DENHAM SPRINGS • LIVINGSTON • WALKER • WATSON • AMITE • HAMMOND
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W e d n e s d ay, S e p t e m b e r 24, 2025
1GN
Area scientists mark discovery of signal Observatory braces for potential cuts by Trump administration
BY CLAIRE GRUNEWALD Staff writer
A signal lasting less than a second traveled about 1.3 billion light years before it reached an observatory deep in the piney woods of Livingston 10 years ago. The brief signal — caused by a pair of black holes colliding — was the first gravitational waves ever detected, and it created
Darlene Denstorff AROUND LIVINGSTON
a new way for scientists to look into the universe. The Sept. 14, 2015, detection confirmed a key prediction of Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity, earned the Nobel Prize in physics and kick-started a new era of astronomy. “Most of us had figured that with nature being perverse, that the first signal would be really hard to pull out of the noise. And then the signal came beautifully, beautifully clear,” said Joseph Giaime, head of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory in Livingston. The observatory is one of two in the United States funded by the National Science
Foundation with its counterpart, LIGO Hanford, in Washington state. Ten years and hundreds of gravitational wave detections later, LIGO is celebrating the anniversary of the historic event after a busy summer. Since May, scientists have been bracing for potential budget cuts after the Trump administration proposed slashing more than half of the foundation’s upcoming fiscal year budget. If the cuts are approved, a LIGO observatory could shut down. The observatory also announced the discovery of the most massive black hole merger ever detected. More recently, LIGO had its sharpest detection yet that proved
one of theoretical physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking’s theories to be correct.
A black-hole hunting machine Since the historic discovery in 2015, LIGO detectors have logged more than 300 gravitational wave events from black hole collisions. This number has far surpassed scientists’ expectations from 10 years ago. LIGO is able to detect so many events because the observatories are consistently improving and upgrading their gravitational wave detectors. Typically, the detectors
ä See SIGNAL, page 2G
ROBOT RUMBLE
Livingston Parish Fair kicks off with parade The Livingston Parish Fair, Oct. 4-12, kicks off Oct. 4 with a parade. Departing from Doyle Elementary School near Will Hughes Road, the parade advances north on La. 63 and wraps up at the fairgrounds via U.S. 190. A colorful mix of fire trucks, police vehicles, floats, marching bands, dance teams and costumed groups makes its way alongside horseback riders and covered wagons. Participants are judged in different age divisions upon returning to the fairgrounds. Organized by volunteers Rip Jones, Nancy Stewart and Derek Gardner, this parade celebrates both modern charm and long-held traditions.
ä See AROUND, page 2G
Charles Salzer SPORTS ROUNDUP
Doyle volleyball poised to take next step with senior squad Success in girls’ athletics is nothing new for Doyle High, which has won state championships in recent years in softball and basketball. The Tigers added a volleyball team four years ago and, not surprisingly, success has followed there, as well. There have been milestones checked off every season — a first playoff appearance, a first playoff win, an undefeated run through district – among others. This year’s team has already added a couple of program firsts with wins over parish rivals Walker and Live Oak. The season is only a few weeks old, but another possible first already awaits when Doyle (7-0) travels to Denham Springs on Wednesday. The Tigers have never defeated the Yellow Jackets, but can lay claim as the top team in Livingston parish with a win. There is no
ä See SALZER, page 2G
PHOTOS BY RICHARD MEEK
Robotic traffic during the Dow Red Stick Rumble Sept. 13 at Denham Springs High School at times resembled typical day along Baton Rouge’s congested roadways.
Denham Springs robotics team gets ready for its season
BY RICHARD MEEK Contributing writer
Robots scooting across the “field,” robotically picking up bright green balls to place in a “barge,” with high school students controlling every move from a computer panel behind sheets of Plexiglas. For the more mature set, perhaps, a bit futuristic. Think the Jetsons meet Generation Z. For the younger set, the future is now. Several hundred students representing nearly 30 schools from as far away as Mississippi and Florida gathered Sept. 13 at Denham Springs High School to compete in the Dow Red Stick Rumble, a showcase of young minds flaunting their creativity and technical smarts. Daniel Eiland, who has served as Denham Springs robotics coach since 2019 after serving eight years in a similar capacity at Woodland High School in Shreveport, said each robot is designed, engineered and finally built by students during a two-month period at the beginning of the second semester. Eiland said all of the parts are 3D designed by using machine tools, routers and mills, helping the students build a foundation machinery and programming. Robots are programed through the use of JAVA, an advanced, general purpose program intended to allow programmers to write code to run on all supporting platforms without the need to recompile. Eiland said most engineer
A team works on its robots in an area that looked like a NASCAR garage, complete with tool boxes and replacement parts during the Dow Red Stick Rumble Sept. 13 at Denham Springs High School. students are not introduced to JAVA until college or after they join the work force. Denham Springs student Nathan Thompson explained that each team has two drivers operating the robot, one steering the wheels and the second the rest of the operation. By rule, each
robot must be programed to operate the first 30 seconds of each “game” without a driver, only jumping in when a bell rings. The moves are intricate, as each robot is programmed to pick up a ball and
ä See RUMBLE, page 3G