Last year, a gallon of regular gas was $3.20. Now, it’s $4.47. Those are terrible numbers, especially less than two months away from midterm elections. The poverty and household income numbers could be helpful to Trump because they allow him to argue that there are good signs in the economy to go along with the bad. “The economy is growing, jobs are pretty plentiful, the poverty rate hit its lowest point in modern history, so the economy is doing in many respects quite well; there’s growth, there are

ing Trump’s standing with Hispanics: his ferocious enforcement of immigration laws. Building a border wall can make families feel safer; sending armed and masked ICE agents to patrol American streets and arrest friends and neighbors does the opposite — it threatens their security. “Hispanic Americans — Republican, Democrat and independent — are experiencing a growing sense of isolation, feeling less safe, less welcome and more like strangers in their own country,” Diana Orces, a researcher who studies Hispanic trends, wrote in The Conversation. This growing alienation was crystalized by Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar of South Florida, a Cuban American three-term Republican lawmaker whose latest campaign ad addresses Trump directly: “Mr. President, some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far. ... The same Hispanics who helped you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today.” In an interview with CBS, she explained that Trump’s enforcement policies have failed to distinguish between “the narco and the nanny and the gangster and the gardener.” “Latinos are the enigma that neither Republicans or Democrats have been able to ﬁgure out,” Bobby Pulido, a Democratic candidate for a House seat in Texas, told CNN. Actually, the answer to that “enigma” is increasingly clear: Hispanics care about the same things that motivate all voters. They pay the same gas and grocery bills and will punish any leader who ignores their problems.

Some influencers simply want to persuade and perhaps help others better their lives or their community. Their subject could be politics, economics, music, health or fashion. But social media has become inundated with influencers who harm their devotees, some on purpose. Or make money off their trusting audience by endorsing so-so products. Influencers are people who build followers on social media Froma or other digital platforms. They Harrop use the attention to shape opinions, tastes, or get the audience to buy stuff. They post comments, videos, reviews, or endorsements, often for pay or to get freebies. Those who post outrageous, socially harmful things for clicks, for attention, deserve to be ignored. But often outraged readers only amplify the influencer’s wicked intent by reposting the rot while condemning it. They too get clicks. It’s the nature of the game. And that back-and-forth is why so many of us are so angry. An army of would-be influencers have turned Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts mother who killed her three children, into some kind of heroine. One can honestly believe she’s evil or that mental illness made her do it. But she is no hero. A battalion of counter-influencers is now going after Clancy’s apparent fan club. They too are hoping for attention and with it, clicks. One especially grievous example is a weepy woman holding her baby: She’s describing Clancy’s anguish while listing all the medical problems her own child was allegedly suffering. The baby looked bouncy, leading one to ask whether the mother was engaged in Munchausen syndrome by proxy. That is a mental disorder whereby a guardian fabricates illnesses or symptoms in a person under his or her care to draw attention and sympathy from doctors and others. When the exploited victim is young, it is considered a form of child abuse. One angry response on TikTok repeats her entire rant as he rants at it. Note that neither poster gets identified here. But this hunger for “engagement,” a nice word for attention, sometimes reaches tragic levels. In August, a pretty, young Japanese influencer killed herself on a TikTok livestream. Mina Chan had over 300,000 followers on TikTok and 150,000 on Instagram. Her posts revolved around a K-pop group, ENHYPEN. The story goes that she had handed a flower to one of the performers and was then hounded on social media for allegedly pretending to have a close relationship with the group. She apologized on the scene. Chan’s family confirmed her death on Instagram. Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton reportedly livestreamed 15 minutes of self-harm, that is, cutting himself on TikTok. Videos of women sharing intimate details of their romantic problems are rampant. Some announce their impending divorce before their spouse even knows. On a very different subject, many social media addicts are getting fleeced by financial advisers on TikTok. Some of the advice could be good, but a lot of it is claptrap. The Wall Street Journal reported on a study finding “those who use social media for investment advice rated their investment knowledge higher than those who don’t, but perform worse on an objective knowledge test.” These followers were also more susceptible to investment fraud. Many such videos showcase the adviser sitting in their Mercedes or otherwise flaunting their wealth. Their audience tends to be young, much of it Gen Z. YouTube is chock-full of very useful videos offering fashion, computing or other guidance. Trouble is, many include links to buy the things they are praising. That’s OK, one supposes, if they label the content as sponsored. Look, most of us want attention, and social media offers some very clever entertainment, commentary and how-to. But it’s getting wild out there. Clicker beware.

Email Steven V. Roberts at stevecokie@gmail.com.

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

ASSOCIATEd PRESS FILE PHOTO By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER

A number of economic factors will likely weigh on voters’ minds as the midterm elections approach. the things you want,” Fox News’ Brit Hume said recently. “But this business with prices is just killing this administration and the president’s party.” So what now? For Trump, the point is not to argue that there are no problems with the economy, or that Americans who are deeply upset about prices are being unreasonable. The point is to argue that a number of important factors in the economy are moving in the right direction, and that the Trump administration is working to ﬁx the others. Vice President JD Vance almost got there in a podcast interview last week in which he pointed out the administration’s accomplishments, argued that electing Democrats to control Congress would undo that progress, and asked voters for more time to work on the things that are not going well. “We’ve had an amazing success with the border, with immigration,” Vance said on the “All In” podcast. “We’ve pursued H-1B reform that prioritizes American workers over foreign nationals. There’s a lot of good that’s been

done, but there’s a lot of work left to do. Don’t give power to the people who caused the problems that we’re ﬁxing. Give us another chance, or give us another couple of years, to continue to work on the amazing things that we’ve been doing for the past two years.” It’s not a great idea for a second-term administration, even with the unusual circumstances of the Trump second term, to ask for “another chance” at election time. Voters are not very charitable about that sort of thing. On the other hand, it is reasonable for an administration to cite its progress and ask for more time to ﬁx remaining problems. There is still a high probability that voters won’t buy that one, either — a number of key indicators look terrible for Republicans — but it’s the best the Trump administration can do. And the new poverty and household income statistics help them make the case. Byron York can be reached by email at byork@washingtonexaminer.com.

How Trump betrays Hispanics The flight of Hispanic voters from the Republican Party is one of the most important trends this political season, and a few numbers explain why. In the latest New York Times poll, only 7% of Hispanics say the economy is better than a year ago, while 68% say it’s worse. Fully 80% disapprove of Trump’s economic record. So, while Trump received 46% of the Hispanic vote two years ago, the best showing ever by Steve Roberts a Republican candidate, it’s no surprise that 4 out of 5 Hispanic voters now want Democrats to control the next Congress. In other words, Hispanics are acting pretty much like other voters, sharing the same concerns about rising prices and the same resentment of Trump for failing to control them. “There’s no renewed affinity or love for the Democratic Party. They’re just extremely upset and disillusioned and angry, frankly, with Donald Trump,” Mike Madrid, a veteran strategist who studies the Hispanic vote, told The Guardian. “So they’re gonna leave the Republicans for the exact same reasons that they left the Democrats two years ago.” Madrid is right in saying that Hispanics have “no renewed affinity” for the Democrats, who have long misunderstood their political identity. In the standard Democratic view, Hispanic voters, like Black voters, are people of color first, whose race defines their values and indelibly stamps them as liberals. Joe Biden got 65% of the Hispanic vote in 2020, but that margin masked fissures just under the surface. Many

Hispanics are deeply religious and culturally conservative, and they don’t share leftist views on incendiary social issues. A good example of this Democratic disconnect is the word “Latinx,” popular in intellectual circles as a gender-neutral label, but disdained by ordinary voters. Only 2% of Hispanics embrace the term, according to one poll, and as Domingo Garcia, former president of the League of United Latin American Citizens, put it in 2021: “The reality is there is very little to no support for its use and it’s sort of seen as something used inside the Beltway or in Ivy League tower settings.” Democrats have also misread how shrewdly Trump uses the immigration issue, assuming that Hispanics would be offended by his vows to “Build the Wall” and deport undocumented immigrants. In fact, in many Hispanic communities, especially along the Mexican border, his promise to eradicate criminals and drug dealers made many families feel safer. In 2024, Trump beneﬁtted from the relative youth of Hispanic voters, whose median age of 38 is a full decade younger than the wider population. Almost one-third are under 30, and as Giancarlo Sopo, a Republican media strategist who worked on Hispanic outreach for Trump, told Reuters: “Young Hispanics do not have the same muscle memory as their grandparents who voted for Democrats for 50 years.” This lack of loyalty to the Democrats made young Hispanics more open to Trump’s promise of an economic revival. But as Madrid noted, the identical grievances that boosted Trump two years ago are blasting him now. Moreover, a second concern is erod-

Many influencers are con artists out for a buck

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

TO SENd US A LETTER, SCAN HERE

4B ● Tuesday, September 29, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

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Feds: La. missionary TACO abused kids in Haiti

Continued from page 1B

BY PATRICK SLOAN-TURNER Staff writer

agents that he was sexually abused over several months and wanted to tell Foshee to stop but couldn’t. The same victim said he was afraid of Foshee, who would scream at him and “sometimes would beat him with a belt.” As rumors about Foshee circulated, he left a voicemail with one of the unnamed people who would later speak to the FBI, agents said. In that voicemail, Foshee told the unnamed person that, except for him initiating sexual contact with one of the underage victims, the others “came onto” him. In the voicemail, he also said he had “ﬁxed the problem,” according to the criminal complaint. On Thursday, the court ordered that Foshee be put into the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service as he awaits a detention hearing set for Tuesday in Shreveport. As of Monday morning, he was being held at the Bossier Parish jail. Foshee is being represented by the Federal Public Defenders Office, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Ofﬁce for Louisiana’s Western District.

A Mansﬁeld man has been charged with sexually abusing several children while doing missionary work in Haiti, according to newly unsealed court documents. Maylon Foshee, 23, an international missionary, engaged in sexual conduct with three Haitian boys during trips to the country from 2023 to 2025, FBI agents said. Investigators said Foshee worked closely with children while in Haiti, helping them attend school, and some would stay at Foshee’s home in the Caribbean country. All three of the boys were 14 when they were abused and lived with Foshee, ofﬁcials said. At least two of the victims told investigators they were living with the Louisiana man because of troubles at home. Agents first learned of the allegations when they were contacted by separate people who did work similar to Foshee in Haiti. Those two unnamed people told investigators that several children had told them Foshee had engaged in inappropriate sexual contact with them. One of the victims told investigators he was living with Foshee because Email Patrick SloanFoshee was paying for his Turner at patrick.sloanschooling. The victim told turner@theadvocate.com.

DEQ

Continued from page 1B Its findings show three out of five formal air enforcement actions issued in the region between January 2021 and August 2026 came more than five years after the earliest cited violation. The groups added that the slow reactions may have jeopardized the agency’s ability to obtain civil penalties due to statutory deadlines. Even when DEQ did propose civil penalties, the fines averaged $66,300 for companies typically worth hundreds of millions to billions of dollars, they noted. Cynthia Parker Robertson, executive director of Micah 6:8 Mission, said the state agency must require industries “to correct the causes of their violations and prove they are protecting the people who live downwind.” “Our communities are breathing the consequences of an enforcement system that responds too slowly and demands too little,” she said in a statement released with a letter to DEQ. DEQ’s top enforcement official, Jerry Lang, said the analysis only looked at a “limited portion of LDEQ’s overall enforcement workload” and focused on a collection of facilities that are among “the largest and most complex industrial operations in the Lake Charles area.” A more complete analysis would have looked at the agency’s full workload and the difference in complexity of cases, he wrote in a letter to the groups. During the more than five-year period, the agency issued 3,456 enforcement actions statewide, including 975 actions for air quality. “The vast majority of these actions include matters that were identified, evaluated and processed without the extended timeline highlighted in the EIP report,” Lang wrote. Lang added that the agency believes the analysis doesn’t fully reflect the improvements it has made since a Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s Office report in 2021 that also faulted the speed of the agency’s enforcement actions. They’ve included formal time frames for enforcement actions and monitoring and a one-year due date for air quality enforcement not tied to citizen complaints or high-priority violations. The analysis looked at 28 formal enforcement actions

archives show. O’Byrne said he had initially planned to expand into the east Texas market and eventually Dallas before arriving in Lafayette a year ago for a wedding and finding “an instant attraction to the city,” he said. “It was after that visit that I started scouring the

RISHER

Continued from page 1B Title IX became law in 1972, but her senior year at Mississippi College, 1977-78, was the ﬁrst year they gave athletic scholarships to women. She went on to play two professional seasons, for the Chicago Hustle and the New Orleans Pride. She made $8,000 a season. She played anyway. Duckworth became my coach when my family moved to Magee, Mississippi, the summer before my junior year. Magee did not have a tradition of supporting girls’ sports. Most nights, my parents were just about the only people in the stands. The only other students there were on the boys’ team. One night, a new boy came to watch. Nobody had told him that nobody went to the girls’ games.

visiting the Baja area of Mexico often. He learned the style from a taco vendor there named Juan. “(This) has been the best year ever for our Bossier City and Shreveport locations,” he said. “We stay focused on our mission: to serve the freshest, highest quality coastal Baja cuisine that you can feel good about eating.”

I still remember seeing him walk across the end of the court and thinking, “Oh, he doesn’t know.” We played anyway. Today, women players have opportunities Duckworth never saw. “I’m happy for them, but I wish they would appreciate where it’s come from and how quickly it has come,” she said. “Why would you even think that a girl couldn’t play 5-on5?” Girls in Mississippi started playing full court 13 years after my mom graduated. “Thirteen years,” she said. “Well, good grief.” Twenty years after Sharkey guarded her, my mother sat in mostly empty bleachers and watched me run the length of the ﬂoor. At 83, she’s sure she couldn’t have done it herself. I reminded her that she ran out to midcourt and back. She reminded me

that while the play was on the other end, she had “some standing time.” “But we were on the alert every second,” she said. “Carolyn May could easily throw it from one end of the court to the other. I have stood there and nearly got knocked down by her throwing it.” I told her I still think she could have played full court. “Well, maybe so,” she said. “I just never had to, did I?” Had to or got to? My mom didn’t have the chance to play ball in college. Nobody ever paid her a dime. But basketball did give her something to brag about for 65 years. And six decades after that game against Lake, it gave her something more — a new friend named Nell Sharkey.

jet stream, which will bring disturbances and cause more squall lines, according to Tingler. While stormy weather will be more frequent, Tingler said the whole winter will not be like that. However, Tingler said El Niño is also one reason the 2026 hurricane season is expected to be less active. “That’s the one upside for an El Niño, especially a strong one, is we have a lot of shear across the Gulf and the Caribbean, so we do tend to have less systems out there,” he said. Typically, an El Niño lasts between nine and 12 months, starting in the spring or summer with the intensity peaking in the late fall or winter and weakening the next spring and summer. This year’s El Niño started in June. The World Meteorological Organization stated in a Sept. 3 news release that there is a nearly 100% chance that the El Niño will last through February. “Fueled by exceptionally warm ocean conditions across the tropical Paciﬁc, El Niño is expected to strengthen further during the coming months to a very strong intensity before peaking toward the end of this year, with climate impacts continuing well into 2027,” the release states.

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

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

notiﬁed Indorama Ventures Olefins in Westlake about potential penalties for alleged violations from 2016 to 2019. Citing documents in DEQ records, the environmental groups noted an Indorama attorney told DEQ in April that DEQ had missed the ﬁve-year window to assess penalties for the alleged violations. “Whether or not that defense ultimately succeeds, the matter illustrates that delayed enforcement is not merely an administrative concern,” the environmental groups say. A U.S. spokesperson for Indorama declined to comment Friday. For the Phillips 66 order mentioned in the analysis, the company and the state agreed to enter into dispute resolution in January, according to a notice. In a letter, the company has put forward a number of defenses, including that many of the alleged violations were temporary and

are no longer occurring. In one case, the company argued DEQ missed the ﬁveyear window to bring an enforcement action. A company spokesperson declined to comment on the “ongoing administrative process.” “Phillips 66 is committed to safe, environmentally responsible operations and compliance with applicable environmental requirements,” company spokesperson Stef Adams said. A spokesperson for Equistar wasn’t immediately able to comment.

that the state auditor “found that LDEQ had implemented its recommendation concerning timely review of required self-monitoring reports,” Lang added. He acknowledged that the agency’s improvements won’t mean “every individual enforcement matter” will be resolved within the new time frames, particularly “large and complex facilities with extensive compliance histories.” Despite the improving trends Lang argued were occurring, the groups attempted to highlight the STAFF FILE PHOTO By TRAVIS SPRAdLING consequences of slow action. A new analysis contends state environmental regulators

have been exceedingly slow in responding to most air quality violations in a heavily industrialized area of southwest Louisiana while also issuing weak penalties when investigations are complete. for 23 complexes in the Lake Charles area issued during the ﬁve-year period, and another 50 informal actions, such as warning letters.

Phillips 66 example In one example, the analysis pointed to the Phillips 66 oil refinery in Lake Charles, which documented hundreds of its own air pollution exceedances from 2020 to 2023 for state regulators in federally required quarterly reports. But DEQ took until late 2025 — almost five years after some of the initial reports — to file a 68-page compliance order to try to force corrections for those and several other alleged violations. The exceedances were for chemicals known to contribute to ground-level ozone, create rotten egg smells and fine particulates that cause regional haze, and irritate breathing for asthmatics and young children, according to the compliance order. Other self-reported problems were for unspecified hazardous or other air pollutants. The analysis also noted two cases, one at Phillips 66 and another at Equistar Chemicals Lake Charles Polymers Facility, in which alleged air violations from the early to mid-2000s were not self-reported by the companies for about a decade and a half. “These examples illustrate the importance of inspections and other compliance monitoring activities that can identify violations independently, rather than relying solely on facilities to report them,” the letter states. The groups said their analysis was an attempt to

follow up on the 2021 auditor’s report, which reached similar conclusions on the speed and potency of DEQ’s inspection and enforcement actions statewide. The DEQ’s Lang noted

EL NIÑO

market for a second-generation restaurant site,” O’Byrne said. Most of the building’s exterior will remain, he said, but the interior will be stripped and demolished except for the kitchen area. Plans include an expanded kitchen area, a bar and built-in booth seating along the walls and windows. O’Byrne had the idea for the restaurant after living in Los Angeles while pursuing an acting career and

5 years to assess penalties

The state generally has five years from the first notification of a potential environmental problem to assess penalties, but the analysis found cases where “delayed action could prevent the department from obtaining appropriate penalties.” In March 2025, the state

Continued from page 1B

Email Adam Daigle at adaigle@theadvocate. com.

David J. Mitchell can be reached at dmitchell@ theadvocate.com.

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y g by calling (337) 291-8258.

In accordance with Louisiana RS 38:2212. vendors may submit their bid electronically at the website listed above. Bidders wishing to sub‐ mit their bid electroni‐ cally must ﬁrst be regis‐ tered within LCG Vendor Access at the website listed above. The regis‐ tration process can take some time; therefore, LCG recommends regis‐ tering days in advance of the time that bids are due. It is the sole respon‐ sibility of the bidder to ensure their bid is deliv‐ ered (whether electroni‐ cally via Vendor Access, in person, or via mail) to the Purchasing Division prior to the scheduled date and time of the bid opening. Vendors may request the bid package electronically from An‐ toni Hoyte-Small at ahs‐ mall@lafayettela.gov or b lli ( )

Vendors submitting bids electronically are re‐ quired to provide the same documents as bid‐ ders submitting through the mail as soon as avail‐ able. Only a bid bond, certified check or cashier’s check shall be submitted as the bid se‐ curity. Electronic copies of both the front and back of the check or bid bond shall be included with the electronic bid. Bids must be signed in accordance with LRS Title 38:2212(B)5. A Cor‐ porate Resolution or Cer‐ tificate of Authority au‐ thorizing the person signing the bid is re‐ quired to be submitted with bid. Failure to sub‐ mit a Corporate Resolu‐ tion or Certificate of Au‐ thority with the bid shall be cause for rejection of bid. Copies of the bidding documents are available at the Purchasing Office located at 705 West Uni‐ versity Avenue, Lafayette, LA 70506. Tele‐ phone number (337) 2918263 (Attn: Antoni HoyteSmall). Bidding docu‐ h ll b il bl

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g ments shall be available until twenty-four (24) hours before the bid opening date.

Bids will be evaluated by the Purchaser based on the highest responsible and responsive bid sub‐ mitted which is also in compliance with the bid documents. The Lafayette Consolidated Government reserves the right to reject any and all bids for just cause in ac‐ cordance with LA R.S. 38§2214.B.

Each bid shall be accom‐ panied by a certified check, cashier’s check in the amount of $500.00 or bid bond payable to the Lafayette Consolidated Government, the amount of which shall be five percent (5%) of the base bid plus additive alter‐ nates. If a bid bond is used, it shall be written by a surety or insurance company currently on the U.S. Department of the Treasury Financial Management Service list of approved bonding companies which is pub‐ lished annually in the Federal Register, or by a Louisiana domiciled in‐ surance company with at least an A-Rating in the latest printing of the A.M. Best’s Key Rating Guide to write individual bonds up to ten percent (10%) of policyholders’ surplus as shown in the A.M. Best’s Key Rating Guide, or by an insurance com‐ pany in good standing li‐ censed to write bid bonds which is either domiciled in Louisiana or owned by Louisiana resi‐ dents. The bid bond shall be issued by a company licensed to do business in Louisiana and counter‐ signed by a person who is under contract with re‐ siding in this state. The certified check, cashier’s check, or bid bond shall be given as a guarantee that the bidder shall exe‐ cute the contract, should it be awarded to him, in conformity with the con‐ tract documents within ten (10) days. No bidder may withdraw his bid for at least fortyfive (45) days after the time scheduled for the opening of bids. Each bid shall be submitted only on the quotation form provided with the speci‐ fications.

The Lafayette Consoli‐ dated Government strongly encourages the participation of DBEs (Disadvantaged Business Enterprise) in all con‐ tracts or procurements let by the Lafayette Con‐ solidated Government for goods and services and labor and material. To that end, all contrac‐ tors and suppliers are encouraged to utilize DBEs business enter‐ prises in the purchase or sub-contracting of mate‐ rials, supplies, services and labor and material in which disadvantaged business are available. Assistance in identifying said businesses may be obtained by calling (337) 291-8410.

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

T u e s d ay, s e p T e m b e r 29, 2026

1CN

Saints must get Dome in order

Team can’t afford to lose to Falcons on Monday The Las Vegas Raiders’ wild-and-woolly 35-27 win over the New Orleans Saints on Sunday overshadowed what has become a troubling trend for the boys in black and gold. The Caesars Superdome has been anything but super for the Saints lately. The loss was the Saints’ 12th in their past 18 home games. The lowly TennesJeff see Titans are the only Duncan NFL team to be more hapless at home in the ä Atlanta at past three seasons. Such a losing stretch New Orleans, would have been unheard 7:15 P.M. of a few years ago, when MONdAy, ESPN the Superdome widely was considered one of the most hostile venues in the NFL for visiting teams. Somehow, “Dome sweet Dome” has turned into “Doom sweet Doom” for the

ä See DUNCAN, page 3C STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

LSU coach Lane Kiffin gestures to the Tigers to relax in the third quarter against Texas A&M on Saturday at Tiger Stadium.

‘Freaked’ out

Kiffin could rest some key players after cluster of injuries BY KOKI RILEY

ä McNeese at LSU. 6:45 P.M. SATURdAy, SEC NETWORK

Lane Kiffin was freaked out. Liinebacker Whit Weeks had hurt his leg. Charles Ross, a top backup at the position, also injured his leg earlier in the game. Star tight end Trey’Dez Green, starting safety Dashawn Spears and a host of other players were already unavailable, if not out for the entire season. He wasn’t going to test his luck any further. With LSU up 35-6 against Texas A&M in the fourth quarter on Saturday, Kiffin pulled his starters. “I took our guys out earlier in that game than I did in our previous home game,” Kiffin said, “because of just what was going on and that just freaked me out.” At 3-1, LSU has played well enough that a trip to the College Football Playoff could be in the cards. But Kiffin knows to get there, the roster can’t keep suffering injuries. That’s why Kiffin is open to resting players when LSU hosts McNeese State on Saturday in the final nonconference game of the regular season. “We’ll be extremely cautious this week all around,” Kiffin said, “because it’s just the schedule you play with. Once you go to nine (conference games on the schedule), it’s another SEC game. I mean, it feels like we’ve played a whole season already, but we have seven SEC games to go.” Kiffin’s caution likely starts at quarterback, where Sam Leavitt played most of Saturday’s game with a hamstring

injury that cut off his mobility. Leavitt had his best game of the year as a passer, completing nearly 74% of his throws for 312 yards and two touchdowns, but his injury raises the question of whether he’ll play against a 2-3 FCS team from the Southland Conference. Kiffin wouldn’t say whether Leavitt would sit Saturday, but he has shown confidence in backup quarterback and Elon transfer Landen Clark. He didn’t complete a pass in relief of Leavitt against Texas A&M, but two of his throws to the end zone were dropped. Kiffin also has used his legs in the red zone on multiple occasions, replacing Leavitt on certain plays when games have been in the balance. Clark has 83 yards rushing and three touchdowns, two of which he scored against the Aggies. “Landen’s done a great job,” Kiffin said. “He goes into the games (and) he finds a way to make plays. I joked with him that he’s got to be the first player in the history of quarterback (and) the history of football to actually throw two touchdowns that are in guys’ hands and throw another completion in the game and somehow be 0 for 5.” LSU also may be careful with Ty Benefield, Princewill Umanmielen and Jordan Seaton, its remaining healthy stars at critical positions on both sides of the ball.

Staff writer

ä See LSU, page 2C

Cajuns think their best ball still ahead BY KEVIN FOOTE Staff writer

The goal is win every game, but 3-1 was the most attainable goal for the UL Ragin’ Cajuns when the schedule was released. Mission accomplished. The fact that not all of the wins were as impressive as they ä Arkansas could have been is not State at UL, something coach Michael 7 P.M. SATURdAy, Desormeaux is going to dwell upon. ESPN+ “I think the most exciting part is we haven’t come close to playing our best game in all three phases,” said Desormeaux, whose Cajuns will take on Arkansas State at 7 p.m. Saturday for homecoming. “That’s a good thing when you’re ﬁnding ways to win and you don’t feel like you’re clicking on all cylinders. “There’s a play or two (each game) we’re working our best to eliminate, and I think that’s an exciting thing.” Desormeaux also recognizes the Cajuns are far ahead of where they were a year ago at 1-3, including a road loss to Eastern Michigan. “Last year, it probably took us until about Week 8 ... to kind of hit our stride

ä See UL, page 3C

Pelicans see alterations without many changes BY ROD WALKER Staff writer

The team looks pretty much the same. The results need to look a whole lot different. The New Orleans Pelicans begin training camp Tuesday with the hopes of spitting out the bitter taste of backto-back disappointing seasons. They won 26 games last season, the ﬁrst under executive vice president of basketball operations Joe Dumars. They won just 21 games the year before that. So Pelicans guard Dejounte Murray very well could have been speaking on behalf of everyone in the organization when he spoke at the Pelicans media day Monday.

“I’m here to win games,” Murray said. “I don’t want to continue to just talk about it or bull**** about it. I want to win as bad as the fans want to win.” Can the Pelicans improve despite making minimal offseason changes? The biggest addition was the signing of Bennedict Mathurin in free agency. Outside of that, the team will rely on the core of Zion Williamson, Trey Murphy, Herb Jones, Murray, Saddiq Bey, Yves Missi, and second-year players Jeremiah Fears and Derik Queen. “We are all looking forward to it,” Dumars said. “Everybody is excited about this season, the possibilities. We have a good group. We have a group that is really, really thirsty to turn things around and have a winning season. We’re going to do everything in our power to make this a much better

season than last year. I feel good about it.” It helps that the Pelicans are fully healthy heading into training camp. In years past, there seemed to be a player or two rehabbing an injury at the start of camp. Dumars said the players have worked “twice as hard” this offseason than they did a year ago. Videos on social media of players working out became an everyday thing. And players took the time to work out with each other. Williamson and Bey paired up in South Carolina. Murray and Fears did the same in Seattle. Queen and DeAndre Jordan worked out in California. Those sessions built some camaraderie that wasn’t there in

ä See PELICANS, page 3C

STAFF PHOTO By dAVId GRUNFELd

Pelicans guard dejounte Murray talks with the media during media day on Monday at the Smoothie King Center.

2C ● Tuesday, September 29, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

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THREE AND OUT: SCOTT RABALAIS ASSESSES LANE KIFFIN’S ANSWERS ON MONdAy

SAM OR ANOTHER MAN? Will LSU rest quarterback Sam Leavitt against McNeese State because of his hamstring injury against Texas A&M? Lane Kiffin wouldn’t say whether Leavitt or backup Landen Clark would start, but he revealed he would be “extremely cautious” with Leavitt this week. “I took guys out earlier in (the Texas A&M) game than I did the previous home game (with Louisiana Tech) because of what was going on (with injuries) just freaked me out,” Kiffin said.

COACH ‘EM UP Kiffin has decried the nine-game Southeastern Conference schedule and the demands it puts on rosters that have lost depth in the NIL/portal era. Still, he isn’t letting himself or his coaches off the hook. “I challenge our coaches,” Kiffin said. “That’s part of why you’re supposed to be good coaches and get paid a lot. It’s not just coaching the elite player, but now how can you fit our system to players that are going to need to play?”

FUN WITH ACCOUNTABILITY With basketball goals and fire extinguishers on the sideline, Kiffin said he strives to have a fun program “that has a swagger to it, so people watch and say, ‘I want to go play there’ ” while still maintaining discipline. The key is not to go too far and have taunting penalties like Texas linebacker Colin Simmons had Saturday at Tennessee. “you have to be really careful to have discipline so they can’t carry that over,” Kiffin said.

Bucs QB Mayfield to miss games with injured thumb

Baker Mayfield received some good news after dislocating his right thumb on Sunday in Tampa Bay’s loss to Minnesota, but the two-time Pro Bowl quarterback is expected to miss at least three weeks. Undrafted rookie quarterback Jalon Daniels will start this weekend against the Green Bay Packers. Easton Stick is on the practice squad and likely will be promoted unless the Buccaneers add a veteran quarterback. Mayﬁeld was injured when his throwing hand hit Vikings linebacker Blake Cashman on a desperation pass on fourth down that was intercepted late in a 23-16 loss. An MRI revealed that Mayﬁeld didn’t suffer ligament damage or a fracture. He avoids surgery and possibly won’t be placed on injured reserve, which means he would have to miss four games.

Vikings trade QB McCarthy to Giants for 5th-round pick

LSU NOTEBOOK

The New York Giants acquired quarterback J.J. McCarthy from the Minnesota Vikings for a 2027 ﬁfthround pick, adding another young player at the most important position in football less than a week after learning Jaxson Dart would be out for the rest of the regular season. Jameis Winston started and the Giants beat Tennessee on Sunday, despite not scoring a touchdown and having just 238 yards of offense. McCarthy, the 10th pick in the 2024 draft, lost the starting job in Minnesota to Kyler Murray and fell behind Carson Wentz on the depth chart. McCarthy started 10 games last season, completing 57.6% of his passes for 1,632 yards, 11 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.

SEC: Tennessee’s onside kick officiated incorrectly

STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

LSU defensive tackle deuce Geralds dances on the sideline in the first quarter against Texas A&M on Saturday in Tiger Stadium. Geralds was named the SEC Freshman of the Week after recording two sacks against the Aggies.

DT Geralds recognized for 2-sack outing BY REED DARCEY AND JON BLAU Staff writers

LSU defensive tackle Deuce Geralds was named the SEC Freshman of the Week on Monday. Geralds recorded two sacks on Saturday against Texas A&M, which means he’s already up to four sacks on the season. The Georgia native also had a twosack night when the Tigers beat Louisiana Tech in Week 2. No FBS freshman has more sacks this season than Geralds, who’s emerged as a starter. Through four games, he’s played 19 more snaps than any other defensive tackle on the team, which means his emergence is a key reason why the Tigers enter Week 5 with the second-best rushing defense in the nation. Miami is the only other team that’s allowed fewer rushing yards than LSU. Geralds was the third-most highly rated recruit to sign with the Tigers in 2026, according to 247Sports composite rankings, behind University High defensive end Lamar Brown and Edna Karr defensive tackle Richard Anderson. He was a fringe top-50 national prospect. Geralds is also responsible for

LSU

Continued from page 1C

one of the three fumbles LSU has forced this season.

Update on Weeks LSU linebacker Whit Weeks will be out for “a while” after he reportedly fractured his right leg Saturday in a win over Texas A&M, coach Lane Kiffin said Monday. Kiffin said that he still isn’t sure whether Weeks can return to the Tigers at some point this year, though On3 reported Monday that LSU is optimistic that the star linebacker won’t become the second defensive starter lost to a season-ending injury. Defensive back Dashawn Spears is already out for the year after he tore his ACL against Ole Miss in Week 3. “That’s a tough one,” Kiffin said, “not just because of the player that (Weeks) is. It’s the mentality and what he brings around him and how he is. That’s really probably why I was in the mood that I was in after the game, just knowing the impact and feeling horrible for him.” Tight end Trey’Dez Green is out indefinitely with a knee injury he suffered against the Rebels. The Tigers also have lost defensive end Gabe Reliford (ACL), corner-

Ailments forcing Leavitt or any member of that trio off the ﬁeld likely would derail the season. The Tigers put a lot of resources into their team — an estimated $47 million to $50 million, according to The Athletic — but Kifﬁn staunchly believes cobbling together a deep roster in Year 1 is impossible. Even with LSU’s resources, the transfer portal and NIL have made building depth much harder than it was a decade ago. That’s why Kiffin has been spooked lately by the injuries. “These injuries are more significant than they used to be,” Kiffin said, “because you don’t have the great players at the bottom of your roster that you used to be able to have when you could stockpile (talent).”

Beneﬁeld moved from safety to the star position on Saturday to replace Spears, who tore his ACL against Ole Miss. He played well in his new role, accumulating nine total tackles against the Aggies, but his health becomes more crucial than ever with Spears and Weeks out of the lineup. Umanmielen has been LSU’s most valuable defensive player with seven sacks in just four games. He’s driven the strong play up front, while Seaton arguably has been their best player on the opposite side of the line of scrimmage. He’s allowed just three quarterback pressures and no sacks through four contests at Email Koki Riley at koki.riley@ left tackle. theadvocate.com.

back Aidan Anding (Achilles), kick returner Phillip Wright and linebacker Charles Ross (ACL) to season-ending injuries. Ross went down in the win over the Aggies. Weeks already has suffered two fractures in the same leg he injured Saturday: one in LSU’s 2024 Texas Bowl win over Baylor and another in its 2025 loss to Ole Miss. The latter injury did not require surgery, and it shelved the star linebacker for only four games. It’s unclear exactly how long Weeks will have to sit this time. LSU will have to play without the heart of its defense for the foreseeable future. Weeks is one of LSU’s longesttenured players. He’s a three-year starter who led the team in tackles (20) before the game against Texas A&M, thanks to his sidelineto-sideline speed and his downhill rushing ability. LSU is expected to start junior Davhon Keys next to Ole Miss transfer TJ Dottery at linebacker. Dottery and Keys were the Southeastern Conference’s top two tacklers in 2025, so the Tigers still have talent and experience at that spot. Kiffin thinks that LSU is now “extremely” thin at linebacker.

Ross, he said, was fourth on the depth chart before he was injured Saturday. “With this amount of long-term injuries,” Kifﬁn said, “we’ve got to feature our defensive line in situations because we are so low at linebacker.”

Kentucky kickoff time LSU and Kentucky will play under the lights in the Bluegrass State. Their Oct. 10 contest will kick off at 6 p.m. and will broadcast on ESPN, according to an SEC news release. Both teams could be 4-1 by the time they face off in Lexington, Kentucky. The Wildcats (3-1, 1-1 SEC) head on the road to face 2-2 South Carolina, which will be without top edge rusher Dylan Stewart because of a suspension. Kentucky, led by ﬁrst-year head coach Will Stein, bounced back from a loss in its SEC opener against Alabama with double-digit wins over Texas A&M and South Alabama. No. 11 LSU (3-1, 1-1 SEC) will face McNeese State in Tiger Stadium on Saturday after sending the Aggies to their second straight conference defeat.

No. 17 Tennessee’s successful onside kick against top-ranked Texas was incorrectly officiated, according to the Southeastern Conference. The kick with 1:22 left on Saturday should have been flagged for a 5-yard penalty and the down replayed because the ball was not kicked from the 35-yard line, the conference said in a statement Monday. The ball also should not have been moved once was it was deemed ready for play by the officials. The onside kick came after Tennessee quarterback Faizon Brandon threw a 30-yard TD pass to Mike Matthews to pull the Vols within 20-17. Tennessee punter Jackson Ross pulled off the onside kick by faking right and drop-kicking it to the left.

Warriors center Porzingis out with a health issue

Center Kristaps Porzingis will be out indeﬁnitely for the Golden State Warriors with a health issue, and general manager Mike Dunleavy offered no further details but wasn’t ready to call this a longterm concern. Dunleavy was informed about Porzingis’ status on Sunday. The big man already had been working out at Chase Center recently. “He was in last week, doing well and everything. I don’t have a timeline on it,” Dunleavy said at media day Monday. “Hopefully he will be back soon.” Porzingis wasn’t set to travel with the team to Hawaii for training camp. In March when Porzingis missed time with a medical issue and illness, coach Steve Kerr referred to it as “mysterious.”

Lynx collect WNBA awards for top rookie and coach

STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON

LSU quarterback Sam Leavitt walks off the field after the Tigers’ win over Texas A&M on Saturday at Tiger Stadium.

The Minnesota Lynx have received two major WNBA awards, with point guard Olivia Miles as Rookie of the Year and Cheryl Reeve as Coach of the Year for a league-record fifth time. The WNBA announced the awards on Monday, before the Lynx traveled to New York for an elimination game in their best-ofthree first-round playoff series on Tuesday. Miles was an unanimous selection after she set the WNBA rookie scoring record. She played in 40 of 44 games and averaged 19.8 points, 6.0 assists, 4.7 rebounds and 1.3 steals while shooting 49.2% from the field, 38.8% from 3-point range and 87% from the free-throw line. Reeve previously won the award in 2011, 2016, 2020 and 2024.

The Acadiana Advocate ● theadvocate.com ● Tuesday, September 29, 2026 ● 3C

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SAINTS NOTEBOOK

Moore says RB Etienne to miss time BY LUKE JOHNSON

either miss obvious penalties or let the game play out rather than throw a flag. Moore on Monday declined to openly discuss his feelings about the officiating. “We had our opportunities in this game, ultimately,” Moore said. “We’ll have those conversations, we all know that those conversations are private with discussions about that sort of stuff. There are elements that are out of our control, and there was a flow in that game that was a challenge for everyone, but we had our opportunities.”

Staff writer

Of the four players the New Orleans Saints lost to an injury during Sunday’s loss to the Las Vegas Raiders, at least one is likely to miss Monday Night Football against the Atlanta Falcons. “Travis (Etienne) will be time lost with the (hamstring),” coach Kellen Moore said Monday. “We’ll see ultimately what that timeline looks like.” Etienne pulled up at the end of a 16-yard run in the third quarter, reaching for his left hamstring before getting knocked out of bounds. It was the same hamstring that had him limited in practice earlier in the week. Sunday was Etienne’s best game in a Saints uniform. The Jennings native rushed for 57 yards and added 13 as a receiver. Moore did not rule out the possibility of Etienne landing on injured reserve. “We’ll see here shortly,” Moore said. The Saints have three other running backs on their 53-man roster in Alvin Kamara, Kendre Miller and C.J. Donaldson. They also have Zamir White on their practice squad. Kamara enjoyed a bounce-back performance against Las Vegas after struggling in his 2026 debut the week prior, rushing nine times for 36 yards with a long of 11. Miller’s four carries went for 14 yards. The Saints made Miller inactive for the Ravens game in Week 2, which was explained to him as a byproduct of a numbers crunch on the roster. “Whatever they’ve got for me, I’m ready,” Miller said Monday. “Hopefully Trav’s good, but I’m going to step up.” Moore said the Saints will use

Just for kicks

STAFF PHOTO By dAVId GRUNFELd

Saints running back Travis Etienne is tackled by Raiders linebacker Nakobe dean after making a ﬁrst down Sunday in the Caesars Superdome. Saints coach Kellen Moore said Etienne will miss some time with a hamstring injury. the added day of rest ahead of the Monday game to gather more information on injured defenders Pete Werner (stinger), Carl Granderson (ankle) and Anfernee Jennings (knee).

Then the flag landed on the field. Game officials penalized Stutsman for roughing the passer, giving Las Vegas a new set of downs and clearing the way for a touchdown on the next play. ‘Tough play’ Stutsman’s roughing penalty For a moment in the second was one of several to draw the ire quarter, Saints linebacker Danny of football fans around the league Stutsman appeared to make an im- this week. Though Stutsman’s hit on Couspact play when he drilled Raiders quarterback Kirk Cousins as he was ins appeared to use perfect techthrowing a pass on third down nique — indeed, if he had hit any near the Saints goal line. Cousins’ other player it would have been pass floated incomplete, and New considered clean — the NFL proOrleans looked like it had forced hibits defenders from landing with their full body weight on top of a a field goal.

quarterback. By rule, defenders are supposed to make an attempt to roll to the side or break the fall rather than landing directly on the quarterback. “There were 10 roughing the passers this week so far; I’ve watched those 10 — and this is me saying this — body weight is going to be a big point of emphasis,” Moore said. “It’s a tough play for the defenders. You’ve got to do everything you can to get to your side.” It was one of several costly penalties against the Saints. There were also several instances in Email Luke Johnson at which game officials seemed to ljohnson@theadvocate.com.

DUNCAN

Continued from page 1C

and find our formula to win,” he said. “The message with our team is, ‘Hey, we got to have some urgency to do it now.’ If we want a chance to win the division and play for a conference championship, we’ve got to figure it out in Week 5.” That formula so far has been to play great defense and score just enough to prevail. “I’m never going to apologize for playing good defense,” Desormeaux said. “I’d rather play great defense than great offense any day. Coach (Nick) Saban said this the other day: ‘Defense travels,’ and I believe in that. If we want to be a great defense when it’s all said and done, then we’ve got to continue to play at that type of level.” On Monday, sophomore cornerback Brent Gordon was named the Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Week after collecting seven tackles, an interception, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery against Charlotte on Saturday. Desormeaux didn’t give any injury updates coming out of the 34-7 road win, but he did offer a little insight on a few players. Last week, defensive tackle Brodrick Stewart wasn’t listed on the depth chart released Wednesday, but Desormeaux said he was cleared to play. Wide receiver Shelton Sampson was listed on the depth chart, but he didn’t player, either. “Sometimes you want to see them when the juices are flowing a little bit before a game and see how it looks,” Desormeaux said. “When it got late in the game, he (Stewart) had been sitting and we just talked to him and

PELICANS

Continued from page 1C years past. “We can be best friends all we want,” Williamson said. “If we don’t yield results, it doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things.” Dumars hired new coach Jamahl Mosley to help turn things around. The expectation is for the defensiveminded Mosley to bring a level of toughness that the team was lacking. Mosley has been impressed with what he’s witnessed in the offseason workouts. “The work ethic,” Mosley said. “I think there is a commitment by each guy to put in this work to understand exactly how much you have to do just to be even in this league.” Dumars spent his first

When the Saints sent their kickoff team out to start the second half, kicker Daniel Carlson said he was trying to hide himself on the bench before he thought better of it — Las Vegas was going to quickly realize he wasn’t out there. The Saints used starting safety Justin Reid to handle the opening kickoff of the second half. It is a role that he has handled several times throughout his career, dating back to his time with the Houston Texans. The idea is fairly straightforward: Reid, who played soccer growing up, has the ability to place the kickoffs, and he also adds an element that teams don’t typically get from the kicker — he can tackle, and return units typically do not have to account for an 11th man to block. The Saints had planned to use Reid as a kickoff specialist earlier in the season against Detroit but backed out of it after the Lions got out to a 21-0 lead.

STAFF PHOTO By BRAd KEMP

The UL Ragin’ Cajuns are thrilled to be 3-1, but coach Michael desormeaux is even more excited about the fact he still believes their best football hasn’t been played. were like, ‘Look, you had a great week and you’re ready to go. Next week, you’ll get a full week.’ ” Sampson has been “pushing hard to get back and wants to, and we’re pushing hard to get him back.” “Every week, he’s getting closer to it,” Desormeaux said. “The sooner he gets back, I think certainly the better it is for all of us.” Desormeaux didn’t come right out and say it, but it sounded like the offensive line was the biggest problem area upon further review of the game’s ﬁlm. “Truthfully, I thought four of our five starters played really well,” Desormeaux said. “I think some of the guys we rolled in there did not play very well at times.” There also were issues on special teams. “I thought our specialists, a couple

season in New Orleans assessing the organization from top to bottom. With that assessment came some changes, starting with the firing of Willie Green as head coach just 12 games into the season. Dumars also made some changes in the front ofﬁce, including on the medical staff. “Internal improvement,” Dumars said. “We’ve got to get better inside the building first. I don’t think all of your improvements are from outside. We didn’t make a ton of moves. But we like the moves we made.” Inevitably, the franchise’s success will depend on the roster Dumars has built. It’s a roster he’s pleased with at this point. “We brought in some guys that have a tough, competitive spirit about them,” Dumars said. “It wasn’t really so much about the quantity

bad punts early, and the opening kickoff goes out of bounds,” Desormeaux said. “Those are things that at that position, we’ve got to operate better. The false start on the punt was a specialist issue as well. The ball wasn’t snapped on the snap count.” The punt return unit did contribute a 37-yard punt return by Gordon, and the punting improved as the game wore on. “Overall, I thought it was a lot better,” Desormeaux said. “Still can’t false start. Still can’t kick it out of bounds. We’ve still got to execute better on punting the football. “But (punter) Mason (Golding) bounced back and had some really good pooch punts, dropped them back around the 10 to ﬂip the ﬁeld position.” Email Kevin Foote at kfoote@ theadvocate.com.

but the quality of the type of guys we brought in. We are deep enough on this team now that we don’t have to put it all on anybody’s back. Whether it’s Zion or Trey or whoever, that’s just not the way I believe in building teams.” Dumars doesn’t have a win total in mind that would make this season a success. “We’d like to be a playoff team,” Dumars said. “We have people in the building that want to win. Before you become a successful team, everybody in the building has to believe that we can do this. If you have people in your building doubting that, it’s hard to win. “We are putting in the work. Twenty-nine other teams are putting in the work as well. So we are almost required to work just as hard as anyone else to change our fortunes here in New Orleans.”

Players have bought in. Individually, the talent exists, but success will be determined by how those pieces ﬁt together. “Everybody’s got to understand it’s a collective unit,” Murray said. “It’s not tennis, a one-on-one game. We need everybody to do their job from top to bottom, bottom to top. I don’t really want to talk too much. But I really want to see and feel what it’s like to be in this city and win.” There hasn’t been much of that. The franchise has won two playoff series in its history. The 2026-27 Pelicans can’t erase their past, but they know it’s there. “For us, it’s a new season,” Murphy said. “So you don’t think about the past. You just think about what’s in front of you.” Email Rod Walker at rwalker@theadvocate.com.

Saints. For whatever reason, they have played their worst football at home the past few years and saved their best for the road. Their best game last season was a 24-20 win at Tampa Bay. The year before that, it was a rout of the Cowboys in Dallas. This season, it was their 24-17 win in Baltimore in Week 2. For a while on Sunday, it seemed like old times at the Dome. It’d been nine months since the Saints had played a regular-season home game, and the excitement was tangible. You could feel the energy in the air during pregame warmups. The Saints put the stadium on tilt during a 15-minute stretch in the second and third quarters when they erased a 13-6 deficit with touchdowns on three consecutive possessions. “Stand Up and Get Crunk” was pulsing over the publicaddress system, fans were dancing in the stands, and Saints players were feeding off of the energy. The Raiders looked overwhelmed and overmatched, but they managed to regain the momentum with a controversial strip-sack of Tyler Shough late in the third quarter and finished the game on a stunning 19-0 run. It was not the way the sellout crowd of 70,006 wanted the team’s home opener to end. It was even more disappointing for the Saints, who entered the game looking to re-establish the home-field advantage they’d enjoyed in years past. “I thought the atmosphere was awesome,” Saints coach Kellen Moore said. “I thought our guys really rallied off of it. And so obviously we’re all bummed. Our whole community, our whole team’s bummed that we weren’t able to get this one done.” An uncharacteristic avalanche of turnovers fueled the turnaround. Shough lost two fumbles and threw an interception. Juwan Johnson also fumbled the ball away on the Saints’ final possession. It marked just the second time in team history that the Saints had committed four turnovers in a quarter. “I thought (the home crowd) was awesome,” Shough said. “The energy

in the Dome, the fans were active the whole game. I mean, we appreciate their support.” It would be imprudent to overreact to one fluky loss. The fourth-quarter implosion seems like an outlier, especially in the 12 games since Shough has assumed the starting job. But the loss did have a déjà vu feel to it. The Saints were 3.5-point favorites against the Raiders and had an 88.7% win probability late in the third quarter. The loss marked the fourth time the Saints have lost as home favorites since 2024. The good news is the Saints won’t have to wait long to rid the bad taste from their mouths. Their next two games are at home, starting with their highly anticipated matchup against the archrival Atlanta Falcons when Monday Night Football will be in town to commemorate the historic post-Katrina Domecoming game in 2006. That unforgettable night 20 years ago kick-started the most successful run in Saints history. During the 15-year Sean PaytonDrew Brees era, the Saints enjoyed one of the biggest home-field advantages in the NFL. At times, they were seemingly unbeatable at home. In 2011 and 2013, they went 8-0 there. From 2017-20, they went 25-7 there in the regular season. In fact, the Saints have had only six losing seasons since reopening the Dome two decades ago. Four of them, though, have come in the last five years: 2021 (35), 2022 (4-5), 2024 (3-6) and 2025 (3-5). “It’s going to be another big game coming up next for obvious reasons,” Shough said of the Falcons game. “We’re going to need everybody showing out, and we’re going to put it together this week, have a great week of practice and get after them.” We know Saints fans will do their part. They’ll stand up and get crunk for four quarters. With special appearances lined up by Trombone Shorty and Steve Gleason, it has all the makings of a special and emotional night. If the Saints can’t rediscover their Dome-field advantage in this one, I’m not sure they ever will. Email Jeff Duncan at jduncan@theadvocate.com.

4C ● Tuesday, September 29, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

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Stories abound as MLB postseason starts BY DAVID BRANDT AP baseball writer

It won’t take long for Major League Baseball to deliver some spicy postseason storylines. The Wild Card Series begins Tuesday, featuring four bestof-three matchups that include the Boston Red Sox traveling to face their longtime nemesis, the New York Yankees. Also in the American League, the Chicago White Sox are at the Houston Astros, who qualified for the postseason despite an 81-81 record. Over in the National League, the Philadelphia Phillies are at the Atlanta Braves while the Chicago Cubs travel to face the San Diego Padres. Four teams earned a bye straight to the Division Series, including the Cleveland Guardians and Tampa Bay Rays in the AL, along with the two-time reigning World SeASSOCIATEd PRESS PHOTO By COREy SIPKIN ries champion Los Angeles Dodg- Jazz Chisholm of the New york yankees watches the ball after he hit into ers and Milwaukee Brewers in the a fielder’s choice in the eighth inning against the Boston Red Sox on NL. They’ll get nearly a week to rest and regroup after the sport’s Aug. 29 in New york. The teams meet again in a Wild Card Series. 162-game regular season. Here’s more of what to know Schlittler has emerged as one more than three months with a about the matchups this week: of the game’s best pitchers this broken rib. The Red Sox had a massive inseason, and he’ll start Game 1 Will Judge play? after a 1.95 ERA in the regular season turnaround after they were 32-46 and 151/2 games back in the AL It’s the second year in a row AL season. It remains to be seen whether East race on June 24. Boston ﬁred East rivals the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox will meet in three-time MVP Aaron Judge manager Alex Cora in April, and his the Wild Card Series. The Yankees will be in the lineup against Bos- replacement, Chad Tracy, recently prevailed in last season’s match- ton. He’s dealing with a right calf had his interim tag removed. up, winning 2-1 after a dominant strain that knocked him out of the Game 3 performance by young ace last week of the regular season. White Sox’s turnaround That came shortly after he missed Cam Schlittler. The White Sox became the

first team to follow consecutive 100-loss seasons by reaching the playoffs. Chicago’s powerful lineup includes Miguel Vargas, Munetaka Murakami and Colson Montgomery, though the latter two have struggled at the plate as of late. The Houston Astros were at one point 11 games under .500, fired their general manager in August and failed to finish with a winning record. Even so, the .500 club was good enough to win the AL West for the fifth time in six years. Houston has some roster holes, but it also has star slugger Yordan Alvarez, who is the frontrunner to win AL MVP.

NL East rivalry The Braves are regulars in the playoffs and have another strong roster that includes ace lefty Chris Sale and a lineup that features Matt Olson, Michael Harris, Ronald Acuna, Drake Baldwin and Ozzie Albies. The veteran Phillies stumbled down the stretch and squeezed into the playoffs on the last day of the regular season. With a lineup that includes Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber, and one of the best starting rotations in the game, it wouldn’t be shocking for them to make a run in October.

Cubs head to San Diego The Cubs are led by NL MVP frontrunner Pete Crow-Armstrong, who finished the season with 45 homers and a .943 OPS.

They also have veteran third baseman Alex Bregman, who is back in the lineup despite taking a ball to the face while standing in the ondeck circle last week. The Padres are back in the postseason for a third straight season, surging down the stretch thanks to big contributions from Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jackson Merrill. They’ve got solid starting pitching and one of the best bullpens in the game, led by closer Mason Miller.

Playoff format There are 12 teams that qualify for the MLB postseason, including six teams from both the AL and NL. The three division winners in each league get seeds No. 1 through No. 3, ranked by win-loss record. Then the three wild-card teams get seeds No. 4 through No. 6, also ranked by win-loss record. The top two teams with the best record in both the AL and NL automatically advance to the Division Series. The other eight teams play in the Wild Card Series, which is a best-of-three format beginning on Tuesday. In both the AL and NL, the No. 6 seed will travel to face the No. 3 seed while the No. 5 seed goes to No. 4. The higher seed hosts all three games. The winners then advance to the best-of-ﬁve Division Series, followed by the best-of-seven League Championship Series and a best-of-seven World Series between the winners of the AL and NL.

SCOREBOARD Hole-in-one Tim Melancon

Course: The University Club Hole: No. 16 Yardage: 102 yards Club: Sand Wedge Witnesses: Ross Berthelot, Mark Matthews, Ian McKnight, Mike Davis

Prep volleyball Tuesday’s area volleyball schedule

St. Edmund at Acadiana, Lafayette at Rayne, LaGrange at St. Martinville, Beau Chene at Acadiana Renaissance, Carencro at St. Thomas More, Cecilia at David Thibodaux, Westgate at Lafayette Renaissance, Lafayette Christian at Catholic-NI, Centerville at Abbeville, Breaux Bridge at North Vermilion, Church Point at New Iberia, Vinton at Crowley, Northwest at Opelousas, Highland Baptist at Loreauville, Barbe at Northside Christian, Catholic-PC at Opelousas Catholic, Ascension Catholic at Episcopal of Acadiana, Franklin at Acadiana Christian.

Sunday

OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG 3 2½ (38½) at CLE

FAVORITE OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG Indianapolis 1½ 3½ (47½) at WASH at BUFFALO 3 6½ (48½) New Eng LA Rams 2½ 2½ (46½) at PHILA Green Bay 1½ 3½ (39½) at TAMPA at BAL 8½ 11½ (43½) Tennessee Arizona 7 1 (44½) at GIANTS at CIN 2½ 2½ (51½) Jax at HOUSTON 2½ 2½ (47½) Dallas at CHICAGO 8½ 3 (43½) NY Jets at MIN 7½ 10 (39½) Miami at SEATTLE 3 6½ (43½) Chargers at SAN FRAN 2½ 2½ (46½) Denver Kansas City 5½ 4½ (47½) at VEGAS Detroit 3 3½ (50½) at CAR

Monday

FAVORITE at N.O.

FAVORITE at NMSU at TULSA

Friday

FAVORITE at CAROLINA at TORONTO at BOSTON at EDMONTON at VEGAS

LINE +164 +106

LINE -130 -115 -116 -286 -267

UNDERDOG Florida Montreal N.Y Rangers Vancouver Chicago

LINE +107 -108 -106 +225 +211

Pro basketball (x-if necessary) First Round (Best-of-3)No. 8 New York 1, No. 1 Minnesota 0

Sunday, Sept. 27: New York 91, Minnesota 75 Tuesday, Sept. 29: Minnesota at New York, 7:30 p.m. (USA) x-Thursday, Oct. 1: New York at Minnesota, TBD (TBD)

No. 3 Las Vegas 1, No. 6 Indiana 0

Sunday, Sept. 27: Las Vegas 102, Indiana 85 Tuesday, Sept. 29: Las Vegas at Indiana, 5:30 p.m. (Prime) x-Thursday, Oct. 1: Indiana at Las Vegas, TBD (TBD)

No. 4 Atlanta 1, No. 5 Washington 0

Sunday, Sept. 27: Atlanta 92, Washington 77 Wednesday, Sept. 30: Atlanta at Washington, 6 p.m. (ESPN) x-Friday, Oct. 2: Washington at Atlanta, TBD (TBD)

Semiﬁnals (Best-of-5)

Sunday, Oct. 4: Game 1, TBD

WNBA Finals (Best-of-5)

Saturday, Oct. 17: Game 1, TBD

Pro football

OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG 1½ 2½ (55½) W. Kent 3½ 1½ (57½)North Texas

East

FAVORITE OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG Liberty 6½ 7 (49½) at DEL at VA TECH 5½ 3½ (53½) Pittsburgh Penn State 7 2½ (45½) at NWSTRN

Saturday

FAVORITE OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG Notre Dame 23½ 21 (47½) at UNC Syracuse 7½ 6½ (52½) at UCONN at AIR FRCE 1½ 3½ (46½) Navy at SMU 20½ 21 (56½) B. College Alabama 3 5½ (60½) at MISS ST at HOU 11½ 12½ (51½) UCF at IOWA ST 1½ 3½ (52½) W. Virginia at KANSAS 21½ 18½ (50½) M. Tenn at W.F. 11½ 12½ (53½) Stanford Michigan 8½ 5½ (43½) at MIN at WISC 9½ 10½ (43½) Mich St at GEORGIA 23½ 24½ (51½) Vanderbilt W. Michigan16½ 13½ (47½)at BUFFALO Toledo 13½ 19½ (51½) at BALL ST Virginia 1½ 2½ (51½) at FSU at NDSU 21 18½ (45½) Wyoming Ohio State 14 13½ (45½) at IOWA at GSU 1½ 1½ (51½) Old Dom Louisville 7½ 5½ (58½)at NC STATE Ohio 3½ 3 (50½) at KENT ST at TEN 7½ 7 (54½) Auburn at UMASS 2½ 4½ (48½) E. Mich at UNLV 1½ 2½ (53½) Cal Memphis 22½ 20½ (54½) at CHAR at MIA (OH) 15½ 13½ (43½) B. Green Florida 2½ 5½ (56½) at MISSOU at C. MICH 5½ 6½ (47½) Akron at J. MADISN14½ 17½ (55½) Marshall at NEBRSKA 11½ 14½ (52½) Maryland at NMS 21½ 22½ (48½) UTEP at ILLINOIS 9½ 9½ (60½) Purdue at S. CAR 7 2½ (53½) Kentucky Oregon Ste 5½ 5½ (61½) at CSU Ga Southern 1½ 2½ (54½) at C. CAR at TEX A&M 15½ 14 (51½) Arkansas at S. BAMA 15½ 13½ (56½) UL Monroe BYU 5½ 6½ (48½) at TCU UTSA 10½ 11½ (54½) at RICE Texas Tech 15½ 13½ (50½) at COL Miami (FL) 7 17½ (48½) at CLEMSN at USC 10 9½ (58½) Wash Army 3½ 2½ (46½) at LA TECH at BOISE ST 20½ 19½ (51½) Utah State at S. FLA 6½ 5½ (51½) Temple 23½ (56½)at RUTGERS Indiana 23½ at UL 5½ 6½ (46½) Arkans St at WASH ST 1½ 2½ (46½) Fresno St at ASU 4½ 4½ (50½) Baylor Texas St 3½ 4½ (58½) at SDSU 7½ (54½) Cincinnati at ARIZONA 8½

MLB

Tuesday

American League FAVORITE LINE at HOUSTON -131

UNDERDOG Chi White Sox

LINE +109

San Francisco 36, Arizona 30 Baltimore 34, Dallas 31, Rio de Janeiro, BRA Las Vegas 35, New Orleans 27 Denver 30, L.A. Rams 26

Monday’s Games

Philadelphia at Chicago, n

OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG 2½ 2½ (48½) Atlanta

College Football Thursday

Tuesday

+118

Sunday, Sept. 27: Golden State 104, Dallas 80 Wednesday, Sept. 30: Golden State at Dallas, 8 p.m. (ESPN) x-Friday, Oct. 2: Dallas at Golden State, TBD (TBD)

Sports Betting Line NFL FAVORITE Pittsburgh

NHL

Boston UNDERDOG Philadelphia Chicago Cubs

No. 2 Golden State 1, No. 7 Dallas 0

Odds

Thursday

at N.Y YANKEES -143 National League FAVORITE LINE at ATLANTA -202 at SAN DIEGO -128

NFL Glance AMERICAN CONFERENCE Buffalo N.Y. Jets New England Miami

W 3 1 1 0

L 0 2 2 3

T Pct PF PA 0 1.000 101 78 0 .333 64 61 0 .333 36 51 0 .000 36 86

Jacksonville Indianapolis Tennessee Houston

W 2 1 0 0

L 1 2 3 3

T 0 0 0 0

Pct .667 .333 .000 .000

PF PA 82 36 72 91 37 59 54 75

Pittsburgh Baltimore Cleveland Cincinnati

W 2 2 2 2

L 1 1 1 1

T 0 0 0 0

Pct .667 .667 .667 .667

PF PA 53 60 92 78 54 71 80 63

Kansas City Las Vegas Denver L.A. Chargers

W 3 3 2 0

L 0 0 1 3

T Pct 0 1.000 0 1.000 0 .667 0 .000

PF PA 88 50 88 54 60 70 44 76

South

North

West

NATIONAL CONFERENCE East

W 2 2 1 1

L 0 1 2 2

T Pct 0 1.000 0 .667 0 .333 0 .333

PF PA 48 42 46 55 88 82 75 92

Carolina New Orleans Atlanta Tampa Bay

W 1 1 1 0

L 2 2 2 3

T 0 0 0 0

Pct .333 .333 .333 .000

PF PA 89 83 81 83 51 68 62 79

Minnesota Detroit Chicago Green Bay

W 3 2 1 1

L 0 1 1 2

T Pct 0 1.000 0 .667 0 .500 0 .333

PF PA 71 41 93 95 62 46 56 91

San Francisco Seattle L.A. Rams Arizona

W 3 2 1 1

L 0 1 2 2

T Pct 0 1.000 0 .667 0 .333 0 .333

PF PA 98 50 75 50 61 63 63 81

North

West

Thursday’s Games

Atlanta 35, Green Bay 14

Sunday’s Games

Buffalo 24, L.A. Chargers 16 Cleveland 21, Carolina 18 Detroit 31, N.Y. Jets 24 Indianapolis 19, Houston 17 Jacksonville 35, New England 6 Kansas City 24, Miami 10 N.Y. Giants 12, Tennessee 7 Pittsburgh 30, Cincinnati 27 Washington 33, Seattle 31 Minnesota 23, Tampa Bay 16

L.A. Rams 7 9 0 10 — 26 Denver 0 0 16 14 — 30 First Quarter LAR—Higbee 5 pass from Stafford (Mevis kick), 4:55. Second Quarter LAR—FG Mevis 36, 13:17. LAR—FG Mevis 35, 4:43. LAR—FG Mevis 40, :00. Third Quarter Den—Bryant 5 pass from Nix (Waddle pass from Nix), 7:44. Den—Adkins 8 pass from Nix (Bryant pass from Nix), 2:15. Fourth Quarter LAR—FG Mevis 48, 8:40. Den—Hufanga 66 interception return (Lutz kick), 4:49. LAR—Mumpﬁeld 48 pass from Stafford (Mevis kick), 3:38. Den—Nix 1 run (Lutz kick), :47.

A—76,333.

LAR Den First downs 26 20 Total Net Yards 482 257 Rushes-yards 23-116 25-78 Passing 366 179 Punt Returns 2-26 3-39 Kickoff Returns 5-113 4-107 Interceptions Ret. 1-26 2-66 Comp-Att-Int 30-55-2 17-34-1 Sacked-Yards Lost 4-24 1-7 Punts 4-44.75 5-49.6 Fumbles-Lost 0-0 1-0 Penalties-Yards 13-91 5-38 Time of Possession 34:29 25:31 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING—L.A. Rams, Williams 15-88, Corum 6-15, Stafford 2-13. Denver, Dobbins 17-49, Waddle 1-14, Nix 4-7, Harvey 2-6, Badie 1-2. PASSING—L.A. Rams, Stafford 30-55-2-390. Denver, Nix 17-34-1-186. RECEIVING—L.A. Rams, Higbee 8-62, Adams 7-137, Williams 6-70, Mumpﬁeld 4-93, Allen 2-19, Corum 2-0, Ferguson 1-9. Denver, Harvey 6-41, Sutton 3-46, Bryant 2-44, Waddle 2-10, Franklin 1-21, Badie 1-12, Adkins 1-8, Dobbins 1-4. MISSED FIELD GOALS—Denver, Lutz 43.

Major League Baseball MLB Postseason Glance x-if necessary

WILD CARD SERIES (Best-of-3)

American League Houston vs. Chicago White Sox

Tuesday, Sept. 29: Chicago at Houston, 4:10 p.m. (Peacock/NBCSN) Wednesday, Sept. 30: Chicago at Houston, 4:10 p.m. (Peacock/NBCSN) x-Thursday, Oct. 1: Chicago at Houston, 4 p.m. (Peacock/NBCSN)

New York vs. Boston

Tuesday, Sept. 29: Boston (Tolle 9-6) at New York (Schlittler 14-6), 7:15 p.m. (NBC/ Peacock) Wednesday, Sept. 30: Boston (Gray 18-5) at New York (Fried 5-5), 7:15 p.m. (NBC/ Peacock) x-Thursday, Oct. 1: Boston (Suarez 8-5) at New York (Cole 10-9), 7 p.m. (NBC/Peacock)

National League

Philadelphia N.Y. Giants Dallas Washington

South

Late Sunday Denver 30, L.A. Rams 26

Atlanta vs. Philadelphia Tuesday, Sept. 29: Philadelphia (Luzardo 14-5) at Atlanta (Sale 14-9), 1:15 p.m. (NBC/ Peacock) Wednesday, Sept. 30: Philadelphia at Atlanta, 2:15 p.m. (NBC/Peacock) x-Thursday, Oct. 1: Philadelphia at Atlanta, 1 p.m. (NBC/Peacock)

San Diego vs. Chicago Cubs

Tuesday, Sept. 29: Chicago at San Diego (King 12-10), 9:10 p.m. (Peacock/NBCSN) Wednesday, Sept. 30: Chicago at San Diego, 10:10 p.m. (Peacock/NBCSN) x-Thursday, Oct. 1: Chicago at San Diego, 9 p.m. (Peacock/NBCSN)

College football College Football Schedule All Times Central (Subject to change)

Thursday’s games SOUTHWEST

North Texas (2-2) at Tulsa (3-1), 8 p.m.

FAR WEST

W. Kentucky (1-3) at New Mexico St. (1-3), 7 p.m.

Friday’s games EAST

Liberty (3-1) at Delaware (2-2), 6 p.m.

SOUTH

Pittsburgh (4-0) at Virginia Tech (4-0), 6 p.m. MIDWEST Penn St. (3-1) at Northwestern (2-1), 7 p.m.

FAR WEST

Montana St. (5-0) at Idaho (0-4), 9:30 p.m.

Saturday’s games EAST

Syracuse (1-2) at UConn (2-2), 11 a.m. Wagner (1-3) at CCSU (0-3), 11 a.m. Brown (1-1) at Rhode Island (2-3), 11 a.m. Merrimack (2-3) at Yale (1-1), 11 a.m. Princeton (1-1) at Columbia (2-0), 11 a.m. Fordham (1-4) at Lehigh (5-0), 11 a.m. Mercyhurst (1-4) at LIU Brooklyn (0-5), 11 a.m. Cornell (1-1) at Georgetown (0-3), 11:30 a.m. Richmond (4-1) at Lafayette (1-3), 11:30 a.m. W. Michigan (2-2) at Buffalo (2-2), noon Elon (4-1) at New Hampshire (1-4), noon Morgan St. (3-1) at Villanova (2-3), noon Towson (0-5) at Monmouth (NJ) (3-2), noon Penn (1-1) at Dartmouth (0-2), 12:30 p.m. Norfolk St. (3-2) at Robert Morris (2-2), 1 p.m. Delaware St. (3-2) at Albany (NY) (2-3), 2:30 p.m. E. Michigan (2-3) at UMass (4-0), 2:30 p.m. Sacred Heart (1-3) at Maine (1-4), 2:30 p.m. NC A&T (1-4) at Bryant (3-1), 5 p.m. Colgate (4-1) at Harvard (2-0), 6 p.m. Indiana (4-0) at Rutgers (1-3), 7 p.m.

SOUTH

Stanford (2-2) at Wake Forest (3-1), 11 a.m. Notre Dame (4-0) at North Carolina (2-1), 11 a.m. Alabama (4-0) at Mississippi St. (4-0), 11 a.m. Vanderbilt (3-1) at Georgia (4-0), 11:45 a.m. Marist (2-2) at Stetson (1-3), noon Valparaiso (1-3) at Morehead St. (1-3), noon St. Thomas (Minn.) (4-1) at Presbyterian (1-3), noon Mercer (3-2) at VMI (0-5), 12:30 p.m. The Citadel (1-3) at SC State (5-0), 1 p.m. Wofford (2-3) at Furman (2-3), 1 p.m. Alcorn St. (3-2) at Grambling St. (2-2), 2 p.m. Prairie View (2-3) at MVSU (1-4), 2 p.m. Hampton (1-4) vs. Howard (1-3) at Washington, D.C., Md., 2 p.m. Samford (1-3) at UAB (2-2), 2:30 p.m. Louisville (2-2) at NC State (2-2), 2:30 p.m. Holy Cross (1-4) at William & Mary (2-3), 2:30 p.m. Auburn (3-1) at Tennessee (3-1), 2:30 p.m. Memphis (3-1) at Charlotte (0-4), 2:30 p.m. Virginia (3-1) at Florida St. (2-2), 2:30 p.m. Chattanooga (3-2) at ETSU (3-2), 2:30 p.m. Old Dominion (1-3) at Georgia St. (3-1), 2:30 p.m. Marshall (3-1) at James Madison (4-0), 2:45 p.m. Alabama St. (3-1) at Bethune-Cookman (2-2), 3 p.m. Kentucky (3-1) at South Carolina (2-2), 3:15 p.m. New Haven (1-4) at Austin Peay (4-1), 4 p.m. Jackson St. (4-0) vs. Alabama A&M (4-1) at Mobile, Ala., 4 p.m. Campbell (4-1) at NC Central (2-3), 5 p.m. Gardner-Webb (1-4) at Charleston Southern (2-2), 5 p.m. North Alabama (3-2) at E. Kentucky (1-3), 5 p.m. Tennessee Tech (4-0) at W. Carolina (2-3), 5 p.m. Texas Southern (1-3) at FAU (3-1), 5 p.m. Ark.-Pine Bluff (2-2) at Southern U. (2-3), 6 p.m. Louisiana-Monroe (0-4) at South Alabama (2-2), 6 p.m. Georgia Southern (1-3) at Coastal Carolina (1-3), 6 p.m. Miami (4-0) at Clemson (3-1), 6:30 p.m. Temple (1-3) at South Florida (4-0), 6:30 p.m. Army (2-1) at Louisiana Tech (1-2), 6:30 p.m. McNeese St. (2-3) at LSU (3-1), 6:45 p.m. Arkansas St. (2-2) at Louisiana-Lafayette (3-1), 7 p.m.

MIDWEST

Middle Tennessee (2-2) at Kansas (1-2), 11 a.m. Michigan (3-1) at Minnesota (3-1), 11 a.m. West Virginia (3-1) at Iowa St. (2-2), 11 a.m. Michigan St. (2-2) at Wisconsin (3-1), 11:30 a.m. Dayton (3-0) at Drake (1-3), noon Murray St. (1-4) at North Dakota (4-1), 1 p.m. Toledo (3-1) at Ball St. (1-3), 1 p.m. Indiana St. (2-3) at South Dakota (3-2), 2 p.m. Akron (1-3) at Cent. Michigan (2-2), 2:30 p.m. Ohio (2-2) at Kent St. (2-2), 2:30 p.m. Florida (4-0) at Missouri (3-1), 2:30 p.m. Wyoming (2-2) at N. Dakota St. (4-0), 2:30 p.m. Bowling Green (0-4) at Miami (Ohio) (2-2), 2:30 p.m. Ohio St. (3-1) at Iowa (4-0), 2:30 p.m. Maryland (2-2) at Nebraska (4-0), 3 p.m. Tennessee St. (1-3) at W. Illinois (2-3), 3 p.m. Purdue (1-3) at Illinois (2-2), 3:15 p.m. Youngstown St. (3-2) at S. Illinois (3-2), 4 p.m. S. Dakota St. (4-1) at Illinois St. (4-1), 6 p.m.

SOUTHWEST

Boston College (2-2) at SMU (3-1), 11 a.m. UCF (3-1) at Houston (3-1), 11 a.m. Incarnate Word (2-2) at Stephen F. Austin (5-0), 5 p.m. UT Rio Grande Valley (2-2) at East Texas A&M (1-4), 6 p.m. UTSA (3-1) at Rice (1-3), 6 p.m. Chicago State (1-4) at Tarleton St. (4-0), 6 p.m. Northwestern St. (0-5) at Lamar (3-1), 6 p.m. Arkansas (2-2) at Texas A&M (2-2), 6 p.m. Nicholls (2-3) at Houston Christian (2-3), 6 p.m. BYU (3-0) at TCU (2-2), 6 p.m. West Florida (3-1) at Abilene Christian (1-4), 7 p.m.

FAR WEST

Navy (1-2) at Air Force (2-1), 11 a.m. California (2-2) at UNLV (2-2), 2:30 p.m. Davidson (2-3) at San Diego (1-3), 3 p.m. N. Colorado (2-3) at Montana (4-1), 3 p.m. UTEP (1-3) at New Mexico (3-1), 3 p.m. Oregon St. (2-2) at Colorado St. (2-2), 5 p.m. Washington (3-1) at Southern Cal (4-1), 6:30 p.m. Texas Tech (4-0) at Colorado (2-2), 6:30 p.m. Utah St. (1-3) at Boise St. (3-1), 6:30 p.m. Weber St. (2-3) at Cal Poly (3-2), 7 p.m. S. Utah (1-4) at Utah Tech (0-5), 7 p.m. N. Arizona (3-2) at Idaho St. (4-0), 7 p.m. Fresno St. (3-1) at Washington St. (1-3), 8:30 p.m. E. Washington (1-4) at UC Davis (3-2), 9:30 p.m. Baylor (3-1) at Arizona St. (2-1), 9:30 p.m. Texas State (2-2) at San Diego St. (1-3), 9:30 p.m. Cincinnati (4-0) at Arizona (3-1), 10 p.m. Sunday, October 4

FAR WEST

San Jose St. (2-2) at Hawaii (1-3), 11 p.m.

FCS Top 25 Poll

RANK REC. PTS. PREV. 1. Montana St. (25) 5-0 625 1 2. South Dakota St. 4-1 590 2 3. Tarleton St. 4-0 568 3 4. Montana 4-1 550 4T 5. Stephen F. Austin 5-0 521 6 6. Lehigh 5-0 484 7 7. North Dakota 4-1 467 8 8. Tennessee Tech 4-0 429 10 9. Austin Peay 4-1 420 11 10. Youngstown St. 3-2 386 13 11. Illinois St. 4-1 370 4T 12. South Carolina St. 5-0 329 14 13. Lamar 3-1 322 15 14. Idaho St. 4-0 311 16 15. UC Davis 3-2 236 9 16. South Dakota 3-2 223 12 17. Richmond 4-1 196 19 18. West Florida 3-1 193 20 19. Northern Arizona 3-2 175 17 20. Colgate 4-1 155 23T 21. Mercer 3-2 117 23T 22. Harvard 2-0 82 25 23. Jackson St. 4-0 72 NR 24. Campbell 4-1 71 NR 25. Southern Illinois 3-2 57 NR Dropped Out: Yale (18), Rhode Island (21), Villanova (22) Others Receiving Votes: Elon, 55; Yale, 22; Alabama St., 19; Prairie View A&M, 17; Southeastern Louisiana, 14; UT Rio Grande Valley, 7; Furman, 6; Monmouth (N.J.), 6; Chattanooga, 5; Stony Brook, 5; Cal Poly, 4; Dartmouth, 4; St. Thomas (Minn.), 4; Cal Poly, 4; Delaware St., 3; Villanova, 2; Bryant, 1; Northern Iowa, 1; UIW, 1.

Transactions Major League Baseball

American League MINNESOTA TWINS — Released pitching coaches Pete Maki and Luis Ramirez. National League ST. LOUIS CARDINALS — Claimed RHP Chase Hampton off waivers from Washington.

BASKETBALL

National Basketball Association MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES — Signed Carson Cooper to a two-way contract.

FOOTBALL

National Football League CAROLINA PANTHERS — Re-signed G Saahdiq Charles to the practice squad. DETROIT LIONS — Signed TE Miles Kitselman to the practice squad. Released DB Natrone Brooks from the practice squad. GREEN BAY PACKERS — Signed G Laken Tomlinson from Dallas’ practice squad to the active roster. Signed G Mekhi Becton to the practice squad. Placed OL Zach BakoBewele on injured reserve. Released DT Eric Johnson II from the practice squad. LAS VEGAS RAIDERS — Signed WR Tyler Scott to the practice squad. Released WR Ronnie Bell from the practice squad. MIAMI DOLPHINS — Placed RB De’Von Achane on injured reserve. Waived DT Keith Cooper Jr. Released DE Clelin Ferrell and DL Jordan Miller from the practice squad. NEW YORK GIANTS — Acquired QB J.J. McCarthy from Minnesota in exchange for a 2027 ﬁfth-round draft pick. PHILADELPHIA EAGLES — Elevated TE Zach Ertz and LB Chance Campbell from the practice squad to the active roster. HOCKEY

Hockey

National Hockey League DALLAS STARS — Loaned C Oskar Hyry to Texas (AHL). EDMONTON OILERS — Loaned C David Samanski to Bakersﬁeld (AHL). NASHVILLE PREDATORS — Signed C Tyson Jost to a one-year contract. Placed Jost on waivers. NEW YORK ISLANDERS — Placed C Mathew Barzal on non-roster injured reserve. OTTAWA SENATORS — Released D Ben Hutton from his professional tryout agreement. PITTSBURGH PENGUINS — Placed C Tristan Broz on non-roster injured reserve. Designated LW Andrei Kuzmenko as a non-roster player. Placed RW Bryan Rust on injured reserve. ST. LOUIS BLUES — Placed D Tyler Tucker and D Logan Mailloux on injured reserve.

LIVING

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

T u e s d ay, s e p T e m b e r 29, 2026

5CN

Hard-to-kill pothos is a humble plant with teaching opportunities Pothos is the kind of plant that people bring to the office to make the fluorescent lighting and cubicles feel a little more welcoming. It’s also a popular choice for folks who are interested in growing plants for the first time as well as those trying to dress up that corner of the living room that just needs … something. Why is pothos the GARDEN go-to plant for NEWS all of these situations? First and foremost, it’s hard to kill. That’s not to say it’s impossible — but pothos is notoriously forgiving. And for such a low-maintenance plant, it is remarkably attractive, offering tropical flair with its heart-shaped leaves and vining stems. Pothos can teach us a lot, too. Ideal for beginners who need to hone the fundamentals of plant care, it can eventually inspire confidence to branch out to other plants. Its ease of propagation makes it a perfect vehicle to learn how to start new plants from cuttings.

Keepin’ it fresh

LSU AGCENTER PHOTO By OLIVIA McCLURE

Pothos is a popular houseplant that’s easy to care for and easy to propagate.

And, if you feel that you’ve already graduated beyond pothos with your gardening abilities, or if the plant seems a bit too pedestrian for your taste, consider the wide variety of cultivars out there. Each brings unique colors and variegated patterns; maybe it’s time to try a different one. For the uninitiated, pothos (Epipremnum aureum) is a vine that likes to climb and uses aerial roots for support. Also known as pothos ivy, devil’s ivy and money plant, it is native to French Polynesia and has become naturalized in tropical and subtropical regions around the world. Although it can live outdoors in warm weather, we typically see pothos grown as a containerized houseplant. (Note that all parts of pothos are toxic, so keep it away from children and pets.) It can live for several years, sometimes decades — and indefinitely through cuttings. One of the most recognizable pothos cultivars is Golden, which is flecked with yellow. Others include solid dark green Jade, solid lime-green Neon and subtly variegated Global Green. Pearls and Jade, Marble Queen and Njoy all have white variegations. Pothos needs little in the way of special care, explaining its popularity with gardening rookies and in offices and other places where people are busy with more pressing matters. It prefers bright, indirect light, but some cultivars can get by with lower levels of light. Direct, intense sunlight tends to scorch the leaves. As with all plants that are grown in containers, it’s important to water pothos regularly — but not excessively. Water only when the top inch of the potting mix feels dry to the touch. You can train pothos to climb onto trellises, moss poles, walls

ä See POTHOS, page 6C

STAFF PHOTOS By PEARL SPURLOCK

Owner TJ Malveaux stands inside his draft Picks Barbershop on Sept. 15.

Meet the self-made Baton Rouge barber cutting hair for LSU players, NFL stars and beyond BY JOY HOLDEN Staff writer

TJ Malveaux first picked up a pair of hair clippers in 1991 when he was 13 years old. His older cousin, who had always cut his hair, had gone off to college, so Malveaux tried to do it on his own. Now he owns three barbershops in the Baton Rouge area, is about to open a fourth location in Houma and ﬂies all over the country to cut professional athletes’ hair. He opened his ﬁrst Draft Picks Barbershop in 2017 with a team of eight. Today, Malveaux has a team of 24 barbers who range from ages 25 to 40 across three locations. The name of the business comes from former LSU defensive lineman and current New Orleans Saints player Davon Godchaux, who started going to Malveaux in 2014 when he was a student at LSU. Godchaux would tell him, “Get me draft day fresh.” He did eventually get drafted in 2017. “I’ve worked really hard for brand awareness,” Malveaux said. “I know for a fact that a lot of the college students and community in Baton Rouge know that athletes

dylan Surtain gets his hair cut by barber darren Broussard at draft Picks Barbershop. come here. They can’t get close to them on the ﬁeld, but, here, they’re in the chair right next to you.” Bennie Logan, former LSU defensive tackle and NFL player, met Malveaux in 2014, and he has been a client since then. The two have become so close that Logan ﬂew

Malveaux out to Mexico to cut his hair for his wedding last year. He credits Malveaux’s work ethic and loyalty for Draft Picks’ success. “You really see the work that he puts into making things happen

ä See BARBERSHOP, page 6C

Folk Art Gallery inspires free programs for public The LSU Museum of Art’s Folk Art Gallery is the inspiration for the museum’s free ‘Art Break’ programs for teens and adults. The next program will be Oct. 24. PROVIdEd PHOTO By LSU MUSEUM OF ART

BY ROBIN MILLER Staff writer

The LSU Museum of Art is giving teens and adults opportunities to explore their creative sides this fall through free “Art Break” programs connected to its Folk Art Gallery. “The goal of this program is specifically designed for teens and adults, giving them a chance to come to the museum and just

relax and make some art,” said Callie Smith, curator of Education and Public Programs. “So, each month we’ll feature an art activity on our third ﬂoor of the Shaw Center.” Pre-registration is not required, and the museum provides all art supplies. “Everyone can just drop in and make art,” Smith said.

ä See PROGRAMS, page 6C

6C ● Tuesday, September 29, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

lll

Stop making ‘perfect’ as a response happen Dear Miss Manners: I find the word of the clients answered the ques“perfect” is now overused to tions and also buried a “perfect” the point of confusion. It seems in their responses. They assumed to have replaced “OK,” that I would interpret that “thank you” and even “perfect” as “Let’s book “message received.” it.” So I ended up with a I hear “perfect” as I’m double booking. filling out forms or giving When you add a vague someone information. But “perfect” to the daily the speaker doesn’t mean onslaught of 100+ emails, Judith “no mistakes” or “that’s which get read quickly, Martin confusion results. correct.” It just means MISS that I have the information Gentle reader: Indeed. And MANNERS that is needed. Miss Manners is among This lack of clarity put those who find little me in a difficult position recently, changes in language grating, not resulting in a double booking for only when the usage is confusing, a couple of clients I do occasional but when the word is overused work for. When I had asked sever- — such as “amazing,” and before that, “awesome.” And many more. al clarifying questions about the But she knows — and reminds availability of a certain date, one

you, as a comfort — that language always evolves, and that this too shall pass. Dear Miss Manners: My daughter completed her master’s degree, and my husband and I decided to celebrate with a small luncheon at a local restaurant, to which we invited immediate family. She received a card and/or gift from each guest, which she opened at the luncheon with her loved ones around her. I expected that she would get the thank-you notes out in a timely manner. After a week or so had gone by, I asked if she had gotten around to thanking people. Now it has been three weeks, and she still has not sent out the thank-you cards. She said that she didn’t

have time, and that she was now waiting for “Halloween-themed thank-you cards” to be in the shops. I am mortiﬁed she would even consider such a thing, but my daughter sees nothing wrong with this. I told her that she should have already sent out the cards, and that it should not be Halloween-themed, but a general, allpurpose card — or even a blank one — to write her thanks ﬁtting of the celebration. I have no idea what to tell my family, should they ask about why they got a Halloween thank-you card. Gentle reader: If it is any comfort, your daughter is not going to send Halloween cards. It should

not be too much comfort, though, because she is not going to send any cards. She just threw that in to ﬂummox you. And it worked. Mind you, Miss Manners is no more amused by this than you are. Your daughter would have been better off arguing that, for small presents given in person by close relatives, verbal thanks was sufﬁcient. 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.

TODAY IN HISTORY By The Associated Press Today is Tuesday, Sept. 29, the 272nd day of 2026. There are 93 days left in the year. Today in history: On Sept. 29, 1954, Willie Mays of the New York Giants made a running, over-the-shoulder catch of a ball hit by Vic Wirtz, of the Cleveland Indians, in Game 1 of the 1954 World Series; “The Catch” would become one of the most famous plays in baseball history. Also on this date: In 1789, Congress ofﬁcially established a regular army under the U.S. Constitution. In 1938, British, French, German and Italian leaders concluded the Munich Agreement, which was aimed at appeasing Adolf Hitler by allowing Nazi annexation of Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland. In 1982, Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules laced with deadly cyanide claimed the ﬁrst of seven victims in the Chicago area; the case, which led to legislation and packaging improvements to deter product tampering, remains unsolved. In 1990, the construction of Washington National Cathedral concluded, 83 years to the day

after its foundation stone was laid in a ceremony attended by President Theodore Roosevelt. In 2005, John G. Roberts Jr. was sworn in as the nation’s 17th chief justice after winning Senate conﬁrmation. In 2018, Tesla and its CEO, Elon Musk, agreed to pay a total of $40 million to settle a government lawsuit alleging that Musk had duped investors with misleading statements about a proposed buyout of the company. In 2021, a judge in Los Angeles suspended Britney Spears’ father from the conservatorship that had controlled her life and money for 13 years, saying the arrangement reﬂected a “toxic environment.” Today’s birthdays: Former NASA administrator and ex-Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., is 84. Actor Ian McShane is 84. Jazz musician Jean-Luc Ponty is 84. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Lech Walesa, former president of Poland, is 83. Olympic gold medal runner Sebastian Coe is 70. Rock musician Les Claypool is 63. Actor Zachary Levi is 46. Actor Chrissy Metz (TV: “This Is Us”) is 46. Actor Kelly McCreary (TV: “Grey’s Anatomy”) is 45. Football Hall of Famer Calvin Johnson is 41.

PROGRAMS

dia activity for each program,” Smith said. “And we’ll have live Continued from page 5C music at each program.” On Nov. 21, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., the museum will host “Art Funded by Art Bridges as an act of IDENTITY,” where Funding for the “Art Break” participants will create collages programs are included in the inspired by the work of Mose Art Bridges grant that funded Tolliver. Music will be provided the loan of works in the Folk Art by D.J. Darling Dior. Gallery, which opened on June 30. The gallery features work by More to come such artists as Jimmy Lee SudThe museum will end the year duth, Mose Tolliver, David But- with “Art as an act of CARE” with ler, Sam Doyle, Purvis Young and participants making textile artMary T. Smith. work inspired by Mary T. Smith The museum enhanced the ex- from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 12. Muhibit with works from its own col- sic will be provided by Jarrett lection by Natchitoches folk artist Gustafson. “We’re planning more monthly Clementine Hunter, among others. The artists and their works are programs for spring,” Smith focal points for the “Art Break” said. “We’ll have docents in the themes, which began with the Folk Art Gallery during these program, “Art as an act of SPIR- programs. Those participating IT,” inspired by the spiritual art- will be able to go upstairs, walk work of Purvis Young. The pro- through and learn more about it.” Though the “Art Break” program featured music provided by Lady DeeJay. grams’ focus is teens and adults, Next up will be “Art as an act of kids also are welcome with parFREEDOM,” from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. ents and guardians. Oct. 24. This program is inspired “No one needs to identify as an by the work of self-taught artist artist or have any art experience David Butler, whose cutouts and to participate,” Smith said. “The dynamic forms are a reminder activities are designed to be very that freedom is something that welcoming.” can be shaped by hand. Participants will shape their For more information, visit own cutout sculpture while lis- lsumoa.org. tening to live music by Rayne Jackson. Email Robin Miller at “We’re planning a different me- romiller@theadvocate.com.

POTHOS

Continued from page 5C and other means of support. Or you can let its vines cascade downward and trail over the edges of the pot and perhaps even the shelf it’s sitting on. With time, pothos vines can become quite long and get in the way. Periodic trimming can tidy things up while providing material for propagation. To start new plants from cuttings, use clean, sharp pruners to clip off a healthy, vigorously growing vine. Next, cut the vine into smaller sections. Each cutting needs to have at least one leaf and root node (the bump on the stem opposite the leaf and where new roots will emerge). Cuttings with a few nodes have better odds of rooting. Remove the lower leaves, keeping just one or two at the top, to make it

easier to plant. You can stick cuttings directly into potting mix, either in new containers or in an existing container of pothos to create a fuller look. Or you can water propagate by placing your cuttings in a cup, jar or other vessel of water and allowing them to develop roots before transplanting. Change the water when it gets cloudy. You should see roots begin to grow within a few days. Wait until the roots are at least 1 to 2 inches long, which could take a few weeks, before transplanting into potting mix. With either approach, keep the cuttings near indirect light, and make sure the root nodes stay below the potting mix or water surface. Not every cutting will make it, but that’s OK. This propagation method works for many houseplants. But ﬁrst, give it a try with pothos — an excellent, patient teacher — to get the hang of it.

STAFF PHOTOS By PEARL SPURLOCK

Gavin Engleton, 5, gets his hair cut by barber Corvion Smith at draft Picks Barbershop.

BARBERSHOP Continued from page 5C

and being there for people. It’s pretty spectacular,” Logan said. “To see him continue building his business is not surprising because I’ve gotten to know him and his creative ideas.”

The makings of an entrepreneur In middle school, Malveaux started cutting his and his brother’s hair at their home in Morgan City. Then, other friends started requesting haircuts. By high school, it became a side job for Malveaux. He was going to give up his side hustle while in college at Grambling State University to focus on academics, but soon people were asking him where he got his hair cut, and his clientele grew again. After graduating from Grambling, Malveaux took a job with the Louisiana Office for Juvenile Justice as a juvenile probation officer for a couple of years, but the cubicle office life wasn’t for him. He decided to complete the Louisiana Barber Apprenticeship Program. He got his license in 2006 and opened his first shop in his hometown. He sold that shop and moved to Baton Rouge in 2014, working at a barbershop called Tapered Cutz. To help get his feet off the ground, Malveaux’s friend Vernon Norwood, Olympic gold medalist and fellow Morgan City native, connected him with LSU athletics. Norwood was running track at the time, and he told the athletes about Malveaux, who had been cutting his hair since middle school. “Vernon told me, ‘Look, when you get here, I’m gonna put you on,’” Malveaux said. “Those were his exact words. I took advantage of the opportunity that was given to me. It was LSU, that’s the athletes that helped build the brand.” Malveaux said he became so popular that the LSU players would drive from campus to Pecue Lane to get their hair cut by him. That’s when he realized he could start his own shop. He opened the first Draft Picks location in 2017 on Jefferson Highway, the second in 2021 on Lee Drive, moved the original to O’Neal Lane in 2023 and opened one in the Prairieville Walmart on Airline Highway in 2025. He attributes part of Draft Picks’ success to the increasing popularity of barber videos on Instagram and TikTok — barbers post short videos of before-and-after transformation with their clients. “I know for a fact social media changed my life,” Malveaux said.

Ethan Carrillo has his hair cut by barber Raven Woods at draft Picks Barbershop. “It changed the entire industry as a whole. It helps us tremendously. It’s free advertising. You can reach celebrities. I get a lot of my jobs just reaching out through Instagram.” He encourages his barbers to be active on social media, and if the music is clean in the video, to tag the shop.

Family atmosphere Malveaux sees each of his locations as hubs for fathers to bring their sons to learn life lessons that go beyond the clippers. Yes, a young man learns grooming etiquette at the barbershop, but he also learns patience, the value of community, respect, the art of listening and more. Malveaux also knows single moms who bring their sons, too, and he counts it as a privilege for barbers to build up young men. “He’s very talented,” client and New Orleans Pelicans player Trendon Watford said, “but I think his success is the culture — the family sort of atmosphere that he has in his shop.” Although Malveaux said that barbershop culture is different everywhere, one constant is the variety of roles that a barber can play in a given day. “We uplift. We’re like counselors. We’re like social workers,” Malveaux said. “You’d be amazed at the things that a client shares with you. He’s glad to be here with someone that listens to him and makes him feel good when he leaves.” For this reason, Malveaux said that he chooses barbers partly off of skill, but he most values character. “You can be an average barber, and you can always get better, but attitudes don’t always change,” he said. Corvion Smith, one of Draft Picks’ barbers, has worked with

Malveaux at the Lee Drive and O’Neal Lane locations for four years. He describes himself as a “people person,” so he enjoys the community aspect of the job. He has been cutting hair for 10 years, and although his clients range in age, he is comfortable cutting children’s hair, specifically children with special needs. He credits his patience to being a father of four. Smith says that the atmosphere with his co-workers is what keeps him coming back for more. “It’s a positive workspace for sure,” Smith said. “We’re like brothers. I’m excited to come to work and talk with them.”

Have clippers, will travel Malveaux takes the positivity with him when he travels to cut clients’ hair around the country. Between LSU and Southern University football players, the New Orleans Saints and other athletes around the country, Malveaux’s schedule gets jam-packed during football season. He met many of his clients while they were playing football for LSU. He’s still barber to Godchaux, Logan and Jamal Adams, former LSU linebacker and current Minnesota Vikings player. When Marshall Faulk, former NFL player and current Southern University head coach, and Ryan Clark, former LSU and NFL player, are in town, they call Malveaux for their cuts. “A barber is something special and unique,” Logan said. “As a guy, you don’t let everyone in your hair because everybody doesn’t possess the same skill. So once you ﬁnd that one you really like, you build a relationship with them. That little time in the barber shop is like your escape from life.” Email Joy Holden at joy.holden@ theadvocate.com.

The Acadiana Advocate ● theadvocate.com ● Tuesday, September 29, 2026 ● 7C

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FrAnK And erneSt

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zodIAC LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) Put your energy behind your imagination and see what transpires. Move things around at home to add to your enjoyment, creativity or comfort. Refuse to let impulse lead to overspending. SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 22) Control your emotions, and keep your thoughts to yourself. Focus on improving your skills and using what you enjoy doing most to bring in extra cash. Choose romance and passion over anger. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23-Dec. 21) Pay attention. Comfort is important when you have emotional differences to figure out. Assess your financial situation and adopt a budget that puts your mind at ease and money in the bank. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Stick close to home and make comfort and convenience your objectives. Refuse to let anyone interfere with your plans or talk you into something you don't need. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) If you lower your overhead, you'll feel good about yourself and your lifestyle. Too much of anything is the enemy, but if you adopt a minimalist attitude, it will put your mind at ease and extra cash in your pocket. PISCES (Feb. 20-March 20) Take a moment to go over your personal and financial situation carefully. You stand to gain if you get rid of expenses that aren't necessary. Tidy up any unfinished business. ARIES (March 21-April 19) Put your strength and energy to work for you. If

you help, the experience you encounter will enrich you. Your ability to think quickly and offer solutions will allow you to become the go-to person in your circle. TAURUS (April 20-May 20) Emotional drama won't assist you in gaining respect or getting ahead. Put more thought and love into self-improvement projects and helping others look, feel and do their best. GEMINI (May 21-June 20) If you jump in and try something new, what you learn and how you incorporate it into your expertise will help you excel. Be careful what you share with others. CANCER (June 21-July 22) Pay more attention to your needs. Being a people pleaser will attract people who want to take advantage of you. It's time to comfort yourself and take care of your needs. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) If you put your ego aside and make a point to listen and learn, the outcome will be unique, which you can incorporate into your plans to further your agenda. Know when to let go of the past. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Don't try to fix what isn't broken. Working with what you've got and with the people who share your beliefs will offer a chance to pick up information and skills that can help you fine-tune your attributes. 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: J EQUALS M

Mother GooSe And GrIMM

SherMAn’S LAGoon FAMILY CIrCUS

dooneSbUrY

8C ● Tuesday, September 29, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

CurTiS

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

BaBY BLueS

BLondie

THe wiZard oF id

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La TimeS CroSSword

The Acadiana Advocate ● theadvocate.com ● Tuesday, September 29, 2026 ● 9C

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B.C.

Bridge BY PHILLIP ALDER John Wilson, a Scottish philosopher who died in 1854, said, “Would you repeat that again, sir, for it soun’s sae sonorous that the words droon the ideas?” Today’s deal “souns” like yesterday’s, with one key change. How does that alter how South plays in three no-trump after West leads the heart queen and East signals encouragingly with his seven? North’s two-diamond rebid was a reverse because when South wished to give preference to North’s first-bid suit, he had to rebid at the three-level. The reverse promised a maximum opening bid: a good 17 to 20 high-card points. The simplest agreement is that a reverse is game-forcing. You will occasionally get too high, but maybe the defense will be imperfect. (The tournament world uses a responder’s rebid of fourth suit or two no-trump, whichever is the cheaper, as a signal that the responder’s hand is very weak. But that is complicated.) North’s threeheart continuation, a variation of fourthsuit forcing, asked South to bid three notrump with a heart stopper. South has seven top tricks: two spades, one heart, one diamond and three clubs. He gets that total up to at least nine if either clubs are 3-2 or the diamond finesse works.

garfield

Pearls Before swiNe

hagar the horriBle

Yesterday, with the spade king in the dummy, declarer had to choose between the two. But now he can try both. He wins with his heart ace and tries dummy’s top clubs. When they split badly, South crosses back to his hand with a spade and runs the diamond queen. The odds of success have risen to 83.9 percent. © 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 — AFIELD: un-FEELD: Away from home; abroad.

Bizarro

marmaduKe

Average mark 19 words Time limit 20 minutes Can you find 22 or more words in AFIELD? YEstERDAY’s WoRD — EPIGEAL eagle

plage

alee

page

plea

leap

pail

plie

liege

pale

gale

peal

gape

peel

glee

pile

agile

loCKhorNs hidato Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer

today’s thought “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from the hand of the enemy;” Psalms 107:2

Tell others about the Lord. They need Him too. G.E. Dean

10C ● Tuesday, September 29, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

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

DOW 51,481.51 -347.11 -0.67%

NASDAQ 26,820.38 -248.34 -0.92%

BRIEFS

FROM WIRE REPORTS

Bond yields crank higher, pull stocks down

NEW YORK — Yields in the U.S. bond market cranked higher Monday and again touched their highest levels in roughly two decades, which knocked U.S. stocks further from their record high. The S&P 500 fell 0.8% and gave back much of its gain from last week, which had brought it to the brink of its all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 347 points, or 0.7%, and the Nasdaq composite sank 0.9%. Stocks felt pressure as the yield on the 10-year Treasury briefly topped 5.27% before pulling back to 5.23%, up from 5.17% late Friday. It’s back to where it was in 2007, before the financial crisis and Great Recession sent yields toward zero. The 30-year Treasury yield rose to 5.55% from 5.49% and is back to where it was in 2004. Treasury yields have been rising for a range of reasons, from worries about inflation to Washington’s massive debt load to signs that the U.S. economy remains solid despite its many challenges. That pressures the economy because higher yields make borrowing money more expensive for everyone, while also undercutting prices for stocks and other investments. Monday’s rise in yields followed the latest swings for oil prices, which have been yo-yoing on uncertainty about when the war with Iran will allow tankers to flow freely again through the Strait of Hormuz. That would allow them deliver oil from the Middle East to customers worldwide. The price for Brent crude in the most actively traded part of the oil market briefly climbed above $101 per barrel Monday morning, but it pared its gains as U.S. officials said mediators were still working with Iran and the United States on a deal to end the fighting and open the strait. It settled at $97.83, up 0.4%.

TikTok settles suit with Ala. for at least $100M

TikTok will pay the state of Alabama at least $100 million and must implement a slew of safety features for teens in the state as part of a settlement agreement reached just before the case was set to go to trial. Alabama sued the social media company in 2025 claiming that the platform had negative effects on the mental well-being of youths. The lawsuit argued that TikTok’s “addictive properties” — namely its algorithm that curates highly speciﬁc content catered to users’ interests — were harmful to children and that the company knew of those harms. Through the settlement, TikTok will make several platformlevel changes for teen users in Alabama, including the option for teens to select a non-personalized content feed. The platform will also bar cosmetic procedure ﬁlters for teens, implement a two-hour daily time limit and ban nighttime use from midnight to 6 a.m. Young users in Alabama will also be prompted to take a “productive pause” after 15 minutes of continuous use, and again at 60 and 90 minutes.

Nvidia to increase share buyback plan

Nvidia’s board has cleared the way for the company to spend $150 billion more in share buybacks as the chipmaking giant looks to make use of more of its stellar revenue growth fueled by demand for its high-end artificial intelligence chips. The Santa Clara, California, company said Monday the share buyback increase, which it touted as the largest ever, brings its stock repurchase program to $235 billion. Nvidia said it expects to “execute” the share buyback plan through its fiscal year that ends Jan. 30, 2028. Companies use repurchases, in part, to return cash to investors and support the stock’s price. Earnings per share can increase because there are fewer shares outstanding. Buybacks also signal confidence from leadership about a company’s financial prospects.

S&P 500 7,683.69 -59.72 -0.77%

EURO 1.1366 -0.0025 -0.22%

CRUDE OIL 92.60 0.19 0.21%

GOLD 4,136.40 -126.60 -2.97%

6-MO T-BILLS 4.42 0.06 1.38%

30-YR T-BONDS 5.55 0.06 1.06%

U.S., China release lists for tariff cuts

U.S. Trade Representative Ja- ment. commerce ministry said $60B in nonsensitive inChina’s “This is a positive outcome for a statement the agreement will mieson Greer said in a separate these affected products compared help strengthen trade cooperation. statement the product lists foproducts named after The lists included 1,619 items of cused on “nonsensitive goods on to a smaller tariff cut, and could U.S. goods entering China, ranging each side that could beneﬁt from lead to a more signiﬁcant boost to Trump-Xi meeting from agricultural commodities, more favorable tariff treatment.” bilateral trade,” said Lynn Song,

BY CHAN HO-HIM and KANIS LEUNG Associated Press

HONG KONG — The United States and China on Monday released reciprocal lists of nonsensitive products worth about $30 billion each that will see tariff cuts, from American hair products to Chinese toys, in a deal expected to help bolster bilateral trade. The details came days after Chinese President Xi Jinping met with President Donald Trump in Washington in his ﬁrst state visit to the U.S. since 2015. The U.S. had already reduced tariffs against China after Trump’s tariffs reached as high as 145% at one point last year, as tensions between the two countries eased.

hair and personal care products to timber and medical equipment. Coal from the U.S. will also be included. For Chinese goods exported to the U.S., 77 categories were covered, including fireworks, tableware, toys like dolls and puzzles, glass and wooden Christmas ornaments and soccer balls. Tariff rates on over 90% of the products would be subject to “most-favored-nation” levels, the Chinese commerce ministry said, meaning that country-speciﬁc tariffs will effectively be eliminated. Most-favored-nation rates are the standard tariffs applied under World Trade Organization rules, but they can differ from item to item and are often in the single digits.

The deal could help secure market access for U.S. farmers, manufacturers, businesses and workers, while benefiting American consumers with imports from China including household goods and toys, Greer said. Both countries said they agreed the list may be adjusted later as needed, but amendments were likely to be no more than on an annual basis. The Chinese commerce ministry said the two countries agreed to further cooperate in the agricultural sector, forming a group under the Board of Trade established in May to optimize bilateral trade. Sectors of strategic importance for both countries, such as chips, electric vehicles and batteries, were not covered under the agree-

chief economist for Greater China at ING Bank. The lowered tariffs could be a win for U.S. consumer brands, added Jacob Cooke, CEO of WPIC Marketing + Technologies based in Beijing, as some of the products covered by China’s list of U.S. imports included fast-growing categories like hair care, personal care products and infant formula. With the U.S. list for Chinese products focused more on consumer goods, it could help lower U.S. inﬂation while also allowing Chinese ﬁrms to export more of their overcapacity, said Gary Ng, a senior economist at French bank Natixis. Some experts said, however, the economic impact at $30 billion each way may be limited overall.

U.S. lowers fuel economy standards BY ALEXA ST. JOHN and ANNE D’INNOCENZIO Associated Press

DETROIT — The Trump administration on Monday released new fuel economy standards that relax regulatory requirements for automakers to control pollution from gasolinepowered cars and light trucks. The new rules were released shortly after President Donald Trump rejected an Iranian proposal to open the Strait of Hormuz, sending oil prices soaring. The change furthers Trump’s promise to revoke policies that encouraged or created incentives for the production of electric vehicles and ultimately, will expose Americans to more planet-warming pollution from vehicles. Mileage standards, known as Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE, requirements, have been implemented since the 1970s energy crisis, and set out how far new vehicles need to travel on a gallon of gasoline. Over time, automakers have gradually improved their vehicles’ average efficiency. The Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimated that the finalized standards would correspond to a combined industry fleetwide average of roughly 34.9 miles per gallon for passenger cars and light trucks in the 2031 model year. That’s up from 30.1 miles per gallon for model year 2024, but down from a projected 50.4 miles per gallon in 2031 under rules put in place by the Biden administration. “Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, we have finally ended the illegal mandate that forced automakers to produce more expensive electric vehicles that American families didn’t want,” Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said in a statement touting vehicle affordability. NHTSA had projected last December that the new standards would hover at roughly 34.5 miles per gallon. The news comes amid ongoing tensions as the war in Iran persists, with Trump refusing a deal with Iran to open the Strait as recently as Saturday, impacting the world’s oil supply. News of the revised standards immediately drew rebukes from environmentalists. The DOT said Monday that the rule would cut yearly oil consumption in 2050 by about 1.3 billion barrels as compared to yearly oil consumption in 2024. But when the 2024 standards went into effect, NHTSA estimated they would save 14 billion gallons of gasoline from being burned by 2050. The agency also said that while new fuel-efficient vehicles cost more up front, savings on gasoline over the lifetime of the car or truck would more than make up for that. Environmental groups estimate now, without stricter standards, cars could produce 22,111 more tons of carbon dioxide per year than under the Biden-era rules in 2035.

ASSOCIATEd PRESS FILE PHOTO By dAVId ZALUBOWSKI

The Trump administration on Monday released new fuel economy standards that relax regulatory requirements for automakers to control pollution from gasoline-powered cars and light trucks. The rule also translates to an extra 90 tons a year of deadly soot particles and 4,870 additional tons a year of smog components such as nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds emitted into the air in coming years, experts say. Transportation already accounts for much of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions that warm the planet; 28% as of the last estimate in 2022. It “ignores the feasibility of clean technology and the millions of fuel-efficient cars already on the road,” Dan Becker, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Safe Climate Transport Campaign, said of the rule. Since taking office, Trump has also pulled back auto tailpipe emissions rules, repealed fines for automakers that do not meet federal mileage standards and terminated consumer credits of up to $7,500 for EV purchases. The president has repeatedly pledged to end what he falsely calls an EV “mandate,” referring incorrectly to former President Joe Biden’s target that half of all new vehicle sales be electric by 2030. No federal policy has mandated auto companies to sell EVs. According to data from Cox Automotive, EVs accounted for 5.7% of total new-vehicle sales in August, down from 7.4% for all of 2025. Katherine García, director of the Sierra Club’s Clean Transportation for All campaign, vowed the environmental group would fight the rule. “Less fuel-efficient cars mean more gas burned, spending more at the pump, and dirtier air in our communities,” Garcia wrote in a statement. Automakers and industry groups have said the new rules will increase Americans’ ac-

cess to the full range of gasoline vehicles they need and can afford. “NHTSA made the right call to better align fuel economy standards with the law and current market conditions,” John Bozzella, president and CEO of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents the domestic auto industry, said in a statement. He said the previous standards “effectively required a switchover to electric vehicles that was out of step with market realities and customer demand. Today’s ﬁnal rule is an appropriate course correction.” “What the industry needs is long-term regulatory stability that includes balanced, durable and achievable fuel economy standards that continue to reduce emissions and improve fuel economy,” Bozzella added. “This is the formula for preserving consumer vehicle choice and keeping the U.S. auto industry globally competitive.” A spokesperson for Ford Motor Company, maker of the top-selling pickup truck, the F-150, said: “We appreciate Secretary Duffy and the Administration’s work to align regulations with market realities. As we evaluate the ﬁnal rule’s full impact on our business, we’ll continue working with the Administration to build a strong American auto industry.” A General Motors spokesperson said in a statement the company supports the goals of the rule “and its intention to better align fuel economy standards with market realities.” Stellantis also welcomed the changes. “These standards will allow us to offer our customers the freedom to choose from a range of vehicles and powertrains that meet their needs, from brands they love and trust,” a Stellantis spokesperson said in a statement.

Nvidia unveils artificial intelligence security platform BY KELVIN CHAN and ANNE D’INNOCENZIO AP business writers

Nvidia on Monday unveiled a new security platform that the chipmaker said can stop artiﬁcial intelligence agents from going rogue. The company said that its Open Agent Safety Platform includes open source software that “sets boundaries for agents,” and follows a series of revelations from top AI companies about their models escaping and breaking into other organizations. The disclosures sparked furious debate about the safety of

advanced artificial intelligence systems, including self-improving models that some fear could race out of human control. Nvidia executives said in a media brieﬁng that the new system could have prevented a recent incident involving a swarm of OpenAI agents that autonomously hacked into AI company Hugging Face. “From what we know, this new security platform could have stopped the breach if it was being used in frontier labs for model evaluation early on,” said the company’s vice president of enterprise AI, Justin Boitano, referring to companies at the forefront of AI. The Hugging Face incident was

a high-proﬁle breach that inﬂamed the safety concerns about AI, which were followed by similar rogue actions involving OpenAI’s models including breaching an Australian health department website. Anthropic and Meta have also disclosed that their AI systems hacked into other organizations on their own. Nvidia’s software, called OpenShell, lets developers “formally verify an agent has enough authority to do its job and no more,” Boitano said. Because it’s open source, it can be “extended” to run on rival computing platforms including those from Arm and Intel.

The platform also includes a separate security layer called Sentry that runs onboard a chip to continuously monitor AI agent activity and can “intervene instantly” if the agent starts trying to move beyond its target, the company said. “It can quarantine a suspicious agent in milliseconds,” Boitano said. “OpenShell governs the agent’s actions, and then Sentry independently monitors and contains suspicious behavior,” Boitano said. Nvidia said more than 100 organizations are using the platform at its launch, including Microsoft, Perplexity, Accenture and JPMorgan Chase.