TITLE NO. 9: LSU WELL-POSITIONED TO REPEAT IN 2026 1C
ADVOCATE THE
T H E A D V O C AT E.C O M
BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA
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W e d n e s d ay, J u n e 25, 2025
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Fragile ceasefire appears to hold Trump vents his frustration with Iran, Israel BY JON GAMBRELL, DAVID RISING and MELANIE LIDMAN Associated Press
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A fragile ceasefire between Iran and Israel appeared to hold Tuesday after initially faltering, and U.S. President Donald Trump expressed frustration with both sides, saying they had fought “for so long and so hard” that they do not know what they are doing. But even as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that Israel had brought Iran’s nu-
clear program “to ruin,” a new U.S. intelligence report found that the program has been set back only a few months after U.S. strikes over the weekend, according to two people familiar with the assessment. The early report issued Monday by the Defense Intelligence Agency was described to The Associated Press by two people familiar with it. They were not authorized to address the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. The report also contradicts statements from Trump, who has said the Iranian nuclear program was
“completely and fully obliterated.” The White House called the assessment “flat-out wrong.” After the truce was supposed to take effect, Israel accused Iran of launching missiles into its airspace, and the Israeli finance minister vowed that “Tehran will tremble.” The Iranian military denied firing on Israel, state media reported, but explosions boomed and sirens sounded across northern Israel, and a military official said two Iranian missiles were intercepted.
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By BERNAT ARMANGUE
Israeli soldiers work Tuesday amid the rubble of residential buildings ä See CEASEFIRE, page 4A destroyed by an Iranian missile strike in Beersheba, Israel.
Murrill files 3 lawsuits against CVS Attorney general alleges ‘unfair and deceptive acts’ in text campaign
BY ALYSE PFEIL Staff writer
25 minutes earlier than at present, and end at 3:15 p.m., 10 minutes earlier. Their instructional day will be 15 minutes longer. In addition to irritation at the late notice, Smith and several of her colleagues say the change will be a hardship for them on several fronts: picking up their own children from school; transporting
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, backed by Gov. Jeff Landry, said Tuesday she had filed three different lawsuits against CVS, claiming the company used its position as both a major pharmacy chain and a pharmacy benefit manager to abuse its market power and accusing it of “unethical and deceptive acts” in its use of customer data for political lobbying. The three lawsuits filed in the Murrill 27th Judicial District Court in St. Landry Parish “detail in great length all of the ways that these manipulative tactics are Landry used to drive our prices up and to drive the independent pharmacists out of business,” Murrill said at a news conference announcing the court action on Tuesday. Landry at the media event called pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, “corporate profiteers” that don’t actually lower prescription drug prices despite claiming to do so. In a statement, CVS denied wrongdoing and said its system of PBMs and pharmacies helps make it easier for patients to afford and pick up their medicine. “CVS Pharmacy remains the lowest cost pharmacy and a critical partner in lowering prescription drug costs for Louisianans,” the company said. All three cases allege that CVS violated Louisiana’s Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law.
ä See TEACHERS, page 5A
ä See CVS, page 4A
STAFF PHOTO By JOSIE ABUGOV
Decades after playing in the NFL, Duriel Harris started selling Angus beef pasture-raised in Ville Platte. All of his customers last year were schools across 10 different parishes, ‘from Shreveport to New Orleans,’ he said.
Push to serve local food in La. schools faces funding challenges State losing millions in federal government cuts
Company had its best year yet, grossing nearly $400,000. His success is largely thanks to a market niche he found: a federal program that pays for schools to source food from BY JOSIE ABUGOV local farms. After learning about the Staff writer program, he started selling to schools Over three decades after Duriel Harris in Alexandria, then Baton Rouge and St. left the Dallas Cowboys, the Texas native Tammany Parish. All of his customers last year were settled in Acadiana and became a cowboy schools across 10 different parishes, in his own right. The former wide receiver bought two “from Shreveport to New Orleans,” he dozen Black Angus heifers in 2016, and said. “If there was ever a win-win-win situsince then, his Ville Platte operation has only grown. Last year, Harris Cattle ation, that was it,” said Harris, known to
some football fans for a 1982 hook-andlateral play while with the Miami Dolphins. “Good for the economy, local producers and good for the state.” But whether Harris can keep selling his Angus beef to schools hangs in limbo. While the push for more local food in schools has gained broad support — from “Make America Healthy Again” backers in Louisiana’s Legislature to traditional nutritionists — government cuts and a lack of long-term funding are major stumbling blocks.
ä See FOOD, page 6A
Some EBR teachers unhappy with new start times 6 public schools part of pilot program BY CHARLES LUSSIER Staff writer
Just before they left last month for summer break, teachers at six Baton Rouge public schools were called into meetings to hear some surprising news: When they
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return in August, their schools would likely have new start times. “To be told at the last minute, on the last day of school, in the fourth quarter, that’s unrealistic and very unfair,” said Ahrianne Smith, a special-education teacher at Glen Oaks High. Glen Oaks High and Capitol High are the most affected. Students will start classes at 8:50 a.m., 100 minutes later. Class-
es will end 100 minutes later, at 4:05 p.m. Both are “F”-rated schools with high rates of student absenteeism. They also have difficulty recruiting and keeping staff and can ill afford losing more. The other four participating schools — Capitol, Glen Oaks Park, Melrose and Merrydale elementary schools — are not as impacted. They will start at 8 a.m.,
Business ......................3B Commentary ................7B Nation-World ................2A Classified .....................7D Deaths .........................4B Opinion ........................6B Comics-Puzzles .....4D-6D Living............................1D Sports ..........................1C
100TH yEAR, NO. 360