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LOSING TOUCH

Property sales firm under scrutiny

Company allegedly owes millions in judgments; owner blames N.O. officials BY JAMES FINN and BEN MYERS Staff writers

STAFF PHOTOS BY DAVID GRUNFELD

Saints safety Jonas Sanker scores a touchdown after recovering a fumble as Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Tai Felton defends during Sunday’s game at the Caesars Superdome on Sunday. On a day when the New Orleans Saints inducted Drew Brees into their Ring of Honor at the Superdome, the Brees era

A New Orleans-area company that handles online property auctions owes millions in court judgments stemming from allegations that it bilked local governments, investors and buyers across the country. The firm, CivicSource, has sold tax-delinquent properties on behalf of local governments across Louisiana — and other states — for years, running a website where potential buyers can peruse and bid on properties that would otherwise be sold at sheriff’s auctions. In New Orleans, city officials say CivicSource abruptly stopped handing over proceeds from those sales, accusing the company of cheating the city and buyers out of $3 million. The company disputes that claim. St. Tammany Parish officials contend the company shorted them by an estimated $500,000, while leaders in St. Bernard Parish say they are “evaluating our legal options” over the company’s work. County governments in Kansas and Tennessee have each secured seven-figure court judgments against CivicSource. The company faces additional lawsuits from lenders who say it never repaid loans, as well as a law enforcement investigation. In all, court judgments against the firm total at least $6.9 million over the past four years, according to records. In court filings and interviews with The TimesPicayune | The Advocate, dozens of would-be property buyers in south Louisiana said they

ä See FIRM, page 6A

has rarely felt so far away. The Saints managed less than 100 yards passing in a 23-13

Voters to decide amendments on property tax breaks

loss to the Minnesota Vikings. An 87-yard scoop-and-score touchdown from Jonas Sanker allowed the Saints to tie the game late in the third quarter, but the Vikings scored the game’s ﬁnal 10 points and sent New Orleans to its third straight loss, all at home. The Saints now embark on a journey to New York and then Paris with a 1-4 record in tow.

Former New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees acknowledges fans as Saints owner Gayle Benson, left, applauds during his induction into the team’s Ring of Honor at halftime on Sunday. ä SEE COMPLETE COVERAGE OF THE SAINTS GAME. PAGE 1C

Isaias remnants bring flooding risk across regions Deaths linked to California. In western North Carolina, overﬂowed as heavy hurricane reported rivers rainfall raised the risk of

BY SOPHIE BATES, KATE BRUMBACK and JULIE WALKER Associated Press

PENSACOLA, Fla. — People in the Florida Panhandle and southern Alabama cleaned up after Isaias swept through as the storm’s remnants brought the risk of ﬂooding to the central Appalachians and the mid-Atlantic region on Sunday. Meanwhile, signiﬁcant waves from Rachel, a former tropical storm, battered the coast of Southern

WEATHER HIGH 89 LOW 67 PAGE 6B

flash and urban flooding, according to the National Weather Service. Tornadoes were possible in parts of Virginia and North Carolina, and life-threatening surf and rip current conditions were expected along the Gulf and southeastern Atlantic coasts. At least four deaths were linked to Isaias, the ﬁrst hurricane of the Atlantic season, which came ashore as a Category 2 hurricane Friday near Destin, Florida, a Gulf Coast

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO BY GERALD HERBERT

An apartment complex that had its roof ripped off is seen in the ä See ISAIAS, page 6A aftermath of Hurricane Isaias in Milton, Fla., on Saturday.

Five measures aim to keep rates down BY ALYSE PFEIL Staff writer

Louisiana voters will be confronted with 10 proposed constitutional amendments when they cast their ballots this fall, and state lawmakers are asking them to approve several aimed at keeping down property taxes. Five amendments dealing with property taxes are part of a lengthy NoH H H H H H vember ballot that also includes the state’s congressional delegation and a variety of local races. Voters will consider the proposed tax breaks during a year of record-high home prices, mortgage rates around 7% and persistent inﬂation. And, in the wake of a series of hurricanes several years ago, Louisiana residents still face high prices for property insurance, building materials and labor, St. Charles Parish Assessor Tab Troxler said. “If there’s any time that all of these things are appropriate, it’s now,” Troxler said of the proposed tax breaks. Nonetheless, some say there is reason for caution when it comes to lowering property taxes.

ELECTION

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

ä See VOTERS, page 7A

14TH YEAR NO. 61

2A F Monday, October 12, 2026 F nola.com F The Times-Picayune

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Six senators call for president to reverse course on diesel plan

BRIEFS

FROM WIRE REPORTS

Iran calls U.S. response to proposal insufficient

The head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council says Tehran finds the latest response from the United States “insufficient” as efforts at negotiations to end the war and fully open the Strait of Hormuz limp along. The comments by Mohsen Rezaei, a former Revolutionary Guard commander, were carried by Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency. Rezaei added that Iran is no longer responding to the U.S. and said Washington must clarify certain issues, without giving details. He said the U.S. has accepted some of the seven conditions but others remain unclear. Iran’s delegation to the annual U.N. gathering of world leaders last month proposed a spedup agreement that echoed the memorandum of understanding that collapsed days after the U.S. and Iran signed it in June. The new proposal was rejected, but the two sides have remained in contact via mediation. Rezaei also threatened “cables, data centers, AI facilities and other sites in the region” if intense fighting breaks out again. Meanwhile, the Guard’s navy warned that any ship on the strait that turns off navigation and identification systems would be “identified as hostile,” according to an IRNA report. Attacks on ships transiting the strait have increased since Iran’s proposal was rejected. One attack was reported Sunday.

British PM says Russia interfered in Brexit vote

LONDON — U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham says it is clear that Russia interfered with Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, adding it was important to put Moscow’s tampering on the record because countries across Europe are facing the same threat. In excerpts from “The Rest is Politics’’ podcast released Sunday, Burnham said that when he became prime minister in July he asked his advisers whether Russia had interfered with the 2016 referendum. The full podcast is scheduled to drop on Monday. “I’ve had the clear answer that yes, there was,’’ Burnham said. “These things are important now to put clearly on the record and I believe help voters in Germany and France understand that some of this politics is instigated via our enemies, namely Russia.” Russia has long said it does not meddle in other countries’ elections or referendums. Burnham’s comments come as U.K. intelligence agencies warn about the increasing threat of Russian interference in Britain’s democratic institutions. The intervention is believed to be the ﬁrst time a British prime minister has publicly acknowledged Russian interference in the Brexit vote.

Ethiopia official pledges change in Tigray

NAIROBI, Kenya — A former Tigray leader now advising Ethiopia’s prime minister on Sunday promised a “visible change” in the region after governmentallied units retook Mekelle city following renewed fighting with opposition forces. Ethiopian Airlines resumed flights to the city of Mekelle on Sunday for the first time since rebels led by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front seized the airport on Sept. 23. They withdrew Oct. 3, when government-allied fighters entered the city. Renewed fighting in Tigray has undermined the 2022 peace agreement that ended a twoyear war, as mounting tensions between Ethiopia and neighboring Eritrea have raised fears of a wider conflict. “I would like to assure you on this occasion that we will bring visible change, a change beyond mere hope,” Getachew Reda, an adviser to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, told supporters who greeted him and intelligence chief Redwan Hussein at Mekelle airport. He did not elaborate. The 2020-22 war in Tigray caused about 500,000 civilian deaths from violence, famine and the collapse of health services, according to researchers at Ghent University in Belgium.

a legitimate case Bipartisan group there’s for saying the president following the law if decries purchase isthenotadministration goes through with its diesel purfrom Russia chase plan.

BY KEVIN FREKING Associated Press

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO BY ANDRII MARIENKO

A car burns Sunday following a Russian strike on a residential neighborhood in Kharkiv, Ukraine.

Trump: Kyiv, Moscow agree to energy truce But Ukraine says attacks continue

BY SUSIE BLANN, ELISE MORTON and COLLIN BINKLEY Associated Press

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump said Sunday that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to an “energy ceasefire” in the 4½-year-old war, but he offered no details on it and Kyiv reported attacks by Moscow on energy sites after his statement. Trump’s brief social media post said only that the ceasefire took effect immediately, adding: “Do not break it!” Moscow did not immediately comment. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that while his country “welcomed” the announcement by Trump as “good news for everyone,” Russia was still hitting energy infrastructure in Kyiv and in the city of Kharkiv. “Unfortunately, Ukrainian skies have been infested with Russian ‘shaheds’ all day today,” he said in an evening address, referring to drones launched by Moscow. “There have been glide bomb strikes and strikes on our energy infrastructure too. A power plant in Kharkiv was attacked this evening.” The presidential office confirmed the Kharkiv attack came after Trump’s ceasefire post. Zelenskyy said Ukraine was “ready to refrain from striking Russian energy infrastructure — and we count on the same readiness from Russia.” Russia has sought to deny Ukrainian civilians power, heat and running water during the war, hoping to wear down public resistance to Moscow’s full-scale invasion. Ukrainian officials describe the strategy as “weaponizing winter.” Zelenskyy said Ukraine has proposed many de-escalatory steps but Russian President Vladimir Putin “had one an-

swer to all of them — ‘nyet.’ We do hope that he will finally say something different to America, Ukraine, and the entire world.” He said Kyiv is maintaining contact with the U.S., and he thanked Americans for their support. He said on X that he had spoken about the development with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. In an interview broadcast earlier Sunday, Zelenskyy said Kyiv was ready to stop striking Russian refineries if Moscow halted attacks on Ukraine’s energy system, and he asked Trump to press the Kremlin to agree. “We are asking President Trump, (to) give them (a) signal, not (to) attack energy infrastructure of Ukraine,” he told ABC’s “This Week.” On Sept. 14, Trump claimed on social media that both countries had agreed “not to hit” each other’s energy infrastructure but offered no details on that proposal either. While Zelenskyy had said Ukraine was ready to comply if Russia did, nothing came of the proposal. Trump said Saturday it was time for Ukraine to get a new president, suggesting Zelenskyy has not done enough to end the war and blaming him for high diesel prices in the U.S. Zelenskyy said in response to Trump’s comments that Ukraine could hold elections if Russia agreed to a 60-day ceasefire. “Give us two months, 60 days off. Total ceasefire, 60 days, and we will organize elections,” he said, adding that Ukraine would be ready to accept whatever choice its people made. “With all respect to President Trump, it’s up to our society, up to our people to choose one or another leader,” he said. Holding an election during the war would be unlawful and Ukraine would need security guarantees to allow for safe voting, Zelenskyy added.

Saudi airport terminal struck again BY SAMY MAGDY, CARA ANNA and JULIA FRANKEL

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People gather Saturday outside a metro Associated Press station on the road to King Khalid CAIRO — A projectile struck a passenger International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi terminal at the international airport in Arabia. Riyadh on Sunday, a day after a missile hit the same terminal and killed 12 people, the Saudi-led coalition fighting Iranbacked Houthi rebels in Yemen said. The Houthis claimed responsibility for those attacks and others. Saudi authorities said there were injuries in the latest attack on the King Khalid International Airport complex for terminals 3 and 4, serving domestic flights. The airport — struck four times in the past five days — has been closed since Saturday’s missile attack, which was the deadliest in a Gulf Arab nation since the Iran war began. Over 300 other people were wounded, some critically. The sharp escalation in the war’s new front threatens to draw in greater U.S. military involvement. President Donald Trump has said he is weighing joining the fight against the Houthis. There was no White House comment Sunday. India’s embassy in Saudi Arabia said one of its citizens died Sunday of injuries sustained in Saturday’s attack, which would bring the toll to 13. Saudi authorities later said King Fahd International Airport in Dammam also was attacked, with few details. The city is on the Persian Gulf near Bahrain and Qatar.

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of six senators on Sunday called for President Donald Trump’s administration to “immediately reverse course” on a plan to purchase diesel from Russia as part of an effort to lower high fuel prices. Trump shocked lawmakers when he announced on social media Friday that he struck a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call. He said Russia will immediately supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel to the American and global market, followed by an additional 500,000 tons in November and 1 million tons “immediately thereafter.” Russia will deliver an additional 3 million tons “within a short period of time” after that, he wrote. Four Republican senators and two Democratic senators signed onto the statement released Sunday in protesting the deal. They said the administration failed to consult with Congress or submit any explanation to justify its decision as required by statute. “The United States should not provide Putin with a financial lifeline while Russia continues to kill Ukrainian civilians. The Administration must immediately reverse course,” they wrote. The Republican senators who signed onto the statement are Sens. Susan Collins, of Maine; Lisa Murkowski, of Alaska; Thom Tillis, of North Carolina; and John Curtis, of Utah. The Democratic senators are Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, of New Hampshire; and Richard Blumenthal, of Connecticut. Tillis, in an interview that aired Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” said

“We were very clear that Russia is the aggressor. Russia is the one who can end this war by backing out of territory that they occupied,” Tillis said. Trump’s announcement came just a few weeks after Congress passed legislation that directed Trump to impose substantial tariffs on the top importers of Russian oil or natural gas, with an exception for countries that import less than 15% of Russia’s natural gas exports and have taken significant steps to reduce those imports. The congressional effort was aimed at cutting the flow of money Russia receives from oil and gas sales to finance its war against Ukraine. The lawmakers also noted that Congress explicitly banned Russia energy imports in 2022 to prevent the United States from financing the war. “Congress was clear: the U.S. should not import oil from Russia until it ends its aggression against Ukraine and ceases threats against our NATO Allies,” the six lawmakers wrote in their statement. “President Trump’s decision to allow Russian diesel imports to the U.S. runs directly counter to that law.” Sen. John Barrasso, RWyo., said Trump is focused on reducing the cost of energy when asked whether the president’s action would be in violation of U.S. law. “The president is balancing and has to make tough decisions,” Barrasso said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” He also encouraged Trump to enforce the sanctions law that Congress passed last month. “This is just another point of leverage for the president to use against Putin in an effort to get a long-term solution in that part of the world,” Barrasso said.

The latest strike in Riyadh came shortly after the Houthis said the airport in the rebel-held Yemeni capital of Sanaa had been struck again, and blamed the Saudis. At stake, again, in this escalation are global supplies and prices of oil as well as commercial shipping through a crucial alternative waterway to the Iranthreatened Strait of Hormuz — along with civilians and aviation throughout the region. There was no sign Sunday that Trump had followed up on plans to speak with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has been seeking assistance against the war-hardened rebel group that is currently Iran’s most dynamic proxy. A U.S. intervention could prompt the Houthis to halt shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea off Yemen, further restricting the ﬂow of oil out of the Persian Gulf. The rebels seized key areas along the strait last month. The Saudi-led coalition, backing forces with Yemen’s internationally recognized government, has been trying to seize them back.

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Pope says he will undergo lung surgery Small nodule found in early stage

BY NICOLE WINFIELD and COLLEEN BARRY Associated Press

VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV announced Sunday he will undergo surgery “in the coming days” to remove a nodule on his lung, in the first major health event of his 17-month pontificate. The 71-year-old Leo said the nodule was found at an early stage and was “circumscribed” or small and well-localized. The Vatican said Leo’s expected recovery time from surgery would be a week. The American pope made the announcement during his Sunday noon blessing in an unusual display of transparency about his health. He thanked the crowd for their closeness and entrusted himself to their prayers. The Vatican didn’t say exactly when the surgery would take place, other than in the early days of this week. Leo has one upcoming main event: the closing Mass on Wednesday of a weeklong conference on family ministry, but Vatican officials suggested he might miss it. A lung nodule is a small abnormal area measuring less than 1 inch that sometimes appears on a CT scan of the chest or abdomen, according to the American Cancer

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Society. Often, the scans are done to investigate trauma or a lung infection, unrelated to a lung cancer screening. “Lung nodules are fairly common and are often benign, but benign and cancerous nodules can have a similar appearance on imaging,” said Dr. Stephen Liu, a lung cancer expert at Georgetown’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. “When there is sufficient concern, and when it is safe to do so based on the location of the nodule and the overall health of the patient, surgical removal can provide a deﬁnitive diagnosis,” he said. If the nodule turns out to be cancerous, the prognosis is “excellent” since it will have been removed at an early stage and surgery alone might be all Leo needs in terms of treatment, he said in an interview. “It often can be a blessing in disguise to remove that cancer before it has a chance to grow or to spread,” he said. Leo has no previously known health problems and is physically active, with weekly tennis matches and swimming at the papal summer retreat in Castel Gandolfo. The pope has a major trip planned Nov. 6-17 to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru. It’s unclear how or whether the planned surgery and recovery might affect the itinerary, but Leo said earlier in his remarks Sunday that he still planned to go.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO BY GREGORIO BORGIA

Pope Leo XIV leaves at the end the Angelus prayer on Sunday in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican. In his remarks, delivered in Italian, Leo said that during a recent medical check, “doctors found a circumscribed nodule in my lung. It was detected at a very early stage and is well-localized. The doctors believe it’s best to take action, so, following their advice, I have decided to have surgery to remove it.” He thanked the faithful “for your spiritual support, and I entrust myself to your prayers.” Leo’s predecessor, Pope Francis, died April 21, 2025, of a stroke following a long hospitalization brought on by a respiratory crisis that developed into double pneumonia. Francis suffered

from chronic lung disease and had part of one lung removed as a young man. Francis’ illnesses were characterized by a dizzying and sometimes problematic release of information from the Vatican, which always closely guards the privacy of a pope’s health. In one infamous incident, the Vatican said Francis had gone to the hospital in March 2023 for scheduled tests, but the pontiff later revealed he had felt pain in his chest and was rushed to the hospital where bronchitis was diagnosed. He ended up being admitted for three days. This time around, Leo appeared keen to control the message and deliver it him-

Simon pounds resorts, towns on Mexico’s coast BY FERNANDO LLANO and MARTIN SILVA Associated Press

PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico — Hurricane Simon pounded Mexico’s Paciﬁc coast as a Category 4 storm on Sunday, its eye remaining just offshore as its most powerful winds and rain slammed people living between the Sierra Madre and the ocean. The hurricane’s center swirled parallel to the coast, closing in on the Puerto Vallarta area, where its most damaging winds and rain were expected to hit around midnight and continue through Monday morning. Its maximum sustained winds weakened Sunday to 130 mph, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami, but it was still expected to remain a dangerous hurricane. That’s not good news for people in and around Puerto Vallarta, a popular tourist destination in the state of Jalisco. Just inland and uphill from the resort areas, many Mexicans live in communities where housing might not stand up to the storm. By Sunday afternoon, Simon’s eye was moving within about 55 miles of Cabo Corrientes at about 6 mph. A senior hurricane center specialist, Phillipe

Pappin, said this westernmost tip of mainland Mexico is the area most likely to get a direct hit from the system. Cabo Corrientes is at the southern tip of Bahia de Banderas, the wide bay where Puerto Vallarta looks out to the Paciﬁc. Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 25 miles, and tropical-storm-force winds reach up to 60 miles from Simon’s center, meaning the entire area between Mexico’s western coast and the Sierra Madre mountains could be affected. “We’re expecting catastrophic wind and lifethreatening storm surge impacts along that west-central coast of Mexico where the hurricane warning is currently in effect,” Pappin said. “They’re also getting very heavy rainfall associated with the storm that’s likely going to produce lifethreatening flooding and mudslides in areas of higher terrain along the Mexican coastline, and there will be signiﬁcant swells.” The hurricane center on Sunday afternoon said Simon was expected to dump an additional 2 to 4 inches of rain, with some areas getting up to 8 inches, in the states of Colima, Jalisco, Nayarit and Sinaloa through early Thursday. “Isolated maximum storm

self, using one of his most public encounters with the faithful to alert them of his condition and impending hospital stay. Leo is expected to undergo surgery at Rome’s Gemelli hospital, where Francis and popes before him were treated and where there is a special apartment for pontiffs. On Sunday, there was no obvious sign that the pope had already been admitted. Dr. Dionysis PapadatosPastos, an oncologist and lung cancer specialist at The London Clinic, stressed that an incidental ﬁnding of a lung nodule doesn’t mean lung cancer. And in fact “a well-circumscribed nodule does suggest that this is less

likely to be cancer.” But he said cancer was possible and the main imperative is to investigate. “The worst thing you can do is ignore a lung nodule,” he said in an interview. Liu, the Georgetown oncologist, said surgical removal in such a case was standard, especially for someone in otherwise good health and if the nodule is in an easily accessible location. A needle biopsy on a lung nodule can be difﬁcult and may not provide doctors with enough information, he said. “In these cases, surgery itself, while it may seem dramatic, is often very safe, very straightforward with a rapid recovery,” he said, adding that Leo should be in good shape to travel to Latin America barring any complications. Leo is not known to be a smoker. Liu noted that 1 in 5 people diagnosed with lung cancer have no history of smoking. Dr. Massimo Di Maio, president of the Italian Association of Medical Oncology, said it will be important to determine if the nodule is benign or malignant, and if it is malignant, whether it has spread. When the disease is detected at an early stage “the aim … is curative,” he added. Depending on what is found, possible treatments can include chemotherapy and radiation therapy, Di Maio told Italy’s private Sky TG24.

Judge orders Trump administration to cancel taxpayer-funded TV ads By The Associated Press

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO BY FERNANDO LLANO

A National Guard member patrols Sunday along the seawall as Hurricane Simon approaches Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. totals of 30 inches are possible over portions of the states of Michoacan, Colima, and Jalisco,” the center said in its latest advisory. “This rainfall will produce life-threatening ﬂooding and mudslides or worsen any ongoing ﬂooding, especially in areas of steep terrain.” As the storm approached Puerto Vallarta, National Guard vehicles patrolled the streets while police used a megaphone to call out the few people who were jogging, walking their dogs or biking by the waterfront. Officers reminded people that the area was closed and urged them to take shelter. Not everyone followed the orders. Jalisco state suspended classes on Friday and Monday in 22 coastal municipalities and began evacuating people from at-risk areas while asking the tourism sector to make sure workers and visitors are fully accommodated in shelters or safe zones. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum took to the social platform X on Sunday to urge people in Jalisco,

Colima, Nayarit and Michoacan to stay sheltered until the government issues a notiﬁcation that the danger has passed. She also asked people to follow recommendations from civil protection ofﬁcials and to avoid traveling on public roads. “Precautionary evacuation efforts to safe zones are ongoing; the priority is our safety,” she wrote. Despite the risks posed by Simon, tourists were still arriving in Puerto Vallarta. Visitors Ricardo Ramírez and Brenda Villarreal, who have never lived through a hurricane, went looking for food by the city’s boardwalk and came across police urging people to take shelter. Ramírez said they were completely unprepared for the situation. “The boardwalk is closed. Be responsible. Understand!” police told passersby using a megaphone.

NEW YORK — President Donald Trump must cancel any remaining television commercials paid for with millions of dollars in taxpayer money to promote his political message, a federal judge ordered Sunday night, even as the administration said the ad campaign was coming to an end. U.S. District Judge Jennifer L. Rochon in New York sided with a coalition, including the nonpartisan watchdog Common Cause, that challenged the ads and called them an illegal misuse of funds. She told the administration to cancel any remaining ads, including any set to air Sunday night, in granting a temporary restraining order. “Defendants shall not enter into, renew, or expand any agreement authorizing the development, creation, dissemination, placement, or airing of the challenged advertisements” during the two-week duration of her order, the judge said. The White House did not immediately respond to an email requesting com-

ment Sunday night. In a court ﬁling late Saturday, the Justice Department argued that the temporary restraining order was unnecessary because “the alleged offending conduct will end tomorrow.” The Department of Homeland Security tapped $20 million in taxpayer money for the ads. Legal experts have suggested that ran afoul of a federal statute against congressionally appropriated money being used for “publicity or propaganda” and potentially other federal laws. The Homeland Security money tapped for the ads comes from a $175 million package Congress gave to the department as part of Trump’s immigration enforcement agenda. The White House has defended the ads as public service announcements akin to what past administrations have done to promote various policies.

T N E M E C A L P E R ROOF S R I A P E R & WE’LL BE AT DOJ probing whether White House TV pool’s coverage halt broke antitrust law BY ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and AMY TAXIN Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating whether the decision of the White House television press pool to halt coverage of President Donald Trump last month violated antitrust law, an agency spokesperson said Saturday. Emily Covington, a spokesperson for the department, said group boycotts among business competitors might violate U.S. law. “The Antitrust Division is simply investigating to determine

whether these news organizations have violated the antitrust laws,” she said. The announcement came after the television pool of five broadcasters last month ceased presidential coverage after the administration barred CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House. Messages were sent late Saturday to the five outlets seeking comment: ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX and NBC. The White House press pool, which is a rotating cast of news outlets that covers the president, has become a proxy for the wider fight over whether the president,

or anyone, can control the content of news reports — a type of free speech, pillar of American democracy. Last month’s developments marked an extraordinary escalation in Trump’s efforts to restrict news reporters and outlets that he ﬁnds insufﬁciently supportive. CNN, MS NOW and Politico sued over the dayslong ban. It was lifted after a judge handed the three news organizations a reprieve, which is in place until Tuesday. Television pool coverage of the White House has also resumed.

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The Times-Picayune ✦ nola.com ✦ Monday, October 12, 2026 ✦ 5A

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Republicans face midterm backlash on tariffs jobs down the road Some factory facturing once those factories come she said. workers squeezed online,” Even before the tariffs, Miller struggled as out of jobs by Howard Americans lost their taste for Trump’s levies fancy timepieces such as its

BY BERNARD CONDON

AP business writer

NEW YORK — Nelson Vandermeer voted Republican for decades but balked at supporting President Donald Trump, fearing that the Republican’s plan for tariffs on imports would hurt workers more than help. Last year, Vandermeer’s premonition came true in a very personal way. The 62-year-old lost his job as a product designer at Howard Miller, a clockmaker that relied on parts produced overseas. After a century in business, the company in Zeeland, Michigan, closed its factory, sold off its inventory and brand name and laid off nearly 200 workers. “So much for bringing jobs back,” Vandermeer said. Next month, he plans to vote straight Democrat in the midterms. As if an unpopular war with Iran and persistent inﬂation were not enough trouble for Republicans, they are confronting a backlash over the tariffs that Trump made a cornerstone of his economic agenda. He promised that charging higher taxes on imports would spur a factory renaissance in the United States, but that has not come to pass. Although the country has added manufacturing jobs so far this year, the sector has fewer employees than when Trump returned to the White House in January 2025. White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers insisted that a factory boom is underway, citing increases in manufacturing output and more work in certain nonresidential construction trades. “Factory construction jobs of today mean more manu-

signature grandfather and mantel clocks. So the company broadened its offerings years ago to include bar carts, cabinets and consoles. But those products also depended on glass and other parts from abroad, and diversiﬁcation did not ensure survival. “I could still have a job, but now I don’t because of tariffs,” Vandermeer said. “It was like taking a knife to the back.”

Job losses pile up Vandermeer lives in Michigan’s 4th Congressional District, which is represented by Republican Bill Huizenga, who is running for a ninth term in the Nov. 3 election. Before Trump implemented his broadest set of tariffs last year, on what the president called “Liberation Day,” Huizenga was supportive. “Is it going to be easy? Not necessarily. Is it the right thing to do? Absolutely it is,” he told reporters at the time. A spokesperson for Huizenga said last week that the congressman “sees a potential role for tariffs” for boosting domestic manufacturing “while recognizing the need to address their broader economic effects.” His Democratic opponent, state Sen. Sean McCann, has criticized the incumbent for opposing legislation that would rein in tariffs that Trump imposed unilaterally. There are similar issues in competitive races in Kansas, Iowa and Ohio, where Republican acquiescence could hurt the party on Election Day as their constituents face factory layoffs, farm foreclosures and higher prices. Tracy Chew, 55, voted for Trump in 2016, then for Democrat Joe Biden in 2020

couldn’t plan.” Next month, Bird is likely to stick with Republicans, including U.S. Sen. Darline Graham, because tariffs are only one issue and he believes Democrats would spend too much money on the wrong things. Ernie Goss, an economist at Creighton University in Nebraska, said manufacturing woes may not convert to Democratic victories. He said some people may “think the tariffs in the long run will work.”

Some turning on Trump CANADIAN PRESS FILE PHOTO BY NICK IWANYSHYN

Rolled coils of steel sit in the yard at the ArcelorMittal Dofasco steel plant in Hamilton, Ont. and Democrat Kamala Harris in 2024. She used to work for Case, a backhoe manufacturer, but the company announced before the tariffs that it would close its plant in Burlington, Iowa. She lost her job in April, as did her daughter, followed by husband and son-in-law over the next few weeks. Chew is leaning toward voting for Democrats again this year, feeling that Trump let them down. “I’m furious he isn’t doing enough,” she said. “Tariffs are not targeting the right companies, the right amount.” Layoffs in Iowa have piled up elsewhere. Winnebago Industries, which produces recreational vehicles like campers, cut 200 jobs last year after the cost of importing aluminum, steel and electronics increased by tens of millions of dollars. “It’s a day to day battle,” said Michael Happe, the company’s chief executive. In the tight race for an open U.S. Senate seat in Iowa, U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson faces Democratic state Rep. Josh Turek. There is a close contest, too, in Kansas, where Democrat Adam Hamilton, the pastor of the largest

United Methodist Church in the U.S., is trying to unseat Republican Roger Marshall. Cole Hoppock, chief executive of appliance maker Vornado Air in Wichita, Kansas, said Trump’s tariffs “impacted virtually everything.” The company known for its retro household fans laid off more than 70 factory workers in February, blaming higher prices for imported parts. Trump’s trade policy could force cutbacks soon at another Kansas employer, Canadian jet manufacturer Bombardier. Trump has threatened to ban the company’s sales in the U.S. if Bombardier does not start making all its planes in the U.S. Bombardier said it buys parts from 2,800 companies in 47 states, including in Kansas, where it employs more than 1,000 people

Unpopular approach Trump has spent years complaining that other countries are ripping off the U.S. when it comes to trade. Most economists say he is wrong and that his remedy — broad universal tariffs — would cause more pain than help. Now most Americans disagree with Trump’s approach, according to The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

A September poll showed only about 3 in 10 U.S. adults approve of Trump’s handling of trade negotiations, compared with 4 in 10 in March. Some of Trump’s tariffs have been haphazard. He targeted Brazil because of political differences and he jacked up tariffs on China to levels so extreme that they risked a recession and forced the president to retreat. The Supreme Court in February ruled against Trump’s declaration of an emergency to roll out his “Liberation Day” tariffs last year, leaving foreign trade unsettled as the administration continues to adjust with new levies and threats. Tariffs are far from the only reason for the lost of manufacturing jobs, and factories have cut workers for decades with or without them. Even some Republicans who dislike Trump’s approach will not split with the party. Bicycle Corp. of America, which closed its factory in South Carolina last year, blamed rising prices for imported parts. Koby Bird, who retired after working in quality control, likes tariffs but was frustrated by Trump’s habit of raising and lowering them seemingly at whim. “It was all over the place,” Bird said. “Businesses

Wendell Young, a union leader in Pennsylvania, where several factories have had layoffs, said he senses a backlash among workers. Last summer, Young said he got a ﬁrestorm of angry responses to his email blaming tariffs for a decision by Post Holdings to cut 160 jobs at a local pet food factory. “Keep politics out of this,” wrote one of workers at the plant in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. “President Trump isn’t the reason.” “People used to beat me up for not supporting Trump. I haven’t heard that in a year,” said Young, president of Local 1776 of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union. “Some of these people are red Republicans and they are shocked. They expected more jobs.” Post Holdings ultimately agreed to reduce the head count by offering severance for people to leave, but lower production had a ripple effect. Local can manufacturer Trivium Packaging decided to cut several jobs because they were getting less orders from Post and other companies, according to Young’s union.

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Source: Trump, Rubio weigh firing U.S. envoy to Greece BY MATTHEW LEE AP diplomatic writer

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are considering firing U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle after a series of reports alleging she has engaged in improper and possibly illegal conduct before and during her tenure in Athens. A senior U.S. official said Sunday that Trump and Rubio are “extremely pissed off” by Guilfoyle’s reported conduct and would likely decide on what action to take this week after Monday’s Columbus Day holiday. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said Rubio had been particularly angry, not least because he visited Athens just last week and Guilfoyle attended most, if not all, of his events and greeted

FIRM

Continued from page 1A paid deposits to the company and never received ownership documents. CivicSource’s business took off in the early 2010s across Louisiana, with the company landing government deals to sell abandoned properties in Baton Rouge, Acadiana, Shreveport and elsewhere before eventually taking hold in other states. After the firm listed properties online, bidders would pay CivicSource for the property’s lien or title, plus costs for tasks like title research and attempts to track down prior owners. CivicSource would route the full amount to the local government, which would reimburse the company’s administrative costs, plus a commission. In a lawsuit New Orleans filed against the company in May, city officials allege the Metairie-based firm kept more than $1 million in deposits owed to potential buyers, plus nearly $2 million owed to the city from sale proceeds between 2023 and 2025. CivicSource owner Bryan Barrios has defended his company in interviews and legal filings. Instead, he blames New Orleans officials for the company’s problems and has filed his own claims against the city. For the better part of a decade, Barrios says New Orleans improperly calculated costs it was obligated to reimburse his firm, leaving CivicSource deep in the red and unable to resolve mounting debts. In an interview, Barrios said he realized the accounting error only after company officials scoured its books in 2024, as court claims and judgments against the firm mounted. “What this has managed to do is collapse a 20-year (company) that’s done nothing but good in every jurisdiction it’s in,” he said. Barrios’ suit is seeking $22 million from the city, whose leaders are facing a serious budget deficit. Lawyers for Mayor Helena Moreno’s administration call his claim “preposterous and demonstrably false.” “CivicSource owes both the City and its citizens money,” City Attorney Charline Gipson said in a statement. “The City will not stop fighting for the refunds for which CivicSource is responsible and has improperly taken.” Legal claims against the firm began emerging several years ago. In St. Tammany, parish spokesperson Michael Vinsanau said Barrios’ company owes the parish government $500,000. (Barrios says the correct number is $23,000.) St. Bernard Parish officials “are working with all of our affected citizens to ensure the best outcome,” said John Brian White, St. Bernard’s executive counsel. CivicSource has also filed a lawsuit against newspapers in Louisiana, including The Times-Picayune | The Advocate, alleging that publications have overcharged them for legal advertisements related to tax sales the company was facilitating. The newspapers have disputed CivicSource’s claims in legal filings, and the case is pending in Civil District Court.

him on his arrival with a bear hug as the allegations swirled. In a series of stories, The Wall Street Journal has reported questionable conduct by Guilfoyle, including an alleged threat to a host country official, accepting improper gifts and services and offering to use her influence inside the administration in return for the payment of a large credit card bill. Guilfoyle has not addressed the reports directly, although her lawyer has said she did nothing wrong and the U.S. embassy in Athens has tacitly expressed support for her. After defending Guilfoyle following the first report, Rubio has declined to comment publicly on the growing allegations. On Wednesday, Rubio said: “Our ambassador has been a strong ambassador here.” But after another report appeared late Wednesday, Rubio on

Thursday before leaving Athens berated journalists for asking about the allegations saying he didn’t know if they were true and that he would not respond if he could not confirm. “You guys walk around thinking that because some source told you something and you reported it, it’s the gospel. It’s not the gospel. It’s not the gospel for me. That’s not the way we do things,” Rubio said at the foot of his plane as Guilfoyle, who was there to see him depart, looked on. The official said that Rubio had grown increasingly frustrated as the reports multiplied. A second U.S. official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters, said the State Department’s inspector general is looking into the allegations, which first began surfacing in the Journal late last month and have since multiplied.

The second ofﬁcial could not say if a formal IG probe had begun. Inspectors general often conduct informal inquiries into complaints against staffers and many times those inquiries do not result in a full-on investigation, which can result in disciplinary action up to and including dismissal. The State Department has declined to comment on a potential IG investigation. The top two Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs and Senate Foreign Relations committees, Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, as well as the ranking member on the House Committee for Oversight and Government Reform, Robert Garcia, D-Calif., have already called for an investigation into Guilfoyle. Since late September, the Journal has detailed numerous accounts of questionable conduct by

Guilfoyle. Its first report said that she had told guests at a reception that the U.S. could undermine the Greek government if it chose to, promoted the business interests of one particular Greek construction and energy company, and allowed its lobbyist into private diplomatic meetings. While Rubio was in Athens, the Journal reported — citing text messages — that Guilfoyle had asked a Trump donor and supporter to pay a $100,000 credit card bill just before her confirmation hearing, promising him access to administration officials if he did. The Journal then reported that Guilfoyle had been enraged about not being invited to a Greekthemed event at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland earlier this year and demanded to attend while boasting about luxury travel to France with energy company executives.

demand for sale proceeds in November 2025, Barrios blamed the stalled payments on outstanding invoices in New Orleans and a revolving door of chief financial officers who had failed to inform him of the problem. “I have not in 20 years dealt with any financial aspect of my business,” Barrios explained. Neither Shelby nor Sedgwick counties have received payments on their judgments, officials in both jurisdictions confirmed this week. Some of CivicSource’s other contracts have been canceled: Across Louisiana, local officials in 10 cities and parishes issued termination STAFF FILE PHOTO BY SOPHIA GERMER notices in a four-month periCivicSource, a New Orleans-area company that handles online property auctions, owes od earlier this year, according to records. millions in court judgments stemming from allegations that it bilked local governments,

investors and buyers across the country.

Last year, law enforcement became involved through the dispute the company faced in Kansas. The Sheriff’s Office in Sedgwick County opened an investigation after the county treasurer accused CivicSource of pocketing $1.2 million in auction proceeds. The FBI’s New Orleans office has since taken over the case, a Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson said. An FBI spokesperson declined to comment. The court filings show Barrios allegedly threatened at least one claimant with physical violence. He did so during a 2023 argument with Michael Kirschman, who served in leadership roles at Barrios’ companies and later secured a $2.9 million court judgment against Barrios in Jefferson Parish for outstanding loans. Barrios warned Kirschman of “a hellacious ass whipping in this life or next in accordance with Universal law,” according to a text thread contained in court filings. Barrios said he and Kirschman shared a 10year business relationship before Kirschman tried to “steal” ownership of Archon Information Systems, CivicSource’s parent company, through litigation. Kirschman in an interview denied trying to steal the company. He said he frequently lent Barrios money to help keep Barrios’ various businesses solvent before their relationship soured. “The company was not good at retaining funds for the quieter times,” Kirschman said. “There was a need for lending, which led Bryan to come to me a number of times. For a very long time, this was a very easy relationship. When I lent him money, he would pay me back. That changed.” Kirschman is still trying to obtain his judgment and has intervened in the New Orleans litigation.

Novel idea Barrios started CivicSource’s parent company, Archon Information Systems, in 2008 out of an ofﬁce in Metairie. CivicSource — Archon’s marquee product — started online property sales around that time in New Orleans, whose leaders touted the company as a solution to widespread blight. Land parcels whose owners hadn’t paid taxes in three years or longer were eligible for the sales.

By its own count, CivicSource has returned more than 8,000 properties that weren’t generating tax revenue for New Orleans to commerce in the city since 2014. As it expanded nationwide, CivicSource maintained an especially broad footprint in Louisiana. Officials in Allen, East Feliciana, East Baton Rouge, St. Martin, Caddo, Bossier, Union and Ascension parishes have advertised property sales through the firm. So have city governments in Lake Charles, Leesville and Bogalusa. The approach presented a helpful option for casual investors like New Orleans resident Todrick Carmouche, who started buying properties through CivicSource in 2010, eventually creating a modest portfolio. “That convenience created a lot of flexibility for a person like me,” said Carmouche, who works in education. “I don’t have the ability to say, ‘I’m going to take off the first Wednesday of the month’ to go bid at a sheriff’s sale on a property I might not even get.” Barrios also set up a second company that would help bolster CivicSource’s business model. That firm, U.S. National Title Insurance Company, sold policies that assured investors that property titles obtained through online auctions were legitimate. Many mortgage lenders require title insurance.

Allegations emerge In 2024, CivicSource inked a fresh contract with New Orleans, but the city contends the company did not deliver auction proceeds for most of the following year. The outstanding amount owed to the city grew to $1.7 million by May 2025, according to a contract amendment Barrios signed later that year. The city refused to continue paying CivicSource’s costs until the debt was satisﬁed. CivicSource tried to recover those costs in a December 2025 lawsuit, setting off a messy ﬁght in Civil District Court over who owes what. The city now says CivicSource owes $192,000 after reconciling CivicSource’s debt with its costs. But CivicSource is now also demanding $22 million for unpaid costs — the amount Barrios said he only recently discovered — stretching back more than a decade. Judge Monique Bar-

Insurance company woes

ial is scheduled to hear arguments on summary judgment motions on Wednesday. County officials in two other states have obtained seven-figure court judgments stemming from similar claims against CivicSource. Shelby County, Tennessee, home to Memphis, sued CivicSource and Archon in federal court in 2024. The company had worked for the county since 2015, the county’s lawyers wrote, but in late 2023 stopped sending auction proceeds. A federal judge ordered the company to pay the county $1.5 million. Barrios said he fired several senior staffers at the time, believing they were responsible for accounting errors. Through that litigation, he said the company learned that New Orleans hadn’t been reimbursing his costs. “Now, in hindsight, I get why we couldn’t pay it,” he said. “We were getting shorted $2.5 million a year by New Orleans.” In Kansas, Sedgwick County officials filed a theft report last year with the Sheriff’s Office. CivicSource owed Sedgwick County taxpayers $1.28 million in tax sale revenue it never handed over, officials said. The county treasurer sent a report to the sheriff, who referred the probe to the FBI. Responding to Sedgwick County officials’ written

This year, insurance officials in Mississippi and Louisiana moved to seize Barrios’ title insurance company, claiming Archon — CivicSource’s parent company — owed the insurer $1.9 million for premiums that property buyers had purchased. Officials said in court filings the money was likely embezzled or illegally misappropriated. Archon failed to remit insurance premiums for years, and the missing payments destabilized the insurance company, jeopardizing thousands of Louisiana property titles, said John Ford, a spokesperson for the Louisiana Department of Insurance. Ford said the insurance company, U.S. National, is improving its financial standing under the state’s direction in receivership, and the company has adequate reinsurance. Ford said it is common for title insurers like the U.S. National to do business with affiliates, but they are required to disclose material transactions with the affiliates to regulators. He said U.S. National failed to disclose “numerous” required transactions with Archon. Barrios said the arrangement called for U.S. National to pay a fee to CivicSource, but he did not accept it because he “suspected that our premium remissions were down.” He estimated the fee was $2 million, but said he

never took money from the insurance company. Local ofﬁcials across south Louisiana, meanwhile, were hearing from property buyers who said CivicSource made off with their money. Some said they never received titles. Carmouche said CivicSource took a $7,000 deposit he paid on a New Iberia property and ghosted him. He says he never received the property. “Are we supposed to just let people steal hardworking taxpayers’ money?” Carmouche said. “What are we doing?” Barrios said he felt “sick” at the thought of people losing money. But he blamed the problem on New Orleans. “It’s all related to the New Orleans situation,” he said.

Law enforcement scrutiny Several people who were involved in CivicSource transactions in Louisiana told The Times-Picayune | The Advocate that FBI agents contacted them over the past year with questions about the firm. Citing Justice Department policy, a spokesperson for the FBI’s New Orleans Field Office declined to answer questions about the case’s status. Barrios initially denied his company had faced criminal scrutiny. Asked about the Sedgwick County Sheriff Office’s case referral to the FBI, he acknowledged that he had heard of the FBI’s interest in his company from a former investor. Barrios later provided emails he sent to an FBI special agent in May in which he sought to explain the company’s financial struggles. Barrios said he also asked prosecutors from the local U.S. Attorney’s Office to press criminal charges against city officials for pocketing money from his company. A spokesperson for the federal prosecutor’s office declined to comment. “I had nothing to hide,” Barrios said.

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The Times-Picayune F nola.com F Monday, October 12, 2026 F 7A

ISAIAS

Curt Brown picks up debris left by Hurricane Isaias around his RV home in Milton, Fla., on Saturday.

Continued from page 1A vacation spot filled with high-rises and tourist shops. The storm then roared into Alabama with tropicalforce winds before heading farther north. In Florida’s Escambia County, Sheriff Chip Simmons said a woman was killed when a tree fell on her home and a man died of carbon monoxide fumes from a generator running in his garage. One person died when a tree fell on a house in Birmingham, said Cory Moon, the city’s fire chief. A second storm-related death in Alabama was attributed to a motor vehicle crash involving a downed tree in Barbour County, said Josh Johnson of the state’s emergency management agency. Heavy rains cause problems in North Carolina In Burke County, North Carolina, an unhoused male and female were camping when floodwaters from the Catawba River caught them off guard. They were rescued, along with their dog, according to a spokesperson for the county emergency management agency. Separately, a woman trapped inside her car in floodwaters was freed outside of Morganton. In McDowell County, North Carolina, just west of Burke County, first responders said they dealt with five landslides and voluntary evacuations overnight Saturday into Sunday as they responded to flooded roads and streams overflowing their banks. “Despite a challenging night, we are thankful to report no known injuries or loss of life. We call that a success!” the county emergency management agency posted online. Nearly a dozen local weather stations in the western North Carolina county reported torrential 24-hour rainfall totals at 9 a.m. Sunday, from about 5 inches to as much as 9.57 inches at the fire/rescue station

VOTERS

Continued from page 1A “We have concerns about measures that continually chip away at the property tax base,” said Jan Moller, CEO of Invest in Louisiana, which advocates for policies that beneﬁt low- and middle-income people. “Local governments have very few options for raising money to provide basic services,” Moller said. “They have property taxes and they have sales taxes. And property taxes are what supports public schools, parks, libraries, code enforcement, sidewalks and streetlights — a whole lot of things that make communities livable for everybody.” Louisiana has relatively low property taxes compared with other states. In 2024, Louisiana ranked 38th in property taxes paid as a percentage of the value of owner-occupied homes, with an effective tax rate of 0.55%, according to the Tax Foundation, a ﬁscally conservative, nonpartisan think tank. Here is a look at the five proposed constitutional amendments that deal with property taxes.

Millage rate adjustments Amendment 2 would

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO BY OCTAVIO JONES

“Anything that they’re willing to in Enola. The weather service said rainfall was diminishing in the area give us is helpful,” she said. While her home didn’t suffer any but that rapid river rises and flooddamage, the loss of electricity was ing remained possible. making things difficult, Haro said. Dealing with Isaias aftermath “The biggest thing is our food goHurricane-force winds in the ing bad.” Roughly 328,000 customers were Florida Panhandle blew the roof off a Pensacola hotel. The storm without power in southern Alaflattened a boathouse in Destin and bama and the Florida Panhandle, ripped away part of the facade of according to poweroutage.com. a high-rise in Panama City Beach. Sarah Gatewood, a spokesperson At a church in Pensacola where for Florida Power & Light, said the United Cajun Navy was distrib- workers from all over Florida and uting supplies Sunday morning, a from more than two dozen other line of hundreds of cars stretched states were mobilized to help rearound the block. Yvette Haro said store power. she arrived at 5 a.m. after being turned away the previous day be- Rachel brings wind, rain cause supplies had run out. Rachel became a post-tropical With a 10-year-old son and a cyclone overnight, bringing un5-year-old daughter at home, she usually big waves to Southern said it’s hard to go to stores and California, and it dissipated over wait in long lines. She was looking Las Vegas as it drenched deserts for water, paper towels, toilet paper across the Southwest. and cleaning supplies. An inch of rain fell in Las Vegas

change a rule local governments must follow to adjust property tax millages. Currently, during the term of a millage authorized by voters, if a local government decides to lower the rate and, during a four-year period, does not return to the higher voter-approved rate, the parish permanently loses its ability to levy the higher rate at a later time. Amendment 2 would get rid of that restriction and allow local governments to lower a millage and then return to the higher, voter-approved rate any time during the term of a millage. “The concept of ‘spend it today even if you don’t need it’ or lose it is exactly what’s broken about government,” said Rep. Roger Wilder, RDenham Springs, who sponsored the amendment. Property value reassessments are done at least every four years in Louisiana, and home values often increase. When that happens, local governments must first automatically reduce millages to keep property tax bills steady from year to year — but then have the option to vote for the higher property tax rate, or “roll forward” the millage. Troxler, the tax assessor, said many taxing authorities levy the highest allowable rate — not because of

a ﬁnancial need but because they don’t want to lose that option down the road. “What this amendment does is take those handcuffs off and basically say whatever voters have authorized, you could always go back to that,” Troxler said. According to a nonpartisan legislative analysis of Amendment 2, if passed, “there would no longer be a ‘use it or lose it’ incentive to increase the millage.”

More property tax freezes Amendment 9 would expand the number of homeowners who qualify for a special assessment level, more commonly understood as a property tax freeze. Currently, certain homeowners, such as seniors and disabled veterans, can have the assessed value of their home “frozen” so their property taxes don’t go up in subsequent years. To qualify for the freeze, a household income must be less than $100,000 annually. Amendment 9 would increase that income cap to $150,000, and starting in 2028, the cap would be adjusted every year, according to the Consumer Price Index. Rep. Shane Mack, R-Livingston, who sponsored the proposal, said the income threshold hasn’t been ad-

by early Sunday afternoon, leading to about 10 water rescues. Video posted on social media showed gushing water and ﬂooded streets on the Las Vegas Strip. The footage also showed partially submerged shopping carts strewn about the street and water pouring into a concrete channel. In California, waves battered a century-old wooden boardwalk on the Long Beach peninsula and forced homeowners to evacuate. The strip of multimillion-dollar oceanfront properties, along with much of the Southern California coastline, was already reeling from Hurricane Marie in September. “This area is completely shattered and vulnerable,” Jack Gordon, a Long Beach real estate agent, said. The Paciﬁc Ocean is abnormally warm, about 7 to 8 degrees F warmer than normal for this time

justed for years. He also said retirees typically have fixed incomes after a lifetime of hard work. “This reduces that property tax burden,” Mack said.

Tax breaks for seniors Amendment 6 would expand property tax breaks by offering a bigger homestead exemption to seniors who qualify for the property tax freeze, meaning their income is below the cap. Currently, the homestead exemption gives owneroccupied homes a property tax break on the ﬁrst $75,000 of the home’s fair market value. If Amendment 6 passes, qualified seniors could get a larger homestead exemption that would increase every four years. However, a city or parish would ﬁrst have to hold a vote to authorize the larger homestead exemption for seniors. With local approval, qualified homeowners aged 6568 would get a homestead exemption on $135,000 of the property’s fair market value; those aged 69-72 would get an exemption on $195,000 of fair market value; those aged 73-76 would get an exemption of $255,000; for ages 77-80 it would be $315,000; and for those 81 and older it would be $375,000.

of year, due to the El Niño weather pattern, said Joe Sirard of the National Weather Service in Oxnard, California “When we have this warm water, it actually causes the ocean to rise above the normal predicted tide levels,” Sirard said. That’s affected by Rachel’s ocean swells and wind gusts. Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson said that the storm would affect the whole city, and urged city residents to avoid the peninsula through the weekend as crews worked to clean up the area. More than half a dozen houses along the coast were declared structurally unsafe. “It is not normal that we see this type of activity, especially for our residents in the peninsula,” Richardson said Saturday. “These kind of impacts are not normal, they are unprecedented for our community.”

The goal is to give ﬁnancial relief to seniors who may be struggling to make ends meet in retirement, said state Rep. Les Farnum, R-Sulphur, the amendment sponsor. “I think it’s a very fair proposal for our seniors that have paid property tax their entire life,” he said. Farnum noted Amendment 6 does not that mandate cities and parishes offer the bigger exemption. “Each governing authority individually would have to take it up as a referendum on their own ballot to decide,” he said. “There are places that probably can’t afford to do it.”

Other property tax breaks Amendment 10 would allow local governments to offer a property tax break for rehabbing blighted properties. Rep. Chance Henry, RCrowley, the sponsor, said he wants it to spur young families, homebuyers and residential developers to invest in blighted properties and get them back into use, which would beneﬁt local tax rolls and neighborhoods. “It’s kind of reversing the broken window theory,” he said. “Hopefully if we ﬁx up one, it’ll continue to spread throughout the community.” If the amendment is ap-

proved, another law, Act 422, would then take effect that has parameters for local blighted property programs: Parishes would have to set rehab standards to qualify for the tax break, and the property tax exemption could be no more than 75% of the assessed value and be offered for no longer than 20 years. Amendment 1, a separate proposal, would extend a property tax exemption that surviving spouses of certain disabled military veterans get. If approved, the surviving spouse would be granted a one-time transfer of the exemption when moving to a new home. “Amendment No. 1 is a pro-military amendment,” said Sen. Franklin Foil, RBaton Rouge, the legislative sponsor. According to data on Amendment 1 from the Louisiana Tax Commission, in 2025 there were 229 surviving spouses who claimed the exemption, which worked out to roughly $168,000 in forgiven tax revenue across the entire state.

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Council will fund housing program

Proposed budget cuts eviction protections BY JONI HESS and BEN MYERS Staff writers

The New Orleans City Council will protect an eviction prevention program in 2027, despite a proposed budget that would eradicate its funding next year to ward off a city deﬁcit, members said Thursday as dozens of residents urged them to protect local housing programs.

As the council weighs a slew of budget cuts proposed by Mayor Helena Moreno’s administration, it plans to fund the city’s Right to Counsel program, which is codiﬁed in the city’s charter, council President JP Morrell said on the fifth day of public budget hearings. “That does not mean that it won’t be painful to figure out a way to get there, because the real-

ity is that in all likelihood, to fund the Right to Counsel, we are going to have to cut something else,” Morrell said. The program is the second the council has pledged to save after Moreno’s team proposed $77 million in cuts to rightsize the city’s 2027 $763 million operating budget. The council has also said it will retain the city’s low-barrier shelter. A ﬁnal budget proposal is

due by Dec. 1. The meeting drew speaker after speaker who stressed the importance of the program, which provides free legal counsel to New Orleans tenants facing eviction. Residents also urged the council to protect the city’s shelter. “Going through homelessness, we don’t talk enough about the mental strain that it takes on us — jumping from house to house, or like me, living in storage units, living in my car … hopping from sofa to sofa just to ﬁnd some sta-

bility as I rebuilt my life,” said Lashana Williams, who has beneﬁted from the Right to Counsel program. Under the program, attorneys negotiate with landlords and represent clients in eviction court. The program also preserves housing subsidies for tenants who can’t afford market housing rates. The city budgeted $1.3 million for the program this year, but officials announced midyear that

ä See COUNCIL, page 2B

Police drop case against WWL N.O. judge sought penalties for reports

BY JAMES FINN Staff writer

New Orleans police have closed a criminal investigation into journalists with WWL-TV, officials said, after finding no legal grounds for a local judge’s effort to press charges against the station for reporting that scrutinized her finances. The New Orleans Police Department found that the complaint from Criminal District Court Judge Kimya Holmes hinged on a state law that carries no criminal penalties, according to an Oct. 1 NOPD document obtained by The Times-Picayune. The Oct. 1 report closed the case and was first reported Tuesday by WWL. The report details how Holmes, who is running for reelection, sought to have the TV station investigated under Louisiana Revised Statute 44:11.2, which bars public dissemination of certain officials’ personal information. But an NOPD detective assigned to the case, Marcus Dubuclet, in moving to close the investigation noted that the state Legislature recently repealed the law’s criminal provisions. “There is no violation there or criminal offense,” Dubuclet wrote. In a statement provided by her campaign Wednesday, Holmes blamed WWL’s reporting for calls her office received in recent weeks filled with threats and racial epithets. Holmes’ campaign provided audio of one of the calls. “Judges across the United States have been increasingly under threat due to doxing and recent reports have resulted in my office receiving harassing phone calls and threatening messages,” Holmes said. “While the nuances of the laws protecting judges are evolving, we all understand basic human decency.” The case raised alarm from First Amendment attorneys, who called it a concerning attempt by a powerful local official to retaliate against a news outlet for reporting that may have reflected poorly on her. Holmes filed her complaint to detectives with the NOPD’s First District on Sept. 11, according to records. Two weeks earlier, WWL chief investigative reporter David Hammer published a story revealing that the judge’s former fiancé, Arthur Allen, had transferred ownership of an English Turn home worth $765,000 to Holmes while he negotiated a plea deal with federal prosecutors on financial fraud charges. At Allen’s Sept. 25 sentencing, U.S. District Judge Jay Zainey upbraided Allen, who had pleaded guilty to stealing some $712,000 in COVID-19 relief money. Saying that Allen surely knew he would have to pay restitution for his crimes, Zainey said he had

ä See JUDGE, page 2B

STAFF PHOTOS BY ENAN CHEDIAK

Mia Borders performs on the St. Charles Avenue stage during the 20th Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival at Lafayette Square in New Orleans on Sunday. The festival wrapped up three days of music and barbecue on Sunday. The free event boasted two stages of performers in Lafayette Square between St. Charles Avenue and Camp Street.

BEYOND BLUES

ABOVE: Terrance Simien and the Zydeco Experience perform on the Camp Street stage. LEFT: The crowd dances while Terrance Simien and the Zydeco Experience perform.

Jefferson Parish students voice complaints Group lists challenges faced by School Board hopefuls

the people most affected by their decisions: students like him. Most students aren’t old enough to vote, so they won’t be able to choose among the 14 candidates who will be on ballot in the Nov. 3 board election. But Romero, who is a senior at Patrick F. Taylor SciBY ELYSE CARMOSINO ence and Technology Academy in Westwego, believes that anyone Staff writer seeking to oversee Louisiana’s As Jefferson Parish School largest school district must take Board candidates make their students’ concerns seriously. “School Board members should case to voters ahead of next month’s election, Victor Romero be aware of the complaints and wants to ensure they hear from issues students have, because it is

us and our education and our future that is affected,” said Romero, president of the Student Action Movement, a Jefferson Parish student advocacy group. “We don’t want these issues affecting us, let alone future students.” In recent interviews, Jefferson Parish students raised issues they want School Board members to address, ranging from unreliable bus service and inexperienced teachers to school safety protocols. The district has taken steps to address some of these problems, such as training teach-

ers and offering incentives to attract bus drivers, but students say many of the challenges persist. On Saturday, the Student Action Movement held a forum for students to ask candidates about their plans if elected to the School Board. Only one of the 14, District 9 candidate John Cunningham, participated. Here are the changes several students say they want to see in the district.

ä See STUDENTS, page 2B

2B ✦ Monday, October 12, 2026 ✦ nola.com ✦ The Times-Picayune

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Officials: Homeschool option taking off in Acadiana say lessons Man Parents provide more individualized finds instruction body in river BY JOANNA BROWN Staff writer

BY JAMES FINN Staff writer

A fisherman found a woman’s body floating in the Tangipahoa River near Independence on Saturday, officials said, spurring an investigation by the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff ’s Office. The body was found about 1:30 p.m. near a bend in the river by the La. 40 bridge, the Sheriff’s Office said in a news release late Saturday. Firefighters pronounced the woman dead at the scene. A preliminary investigation showed the woman was homeless and had been living out of a car parked nearby, the Sheriff’s Office said. Her identity and cause of death remain under review by the Tangipahoa Parish Coroner’s Office. Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff Gerald Sticker asked anyone with information about the death to contact the Sheriff Office’s Criminal Investigations Office at (985) 902-2088. James Finn covers federal law enforcement and courts for The Times-Picayune | The Advocate. Email him at jfinn@theadvocate. com.

COUNCIL

Continued from page 1B the program had only received around 44% of that amount, leaving the council scrambling to find the remaining $750,000 needed. The council agreed in August to fund the program through the end of 2026 using $1 million New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity returned to the city after city officials said the nonprofit didn’t spend the grant quickly enough. It’s unclear what other services

When Lafayette parent Michelle Matt ﬁrst started homeschooling, it was because she knew her oldest son needed something more than he was getting during the regular school year. It began as summer school, with lessons and activities to keep a boy who loved to learn engaged when school was out. Her son remained enrolled in public school through graduation and is now a computer engineering freshman at Auburn University. But the practice of working at home and helping her children follow their passions remained a cornerstone of the family’s life. Her two youngest children are now in fourth and ﬁfth grades and have been homeschooled from the start. Their days include a mix of at-home schoolwork, lessons at a local microschool and extracurricular activities such as martial arts and ballet. Fifth grader Noah will perform as a Party Boy in this season’s production of “The Nutcracker” by Lafayette Ballet Theatre. “That is something that, as a public school kid, other boys his age might be like, ‘That’s not cool.’ His homeschool friends are like, ‘That’s awesome,’ ” Matt said. “He thinks it’s great, and he’s really proud. They grow up in an environment that encourages them to do what they like and what brings them joy, and they’re not as worried about peer pressure. “The beauty of homeschooling is

the city would cut in order to fund the program in 2027. But council member Aimee McCarron suggested Thursday that an increase in short-term rental fees could help fund it long term. Administration ofﬁcials say they want to increase nightly short-term rental fees and permit fees, which could generate a combined $7 million in revenue. “We are going to work really hard behind the scenes to protect it,” she said. Chief Administrative Officer Joe Giarrusso also said Thursday that an additional $3 mil-

you can tailor it the way you want to, and you can follow the child’s interests.” Last week, the Matts brought their schoolbooks to Moncus Park to enjoy the start of fall weather. Noah read a few pages while his sister Elaina hunted for science facts. They were practicing writing by ﬁnding 10 facts they didn’t already know and expressing them in complete sentences. “It hasn’t always been a super easy road. There’s been times where I’m like, ‘I don’t know if this is working,’ ” Matt said. “We’ve had to reset or readjust, but we did. That’s one thing I wish homeschooling parents knew in the beginning — you don’t have to do it perfectly. You can change and adjust as you go, and life will change and adjust it for you.” Homeschooling has continued to grow in Louisiana, one of the few states where the number of homeschoolers has increased continuously since rates peaked nationally during the pandemic, according to research from the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy. During the 2024-25 school year, about 50,000 Louisiana students were homeschooled through one of two pathways: Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education-approved home study, which allows students to remain eligible for the Taylor Opportunity Program for Students scholarship and participate in athletics at local schools, or registration as a homebased private school not seeking state approval, which offers more ﬂexibility and has no state testing requirements. If homeschoolers were their own school district, it would be one of the largest in the state, said Christopher Chin, president of Homeschool Louisiana. The homeschooling population

across Acadiana totaled about 8,000 students during the 2024-25 school year, with Lafayette Parish accounting for more than 2,000. Louisiana Department of Education data include both BESEapproved home study students and students registered in private schools not seeking state approval. Chin and his wife have homeschooled in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina disrupted the school system in 2005. He said he has seen a shift in why families choose homeschooling. What was once largely an ideological or family-based decision is now often a response to problems parents see in traditional schools. “Maybe it’s bullying or violence in schools, or families after COVID seeing the curtain pulled back. Like, wait, what are my kids learning? This is one I’ve heard — ‘My child was a B student, and when I got him at home, he couldn’t read,’ ” Chin said. “It was conventional wisdom after COVID that everyone was going to go back, and I knew that wasn’t going to be the case. Once people got a taste of it, they realized it’s not that hard. It’s not that difficult to do. With all the resources out there, we can get this done at a fraction of the cost.” Families can find curricula online, resources to help identify their children’s learning styles and extracurricular activities designed for homeschoolers. In Lafayette, Matt created The Workable Homeschool website after fielding repeated questions from families about where to start. She and her husband, Chad, are also developing a homeschool program at San Yama Ryu Martial Arts Academy, where he is a sensei. Homeschooling does not always mean learning exclusively at home. Chin noted the growing popularity of microschools, learning

lion will be added to Moreno’s budget proposal, since the initial proposal mistakenly excluded revenue from the Wisner Trust. Giarrusso said his office discovered the oversight after researching the potential impact of a state Supreme Court decision on Tuesday effectively giving the city control of all revenue from donated oilﬁeld land, in addition to the 60% portion it is already receiving. The decision could eventually lead to another couple million dollars added next year, after

the Wisner heirs exhaust all legal options, but the $3 million discovered this week is money the city is already entitled to and can be added now, Giarrusso said. “We know the public wants us to look for every source available to ﬁnd money,” Giarrusso said. The newfound revenue should allow for a bit of breathing room as the administration and council figure out how to close the deficit, although Giarrusso said there haven’t been any decisions about how to spend it.

STUDENTS

Continued from page 1B Late and canceled buses have plagued the district for years, causing students to miss class time. District officials attribute the disruptions to a bus driver shortage, which they say they’re taking steps to address. Chris Bradstreet, a senior at Harvey’s West Jefferson High School, said several of his friends have missed multiple days of school this year because their bus didn’t show up. “It’s important for kids to be in class, but the lack of buses and transportation for kids to get there is impacting that,” he said. “If you watch School Board meetings, they talk a lot about how they’re working on it, or there are some things out of their control. I feel like they should be more transparent about letting us know exactly what’s happening, why a bus is missing.” Chris Houston, also a senior at West Jefferson, said he has missed two school days this semester due to no-show buses. Even on days when the bus does STAFF PHOTO BY ENAN CHEDIAK arrive, “it’s never a set time,” he Victor Romero, center, speaks on a panel at a student town hall meeting in New Orleans on Saturday. said. “I had to walk home a couple of days because the bus didn’t reduce teacher vacancies, includ- need. come after school.” sures on campus. Ace Christiansen, a junior at Jefferson Parish schools reing through a paid apprenticeship Better instructional quality program for aspiring educators. Patrick Taylor who uses the pro- quires students in grades four Multiple students expressed con- The efforts seem to have helped: noun “they,” said they and their to 12 to use clear backpacks, cern that frequent teacher turn- The district had 70 unfilled teach- brother have Individualized Edu- which security guards inspect over and inexperienced educators ing positions last year, down from cation Programs, which spell out when students arrive each mornare impacting the quality of educa- 209 during the 2022-23 school year. the special education services ing. Officials say the precautions But Sadeel Abed, a senior at West they’re entitled to under federal prevent students from bringing tion they receive. “Teachers are always coming Jefferson High School, said some law. Last school year, the family weapons or other contraband to and going, and it’s a lot of younger teachers continue to leave for oth- had to continuously follow up with school. people who have just finished get- er districts that offer higher pay. the district to ensure the services But Romero said the bag checks ting their teaching degrees,” said Her school doesn’t have enough were actually provided, Christian- create long lines at the building entrance, which sometimes cause Sebastian DeFraites, a senior at teachers to cover every core sub- sen said. Patrick Taylor. “Our grades are ject, she said, forcing some stu“Our whole family suffered him and his classmates to be late suffering because of that. We’re dents to take those courses online. from it,” they said. “I’ve had to to class. “I feel like the searches are just getting people who aren’t super “When it comes to online classes, fight for accommodations since I experienced in what they’re do- those grades probably aren’t going was a small child, which is not fair another arbitrary way of controling, and it’s (causing) more of a to be as good,” Abed said. Students to me. I’m lucky that my parents ling students,” he said. “By the end disconnect between us and them. “aren’t going to focus as well as were able to help me advocate for of arrival period, (the line) starts I feel like they don’t have all the they would with an actual teacher myself, but there are people who getting really, really long. It’s remaybe aren’t as lucky.” resources or experience they need in class.” ally annoying for students” trying to be better teachers, and we can’t to get to class. Less invasive security really fill in those gaps ourselves More accommodations as students.” Some students say it can be a Students also said they want to Email Elyse Carmosino at District leaders have worked to challenge to get the services they see less invasive security mea- ecarmosino@theadvocate.com.

pods, programs such as Classical Conversations and other parentled educational structures as key parts of the state’s homeschooling community. Twice a week, the Matt children supplement their home-based schooling with lessons at Little Learning Village, an Acadiana microschool run by educator Natalie Chustz. Chustz and her team of former and retired public schoolteachers provide individualized instruction to homeschool students. She said much of the program’s growth has come from families trying homeschooling for the ﬁrst time, particularly those whose children struggled in other educational settings. “It started with helping one family, and it just evolved through word-of-mouth,” said Chustz, who started Little Learning Village in April after leaving her position at a charter school. The program works with children with dyslexia, ADHD and other learning differences. Chustz said small-group settings allow teachers to provide more individualized attention than may be possible in a traditional classroom. Chustz also said declining teacher morale helped prompt her departure from the traditional school system. “I’ve been a teacher for 14 years, and the school systems are just going down as far as teacher morale,” she said. Her colleague Karen Langland, a retired teacher from Pointe Coupee Parish, said working with homeschool families helped reignite her love of teaching. “After 20 years of teaching, I’ve seen it all, done it all,” she said. “I love my community. I love my district. I love educating children and building strong community bonds”

POLICE

Continued from page 1B been prepared to give Allen a punishment beneath the federal sentencing guidelines. But Hammer’s story, the judge said, left him feeling “duped.” Zainey sentenced Allen to two years in federal prison. Hammer’s Aug. 24 video report contained a small image of a document involved in the property transfer that contained the address of the home Allen had transferred to Holmes. It also showed the license plate of a Corvette leased by Allen that was parked in the courthouse garage. The station said Hammer obtained the second photo from an unnamed source. Criminal District Court Judicial Administrator Rob Kazik wrote to WWL on Sept. 10 on Holmes’ behalf demanding the station remove that material and reveal its conﬁdential sources. The letter contained a copy of Revised Statute 44:11.2, the law Holmes would later invoke in asking police to investigate the station. WWL said it removed the images from its online report within 24 hours and republished them with the license plate number and home address blurred over, but that it declined to reveal its sources. The next day, Holmes ﬁled her report with the First District. She told Dubuclet that she received threatening phone calls after the story aired, adding that she felt “unsafe not only for herself but for those around her,” according to the Oct. 1 report closing the case. After WWL’s lawyers told Dubuclet about the criminal penalties being repealed, the detective relayed that information to the judge. Holmes replied that she was unaware of the change in the law but “if it’s true, then she (acknowledged she) does not have any grounds for a criminal complaint,” the Oct. 1 NOPD report states. Holmes has not disputed the accuracy of WWL’s reporting.

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always checking in, and, as any mother of three sons might, finding something to worry about. No matter how old they became, she never stopped being their mom.

New Orleans Area Deaths Goldfarb, Ann

Obituaries Goldfarb, Ann

Ann Berenson Goldfarb passed away on Thursday, October 8, 2026, at the age of 72. Her passing came far too soon, with so much life still to enjoy, so many plans yet to be made, and so much love left to give. She leaves behind family and countless friends who will miss her warmth, generosity, and unwavering devotion to those she loved. Born in Chicago to Joan and Dr. Gerald Berenson, Ann grew up in New Orleans, where she attended Isidore Newman School before graduating from the University of Texas. She was a devoted daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother, and friend, always putting the people she loved first. Ann met the love of her life, Richard "Ricky" Goldfarb, when family friends arranged a date while she was working as a nurse and he was attending medical school. Their introduction grew into a marriage of 47 years and a lifetime of love and companionship. The two were inseparable, sharing a long hug every morning before Ricky left for work and again when he returned home. Ann kept their lives organized, always making plans and making sure everyone was where they needed to be. Together, they raised three sons, David, Stephen, and Andrew, who were the pride and joy of her life. Ann managed the endless carpools, practices, tutors, and activities while maintaining countless friendships of her own. She was

For Ann, caring for people often meant feeding them. Her mother-in-law, Shirley Goldfarb, taught her the art of cooking, and Ann embraced it wholeheartedly. Often in the kitchen before 5 a.m., she was constantly perfecting recipes and preparing meals for family and friends. Family dinners were a priority, and she made sure everyone found their way to the table each evening. She also loved giving thoughtful little gifts, letting people know they were on her mind. Her famous mandel bread became her calling card, a must-have tradition that Ann would even pack in her suitcase for family trips, weddings, bar mitzvahs or simply because someone loved it. Ann had a remarkable ability to turn acquaintances into lifelong friends. The parents she met through her sons' childhood activities became extended family, and decades after the carpools ended, she still enjoyed regular lunches with those same groups. Taking after her father, Ann was always active and possessed a competitive streak. She played league tennis while raising her boys, later developed a love for golf, and more recently brought that same enthusiasm to her weekly mahjong games. Whatever the activity, she treasured the friendships that came with it.

ergy and devotion she brought to raising her boys, picking up grandchildren from carpool with snacks and a smile, baking treats together, and rarely sending anyone home empty-handed. Above all, Ann will be remembered for the thoughtful ways she cared for others. Whether through a phone call, a carefully chosen gift, a homemade treat, or simply showing up when someone needed her, she made people feel seen and loved. She spent her life looking after others and bringing people together, leaving her family and friends with a lifetime of love to carry forward.

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Ann is survived by her beloved husband, Ricky Goldfarb; her sons, David (Ann), Stephen (Megan), and Andrew; her six grandsons; her brother, Leslie Berenson, and sister, Laurie Maas; and many extended family members and dear friends. She was preceded in death by her parents, Joan and Dr. Gerald Berenson, and her brother, Robert "Bobby" Berenson. A funeral service will be held on Sunday, October 11, 2026, at 1:00 pm in The Kagan-Rudy Chapel at Emanu El Memorial Park, 8341 Bissonnet Street, Houston, Texas 77074. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Ann's memory to Congregation Emanu El (https://www.em anuelhouston.org/give/), Seven Acres (https://www. sevenacres.org/donate/) or the charity of your choice.

Ann remained deeply connected to her family in New Orleans, speaking with her parents daily and visiting often, first with her sons and later, on her own to be with her parents. She shared a close bond with her sister Laurie Maas and a treasured friendship with her sister-in-law Janice Crossland, with whom she enjoyed traveling. One of Ann's greatest joys was becoming "Nonnie" to her six grandsons: Max, Will, Gus, Bobby, Charlie, and Sam. She embraced grandmotherhood with the same en-

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YOUR VIEWS N O L A.C O M/opinions

Let’s elect a Congress that will tackle complex problems

Remembering attack on Israel and honoring allies

All elections are important. When we cast our votes, our voices are counted. Our votes say that the candidates we choose are the ones we believe will most likely take America in the direction of our hopes. I am both alarmed and deeply saddened by our current direction. What are you seeing? I see an arrogant America, focused on money, power and acquisition. I see an America that has suggested ending the Russian war against Ukraine by having Ukraine give some of its territory to the Russian invader. I see inhumanity in the actions of ICE. I see citizens struggling economically due to tariffs, the Iran war and the $40 trillion debt, while being offered $5,000 if the GOP takes Congress. These payments would purportedly come from tariff funds. Ironically, the tariffs are inﬂationary and part of the economic problem. I have seen more than this. I hear AI developers urgently pleading for a slowdown due to AI rogue activity, while the administration advocates full steam ahead because America must be ﬁrst for national security reasons and because there is so much money invested in this tech-heavy stock market. Which is more dangerous to our national security: an uncontrolled AI or being second? And what if the dangerous predictions occur? What would the stocks be worth then? Unknowns require caution and wisdom. President Trump’s congressional candidates will do as President Trump directs. Their votes since 2025 tell the tale. Let’s elect a Congress that will work to solve our many complex problems. In 2003, David Sipress, a New Yorker cartoonist, wrote: “You say it’s win-win, but what if you’re wrong-wrong and it all goes badbad?” Indeed.

On Oct. 7, 2023, I was at Disney World with my family when I awoke to messages that Hamas terrorists had attacked Israel. One year earlier, during my 27th trip to Israel, I visited Kfar Aza, a kibbutz that was brutally attacked. Were the people I met still alive? What about the therapy animals that comforted traumatized residents on the Gaza border? Three years later, the fear and uncertainty from that day have not passed. Yechiel Leiter, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, poignantly noted that Oct. 7 was “cultivated in an ideology that believes killing Jews is admirable and that there is no place for an Israel, any Israel.” As the recent thwarted FlyDubai terrorist attack and the alarming rise of global antisemitism grimly illustrates, that hatred threatens Jewish communities everywhere. In every generation, our allies have played a critical role. Today is no different. The Oct. 7 attack fell on Simchat Torah, one of Judaism’s most joyous holidays. Each year, we complete the annual cycle of Torah reading. We return to the beginning carrying forward the values and responsibilities entrusted to us by previous generations. We have a responsibility to remember those murdered Oct. 7 and to speak boldly whenever Jewish lives are threatened. We must also teach the next generation that Judaism means more than simply surviving whoever hates us today. It means building community, pursuing justice and choosing, relentlessly, to bring light to a dark world. To those who’ve stood with the Jewish people these past three years: We see you. We thank you. We hope you’ll continue standing with us. Oct. 7 was intended to be an ending. Instead, let us together make it the beginning of a brighter future for all.

ANN GONZALES Baton Rouge

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published identifying name and the writer’s city of residence. The Advocate | The Times-Picayune require a street address and TO SEND US A LETTER, phone number SCAN HERE 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.

STAFF PHOTO BY SOPHIA GERMER

Starship is launched from Starbase, Texas, on Sept. 28.

Say farewell to quiet moments, clean waterways Kids ﬁshing with Dad quickly learn not to throw sticks in the water or drop pliers in an aluminum boat. Calling ducks, we are careful not to overcall, make the wrong sounds or make big movements. Whoa! What was that?! It sounded like a rocket taking off! Oh, wait ... it was a rocket taking off! SpaceX might blast off as many as 30 rockets a day ... but surely not during the nesting seasons of pelicans, eagles or cranes, right? I’m sure they would not launch during duck hunting season in the fall, right? Oh, well, Gueydan used to be the duck capital of America. Toxic components of rocket fuel to be stored near our bayous include hydrazine, perchlorate and nitrogen tetroxide. These are nasty poisons to put into plankton, minnows, shrimp, oysters, crabs, black drum, ﬂounders, specks, reds and our chil-

dren. When SpaceX was first pitched to Louisiana, did our officials lack the common sense to Google “rocket fuel toxicity”? It is even more troubling to think they actually did look into it, got the horrifying answers about threats to our coastal environments and people ... and just went ahead with it anyway. Why would Louisiana government officials sign nondisclosure agreements at the expense of our natural resources and traditional way of life? Was it greed for money to be slipped to them now, or just promised for future campaigns? Such a callous, corrupt betrayal was once called a sellout. Judas had his price, selling out Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. We can’t begin to imagine how many pieces of silver might be dangled by the richest man in the world.

E.C. BRITTON Baton Rouge

Becomimg ‘legal’ is not that simple Your paper’s recent editorial about Vilma Palacios rightly focuses attention on the human, often tragic, consequences of our ﬂawed immigration system (“What La. loses with indiscriminate immigration crackdown,” Oct. 7). However, it leaves an important question unanswered: What are young immigrants and their families supposed to do in order to obtain lawful status? A child who arrives in the United States at age 6 does not acquire legal status by living here, graduating from secondary school and college or building a successful career. Current immigration laws have various avenues to legal status — asylum application, humanitarian and family-based protections — but each has very complicated eligibility requirements, deadlines and arcane procedural rules; some of these avenues depend on actions taken while a child is still a minor. Families such as Vilma’s need information and guidance long before an immigration crisis occurs. I felt compelled to comment on this because several of my friends and family members re-

sponded to your article by asking “Why didn’t she and her family just follow the law and become legal?” Which brings me to my main point: Rather that focusing mostly on those governmental agencies that ultimately carry out removals (guaranteed to inﬂame the minds of your readers) please have one of your able associates write a piece that helps your followers understand the convoluted process that, unfortunately, leads many like Vilma to simply despair and take their chances. What applications should families consider? What deadlines matter? What protections are available to immigrant minors? Most relevant, where can families obtain competent and affordable assistance in navigating our nation’s regrettable morass of immigration laws? Vilma’s story should prompt not only compassion but also education and practical solutions. Please help educate those, like Vilma, on how to stay in the place they call home.

SHERRI TARR CEO, Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans Metairie

CHARLES RIVET River Ridge

New online platform streamlines foster families’ path For many years, Louisiana families who stepped forward to become kinship or foster caregivers have faced a certification process that could be confusing, time-consuming and difficult to navigate. The commitment these families make is enormous, yet their first step to becoming a caregiver has not always been clear or accessible. Louisiana is leading the way in changing that with the launch of HomeReady, an online platform that simplifies and strengthens how families begin their caregiver journey. Families will now be able to complete applications, access required training, submit documents and track their progress in one place. This change becomes even more important when we look at the goals of A Home for Every Child, our statewide effort to expand

family-based care and reduce reliance on congregate settings. This means making sure families are supported from the moment they choose to help. HomeReady does not solve every challenge in our foster care system, but it addresses one of the ﬁrst barriers families encounter and allows caregivers to move forward with conﬁdence. Louisiana’s children deserve the chance to grow up in families who are prepared, supported and equipped to meet their needs. HomeReady is one step toward building the statewide network of caregivers our children rely on.

STAFF FILE PHOTO

An evening of remembrance was held at the Jefferson Performing Arts Center in 2024, commemorating the Oct. 7 attacks in 2023.

REBECCA HARRIS secretary, Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services Baton Rouge

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COMMENTARY If Pete Hegseth wants to strip the military of weirdos, he should resign Where did this guy come from? How did a TV personality end up leading America’s defense department, especially in a time of war? Donald Trump put Pete Hegseth in charge of the Department of Defense. It’s now ofﬁcially called the War Department, but I’m not ready to go there. In one of his stranger announcements, Hegseth vowed to rid the U.S. military of “weirdos” and “beardos.” Sure enough, Hegseth does not have a beard, unlike the “beardo” Ulysses S. Grant or his Confederate opponent, Robert E. Lee. Froma As for the weirdo part, Harrop well ... Jury’s out for Hegseth. Take a look at his gelled hairdo with the Cruella de Vil white streak. Or his insistence in creating a cinematically pleasing military. And for all his talk of manliness, here’s a military leader who brought his wife to high-level intelligence briefings. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said it was “not normal at all” for spouses to sit in such meetings. “Not normal at all” is a polite way of saying “weird.” It should be noted that Hegseth is not the weirdest member of Trump’s Cabinet. That distinction goes to Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “Bobby” was busy peddling suspicion of vaccines while holding a stake in lawsuits against the companies that make them. The truly weird stuff — dropping a dead bear cub in Central Park, talking about the worm in his brain — you already know. Hegseth’s weirdo speech was mocked by conservative and liberal media alike. The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board was gentler about it. While approving some of Hegseth’s proposals, it condemned his strange attacks as “gratuitous potshots” that could make military recruiting harder. One can agree with some Hegseth initiatives, for example, removing DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) practices from the department, though he overstated how widespread they were. DEI has reportedly played no role in

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during a briefing at the Pentagon in Washington. warﬁghting decisions. But Hegseth went about it in a way that seemed designed to humiliate women and men of color serving their country, and without explanation. He made a show of removing four Army colonels, two Black males and two females from a list of ofﬁcers slated for promotion to brigadier general. This was despite objections from then-Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll, an Iraq War veteran who led a cavalry platoon in Baghdad. In fairness, we must mention that Hegseth was also a combat veteran, with two Bronze Stars. But that’s all the more reason not to turn the Defense Department into an elimination-style TV game show. Hegseth has called for speeding development of robotics and autonomous systems, which is necessary. But has he ever looked at the beardos, weirdos and, in his word, “fatties” working in these kinds of labs? We must concede that the world would be a safer place if Iran did not have nuclear weapons. Also, that the

U.S. military, despite its current secretary, has performed well in battle. But our soldiers — and civilians — deserve better than a made-for-TV secretary of defense appointed by a made-for-TV president. Recall how tough-talker Trump avoided the Vietnam War draft through five deferments, four for school and one medical. The medical one was allegedly for bone spurs in his heel, although he had been a star high school athlete. He couldn’t remember which heel. The “War Department” TV ads, narrated by Cadet Bone Spurs himself, portray a fighting force of Tom Cruises. The ad ends with a shot of an American eagle flying to a stop at the center of a dark screen with the words WAR.GOV below. Very Marvel Comics. Is the former Department of Defense now run by the Avengers? Follow Froma Harrop on X, @FromaHarrop. Email her at fharrop@gmail. com.

Bring on the midterm GOP carnage. But spare these two Senate candidates. not” standard. Read her statement and Few who have ever lived could have marvel at its sobriety about the Senhad inscribed on their gravestones epitaphs as stirring as Thomas Jefate’s “advice and consent” duty. This is vanishingly rare among incumbent ferson’s: “Author of the Declaration of senators of both parties. American Independence, of the When judging Republican Statute of Virginia for Religious incumbents who have enabled Freedom, and father of the Trump’s rampancy, and RepubliUniversity of Virginia.” All but a few Americans currently livcan candidates eager to further abet it, voters should remember: ing can, however, inscribe this: If there is no penalty for traves“At least I was not a Republican George ties, travesties will proliferate. member of Congress during Will Donald Trump’s presidencies.” The president’s aching neediIt is sensible to hope that on ness explains his lengthening Nov. 3 most of the Republican Party list of legally dubious, and unhinged, will be smashed to atoms. It is now a acts of self-celebration. Such as, taxtrembling and embarrassed, because payer-financed ads praising him. And frightened, emanation of one man. his proposed Arc de Trump that will Justice, of a rough sort, but still jusdouble as a sniper’s nest. Voters should ask: If there were tice, will be done if the undertow of his only enough Republicans in Congress unpopularity drowns many who have tried to buy political longevity through to sustain a presidential veto, would anything, including the president’s beobedience to him. Vast Republican carnage should not havior, be any different? There will be be entirely indiscriminate. Two Repub- enough in 2027. Beyond this number, any surplus of congressional Republilicans especially deserve to win their Senate contests. cans is superfluous. If Mike Rogers, former seven-term The electorate generally and particucongressman and chair of the House lar constituencies are unhappy about Intelligence Committee, is not Michithe promised four-week war with Iran gan’s next senator, Abdul El-Sayed will now in its eighth month. And about be. The Democrat is comfortable in the high gasoline prices. And about high company of antisemites and Holocaust diesel and fertilizer costs for farmers. And about another war of choice, deniers. Trump’s trade war, which has resulted If Sen. Susan Collins loses in Maine, in agriculture exports to China plumthis will be partly because she did something admirable and senatorial. meting from $38.1 billion in 2022 to Standing against manufactured hys$8.4 billion in 2025. And about deportateria, she voted to confirm Brett M. tions and immigration restrictions that Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. In have disrupted industries from con4,192 words spoken on the Senate floor, struction to meatpacking. And about she examined his extensive judicial re- much else. Congressional Republicans can truthcord and the sexual assault allegations against him. fully, if humiliatingly, say: Don’t blame Demonstrating the complete lack of us. We have nothing to do with the nacorroborating evidence, she concluded tion’s governance. that the allegations could not meet Other than by passively ratifying, even the minimal “more likely than through acquiescence, the exercise

of powers that Congress has often improvidently and sometimes unconstitutionally delegated to the president. Perhaps congressional Republicans harbor ineffectual resentments of their irrelevance regarding foreign and domestic policies, his vandalism of the White House, and much else. This irrelevance is, however, a sufﬁcient reason for retiring them. Voters should say to many Republican incumbents what Oliver Cromwell said in 1653 to England’s Long Parliament: “You have sat here too long for any good you have been doing … Depart, I say, and let us have done with you.” If Republicans lose not only their House majority, but Senate seats they currently hold in Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio and Texas, they might begin to wonder: Could we be doing something wrong? Such a resort to thinking is necessary to begin restoring legislative checks on the executive. And it is necessary if America is ever again going to have a conservative political party. At last month’s Dallas “convention,” a video told the Republican congregation this: “On June 14, 1946, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, ‘I need a caretaker.’” So, “God gave us Trump.” God’s caretaker constantly gives us an illuminating contrast with President John F. Kennedy, whose name on Washington’s performing arts center stirs Trump’s envy. Kennedy, when praised for his heroic leadership of his crew adrift in South Paciﬁc waters after combat, was laconic: “It was involuntary. They sank my boat.” People who prefer Trump’s manner, and people who do not, know how to vote.

Are GOP doomers overreacting? This has been the week that a deep sense of pessimism about the upcoming midterm elections set in among Republicans around the country. Not just the political class of consultants and others intimately involved in campaigns — they have been pessimistic for a while, although their sense of foreboding seemed to rise to a higher level in recent days — but also among those who follow the news closely but don’t get down into the weeds of the race for control of the House and Senate. They were rattled by headlines like this, from the Cook Political Report: “GOP on Track to Lose House Majority as 15 Race Ratings Shift Toward Dems.” They were unnerved by troubling assessments from conservative commentators. A lot of the elevated sense of pessimism is related to President Donald Trump’s job approval Byron rating. It seems that every few York days there is a new poll showing Trump’s number sinking a bit lower; the most recent was a Wall Street Journal survey that pegged the president’s job approval at 37%. The RCP average is 38.7%, which is terrible for a president leading his party into midterm elections. Nevertheless, there is also a sense among some political practioners that there is too much wailing and garment-rending over the current situation. Yes, Republicans are very likely going to lose, but maybe not by the blue wave, or even blue tsunami, that some are talking about. Optimists point to the 2022 midterms, when it was Republicans who were in the lead, with some expecting a red wave. When the election came, Republicans won, but by a far smaller margin that the GOP leaders had thought. Now, maybe Democrats, while leading, aren’t quite as far ahead as they think. “Many Republicans are believing/hoping in this idea, that it will be bad, but not real bad,” said one GOP politico. “It’s possible but not likely. Narrowly losing the House and holding on to the Senate is the best scenario. Losing both is a distinct possibility.” Another conceded that there might be “a bloodbath nationally,” but urged Republican incumbents to stay away from whatever the hairon-fire issue of the day is in Washington. “Stop using D.C.-based messages,” he recommended, instead urging a focus on “local, local and more local.” The first politico pointed to one particularly acute problem: “One thing that is consistently true in EVERY survey is the independents are against us,” he said. In an email exchange, David Winston, a longtime Republican strategist and pollster, said much the same thing. “The reason we didn’t have a red wave in 2022 is that Republicans ran a base election,” Winston explained. “That netted Republicans the best Party ID advantage in the history of exit polling, but unfortunately Republicans lost independents by 2 points — the key voter group in competitive races.” Winston pointed out that in 2010, the Republican blowout that netted the party 63 seats, the GOP won independent voters by 19 points. “In 2010, Republicans won 242 House seats, and in 2022 Republicans won 222 seats — a difference of 20, about the same difference in the margin among independents,” Winston said. Now, Winston concluded, the question is where do independents go? “They are a centerright group, but currently 44% of them have an unfavorable view of both parties, and their top issues are economic-related by a very wide margin. “ The voters’ negative views of both parties and their high anxiety about the economy, Winston added, make the electorate particularly volatile this time around. So what does this add up to? If the situation is as volatile as Winston suggests, that means it could improve a bit for Republicans (although it could also get worse). Perhaps the 2022 losebut-not-as-bad-as-expected scenario is not only possible but likely. But of course, that’s still losing. The problem for Republicans who want to be optimistic is that the best-informed people running many races are simply not optimistic, although they are plugging away in the hope that things will improve. So are GOP doomers overreacting? In a situation where optimists believe the party will lose, but not by a lot, and pessimists believe it will lose in a landslide, it’s not unreasonable to say they’re all doomers of one stripe or another. Of course party leaders would prefer to lose by a little rather than a lot, if those were the only two choices. But winning? It’s hard to find a seriously involved Republican who thinks that’s going to happen. Byron York is on X, @Byron York. Email him at byronyork@yorkcomm.com.

Email George Will at georgewill@washpost.com.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ARE WELCOME. HERE ARE OUR GUIDELINES: Letters are published identifying name, occupation and/or title and the

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

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with meteorologist Damon Singleton

TODAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

Sunny

A t-storm around in the p.m.

Mostly sunny

Sunshine and warm

Mostly sunny and warm

Sunny; breezy, not as warm

HIGH

LOW

89° 67°

LOW

89° 66°

LOW

89° 69°

Beaumont 89/77 Port Arthur 87/79

Baton Rouge 93/65

Lake Charles 90/73

New Orleans 89/67 Houma 89/62

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

Hattiesburg 94/60

Alexandria 93/68

Lafayette 91/69

10s

20s

30s

40s

50s

HIGH

88° 68°

LOW

79° 63°

60s

70s

80s

90s 100s 110s

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

YESTERDAY

Sunrise today Sunset tonight Moonrise today Moonset today

OCT 18

City

Atlanta Austin Boston Charlotte Chicago Dallas Denver Houston Las Vegas

PRECIPITATION

86°/65° 82°/66° 84°/71° 91° in 1980 45° in 1976

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

FIRST

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

LOW

TEMPERATURE Jackson 94/60

Many 93/70

HIGH

New Orleans through 5 p.m. Sunday

Longview 91/74

-0s

88° 73°

Monroe 96/65

Shreveport 92/72

-10s

LOW

Well, if you enjoyed the weather yesterday, you’re gonna love it again today. Expect a mostly sunny and hot day with a light breeze. Temperatures this afternoon will be well above average, rising to the upper 80s to low 90s. Our temperatures will likely stay that high until a cold front moves through late this week. The air is still relatively dry, so humidity remains pretty low. Our rain chances today remain at zero, and they’ll stay that way for most of this week.

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

HIGH

8:50a 2:57a 3:52a 4:51a 10:56p 10:18p ---

7:01 a.m. 6:34 p.m. 8:56 a.m. 7:34 p.m.

FULL

LAST

OCT 25

85 90 68 81 85 88 81 90 72

TODAY Lo

62 77 54 54 70 76 45 77 56

NEW

NOV 1

s t pc pc pc s s t t

NOV 9

89 93 64 85 82 91 68 92 69

TUE. Lo

64 77 60 59 63 77 45 77 55

s t c s c t t t pc

FT.

LOW

0.00” 2.44” 1.24” 53.95” 52.20”

FT.

0.8 8:05p 0.2 2.0 12:25p 0.5 2.1 9:45a 0.4 1.5 1:52a 1.5 1.5 9:15a 0.3 2.0 7:31a 0.4 --- 10:17a 0.4

HIGH

FT.

MODERATE

READING 61 MAIN POLLUTANT Ozone

MAIN POLLUTANT Ozone

SOURCE: LOUISIANA DEQ AND AIRNOW.GOV

LOW

FT.

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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

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OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE NEW ORLEANS SAINTS

SPORTS N O L A.C O M

S u n d ay, O C T O B E R 12, 2026

VIKINGS

SAINTS

1C 1an

NO ANSWERS RECORD: 1-4 UP NEXT: AT GIANTS, NOON SUNDAY, FOX

STAFF PHOTO BY DAVID GRUNFELD

Saints quarterback Tyler Shough is pressured by Minnesota Vikings linebacker Eric Wilson during the first half on Sunday at the Caesars Superdome. The Saints lost 23-13, dropping their third consecutive game of the season.

Brees echoes concerns around Saints, Moore in loss to Minnesota

After another sickening loss, Moore must find cure for ailing Saints

BY MATTHEW PARAS

All that good equity Moore built That sick feeling the New Orleans up at the end of last season is slipSaints and their fans left Caesars Superdome with Sunday is far worse ping away. than the bug that kept defensive lineFor the third time in 14 days, an opposing team came into the Caemen Nathan Shepherd and Vernon Broughton from dressing out. sars Superdome and handled their At least Shepherd and Broughton, business against the Saints. both inactive because of an The latest one came Sunday, illness, likely will bounce a 23-13 clunker to the Minneback and be good to go next sota Vikings. week. By the time this one was As for whatever is ailing over, a noisy multitude of the Saints, who knows if or fans clad in purple had taken when they will bounce back. over the building, their Skol Rod There just doesn’t seem to claps just as loud as those Walker “ATL” chants from Atlanta be a cure for it all. And if there is one, secondFalcons’ fans six days earlier. year coach Kellen Moore surely Or those “Raiders” chants hasn’t discovered it yet. two weeks ago. The longer it takes for him to All that optimism the Saints gave ﬁgure it out, the more these losses their fans after going on the road will pile up. And the more the losses and stunning the Baltimore Ravens pile up, the more Mickey Loomis in Week 2 is gone. If Moore doesn’t and company will have to ask themﬁgure things out quickly, this entire selves if Moore is the guy to get this ä See WALKER, page 5C team pointed in the right direction.

Staff writer

As he was inducted into the New Orleans Saints Ring of Honor at halftime, Drew Brees sounded genuinely proud. The Hall of Fame quarterback, a beam of light reﬂecting off his gold jacket, told the crowd he loved them — and that he would always represent New Orleans. An hour or so later, Brees sounded genuinely critical. This time in the broadcast booth, calling the Saints’ 23-13 loss to the Minnesota Vikings, Brees was back in his role as a color commentator for Fox. And technically, the former Saints great was just doing his job. But here, a part of him was still representing New Orleans. Brees’ comments reflected the growing conversation around coach Kellen Moore and the Saints, now 1-4 to start the season. Brees said Moore’s offense was

“pretty predictable” on ﬁrst down. He questioned, for instance, why the Saints hadn’t leaned on a play-action attack against a blitz-heavy team like the Vikings. He noted how running back Alvin Kamara was put into “impossible situations” when asked to block Vikings linebacker Eric Wilson three plays in a row. “You gotta have answers,” Brees said. The Saints again had little to none. Unlike last week, when the Atlanta Falcons stomped New Orleans on “Monday Night Football,” Moore did not blame Sunday’s loss on a lack of preparation. But even if they were ready, the Saints couldn’t solve what was in front of them. And too often, that was a blitzer right in front of quarterback Tyler Shough. Shough was blitzed on 24 of his 26 dropbacks — and that relentlessness contributed to the worst start of his

ä See SAINTS, page 5C

2C F Monday, October 12, 2026 F nola.com F The Times-Picayune

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MEN’S SOCCER Inter Toronto at Forge FC FS2 Newcastle at Coventry City USA WOMEN’S SOCCER 2:30 p.m. Canada vs. Denmark FS2 TENNIS 10 p.m. Shanghai-ATP; Wuhan-WTA Tennis 5 a.m. (Tue.) Shanghai-ATP; Wuhan-WTA Tennis Noon 2 p.m.

Georgia takes over at No. 1

BY ERIC OLSON Associated Press

Georgia moved up to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Sunday following its win at Alabama, Texas dropped six spots to No. 7 after its loss to rival Oklahoma and Oregon was unranked for the first time in four years after losing for the second time in the past month. The Bulldogs, who had been No. 2 for five straight polls while rolling off five straight lopsided wins, went on the road and beat Alabama 20-17 with the help of what appeared to be a missed pass interference call in the end zone late in the game. Georgia received 66 first-place votes from the panel of 70 media members after its first victory in Tuscaloosa since 2014 and ascended to the top of the poll for the first time since Sept. 8, 2024. Notre Dame, which tuned up for this week’s top-10 matchup at BYU with a 58-7 rout of Stanford, moved up one spot to No. 2. The Fighting Irish got one first-place vote and have their highest ranking since they were No. 2 in the final poll of the 2024 season. No. 3 Miami, which received two first-place votes, is followed by Ohio State and Indiana. The Hoosiers, who received the remaining first-place vote, got a two-spot promotion after their narrow win at Nebraska. Alabama remained No. 6, and Texas, BYU, Ole Miss and Texas Tech completed the top 10. Oregon came into the season with its highest preseason ranking ever at No. 2. The Ducks’ turnover-fueled 17-15 home loss to UCLA dropped them to 3-2 and knocked them out of the poll for the first time since they went from No. 11 to unranked following a 49-3 loss to Georgia in the 2022 opener. No. 12 UCLA and No. 15 Kentucky got the biggest promotions. The Bruins moved up nine spots with their win over Oregon, and the Wildcats went from unranked

MILWAUKEE — Miguel Rojas is on the NL Championship Series roster for the Los Angeles Dodgers after being sidelined by lower back pain. Left-hander Justin Wrobleski also is part of the Dodgers’ roster for their matchup with Milwaukee. The Brewers went with the same 26-man group that they had for their NL Division Series against San Diego. Rojas underwent testing after he left the Dodgers’ 3-1 victory at Atlanta in Game 3 of their NL Division Series. The imaging mostly showed prior back issues. The veteran inﬁelder worked out with Los Angeles on Saturday at American Family Field, and manager Dave Roberts said Rojas was available for Sunday night’s NLCS opener.

Irving scores 17 for Mavs in return game after injury

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO BY VASHA HUNT

Georgia defensive back Demello Jones celebrates with fans as the final seconds tick off the clock in a win over Alabama on Saturday in Tuscaloosa, Ala. to No. 15 with their 35-34 overtime win over LSU, which dropped from No. 10 to No. 22.

Poll points n This is the second time in three years there have been three or more No. 1 teams in the ﬁrst six polls. Georgia, Texas and Alabama took turns holding the top spot in the ﬁrst six polls in 2024. The only other time in the Top 25 era that three teams had been No. 1 at this point of a season was 1990. n Notre Dame and Miami, dubbed “Catholic vs. Convicts” rivals since their classic game in 1988, haven’t been together in the top three since Nov. 9, 1993. n Texas’ six-spot fall from No. 1 to No. 7 matched its drop following a season-opening loss to Ohio State last year.

Ranked vs. ranked No. 4 Ohio State at No. 5 Indiana: Ohio

State plays its second top-five AP TOP 25 POLL matchup of the season. Indiana Rec. Pts. Prv. won the last meeting 13-10 in the 1. Georgia (66) 6-0 1745 2 2. Notre Dame (1) 6-0 1630 3 2025 Big Ten championship game 3. Miami (FL) (2) 5-0 1594 4 when the Hoosiers were No. 2 and 4. Ohio State 5-1 1508 5 5. Indiana (1) 6-0 1461 7 the Buckeyes were No. 1. 6. Alabama 5-1 1372 6 No. 2 Notre Dame at No. 8 BYU: First- 7. Texas 4-1 1371 1 8. BYU 5-0 1237 8 ever top-10 matchup at LaVell 9. Ole Miss 4-1 1135 9 Edwards Stadium. Cougars won 10. Texas Tech 5-0 1132 11 11. Utah 5-0 1073 12 the last time Notre Dame visited, 12. UCLA 5-0 951 21 13. Missouri 5-1 882 14 in 2004. 14. Tennessee 5-1 706 15 No. 16 Mississippi State at No. 22 LSU: 15. Kentucky 5-16 55 NR 4-1 650 17 First time the teams have met as 16. Mississippi State 17. Iowa 5-1 621 20 ranked opponents since 2018. 18. Oklahoma State 4-1 604 18 6-1 505 19 No. 6 Alabama at No. 14 Tennessee: 19. USC 20. Houston 5-1 380 22 Crimson Tide lost the last two 21. Wake Forest 5-13 26 NR 4-2 274 10 times they’ve visited Knoxville. 22. LSU 23. Boise State 5-12 68 23 The big question for the Volun- 24. SMU 4-11 42 24 25. Northwestern 4-11 12 NR teers is who will start at QB. receiving votes: Wisconsin 92, No. 13 Missouri at No. 9 Ole Miss: Mo- Others Oregon 86, Arizona 82, Nebraska 65, Oklativation will be no problem for homa 44, James Madison 29, Florida 9, Duke Mizzou QB Austin Simmons. He 5, New Mexico 3, Oregon State 1. began last season as Ole Miss’ No. 18 Oklahoma State at No. 20 Housstarter, got hurt, recovered and stayed on the bench behind a guy ton: This will be the ﬁrst time these named Trinidad Chambliss. teams meet as ranked opponents.

Re-evaluating Kiffin’s ﬁrst LSU squad after loss BY JON BLAU Staff writer

As high as expectations soared after a clobbering of Clemson to open the Lane Kiffin era, there was opportunity for a nosedive after an overtime loss at Kentucky. The Tigers’ rumored $50 million roster, short a couple of star players to injuries, failed to overcome upstart Kentucky, led by a first-time head coach, Will Stein, who just won a game on a twopoint conversion call for a second week in a row. This wasn’t a game LSU could afford to lose if it wanted any margin for error heading into a November slate that includes Alabama, Texas and Tennessee. Then again, Texas just lost to Oklahoma. Tennessee struggled to beat Arkansas. Alabama is no longer unbeaten after a loss to Georgia. Ole Miss, the other team LSU nearly beat on the road, has since lost big to Florida, which has just lost back-to-back games to Missouri and South Carolina — the latter being the other team Kentucky beat on a two-point conversion. “I know everyone gets tired of me saying the SEC is so hard,” Kiffin said, “but this year in the SEC, I really feel like you can win every game on the schedule, and we can lose every game on the schedule.” This might just be life in the SEC during the transfer portal era, a time when parity is ruling college football. Maybe there’s no amount of money LSU could have spent to assure Kiffin clinched the playoff in Year 1, especially with No. 7 jersey wearers Trey’Dez Green and Whit Weeks sidelined with injuries. But a loss at Kentucky demands a reassessment of where now-No. 22 LSU (4-2, 1-2 SEC) stands halfway through its regular-season

Dodgers keep IF Rojas on roster against Brewers

AP PHOTO BY TANNER PEARSON

McNeese State is ranked 46th in the FCS. This isn’t to say the Tigers are bad defensively. They were much better in the second half at Kentucky, allowing just 24 rushing yards after surrendering 131 in the ﬁrst half. But it was jarring to see LSU notch just one sack and fail to really affect quarterback Kenny Minchey. Minchey also had free access to the end zone on a two-point conversion run, partially due to a called adjustment to LSU’s pass rush that wasn’t executed by one defender. The Tigers’ defense just wasn’t elite, which maybe isn’t a surprise given injuries to Weeks and safety Dashawn Spears (ACL tear) have thinned the Tigers’ ranks. They could still be very good, but they have much to prove this weekend against Mississippi State.

LSU quarterback Sam Leavitt, center, is tackled by Kentucky defensive lineman Jamarrion Harkless on Saturday in Lexington, Ky. LSU’s offensive line

schedule — and where the Tigers’ On the flip side, Kentucky stock just took the biggest dips. seemingly won the line of scrimmage. LSU’s defense The Wildcats racked up eight Belief in Blake Baker’s unit had tackles for loss, including three never been higher coming into sacks. Sam Leavitt was the TiSaturday’s contest. gers’ most productive rusher, Through five weeks, the Tigers removing sack yardage, gaining were second nationally in to- 61 yards on 12 rushes versus Dital defense and sacks, fourth in lin Jones’ 56 yards on 16 carries. rush defense and seventh in first Harlem Berry had three rushes downs surrendered. Opponents for just 4 yards. were converting just 26% of It was never expected this LSU their third downs, which nearly offensive line would be roadmatched Kentucky’s woeful 25% grading, but the Tigers’ inconsissuccess rate. tencies in run and pass blocking But the Wildcats converted appear to have limited the ceiling 36% of their third downs on LSU of Charlie Weis Jr.’s first offense. and became the second straight On LSU’s first drive, these were SEC home team to put up 30-plus the yardage outputs on five runpoints on the Tigers. It’s reason- ning back carries: 2, minus-1, 11, able to ask how much Baker’s 2 and minus-4. That possession defense was feasting on lesser stalled in the red zone for a chipshot field goal. offenses. The very next series, there Clemson and Texas A&M are the 118th- and 113th-ranked of- were three carries: minus-2, zero fenses in the country, respective- and zero. It took a flea flicker ly, and Louisiana Tech sits at 61st. from Leavitt to tight end Zach

Grace to earn LSU a touchdown. “There was some really inconsistent play up front,” Kifﬁn said, “which led to a not great game running the ball.” It’s hard to consistently overcome long down-and-distance situations with quarterback runs and trickery. And Leavitt gets into trouble when he’s trying to do too much. LSU still ranks 27th nationally in rushing offense at 213 yards per game, but the Tigers are averaging 133 yards per contest in SEC games with some unproductive quarters sprinkled in. There’s deﬁnitely room to grow there.

The quarterback Quarterbacks always receive too much credit and too much blame. And it’s not like Leavitt hasn’t improved in many respects. He’s completed better than 73% of his passes in three straight games, which follows a 62% success rate in his ﬁrst three contests. His touchdownto-interception ratio of 7-to-3 in LSU’s past three games is better than his 3-to-5 output to open the season. But it remains troubling that Leavitt has an interception in every game, and his fumble in LSU’s own end, even though it didn’t result in points, handed an additional opportunity to Kentucky while stealing another chance from LSU to build positive momentum. “Sam played really well, majority of his plays,” Kifﬁn said, “and then had two really bad plays.” LSU is in the red in turnover margin, giving away two more than it has forced in six games. The Tigers rank 90th nationally in that ratio. Leavitt, in particular, needs to cut out the errors if the Tigers are going to resuscitate their CFP hopes.

Kyrie Irving waited nearly 600 days for his return to the NBA. The Dallas Mavericks didn’t keep him waiting any longer for his welcome-back basket. Irving got a reverse layup on the game’s opening possession Sunday night, setting the tone for him scoring a team-high 17 points in the Mavericks’ 132-115 preseason win over the Houston Rockets in Macao, China. It was Irving’s ﬁrst game action since he tore the ACL in his left knee on March 3, 2025. Irving shot 6 for 13 in just under 22 minutes, plus he had three assists and two rebounds. The nine-time All-Star was averaging 24.7 points for Dallas when he got hurt late in the 2024-25 season.

Kings center Raynaud hurts patella in right knee

SAN FRANCISCO — Sacramento Kings center Maxime Raynaud received some encouraging news from imaging on his injured right knee that showed a patellar subluxation and not anything far more serious that might jeopardize his season before it begins. The Kings said Sunday their second-year big man would be reevaluated again in about two weeks. Raynaud underwent an MRI exam late Saturday after going down with 2:32 left in the second quarter of a 111-106 preseason loss to Golden State when he collided with Stephen Curry as he was making a screen on the Warriors star. Kings general manager Scott Perry was positive afterward, saying, “he’ll be back.”

Forrest birdies final hole to win Spanish Open

MADRID — Grant Forrest got upand-down for birdie on the reachable par-4 18th for a 2-under 70 and a one-shot victory in the Spanish Open on Sunday, earning the 33-year-old from Scotland his ﬁrst trip to Augusta National for the Masters. Forrest was tied with late-charging Victor Perez of France going to the 322-yard closing hole. Both drove into rough just beyond the green, their golf balls separated by the length of their shoes. Perez chipped to 10 feet and missed. Forest’s chip ran out to just over 3 feet for the winning putt. The victory also gets Forrest into the British Open, which he has played twice previously. The closest he came to the Masters was in 2015 when he was runner-up in the British Amateur.

Zverev advances in China; Shelton and Tiafoe fall

SHANGHAI — Top-seeded Alexander Zverev let two match points slip in the second-set tiebreaker before winning 6-4, 6-7 (8), 6-3 against Quentin Halys at the ATP 1000 Shanghai Masters on Sunday. Zverev never gave up a breakpoint chance in a third-round match where the U.S. Open champion needed seven of his own just to break the 48th-ranked Frenchman’s service in the opening game. Earlier Sunday, U.S. Open ﬁnalist Ben Shelton was beaten 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3) by 21-year-old Frenchman Arthur Gea in the third round. Seventh-seeded Francis Tiafoe also lost, after having a match point in the decisive tiebreaker, to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, who won 7-6 (4), 4-6, 7-6 (6).

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The Times-Picayune F nola.com F Monday, October 12, 2026 F 3C

Hall, players say Wave still can have big year BY GUERRY SMITH Contributing writer

AP PHOTO BY SARA DIGGINS

Texas coach Steve Sarkisian leaves the field following a loss to Oklahoma in the Red River Rivalry on Saturday in Dallas. The Longhorns fell from No. 1 to seventh in the Associated Press Top 25 poll.

Georgia is easily No. 1, but rest of top 10 is tough BY KOKI RILEY Staff writer

This was one of the toughest polls I’ve ﬁlled out since becoming a voter. Anyone 100% conﬁdent about who the 10 best teams in the country are right now — let alone the top 25 — is kidding themselves. Let’s dig into all of the chaos.

Week 6 poll 1. Georgia, 2. Alabama, 3. Ohio State, 4. Miami, 5. Notre Dame, 6. BYU, 7. Indiana, 8. Ole Miss, 9. Texas Tech, 10. Mississippi State, 11. Missouri, 12. Arizona, 13. UCLA, 14. Analysis Utah, 15. Texas, 16. LSU, 17. Kentucky, 18. Houston, 19. Oklahoma State, 20. Northwestern, 21. Oregon, 22. Wake Forest, 23. Nebraska, 24. Iowa, 25. Boise State Just missed: Southern Cal, Florida, Tennessee and Wisconsin Newcomers: Kentucky, Wake Forest and Nebraska Dropped from last week: USC, Florida, Tennessee Tough decisions needed to be made this week, but putting Georgia at No. 1 wasn’t one of them. The Bulldogs marched into Tuscaloosa and beat a legitimate top-5 team, outgaining Alabama by over 100 yards and winning the time-of-possession battle. I was hesitant to place the Bulldogs near the top of the rankings through five weeks. They simply hadn’t played anyone close to being ranked. But after earning the best win in the country on Saturday night, Georgia proved that it’s legit. Figuring out the rest of the top 10 wasn’t easy. Alabama slid into the No. 2 spot over Ohio State because of the lopsided resumes. The Crimson Tide has two dominant wins over top-20 teams (Kentucky and Mississippi State), while the Buckeyes have one ranked win (Iowa) and a loss to Texas, which hasn’t looked overly impressive since taking down Ohio State. Speaking of Texas, the Longhorns and LSU losing (we’ll get to why they landed where they did in a second) opened two spots, with no obvious teams to fill those gaps. So I settled on Texas Tech and Mississippi State for different reasons. Texas Tech’s win over Houston only looks better each day, and the Red Raiders are still undefeated. Texas Tech won’t be winning any style points given how shaky the reigning Big 12 champions have looked at times against Colorado and Oregon State, but somebody had to be the No. 9 team this week. Mississippi State’s win over Missouri also aged well this week after the Tigers beat Texas A&M convincingly. I’m not 100% sure what to do with Missouri, but quarterback Austin Simmons is one of the better quarterbacks in the nation, and the defense is pretty solid despite losing so many pieces from last season. So it’s impressive that Mississippi State beat that team, even if the Bulldogs got boatraced by Alabama just a week ago. But Alabama is really, really good, and the other top-10 candidates (Missouri, Arizona, and Utah) have more flawed cases. Missouri lost to Mississippi State (even if it was close on the road), and the Tigers’ most impressive win over Florida looks

much worse now after the Gators got smashed by South Carolina at home. Arizona doesn’t have a win that’s as strong as Mississippi State’s victory over Missouri, even if beating up West Virginia and Cincinnati has some value. Utah is undefeated and has dominated opponents, but the Utes have had a remarkably weak schedule; nobody they’ve faced has been ranked at any point this year.

Where Texas and LSU landed Texas has a signature win over Ohio State, but the Longhorns’ resume outside of that game looks pretty ugly. They barely beat a struggling Tennessee team on the road — the Volunteers had to come back late to beat lowly Arkansas this week — and now have a loss to Oklahoma. That was a crazy rivalry game, but the Sooners have lost to Michigan and struggled to score against New Mexico. The win over the Buckeyes alone kept Texas in my top 15. But the Longhorns’ frustrating offense makes it almost impossible for me to argue they’re a top-10 team right now. LSU’s resume is strange. The Tigers have dominated the four teams they’ve played at home, and both of their losses came on the road to top-20 teams. The problem is that the four wins came against not-so-good teams, and without a signature win, there isn’t really an argument for placing them ahead of a team like Texas. LSU is probably the best twoloss team in the nation. A win over Mississippi State next week would really help its resume, even if the Tigers’ College Football Playoff hopes are probably sunk. Also, Saturday’s game wasn’t a decisive win for Kentucky. LSU likely would have won on a neutral site, as the Tigers won the time-of-possession battle and gained more yards despite being on the road. The Tigers lost because they shot themselves in the foot, not because Kentucky outclassed them or exposed an obvious ﬂaw in Lane Kifﬁn’s team.

Other notes Leaving out USC was a tough call. Penn State isn’t very good, but traveling across the country to beat the Nittany Lions in that environment still means something. The problem for the Trojans this week was that Oregon lost again, which made their home defeat to the Ducks look even worse. Boise State had a more impressive showing against Oregon than USC did, and the Broncos did it on the road. That’s why they earned the last spot in my poll over the Trojans. Nebraska lost to Indiana but still made the rankings because of how close the Huskers came to knocking off a top-10 team. Quarterback Anthony Colandrea is a lot of fun, and the Nebraska defense has looked better than what I expected heading into the year. Indiana isn’t a perfect team either, but the Hoosiers are undefeated and have a top-10 roster in the sport. Barely losing to them should be a feather in Nebraska’s cap, especially considering how dominant the Huskers have looked against everyone else this year.

Stung by Saturday’s agonizing loss at Army, coach Will Hall, linebacker Dickson Agu and quarterback Kadin Semonza insisted Tulane still could play for an American Conference championship. They added the Green Wave’s confidence had not wavered despite a 2-3 overall start that was a few plays away from being 0-5 and its first conference-opening loss since the 2-10 season of 2021. “This hurts, and we’ll let it hurt for a day or so, but then it’s time to move on,” Agu said. “The season’s not over. A championship’s not out of range. Hell, we’ve lost a conference game every year and still made the championship. We’ve just got to preach that and make sure everyone has the championship on their mind.” That possibility will become infinitesimally small if Tulane does not rebound at home on Friday as a touchdown underdog against Memphis (5-1, 2-0), which beat Charlotte and UAB in its first two conference games by the composite score of 97-21. The Tigers are hot under first-year coach Charles Huff, Hall’s full-time successor for a year after he got fired by Southern Miss midway through the 2024 season. “Our kids are resilient,” Hall said. “We have great leadership. Those guys know how important this next game is. We’ve been in this spot before. We will play our tail off in six days against a really

good team.” The Wave likely will need to play its best game of the year to have a chance against Memphis. The Tigers scored touchdowns on four of five series during the second half against UAB on Saturday, overcoming a 13-10 halftime deficit easily, and are much more explosive offensively than Army. “This one hurts pretty bad,” Semonza said. “We’ll soak it in and feel it, but we have a game in six days. We have to put this one behind us and get ready to roll.” Hall pointed to some positives, including the play of left offensive tackle Ryan Mickow, backto-back touchdown drives in the second, a big catch by wideout Destyn Hill to the 1-yard line, TJ Smith’s 58-yard kickoff return and Kellen Tasby blocking a field goal in the third quarter. He also praised the defensive scheme featuring three linebackers along with four players on the line, with South Alabama transfer Dalton Hughes getting his first start alongside Agu and Makai Williams. The trio combined for 27 tackles, and Army had only seven points. “We said it was the two toughest teams in the country playing today, and it showed,” Hall said. “They made one more play than we did, and we’re disappointed as you can be. I’m hurting for these players. We’ve got to do better for them and find a way to make one more play.” Agu said the momentum turned when Army quarterback Cale Hellums broke loose for a 58-

yard, tying touchdown with 6:54 left when safety Kevin Adams appeared to run out of his gap, leaving the middle open. Other than that play, Tulane did not give up a gain of more than 22 yards. “We let one slip, misﬁt a gap, and it cost us,” Agu said. “Once we get to the point where we really have urgency with the details and what we’re doing, we’re going to be a completely different team. I promise you that.” An early fourth-quarter injury to nose tackle Kam Hamilton left Tulane without both of its starting tackles and linebacker Chris Rodgers, who likely is out for the season with a knee injury he sustained against South Alabama. “The injury bug’s been tough on us this year, but man, no B, C, D — we don’t blame, complain, defend,” Hall said. ”We respond.” After using the open date to choose between Semonza and freshman Trace Johnson as the starting quarterback, the staff will look at them again in the short practice week before Friday’s game against Memphis. As Hall has said many times this year, they will pick the guy they believe gives them the best chance to beat the Tigers. “He (Semonza)’s playing the best (of the quarterbacks) right now,” Hall said. “He did some really good things today. He had some plays he’d really like to have back, but he’s hitting our guys in the hands and making some plays we need to be made. We’ll evaluate them again going into Memphis.”

Kiffin: Official said ‘too much at stake’ to blow tush-push TD dead BY REED DARCEY Staff writer

LSU appeared to make a goalline stand on the last play before halftime of its loss to Kentucky on Saturday, but in a controversial decision, officials allowed quarterback Kenny Minchey to score on a second effort. Coach Lane Kiffin said on Sunday that an ofﬁcial told him “there was just too much at stake” to blow the tush-push run play dead when Minchey was initially stopped short of the end zone. Because the whistle never blew, a few Wildcats could keep pushing Minchey toward the goal line, which allowed him to score and give Kentucky a 21-17 halftime lead. “(The line judge) said he’d be killed if he would have blown

the whistle for the play being stopped,” Kiffin said, “even though it appeared to be stopped.” Once the score was allowed, Kiffin began pleading LSU’s case to the game’s officiating crew. His main objection to the call, he told reporters on Sunday, was that the circumstances of the play shouldn’t matter. If the officials would’ve ruled that LSU had stopped Minchey’s progress, say, on a first down at midfield, then they should do the same on the goal line. “Don’t not blow it because it was such a big play,” Kiffin said. That call wasn’t the only controversial officiating decision in the game, which LSU lost in overtime 35-34. Officials also decided that Kentucky coach Will Stein had called timeout before one of his players jumped offsides on the two-point

conversion attempt that eventually decided the game. Minchey scored on a carry up the middle on that play, too, though he was lined up in the shotgun as part of a spread formation on the second one. Kiffin said that decision was “really upsetting to me,” in part because he “struggled” to communicate with the officials all game. He does not think that the Wildcats would’ve tried the twopoint conversion had they been flagged for a false start. But Kiffin’s bigger gripe was with the touchdown Kentucky scored in the waning seconds of the first half. “The rules are the rules,” Kiffin said, “so if you see it that way, then see it that way. That’s my complaint with it. It all comes down to just blowing the whistle, so it is what it is.”

SEC ﬁnes UK $500K for rushing ﬁeld BY SCOTT RABALAIS Staff writer

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Well, it wasn’t a total loss. The University of Kentucky has been fined $500,000 for its fans storming the field Saturday night at Kroger Field after the Wildcats’ 35-34 overtime win against LSU. By Southeastern Conference rule, the fine will be paid to the visiting team. The league changed its fieldand court-rushing policies at the 2025 SEC Spring Meeting to a flat penalty of $500,000 per infraction, doing away with the previous escalating fine structure. It also changed the rule to state that a school must pay the fine to the visiting team in the case of an SEC contest. The SEC has the option to waive the fine if the visiting team and game officials are allowed to get to their locker room before fans reach the field. That did not happen Saturday. Kentucky fans started streaming onto the field immediately after Wildcats quarterback Kenny Minchey scored the game-winning two-point conversion.

AP PHOTO BY TANNER PEARSON

A Kentucky fan celebrates on the field after the Wildcats defeat LSU 35-34 in overtime on Saturday at Kroger Field in Lexington, Ky. Video captured LSU coach Lane Kiffin trying to make his way to the visitors’ locker room with the aid of police bodyguards and LSU sports information director Michael Bonnette, shoving their way through a sea of jeering Kentucky fans. Several trailed after Kiffin, taking videos of him with their cell phones and making lewd hand gestures. The SEC announced Kentucky’s fine Sunday “for a violation of the

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league’s access to competition area policy due to fans entering the field following its football game against Louisiana State University on October 10.” The SEC initiated its ﬁne structure for field storming in 2004. The previous policy called for schools to receive a $100,000 ﬁne for their first offense, $250,000 for the second and $500,000 for the third and subsequent infractions.

4C ✦ Monday, October 12, 2026 ✦ nola.com ✦ The Times-Picayune

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Briscoe holds off Bell in Charlotte to win 2nd straight playoff race BY STEVE REED AP sportswriter

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO BY VINCENT THIAN

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands leads the field after the start of the Singapore Formula One Grand Prix race on Sunday in Singapore.

Verstappen wins Singapore Grand Prix ﬁeld to ninth after starting at the fortune when a virtual safety car Antonelli closes in on back. slowdown ended just as he was pitThat means Antonelli could now ting for fresh tires, leaving him to F1 title for Mercedes become F1’s youngest-ever cham- ﬁght his way back up from 10th.

pion as soon as the next race, the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas on Oct. 25. “I know it’s very close. I know it’s SINGAPORE — Silenced by a broken radio, Max Verstappen let his driv- there, but I just need to make sure ing do all the talking on the track. that I keep doing the best I can,” Verstappen raced hard into the Antonelli said. “This weekend, I first corner then cruised to his sec- haven’t particularly driven that ond consecutive Formula 1 win at well. I felt like I could have done a the Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday. better job.” Verstappen had been concerned about his Red Bull car’s “horren- Luck goes Antonelli’s way again Once again, Antonelli seemed to dous” starts and was slow off the line again from pole, but managed have all the luck at Mercedes and to squeeze Charles Leclerc to the Russell none of it. The Italian was running fifth with inside heading into the first corner Norris and Hamilton ahead when and held the lead. Leclerc was second as Verstap- the two British drivers made costly pen followed up on his first victory mistakes. Hamilton ran off track defending of the season in Malaysia last week and sprint race win Saturday. It from Norris, who seemed startled was his first career Grand Prix win and also ran wide, allowing Anin Singapore at the 10th attempt. tonelli to line up a pass on Norris “It’s taken a while,” Verstappen before picking off Hamilton a lap admitted, adding his start was “just later as the seven-time champion good enough.” struggled with old tires. After the start, Verstappen’s The Italian stayed on course main concern seemed to be a bro- despite overheating brakes — “I ken radio that left Red Bull un- could even smell it” — and also had able to hear him. Race engineer to watch out as he was on the verge GianPiero Lambiase resorted to of a penalty for running off-track asking Verstappen questions he too many times, but stayed just the could answer yes or no by press- right side of the line from then on. Russell, meanwhile, was still sufing his radio transmission button. Leclerc was second for his first fering from his engine failure last podium finish since July and be- week because the need to change hind him, there was action as Kimi his power unit meant a penalty sent Antonelli overtook Lando Norris him to the back of the grid for the and Lewis Hamilton for third to start of Sunday’s race. Russell was making good progincrease his standings lead. Antonelli’s Mercedes teammate ress as he cut through the field George Russell came through the to seventh but had a dose of misThe Associated Press

Hamilton drops back, apologizes Norris was fourth for McLaren and his teammate Oscar Piastri passed a struggling Hamilton for ﬁfth on the ﬁnal lap. Hamilton apologized to the team, saying it had been his decision on the strategy to stay out on wearing tires. Despite both drivers passing Hamilton late on, it was another race with McLaren well off the pace, though at least without the drama of Norris’ collision with Piastri on Saturday. Liam Lawson was seventh for Racing Bulls, Nico Hulkenberg eighth for Audi, Russell ninth and Verstappen’s teammate Isack Hadjar recovered to 10th after starting from the pit lane.

What Antonelli needs for F1 title Antonelli is on the verge of becoming F1’s youngest champion at the age of 20 and the first Italian to win the title since 1953. He leads Russell by 102 points and Hamilton by 111. It’s possible that could happen at the Circuit of the Americas on Oct. 25 but highly unlikely. To take the title in Texas, Antonelli would not just have to win the United States Grand Prix with a Mercedes car that has been skittish and unpredictable since recent upgrades. For an unassailable 125-point lead, he would also need Russell to finish ninth or lower, and for Hamilton to place no higher than fifth.

Small ball vs. Guards Ball when Rays, Guardians meet in ALCS BY ROB MAADDI AP sportswriter

A pair of low-payroll teams with similar styles will face off in the AL Championship Series. It’s small ball vs. “Guards Ball” when the Tampa Bay Rays and the Cleveland Guardians open their best-of-seven series Monday night at Tropicana Field. Two-time All-Star right-hander Drew Rasmussen takes the mound for Tampa Bay after dominating the New York Yankees in the opener of the AL Division Series. Lefty Foster Griffin will start for Cleveland, which worked out late Sunday after beating the Chicago White Sox in Game 5 of its ALDS. The Rays won an AL-best 98 games in the regular season, swept New York in the ALDS and seek the third pennant in the franchise’s 29-season history. Cleveland won 85 games, fell behind Chicago in the ALDS and became only the 11th team to overcome an 0-2 deficit in a best-of-five playoff series. “I don’t think it’s really set in yet,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “But we’re here. The guys are excited. We’re prepared. We’re ready to go. We’re playing some really good baseball right now.” The Rays-Yankees matchup was David vs. Goliath in terms of payroll because New York opened the season with MLB’s third highest at $302.8 million and Tampa Bay ranked 26th at $90.5 million. But the Rays are facing a team now that spent even less. The Guardians were last in the ma-

ä Guardians at Rays.

7 P.M. MONDAY, TBS.

jors at $75.5 million. Both teams emphasize contact at the plate, speed on the bases, strong fundamentals, solid pitching and doing whatever it takes to win. Tampa Bay led the AL with a .258 batting average and had the fewest strikeouts in the majors. The Guardians only hit .239, didn’t have a hitter with more than 18 homers and had the ﬁfthfewest strikeouts in the league. The two clubs bolstered their rosters at the trade deadline. Tampa Bay got starter Freddy Peralta, catcher Liam Hicks and reliever Tyler Wells. Cleveland acquired Griffin, outfielder Jo Adell, and first baseman Nathaniel Lowe.

Starting matchup Rasmussen took a no-hit bid into the eighth inning of the ALDS opener, ﬁnishing with 10 strikeouts in a 1-0 victory. He was 16-5 with a 2.67 ERA and led the AL with a 0.91 WHIP. Rasmussen has been one of baseball’s best pitchers since an internal brace procedure in July 2023 that forced him to miss more than a year. Grifﬁn was 3-3 with a 5.19 ERA in nine starts for Cleveland after the trade. The 31-year-old lefty was 12-3 went a 3.06 ERA with the Nationals after spending the previous three seasons with the Yomiuri Giants of Japan’s Central League. Griffin had seven strikeouts and gave up one run in 22/3 innings of relief in Game 3 against the White Sox.

CONCORD, N.C. — Chase Briscoe is getting the hang of winning close races. Briscoe held off Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell to win his second straight NASCAR playoff race in a photo finish on Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, vaulting him into contention to earn his first Cup Series championship. The .029-second margin of victory was the second closest since CMS opened in 1960, ranking behind only Jimmie Johnson’s .027-second win over Bobby Labonte in 2005. The two drivers traded paint on the final lap, but Briscoe maintained control of his No. 19 Toyota and reached the finish line about a half-car length ahead of Bell. “I don’t know what it is about these finishes. I have to quit making it so exciting at the end,” said Briscoe, who had to hold off playoff points leader Kyle Larson to win last week at Las Vegas. It was the eighth win of Briscoe’s career and third this season. He led 62 laps. Briscoe said he felt like his right front tire was going down on the final laps, but was able to hold it together. “When I got beyond those final lapped cars with five or six (laps) to go, I felt like I was going to knock the wall down,” Briscoe said. “At one point it just quit turning.” Ryan Blaney finished third, followed by Josh Berry, Denny Hamlin and Larson. Briscoe was 123 points behind Larson prior to last week’s win, but the back-to-back victories have cut the deficit to 65 points and put him in fourth place with four races left. Gibbs said he was just happy his drivers didn’t wreck each other. “That’s always when I’m the most nervous, when a couple of our guys are running up front,” Gibbs said. “I know how badly all of our guys want to win. ... That’s when my blood pressure and heartbeat gets accelerated.” Hamlin is now 49 points behind Larson in the Chase, followed by Bell, who is 51 points back. Larson called it a “good, solid day” and was happy to extend his playoff lead by nine points.

Run producers Junior Caminero batted .276 with 42 homers and 101 RBIs and was 3 for 10 with one double and walked twice vs. the Yankees. Jonathan Aranda hit a career-best 22 homers in the regular season and was 4 for 12 in the ALDS with a homer in the opener. Yandy Diaz (.293, 22, 85) and Chandler Simpson (.306, 48 steals) are integral parts of the lineup. Chase DeLauter led the Guardians with a .287 average to go with 16 homers. Steven Kwan hit .282 and Angel Martinez led the team with 18 homers. Martinez wasn’t in the starting lineup in Game 5 vs. Chicago after going 0 for 15 and striking out eight times in the first four games. Jose Ramírez batted .235 in the regular season but homered twice against the White Sox, including a two-run drive in the 2-0 win in Game 5.

Larson, who entered the race with five top five finishes including two wins in the postseason, started on the pole based on NASCAR’s metric system after Saturday’s qualifying was rained out. He made the most of the pole position, dominating the race early by leading 68 of the 80 laps in the first stage to collect the maximum number of points in stage one. Bell caught Larson and won the second stage.

Tough start Several Chase contenders ran into problems in the first stage. Ty Gibbs broke a toe link in his No. 54 Toyota causing him to hit the outside wall. Joey Logano, with nowhere to go, slammed into Gibbs from behind. Gibbs headed behind the wall for repairs and fell several laps behind, while Logano was sent to the back of the field. And, near the end of the first stage, Alex Bowman’s car got loose and ran up the track and into Bubba Wallace’s car, collecting William Byron in the mix. Wallace climbed out of his car, but was taken to the infield medical center in an ambulance. The crash sent all three cars behind the wall. “I just got loose,” Bowman said. “Honestly, I had been really tight. As soon as it got to the exit of the corner, it snapped and it kind of didn’t stand a chance. Unfortunately, I grabbed too much wheel, overcorrected it and got in those two guys’ (Wallace and Byron) way. I hate that for the No. 24 and No. 23 teams. It’s one thing to get loose and crash, but to ruin their days too really sucks.”

Welcome back oval racing

Aces face an offseason shake-up after semiﬁnals BY MARK ANDERSON

AP PHOTO BY CHRIS O’MEARA

Larson dominates early

After eight years, CMS and NASCAR said goodbye to the “roval,” changing the fall race from a road course back to the traditional 1 1/2-mile oval course. That came as NASCAR shifted away from road courses and placed more emphasis on intermediate oval tracks before the season. Drivers seemed to be in favor of Hamlin can’t find momentum the change. “I appreciate the roval for what Hamlin won the regular season championship, but has struggled it was, and I’ve enjoyed the handto find victory lane in the play- ful of years that we did it to start,” offs. He seemed perplexed why Chris Buescher said. “Charlotte he hasn’t been able to regain the has so much character. It’s put on speed he had before the postsea- some really good races and I think that was the big push to get us son. “We got to execute better, be a back on the oval.”

AP sportswriter

Tampa Bay Rays’ Junior Caminero walks to the batting cage during practice against the Cleveland Guardians on Sunday in St. Petersburg, Fla.

little faster — all of the above,” Hamlin said. “We’re giving it all we got right now.” It didn’t help that Hamlin was sent to the rear of the ﬁeld for a loose tire penalty on pit road on his ﬁrst stop.

LAS VEGAS — Anything short of a WNBA championship is considered a disappointment for the Aces, so changes almost certainly are coming after Las Vegas was swept out of the semifinals by Golden State on Friday night. Whether that change involves the Big Three is the Aces’ biggest question entering the offseason because five-time All-Star guard Jackie Young is a free agent. She averaged career highs in points per game (18.9) and assists (6.8) to go with a 4.4-rebounding average and shooting percentages of 48.8 from the floor and 38.3 from 3-point range. “I think she had a career year this year,” coach Becky Hammon said. “Had some unbelievable performances throughout the season, so obviously it’s a big priority that we retain her services. We’ll see what those thoughts look like, but I know what it looks like from our end. Ultimately, it’s going to come down to her decision.” If Young returns, she will rejoin a core that includes five-time MVP A’ja Wilson and six-time All-Star point guard Chelsea Gray that has been instrumental in winning three of the past four titles. While Wilson clearly wants Young to return, she also wants to be mindful of not being overbearing while trying to persuade her to re-sign. “I’m constantly in Jackie’s ear,”

Wilson said. “I know when she needs that big sister, but also when she needs that space. So going into this offseason, I’m just going to be me. I’m not going change too much because that’s not what Jackie needs.” If Young leaves, the Aces could be aggressive in going after a bigname free agent such as Indiana’s Kelsey Mitchell or Minnesota’s Napheesa Collier. Mitchell expressed frustration a week ago about playing in the glare that comes with having Caitlin Clark as a teammate. Clark made the case on Thursday for keeping Mitchell, which would again give the Fever one of the league’s top backcourts. Even if Young comes back, that doesn’t mean the Aces will sit still. “We’re going to make some adjustments, we’re going to make some moves, try to address our weaknesses,” Hammon said shortly after Friday night’s 87-77 overtime loss to the Valkyries. “That’s not a question to answer right now. There’s a lot of things coming through my head.” Top of mind was not having a good enough defense, and that likely will be a top priority for Hammon and team president and general manager Nikki Fargas. Hammon said the lack of an elite defense is a major reason the Aces are already into their offseason. Hammon lamented injuries that ended NaLyssa Smith’s season and limited Jewell Loyd, Stephanie Talbot and Dana Evans.

The Times-Picayune ✦ nola.com ✦ Monday, October 12, 2026 ✦ 5C

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NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE Burrow throws 4 TDs as Bengals beat Dolphins The Associated Press MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — The Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase connection never seems to fail for the Cincinnati Bengals. Chase missed practice time this week after suffering a concussion last Sunday against Jacksonville, but that didn’t stop the All-Pro receiver from coming down with a highlight-reel, one-handed touchdown on a 45-yard throw from Burrow Sunday against the Miami Dolphins. “I saw the protection that I really like. It buys me time and space,” Burrow said. “Pushed the ball downfield, and when you push the ball downfield with the guys that we have Roundup and (with) that kind of time, you can see what number one can do whenever the ball’s in the air. Obviously, an unbelievable play. You don’t want to take it for granted, but we’re used to it at this point.” Burrow threw four touchdown passes, safety Jordan Battle had a pair of interceptions and the Bengals beat the Dolphins 31-24 on Sunday. Burrow completed 23 of 32 passes for 190 yards and also threw touchdowns to tight ends Mike Gesicki and Tanner Hudson and running back Samaje Perine. The Bengals quarterback took advantage of the Dolphins’ young secondary, completing passes to nine different receivers. Battle picked off Malik Willis on back-to-back drives in the second quarter. The veteran had a big game after saying this week he had a tell on how Willis throws the football — pointing out the Dolphins quarterback apparently taps the ball before he throws. The Dolphins (0-5) pulled within 7 with 45 seconds left on a Willis’ 1-yard touchdown run, set up by a 23-yard catch by rookie Kevin Coleman, who also caught a touchdown earlier in the fourth. Riley Patterson clanked the extra-point attempt off the left upright, and the ensuing onside kick went out of bounds to end it and snap the Cincinnati’s twogame skid. Willis had just five completions in the first half and finished 15 of 27 with 137 yards passing. The Dolphins offseason free-agent pickup was late on throws and missed several open receivers in addition to the pair of interceptions and a lost fumble. The Dolphins moved the ball inside the Cincinnati 1 on a 26-yard rush by rookie Chris Bell and runs

by Ollie Gordon late in the third. But Willis took an 8-yard sack, then forced a pass to tight end Greg Dulcich that fell incomplete, and Miami settled for Patterson’s 29-yard field goal to make it 21-10. Cincinnati (3-2) led 21-7 at the half, mostly by capitalizing on numerous Dolphins blunders. Miami gave up an 81-yard return to Dohnte Meyers on the opening kickoff. That set up Gesicki’s 4-yard TD catch three plays later, and the former Dolphin celebrated by Griddy-ing near the end zone. PATRIOTS 45, RAIDERS 17: In Foxborough, Massachusetts, Drake Maye didn’t have his top receiver, and the New England Patriots were missing both of their starting cornerbacks. The third-year quarterback found plenty of other targets, and his defense still found a way to slow down Kirk Cousins and the Las Vegas Raiders. Maye threw four touchdown passes and ran for another score, helping the Patriots pull away in the second half of a victory on Sunday. Maye was 26 of 34 for 374 yards passing in the second 300-yard game of his career. Two TDs went to Pop Douglas and one each to Hunter Henry and Kyle Williams. TEXANS 26, TITANS 3: In Nashville, Tennessee, C.J. Stroud carried the Houston Texans to their first victory of the season, then his coach announced the quarterback is being reunited with his old Ohio State teammate after a trade with Arizona. A very nice Sunday indeed for both Stroud and the Texans. Stroud threw for 261 yards and a touchdown and ran for another score and the Texans snapped their winless start to the season by routing the Tennessee Titans. After the win, Stroud was excited at getting to work with wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. again. JETS 17 BROWNS 12: In East Rutherford, New Jersey, Braelon Allen ran 22 yards for the go-ahead touchdown late in the fourth quarter after New York recovered a fumbled punt snap, and the Jets ended a three-game skid with a victory over the Cleveland Browns on a rain-soaked Sunday. Rookie David Bailey had three of New York’s eight sacks of Deshaun Watson, and Geno Smith had a touchdown pass to Garrett Wilson on the first drive for the Jets (2-3), who ended the Browns’ three-game winning streak. Cleveland (3-2) had a final chance with 1:41 left and no timeouts. But New York’s defense, as it did all

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO BY DOUG MURRAY

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, center, throws a pass during a game against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday in Miami Gardens, Fla. game, stiffened and sealed it when Will McDonald had a strip-sack of Watson on fourth down and recovered the fumble. PACKERS 31, BEARS 7: In Green Bay, Wisconsin, Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers wanted to make sure they didn’t let a big lead against the Chicago Bears slip away again. With help from a ball-hawking defense, the Packers poured it on instead. Christian Watson caught two long touchdown passes from Love, MarShawn Lloyd also scored twice and the Packers forced ﬁve turnovers as they exacted a measure of revenge against their rivals by trouncing the Bears on Sunday. COMMANDERS 27, GIANTS 27, OT: In Landover, Maryland, Jayden Daniels took off on an ill-advised scramble in the closing seconds of overtime with the Commanders in ﬁeld goal range and Washington was unable to stop the clock before time expired, settling for a tie with the New York Giants on Sunday after both teams made critical mistakes in the extra period. Washington (1-3-1) got the ball with 2 minutes left in OT when Da-

ron Payne stripped the ball from Cam Skattebo with the Giants in range for a game-ending ﬁeld goal. Daniels quickly moved the Commanders to the Giants 24, but with 12 seconds left and Washington with no timeouts, he held onto the ball and went down for no gain. The Commanders had a twotouchdown lead in the fourth quarter before Jameis Winston led a furious comeback for the NFC Eastleading Giants (3-1-1). NINERS 32, SEAHAWKS 29: In Seattle, Brock Purdy engineered two scoring drives in the fourth quarter and the San Francisco 49ers rallied to beat the Seattle Seahawks Sunday on a 43-yard ﬁeld goal by Eddy Pineiro with 1:56 to play. The win for the 49ers (5-0) offered a small bit of payback for their two late-season losses to Seattle (3-2) last season, including a 41-6 defeat in the divisional round of the playoffs with a short-handed roster. The game featured an NFL season-high seven combined turnovers, an ejection of 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw and no touchdown drives of more than 25 yards before San Francisco took over trailing 26-21 late in the third quarter.

LIONS 45, CARDINALS 21: In Glendale, Arizona, Jared Goff threw three touchdown passes, Jahmyr Gibbs added 151 yards rushing and two more scores and the Detroit Lions shook off a slow start by scoring 31 straight points to roll past the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday. Gibbs barreled into the end zone on a 1-yard run in the second quarter and added a 3-yard TD run in the fourth, bouncing off the offensive line before reversing field and finding room to run. The three-time Pro Bowl selection has scored an NFLrecord 58 touchdowns before his 25th birthday, passing Lions great Barry Sanders, who had 57. Jameson Williams had his first multi-TD receiving game, catching touchdowns for 8 and 39 yards for Detroit (3-2). Arizona (1-4) has lost nine straight home games, a streak that’s lasted more than a year. BRONCOS 23, CHARGERS 17: In Inglewood, California, Wil Lutz kicked a go-ahead 19-yard field goal with 5:07 remaining, lifting the Denver Broncos over the winless and mistake-prone Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday. Lutz’s 36-yarder with 1:08 left extended the lead and finished a run of 13 unanswered points in the fourth quarter for the Broncos (3-2). Denver earned its first division win and first victory at SoFi Stadium since 2023 with coach Sean Payton calling the plays. The Chargers, who are 0-5 for the first time since 2003, came in with a decimated offensive line that featured four rookies trying to protect quarterback Justin Herbert, who was 14 of 24 for 121 yards passing with a touchdown and an interception while getting sacked five times. STEELERS 34, COLTS 22: In Pittsburgh, Jaylen Warren had a star turn during the Steelers’ victory over the Colts on Sunday, piling up 188 total yards and two long touchdowns while outplaying Indy’s Jonathan Taylor. The Steelers (3-2) needed Warren, Aaron Rodgers and their offense to be productive on a day the Colts (2-3) hung around well into the fourth quarter. Rodgers completed 22 of 31 passes for 235 yards and three scores. While Warren did most of the work on their 80-yard connection, the 42-year-old Rodgers paid the price by absorbing a crushing hit from 314-pound Colts defensive tackle Grover Stewart as he flicked the ball to the do-everything running back.

Little’s 57-yard FG gives Jaguars Bills’ QB Allen offers 19-17 win over Eagles in London challenge for Rams’ defensive progress BY KEN MAGUIRE AP sportswriter

LONDON — Cam Little grew up playing soccer and watching Premier League games every weekend. So to line up a game-winning kick for the Jaguars in London was something special. Little connected from 57 yards as time expired and Jacksonville beat the Philadelphia Eagles 19-17 in a wild finish at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday. “It was the coolest moment of my career,” said Little, who wore a Manchester United jersey at his postgame news conference. Little sprinted from midfield into the opposite end zone with his teammates in pursuit and struck a Jude Bellingham-style arms wide celebration in tribute to the England and Real Madrid star. The improbable scenario was made possible by Ameer Abdullah’s 53-yard kickoff return that left 1 second on the clock. The Eagles had taken a 17-16 lead on Jake Elliott’s 48-yard field goal with 8 seconds left — after Little’s extra-point attempt was wide left following Parker Washington’s 27yard touchdown reception late in the fourth quarter. The Jaguars were using backup snapper DaVon Hamilton after Ross Matiscik left the game with an injury. Philadelphia, which slipped to 2-3 for the first time since 2021, played without leading rusher Saquon Barkley and receiver DeVonta Smith and with a makeshift offensive line. The Eagles rushed for just 22 yards. Trevor Lawrence completed 24 of 39 passes for 331 yards and two touchdowns — both to Washington — along with an interception for the Jaguars (4-1).

BY DAN GREENSPAN Associated Press

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO BY IAN WALTON

Jacksonville Jaguars kicker Cam Little, center, celebrates after scoring the winning field goal in a game against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday in London. “One of the craziest games, maybe the craziest game I’ve ever been a part of,” Lawrence said, “and I’ve been in some pretty wild ones. Just how cool is this sport? The game’s never over.” Washington, who caught a 51yard touchdown pass in the first quarter, had six receptions for 124 yards. Eagles linebacker Zack Baun ensured his team went into halftime with a 14-7 lead by getting past Chris Rodriguez Jr. and tackling Bhayshul Tuten for a loss when Jacksonville went for it on fourthand-goal from the 1 with 1 second left in the half. Eagles coach Nick Sirianni jumped and pumped his ﬁrst in reaction. Sirianni was asked about not kicking the ball out of bounds at the end. “I didn’t make the right decision, and I lost us that game,” the Eagles

coach said. “That’s what I said to our guys, and what hurts there is that, you know, the guys fought so hard and then I don’t make the decision that, you know, that I should make at the end of the game, and I cost us that game, and I put that fully on me.” The Baltimore Ravens had used some late-game heroics in Rio de Janeiro last month to beat the Dallas Cowboys, who took heat for coaching decisions. Earlier, Eagles backup running back Will Shipley scored on a 2-yard run and Darius Cooper caught a 62-yard touchdown pass from Jalen Hurts. Hurts completed 21 of 40 passes for 220 yards and one touchdown. Jalen Carter had two sacks and two forced fumbles for the Eagles. Little’s 34-yard ﬁeld goal in the third quarter made it 14-10.

LOS ANGELES — From his sideline, Matthew Stafford had a great vantage point on Josh Allen’s skills as the Los Angeles Rams held off the Buffalo Bills 44-42 on Dec. 8, 2024, when Allen became the first player in the Super Bowl era to run for three touchdowns and pass for three TDs in a game. “He’s a one-of-a-kind type player at the quarterback position,” Stafford said. “I think size, speed, ability to throw the ball, all the things you’d want. So he’s a big-time player. It’s fun to watch.” Allen is decidedly less enjoyable to try to defend, as the other side of the ball for the Rams (2-2) will have to do in their showdown with the Bills (3-1) on Monday night. “He’s probably a lot more fun when you don’t got to tackle him,” Rams defensive end Braden Fiske said. “But, hey, anytime you get to compete against the best, it is fun.” Allen accounted for 342 yards passing and 82 yards rushing without a turnover in his memorable last visit to SoFi Stadium, coming up short after trailing by 17 points twice in the third quarter. Those offensive fireworks happened in nine possessions while possessing the ball for just 21:30. Buffalo coach Joe Brady, who was Allen’s offensive coordinator at the time, could only remember the things that went wrong. “We dug ourselves a hole in that game, and it allowed it to get to that point,” Brady said. “You guys know how I am. I have such a high standard, so I’m always gonna reflect on the bad. But it didn’t have to get to

AP PHOTO BY ADRIAN KRAUS

Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen looks to pass during a game against the New England Patriots on Oct. 4 in Orchard Park, N.Y. ä Bills at Rams.

7:15 P.M. MONDAY, ABC.

that point that it did.” The Rams’ defensive players are looking forward to the challenge as a chance to measure where they are at after an up-and-down ﬁrst month of the season. Los Angeles ranks second in the NFL in total yards (247.5) and yards passing allowed (145.5), having smothered the New York Giants after starting quarterback Jaxson Dart was hurt and putting the clamps on the Philadelphia Eagles, while also struggling to contain the San Francisco 49ers and Denver Broncos.

6C ✦ Monday, October 12, 2026 ✦ nola.com ✦ The Times-Picayune

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VIKINGS 23, SAINTS 13

‘That’s not good’ Saints have now lost 14 of past 20 games at home

BY LUKE JOHNSON

Staff writer

The last man in the New Orleans Saints locker room listened to the question and let out the heaviest sigh as he considered his answer. The New Orleans Saints had just been handed their third straight defeat inside their own home stadium, this one a 23-13 loss at the hands of the undefeated Minnesota Vikings. The offense in particular had no answers outside of one 15-play touchdown drive that required two fourth-down conversions to succeed. And as Erik McCoy let out that sigh, he was tallying up all the ways it went wrong. “I think it’s pretty blunt and pretty simple: It was a s****y performance by us,” McCoy said. Three weeks ago, fresh off the Saints’ upset road victory against the Baltimore Ravens, the Caesars Superdome was rollicking as the home team took a five-point lead into the fourth quarter against the Las Vegas Raiders. Since that point, any good will the Saints had built up has turned to dust. The Raiders outscored New Orleans by 13 in the final quarter, and in their last nine quarters — all at home — the Saints have been outscored 81-37. When McCoy began his career with the Saints as a rookie in 2019, home-field advantage truly meant something in the Superdome, especially late in games. Knowing what it can look like has only made what has happened lately an even more bitter pill. “I mean, you only get so many games at home in front of this crowd, who consistently shows up, and we have done nothing but crap the bed in those opportunities,” McCoy said. Sunday, it was the offense’s turn to disappoint. Even giving Minnesota credit where it was due — the Vikings came into the game with the NFL’s fiercest pass rush and the No. 1 scoring defense — the Saints repeatedly made the going

STAFF PHOTO BY BRETT DUKE

New Orleans Saints quarterback Tyler Shough throws the ball while under pressure from Minnesota Vikings linebacker Blake Cashman on Sunday at the Caesars Superdome even tougher by getting in their own way. There was a false start on a third-and-6 coming out of the 2-minute warning. There was a sequence in the second half with the Saints driving in Vi-

kings territory in which they committed penalties on three straight plays — the last of which was declined after Tyler Shough threw an interception. There was another holding penalty that nulliﬁed what would’ve

been the Saints’ longest run of the game (13 yards). There were three turnovers, including one back-breaker when return man Jayden Price coughed the ball up on the opening kick of the second half. Since the start

of that fourth quarter against the Raiders, New Orleans has given the ball away eight times in nine quarters. “We need a fire lit under our a***s,” McCoy said. “Because our last three performances we’ve turned the ball over, what, eight times? It’s unfathomable. It’s not OK.” Edge defender Cam Jordan has seen what the Superdome can be at its heights, too. Now in his 16th season, he’s been on a pair of Saints teams that went undefeated at home and six of them that went 6-2 or better in the Superdome. After Sunday’s loss, the Saints have won just six of their last 20 games at home. And that’s not even the number that really bothered Jordan the most at the moment. “We’re 1-4,” Jordan said. “… We’re sitting at a 20% win rate; that’s not good.” Obviously, Jordan said, the home losses are concerning. He said the team has to find a way to “bring the energy back” to what had been a difficult place for opponents to play. But the problem is larger. “First of all, we’ve got to find a way to win,” Jordan said. “I’m not even worried about just winning at home — I want to win on the road, at home, in the sky, in the alley, it doesn’t matter. We’ve got to learn how to win together and be a more disciplined team.” It took three weeks for the Saints to go from an intriguing team with upside to one that was fuming in the postgame locker room, searching for answers in the only statistical category that really matters. The only response they could find in the moment was a simple acknowledgement that they clearly didn’t know how. “The reality is, offensively, we don’t know how to win right now,” McCoy said. “It’s something we’ve got to get fixed and fixed fast, because we just went on a threegame losing skid at home with all of our fans showing up. That s**t’s not OK.”

SAINTS NOTEBOOK

Shough gives non-denial when asked if hand is broken Brees inducted into Saints’ Ring of Honor

Minnesota 23, New Orleans 13 Minnesota 3 3 7 10 — 23 New Orleans 0 7 6 0 — 13 First Quarter Min—FG Reichard 40, 9:04. Second Quarter NO—K.Miller 2 run (Carlson kick), 8:23. Min—FG Reichard 54, :00. Third Quarter Min—Jefferson 15 pass from Murray (Reichard kick), 12:06. NO—Sanker 87 fumble return (kick failed), 2:34. Fourth Quarter Min—A.Jones 8 run (Reichard kick), 14:06. Min—FG Reichard 55, 7:01.

BY MATTHEW PARAS AND LUKE JOHNSON Staff writer

Whenever the New Orleans Saints ran a rushing play to the left in Sunday’s 23-13 loss to the Minnesota Vikings, quarterback Tyler Shough still handed the ball off with his right hand. The New Orleans quarterback had to make this adjustment after injuring his left, non-throwing hand in the previous game against the Atlanta Falcons. In practice throughout the week and against the Vikings, Shough wore a glove to protect it from further damage. Is it broken? “I’m not even sure I can answer that,” Shough said with a shrug, “but it was kind of banged up a little bit this week. But it didn’t really affect me.” Shough may have issued a nondenial, but the quarterback refused to let the issue linger as an excuse for his play in Sunday’s loss. The quarterback posted a 38.1 quarterback rating as he threw for only 96 yards and two interceptions. Beyond the run-game differences, Shough often got up off the ground with only his right hand. “It wasn’t bothering me,” Shough said. “It was just kind of a habit probably throughout the week, just not trying to put a bunch of

A—70,006.

STAFF PHOTO BY BRETT DUKE

Former Saints quarterback Drew Brees and general manager Mickey Loomis react after Brees is inducted into the team’s Ring of Honor during halftime of a game against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday at the Caesars Superdome. weight on it, I guess. There’s no issues throughout the game.”

Brees honored The best player in Saints history officially landed in a place of honor Sunday, when New Orleans officially inducted quarterback Drew Brees into their ring of honor during the halftime break of its game with the Minnesota Vikings. Brees, who was enshrined as a first-ballot Hall of Famer earlier this fall, wore his gold Hall of Fame jacket and stood next to his Hall of Fame bust during the ceremony.

“It has been one of the greatest honors of my life to represent this city, this community, this fanbase and our organization,” Brees said after his name was unveiled. “I will always love you, New Orleans; I will always represent you, and I will always love the Who Dat nation.” Brees landed between fellow Hall of Famers Morten Andersen and Rickey Jackson on the Saints Ring of Honor, at the 50-yard line above the opposing sideline. Saints owner Gayle Benson, president Dennis Lauscha and general manager Mickey Loomis were present

Min NO First downs 18 9 Total Net Yards 364 142 Rushes-yards 36-153 17-55 Passing 211 87 Punt Returns 2-57 0-0 Kickoff Returns 3-83 5-116 Interceptions Ret. 2-14 0-0 Comp-Att-Int 24-30-0 16-25-2 Sacked-Yards Lost 2-18 1-9 Punts 3-43.667 4-57.25 Fumbles-Lost 3-2 1-1 Penalties-Yards 4-30 6-41 Time of Possession 39:37 20:23 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING—Minnesota, A.Jones 25-113, Murray 10-51, Jefferson 1-(minus 11). New Orleans, K.Miller 10-30, Donaldson 4-13, Kamara 3-12. PASSING—Minnesota, Murray 24-30-0-229. New Orleans, Shough 16-25-2-96. RECEIVING—Minnesota, Jefferson 6-79, Bartholomew 5-33, Price 3-20, A.Jones 3-4, Felton 2-27, J.Jones 1-32, Dallas 1-11, Yurosek 1-10, Hockenson 1-7, Claiborne 1-6. New Orleans, Olave 4-46, Vele 4-26, Johnson 4-16, Kamara 2-(minus 6), Donaldson 1-7, Fant 1-7. MISSED FIELD GOALS—None.

on the ﬁeld for the ceremony. The Pro Football Hall of Fame also presented Brees with his Hall of Fame ring of excellence during the halftime ceremony. Brees became the ninth Saints player or executive to be included in the ring of honor, joining Andersen, Jackson, Jahri Evans, Archie Manning, Sam Mills, Willie Roaf, Will Smith and the late Tom Benson.

quarterback. That was not the case against New Orleans, against whom he more than doubled his previous season rushing total. Murray carried the ball 10 times for 51 yards in the Vikings 23-13 win, with eight of those 10 rushes being scrambles. And several of those plays were costly for the Saints. Murray’s longest run of the game was an 18-yard scramble on third and 10, which kept an eventual touchdown drive alive, one of two third-and-longs he converted with his legs Sunday. He also picked up a seven-yard gain on a third-and-13 play — which, while it didn’t move the chains, it did allow kicker Will Reichard to come on for a 55-yard field goal that pushed Minnesota’s lead to 10 points in the fourth quarter. “He’s a gamer,” defensive end Cam Jordan said. “That’s been the tale since he got to the league, and that was no different today. … He’s a hell of a competitor and you know going in that he doesn’t have an escape pattern — he (just) gets out.”

Odds and ends

Joe Horn was Sunday’s Saints Legend of the Game … The Saints held a moment of silence for the late Mike Ditka before kickoff. Ditka, who died this week, coached the Saints from 1997-99 … Edge rusher Chase Young led the pregame Who Dat chant … Jonas Sanker’s 87yard fumble return for a touchNo answer for Murray down was the second-longest in Coming into Sunday’s game, Ky- franchise history, behind only Keith ler Murray had not had much of an Mitchell’s 90-yard return against the impact as a scrambler early on in Carolina Panthers in November of his tenure as Minnesota’s starting 2000.

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The Times-Picayune F nola.com F Monday, October 12, 2026 F 7C

VIKINGS 23, SAINTS 13

THREE AND OUT: JEFF DUNCAN’S TOP THREE TAKEAWAYS FROM NEW ORLEANS’ LOSS TO MINNESOTA

VIKINGS DEFENSE DOMINATED Minnesota entered the game with the topranked scoring defense in the league and it showed throughout the game. They dominated from start to finish, shutting down the Saints’ running game and flustering quarterback Tyler Shough repeatedly on third down. The Saints mustered just one scoring drive in nine offensive possessions. They had four punts, all on three-and-outs, and two turnovers on their eight offensive possessions. In all, the Saints totaled just nine first downs and 142 yards total offense. The only reason the Saints stayed in the game was because of a fluky 87-yard fumble return TD by Jonas Sanker.

QB MURRAY WAS A DIFFERENCE-MAKER The Minnesota Vikings quarterback bedeviled the Saints time and again on third down, constantly scrambling for first downs or buying time with his legs to deliver back-breaking pass completions. The Vikings converted nine of their first 15 third downs, largely because of Murray’s athleticism and elusiveness. Murray completed 24 of 30 passes for 229 yards and a touchdown for a 109.6 passer rating. Murray added 54 rushing yards on seven scrambles in the Vikings’ 23-13 win over the Saints to remain undefeated.

TAKEAWAYS WERE HUGE Sanker’s fumble return TD in the third quarter briefly stemmed the tide and kept the Saints in contention. It was the second big takeaway for the defense on the day. The Saints seized the early momentum when Chase Young scooped up a fumble at the Saints’ 8-yard line and returned it 26 yards to the 34. The recovery thwarted an early scoring opportunity for the Vikings, who were threatening to extend their early 3-0 lead. Khristian Boyd forced a fumble from Aaron Jones on the play. The Saints defense entered the game having forced just two turnovers in the first four games. So the timely takeaways were much-needed for the unit.

Continued from page 1C season may be gone, too. “Losing the way we have lost these last three games is gut-wrenching,” said Saints guard David Edwards. “It sucks. The competitor in you wants to smash your face against the wall. (We have to figure out) how do we move forward in a way that’s constructive and positive and moving people together along.” That is the question Moore has to solve. Whatever he’s been doing the past few weeks hasn’t worked. As a result, the Saints have all the symptoms of a bad team: costly penalties, slow starts, lack of a running game, inability to stop the run, inability to sustain drives are all reasons the Saints have dropped to 1-4. Moore’s postgame news conferences after the losses are all starting to sound the same. Unfortunately for Moore, the results have been the same, too. “You have to stick together through these type of storms,” Moore said. “You have to get better. That’s the thing we have to focus on. We have to get better during the week and give ourselves an opportunity to play better football next Sunday.” Moore was able to weather the storm last season when the Saints started 2-10 before winning four of their last five. Now he all of a sudden finds himself having to keep things afloat again. There is no indication that he’s losing the locker room yet. But if things continue down this path, he will.

31-30

Sept. 20

24-17

35-27

Continued from page 1C

WALKER

Sept. 13

Sept. 27

SAINTS

young career. The 27-year-old threw for only 96 yards (16 of 25) and was picked off twice, resulting in a careerlow 38.1 passer rating. But the Saints’ problems went beyond the quarterback. The Saints finished with 142 yards, their lowest since Week 2 of the 2021 season. Despite forcing two turnovers, the defense was carved up by Vikings quarterback Kyler Murray (229 yards on 24 of 30 passing) — especially on third down (8 of 16). And on special teams, the Saints committed two major blunders that shifted momentum to Minnesota. Simply put, at 1-4, the Saints don’t look like a very good football team right now. “I felt like we had a plan (against the blitz),” Moore said. “Obviously the plan wasn’t good enough. They did a better job. They got us in too many of those favorable passing situations, and then they were able ot take advantage of them. “We weren’t able to get those done. Obviously, that’s on me.” This was a matchup, especially, where coaching was poised to matter. The Vikings (5-0) are undefeated in part because they blitz like no other team. Handling that pressure required Shough and the offense to be on the same page, and it required the coaching staff to help them identify those looks. Moore’s strategy, on paper, made sense. The best way to stop a team from blitzing is to avoid obvious passing situations entirely, so New Orleans tried to run the ball. And initially, that plan looked sound. The Saints went into halftime with a 7-6 lead largely because of a 15-play, 66-yard drive that saw Kendre Miller punch in a 1-yard touchdown. New Orleans also played aggressively on the series, converting two short fourth downs to keep the chains moving. But unsurprisingly, the Saints’ rushing attack was too inconsistent to make the game plan reliable. After Miller’s touchdowns, the Saints rushed for just 10 yards on their next six possessions. They had seven carries, five of which came on first-and-10 — and only one of those five had positive yardage. A gain of 1 yard, mind you. Pre-snap errors and other penalties

RESULTS

Oct. 5

45-24

Oct. 11

23-13

Oct. 18 at Giants Noon

Oct. 25 Steelers 8:30 a.m. STAFF PHOTO BY DAVID GRUNFELD

Saints running back Alvin Kamara runs up the middle against the Minnesota Vikings during the first half of the game Sunday at the Caesars Superdome. further put New Orleans in unfavorable down-and-distances. “Those odds are not really in your favor for those situations,” Shough said of facing tasks like second-and-20 and third-and-15. “It’s hard to get drives going when we draw up plays that hit like we expected it to and we shoot ourselves in the foot (with a penalty),” wide receiver Devaughn Vele said. Once New Orleans fell behind, Minnesota’s lead felt almost insurmountable. Even after safety Jonas Sanker recovered a fumble and returned it for an 87-yard touchdown, Saints kicker Daniel Carlson missed the extra point, keeping the game tied at 13. Carlson’s miss was another critical special-teams mistake, following Jayden Price’s fumble on a kickoff return to start the second half. Each time, the Saints couldn’t respond. After Carlson’s miss, the defense returned to the ﬁeld and gave up a touchdown in just six plays.

Shough, too, started to press. On third-and-7, he was nearly intercepted on a target to Bryce Lance when he anticipated the rookie receiver cutting inside on a slant, only for Lance to go deep on a double move. Then, to seal New Orleans’ defeat, Shough went back again to the double move on a pass to Chris Olave — only for Minnesota cornerback Byron Murphy to know that was coming and stay deep to intercept the throw. That time, Olave slowed down his route by cutting inside. “They were really prepared for those moments,” Shough said of the Vikings. The sequence arguably suggests New Orleans’ offense was predictable, just as Brees had suggested on the broadcast. Minnesota could tell what was coming because of the Saints’ repetition. And while every team repeats concepts throughout a game, the Saints don’t seem to break tendencies enough.

Take play action, the area Brees highlighted the most in the fourth quarter. According to FTN Fantasy, the Saints entered the afternoon with a play-action rate of just 17.7% — the fourthlowest in the league. On Sunday, according to Pro Football Focus, the Saints ran play action just once — a 14-yard completion to Olave. To be fair, play action might not have been the answer. Maybe Moore and his staff didn’t trust the offensive line to hold up against a ferocious Vikings defense. Maybe Moore felt the Saints were in too tough a spot — whether it was the game clock or the down and distance — for the plays to work. But on the call, Brees was right to wonder why. And “why?” lately keeps coming up with these Saints. “Sometimes, you go through storms,” Moore said. “Inevitably, storms end. But we’re going through a little bit of one.”

were celebrating Domecoming and Steve Gleason’s blocked punt. The trifecta was completed Sunday, which was supposed to be a game where the Saints got up off the mat from that beatdown from the Falcons six days ago. Instead, they continue to fall apart at home. “Three games in a row?” center Erik McCoy asked rhetorically. “S**t’s unacceptable.” Let’s be fair. The Vikings are a good team, evident by their 5-0 record. They are good because of their pressuring defense and special teams. Their offense came into the game as one of the worst in the league. But you wouldn’t have known it by watching this game. Minnesota came into the game last in the league in passing yards per game (156 per game). They had more than half of that by the end of the first quarter and finished with 229. The Saints’ offense, meanwhile, managed just 142 yards and committed three turnovers. That will lose STAFF PHOTO BY DAVID GRUNFELD you a lot of football games, which is exactly what the Saints have managed Saints coach Kellen Moore is not pleased with a call during a game against the to do these last three weeks. Minnesota Vikings on Sunday at the Caesars Superdome. “They played better than us and coached better than us,” Moore said. That’s been a familiar theme and the The Saints hit the road next week Saints Ring of Honor. Seeing Brees’ main reason Saints fans haven’t seen a to play Jameis Winston and the name in the rafters was the only reawin at home since December. New York Giants. Then they travel son for Saints fans to look up Sunday. “We’ve got to find a way to win,” across the pond to Paris to play the The Saints are now 3-8 in the Dome Pittsburgh Steelers before their bye under Moore. The three losses on this said Saints defensive end Cam Jorweek. Maybe getting away from New home stretch are even more surprisdan. “I’m not even worried about just Orleans will do this team some good winning at home. I want to win on the ing when you look at how well the considering how bad they’ve been in road, at home, in the sky, in the alley, Saints played on the road against the what used to be one of the most intim- Detroit Lions and Baltimore Ravens it doesn’t matter. We’ve got to learn how to win together and be a more to start the season. Then they came idating venues in the NFL. That’s no disciplined team.” longer the case. The loudest cheers of home and blew a lead against the The losing has become sickening. Raiders and got embarrassed by the the game came at halftime for Drew It’s up to Moore to find the cure. Falcons on a Monday night when they Brees, who was inducted into the

Nov. 8 Browns Noon

Nov. 15 Panthers Noon

Nov. 22 at Bears Noon

Nov. 29 at Bengals Noon

Dec. 6 Packers Noon

Dec. 13 at Panthers Noon

Dec. 20 at Buccaneers Noon

Dec. 27 Arizona Noon

Jan. 3 Falcons Noon

TBD Buccaneers TBD

8C ✦ Monday, October 12, 2026 ✦ nola.com ✦ The Times-Picayune

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SCOREBOARD Odds Sports Betting Line NFL Monday

FAVORITE OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG at LA RAMS 3 3½ (54½) Buffalo

College Football Tuesday

FAVORITE Delaware at JAX ST

OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG 1½ 2½ (48½) at M. TEN 2½ 3 (43½) Florida Intl

Wednesday

FAVORITE OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG Kennesaw St 5½ 3½ (51½)at MISOU ST W. Kentucky 1½ 1½ (51½)at SAM HOU

Thursday

FAVORITE OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG East Carolina 6½ 4½ (49½) at UAB Ga Southern 2½ 4 (47½)at OLD DOM at TEXAS ST 9½ 12½ (68½) Colorado St

Friday

FAVORITE Memphis App St at PURDUE

Saturday

OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG 6½ 6½ (53½) at TULANE 2½ 1½ (51½) at C. CAR 2½ 3 (52½) Wash

FAVORITE OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG Ohio State 1½ 3½ (51½) at INDIANA Pittsburgh 6½ 6½ (43½) at B. COLL Northwestern 7½ 9½ (48½) at MSU at ARMY 3½ 2½ (56½) Florida Atl at KANSAS ST 8½ 6½ (55½) Kansas at WEST VA 2½ 1½ (62½) Cincinnati at J. MADISN 10½ 11½ (57½) Georgia St at B. GREEN 8½ 7½ (44½) Ball State at LSU 10½ 10½ (59½) Miss St. at SMU 6½ 8½ (52½) Virginia at TEXAS 9½ 9½ (52½) Florida at MARYLND 4½ 4½ (59½) Rutgers at BUFFALO 3½ 3½ (44½) UMass at TEMPLE 23½ 22½ (50½) Charlotte W. Michigan 8½ 7 (42½) at C. MICH at DUKE 4½ 3½ (47½) N. Carolina at TEX TECH 12½ 14 (48½) Arizona St. at VA TECH 8½ 9½ (55½) Ga Tech at GEORGIA 16½ 18½ (48½) Auburn Toledo 6½ 4½ (52½) at E. MICH at MICHIGAN 6½ 6½ (42½) Penn State at OLE MISS 7½ 6 (59½) Missouri Alabama 1½ 6½ (53½) at TENN at MIA (OH) 9½ 10 (46½) Akron at WYOMING 8½ 7 (40½) N. Illinois UNLV 3 1½ (46½) at A.F. Tulsa 3 4½ (46½) at RICE at UL 3½ 4½ (49½) Troy at OREGN ST 13½ 17½ (53½) Wash St. at NDSU 14½ 14½ (45½) Nevada at MIA (FL) 16½ 21½ (56½) Florida St at S. FLA 18½ 19½ (46½) Kent State at VANDER 6½ 6 (50½) Arkansas at BAYLOR 6½ 6½ (49½) TCU Arkansas St 6½ 7 (61½) at S. MISS at UCLA 3 3½ (46½) Wisconsin Louisville 12½ 13½ (56½) at SYRACSE at HOUSTON 2½ 4½ (60½) Oklah St. Notre Dame 10½ 10½ (47½) at BYU at OKLAH 6½ 6½ (43½) Kentucky at UTSA 7 6½ (55½) Navy La Tech 14½ 14½ (54½) at ULM San Jose St. 10 8½ (49½) at UTEP Ohio 13½ 14½ (48½) at SAC ST Utah 13½ 16½ (49½) at COL Fresno State 8½ 8½ (44½) at SDSU Wake Forest 8½ 9½ (53½) at CAL New Mexico 17½ 14½ (45½) at HAWAII at OREGON 7½ 7 (52½) Nebraska

MLB

Monday

American League FAVORITE LINE at TAMPA BAY -171 National League FAVORITE LINE LA Dodgers OFF

NHL

Monday

FAVORITE LINE Florida -117 at NEW JERSEY -132 at MINNESOTA -120

UNDERDOG Cleveland

LINE +141

UNDERDOG at MILWAUKEE

LINE OFF

UNDERDOG at BUFFALO Ottawa Vegas

LINE -105 +108 -103

Pro basketball WNBA Playoff Glance (x-if necessary) Finals (Best-of-5)

No. 2 Golden State vs. No. 4 Atlanta

Saturday, October 17: Atlanta at Golden State, 2:30 p.m. Monday, October 19: Atlanta at Golden State, 7 p.m. Thursday, October 22: Golden State at Atlanta, 7 p.m. Saturday, October 24: Golden State at Atlanta, 2:30 p.m. x-Monday, October 26: Atlanta at Golden State, TBA x-Thursday, October 29: Golden State at Atlanta, TBA x-Saturday, October 31: Atlanta at Golden State, TBA

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

W 3 3 2 0

L 1 2 3 5

T 0 0 0 0

Pct PF PA .750 127 107 .600 110 94 .400 93 96 .000 70 132

Jacksonville Indianapolis Houston Tennessee

W 4 2 1 0

L 1 3 4 5

T 0 0 0 0

Pct PF PA .800 123 70 .400 124 138 .200 110 112 .000 58 109

Baltimore Cleveland Pittsburgh Cincinnati

W 3 3 3 3

L 1 2 2 2

T 0 0 0 0

Pct PF PA .750 116 96 .600 93 112 .600 111 109 .600 128 109

Kansas City Las Vegas Denver L.A. Chargers

W 4 3 2 0

L 0 2 2 4

T Pct PF PA 0 1.000 118 77 0 .600 132 129 0 .500 74 94 0 .000 67 106

N.Y. Giants Philadelphia Dallas Washington

W 3 2 2 1

L 1 3 3 3

T 1 0 0 1

Pct PF .700 109 .400 92 .400 138 .300 115

Carolina Atlanta Tampa Bay New Orleans

W 2 2 1 1

L 2 2 4 4

T 0 0 0 0

Pct PF PA .500 121 109 .500 96 92 .200 100 112 .200 118 151

Minnesota Green Bay Chicago Detroit

W 5 3 3 2

L 0 2 2 2

T Pct PF PA 0 1.000 109 64 0 .600 104 112 0 .600 119 96 0 .500 119 127

San Francisco Seattle L.A. Rams Arizona

W 4 3 2 1

L 0 1 2 3

T Pct PF PA 0 1.000 122 64 0 .750 105 73 0 .500 85 83 0 .250 87 117

South

North

West

NATIONAL CONFERENCE East

South

North

West

Thursday’s Games

Tampa Bay 24, Dallas 16

Sunday’s Games

Jacksonville 19, Philadelphia 17, London, GBR Cincinnati 31, Miami 24 Green Bay 31, Chicago 7 Houston 26, Tennessee 3 Minnesota 23, New Orleans 13 N.Y. Giants 27, Washington 27, OT N.Y. Jets 17, Cleveland 12 New England 45, Las Vegas 17 Pittsburgh 34, Indianapolis 22 Denver 23, L.A. Chargers 17 Detroit 45, Arizona 21 San Francisco 32, Seattle 29 Baltimore at Atlanta, n Open: Kansas City, Carolina

Monday’s Games

Buffalo at L.A. Rams, 7:15 p.m.

Major League Baseball MLB Postseason Glance x-if necessary

LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

(Best-of-7)

American League

(TBS, TruTV, HBO Max)

Cleveland vs. Tampa Bay

Monday, Oct. 12: Game 1: Cleveland at Tampa Bay, 8 p.m. (TBS/TruTV/HBO Max) Tuesday, Oct. 13: Game 2: Cleveland at Tampa Bay, 7 p.m. (TBS/TruTV/HBO Max) Thursday, Oct. 15: Game 3: Tampa Bay at Cleveland, 5 p.m. (TBS/TruTV/HBO Max) Friday, Oct. 16: Game 4: Tampa Bay at Cleveland, 5 p.m. (TBS/TruTV/HBO Max) x-Saturday, Oct. 17: Game 5: Tampa Bay at Cleveland, 7 p.m. (TBS/TruTV/HBO Max) x-Monday, Oct. 19: Game 6: Cleveland at Tampa Bay, 4 p.m. (TBS/TruTV/HBO Max) x-Tuesday, Oct. 20: Game 7: Cleveland at Tampa Bay, 7 p.m. (TBS/TruTV/HBO Max)

National League (FOX, FS1)

Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Milwaukee

Sunday, Oct. 11: Game: 1 Los Angeles Dodgers at Milwauke, n Monday, Oct. 12: Game 2: Los Angeles Dodgers (Yamamoto 14-9) at Milwaukee (Henderson 11-3), 4 p.m. (Fox/FS1/Fox One/ Fox Deportes) Wednesday, Oct. 14: Game 3: Milwaukee at Los Angeles Dodgers, 7 p.m. (FS1/Fox One/ Fox Deportes) Thursday, Oct. 15: Game 4: Milwaukee at Los Angeles Dodgers, 8 p.m. (FS1/Fox One/Fox Deportes) x-Friday, Oct. 16: Game 5: Milwaukee at Los Angeles Dodgers, 8 p.m. (FS1/Fox One/Fox Deportes) x-Sunday, Oct. 18: Game 6: Los Angeles Dodgers at Milwaukee, 7 p.m. (FS1/Fox One/ Fox Deportes) x-Monday, Oct. 19: Game 7: Los Angeles Dodgers at Milwaukee, 7 p.m. (Fox/FS1/Fox One/Fox Deportes)

Late Saturday Cleveland 2, Chicago White Sox 0 Chicago

Pro football

East

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO BY ABBIE PARR

Milwaukee Brewers second baseman Brice Turang watches his solo home run take flight during the fourth inning of Game 1 of the National League Championship Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday in Milwaukee. This game ended after press time.

PA 106 112 136 149

Cleveland

ab r h bi ab r h bi Antonacci lf 4 0 1 0 Kwan lf 3 1 1 0 Teel c 4 0 1 0 Ramírez 3b 3 1 1 2 Vargas 3b 3 0 0 0 DeLauter rf 4 0 1 0 Murakmi 1b 4 0 0 0 Adell dh 4 0 1 0 Bnintndi dh 4 0 0 0 Lowe 1b 3 0 0 0 Peters rf-cf 3 0 1 0 Bazzana 2b 3 0 0 0 Meidroth 2b 3 0 0 0 Genao 2b 0 0 0 0 C.Mntgry ss 2 0 0 0 Bailey c 3 0 0 0 Doyle cf 2 0 0 0 Halpin cf 3 0 2 0 Grichuk ph-rf1 0 0 0 Rocchio ss 3 0 0 0 Totals 30 0 3 0 Totals 29 2 6 2 Chicago 000 000 000 — 0 Cleveland 000 200 00x — 2 E—C.Montgomery (0). DP—Chicago 1, Cleveland 0. LOB—Chicago 6, Cleveland 5. 2B—Halpin 2 (1). HR—Ramírez (1). IP H R ER BB SO Chicago Burke L,1-0 5 4 2 2 0 4 Newcomb 2 2 0 0 0 3 Taylor 1 0 0 0 2 0 Cleveland Williams W,0-0 5 2⁄3 1 0 0 2 12 1 Sabrowski H,0 ⁄3 0 0 0 0 1 Gaddis H,1 1 1⁄3 2 0 0 0 4 C.Smith S,0-0 1 2⁄3 0 0 0 0 4 Newcomb pitched to 1 batter in the 8th. HBP—Williams (C.Montgomery). ABS Challenge—Williams (Ball-Confirmed); Rocchio (Strike-Overturned to Ball); Williams (Ball-Overturned to Strike); Sabrowski (Ball-Confirmed); Peters (Strike-Confirmed). Pitch timer violations—Taylor (pitcher). Umpires—Home, Vic Carapazza; First, Tom Hanahan; Second, Cory Blaser; Third, Gabe Morales; Right, Jansen Visconti; Left, Todd Tichenor. T—2:36. A—36,889 (34,788).

College football Major scores Saturday’s games EAST

Arizona 52, West Virginia 31 Army 20, Tulane 17 Brown 28, Bryant 13 CCSU 51, American International 14 Coastal Carolina 27, Marshall 21 Delaware St. 34, Franklin Pierce 0 Fordham 20, Richmond 14 Georgetown 21, Bucknell 14 Harvard 41, Cornell 29 LIU Brooklyn 17, Duquesne 14 Miami (Ohio) 20, UMass 19 Morgan St. 28, Robert Morris 27 Navy 34, Tulsa 26 North Carolina 21, Pittsburgh 17 Penn 24, Howard 20 Princeton 28, Wagner 13 Southern Cal 31, Penn St. 23 Stonehill 28, Sacred Heart 7 Stony Brook 31, Towson 24 UConn 34, Temple 20 Yale 28, Dartmouth 7

SOUTH

Alabama A&M 55, Bethune-Cookman 17 Alcorn St. 63, Arkansas Baptist Buffaloes 7 Charleston Southern 49, SC State 39 Chattanooga 19, Samford 3 E. Illinois 21, Gardner-Webb 7 E. Kentucky 30, West Georgia 20 ETSU 34, The Citadel 16 East Carolina 28, Rice 12 Georgia 20, Alabama 17 Georgia Tech 28, Duke 25 Grambling St. 45, Jackson St. 38 James Madison 27, Georgia Southern 24 Kentucky 35, LSU 34, OT Louisiana Tech 32, Louisiana-Lafayette 31

Memphis 38, UAB 13 Mercer 17, W. Carolina 14 Mississippi 52, Vanderbilt 17 NC A&T 30, New Hampshire 27, OT Norfolk St. 62, Va. Lynchburg 0 Old Dominion 10, Appalachian St. 3 Presbyterian 38, Davidson 21 South Carolina 38, Florida 19 Tarleton St. 40, Austin Peay 32 Tennessee Tech 20, Furman 15 UT Martin 42, Tennessee St. 28 UT Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros 13, SE Louisiana 3 Virginia 28, Syracuse 25 Wake Forest 38, NC State 14 William & Mary 17, NC Central 14 Wofford 16, Elon 0

MIDWEST

Air Force 28, N. Illinois 7 Bowling Green 38, Sacramento St. 10 Buffalo 23, Toledo 8 Butler 41, San Diego 10 Dayton 56, Morehead St. 28 E. Michigan 25, Akron 23 Houston 35, Kansas St. 16 Illinois 38, Michigan St. 37, OT Indiana 20, Nebraska 17 Missouri 27, Texas A&M 6 N. Iowa 24, North Dakota 17 Northwestern 45, Ball St. 14 Notre Dame 58, Stanford 7 Ohio 31, Cent. Michigan 14 Ohio St. 45, Maryland 16 Purdue 41, Minnesota 13 SE Missouri 38, Lindenwood (Mo.) 27 South Dakota 31, S. Illinois 10 St. Thomas (Minn.) 64, Stetson 21 Valparaiso 21, Drake 13 W. Michigan 38, Kent St. 7 Youngstown St. 57, Indiana St. 24

SOUTHWEST

Abilene Christian 20, Cent. Arkansas 14 Lamar 38, Incarnate Word 35 MVSU 38, Texas Southern 34 Nevada 30, UTEP 13 North Texas 50, Charlotte 10 Oklahoma 27, Texas 24 Oklahoma St. 42, UCF 28 Southern U. 28, Prairie View 14 Tennessee 24, Arkansas 17

FAR WEST

Arizona St. 30, Hawaii 12 Boise St. 38, Fresno St. 31 Cal Poly 25, Idaho St. 24 California 25, Virginia Tech 20 E. Washington 31, N. Colorado 22 N. Arizona 49, Montana 44 Oregon St. 66, San Diego St. 14 Portland St. 30, Utah Tech 14 UCLA 17, Oregon 15 UNLV 13, N. Dakota St. 7 Utah 41, Kansas 24 Weber St. 38, Idaho 27

Auto racing NASCAR Cup Series Bank of America 400 Results Sunday

At Charlotte Motor Speedway Concord, N.C. Lap length: 1.50 miles (Start position in parentheses) 1. (2) Chase Briscoe, Toyota, 267 laps, 68 points. 2. (17) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 267, 53. 3. (4) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 267, 44. 4. (27) Josh Berry, Ford, 267, 36. 5. (12) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 267, 40. 6. (1) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 267, 49. 7. (10) Shane Van Gisbergen, Chevrolet, 267, 30. 8. (3) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 267, 41. 9. (7) Joey Logano, Ford, 267, 28. 10. (13) Chris Buescher, Ford, 267, 29. 11. (37) Corey Heim, Toyota, 267, 0. 12. (9) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 267, 27. 13. (15) Daniel Suárez, Chevrolet, 267, 29. 14. (11) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 267, 27. 15. (24) Ryan Preece, Ford, 267, 22. 16. (28) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 267, 21. 17. (5) Austin Cindric, Ford, 267, 32. 18. (21) Riley Herbst, Toyota, 267, 19. 19. (19) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 267, 18. 20. (34) Zane Smith, Ford, 267, 17. 21. (36) Connor Zilisch, Chevrolet, 267, 16. 22. (31) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 267, 15. 23. (32) Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Chevrolet, 267, 14. 24. (25) Erik Jones, Toyota, 267, 13. 25. (23) Noah Gragson, Ford, 267, 12. 26. (20) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 267, 11. 27. (30) Cole Custer, Chevrolet, 267, 10. 28. (18) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 266, 9. 29. (22) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 266, 8. 30. (33) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 266, 7. 31. (35) Cody Ware, Chevrolet, 266, 6. 32. (26) Austin Hill, Chevrolet, 265, 0. 33. (39) BJ McLeod, Chevrolet, 264, 4. 34. (14) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 259, 3. 35. (29) John H. Nemechek, Toyota, 259, 2. 36. (38) Gray Gaulding, Ford, accident, 201, 0. 37. (8) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, accident, 76, 1. 38. (16) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, accident, 76, 1. 39. (6) William Byron, Chevrolet, accident, 76, 1. Race Statistics Average Speed of Race Winner: 139.554 mph. Time of Race: 2 hours, 52 minutes, 11 seconds. Margin of Victory: .029 seconds. Caution Flags: 6 for 33 laps. Lead Changes: 11 among 5 drivers. Lap Leaders: K.Larson 0-45; C.Briscoe 46; K.Larson 47; B.Wallace 48-58; K.Larson 59107; C.Bell 108-118; K.Larson 119; C.Bell 120-

167; K.Larson 168; R.Blaney 169-172; C.Bell 173-206; C.Briscoe 207-267 Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Led, Laps Led): K.Larson, 5 times for 97 laps; C.Bell, 3 times for 93 laps; C.Briscoe, 2 times for 62 laps; B.Wallace, 1 time for 11 laps; R.Blaney, 1 time for 4 laps. Wins: T.Reddick, 5; D.Hamlin, 4; C.Briscoe, 3; R.Blaney, 3; J.Logano, 3; K.Larson, 2; T.Gibbs, 2; C.Elliott, 2; S.Van Gisbergen, 2; C.Bell, 1; C.Hocevar, 1; D.Suárez, 1; R.Preece, 1. Top 16 in Points: 1. K.Larson, 2367; 2. D.Hamlin, 2318; 3. C.Bell, 2316; 4. C.Briscoe, 2302; 5. R.Blaney, 2282; 6. J.Logano, 2275; 7. T.Reddick, 2253; 8. A.Cindric, 2222; 9. T.Gibbs, 2211; 10. C.Hocevar, 2187; 11. C.Elliott, 2182; 12. B.Wallace, 2182; 13. W.Byron, 2159; 14. D.Suárez, 2152; 15. C.Buescher, 2151; 16. R.Preece, 2140. NASCAR Driver Rating Formula A maximum of 150 points can be attained in a race. The formula combines the following categories: Wins, Finishes, Top-15 Finishes, Average Running Position While on Lead Lap, Average Speed Under Green, Fastest Lap, Led Most Laps, Lead-Lap Finish.

F1 Singapore Grand Prix Results Sunday

At Marina Bay Street Circuit Singapore City, Singapore. Lap length: 4.00 kilometers (Start position in parentheses) 1. (1) Max Verstappen, Netherlands, Red Bull Racing, 62 laps, 1:42:00.785, 25 points. 2. (2) Charles Leclerc, Monaco, Ferrari, 62, +7.335 seconds, 18. 3. (4) Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Italy, Mercedes, 62, +24.573, 15. 4. (5) Lando Norris, Great Britain, McLaren, 62, +40.506, 12. 5. (6) Oscar Piastri, Australia, McLaren, 62, +49.644, 10. 6. (3) Lewis Hamilton, Great Britain, Ferrari, 62, +53.188, 8. 7. (8) Liam Lawson, New Zealand, Racing Bulls, 62, +1:21.666, 6. 8. (10) Nico Hulkenberg, Germany, Audi F1 Team, 62, +1:23.386, 4. 9. (19) George Russell, Great Britain, Mercedes, 62, +1:24.677, 2. 10. (22) Isack Hadjar, France, Red Bull Racing, 62, +1:30.862, 1. 11. (7) Pierre Gasly, France, Alpine, 61, 1L. 12. (11) Oliver Bearman, England, Haas, 61, 1L. 13. (12) Esteban Ocon, France, Haas, 61, 1L. 14. (13) Carlos Sainz Jr, Spain, Williams, 61, 1L. 15. (9) Arvid Lindblad, Great Britain, Racing Bulls, 61, 1L. 16. (20) Fernando Alonso, Spain, Aston Martin, 61, 1L. 17. (17) Sergio Perez, Mexico, Cadillac, 60, 2L. 18. (16) Alexander Albon, Thailand, Williams, did not finish, 59, 3L. 19. (18) Valtteri Bottas, Finland, Cadillac, 59, 3L. 20. (21) Lance Stroll, Canada, Aston Martin, did not finish, 36. 21. (15) Franco Colapinto, Argentina, Alpine, did not finish, 29. 22. (14) Gabriel Bortoleto, Brazil, Audi F1 Team, did not finish, 7. Driver Standings 1. Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Italy, Mercedes, 340 points. 2. George Russell, Great Britain, Mercedes, 238. 3. Lewis Hamilton, Great Britain, Ferrari, 229. 4. Max Verstappen, Netherlands, Red Bull Racing, 221. 5. Charles Leclerc, Monaco, Ferrari, 215. 6. Lando Norris, Great Britain, McLaren, 201. 7. Oscar Piastri, Australia, McLaren, 138. 8. Isack Hadjar, France, Red Bull Racing, 97. 9. Liam Lawson, New Zealand, Racing Bulls, 75. 10. Pierre Gasly, France, Alpine, 41. 11. Arvid Lindblad, Great Britain, Racing Bulls, 38. 12. Franco Colapinto, Argentina, Alpine, 27. 13. Oliver Bearman, England, Haas, 23. 14. Nico Hulkenberg, Germany, Audi F1 Team, 13. 15. Gabriel Bortoleto, Brazil, Audi F1 Team, 10. 16. Fernando Alonso, Spain, Aston Martin, 7. 17. Esteban Ocon, France, Haas, 7. 18. Carlos Sainz Jr, Spain, Williams, 7. 19. Alexander Albon, Thailand, Williams, 5. 20. Yuki Tsunoda, Japan, Racing Bulls, 1. Manufacturers Standings 1. Mercedes, 578. 2. Ferrari, 444. 3. McLaren, 339. 4. Red Bull Racing, 332. 5. Racing Bulls, 100. 6. Alpine, 68. 7. Haas, 30. 8. Audi F1 Team, 23. 9. Williams, 12. 10. Aston Martin, 7. 11. Cadillac, 0.

Golf Baycurrent Classic Sunday

At Yokohama Country Club Kanagawa, Japan Purse: $8 million Yardage: 7,322; Par: 71 Final Round M.Brennan $1,440,000 68-67-65-68—268 -16 Keith Mitchell $704,000 66-65-70-68—269 -15 J. Bridgeman $704,000 63-68-69-69—269 -15 B. Harman $301,600 69-68-67-67—271 -13 Jo. L. Smith $301,600 64-71-66-70—271 -13

Ryan Gerard $301,600 68-69-66-68—271 -13 S. Jaeger $301,600 69-65-67-70—271 -13 X. Schauffele $301,600 70-69-65-67—271 -13 Z. Bauchou $208,000 69-64-67-72—272 -12 Sungjae Im $208,000 69-67-68-68—272 -12 Min Woo Lee $208,000 67-67-72-66—272 -12 Ren Yonezawa $208,000 68-69-71-64—272 -12 Max Homa $150,000 65-68-70-70—273 -11 Kevin Roy $150,000 70-69-66-68—273 -11 Jordan Spieth $150,000 72-66-68-67—273 -11 Adam Scott $150,000 69-67-65-72—273 -11 C. Bezuidenht $116,000 68-68-70-68—274 -10 Doug Ghim $116,000 69-68-70-67—274 -10 Michael Kim $116,000 68-68-68-70—274 -10 Ben Kohles $116,000 71-62-73-68—274 -10 Billy Horschel $92,600 71-70-67-67—275 -9 H. Matsuyama $92,600 67-72-69-67—275 -9 Takumi Kanaya $68,667 70-69-68-69—276 -8 Mac Meissner $68,667 65-68-70-73—276 -8 R. Nrgrd-Ptrsn $68,667 74-68-67-67—276 -8 John Parry $68,667 68-71-69-68—276 -8 Kosuke Sunagawa $68,66769-70-67-70—276 -8 Justin Thomas $68,667 69-65-67-75—276 -8 Ricky Castillo $52,500 65-70-74-68—277 -7 D. McCarthy $52,500 68-72-68-69—277 -7 Patrick Rodgers $52,500 73-69-65-70—277 -7 T. Ishizaka $52,500 70-70-70-67—277 -7 Lee Hodges $39,850 69-71-68-70—278 -6 Johnny Keefer $39,850 68-69-74-67—278 -6 A. Putnam $39,850 66-73-69-70—278 -6 N. Echavarria $39,850 67-69-73-69—278 -6 Y. Fujimoto $39,850 72-69-71-66—278 -6 Yusaku Hosono $39,850 72-69-67-70—278 -6 Collin Morikawa $39,850 67-73-69-69—278 -6 M. Thorbjornsn $39,850 66-70-71-71—278 -6 Keegan Bradley $25,773 72-69-66-72—279 -5 Tony Finau $25,773 71-68-72-68—279 -5 Beau Hossler $25,773 70-70-67-72—279 -5 Taylor Moore $25,773 72-65-72-70—279 -5 Jackson Suber $25,773 72-70-67-70—279 -5 Nick Taylor $25,773 71-67-72-69—279 -5 Kris Ventura $25,773 66-70-72-71—279 -5 Ryo Hisatsune $25,773 67-71-69-72—279 -5 J. Kozuma $25,773 74-68-69-68—279 -5 P. Coody $19,000 65-75-72-68—280 -4 Keita Nakajima $19,000 69-74-69-68—280 -4 Matt Wallace $19,000 70-72-68-70—280 -4 M. McCarty $19,000 70-70-75-65—280 -4 David Lipsky $18,000 66-72-73-70—281 -3 Taylor Pendrith $18,000 72-70-72-67—281 -3 Chandler Phillips $18,000 70-71-71-69—281 -3 Davis Thompson $18,000 73-68-71-69—281 -3 Aguri Iwasaki $18,000 74-70-70-67—281 -3 Kevin Yu $17,300 74-67-72-69—282 -2 M. McNealy $17,300 72-73-70-67—282 -2 M. Greyserman $16,900 70-71-74-68—283 -1 Kurt Kitayama $16,900 71-73-73-66—283 -1 Wyndham Clark $16,500 70-72-74-69—285 +1 Alex Smalley $16,500 71-73-72-69—285 +1 Sang-hee Lee $16,200 72-73-71-70—286 +2 Steven Fisk $16,000 74-76-70-67—287 +3 Hiroshi Iwata $15,800 68-72-77-71—288 +4 S. Theegala $15,600 74-71-73-71—289 +5 Koshin Nagasaki $0 72-76-69-73—290 +6 Tom Hoge $15,000 81-71-68-71—291 +7 Rickie Fowler $14,800 73-72-72-76—293 +9 Aldrich Potgieter $14,400 77-66-78-74—295 +11

Hockey NHL Glance EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic Division Tampa Bay Ottawa Boston Toronto Florida Montreal Buffalo Detroit

GP W L OT Pts GF 5 4 1 0 8 16 5 4 1 0 8 15 6 4 2 0 8 20 6 3 2 1 7 20 5 2 1 2 6 9 5 2 2 1 5 15 5 2 3 0 4 11 5 1 3 1 3 10

GA 12 11 13 18 12 19 19 15

N.Y. Rangers Carolina Pittsburgh Washington New Jersey Columbus N.Y. Islanders Philadelphia

GP W L OT Pts GF 7 5 2 0 10 23 6 4 1 1 9 23 6 3 2 1 7 22 5 3 2 0 6 17 4 2 2 0 4 10 4 2 2 0 4 13 5 2 3 0 4 16 6 0 4 2 2 7

GA 13 16 17 14 14 14 13 24

Metropolitan Division

WESTERN CONFERENCE Central Division Utah Minnesota Winnipeg Colorado Nashville Dallas St. Louis Chicago Paciﬁc Division

GP W L OT Pts GF 6 4 2 0 8 22 5 3 1 1 7 15 5 3 1 1 7 13 5 3 2 0 6 26 5 2 1 2 6 14 5 2 2 1 5 11 5 2 2 1 5 14 6 1 5 0 2 12

GA 15 9 15 17 14 8 16 26

GP W L OT Pts GF GA Vegas 6 5 1 0 10 23 14 Edmonton 5 4 0 1 9 25 17 Anaheim 5 4 1 0 8 18 13 Seattle 6 4 2 0 8 26 17 San Jose 5 3 2 0 6 13 17 Vancouver 7 2 5 0 4 24 35 Los Angeles 4 0 2 2 2 10 17 Calgary 5 0 5 0 0 8 27 NOTE: Two points for a win, one point for overtime loss. Top three teams in each division and two wild cards per conference advance to playoffs.

Saturday’s Games

Boston 5, Philadelphia 1 New Jersey 4, Vancouver 1 Edmonton 3, San Jose 1 Minnesota 4, Florida 1 Carolina 5, Chicago 2 Utah 4, Buffalo 1 St. Louis 5, Columbus 3 Toronto 6, Colorado 3 Pittsburgh 2, Dallas 1, SO Ottawa 3, Nashville 2, SO Tampa Bay 5, N.Y. Islanders 3 Montreal 1, Detroit 0, SO Vegas 2, Los Angeles 1, OT Anaheim 4, Calgary 2

Sunday’s Games

Seattle 5, Washington 3 N.Y. Rangers 6, Vancouver 2 Carolina at Philadelphia, n

Monday’s Games

Florida at Buffalo, noon Ottawa at New Jersey, 6 p.m. Vegas at Minnesota, 7 p.m.

Tuesday’s Games

New Jersey at Detroit, 5 p.m. Florida at Columbus, 5:15 p.m. Buffalo at Montreal, 5:30 p.m. Washington at Carolina, 5:45 p.m. Seattle at Philadelphia, 6 p.m. Tampa Bay at N.Y. Rangers, 6:15 p.m. St. Louis at Ottawa, 6:30 p.m. Vancouver at N.Y. Islanders, 6:45 p.m. Pittsburgh at Chicago, 7 p.m. Minnesota at Winnipeg, 7:15 p.m. Colorado at Dallas, 7:30 p.m. Vegas at Nashville, 7:45 p.m. Toronto at Utah, 8 p.m. Calgary at Anaheim, 8:45 p.m. Edmonton at Los Angeles, 9:30 p.m. Boston at San Jose, 10 p.m.

Wednesday’s Games

Montreal at Washington, 6:30 p.m. Dallas at Colorado, 7:30 p.m.

Tennis WTA China Open Results Sunday

At National Tennis Center Beijing Purse: $9,415,725 Surface: Hardcourt outdoor Results Sunday from China Open at National Tennis Center (seedings in parentheses):

Women’s Doubles

Championship Gabriela Dabrowski, Canada, and Luisa Stefani (2), Brazil, def. Zhang Shuai, China, and Katerina Siniakova (1), Czechia, 6-1, 6-2.

Transactions Major League Baseball

National League LOS ANGELES DODGERS — Reinstated LHP Justin Wrobleski.

HOCKEY

National Hockey League BOSTON BRUINS — Reinstated D Charlie McAvoy from suspension. NEW YORK RANGERS — Placed G Igor Shesterkin on long-term injured reserve. Recalled C Gabriel Beaudoin from Hartford (AHL). OTTAWA SENATORS — Recalled D Jorian Donovan from Belleville (AHL). PHILADELPHIA FLYERS — Placed RW Travis Konecny on injured reserve. Recalled D Oliver Bonk from Lehigh Valley (AHL). VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS — Placed LW Victor Olofsson and D Max Crotty on injured reserve. Recalled D Ville Heinola from Henderson (AHL).

LIVING

N O L A.C O M

M o n d ay, o c t o b e r 12, 2026

1dn

‘I want to ... give back’

With violins, trumpets and the guitarrón, Las Vegas is training the mariachi educators of tomorrow BY JESSICA HILL Associated Press

STAFF PHOTOS BY DOUG MACCASH

‘The Spirit Stones of Nouvelle Orleans’ are like a fragmented mural composed of faces, skulls and other images, painted on the rocks along the Mississippi River bank at the edge of the French Quarter by a mysterious artist, known only by pseudonyms.

NO STONE UNTURNED

Who’s been painting faces on the rocks down by the river in the New Orleans French Quarter? BY DOUG MacCASH

buskers and passing freighters, just like the mad music of the Steamboat Natchez pipe organ.

Staff writer

When the Audubon Nature Institute’s Riverfront Park opened this spring, it became possible to saunter along the mighty Mississippi, all the way from deep in the Bywater, to the Riverwalk mall. If you haven’t yet strolled this picturesque promenade, you certainly should. As you amble along the area adjacent to the French Quarter, be sure to cast your eyes downward to the countless broken gray rocks along the river’s edge. There, a mysterious artist has provided an affable addition to the scenery. The jagged jumble of stones, known as rip rap, is meant to keep the river edge from washing away. Risking a twisted ankle or skinned knee, the artist has used a few dozen of the jagged stones as canvases, where they’ve painted faces, skulls, stars and other shapes.

Good-natured graffiti The colors of the faces and skulls are soft not garish, the brushwork blunt yet neat. The im-

The faces are already there

In a Facebook video, the artist behind ‘The Spirit Stones of Nouvelle Orleans’ said that they don’t invent the faces and skulls that they paint on the rocks along the Mississippi River bank at the edge of the French Quarter, they discover them. ages are so simplified that some are unrecognizable. The fragmentary, mineralogical mural has some of the audacious outlaw vibe of graffiti. But it’s clearly the good-natured sort of graffiti, meant as an embellishment, not a violation. On one hand, the faces and skulls are strange and out of place. Yet they seem to belong there among the tourists and

A sign posted among the rip rap paintings reads “The Spirit Stones of Nouvelle Orleans.” It is signed Phoen9X. A Google search of “The Spirit Stones of Nouvelle Orleans,” leads to a Facebook video attributed to someone known as Hood Critic. In those videos, the artist describes his methods. “Those faces that I bring out in the stones are already there,” explains the artist, whose own face is never seen. As they speak, the artist points to a rock with a jagged edge that could be a human proﬁle, with a dark patch that could be an eye. Above those natural features, they’ve added “hair, headgear and a plume,” as if the face in the rock were wearing a costume. The artist explains that it’s unnecessary to paint everything. Sometimes, they allow the raw stone surface to come through. “I might leave the rest of the stone as it was when I ﬁrst met it,” the artist said. “You might say

AP PHOTO BY JOHN LOCHER

Brenda Guzman performs with other University of Nevada Las Vegas mariachi students at a football game Oct. 3 in Las Vegas.

A year-round presence

ä See CURIOUS, page 2D

Dolly Parton’s legacy showcased at museum, hotel BY KRISTIN M. HALL

for the opening of a new museum in Nashville dedicated to the beloved singer who died in August NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Dolly Parton’s at age 80. The 20,000-square-foot Dolly’s longtime creative director, Steve Summers, designed hundreds of Life of Many Colors Museum dresses and outﬁts for the late includes exhibits focused on singer and entertainer every many different aspects of her year, so he saw her in many stag- life and legacy, from her Smoky Mountain roots and Dollywood, es of her career. “Every person in here has a to her movie roles, her fashion, different Dolly Parton that they her faith, her family and the are in love with,” Summers told a ä See DOLLY, page 2D crowd of fans gathered Tuesday Associated Press

LAS VEGAS — Axel Rodríguez Olivas nervously steps on stage, carrying a violin. He raises his bow and begins to play, his nerves melting away. Mariachi music explodes throughout the room as violins, trumpets, the guitarrón, and a stringed instrument called the vihuela launch into an upbeat melody. There they are joined by a warm voice as a tenor begins to sing. “I think joy is what I feel ultimately,” said Rodríguez Olivas, dressed in an ornate “traje charro,” the traditional mariachi suit brightly decked out with decorative metal buttons and a wide bow tie. The 20-year-old musician is set to become the ﬁrst student to graduate with a minor in mariachi from the University of Nevada Las Vegas, one of the only universities in the country to offer such a niche specialization. In a city where Latinos comprise more than a third of the population, mariachi music is so popular in schools that there often aren’t enough teachers to meet demand. The minor was created to train students to become mariachi educators in the Clark County School District, which boasts of one of the largest mariachi programs in the U.S. with about 6,000 students taking part.

Portraits of Dolly Parton fill the Dolly’s Life of Many Colors Museum in Nashville, Tenn. AP PHOTO BY GEORGE WALKER IV

Not just a popular student extracurricular, mariachi culture is a staple and deep-seated form of entertainment across Las Vegas. “If you go out today, there’s going to be mariachi somewhere on the Strip,” said Stephen Blanco, who oversees the mariachi minor at UNLV and directs Las Vegas High School’s Mariachi Joya. A form of Mexican folk music, mariachi was born out of joy and pride in Mexico, he said. Its songs tell stories of pain, love, joy and excitement, capable of tugging at the heartstrings of audiences everywhere, he added. “I think that it’s just something that everyone enjoys,” Blanco said. “You don’t even have to be able to speak Spanish or understand it. I think it’s impossible for someone to walk away without a smile on their face.” As members of the professional group Mariachi Paloma Azteca, Rodríguez Olivas and Blanco perform at birthday parties, weddings and funerals. Recently, at a concert in Las Vegas, the ensemble opened with

ä See MARIACHI, page 2D

2D ✦ Monday, October 12, 2026 ✦ nola.com ✦ The Times-Picayune

lll

Owning a dog may protect against later mental illness

STAFF PHOTO BY DOUG MacCASH

‘The Spirit Stones of Nouvelle Orleans’ are Mississippi River rocks at the edge of the French Quarter, painted by a mysterious artist.

CURIOUS

Continued from page 1D ‘He’s not ﬁnished yet,’ but actually I am.” For the rip rap artist, studying the rough mosaic of river rocks is like looking for pictures in the clouds.

“The face is already there, I just came along to highlight it. I gave it a little makeup. I like to consider myself the rock’s makeup artist.” The artist promises there will be more painted rocks to come. Hood Critic has not yet responded to a direct mes-

sage sent via Facebook. Have a question about something in Louisiana that’s got you curious? Email your question to curiouslouisiana@ theadvocate.com. Include your name, phone number and the city where you live.

Dear Doctors: My wife read somewhere that when kids grow up with a dog in the house, it can keep them from getting schizophrenia. I know that having a pet can help kids develop responsibility, but preventing mental illness seems like a stretch. Is this based on psychology — or something else? Dear Reader: Your wife is referring to the results of a study published several years ago that found a link between living with a dog in very early childhood and a reduced risk of developing schizophrenia later in life. As you can imagine, these ﬁndings generated quite a few headlines. Schizophrenia is a mental illness that interferes with a person’s sense of reality. When left untreated, it is often disruptive and prevents someone from being able to participate fully in everyday life. The condition usually shows up between the ages of 16 and 30. Early symptoms often include visual and auditory hallucinations, disordered thought patterns, delusions and paranoia. Although the causes of schizophrenia are not yet clear, both genetics and brain structure have been shown to play a role. More recently, researchers have begun to explore a potential link to the gut microbiome — speciﬁcally, whether certain environmental expo-

Dr. Elizabeth Ko Dr. Eve Glazier ASK THE DOCTORS

sures may influence brain development, and thus play a role in who develops a serious psychiatric illness and who doesn’t. Childhood pets are an early source of exposure to a range of harmless microbes, as well as to potential allergens. We now are learning that, via the gut microbiome, such exposure may have a positive effect on some children’s immune systems. This made the researchers in this study curious about whether living with a cat or a dog during the first 12 years of life might have an effect on mental health. Specifically, they were seeking any correlations with a diagnosis of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. The latter is a mental health condition marked by sudden and extreme shifts in mood, energy and concentration. Like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder often arises in adolescence and makes it difficult for the person to successfully manage the tasks of day-to-day life. In this study, the researchers used health data

from 396 adults diagnosed with schizophrenia and 381 adults diagnosed with bipolar disorder. They also included 594 adults with no mental health disorders to serve as the control group. The participants ranged in age from 18 to 65, were in good health and had no history of drug use. All were asked to detail their personal history with childhood pets. When the researchers analyzed the data, they were surprised to find a statistically significant connection between the presence of a family dog in early childhood and a decrease in the risk of developing schizophrenia later in life. They did not find the same link in study participants with bipolar disorder or among those whose childhood pet was a cat. To understand the significance of this finding, further study is needed. But among the theories getting a closer look will be whether or not beneficial microorganisms in the microbiomes of dogs may have provided a measure of protection against schizophrenia later in life. Send your questions to askthedoctors@mednet. ucla.edu, or write: Ask the Doctors, c/o UCLA Health Sciences Media Relations, 10880 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1450, Los Angeles, CA, 90024.

No dogs are allowed here ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO BY JOHN LOCHER

Stephen Blanco, the mariachi chair at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, speaks with his students before a performance at a UNLV football game Oct. 3 in Las Vegas.

MARIACHI

Continued from page 1D the quintessential “El Jalisciense,” a song celebrating the Mexican state of Jalisco made famous by the Regional Mexican music superstar Vicente Fernández. Holding her violin and a microphone in one hand, Emily Vargas sang, “Yo me muero donde quiera,” — “I’ll Die Wherever I Please” — as she belted out the story of a woman proudly dying for her country.

Connection to the roots There is beauty in the mariachi performance from the way the group plays in unison right down to how the violinists hold their bows, Rodríguez Olivas said, calling it a powerful means of expressing the deepest of emotions through storytelling and music. Rodríguez Olivas played saxophone in a middle school band, but he grew up watching mariachi performances in school and always found the music exciting and intriguing. When he saw mariachi being offered in his high school, he thought it would be fun to learn a new instrument. “The rest is history,” he said. “It connects me to my roots,” Rodríguez Olivas said. “My family is from Mexico, so you know it kind of brings that conversation

DOLLY

Continued from page 1D Imagination Library. “You’ve got to ﬁnd her and ﬁnd out where you fell in love with her and then follow the path from there. So I think the journey is what most people are going to enjoy the most,” Summers said. The museum is located inside a 240-room themed hotel called Dolly Parton’s SongTeller, where the lobby

with my parents, other family members and friends as well.” In high school, he was the student director of Mariachi Joya, an award-winning mariachi from Las Vegas High School that performed for Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration in 2021. Mariachi Joya is Las Vegas High School’s top mariachi ensemble, though there are about 350 students in the program. During practice, Blanco runs the mariachi through their setlist, correcting an out-of-tune student and improving an intonation. A ﬁrst-place trophy from the 2026 Mariachi Extravaganza Las Vegas sits in front of the classroom. During a performance, the high school ensemble dresses in bright red suits. The violinists raise their bows and shout “joya” — Spanish for “jewel” — before they launch into an upbeat melody. A mariachi lets out a “grito,” the iconic yell or whistle of excitement, and the audience claps along. Instructors begin teaching the students early about mariachi repertoire. Ramiro Benavides, director of a middle school mariachi in the district, not only drills his students on how to play their instruments and sing, but also how to bring a theatrical and dramatic ﬂair to their performances. During one middle school mariachi practice, an instructor encourages a girl to come out of her shell and

yell excitedly. She starts off timidly, but when joined by her classmates, her yell becomes more conﬁdent.

and open spaces are adorned with glitter, rhinestones, guitars, butterflies, Dolly portraits and lots and lots of pink. The building also includes two performance spaces, a cafe and hotel rooms that come with musical instruments to encourage songwriting. One of the not-to-bemissed sights is Parton’s original wedding dress that she wore when she got married to husband Carl Dean. The dress was believed lost until Parton’s niece Rebecca

Seaver, who is curating the museum, found it about a year ago wrapped in a paper bag and shoved into a trunk, Summers said. For many in Parton’s orbit, the opening of the museum and hotel is bittersweet without the person who inspired it. “We were as surprised as anybody that she’s not here to see it,” Summers said. “It’s beautiful to get to see all of her work come to life, and it’s hard to know that she won’t ever have seen it.”

Shortage of instructors The mariachi program at Clark County School District has grown significantly since its 2002 inception, and in recent years it’s become increasingly difficult to find enough mariachi teachers, said Jeffrey Williams, the director of CCSD’s Fine and Performing Arts Department. To fill the gap, Blanco recently launched a 22-credit curriculum for the minor program at UNLV, joining only a few universities in Texas that offer such training. Students learn about mariachi repertoire and how to teach the mariachi genre. In one class, students study more than 70 mariachi songs over a semester, discussing their lyrics and style and what makes each unique, Blanco said. Students are trained in the traditional mariachi repertoire one would expect to hear regularly — ready to perform and pass on the music to those who will follow after. When Rodríguez Olivas graduates in three years, he plans to go back to Clark County School District and teach mariachi. “I want to kind of give back to future generations and give them the same opportunities that I had, and make it as fun as it was for me,” he said.

Dear Heloise: I’m flying you’re staying. Tommy Now we’ve been family home for my sister’s wedwould have other dogs to for two years! I suggest play with and snacks. that older people adopt ding, and I want to take If this doesn’t work out, older cats and dogs. He is along my little Yorkie, perhaps your parents chipped, so we know his Tommy. Tommy is a very might know of someone history. All he ever wanted small dog who’s housebrowho’s willing to keep was a family he could love. ken and not at all “barky.” He may be getting to the My mother adores Tommy, Tommy for the day. Somebut my dad hates small one retired who likes dogs end of his life cycle, but dogs. In fact, he said that if might be ideal. As a last op- these will be the best years of his life. — William E., via Tommy comes with me, I tion, have a heart-to-heart email have to stay at a howith your father William, thank you for about how much tel, not their house. writing in and sharing your Tommy means My dog is a resstory! I’m glad that he was to you. He might cue and was clearly finally able to find a good change his mind. — abused by whoever home with you. — Heloise Heloise had him before me, which is why I Cardboard roll hint refuse to leave him Hints from Animal stories Heloise with a friend or at Dear Heloise: I love Dear Heloise: Here’s a hint a kennel. He has your animal stories. for toilet paper rolls. Slide serious issues with being I lost a really good cat one into disposable rubber left alone. My vet believes who spent 18 years and gloves, breathe into the he was on the streets, 10 months with me. At 80 tube to inflate gloves, then alone and terrified, for years old, I couldn’t adopt grab a clothespin to keep several months, so I refuse a young cat but missed the pair of gloves together to leave him behind. I work having one around. I saw a for use later. The tubes from home, and Tommy cat at the local shelter who help provide ventilation curls up on my lap while was hit by car and lost his and keep the gloves from I’m on my computer, which entire tail. He was given to sticking to themselves. means that we’re together the shelter for treatment. You can also cut paper for most of the day. He was adopted a second towel rolls to length and Well, Heloise, have you time, but the people who use these for longer, cuffed got any hints to help me adopted him decided that gloves. Tape three paper handle this situation? — Rethey didn’t want him. towel or gift wrap rolls in He was then picked up a side-to-side bundle, and nee H., in Spokane,Washington by animal control and was you can slide these into tall Renee, I know firsthand back at the shelter to stay rubber boots. It holds the how hard it is to leave a for a long time. He wasn’t boots upright and keeps pet in the hands of other seen by any people and them ventilated. — David S., in people. However, there Buffalo, New York may be doggy daycare cen- remained at the shelter. ters in the area near where He was over 14 years old. I thought he’d be a perfect fit Send a hint to heloise@ the wedding’s being perfor me, so I adopted him. heloise.com. formed or close to where

TODAY IN HISTORY By The Associated Press Today is Monday, Oct. 12, the 285th day of 2026. There are 80 days left in the year. Today in history: On Oct. 12, 2002, bombs blamed on al-Qaida-linked militants destroyed two nightclubs on the Indonesian island of Bali, killing 202 people, many of them foreign tourists. Also on this date: In 1492, Christopher Columbus’s ﬁrst expedition made landfall on what is now San Salvador Island in the Bahamas. In 1870, Gen. Robert E. Lee, former overall commander of the Confederate States Army in the Civil War, died in Lexington, Virginia, at age 63. In 1960, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev protested remarks at the United Nations by pounding his

shoe on his desk in the General Assembly Hall. In 1968, Mexican track and field athlete Enriqueta Basilio became the first woman to light the Olympic flame at the opening ceremonies of the Mexico City Summer Games. In 1973, President Richard Nixon nominated House Minority Leader Gerald R. Ford of Michigan to succeed Spiro T. Agnew as vice president. In 1997, musician and activist John Denver died when the experimental light plane he was piloting crashed into Monterey Bay off the California coast. In 2000, the destroyer USS Cole was attacked by boat-borne al-Qaida suicide bombers during a refueling stop in Yemen’s port city of Aden, killing 17 on board. In 2019, Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge became the first person to run a marathon

in less than two hours, crossing the ﬁnish line of the INEOS 1:59 Challenge in Vienna, Austria, with a time of 1:59:40. Today’s birthdays: Journalist Chris Wallace is 79. Singersongwriter Jane Siberry is 71. Actor Hiroyuki Sanada is 66. Jazz musician Chris Botti is 64. Actor Hugh Jackman is 58. Country musician Martie Maguire (The Chicks) is 57. Actor Kirk Cameron is 56. Olympic gold medal skier Bode Miller is 49. Actor Josh Hutcherson is 34. Actor Ferdia Walsh-Peelo is 27. Actor Iris Apatow is 24. Ventriloquist Darci Lynne Farmer is 22.

The Times-Picayune ✦ nola.com ✦ Monday, October 12, 2026 ✦ 3D

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FrAnK And erneSt

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zodIAC LIBRA (sept. 23-oct. 23) Put on your power suit and do what needs doing. Procrastinating and chattering about what you want to do won't help you get where you want to go. scoRPIo (oct. 24-nov. 22) Be cautious when designating what you can do or volunteering for something you don't have time for. Time management is necessary today if you want to keep the peace and ease stress. sAGIttARIus (nov. 23-Dec. 21) Providing a space that is conducive to what you need goes part and parcel with how well you do. Clearing a space for what's most important to you and to keep your life running smoothly will determine your success. cAPRIcoRn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Pay attention, listen carefully and question everything. Someone will lead you astray if given the opportunity. Assisting others is honorable, but don't let anyone take advantage of you. AQuARIus (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Embrace what comes your way, and deal with it quickly. The longer you linger over what to do, the more difficult it will be. Actions speak louder than words, and situations mount. PIscEs (Feb. 20-March 20) You may not relish change, but once you start the process and get your life in order financially, medically and legally, you'll realize how much stress you've been handling. ARIEs (March 21-April 19) A reality check is in order. Being honest with yourself

will help you make decisions and moves that honor who you are and what you want. Happiness begins with you. tAuRus (April 20-May 20) Lean in and tell it like it is. Share your feelings and intentions with someone who will offer alternatives and help you fine-tune your dreams to align them with reality. GEMInI (May 21-June 20) Be bold, but don't share too much information with others. It's best to blunder your way through thick and thin until you reach a point that satisfies your soul. Put your energy into researching. cAncER (June 21-July 22) Explore your creative ideas. Stop thinking about what you can do; start turning your thoughts into something tangible. The confidence you gain by engaging in something that makes you happy will be good for the soul. LEo (July 23-Aug. 22) Take a step back and contemplate what you want. A change is overdue; push forward with positivity to avoid backlash from those who don't like change. Be kind and charming. VIRGo (Aug. 23-sept. 22) Speak up, share your thoughts and see who's on board. Take the initiative to find out the proper protocol before you begin to make moves. Trust your instincts and enrich offers with incentives. 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: y EQuALs s

Mother GooSe And GrIMM

SherMAn’S LAGoon FAMILY CIrCUS

dooneSbUrY

4D ✦ Monday, October 12, 2026 ✦ nola.com ✦ The Times-Picayune

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. Saturday’s Puzzle Answer

BaBY BLueS

BLondie

THe wiZard oF id

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La TimeS CroSSword

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Bridge By PHILLIP ALDER Judith Martin, who is better known as Miss Manners, said, “We are born charming, fresh and spontaneous and must be civilized before we are fit to participate in society.” To participate effectively in a bridge deal, we hope to find a fit with partner. This week we will look at the factors affecting your choice when you have two fits. First, should you prefer a 4-4 fit or a 5-3 fit? Almost always, you should pick the 4-4. If the 4-4 fit is a side suit, you will get at most four tricks. But if it is the trump suit, you will often get an extra trick by ruffing a loser in one hand or the other. And a 5-3 side-suit fit will usually provide two discards on the fourth and fifth cards. But if the 5-3 fit is the trump suit, it will rarely furnish a sixth trump trick from a ruff in the shorter trump hand. Look at today’s deal. How does South get on in four hearts or four spades? In the auction, North might have started with a negative double to show his four hearts, especially as his singleton made his hand a tad strong for a single spade raise. After the spade raise, the South hand was just worth game, but he wisely showed his heart suit. Then North raised to four hearts, a tad worried about his weak trumps. Against four hearts, West should realize that East is highly unlikely to have an

garfield

Pearls Before swiNe

hagar the horriBle

entry, so should start with three rounds of trumps. But South can easily restrict his losers to one spade and two trumps. In spades, West can cash his two high hearts and give his partner a heart ruff. Then West’s trump trick defeats the contract. © 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 — oRAnGE: OR-inj: Any of a group of colors that are between

Bizarro

marmaduKe

red and yellow in hue. Average mark 14 words Time limit 25 minutes Can you find 19 or more words in ORANGE? sAtuRDAy’s WoRD — WALLABIEs wail wale wall wasabi weal well wile will wise abase able

aisle alas alias allies label lase liable libel lisle bail balas

bale ball balsa basal base basil bawl bell bias bile bill

blase blew isle sable sail sale seal seawall sell sill slab

slaw slew swab swale swell swill

loCKhorNs hidato Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer

today’s thought “If you love me, keep my commandments.” John 14:15

Do you love the Lord? The verse above will answer your question. — G.E. Dean

6D ✦ Monday, October 12, 2026 ✦ nola.com ✦ The Times-Picayune

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Scrabble GramS dIrectIons: make a 2- to 7-letter word from the letters in each row. add points of each word, using scoring directions at right. Finally, 7-letter words get 50-point bonus. “Blanks” used as any letter have no point value. all the words are in the Official sCraBBlE® players Dictionary, 5th Edition.

Saturday’s Puzzle Answer

jump Start

For more information on tournaments and clubs, email naspa – north american sCraBBlE players association: info@scrabbleplayers.org. Visit our website: www.scrabbleplayers.org. For puzzle inquiries contact scrgrams@gmail.com.

Get fuzzy

Hasbro and its logo sCraBBlE associated logo, the design of the distinctive sCraBBlE brand game card, and the distinctive letter tile designs are trademarks of Hasbro in the United states and Canada. ©2021 Hasbro. all rights reserved. Distributed by Tribune Content agency, llC.

ken ken

animal crackerS

DuStin

InstructIons: 1 - Each row and each column must contain the numbers 1 thorugh 4 (easy) or 1 through 6 (challenging) without repeating. 2 - The numbers within the heavily outlined boxes, called cages, must combine using the given operation (in any order) to produce the target numbers in the top-left corners. 3 - Freebies: Fill in the single-box cages with the number in the top-left corner.

Wallace the brave

Drabble

WiShinG Well breWSter rockit

luann

HErE is a plEasanT liTTlE gamE that will give you a message every day. it’s a numerical puzzle designed to spell out your fortune. Count the letters in your first name. if the number of letters is 6 or more, subtract 4. if the number is less than 6, add 3. The result is your key number. start at the upper left-hand corner and check each of your key numbers, left to right. Then read the message the checked figures give you.

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classifieds.nola.com Search & Place Ads Ads Onlines at classifieds.nola.com • Call Monday Us Monday - Friday 8AM - 5PMatat(504) (504)636-7435 636-7435 Search & Place Onlines at classifieds.nola.com - Friday 8AM - 5PM

Announcements

Anyone knowing the whereabouts of Obinna Bryant Okechukwu, l/k/a 3867 S Inwood Ave, N.O., LA; call Jalen R. Harris, Esq. 334-790-6629. 203563-Oct 10-12, 3t $77.50

APARTMENT 2 Bedroom, $1000/month. Offstreet parking. 1615 N. Derbigny. Section 8 OK. 504-488-4084 APARTMENT

Beautiful puppies Yorkie puppies shots and dewormed $700.00 601543-4232 bettyparks159@gmail.com

Anyone knowing the whereabouts of Stefani D. Bond A/KA Stefani Pearcy Bond, her children, heirs, or legatees, please call Peyton B. Burkhalter at (504) 266-2044 or send written communication to 2540 Severn Avenue, Suite 129, Metairie, LA 70002 or pete@peytonburkhalterlaw.com. 203520-Oct. 10-14, 5t $179

Employment United in Marriage and declare their commitment to one another as Husband and Wife.

MARINE NOW HIRING Galleyhands Night Cooks Must hold TWIC card, pass drug test & physical. 985-851-0727 or email: personnel@sontheimeroffshore.com

Merchandise SEEKING FORMER NEW ORLEANS POLICE DEPARTMENT PERSONNEL COMPENSATION AVAILABLE CONTACT ATTORNEY 225-317-9248 DOCINFO6767@GMAIL.COM

Anyone knowing the whereabouts of Arnell Alexander and/or Herbert Moore, contact Atty. Danielle Mariche, 504-343-5735. 203391-Oct 10-12, 3t $64.90 Anyone knowing the whereabouts of John Richeaux, l/k/a 103 W. Avenue B, Larose, LA; call Raashand Hamilton, Esq. 504-940-1883. 203567-Oct 10-12, 3t $73.30 Anyone knowing the whereabouts of Lindsey Katherine Arnold or Levi Kelling Arnold, heirs of Michelle Bell Arnold; call Jalen R. Harris, Esq. 334790-6629. 203492-Oct 10-12, 3t $81.70 Anyone knowing the whereabouts of Mary F. Robinson, or her heirs please contact Attorney Keith A. Doley at 504-943-7071. 203550-Oct 10-12, 3t $73.30

ByWater: 2BR 1BA Elegant Historic Property, Offstreet Parking, Backyard $1000/mo $1000/Dep. 504274-2806 or email jraepropertiesllc@gmail.com APARTMENT ESPLANADE RIDGE The Carson Company, Inc. 5900 Hayne Blvd., 1Bd/1Ba..........$695 2900 Third St., 1Bd/1Ba.................$700 3119 St. Peter St., 1Bd/1Ba...........$795 3953 Delachaise St. (Up), 3/1.......$950 1525 Mazant St., 3Bds/1Ba...........$995 8940 Dinkins St., 2Bds/1Ba...........$995 2300 N. Broad St., 1Bd/1Ba.........$1135 2441 N. Robertson, 2Bds/1Ba....$1250 8904 Olive St., 3Bds/1Ba.............$1350 5910 Hayne Blvd. Up 4/1.....(Sec 8 OK) 2503 S. Dorgenois St., 2/1...(Sec 8 OK) 821-1858 * 822-8432 * 427-4646

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METAIRIE 2720 WHITNEY PLACE UNIT #504 • $1,500/Mo 2 Bdrm / 2 Bath Condo. ALL UTILITIES INCLUDED! New Carpet & ﬂrg, quartz countertops in baths. No pets. 2-yr lease. Laundry Rm on 1st ﬂoor. Guard @ night. Sandy Ward * 504-259-2616. Re/Max Living * 504-475-1011. Ea ofc indpntly owned & operated. METAIRIE 3201 RICHLAND AVENUE 1/2 Block off Vets * by Paretti Jaguar 1 Bed * Prkg * Pool * Rent $675/mo 504-320-6958 * 504-454-1333

WANT TO BUY Old Records 33's, 45's & 78's. All types of music. Call 985-259-1889

WANT TO BUY Old toy electric trains, any condition, Lionel Am. Flyer cash paid, 504-452-1000

New Orleans Rental APARTMENT Belle Chasse Louisiana GLEN OAKS APARTMENTS Beautiful new apartments for rent. 2-and 3-bedroom 2 bath apartment homes All appliances included From 944.00 mo. 504-366-4611 Glenoaks@summit01.com

CEMENT AND BRICK

METAIRIE 3513 EDENBORN AVENUE Lrg 2 Bed, 1 Bath * $925 * Off St Prkg Blocks from Lakeside 504-982-4040 * 504-885-8060 504-454-1333

DUPLEX 4752 Francis Dr., 3BR/2BA, $1550/month Section 8 ok, Central Air & Heat 504-289-7595 HOUSE 2 Bedroom Double, $1400/month. 327 S. Cortez St. Off-street parking. Section 8 okay. 504-488-4084

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CONTRACTOR

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NO JOB TOO SMALL!

m 504.239.1481

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corinne.fox@compass.com www.compass.com/agents/corinne-fox

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WORK

Public Notices Bids/Proposals

y would receive those noti‐ ﬁcations if you selected the following commodity code(s) before the re‐ lease of the sourcing event:

g CT on November 5, 2026 for Solicitation Number Doc2403888694 – Invita‐ tion to Negotiate (ITN) for New Voting System for Secretary of State. The ITN may be accessed https://portal.us.bn. at cloud.ariba.com/ dashboard/public/ appext/comsapsbncd iscoveryui#/RfxEvent/ preview/1110027198?anI d=ANONYMOUS.

Public Notices

Public Notices Bids/Proposals

APARTMENT

Pets 10,000 Apt Homes and 75 Locations with Studio, 1, 2 & 3 Bedrooms Pools, Access Gates, Garages (504) 360-9347

Golden Doodle & Retriever DoodleCKC-born 8/18/26-1st shots. 3 females, 1 male. Parents on site. Retriever-AKC-born 9/16/26-4 males, 4 females. Parents on site. $700.00 601-876-8999

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APARTMENT N.O. EAST * LITTLE WOODS SPECIAL 7819 SANDS STREET * 3 BD/2 BA Central A & H * Fenced Backyard Sec 8 Welcome. No Deposit. $1,200 504-241-6189 * 504-430-1162

KENNER 2850 IDAHO AVENUE 1 Block to Vets & Williams All Amenities * Pool * Parking Studio/1 Bed Apt * Starting $675/Mo 504-385-5482 * 504-454-1333

Anyone having any information about or knowing the whereabouts of the Erskine L. Barbarin, Jr., please contact Attorney Erin A. Fisher at 504-304-4944. 203549-Oct 10-12, 3t $81.70

AKC Miniature Schnauzers AKC miniature schnauzer gorgeous pups has all shots 5043902918 $1,500.00 504-390-2918

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7934 Maple St. New Orleans, LA 70118

PUBLIC NOTICE ---

COMMODITY CODE(s): 961-86

ADVERTISEMENT TO REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS CITY OF NEW ORLEANS

The City of New Orleans is an equal opportunity employer and strongly encourages minorityowned and womenowned businesses, so‐ cially and economically disadvantaged busi‐ nesses and small busi‐ nesses to respond to this solicitation, or to partici‐ pate in subcontracting opportunities pursuant to this solicitation. Any person with disabilities requires special accom‐ modation must contact the buyer listed within the bid no later than seven (7) days prior to bid opening.

SPONSORING DEPARTMENT: NEW ORLEANS POLICE DEPARTMENT TITLE: CANINE VETERINARIAN CARE (REBID) SOURCING EVENT NO.: 4818 TYPE OF SOLICITATION: PROFESSIONAL SERVICES DBE OPPORTUNITY: WAIVED

PRE-BID CONFERENCE: OCTOBER 13, 2026

For more information about this sourcing event, go to www.nola. gov and click on “BRASS Supplier Portal” under “BIDS & CONTRACTS”. Once on the Supplier Por‐ tal, search “Open Events.”

Meeting ID: 236 722 784 364 55 Passcode: XY6WV99z

Thank you for your inter‐ est in doing business with the City of New Or‐ leans.

RELEASED ON: OCTOBER 5, 2026 DEADLINE TO RESPOND: OCTOBER 19, 2026

Amy Vincent Chief Procurement Offi‐ cer Phone (225) 342-8010 203431-OCT 12-1T $11.48 PUBLIC NOTICE --PUBLIC NOTICE REGIONAL TRANSIT AUTHORITY INVITATION FOR BID (IFB) #2026-037 HEAVY-DUTY TAG-ALONG EQUIPMENT TRAILERS Project Description: The Regional Transit Author‐ ity of New Orleans is seeking qualified ven‐ dors to provide two (2) Interstate 24DTA equip‐ ment trailers or ap‐ proved equal, in accor‐ dance with the specifica‐ tions in IFB 2026-037

James C. Simmons, Jr. Chief Procurement Ofﬁcer

Dates are subject to changes via an adden‐ dum posted by the Bu‐ reau of Purchasing on the City’s supplier portal.

Advertising Dates: October 5 and 12, 2026 NOCP 9354

If this solicitation is fed‐ erally funded, prospec‐ tive bidder/respondent must pay particular at‐ tention to all applicable laws and regulations of the Federal government and the State of Louisiana.

How to obtain a copy of the IFB: Speciﬁcations and further information concerning the IFB may be obtained on October 12, 2026, from the RTA’s Procureware website at https://norta.procurewar e.com/home. You will be required to ﬁrst register on this website. The IFB can also be obtained on the Regional Transit Au‐ website at thority’s http://www.norta.com.

202844-oct 5-12-2t $80.20

PUBLIC NOTICE --Notice to Vendors SP# 2262

The Bureau of Purchas‐ ing uses commodity codes to notify suppliers of the release of a sourc‐ ing event and subse‐ quent modiﬁcations via addendum. Note that you ld i h i

No replies will be consid‐ ered after the date and hour speciﬁed. The right is reserved to reject any and all proposals and to waive any informalities.

Sealed replies will be re‐ ceived by the Ofﬁce of State Procurement, 1201 North Third Street, 2nd Floor, Suite 2-160, Baton Rouge, LA until 10:00 AM b

Clariﬁcation Deadline: Any questions or further i f i i

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8D ✦ Monday, October 12, 2026 ✦ nola.com ✦ The Times-Picayune Public Notices Bids/Proposals

Public Notices Bids/Proposals

y q information concerning this IFB must be submit‐ through https:// ted norta.procureware.com/ home by 1:00 PM on Oc‐ tober 27, 2026. Only writ‐ ten questions submitted through the Procureware site shall be considered ofﬁcial. All answers to questions shall be by for‐ mal addenda posted to the website under IFB 2026-037.

Notice to all offerors is hereby provided that in accordance with all ap‐ plicable federal, state and local laws the RTA will ensure that DBEs are afforded full opportunity to submit offers and re‐ sponses to this solicita‐ tion and to participate in any contract consum‐ mated pursuant to this advertisement.

Responding to IFB: Bids be submitted shall through the RTA’s Pro‐ cureware website or de‐ livered to 2817 Canal Street, New Orleans, LA 70119 on or before 2:00 P.M., November 6, 2026. A Bid Opening will be held in the RTA Board Room located at 2817 Canal Street, New Or‐ leans, LA 70119, on Fri‐ day, November 6, 2026, at 2:00 PM. Any questions or further information concerning the IFB may be submitted via https:// norta.procureware.com/ home, beginning on Oc‐ tober 12, 2026. RTA in accordance with 49 Code of Federal Regu‐ lations (CFR) Part 26 has an obligation to ensure nondiscrimination of Dis‐ advantaged Business En‐ terprises (DBEs) and to comply with all federal, state and local regula‐ tions relative to utiliza‐ tion of DBEs on publicly funded projects. The RTA is committed to utiliza‐ tion of DBEs on all feder‐ ally funded projects to‐ ward attainment of the established agency's overall goal of 32%. No DBE goal has been estab‐ lished for this project as there are no subcon‐ tracting opportunities on this project.

Clemency

Additionally, no offeror will be discriminated against on the basis of age, sex, race, color, reli‐ gion, national origin, eth‐ nicity or disability. For information additional contact the RTA’s Small Business Ofﬁce at 504827-8301. The RTA reserves the right to accept or reject any and all proposals submitted. Ronald Baptiste Jr. Interim Chief Executive Ofﬁcer Regional Transit Authority

I, ERIC ROGERS, DOC #375175 have applied for clemency for my conviction of SECOND DEGREE MURDER. If you have any comments, contact the Board of Pardons (225)342-5421. 203519 - OCT 12-14 3T $310 I, MANFORD DEQUEANT, DOC #436633 have applied for clemency for my conviction of OPERATION OF A VEHICLE INTOXICATED. If you have any comments, contact the Board of Pardons (225)342-5421. 203354 - OCT 11-13 3T $310

Public Notices DEQ Permits

PUBLIC NOTICE ---

203479-oct 12-19-2t $735.34

PUBLIC NOTICE -- The Louisiana Ofﬁce of the State Museum is re‐ questing proposals for a Public-Private Partner‐ ship project to design, build, furnish, operate, and maintain an in‐ door/outdoor café at the New Orleans Jazz Mu‐ seum. For more informa‐ tion go to opportuni‐ tiesinlouisiana.com. 202695-oct 2-20-t $93.29

lll

Notice is hereby given that Cloud Connector, 1401 McKinney LLC, Street, Suite 2600, Hous‐ ton, Texas 77010, has ap‐ plied for a 401 Water Quality Certiﬁcation to construct the Cloud Con‐ nector Project. The Pro‐ ject will deliver feed gas the existing from pipeline grid in Louisiana to the Venture Global Plaquemines LNG, LLC (Plaquemines LNG) Ter‐ minal located in Plaque‐ mines Parish, Louisiana and the Plaquemines Ex‐ pansion, LLC (Plaquem‐ ines Expansion) Terminal which will be located ad‐ jacent to the Plaquem‐ ines LNG Terminal. The project consists of 165.1 miles of 48-inch-diame‐ ter natural gas pipeline. il

Public Notices DEQ Permits g pp From milepost 139.7 to milepost 147.5, the main‐ line will consist of dual 48-inch-diameter natural gas pipeline. In addition to the pipeline, associ‐ ated aboveground facili‐ ties, including two com‐ pressor stations, one in‐ terconnect station, two trap sites, one loop ter‐ site, seven mination mainline valves, perma‐ nent and temporary ac‐ cess roads, and barge access routes will be constructed or estab‐ lished. The project will extend from near High‐ way 105 north of Melville in St. Landry Parish to near Highway 23 north‐ west of Port Sulphur in Parish. Plaquemines Work will occur in St. Landry, Pointe Coupee, Assumption, Iberville, Terrebonne, Lafourche, Jefferson, and Plaquem‐ ines Parishes. Cloud Con‐ nector, LLC is applying to the Louisiana Depart‐ ment of Environmental Quality, Office of Environ‐ mental Services for a Water Quality Certifica‐ tion in accordance with statutory authority con‐ in the LAC tained 33:IX.1507.A-E and provi‐ sions of Section 401 of the Clean Water Act. Comments concerning this application can be filed with the Water Per‐ mits Division within ten days of this notice by ref‐ erencing WQC 260915-01, AI 252418 to the following address: Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality Water Permits Division P.O. Box 4313 Baton Rouge, LA 708214313 Attn: Water Quality Certi‐ fications Comments may be sub‐ i d b il

Public Notices DEQ Permits y mitted by email to DEQWaterQualityCertiﬁca‐ tions@la.gov. A copy of the application is available for inspec‐ tion and review at the Public Records LDEQ Center at 602 North Fifth Street, Baton Rouge, LA 70802, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The available information can also be accessed electronically on the Electronic Docu‐ ment Management Sys‐ tem (EDMS) on the LDEQ public website at www. deq.louisiana.gov. 203384-OCT 12-1T $286.25

Legal Notices

PUBLIC NOTICE --IN THE MATTER OF THE COMPLAINT OF RAYFORD REEVES AND A CERTAIN 2013 KEY WEST 230 BAY REEF BOAT, FOR EXONER‐ ATION FROM OR LIMITA‐ TION OF LIABILITY CIVIL ACTION NO. 26-1927 SECTION M (2) NOTICE is hereby given that limitation petitioner, Rayford Reeves ("Peti‐ tioner"), as owner of a certain 2013 Key West 230 Bay Reef Boat, bear‐ ing Hull ID # KWEE‐ B109A313 and Registra‐ number KWEE‐ tion B109A3 (the "Vessel"), her engines, equipment, gear, tackle, appurte‐ nances, etc., has ﬁled a Complaint pursuant to 46 U.S.C. §§ 181 et seq., as amended by 46 U.S.C. §§ 30501 et seq., and under l f h l

Legal Notices

q Rule F of the Supplemen‐ tal Rules for Certain Ad‐ miralty and Maritime Claims & Asset Forfeiture Actions, claiming the right to exoneration from or limitation of liability of all claims for any dam‐ age claims, demands, liens, loss, death, dam‐ age, injury, or destruc‐ tion, arising out of an in‐ cident involving the Ves‐ sel on or about July 18, 2026, as is more fully set forth in the Complaint. All persons asserting claims with respect to the Complaint which seeks exoneration from or limitation of liability are advised and admon‐ ished, to ﬁle their re‐ spective claims, under oath, as provided in Rule F of the Supplemental Rules for Certain Admi‐ and Maritime ralty Claims of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, with the Clerk of the Court for the United States District Court, District of Eastern Louisiana, Room C151, 500 Poydras Street, New Orleans, Louisiana 70130, and must serve a copy thereof on counsel for Petitioner on or before the 18th day of October, 2026 or be defaulted. Any claimant desiring to contest either the right exoneration from to and/or the right to limita‐ tion of liability shall ﬁle and serve an answer, all as required by Rule F of the Supplemental Rules for Certain Admiralty and Maritime Claims con‐ tained in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure or be barred from bring‐ ing such action. Dated: New Orleans, Louisiana, this 3rd day of September, 2026 l k f

Public Notices Successions

Legal Notices

p Clerk of Court /s/ Carol L. Michel Clerk of Court /s/ L. Guillot Deputy Clerk 201029 Sept. 21, 28, Oct. 5, 12, 2026 4t $1,067.96 PUBLIC NOTICE Jefferson Parish The Water Department has issued a Director De‐ clared Emergency to reinstall the AMI (Advance Metering Infrastructure) base stations for accu‐ rate customer billing. The base stations were removed as a result of the Elevated Water Tower rehab project. As a re‐ sult, AMI billing is cur‐ rently impacted in addi‐ tion to the AMI and Ele‐ vated Water Tower pro‐ jects both are now on hold. The work will be per‐ formed by Aqua-Metric Sales, Co. at an esti‐ mated cost of $44,978.57. 203541 Oct. 12, 2026 1t $71.88

Public Notices Successions

PUBLIC NOTICE --CIVIL JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT FOR THE PARISH OF ORLEANS STATE OF LOUISIANA NO: 2026-9042 DIVISION: D SECTION:12 IN RE: ASIF YASIN REALTY HOLDING LLC PRAYING FOR MONITION

NOTICE OF MONITION THE UNOPENED SUCCES‐ OF JOSHUA SIONS PHYLISS MITCHELL, MITCHELL BARNES, PA‐ TRICIA MITCHELL AND PAMELA MITCHELL DA‐ and JOHNELL MOND; MITCHELL A/K/A JANELL MITCHELL Pursuant to an order of the Civil District Court for the Parish of Orleans in the matter of ASIF YASIN REALTY HOLDING LLC, Docket No. 2026-9042, Div. D, Civil District Court, Parish of Orleans, State of Louisiana, dated this 30th day of September, 2026, it was ordered as follows: WHEREAS, ASIF YASIN RE‐ ALTY HOLDING LLC, by act executed on October 14, 2024, Romy SchofieldSamuel, Director of Fi‐ nance and Ex-Officio Tax Collector for the Parish of Orleans, for unpaid 2023 ad valorem taxes, 2024 tax sale costs as memorialized in the Tax Sale Certificate recorded on January 31, 2025 in the Land Records of Orleans Parish, bearing Notarial Archives number 20253026 and Conveyance In‐ strument Number 750996, purchased property at tax sale; WHEREAS, ASIF YASIN RE‐ ALTY HOLDING LLC has applied to this Honorable Court for a Monition or advertisement, in confor‐ mity with LA. REV. STAT. 47:2271, et. seq. ; THEREFORE, in the name of the State of Louisiana and the Civil District Court for the Parish of Orleans, all interested persons are cited and admonished to show cause within six (6) months from the date on which this Monition is

Public Notices Successions

ﬁrst advertised, why grounds exist for a nul‐ lity under the provisions of Chapter 5 of Subtitle III Title 47 of the of Revised Louisiana Statutes of 1950. The property affected by this monition is: A CERTAIN LOT OF GROUND together with all the buildings and im‐ provements thereon and all the rights, ways and servitudes privileges, and advantages there‐ unto belonging Or in any‐ wise appertaining, situ‐ ated in the FOURTH DIS‐ TRICT of the City of New Orleans, Louisiana, in SQUARE 353, bounded by Jackson Avenue, Freret, South Robertson and Streets desig‐ Phillip nated as LOT NO. 5 and measuring 30 feet, 9 inches and 3 lines front on Jackson Avenue by 120 feet in depth be‐ tween parallel lines. Im‐ provements thereon bear Municipal Nos. 2416-18 Jackson Avenue. CHELSEY RICHARD NAPOLEON CLERK OF COURT OF CIVIL DISTRICT COURT FOR THE PARISH OF ORLEANS Paula R. George, LSBA 06020, Attorney for ASIF YASIN REALTY HOLDING LLC, 2403 St. Charles Ave., New Orleans, LA 70130 203387-OCT 12-NOV 2-2T $110

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