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Lafayette targeting 5 more motels Officials say closures possible because of criminal activity BY CLAIRE TAYLOR

Staff writer

Five more Lafayette properties have been identified for possible closure because of persistent criminal activity, city-parish officials said Monday, expanding an effort that led to court-ordered shutdowns of two Evangeline Thruway motels last week. Officials declined to identify the five properties or provide a timeline for possible enforcement action. The Express Inn and Plantation Motor Inn were ordered closed for five years after a judge found the properties were public nuisances

under state law. The closures followed years of police calls and reported criminal activity, according to court records and information provided by officials. “We can’t just arrest our way out of these things,” Assistant District Attorney Chase Edwards said Monday during a news conference. “We have to stop allowing there to be places where you can commit crimes all you want with no real consequences.” Edwards said officials identified seven problem areas using criminal activity data compiled by the Lafayette Police Department. The two motels were addressed first because of the extent of the

reported criminal activity and, in the Express Inn’s case, numerous safety violations. Mayor-President Monique Boulet and other ofﬁcials said the effort will continue beyond the two closures. Edwards, who works in narcotics for the District Attorney’s Ofﬁce, began looking for another way to address persistent criminal activity at problem properties and found a state nuisance law that allows authorities to pursue action against properties associated with such activity. District Attorney Don Landry ap-

STAFF PHOTO BY BRAD KEMP

Lafayette Parish Mayor-President Monique Boulet speaks during a news ä See MOTELS, page 6A conference Monday about motels that are being shut down.

Terrebonne Parish program removing abandoned boats

Region expected to gain 5,000 jobs Economist predicts SpaceX, drone industry to drive growth BY ADAM DAIGLE

Acadiana business editor

would slip out of its jaws, weighed down by mud that accumulated over years spent underwater. Eventually, the excavator was able to pull the boat onto the platform, where a construction crew worked to tie

The Lafayette region is expected to gain over 5,000 jobs over the next two years with big gains expected from SpaceX and the emerging drone industry in Lafayette. The Louisiana Economic Forecast, compiled by retired LSU economist Loren Scott, also had encouraging predictions in the Gulf of Mexico despite a low rig count and the drone industry in Lafayette. The Lafayette metropolitan statistical area, which includes Lafayette, St. Martin, Vermilion and Acadia parishes, could grow its workforce by 2,300 next year and 3,300 in 2028. The biggest takeaway is the $100 billion SpaceX spaceport, which is expected to create 3,000 jobs. Elon Musk’s company will build five launchpads, a mission-control center, ofﬁce buildings, power plants, a propellant factory and employee housing at the site. It is the largest single capital investment in the state’s history and

ä See BOAT, page 8A

ä See JOBS, page 6A

STAFF PHOTO BY BRETT DUKE

An excavator lifts an abandoned steel boat from Bayou Petit Caillou during a vessel removal project in Chauvin last week.

The difﬁculty in pulling the doned boats for removal from the excavator struggled to ‘The bayous abandoned boat from Bayou its waterways, with the help of grip what was left of the subPetit Caillou in Chauvin last a grant, a nonproﬁt and insur- merged boat. are who we are’ week illustrated a persistent ance proceeds related to Hur- Too many times, the boat

problem across Louisiana’s coast. An untold number of abandoned and derelict vesStaff writer sels pose navigation and enviIt took more than two hours ronmental hazards, but there and the power of a large exca- are few options to clear them. There has been at least one vator to pull the 20-foot steel notable example of progress boat from its watery grave. But at least it was being re- recently. Terrebonne Parish is targeting dozens of abanmoved.

BY MARGARET KATES

H H

ricane Ida in 2021. “The bayous are who we are,” said Noah Lirette, the parish’s chief administrative ofﬁcer. “It’s important we take care of them, because when we take care of them, we take care of ourselves.” Balanced on a ﬂoating platform in the bayou Wednesday,

ELECTION

H H

This is the ﬁrst of several articles on the issues in the U.S. Senate election.

Senate candidates Davis, Letlow both support closed border by the federal Immigration They differ on Trump’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants fort and Customs Enforcement agen-

BY TYLER BRIDGES

“I don’t want open borders where people can just walk up and cross,” Staff writer Davis said in an interview, words Both farmer Jamie Davis and echoed by Letlow, a Republican U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow agree on one who is vying with the Democrat thing: President Donald Trump’s to be the next senator from Louiclosure of the border with Mexico siana. ought to continue. The American people, said Let-

WEATHER HIGH 90 LOW 68 PAGE 8A

low, “wanted the border shut down. We shut down the border.” But Davis and Letlow differ on Trump’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants who have not committed crimes after arriving to this country. Letlow praises the continued ef-

cy to search out, arrest and deport immigrants who don’t have valid documents to be in the country. “I’m very comfortable” with ICE’s approach, Letlow said in an interview. Davis gave a more expansive

ä See SENATE, page 6A Letlow

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

Davis

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U.K. PM: Suspected plot at U.S.-run base likely tied to Iran

BRIEFS

FROM WIRE REPORTS

French student detained in school shooting

AUBAGNE, France — French police detained a 14-year-old boy suspected of opening fire Monday on his middle school principal and a teacher with a shotgun that he hid in a guitar case, wounding both in a rare school shooting, prosecutors said. A staff member at the Joseph Lakanal middle school in Aubagne disarmed the boy after he fired multiple shots while roaming on two floors of the school, prosecutors said. Police then took him into custody. Aubagne is about 9 miles east of the Mediterranean port city of Marseille. Gun violence perpetrated by pupils in schools is rare in France. Marseille prosecutor Nicolas Bessone said in a statement that the pupil fired once or twice on the first floor, wounding the principal and the teacher in the legs. They were hit with pellets used in 12-gauge shotguns, according to Marseille deputy prosecutor Audrey Jouaneton and police. They were transported to a hospital with injuries that weren’t life threatening. The boy’s motives were unknown, Jouaneton said. “We still don’t have sufficiently precise evidence to say that he wanted to target the teaching staff — this principal and the teacher — but they were in any case hit by the shots,” she said. The boy then went to the second floor and opened fire again, twice — the first at the floor in front of a teacher and the second in a classroom, hitting the teaching board. The shots didn’t hit any teachers or the pupils in the classroom, but they were “very shocked,” Bessone said. The boy was then intercepted by a staff member in a stairwell, with what Jouaneton praised as “extreme courage.”

Gunman, most victims ID’d in Pa. shooting

A coroner on Monday released the names of the gunman and six of the eight people he shot and killed at a home in Erie, Pennsylvania, including seven of his relatives. The shooter in Friday’s attack was Matthew Stone Sr., 45, according to Erie County coroner Lyell Cook. Stone took his own life at the home, Erie Police Chief Rick Lorah said. According to Cook, the adult victims were Michelle Stone, 44; Angelina Stone, 24, who was due to give birth Monday; Jonathan Stone, 19; Matthew Stone, 21, and two women who lived at other addresses: Lora Roberts, 37, and Twila Tanner, 51. He said a 5-year-old boy and a 1-year-old girl also died, but that state law prevented him from releasing their names. At a memorial to the victims, Julius Windham said his daughter Amarianna was the toddler who was killed.

Archbishop decries streamed firing squad

Archbishop Timothy Broglio, who oversees the Catholic Church’s pastoral services to Catholics in the U.S. military, is condemning the proposed livestream of the firing squad execution of Nidal Hasan. Broglio, in a statement Monday, also stipulated that any Catholic soldier assigned to the U.S. Army firing squad should ask to be excused from that duty, which he described as contrary to the teachings of the church. He joins other Catholic leaders in speaking out against the death penalty and the livestream plans. Hasan, an Army psychiatrist convicted of killing 13 people in 2009 at Fort Hood in Texas, is scheduled to be executed by ﬁring squad on Dec. 3. Broglio recalled that he presided over the funeral of Michael Grant Cahill, the only civilian killed in that attack. The crime committed by Hasan “was heinous, but does exposing the public to his execution serve any purpose?” Broglio asked. “The US military generally enjoys a good reputation in the world,” Broglio added. “Is there really a value to throwing them in the same boat with terrorists by broadcasting the image of the execution of a man in a wheelchair to the whole world?”

BY SYLVIA HUI

Associated Press

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO BY J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE

Signs on the property of a neighbor of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., are pictured Monday as Homeland Security officers carry boxes during a search of Omar’s Washington residence.

Agents search Omar’s D.C. home Minnesota congresswoman vows she won’t ‘be silenced’

BY ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and ERIC TUCKER Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Federal agents on Monday searched the home of Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, a startling escalation in a criminal investigation that brings renewed focus to the frequent target of Trump administration derision in the ﬁnal weeks of her reelection bid. The search of the Minnesota congresswoman’s home so close to next month’s midterm contests that will determine control of the House and the Senate was swiftly condemned by top Dem- Omar ocrats in Congress, who raised questions about the timing given longstanding Justice Department protocol to avoid overt investigative steps involving political candidates in the direct run-up to an election. Omar, an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump, said separately that she was being targeted as one of the Republican’s “political enemies.” The nature and scope of the investigation were unclear, though Trump and ofﬁcials in his administration have repeatedly referred in recent months to the existence of an inquiry into Omar, a Somali-born Democrat whose status as an immigrant to the U.S. and left-wing views have drawn scrutiny from the White House and other Republicans. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin last month cited an “ongoing investigation” that he suggested was examining potential fraud on her family’s immigration paperwork. “Something’s going to happen,” he said. In a statement on X on Monday, Omar called the search an “attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement.” “For ten years, Trump has targeted me with baseless lies and smear campaigns. This is just the latest escalation in his campaign of political intimidation,” she said. “I will not be silenced.” Though the Republican focus on Omar’s background dates back years, the search notably took place three weeks before the November midterms,

in which Omar is on the ballot for reelection. The Justice Department has historically sought to avoid public investigative actions involving a candidate within 60 days of a primary or general election. Top Democrats seized on the timing as the latest instance in what they said was the “continued corrupt weaponization” of law enforcement against Trump’s perceived adversaries. “For years, Donald Trump and far-right extremists have relentlessly targeted Congresswoman Omar with vile personal attacks and baseless accusations,” said a joint statement issued from House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and other top congressional Democrats. “Now, less than 30 days until the midterm election, his violent mass deportation machine has descended upon the home of a duly elected Member of Congress and her family.” The search was carried out by agents with Homeland Security Investigations, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security. A DHS spokesperson referred questions to the Justice Department, which said in a statement that HSI agents had executed a judicially authorized search warrant in the Washington, D.C., area related to an ongoing federal criminal investigation. It provided no other details. The street around Omar’s home was blocked off Monday morning as HSI agents carried out the search, with some removing boxes from “seized property evidence.” The operation came just two days after Trump referred pejoratively to Omar at a rally in Tennessee as coming from a country of “crime and squalor” and suggested that Vice President JD Vance “and our people” were investigating her. Vance has in the past accused Omar of committing immigration fraud, an allegation she has denied, and has said that the White House was looking for pathways to investigate her. Omar, who was first elected to the House in 2018, represents Minnesota’s 5th District, including Minneapolis. She is part of The Squad of progressive lawmakers who are a vibrant political force on the left wing of Congress but have also endured repeated attacks from Trump, dating back to his first term. She was one of the first two Muslim-American women in the House and the first African refugee to be elected to Congress.

FBI issues Selma Blair summons accusing her of assaults on plane BY MICHAEL R. SISAK Associated Press

NEW YORK — Actor Selma Blair has been issued a summons accusing her of assaults that occurred aboard a plane after she was taken into custody following a flight from Los Angeles to New York for being abusive and injuring two flight attendants, authorities said Monday. The charges listed on the violation notice issued by the FBI are assaults within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, according to a federal law enforcement official who spoke with the AP on condi- Blair tion of anonymity. The matter will be handled through the petty violations court in federal court in Brooklyn. No date has been set for her appearance. Police took Blair, 54, into custody late Sunday when the Delta Air Lines plane was parked at the gate at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said in a statement. Blair and one of the flight attendants were taken to a hospital for evaluation,

the Port Authority said. Delta said in a statement it “has zero tolerance for unruly or unlawful behavior, as the safety of our customers and crew always comes first.” The airline did not provide details about injuries and deferred further comment to law enforcement. The FBI, which is responsible for investigating all assaults aboard aircraft, declined to release details. “Yesterday, we were informed by our partners at Port Authority Police Department of a potential assault aboard a flight that arrived into JFK. As per longstanding DOJ policy, we do not comment on ongoing investigations,” said Sydney Kleinmann, a spokesperson for the FBI NY. Messages seeking comment from the state and federal prosecutors’ offices in New York, as well as Blair’s publicist and attorney, were also sent on Monday. In a statement to several media outlets, a Blair representative said she had a medical emergency that led to the alleged conduct. Blair had major roles in films including 1999’s “Cruel Intentions,” 2001’s “Legally Blonde” and 2004’s “Hellboy.”

LONDON — A suspected plot to attack a U.S.-run military air base in England was “almost certainly” directed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said Monday. Burnham previously said there are strong indications Iran was linked to the apparent plan last month to attack the RAF Fairford air base, which has been used by American bombers to strike Iran in the ongoing war. Police have arrested seven men in the investigation into the alleged plot, but all suspects have been released on bail and no one has been charged so far. Iran has denied involvement, although it has previously said that it considers any base used to attack its territory a legitimate target. “I can confirm our assessment that it is highly likely to have been coordinated in Iran, almost certainly directed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard,” Burnham told lawmakers. “We will not tolerate these threats on our soil.” Scores of residents near the air base were evacuated from their homes on Sept. 27 as armed police officers and army bomb-disposal experts swarmed the rural area. Police later said they had found a quantity of an accelerant — gasoline — in three vans linked to the initial five suspects who were arrested on the scene, but no explosives. All the suspects arrested are in their 20s. None has been identified, though police said six are British nationals while one is a dual U.K.-Iranian citizen. On Monday, the British government summoned the Iranian ambassador, who reiterated that Tehran was not involved in the suspected plot and urged the U.K. to provide evidence supporting its claims. The U.K. also said it

added two Iranians, including the head of counterespionage operations in the Revolutionary Guard, to its sanctions list. Authorities said the two were involved in conducting espionage and attacks on behalf of Iran’s government in Europe and the U.S. The U.S. pulled its bombers last week from RAF Fairford, about 100 miles west of London, and the aircraft have now been redeployed to their home bases, the Pentagon said. The Trump administration has said it believed the base faced Iranian threats intended to kill as many American troops and destroy as many U.S. planes as possible. The British government allowed the U.S. military to use RAF Fairford for what it called defensive strikes on Iranian missiles and their launch sites following Iranian attacks on U.K. interests and Britain’s allies in the Gulf. Officials have said that local proxies linked to Iran were behind a string of arson and other attacks on the U.S., Britain and other countries, many of them targeting Jewish communities and intended to sow fear. British ofﬁcials have said the number of national security cases involving activity by hostile states, including Iran, increased by 50% in the six months to December 2025. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said Monday that the Fairford air base incident “speaks to a wider trend.” “States like Iran are using proxies to conduct hostile activity here in Britain. They pay criminals or exploit naive volunteers, attacking our country and its citizens while maintaining an air of plausible deniability,” she said. In a joint statement released Monday, the foreign ministers of the U.K., U.S. and about two dozen Western countries condemned Iranian attacks on their territory.

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Zelenskyy: Russian strikes hit energy facilities lll

Attacks come despite Trump claim of an ‘energy ceasefire’

BY SAMYA KULLAB Associated Press

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday that while Ukraine is willing to halt attacks on Russia’s energy infrastructure, Moscow has continued to strike his country’s energy sites despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement that the warring countries had agreed to cease such attacks. Speaking at the Warsaw Security Forum in Poland, Zelenskyy said Ukraine had been “horribly surprised” that Moscow struck a power plant in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, as well as a gas

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO BY EVGENIY MALOLETKA

A burned car sits Monday in front of a multistory residential building damaged in a Russian drone strike in Kyiv, Ukraine. production facility and a civilian gas station hours after Trump announced the purported “energy ceaseﬁre” in the 4½-year-old war. Later on Monday, during an

interview on Fox News Channel’s “America’s Newsroom,” Zelenksyy said his government had refrained from striking Russian energy sites since Trump’s announcement

Sunday, and was ready to honor an energy ceasefire as “a good ﬁrst step” toward closing the war. But, he said, “I’m not sure that (Russian President Vlad-

imir) Putin is ready.” “Even after yesterday’s messages from (Trump) ... Putin attacked our gas infrastructure,” Zelenskyy said. “When we speak about energy ceasefire, it means only one thing: that they don’t attack our energy infrastructure and we don’t respond on their energy infrastructure.” Trump’s brief social media post Sunday offered few details but said the energy ceasefire took effect immediately, adding: “Do not break it!” On Monday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov wouldn’t say whether Russia had agreed to such a ceasefire, saying only: “Contacts are ongoing.” Trump previously announced a similar agreement on ceasing energy strikes that did not come to fruition. In a social media post on Sept. 14, he said both countries had agreed “not to hit” each other’s energy infra-

structure, but offered no details on that proposal either. Russia has used attacks on energy facilities in order to deny Ukrainian civilians power, heat and running water during the war, hoping to wear down public support for Ukraine’s response to Moscow’s full-scale invasion. Ukrainian ofﬁcials describe the strategy as “weaponizing winter,” and fear Russia could ramp up such attacks as cold weather approaches. Ukraine, meanwhile, has launched strikes against Russian energy sites like oil refineries, sometimes deep within Russian territory. That’s prompted Trump to blame Zelenskyy for record U.S. diesel prices — rather than the U.S.-led war in Iran — and to strike a deal with Putin on Friday to import diesel from Russia in an attempt to bring fuel prices down ahead of U.S. midterm elections.

Saudis probe how defense Pope to be admitted to hospital systems failed to stop attack Tuesday for lung nodule surgery At least 13 killed in strike on Riyadh airport

BY SAMY MAGDY

Associated Press

CAIRO — Saudi Arabia has launched an investigation to determine how its air defenses failed to intercept a barrage of missiles and drones fired by Iran-backed Houthi rebels, including an attack on Riyadh airport that killed at least 13 people and wounded over 300, two regional officials said Monday. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly, said the initial probe showed that Yemen’s Houthis first fired multiple drones to pave the way for a mix of cruise and ballistic missiles to reach Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport. The Houthis possess ballistic missiles and advanced systems fitted with warheads that can change direction during flight and pose a challenge to Patriot interceptors and other defense systems used by the Saudis. One of the officials said the investigation also aims to find out why air defense systems did not provide earlier warning of the attack in which the Houthi missiles and drones flew over 620 miles to reach Riyadh. The incident, one of a string of Houthi attacks

since last week on Saudi airports, has exposed vulnerabilities in Saudi Arabia’s defense system and signaled a dangerous inﬂection point in an expanding Mideast conflict that began more than seven months ago when the U.S. and Israel launched their war against Iran. The Saudi-led coalition also said it had twice intercepted and destroyed ballistic missiles launched Monday by the Houthis toward Riyadh. At least three explosions could be heard Monday night in the city. Civil defense ofﬁcials later said the danger had passed. The rebels later said they had targeted King Khalid Airport on Monday, warning international airlines that all Saudi airports, except those in the Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina, were unsafe. Earlier on Monday, the Saudi state-run media reported that its military was responding to a new attack involving drones and cruise missiles, but provided no details. “The events of recent weeks are serious,” Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdul Aziz bin Salman told the World Petroleum Energy Congress in Riyadh on Monday. “Our response must be equally serious.” The Saudi governmentrun Center for International Communication, which oversees foreign media, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the

probe into defense failures.

Saudi want U.S. help The Saudis want the U.S. to become more directly involved in their fight against the Houthis. The U.S. has provided intelligence sharing, target identification and planning for a Saudi-led offensive, but has held off on carrying out strikes against the Houthis. A U.S. intervention could prompt the Houthis to try to halt shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea off Yemen, restricting the flow of oil out of the Persian Gulf. The flow of Mideast oil has already been complicated by Iranian efforts to choke off the Strait of Hormuz, where about one-fifth of the world’s oil flowed before the U.S.Iran war began. The rebels seized key areas along the Bab el-Mandeb last month. The Saudi-led coalition, backing forces aligned with Yemen’s internationally recognized government, has been trying to retake them. U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters on Saturday after the deadly airport strike that he was looking at the possibility of carrying out U.S. attacks against the Houthis. But the conflict comes at a delicate time for Trump, just weeks before U.S. midterm elections that will decide if his Republican Party keeps control of Congress.

Flood risk lingers after Rachel’s remnants swamped Nevada

BY NICOLE WINFIELD, PAOLO SANTALUCIA and COLLEEN BARRY

Associated Press

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican said Pope Leo XIV will be admitted to the hospital on Tuesday ahead of surgery to remove a lung nodule, providing an unusual level of transparency about papal health under the American pope. The surgery will require a weeklong recovery in the hospital, and the Vatican on Monday canceled all Leo’s audiences through Oct. 20. Leo himself revealed the discovery of the nodule during his Sunday noon prayer and said he was following doctors’ advice to have it removed. The Vatican press office said Monday

that no particular issue precipitated the tests, denying Italian media reports suggesting an inflammation had prompted Leo to have the checkup. On the eve of his departure for Rome’s Gemelli hospital, it was business as usual Monday at the Vatican. The 71-year-old Leo presided over an audience with members of a Rome-based charity, the Circolo San Pietro, and received a donation from them. He spoke in a strong, clear voice, praising their service and sacriﬁce. The crowd gave him a rousing round of applause afterward. He had six other private audiences, made three appointments and the Vatican released a letter he had penned to the outgoing dean

of the College of Cardinals, thanking him for his service. The letter was signed on Sunday. In the afternoon, he had been expected to rejoin a weeklong conference he convened on ministering to families. But in the evening, the two conference organizers released a statement saying that given Leo’s absence, they were changing plans and would delay publishing the ﬁnal statement from the meeting until after he recovers. The surgery was clearly unexpected and took participants of the family conference by surprise. Leo was also supposed to have presided over a Wednesday Mass, but on Monday the Vatican announced a replacement.

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BY JAIMIE DING and JULIE WALKER

Associated Press

Forecasters issued flood watches Monday and warned more rain and isolated thunderstorms could hit the Southwest after the remnants of Tropical Storm Rachel caused severe flooding in Las Vegas over the weekend. Las Vegas tied an all-time daily rainfall record for the month of October after receiving 1.08 inches of rain into Sunday morning, according to the National Weather Service. The last time that much rain fell on the city in one October day was in 1947. Videos posted on social media showed a torrent of water rushing through a street near the Las Vegas Strip, with a Ferris wheel and casinos in the background. Andrew Orrison, a weather service meteorologist, said localized flash flooding was still a risk for the region Monday. “We’ve seen the worst of what Rachel brought ... but unfortunately we are looking at the disturbed weather still lingering,” Orrison said. The weather service issued flood watches through Monday afternoon for a large swath of Utah, southeast Idaho, and northern and central Arizona, including the Grand Canyon. The additional rainfall is not associated with Rachel, but a different weather system moving across the West, Orrison said. The precipitation is forecast to end by Wednesday. Wind, rain, and unusually large waves caused by Rachel battered the Southern California coast over the weekend, forcing

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO BY WILLIAM LIANG

Waves hit a walkway in front of homes on Saturday in Long Beach, Calif., as Tropical Storm Rachel approaches.

oceanside residents in Long Beach to evacuate. Waves tore apart a historic boardwalk and smashed against coastal homes. The East Coast is forecast to remain clear since Hurricane Isaias has moved well offshore. At least four deaths have been 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 vacation spot ﬁlled with high-rises and tourist shops. The storm then roared into Alabama with tropical-force winds before heading farther north. About 158,000 customers remained without power Monday morning in the Florida Panhandle and southern Alabama, according to poweroutage.com. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he expected nearly everyone to have it restored by Tuesday night. Drier weather is expected over the next few days across areas of the mid-Atlantic down through the Southeast, including the southern Appalachians.

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Judge orders one-day halt to work at D.C. golf course why a massive treeTrees being cut discuss cutting at the park needed to over the holiday weekat historic site occur end, with little notiﬁcation to in a lawsuit trying as part of Trump’s plaintiffs to halt renovation plans or renovation effort the judge.

BY GARY FIELDS Associated Press

WASHINGTON — U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes on Monday ordered a 24-hour halt to tree-cutting at the East Potomac Golf Course, a historic D.C. course that has been part of President Donald Trump’s plans to remake the city. Reyes issued the order following a tense three-hour hearing in which she blistered the government for having deceived her with its actions over the holiday weekend. Reyes said the 24-hour temporary order could be extended to 14 days if necessary. It was limited to one day while the government tries to find a key Trump administration official to

It’s the latest example of the erosion of trust between the government and the independent judiciary, as the Trump administration tries to steamroll scrutiny of its actions, from the White House ballroom to immigration enforcement. The hearing started with a blistering 15-minute statement from Reyes, who has declined repeated motions from the plaintiffs to halt work by the administration out of concern that its strategy has seemed to be move ahead on projects despite court actions. “I am thoroughly unamused right now,” Reyes said. “I do not know how I could have made it any plainer that I did not want what was to happen, to happen.” The judge added, “I have given the government

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO BY MARK SCHIEFELBEIN

Golfers hit from the fairway Monday near log sections cut from trees at the East Potomac Golf Links in Washington. every single beneﬁt of the doubt that it would not do precisely what it has done.” She told the government’s lawyers sharply, “I wanted you all to be better than you

have been.” The emergency hearing on a holiday expanded as the judge ordered the government to get various participants in the decision-making

process into the hearing remotely. Reyes plans to hold another hearing Tuesday and wants to hear from Greg Wischer, deputy chief of

staff at the Interior Department. Wischer pushed for the work to be done urgently, according to testimony from Frank Lands, deputy director of operations for the National Park Service. Reyes and plaintiff’s attorney Abbe Lowell raised numerous questions about the timeline and chain of command for the decision and whether the witnesses were aware of other plans by the administration. Kevin Griess, the superintendent of the National Mall and Memorial Parks, cited a 2019 National Park Service Cultural Landscape Report as the guide for the work. Lands said it was part of Trump’s 2025 order to make D.C. safe and beautiful. Under questioning from Reyes, he acknowledged that while other city golf courses were also mentioned in the Cultural Landscape Report, there had been no discussions of work at them. Associated Press writer Matthew Daly contributed to this report.

Musk quietly becomes biggest known donor in midterm contests Trillionaire seeks to boost Republicans

BY JILL COLVIN Associated Press

NEW YORK — Elon Musk, the world’s only trillionaire, has quietly become the biggest known donor in this year’s midterm elections, doling out more than $276 million since July to try to save Republican majorities in Congress. The numbers, ﬁrst reported by The New York Times ahead of this week’s federal filing deadline, were confirmed by Andrew Romeo, a spokesperson for Musk’s super PAC. The money includes $158 million given to the Senate Leadership Fund, the main super PAC supporting Republican Senate candidates, one of the largest known political donations in American history, according to the Times. Another $76 million went

to America PAC, a Musk super PAC, which has once again built out a major turnout operation like the one it used to help elect President Donald Trump by knocking on doors in 2024. Musk also provided $10 million to Lone Star Liberty PAC, a group that supports the Republican nominee for Senate in Texas, Ken Paxton. The race has been a major focus of Musk’s efforts. It’s a dramatic turnaround since last May, when Musk said he intended to cut back on future political spending. “I think I’ve done enough,” he said at the time. Despite the cash infusion, Musk has generally kept a lower profile than in 2024, when he appeared on stage next to Trump at rallies, and in the early days of the president’s second term, when he led the Department of Government Efﬁciency. He had a falling out with Trump while leaving his government post, but the two have since reconciled. Trump presented Musk with the National Medal of Sci-

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO BY GEORGE WALKER IV

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO BY JULIA DEMAREE NIKHINSON

President Donald Trump, right, presents the National Medal of Science to Elon Musk on Thursday at the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington. ence last week. Musk’s net worth has ﬂuctuated around the trilliondollar line this year based on changes in stock prices, but he topped $1 trillion again last week according to Forbes magazine. Republican have a gaping financial advantage over their Democratic counterparts — a disparity that has been a rare bright spot for a party that is bracing for major potential losses amid deep voter frustration over the president’s performance, stubbornly high prices and the unpopular war with Iran. They have been using the money to blanket the airwaves in the race’s ﬁnal

stretch. “These robust investments have allowed the GOP apparatus to get its message out so Republicans can have a ﬁghting chance to defy history,” Romeo told the Times. Democrats responded to the news by accusing Republicans of using vast amounts of cash to mask their shortcomings. “Republicans are hoping to buy these elections, injecting tens of millions into races to try and outrun their unpopular candidates, unpopular president, and unpopular economy,” said Lauren French, a spokesperson for Democrats’ Senate Majority PAC.

‘Breaking Bad’ actor RJ Mitte dies at 34 By The Associated Press BROWNSVILLE, Texas — “Breaking Bad” actor and disability rights advocate RJ Mitte died Monday at age 34, authorities and his representatives said. Cameron County Justice of the Peace Cyndi Hinojosa told The Associated Press she declared Mitte dead at about 1:30 p.m. at what she believed was his home in Brownsville, Texas. She said she was unable to provide a cause, but an autopsy will be performed. Mitte played Walter White Jr., the son of Bryan CranASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO BY TAYLOR JEWELL ston’s chemistry teacher‘Breaking Bad’ actor and disability rights advocate RJ Mitte turned-meth dealer Walter died Monday at age 34, according to authorities and his White on nearly every episode of the ﬁve seasons of representatives. the AMC show, which recently ranked as the best of the 21st century in a New York Times poll.

One dead, several injured in incident involving Ga. Six Flags roller coaster By The Associated Press AUSTELL, Ga. — One person has died and several others were injured in an incident involving a Six Flags roller coaster Monday afternoon in Georgia, according to police. The incident took place at Six Flags Over Georgia, about 15 miles northwest of Atlanta, according to the Cobb County Police Department. Detectives with department’s major crimes

unit will investigate the incident. Ofﬁcials did not conﬁrm how the person died or what caused the others to be injured. A Six Flags spokesperson said the park and local authorities responded immediately and that they are fully cooperating with local authorities as they investigate the incident. “We are deeply saddened by the guest incident at our park today,” the spokesper-

son said. Last month, Six Flags Magic Mountain, in southern California, announced that it was retiring its famous X2 roller coaster amid lawsuits alleging serious brain injury caused by the ride. Six Flags recently settled a wrongfuldeath lawsuit from the family of a 22-year-old man who died after riding the coaster in 2022, and three more lawsuits alleging traumatic brain injuries were ﬁled last week.

“Drawing from his own experience living with cerebral palsy, Mitte brought authenticity to the role and built a platform on disability awareness and inclusion,” Mitte’s representatives said in a statement announcing his death. The statement said he used “his platform to challenge stereotypes and promote greater representation for people with disabilities.”

Emergency vehicles arrive Sept. 30 at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, Tenn., after the execution of Christa Pike was halted.

911 call: Help delayed by confusion after failed execution

BY EUGENE JOHNSON, HANNAH SCHOENBAUM and HOLLY MEYER Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Emergency help for Christa Pike was delayed by confusion among first responders and Tennessee prison officials following her failed lethal injection last month, according to 911 dispatch recordings reviewed by The Associated Press. The recordings show that precious minutes elapsed as officials and responders tried to figure out whether a request for emergency help in the execution chamber was legitimate. The first call came in at 8:40 p.m. on Sept. 30, and it was about a half an hour before prison officials affirmed it was legitimate and began letting responders through the prison gates. “Per supervisors here at the DEC (Department of Emergency Communications) we have been informed it is a false call,” one unidentified person says at 9:03 p.m. “There is

no medical assistance needed at Riverbend Prison.” Four minutes later, a responder reported: “Somebody is outside the gate at the prison telling us that it’s real and demanding us to go in. They say they are some sort of state ofﬁcial. I need somebody to get out to the gate and talk to those people.” It wasn’t until 9:11 p.m. that prison officials afﬁrmed the call for help was legitimate, the calls show. Pike, 50, was hospitalized after surviving two doses of pentobarbital as the state attempted to execute her for the 1995 beating and stabbing death of classmate Colleen Slemmer. At one point, Pike was on a ventilator and her attorneys did not expect her to survive. However, they said Pike woke up and began talking and walking with assistance, and she has since been discharged and is back at the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center, the women’s prison where she was housed for 30 years.

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MOTELS

Continued from page 1A proved moving forward. The office then worked with Lafayette Consolidated Government and Lafayette police to obtain court judgments shutting down the two motels. Boulet said the effort is intended to address both criminal activity and deteriorating properties, which she said can affect vulnerable residents and surrounding neighborhoods. “This is crime,” Boulet said. “This is blight and this also involves some of our most vulnerable people.” Boulet said some property owners have profited from vulnerable people for too long without maintaining their properties or addressing criminal activity. “We can be compassionate without tolerating criminal activity,” she said. The motel closures also have raised questions about where residents will go, particularly those who have few housing options. The Express Inn provided officials with a roster of residents living at the hotel. Elsa Dimitriadis, executive director of the Acadiana Regional Coalition on Homelessness and Housing, said Monday that she believed with some confidence that those residents had found places to stay, potentially with friends or family. The situation at Plantation Motor Inn is less clear. Dimitriadis said the property has not provided a roster of tenants despite repeated requests, leaving officials without a reliable count of how many people lived there or whether they have found housing since the closure was announced Friday. Under the court judgment, LCG

JOBS

Continued from page 1A doubles the dollar amount of the Meta project in Richland Parish, which had been the largest. Scott will give his annual report at 7 a.m. Wednesday at Le Pavillon, 1913 Kaliste Saloom Road, during an event put on by One Acadiana. The report relies on state and national data in combination with interviews of industry executives about their plans. Here are some highlights:

Rising DRONES: Two drone companies, DMR Technologies and the Drone Institute, have moved into the old Reptile Tannery building and have plans to create over 1,100 combined jobs in the coming years. DMR will convert the space into a production hub for its Field Ranger X50 drone, a 10-foot-by-10-foot device that can weigh 220 pounds when its 13-gallon tank is full and ﬂy for nine

SENATE

Continued from page 1A answer to the question about Trump’s ICE crackdown. “If we have a person who is illegal and they have been living a model life, they should be given an opportunity,” Davis said. “Did they break the law? Yes, they did. If you come into this country illegally, you broke the law. But I want America and Louisiana to remember one thing: People who look like me and look like the people we deem Caucasians, none of us was here. “Are we going to be the country that don’t want people to be part of the American dream? Listen to the words I said. The American dream. And think about the journey from which they came. Some came from miles upon miles upon miles and left their families to come here. Are we not going to have enough compassion to give them to make a life in Louisiana?” Early voting in the election begins Oct. 20 and ends a week later. Election day is Nov. 3. The Trump administration began rounding up undocumented immigrants and deporting them to countries such as El Salvador under Kristi Noem, his ﬁrst secre-

STAFF PHOTO BY LESLIE WESTBROOK

Workers install fencing to block off the parking lot of the now-closed Express Inn on Monday. must negotiate in good faith with the Plantation Motor Inn owner within 45 days to explore a way to return the property to commerce. The property cannot reopen as a hotel under the order. During that period, ARCH is working to help former tenants

ﬁnd permanent housing on a caseby-case basis, Dimitriadis said. Sometimes, she said, the obstacle to securing a home is relatively small, such as coming up with a down payment or paying overdue utility bills. Lafayette officials budgeted

minutes on a fully charged battery. DMR plans to employ 521 and pay on average $85,000 a year. Drone Institute, which will host nationwide drone missions and pilot training along with developing imaging software, will employ 610. OFFSHORE DRILLING: Despite the rig count in the Gulf of Mexico dropping down to 12, Scott says there’s hope for some modest recovery under the Trump administration. Lease sales have been “somewhat encouraging” after an August sale netted $87.2 million in bids on 59 blocks and 80,400 acres. Yet production has risen from 1.4 million barrels per day in May 2024 to 1.9 million in May 2026, he said. “Major technological changes have generated much more production per well,” he wrote. “These advances are making activity in the Gulf less vulnerable to oil price swings.” The 54,000 wells that have been drilled in the Gulf and the 2,500 active drilling platforms mean more work for local companies in terms of maintenance, repair and

decommissioning. Halliburton has grown its workforce throughout the region from 1,116 last year to 1,315 now and is expected to remain stable in 2027. OTHERS: MMR will employ 200 people after it took over the old Southern Glazer’s warehouse on Pont Des Mouton Road. Buc-ee’s has begun construction on its $72 million travel center that will employ 200. NPK Solutions will launch a $40 million expansion of its facility near Carencro and add 38 jobs. VieMed is now at 509 employees in Lafayette, up from 422 in 2024.

tary of Homeland Security. Tackling an issue that is extremely popular with Republican voters, Trump and Noem said the arrests would make the U.S. safer and prompt immigrants here illegally, either because they crossed the border or overstayed their visa, to return home. Noem oversaw high-profile sweeps throughout the country, including one in Kenner in December that homeland security officials said led to the detention of nearly 560 people. About 10% of them had criminal histories in the United States, authorities said. Noem came under fierce criticism after ICE and Border Patrol agents shot and killed two citizens in Minnesota in January who were protesting their actions. Trump sacked Noem in March after questions arose over her spending. In June, Letlow voted with all House Republicans in approving about $70 billion more for ICE and Border Patrol through the remainder of Trump’s term, on a 214-212 vote. The new Homeland Security secretary, Markwayne Mullin, a former senator from Oklahoma, has softened Noem’s harsh rhetoric toward undocumented immigrants and is no longer conducting the high-profile

sweeps. Nonetheless, he appears to have intensiﬁed the clampdown, with his agency arresting about 50,000 per month recently. Letlow called Mullin “a friend,” adding, “I support his policies.” Thanks to Trump, she said, “Fentanyl is no longer coming across our border.” Policy experts, including the Inter-American Dialogue, say that fentanyl is still entering the U.S. from Mexico but at a lower rate. They say the reduction began under former President Joe Biden and has continued under Trump. In his comments about immigration, Davis joined many Democrats who are calling for a pathway to citizenship for recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Known as “Dreamers,” they entered the U.S. as children and have received temporary protection from deportation under the program instituted by former President Barack Obama through executive action in 2012. It has allowed some 500,000 to attend school and hold jobs legally. “You don’t know anything other than America, where are you going?” Davis asked. “You don’t have a place to be sent back to. They are essentially Americans who don’t have a birth record here.”

Holding steady Jewelry manufacturer Stuller, the largest private, nonmedical employer in Lafayette Parish, is down about 30 employees to 1,524 mainly because of people leaving, but business is “as a whole is up solidly,” Scott wrote.CGI, which employs 750 at its two ofﬁces in Lafayette, would like to add another 150 workers but “recruiting enough talent in the area is proving challenging,” Scott wrote. The University of Louisiana

$300,000 for homelessness-related issues in the 2026-27 budget, including homelessness prevention and rapid rehousing, City Council Chair Kenneth Boudreaux said. Boulet said addressing the problems will require continued cooperation among government agen-

at Lafayette had 1,656 workers as of fall 2025, which is up 8% since fall 2021 but still not enough to overcome the 2,414 lost between 2015 and 2022.

cies and community organizations. The five additional properties identified for possible closure could expand that effort, though ofﬁcials have not said which properties are under consideration or when they might pursue further action.

care therapies for patients, has been downsizing due to uncertainty over Medicare reimbursements. Acadian Companies, at 1,475 employees, should have modest growth in the Concerning next two years, but recruitTides Medical, an amni- ing EMS workers remains a otic tissue manufacturer huge challenge. Road lettings from the that acquires, processes and distributes advanced wound state Department of Trans-

portation and Development will plunge over the next two years by more than half, from $525.7 million to $188.8 million. Green Fuels Operating, which last year announced a $110 million net-zero emissions reﬁnery in southwest Acadia Parish that would employ 60, is starting over and looking for a new site.

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Lafayette Parish School Board Regular Board Meeting Minutes September 10, 2026 at 5:30 PM 202 Rue Iberville, Boardroom, Lafayette, LA 70508

1.2

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Roll Call Board members present: LeJeune, Davidson, Edmond, Trahan, Latiolais, Labue and Mason Board members absent: Bergeron and Hidalgo Ms. Trahan and Mr. Davidson arrived during agenda item. 2.1

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INSURANCE: Voluntary Benefits Completed Analysis and Approved 2027 Benefits, as presented by AGM | HUB International - Gardner/LeBouef In preparation for Plan Year 2027, the District’s Voluntary Benefits Administrator, AGM and HUB International, conducted a comprehensive market analysis across all benefit lines. To maintain competitive coverage, reduce employee out-of-pocket expenses and manage District costs, the team negotiated and secured multi-year rate holds, value-added benefits, and vendor credits, delivering direct cost savings to the District and reducing out-of-pocket expenses for our active and retired members. The approved Voluntary Benefit changes will take effect during the LPSS annual Open Enrollment period, running from September 28, 2026 through October 30, 2026, with coverage beginning January 1, 2027. 9.10.26 LPSB Approved 2027 Voluntary Benefits TL.pdf MINUTES: HUB announced there will be no change in carriers for dental, vision, life and disability and rates will be reduced beginning January 1, 2027. Dental rates will be reduced by 3.2% while the benefit design will be kept the same. Vision will have frame and contact allowances enhanced from $150 to $175 with a threeyear rate guarantee. Employer-paid basic life and AD&D costs significantly decreased while coverage continuity is preserved. Revised pricing is guaranteed for three years. Short-term disability rates will be reduced by 20% with a three-year rate guarantee. AGM announced premiums will be lower for the District’s Voluntary Benefits for accident insurance, hospital indemnity and critical illness beginning January 1, 2027. Critical illness will now cover infertility benefits, which is a $25,000 benefit. The breakdown of financial value of savings for 2027 will be as follows: • Total Employee Premium Reductions $264,251 • Three-Year LPSS Budget Relief 84,772 • Total Carrier-Funded Support 95,000 o TOTAL 2027 FINANCIAL VALUE $444,023 INSURANCE: Updates regarding the LPSS Group Health Insurance Plan - Gardner/LeBouef Gallagher Benefit Services will present an update regarding the LPSS Group Health Insurance Plan to address member feedback regarding Meritain Aetna and detail actionable next steps to resolve member concerns. MINUTES: Eric Pearson with Gallagher addressed the concerns regarding the district’s health plan administration since the transition to Meritain and Verity began January 1, 2026. Mr. Pearson admitted the concerns employees have are real and deserve attention. Gallagher has spent the last several months working closely with district administration, Meritain and Verity to investigate the issues and identify the root causes. Mr. Pearson indicated in their review, they have not identified a widespread network access problem along with several administrative and operational issues that contributed to delays, confusion and frustration for both members and certain provider offices. The parties have identified the issues and are actively working through them. Mr. Pearson indicated Meritain has implemented additional training, claim review and reprocessing initiatives, provider outreach efforts and enhanced reporting. He also indicated Verity is conducting provider education and assisting with network related questions. Gallagher will continue to independently review claims, monitor service performance, and hold organizations accountable for commitments they made to the district. Superintendent Touchet summarized what Mr. Pearson presented to the Board. Mr. Touchet indicated Gallagher has found that only certain providers are having issues and Gallagher is working with the providers to correct the issues. Mr. Touchet informed the entire Board of an audit of the insurance plan to be performed at the end of the year to compare what was paid by Blue Cross and what is supposedly not being paid by Meritain.

3. LITIGATION 3.1 BOARD: Discussion and/or action concerning pending litigation in the matter of Dione Linden, et al vs. American Alternative Insurance Corp, et al, Docket Number C-20231151 C, 15th Judicial District Court, Parish of Lafayette, State of Louisiana Jeffers That the Board go into executive session to discuss not only 3.1 but 3.2. Moved by: Britt Latiolais; seconded by: David LeJeune Yes: Britt Latiolais, Hannah Smith Mason, Kate Bailey Labue, Amy Trahan, Joshua Edmond, David LeJeune, and Robert Davidson Absent: Jeremy Hidalgo and Roddy Bergeron Motion Carries 7-0 That the Board go back in the regular session. Moved by: Britt Latiolais; seconded by: Amy Trahan Yes: Britt Latiolais, Hannah Smith Mason, Kate Bailey Labue,

Legal Notices

y g Louisiana, held on October 8, 2026, and laid over for publication of notice. ******* Ordinance No. 520-2026 An Ordinance of the City of Youngsville, Louisiana amending the ofﬁcial map of the City of Youngsville, providing for the annexation of addi‐ tional land into the cor‐

porate limits of the City of Youngsville, Louisiana being the tracts owned by J & M Land Invest‐ ments, LLC and S & C De‐ velopers, LLC, consisting of 196.778 acres located in Section 30. Township 11 South, Range 5 East, Parish, as Lafayette shown on that map titled Map Showing Property to b d i h i

p g p y be annexed into the City of Youngsville, LA, con‐ taining 196.778 acres, prepared by Jeremy P. Soirez, Professional Land Surveyor, dated May 7, 2026. ******* NOTICE IS HEREBY FUR‐ THER GIVEN that the Gov‐ Authority will erning meet on Thursday, No‐ b

y vember 12, 2026, at 6:00 o’clock p.m., at 201 Iberia Youngsville, Street, Louisiana, at which time there will be a public hearing on the adoption of the aforesaid ordi‐ nance. /s/ Nicole Guidry, City Clerk

3.2

4.6

That the Board go into executive session to discuss not only 3.1 but 3.2. Moved by: Britt Latiolais; seconded by: David LeJeune Yes: Britt Latiolais, Hannah Smith Mason, Kate Bailey Labue, Amy Trahan, Joshua Edmond, David LeJeune, and Robert Davidson Absent: Jeremy Hidalgo and Roddy Bergeron Motion Carries 7-0

4.7

That the Board go back in the regular session. Moved by: Britt Latiolais; seconded by: Amy Trahan Yes: Britt Latiolais, Hannah Smith Mason, Kate Bailey Labue, Amy Trahan, Joshua Edmond, David LeJeune, and Robert Davidson Absent: Jeremy Hidalgo and Roddy Bergeron Motion Carries 7-0

4.2

EMPLOYEE SERVICES: Discussion and/or action concerning Policy GBCA, Criminal History Records Information (CHRI) – Clement/Gardner Policy GBCA, Criminal History Records Information (CHRI) Policy GBCA, Criminal History Records Information (CHRI) LPSS Revision.pdf That the Board approve the proposed amendment to Policy GBCA, Criminal History Records Information (CHRI), as shown above in the description. Moved by: Britt Latiolais; seconded by: Kate Bailey Labue Yes: Britt Latiolais, Hannah Smith Mason, Kate Bailey Labue, Amy Trahan, Joshua Edmond, David LeJeune, and Robert Davidson Absent: Jeremy Hidalgo and Roddy Bergeron Carried 7-0

4.3

EMPLOYEE SERVICES: Discussion and/or action regarding proposed changes to Employee Services Job Descriptions – Clement/Gardner AMENDMENTS TO JOB DESCRIPTIONS: 1) Support and Repair Technician Support and Repair Technician Job Description Admendment.pdf 2) Director of Risk Management Director of Risk Management Job Description Amendment.pdf That the Board approve the proposed changes to the job descriptions as attached in the description section of this agenda item, effective September 10, 2026 Moved by: Britt Latiolais; seconded by: Kate Bailey Labue Yes: Britt Latiolais, Hannah Smith Mason, Kate Bailey Labue, Amy Trahan, Joshua Edmond, David LeJeune, and Robert Davidson Absent: Jeremy Hidalgo and Roddy Bergeron Carried 7-0

4.4

FINANCE: Discussion and/or action concerning the September Budget-to-Actual/Revisions for FY 25-26 - Mouton/LeBlanc FY26 General Fund BTA-Revision #14-FINAL.pdf FY26 2025 Bond Construction Fund BTA - Budget Revision #5-FINAL.pdf FY26 2025A Bond Construction Fund BTA - Budget Revision #4-FINAL.pdf FY26 Capital Improvement Fund BTA-Revision #14-FINAL.pdf FY26 Self-Funded Construction Fund BTA-Revision #14-FINAL. pdf FY 26 Fund 70 Budget Revision #4 - Final.pdf FY 26 Sales Tax Combined (Final).pdf FY 26 Special Revenues State & Local BTA #9 FINAL revision 9-8-26.pdf FY 26 Special Revenues State & Local BTA #9 FINAL revised footnote.pdf FY26 2002 Sales Tax BTA #6-FINAL.pdf FY26 Cafe BTA - Budget Revision #3-FINAL.pdf FY26 Debt Service - Budget Revision #7-FINAL.pdf FY26 Group Insurance Fund BTA-Revision #5-FINAL.pdf That the Board approve the September Budget-to-Actual/ Revisions for FY 25-26 as attached above to this agenda item. Moved by: Britt Latiolais; seconded by: Kate Bailey Labue Yes: Britt Latiolais, Hannah Smith Mason, Kate Bailey Labue, Amy Trahan, Joshua Edmond, David LeJeune, and Robert Davidson Absent: Jeremy Hidalgo and Roddy Bergeron Carried 7-0

4.5

FINANCE: Discussion and/or action concerning the September Budget-to-Actual/Revisions for FY 26-27 - Mouton/LeBlanc FY27 General Fund BTA-Revision #3.pdf FY27 Capital Improvement Fund BTA-Revision #3 - REVISION #2.pdf FY27 2025 Bond Construction Fund BTA - Budget Revision #1.pdf FY27 2025A Bond Construction Fund BTA - Budget Revision #1.pdf FY27 Self-Funded Construction Fund BTA-Revision #3 (Revised 09.03.26).pdf FY27 Special Revenue State and Local BTA#2 revision.pdf That the Board approve the September Budget-to-Actual/ Revisions for FY 26-27 as attached above to this agenda item. Moved by: Britt Latiolais; seconded by: Kate Bailey Labue Yes: Britt Latiolais, Hannah Smith Mason, Kate Bailey Labue, Amy Trahan, Joshua Edmond, David LeJeune, and Robert

SUPERINTENDENT: Discussion and/or action concerning the Minutes of August 13, 2026 - Touchet LPSB - Regular Board Meeting - August 13, 2026 - Minutes Html That the Board approve the minutes of August 13, 2026 as attached to this agenda item. Moved by: Britt Latiolais; seconded by: Kate Bailey Labue Yes: Britt Latiolais, Hannah Smith Mason, Kate Bailey Labue, Amy Trahan, Joshua Edmond, David LeJeune, and Robert Davidson Absent: Jeremy Hidalgo and Roddy Bergeron Carried 7-0

That the Board accept council’s recommendation on items 3.1 and 3.2 concerning litigation. Moved by: Britt Latiolais; seconded by: David LeJeune Yes: Britt Latiolais, Hannah Smith Mason, Kate Bailey Labue, Amy Trahan, Joshua Edmond, David LeJeune, and Robert Davidson Absent: Jeremy Hidalgo and Roddy Bergeron Motion Carries 7-0

That the Board approve the Superintendent to direct staff to begin revising the policy manual and bring suggested revisions to the Legislative Committee. Moved by: Britt Latiolais; seconded by: Kate Bailey Labue Yes: Britt Latiolais, Hannah Smith Mason, Kate Bailey Labue, Amy Trahan, Joshua Edmond, David LeJeune, and Robert Davidson Absent: Jeremy Hidalgo and Roddy Bergeron Carried 7-0

RISK MANAGEMENT: Discussion and/or action concerning Policy JGCE - Child Abuse, Policy JGCFA - Behavioral Health Services for Students and JD - Discipline - Jeffers/Clement JGCE - Child Abuse.pdf JGCE -Child_Abuse - Redline.pdf JGCFA__Behavioral_Health_Services_for_Students.pdf JGCFA__Behavioral_Health_Services_for_Students - Redline. pdf JD__Discipline hl Revised.pdf JD__Discipline.pdf That the Board approve the new legislation language on Policy JGCE - Child Abuse, Policy JGCFA - Behavioral Health Services for Students and JD - Discipline as attached above. Moved by: Britt Latiolais; seconded by: Kate Bailey Labue Yes: Britt Latiolais, Hannah Smith Mason, Kate Bailey Labue, Amy Trahan, Joshua Edmond, David LeJeune, and Robert Davidson Absent: Jeremy Hidalgo and Roddy Bergeron Carried 7-0

BOARD: Discussion and/or action concerning pending litigation in the matter of Jasmine Broxton vs Lafayette Parish School Board, Docket Number: C-20251528, Division F, 15th Judicial District Court, Parish of Lafayette, State of Louisiana - Jeffers

4. CONSENT AGENDA 4.1 BOARD: Discussion and/or action for the Superintendent to Direct Staff to Begin Revising the Policy Manual and Bring Suggested Revisions to the Legislative Committee - Labue/ Mason Public comment was received.

203642-OCT 13-1T $40.10

Davidson Absent: Jeremy Hidalgo and Roddy Bergeron Carried 7-0

Opening Comments - Superintendent Superintendent Francis Touchet, Jr. announced the Lafayette Parish School System Playbook has been released to the public. The playbook highlights what the district is doing to teach students social skills to make sure they have a competitive edge over other students. Superintendent Touchet recognized the Board for their investment on infrastructure because currently there is approximately $341 million worth of infrastructure happening. He also announced enrollment is up 516 more students compared to last year. Mr. Touchet thanked principals, teachers and support personnel for a smooth start to the 202627 school year.

2. INFORMATION ITEMS 2.1 BOARD: Introduction of The Funeral is Canceled by Police Chief David Anderson with the Carencro Police Department - Edmond Police Chief David Anderson with the Carencro Police Department indicated he became aware of The Funeral is Canceled back in 2024 when Carencro had an 18 year old Lafayette Parish student shot and killed while getting off of a school bus in a Carencro neighborhood. Pastor Lawrence Levy introduced the program to Chief Anderson. Students at Carencro High viewed The Funeral is Canceled at the beginning of this school year. The program consists of the reenactments of gun violence, bullying, police encounters, suicide and mental health. Chief Anderson stated the event was very successful and he received positive feedback from students who attending the program. Chief Anderson encouraged Board members to talk to Superintendent Touchet about the program and invite the program into other schools in Lafayette Parish. Board member Joshua Edmond thanked Chief Anderson for connecting with Pastor Levy and for bringing the program to the students at Carencro High.

NOTICE OF INTRODUCTION OF ORDINANCES NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the following enti‐ tled ordinance was intro‐ duced at a meeting of the City Council of the City of Youngsville, i i h ld

Legal Notices

Amy Trahan, Joshua Edmond, David LeJeune, and Robert Davidson Absent: Jeremy Hidalgo and Roddy Bergeron Motion Carries 7-0

Meeting called to order at 5:30 PM. 1. MEETING OPENINGS 1.1 Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and Presentation of Colors (Acadiana High School JROTC) followed by a Moment of Silence in Remembrance of the 25th Anniversary of September 11, 2001 Board President Hannah Smith Mason asked Kate Labue to lead in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Legal Notices

4.8

Approval of all Action Consent Items That the Board approve all Action Consent agenda items with the exception of items pulled. Moved by: Britt Latiolais; seconded by: Kate Bailey Labue Yes: Britt Latiolais, Hannah Smith Mason, Kate Bailey Labue, Amy Trahan, Joshua Edmond, David LeJeune, and Robert Davidson Absent: Jeremy Hidalgo and Roddy Bergeron Carried 7-0

5. ADJOURN 5.1 Adjourn Meeting There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 6:25 PM. /s/Francis Touchet, Jr. Francis Touchet, Jr. Secretary-Treasurer /s/Hannah Smith Mason Hannah Smith Mason Board President ccg _________________________________________________________________ Lafayette Parish School Board - Blue Ribbon Committee Meeting September 23, 2026 @ 5:00 PM Minutes Lafayette Parish School Board 202 Rue Iberville Lafayette, LA 70508 Meeting called to order at 5:00 PM. 1. ROLL CALL 1.1 Blue Ribbon Committee COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT: Francis Touchet, Jr. - Superintendent of Lafayette Parish School System, Andre Breaux - One Acadiana, Dr. Toby Daspit - University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Ryan LaGrange - LEDA, Julia Reed - LPAE and Emily Brown - APEL COMMITTEE MEMBERS ABSENT: Mike Hefner - Board Appointment and Anna Larriviere – Diocese of Lafayette ALTERNATE COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT: Phillip Ryland VACANT COMMITTEE MEMBERS: Black Ministerial Alliance of Lafayette LPSS ADMINISTRATION/STAFF PRESENT: Dr. Mark Rabalais, Jennifer Gardner, Ginger Richard, Anthony Mouton, Nic Jeffers, Tracy Wirtz, Christi Guidry and Jacob Simon 2. AGENDA 2.1 Recommendation for Declaration of Excess Distribution Mouton Proposed 2002 Sales tax Excess Distribution.pdf MINUTES: Mr. Anthony Mouton, Chief Financial Officer, reviewed the financial statements for fiscal year 2026 with the Blue Ribbon Committee. Mr. Mouton advised the Blue Ribbon Committee the potential distribution for eligible employees is $1,716.63. Mr. Andre Breaux with One Acadiana inquired if there was consideration of a salary increase as part of the surplus in the 2002 Sales Tax distribution. Mr. Mouton responded the Blue Ribbon Committee can decide to use the surplus as a salary increase or not. Mr. Mouton also indicated the Board did a salary increase for teachers last year. The increase was an initiative by Superintendent Touchet to raise the base salary for all teachers up to $50,000 and Mr. Mouton indicated the cost was very substantial. Mr. Mouton also advised the Blue Ribbon Committee to be very cautious about raising salaries because currently the expenditures in the 2002 Sales Tax Fund are outpacing the revenues and when salaries areraised, it is permanent and could potentially reduce any future distributions. Ryan LaGrange with LEDA asked how were raises funded last year. Mr. Mouton informed the Blue Ribbon Committee the raises were funded by the 2002 Sales Tax as well as the General Fund but the 2002 Sales Tax funded a substantial portion of the raise. Mr. Breaux questioned if the distribution was comparable to past distributions and Mr. Mouton replied it is in the average range of past distributions. Following discussion, a motion was offered by Andre Breaux, seconded by Ryan LaGrange to recommend the full excess distribution ($1,716.63) as proposed. Yes: Touchet, Breaux, Daspit, LaGrange, Reed and Brown No: None Carried 6-0 3. ADJOURN 3.1 A motion was offered by Julia Reed, seconded by Andre Breaux and voted unanimously upon by the committee to adjourn the meeting. Carried 6-0 There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 5:11 PM. /s/Francis Touchet, Jr. Francis Touchet, Jr. Secretary-Treasurer /s/Hannah Smith Mason Hannah Smith Mason Board President ccg 203634-696220-oct 13-1t $ 474.00

8A l Tuesday, October 13, 2026 l theadvocate.com l The Acadiana Advocate

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TODAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

Partly sunny, warm and humid

A t-storm around in the p.m.

Mostly sunny and warm

Mostly sunny, a stray t-storm

Less humid with plenty of sun

Sunshine and a few clouds

HIGH

LOW

HIGH

90° 68°

LOW

HIGH

91° 67°

LOW

88° 68°

77° 55°

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

Beaumont 88/76 Port Arthur 85/78

Baton Rouge 93/63

Lake Charles 89/72

10s

20s

30s

Houma 89/62

40s

50s

60s

70s

80s

Sunrise today Sunset tonight Moonrise today Moonset today

90s 100s 110s

FIRST

OCT 18

City

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

YESTERDAY

TODAY

READING 55 MAIN POLLUTANT Particulates

MAIN POLLUTANT Particulates

Austin Boston Dallas Fairbanks Honolulu Las Vegas Louisville Miami Nashville

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

HIGH

9:19a 3:27a 3:33a 11:49p 11:34p 10:51p 12:04a

FT.

LAST

OCT 25

93 64 92 40 87 66 89 90 92

TODAY Lo

78 60 77 28 73 55 70 76 65

NEW

NOV 1

t c t c s pc s s s

NOV 9

90 75 89 40 88 75 86 89 92

WED. Lo

71 53 72 28 74 59 69 77 67

LOW

0.00” 0.89” 1.69” 47.05” 50.39”

FT.

HIGH

0.9 9:01p 0.2 2.0 1:07p 0.5 2.1 10:18a 0.3 1.8 1:55p 0.2 1.6 10:08a 0.3 2.0 8:27a 0.4 1.9 11:10a 0.3

7:09 a.m. 6:39 p.m. 10:04 a.m. 8:20 p.m.

FULL

MODERATE

PRECIPITATION

89°/62° 83°/62° 84°/58° 91° in 1991 39° in 1906

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

New Orleans 89/66

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

Hattiesburg 95/60

Alexandria 89/69

Lafayette 90/68

LOW

82° 65°

TEMPERATURE Jackson 95/62

Many 88/69

LOW

Lafayette through 5 p.m. Monday

Longview 91/75

-0s

90° 58°

Monroe 94/68

Shreveport 91/73

-10s

LOW

Well, your conditions won’t be as nice as yesterday. Your Tuesday will be partly cloudy and very warm with temperatures that are well above average, rising to the upper 80s to low 90s. Temperatures are likely to remain above average for the rest of the week. There is a 20 to 30% chance of rain in the forecast today which returns to zero tomorrow. Winds are becoming southeasterly at 5 to 10 mph, so you may notice the humidity increasing. Otherwise, except today, expect sunny, hot and dry conditions through Friday.

pc pc t pc s s r t pc

SOURCE: LOUISIANA DEQ AND AIRNOW.GOV

FT.

--- ----- --8:30p 2.4 --- ----- ----- ----- ---

LOW

---------------

FT.

---------------

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

Today Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday

City

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

1:28a 2:23a 3:19a 4:14a 5:08a 5:58a 6:46a

89 88 81 80 81 86 95 73 89

7:40a 8:35a 9:31a 10:27a 11:20a 12:10p 12:34a

TODAY Lo

66 70 66 59 65 62 75 56 72

1:52p 8:05p 2:48p 9:01p 3:44p 9:57p 4:39p 10:52p 5:33p 11:45p 6:23p ---7:09p 12:57p

s s s sh pc s pc s s

GOOD

89 88 83 80 74 90 79 79 89

WED. Lo

69 71 60 61 54 65 70 58 72

s pc pc s sh s r s s

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

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

FLOOD STAGE

34 48 48 35 27 22 17

MON. 24-HOUR STAGE CHANGE

9.38 21.42 24.18 10.55 5.99 4.47 3.37

-0.23 -0.04 -0.42 -0.55 -0.91 -1.20 -0.95

21.50

-2.16

-1.60

-0.02

18 29 8

-1.33 9.71 3.34

-0.01 -0.03 -0.53

13 15

1.52 0.58

+0.05 -0.02

47 34 29 20 12 6

9.04 6.25 4.79 4.76 3.90 3.34

-0.42 -0.38 -0.41 -0.29 -0.10 -0.43

data as of 7 a.m. Monday

BOATS

Continued from page 1A it down. It was one of an estimated 230 abandoned boats in Terrebonne Parish alone. They end up that way for all sorts of reasons, from sinking to hurricanes blowing them away. In some cases, the boat owner may not have a clear heir when they pass away, or owners may no longer be able to maintain them. Often, local officials are left to remove the boats — a costly, timeconsuming project. Officials in Terrebonne Parish began removing abandoned boats from the parish’s waters last year. They believe they can remove up to 140 boats with current funding, Lirette said. The BoatUS Foundation, a nonprofit supported by the Boat Owners Association of The United States, gave $1 million in federal funds to Terrebonne Parish to assist. Combined with an additional $1 million in insurance funds, the parish has around $2 million to try and remove as many as it can, Lirette said. Abandoned and derelict vessels have long been a problem in Terrebonne, but the number of abandoned boats in the parish surged following Ida. Lirette said he hopes this push will remind residents to responsibly maintain their boats, preventing them from becoming abandoned in the first place. “We’re trying to reset the expectation in Terrebonne Parish for derelict vessels and derelict properties with more accountability,” he said. “That starts on our end. We lead by example.”

STAFF PHOTOS BY BRETT DUKE

Workers stand beside an abandoned steel boat as it is transported on a barge after being removed from Bayou Petit Caillou in Chauvin last week.

Environmental and safety hazard Abandoned boats can become more dangerous if they sink to the bottom, said Alanna Keating, director of outreach for BoatUS. Boaters may not be aware that there’s anything there and collide with them. As water and mud ﬁll an abandoned boat, chemicals left on board, plastic from chairs and a multitude of other contaminants can leach into the waterway, damaging water quality, Keating said. In some cases, diesel fuel can leak into the water. In the case of an active leak, the U.S. Coast Guard is dispatched to clean up

A worker sprays water to remove mud from an abandoned steel boat as an excavator lifts it from Bayou Petit Caillou in Chauvin. the spill and mitigate the damage, Keating said. It can cost anywhere from a few thousand to hundreds of thousands of dollars to remove a derelict boat from the waterway, Keating said, depending on its size and position. Many local governments do not have the funds to do it, she said. “The cost of removing the boat

is typically more than the value of the boat itself,” Keating said. “We have to find sustainable, affordable ways to dispose of boats at the end of their lives.” In Louisiana, boat owners are not required to hold insurance, Lirette said. And if ofﬁcials are unable to locate the owners, the local government is left to conduct the

removal. It can take three to six months for ofﬁcials to prepare for a boat removal, Lirette said. It requires lining up funding, giving boat owners adequate time to claim their vessel and obtaining the necessary permits to do the project. But Lirette said he hopes there won’t be as many abandoned boats in the future. He said owners are now more motivated to remove their boat instead of letting them become property of the parish. Gross littering ﬁnes for abandoning a boat have doubled, Lirette said. And a 2025 law passed by the Louisiana Legislature required the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries to create regulations for salvaging or removing abandoned boats. The new law gives people who aren’t the owners the opportunity to salvage a damaged or derelict boat, which Lirette hopes will reduce the number of owner-abandoned vessels. Jason Russo, boating law administrator with the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, said the agency does not track the locations of abandoned and derelict vessels in the state. It works with local

governments and private citizens to identify the last registered owners of a reported abandoned vessel, though sometimes that can’t be conﬁrmed. It is “undetermined” how many abandoned and derelict vessels are in Louisiana, Russo said. The BoatUS Foundation obtained a $10 million grant in 2023 from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Marine Debris Program to address abandoned and derelict vessels around the country. The funds were appropriated as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed in 2022, Keating said. Terrebonne Parish was one of 10 recipients of grant funds, Keating said. After the distribution of the money, some of the remaining funds will be used for improving the foundation’s “abandoned and derelict vessel” database, which relies on public input. The foundation will be hosting a conference on abandoned and derelict vessels at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown New Orleans in December, Keating said. The “Turning the Tide” summit is also funded by the NOAA grant.

METRO

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

T U E S D AY, O C T O B E R 13, 2026

1BN

Financial roadmap laid out for St. Landry Debt deadline nears for parish

BY JOEL THOMPSON Staff writer

St. Landry Parish faces a March deadline to repay $1.65 million in outstanding debt, and the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s Office has outlined spending cuts and potential new revenue sources the

parish could pursue to improve its ﬁnances. The recommendations include suspending discretionary spending, restricting employee overtime, halting nonessential travel and reviewing parish-owned vehicles. The auditor’s ofﬁce also suggested exploring a dedicated property tax to help cover juvenile detention costs. The parish received a six-month extension from the State Bond Commission to repay the remaining balance, plus accrued interest. State Legislative Auditor Mike Wagues-

pack previously warned that the parish could face state financial oversight if it fails to make sufﬁcient progress toward repayment. Waguespack told the commission in September that reducing core operating costs is the parish’s only realistic option for repaying the remaining debt. “They just haven’t been hawkish enough on making the cuts,” Waguespack said. “They need to get serious about making cuts to their operations. That’s the only way they’re going to do it.”

The letter from the auditor’s ofﬁce calls for the immediate suspension of all discretionary spending, which Parish President Jessie Bellard estimates accounts for about 11.5% of the current general fund expenditures. The parish has also seen rising costs in overtime payments for employees. The parish has accrued $406,000 in overtime payments for employees this year, and will likely surpass the overtime totals for 2025, in which the parish spent approximately $413,000.

Jan Risher

Enjoy your stay at this haunting party in Acadiana For years, my husband and I took our daughters to parties. On Saturday night, one of them got us into one. It was a Halloween party in Lafayette, and it reminded me of the movie “Babette’s Feast.” In the 1987 Danish ﬁlm, a French cook wins 10,000 francs in a lottery. She spends every franc on a single dinner for 12 villagers who have agreed in advance not to enjoy it. They enjoy the meal despite themselves. By the end of it, old quarrels have dissolved. Heather Holland Ros’ guests showed up ready to have fun, unlike Babette’s reluctant diners. But Holland Ros gives her party in the same spirit as Babette does: going beyond what the night requires whether or not guests notice. Holland Ros and her husband, Pierre Ros-Barbier, turned their two-bedroom, one-bath house and backyard into the Hollywood Tower Hotel, and on Saturday night, they checked in their guests.

PHOTOS BY LEE BALL

Chance Louviere savors a taste of gumbo Sunday at the 36th annual World Championship Gumbo Cookoff in New Iberia.

SUPER BOWLS Nearly 100 teams competed

over the weekend in the 36th annual World Championship Gumbo Cookoff in New Iberia. Sometimes known as the “Super Bowl of gumbo,” the Greater Iberia Chamber of Commerce hosts the free event every second weekend of October, when cooking teams as well as a crowd of hungry gumbo lovers ﬁll Bouligny Plaza. Categories included amateur chicken and sausage, amateur seafood, amateur melange, professional seafood and professional nonseafood.

Nick Peltier, of Peltier Engine Service, stirs a gumbo with big crabs.

PROVIDED PHOTO

Heather Holland Ros dresses like Beni from the 1999 film ‘The Mummy’ for her annual Halloween party.

Vintage suitcases with personalized luggage tags were stacked in corners and along the path. A lifesize mummy stood in the banana trees. (Holland Ros made it with plastic wrap and duct tape, using her husband as the model.) Guests signed the Book of the Dead. The lampshade carried the hotel’s logo. Does a Halloween party need a custom lampshade? It does if the hostess is Holland Ros. Following a passion to an almost absurd degree is one of my favorite things a person can do. Holland Ros, 39, is a nurse. For four Octobers now, she has turned her 1,000-square-foot house into a 1930s haunted hotel modeled on Disney’s Twilight Zone Tower of Terror in Walt Disney World. She calls the night her annual Tip Top Club Halloween party. Each year, she layers a second theme over the hotel. This year’s was “The Mummy,” which played on a big screen in the backyard. She plans for the better part of

ä See RISHER, page 4B

ABOVE: Gumbo lovers line up to taste the results from competing teams. RIGHT: Geno Delafose and French Rocking Boogie perform.

The auditor’s ofﬁce called for an immediate restriction on overtime, allowing it only when it is necessary to maintain public health, safety and welfare, as well to complete any additional legal obligations. The increased rate of overtime expenditures is primarily driven public works and government administration employees, the latter of which has already surpassed its share of the 2025 total by several thousand dollars.

ä See ROADMAP, page 4B

Lafayette man arrested in multistate probe Officials say children exploited through Xboxes, other online platforms BY KRISTIN ASKELSON Staff writer

A 29-year-old Lafayette man was arrested Thursday on multiple felony counts related to the online exploitation of children, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill’s office said. Michael Anthony Price, who lives off Dulles Drive, was arrested by agents with the Louisiana Bureau of Investigation following a multistate investigation that began with a cybertip submitted to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Investigators identified Price as a suspect in an online child exploitation case and worked with law enforcement in Kentucky. According to the state Attorney General’s Office, Price is accused of using multiple online platforms, including Microsoft Xbox, to solicit children younger than 13 to produce child sexual abuse material. Price faces four counts of indecent behavior with juveniles, three counts of computer-aided solicitation of a minor, five counts of producing child sexual abuse material involving a child younger than 13 and one count of obstruction of justice. He was booked into the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center with bail set at $875,000. Authorities are working to identify additional victims. The investigation involved the Louisiana Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office, the Danville Police Department in Kentucky and the FBI’s Louisville field office. Email Kristin Askelson at kaskelson@theadvocate.com.

UL researcher studies how water behaves on the moon Experiments could impact future lunar farming

BY KRISTIN ASKELSON

ines how plants respond to gravity and how to produce vegetables during long space missions. His latest study examined how A University of Louisiana at Lafayette biologist’s latest research water behaves under lunar gravity, could help scientists determine how which is about one-sixth as strong to grow plants and irrigate crops on as Earth’s. The research could help inform the design of irrigation systhe moon. Karl Hasenstein, a distinguished tems for future lunar habitats. professor emeritus of biology in As part of an initiative led by the UL’s Ray P. Authement College of company 4SPACE, Hasenstein deSciences, has spent more than three signed and built a small, closed sysdecades studying how plants grow tem containing liquids and cameras in space. His research, including to record how the ﬂuids behaved unexperiments conducted aboard the ä See MOON, page 4B International Space Station, exam-

Staff writer

PROVIDED PHOTO BY UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA AT LAFAYETTE

From researching methods for seeding and growing radishes on the International Space Station to studying how water behaves on the moon, University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s Dr. Karl Hasenstein has spent more than three decades informing scientific efforts to colonize distant places.

2B l Tuesday, October 13, 2026 l theadvocate.com l The Acadiana Advocate

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

OUR VIEWS

Home visits help state move needle on maternal health If maternal health is one of the priorities of our state — and we argue it has to be — the expansion of a program that puts experts in the homes of new parents should be good news to all. We recently learned that Louisiana has almost $14 million in federal funding this year for the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting program. That’s about $1 million more than the state received last year, and it’s due partly to the state putting in $1 for every $3 in federal funding received. That’s money well spent. It’s no secret that Louisiana has one of the highest maternal and fetal mortality rates in the developed world. The crisis was the focus of a monthslong investigation by this newspaper two years ago. In it, the consequences of the crisis were made clear. Hundreds die needlessly. Research has shown that home visits with new mothers can significantly lower rates of infant mortality. Louisiana has a program geared to first-time mothers and one that helps families raising children up to 3 years of age. Trained nurses visit their homes and give information on topics ranging from babyproofing a home and breastfeeding to the importance of reading to children. Families who qualify for Medicaid are eligible and generally find out about the programs through word-of-mouth or are referred by their healthcare providers. We hope that with more money, more families can access these vital services. Reporter Marie Fazio recently spoke with Susannah Boudreaux in the state Department of Health, which runs the home visits, about why they are important. Boudreaux pointed out that the visits are not just about helping the child; it’s about helping the whole family. The nurses’ visits can spot problems and connect parents with resources, including mental health services or housing assistance. The Department of Health knows this works because it gathers data on the effectiveness of the home visiting programs. In January, Louisiana became the first state in the South to require insurance companies to cover home visiting services for infants and young children. But Boudreaux also noted that Louisiana has a long history of promoting home visitation. Since 1999, the state has committed funds to similar programs. That’s before federal funding for them was even available. We like to see long-term investments like these because we know that the future of our state depends on the health of its people. We also know that healthy mothers help raise healthy babies. There are many people working to help improve our state’s track record on maternal and infant health, and we appreciate all their efforts. But let’s take a moment to acknowledge the home visiting program that is on the front lines of making lasting change on a long, intractable problem.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ARE WELCOME. HERE ARE OUR GUIDELINES: Letters are published

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

YOUR VIEWS

Congress isn’t going to fire itself; we need term limits When our nation was founded, the only pay Congress received was per diem when working, plus travel expenses. It took a horse-drawn carriage three days over bumpy roads to go from Boston to Washington, D.C. The average life expectancy was 47. Elective office was called “public service,” and few served more than one term. Recently I asked a college student his major. He replied, “Political science.” I asked, “Why?” He answered, “Because that’s where the money is.” Congress today is luxurious. We are stuck with professional career politicians because the Founding Fathers couldn’t anticipate an 80-year life expectancy or air travel. Members fly to Washington on Monday or Tuesday and fly home on Thursday with deluxe health and retirement benefits. They spend their time raising money. In Washington, money talks, walks and sings. Money gets them reelected. It’s accepted from

American businesses, rich citizens and even from foreign citizens, corporations and governments. One wonders what the money buys and whose interests are represented in Washington. The politicians get reelected until they get sick or die. The solution is to pass a two-term constitutional amendment, but these guys are not going to fire themselves! Let’s demand they pass a two-term amendment that excludes those in office at the time the amendment is ratified. For anyone who votes no, no matter which party they belong to, we citizens must get off our butts in the next election and vote them out of office. Let’s get this idea to go viral. Then in 2028, we can vote out those who don’t support the amendment. Talk it up with your friends. Let’s give this two-term idea the power to talk, walk and sing them out of office.

SIDNEY PULITZER New Orleans

Nothing positive about a public execution As each day brings the news of the actions and decisions of the current administration, I think they can’t possibly sink any lower. And then a new day brings a contradiction to my thinking. Live-streaming an execution by ﬁring squad is now on tap for later this year. Previously, President Donald Trump had been critical of public executions in Iran. According to Trump, anything Iran does is evil. But when similar actions are planned in a “Christian” nation, Trump is willing to give his approval. Hypocrisy is the pass-

word for functioning in the realm of the current administration. Aside from what the secretary of defense (I refuse to use the new name they’ve given to the department) may say, there is nothing positive about making the execution available for public consumption. Such streaming would only appeal to the most non-Christian, evil, depraved, barbaric segments of humanity. God help us.

NELL NAQUIN Baton Rouge

Abortion pill by mail unsafe, compared to what? TO SEND US A LETTER, SCAN HERE

There are those who argue against mailing the abortion drugs (mifepristone and misoprostol) to women in Louisiana. In a letter to your paper Oct. 8, three doctors stated that the practice is unsafe, as there may not be a physician with hands-on treatment for the patient. But what is the alternative? As abortion is illegal in Louisiana, women must go out of state to get the kind of care these doctors prescribe.

We are a poor state and have many residents who do not have the money to travel and stay in another state for services. These drugs are by far the safest solution for them. If the drugs become inaccessible to women in Louisiana, what will happen? Will we return to the days of the back alley? The proverbial coat hanger? Women will die as a result.

MIMI GROOME New Orleans

ICE prisoners are victims of America’s greed and cruelty As a volunteer with Louisiana Advocates for Immigrants in Detention (laaid.org), I have been in occasional contact with people incarcerated in ICE prisons in Louisiana and Mississippi during the past year and a half. To a person, they all describe horrible conditions: crowded rooms, contaminated water, inedible food, inadequate medical care, verbally abusive and racist guards. One detainee told me that they received exactly one piece of fresh fruit per week, an apple on Sunday. This poor treatment is of course deliberate, for a couple of reasons. First, these prisons are run by private incarceration companies, such as Geo Group and CoreCivic. To raise their proﬁt margins (as their shareholders expect), they cut costs by providing the bare minimum of food and care, and by hiring unqualiﬁed, cheap labor to run the prisons. Second, under the current administration’s immigration policy, the cruelty is the point. It hopes that by making immigration detention as miserable as possible, detainees will self-deport and potential immigrants will be deterred from entering the country. In other words, ICE prisoners are victims of both our greed and our cruelty. Improper entry to the United States is a misdemeanor, and unlawful presence is a civil offense. Neither one merits months and months of incarceration in wretched conditions. As an immigrant citizen, a Christian and the child of people who lived under Nazi occupation, I am appalled by this barbarism. The U.S. government is showing these people the worst of ourselves, and they are doing it in our name.

CHRISTINE KOOI Baton Rouge

Fixing FEMA, flood insurance demands independence U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow has been running political ads focused on FEMA and the high cost of flood insurance. She wants to fix them. Well, she has been in the House of Representatives for a number of years, since the death of her husband in 2020, and has done nothing to fix it. Now she wants our vote to send her to the Senate. I doubt she will fix FEMA or the flood insurance crisis. After all, she is 100% committed to Trump. I suspect she won’t use independence to help Louisianans. Vote for someone else who has the independence to do what is right for our state.

CHARLES M. RAYMOND Mandeville

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COMMENTARY Watch out for the double-haters

parties unfavorably, according to the Move over, soccer moms, forget most recent Wall Street Journal poll. about NASCAR dads, and dismiss More than half of Independents have even the “bunch of childless cat laa negative view of both, according to dies” that JD Vance identifies — all the most recent Marquette University shorthands for critical voting groups in past elections. The term with a pow- Law School Poll. “The double-haters don’t love erful punch in this year’s mideither party and are in the positerm congressional election is “double-haters.” It’s possible tion of deciding whom they hate you’re one of them. the least,” Charles Franklin, the Fervently cultivated by both Marquette political scientist parties and a vital swing in the who directs the poll, said in an battle for control on Capitol interview. His remarks are an David Hill, these double-haters aren’t of John Kenneth GalShribman update exactly misanthropes. They braith’s remark that “Politics is simply believe the two parties not the art of the possible” but are miscast for the politics of today, instead “consists in choosing between and surely for the politics of tomorthe disastrous and the unpalatable” or the view, often attributed to George row. Orwell, that “politics is the choice beThus, double-haters. Early exemplars of target voters tween the lesser of two evils.” include the archetype 47-year-old Dig a little deeper into the reams housewife from the outskirts of of survey data and you’ll see why the Dayton married to a machinist (the Democrats currently are regarded as fabled symbol of the 1970 midterm favorites in their drive to seize control elections), “waitress moms” (lowof both the House of Representatives income working women, late 1990s), and the Senate after the midterms, and “security moms” (post-2001 terror now less than four weeks away. attacks). But it is the double-haters Those figures reveal a seeming conwho are the prized prey of 2026. There tradiction but also a powerful updraft are more of them than ever, and far for the Democrats. more of them than voters whose views Start with the surface results, which match those of “Joe the Plumber,” the might lead you to see peril for the fanciful symbol in the 2008 campaign. Democrats. Deploring politicians of all stripes Members of the Democratic Party is a great American tradition. Mark are, by a large margin, more likely Twain argued that there was “no disthan Republicans to be double-haters; tinctly native American criminal class some 26% of them dislike both parties except Congress” and Henry Kissing- while only 16% of Republicans do so, according to the Marquette figures. er said that “corrupt politicians make Democrats also are more likely to disthe other 10 percent look bad.” But contempt for both parties, and like their own party (30%) than are for the politicians that personify them, Republicans (19%). is hitting new modern highs. Yet those Democrats are more loyal A fifth of all voters now view both to their party than their sentiments

might suggest. So what gives? They now are supporting Democrats more reliably than double-hater Republicans are supporting their candidates. The possible reason: The Democrats who hold an unfavorable view of their party feel that way because they are frustrated with it, likely because they are unhappy that its leaders aren’t doing enough to ﬁght President Donald Trump. “But,” explained Professor Franklin, “they still will vote for Democrats.” In that way, these Democrats are not like the 1980 Democrats who turned to Ronald Reagan because those voters were leaving the Democratic Party. “The current ones are Democrats who want party renewal,” Mr. Franklin said. “By no means are they considering voting for Republicans.” Indeed, poll ﬁgures show that 89% of Democratic double-haters will vote for the Democratic congressional candidate while only 71 percent of the Republican double-haters will vote for the GOP candidate. Plus: Democratic grouches are more likely to vote this year than Republican grumps by a margin of 60 percentage points to 49 points. The evil that political parties do lives after them, which is why Shakespeare would recognize the broad sweep of American politics. The good — Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy for the Democrats, Abraham Lincoln and Dwight D. Eisenhower for the Republicans — is oft interred with their bones. Doublehaters now reign supreme. Email David Shribman at dshribman@ post-gazette.com.

The U.S. Senate seat most likely to flip When strategists on both sides look at the 2026 Senate map, the state at the top of the list of those most likely to switch parties is North Carolina, where Republican Sen. Thom Tillis is retiring and former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper has a signiﬁcant lead in the race to replace him. In the RealClearPolitics average of polls recently, Cooper has a 9-point lead over Republican Michael Whatley, a former chairman of the state GOP. Cooper Byron has been in front for the York entire race; going back to March, his solid and steady lead has never been smaller than 6.5 points or larger than the current 9 points. A recent poll done for the American Association of Retired Persons by Tony Fabrizio — best known as President Donald Trump’s pollster — and Democratic pollster John Anzalone suggests Republicans are in even more trouble than it earlier appeared. Cooper has an 11-point lead, 53% to 42%, in the new survey. Why? Much of the answer lies in fundamentals. For example, a president’s job approval rating has long been a strong predictor of midterm results, and in North Carolina, Trump is deeply underwater, with a 38% job approval rating and a 59% disapproval rating. It’s a disappointing situation for a president who won North Carolina three times, each time with a slightly larger percentage of the vote and a larger raw vote total. In 2016, Trump won North Carolina with 49.83% of the vote and 2,362,631 votes. In 2020, the numbers were 49.93% and 2,758,775 votes. In 2024, it was 50.86% and 2,898,423 votes. Since taking ofﬁce, though, Trump’s job approval has fallen steadily. In a series of Elon University polls, Trump’s approval was 45% in February 2025. It fell to 42% in March, 41% in April, 39% in September, 35% in March 2026 and 31% this month — even lower than the AARP poll. The reasons are the usual. The cost of living is the voters’ top issue, and they especially blame Trump for the increase in gas and diesel prices that occurred after the start of the Iran war seven months ago. Just as they do

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTOS

At left, Michael Whatley and at right, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper. nationwide, a majority of voters now say they trust Democrats more than Republicans to handle the cost of living. On Iran, just 31% of respondents in the Elon University poll said they support the war, versus 52% who oppose and 18% who said they were unsure. Only 60% of Republicans support the war, while just 10% of Democrats and 27% of independents support it. Add to all this the fact that Cooper, who has won six statewide elections, is far better known than Whatley, who has not won any. Cooper also has signiﬁcantly higher favorable numbers. At the start of the campaign, a lot of North Carolinians had no idea who Whatley was, and since then, attacks from Democrats have helped keep his favorable rating low. The current situation could send long-term trends in North Carolina in a new direction. The state has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 2008 (Kay Hagan, who served one term), and only two since 1998 (Hagan and John Edwards, who also served one term). Now, when Republicans and Demo-

crats consider the balance of the Senate, North Carolina is the first of the net four seats Democrats would need to win to take control of the Senate. Political analyst Charlie Cook recently said, “A year ago, it wasn’t realistic to think that the Senate might flip, but now, it’s very realistic.” North Carolina, he said, is the “open seat [that] goes first.” Still, the future of the Senate remains very much in doubt (as opposed to the House, which seems set to turn Democratic). Yes, there are several states that could flip from Republicans to Democrats. After North Carolina, there are Maine, Iowa, Texas, Ohio, Alaska and Kansas. But there are also states — Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire — where Democrats are at risk of losing one of their current seats. Winning control is still not a done deal, or an easy task, for Democrats. But there will undoubtedly be some states, most clearly North Carolina, that are in for big changes. Byron York is on X, @Bryon York. Email him at byronyork@yorkcomm. com.

Reality remains undefeated

“When leaders neglect lived experience, the message collapses,” wrote former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre in The New York Times. That is precisely the mistake Biden made, lauding the success of “Bidenomics” while “too many people were struggling with the prices of groceries, rent, child care and gas,” she said. “Their lived experience did not match the encouraging economic news, and that disconnect shaped the entire public conversation.” That disconnect between presidential rhetoric and reality helped elect Donald Trump two years ago. Today, it’s crushing him. Steve Voters are experts on one thing: Roberts themselves. On many issues, they have no firsthand information to question Trump’s numerous fraudulent claims, like that the Iran war is a success or that he won the 2020 election. But when the president boasts about a “golden age” of prosperity or that prices are coming down or that the affordability crisis is a “hoax,” they can see with their own eyes, in their own lives, that he’s lying to them. That’s why, as the think tank The Conference Board reports, consumer confidence dropped sharply in September, down to its lowest reading since 2014. That’s why only 26% approve of Trump’s handling of the economy, while 73% disapprove, according to the latest AP poll. And that’s why 1 in 5 Trump voters from two years ago now say they regret their choice, reports the independent polling firm Navigator. Remorse is particularly strong among young voters and Black and Hispanic voters, groups that backed Trump in unusually large numbers for economic reasons but were never staunch MAGA loyalists. “His communications team should know by now that the prices at the pump and the self-checkout line are undefeated,” wrote Jean-Pierre. Those prices are not Trump’s only political problem, however. Corruption is now rivaling cost in voters’ minds. Gallup reports that almost 9 in 10 Americans now believe government corruption is widespread, the highest level of suspicion and skepticism in 20 years. “Voters don’t think the economy is working for them, and they think it’s being rigged more and more in favor of a precious few who are cozied up to our nation’s leaders,” wrote Republican pollster Kristin Soltis Anderson in the Times. “The combination of these two worries is putting Mr. Trump and Republicans in a terrible position on the eve of an election.” Many voters once thought Trump’s deal-making prowess was a big plus in a president. They thought he would be a crusading outsider, draining the “swamp” of Washington and ousting the “deep state” from power. But it’s hard to play the outsider when you’re the president -- the ultimate insider. You can’t storm the castle when you live in it. Every day, Anderson wrote, voters “see headlines about meme coin scams, inexplicable pardons and the enormous wealth that the president’s family and close associates are accumulating.” And they are concluding that Trump and his cronies are contributing to their woes. “If people weren’t suffering right now, corruption feels harmless, but people are seeing their own situation getting worse, and they are connecting the dots on their own,” Democratic strategist Adam Bozzi told the Washington Post. Rising prices and collapsing confidence are compounded by yet another problem for Trump: his focus on incessant self-promotion, from renovating the White House to renaming the Kennedy Center. These obsessions might boost his ego, but they do nothing to boost his standing with voters. “On its own, an economy that feels as if it is leaving people behind would be a political problem for any incumbent,” wrote Anderson. “But add to it the gold leaf and vanity projects, and you wind up with a politically perilous one-two punch.” Perilous because Trump is sending clear signals to voters that he cares more about himself than about them. In the latest CNN poll, a “record-high 73% of U.S. adults say that President Donald Trump hasn’t paid enough attention to the country’s most important problems,” with only 27% saying he has the “right priorities.” Faced with this cascade of damning political news, Trump has decided that his problem is all public relations, not substance. “I’ve done a very bad job of explaining how good the country is doing,” he said at a Hispanic Heritage Month celebration at the White House, but he totally misunderstands how and why he so badly misses the mark. It’s not that he doesn’t sell his successes well; it’s that he blindly and stubbornly refuses to admit his failures and to understand and sympathize with the problems facing families across the country. He tells people to believe him, not themselves. He forgets that reality remains undefeated. Email Steven Roberts at stevecokie@gmail.com.

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Death row inmate asks Research vessel catches fire south governor for mercy problems and was not devotLawyer says jury never heard key evidence sonal ing sufﬁcient time to the case.

BY PATRICK SLOAN-TURNER Staff writer

A few days after he was denied a rehearing, Louisiana death row inmate Todd Wessinger is asking to swap his looming execution for life without parole, pointing to two past federal opinions that said he was denied effective legal representation. Wessinger’s attorney, federal public defender Cristie Gautreaux Gibbens, asked the state Board of Pardons on Friday to recommend that Gov. Leff Landry commute his death sentence. She argued that in past trials, his attorneys failed to present evidence that could have persuaded jurors to spare his life. Wessinger, 58, was convicted of double murder for shooting and killing two former co-workers at a Baton Rouge restaurant in 1995. For nearly 30 years, he has fought his death sentence in state and federal courts. Around 2014, scans of Wessinger’s brain revealed signs that he suffered a stroke during childhood that left a hole in the part of his brain responsible for decisionmaking and impulse control, his attorneys say. In 2015, a federal judge found if such evidence was available at trial, it would have created a reasonable probability that a jury would sentence Wessinger to life in prison rather than death. “Two federal judges reviewed the evidence in Todd Wessinger’s case and concluded that his death sentence is unconstitutional, and neither ruling was overturned on the merits,” Gibbens said. After a U.S. appeals court last week denied Wessinger’s request for a rehearing, East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore said Oct. 5 that he planned

to apply for a death warrant. The legal order would set the date, time and location for the state to execute Wessinger. Wessinger, meanwhile, has pursued a few different paths to try to stave off execution, including a federal lawsuit over the state’s execution methods in addition to his claims before the pardon board. Wessinger and his attorney are not arguing about whether he actually shot and killed Stephanie Guzzardo and David Breakwell, two of his former co-workers at a Calendar’s Restaurant that was located on Perkins Road in Baton Rouge. Instead, their claims before the pardon board and governor are to argue the jury imposed a death sentence without all of the relevant facts. The Governor’s Ofﬁce declined to comment Monday. Landry in the past has pointed to Wayne Guzzardo, the father of one of Wessinger’s victims, in his support for the death penalty. As the governor pushed for the state to expand execution methods in 2024, Landry described Guzzardo as a “guiding light to peer through the eyes of family members who are seeking that justice.” Guzzardo testified before the Legislature about his frustration over waiting so long to see Wessinger put to death. Wessinger’s current attorneys, however, contend that his original trial lawyer failed to adequately investigate his background or present evidence that could have helped spare him the death penalty. His court-appointed attorney took over the case about five months before trial, Gibbens said, but the lawyer later acknowledged that he was struggling with per-

At the post-conviction stage, Wessinger’s appointed counsel was a first-year law firm associate. The case was the first time the attorney had appeared in court. Neither of those court matters included any evidence regarding Wessinger’s childhood stroke and resulting mental capacities, his attorneys say. “Louisiana should not carry out an execution when the courts that found his sentence unconstitutional said they had no power to fix it,” Gibbens, a federal public defender in Louisiana’s Middle and Western districts said. “The clemency application shows the man he has become over three decades in prison, and we are asking the Board of Pardons to recommend that Governor Landry commute his sentence to life without parole.” In a 2018 dissenting opinion, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor called Wessinger’s death sentence “deeply unjust and unfair,” and said he will “remain on death row without a jury ever considering the significant mitigation evidence that is now apparent.” On Friday, Wessinger also asked the state court for a new penalty phase in his case. Wessinger is also suing the state in federal court to halt his execution, arguing the nitrogen gas asphyxiation method the state has chosen is unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment. In July, a federal appeals court blocked the execution of an Alabama inmate by nitrogen gas; Louisiana modeled its execution protocol after Alabama’s. Louisiana deployed the method for the first time last March, using nitrogen for the death of convicted killer and rapist Jessie Hoffman Jr. It was Louisiana’s first execution in 15 years.

AG, special prosecutor MOON spar over N.O. case

Continued from page 1B

BY JOHN SIMERMAN Staff writer

The special prosecutor who led the grand jury that indicted Attorney General Liz Murrill over the summer is pleading with the Louisiana Supreme Court to stop Murrill’s lawyers from suing her for public records and to get her a lawyer amid an ongoing state criminal probe. Lawyers for Murrill, meanwhile, have asked the high court to appoint an outside judge to oversee the public records lawsuits they’ve filed against the special prosecutor, Laurie White, and Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams after a third judge in New Orleans recused herself. Murrill’s attorneys also want the state high court to appoint an “independent custodian of records,” saying White has refused to properly answer a pair of public records requests and is conflicted. The dueling filings mark the latest turn in a legal drama stemming from an Orleans Parish grand jury’s July 2 indictment of Murrill on 16 counts of public intimidation and

malfeasance in ofﬁce. Judge Leon Roche in June appointed White, a former criminal court judge, to oversee the grand jury that indicted Murrill over purported threats to city officials, after Williams’ ofﬁce recused itself. According to the grand jury, the district attorney was among Murrill’s victims. In an “emergency” request this week, White wrote that she received a letter this month from Collin Sims, the northshore district attorney who was named in August to oversee a criminal investigation that Gov. Jeff Landry ordered into the grand jury’s indictment of Murrill. White wrote that she learned from Sims that she’s a “potential target” of the Louisiana State Police probe. White dismissed Murrill’s indictment on July 22 under pressure from city leaders who had expressed concerns about the political fallout. She argued that Murrill shouldn’t be allowed now to pursue a public records case against her while the state is simultaneously investigating her and others for possible crimes.

RISHER

Continued from page 1B the year. The setup takes two days. “Most people would not expect a party like this from a tiny house,” Holland Ros said. “I’m a big believer in being able to take anything and make it something.” She gets that belief honestly. She learned it from her mother, Wendy Holland. “My mom has always been someone who loves to make an ordinary event, day, celebration more special,” Holland Ros said. The hotel has been with her a long time. Thirteen years ago, she threw a murder-mystery Sweet 16 party for her youngest sister, Claire Holland, who was in my daughter’s class. My daughter still talks about that party. Holland Ros began collecting vintage luggage back then, and she’s never stopped. What she’s after is immersion. “I just love to transport people,” she said. Monica Wright has come to the party for four years. She said she and her husband up the ante on their costumes each

PROVIDED PHOTO PROVIDED PHOTO

Heather Holland Ros placed dozens of pieces of vintage luggage, each with a handmade tag, around her home and garden as part of the decor for her annual themed Halloween party at her Lafayette home. year because Holland Ros’ creativity inspires them. “Heather creates this gorgeous atmosphere that immerses you in her unique vision, and it brings out the best in all of her guests,” Wright said. Ros-Barbier leaves most of the party’s details to his wife. On the big night, he gears up in full costume and stands by to check the sound system, gets ice

der altered gravity. The experiment flew aboard a Blue Origin suborbital rocket. After the capsule separated from the rocket, it entered a period of free fall, creating about two minutes of weightlessness. After the flight, Hasenstein worked with John Z. Kiss, of Florida Tech University, and Christopher P. McKay, of NASA, to examine how water and water mixed with glycerol behaved under the altered conditions. The researchers found that water did not flow as freely under lunar gravity because of increased surface tension. The findings suggest that irrigation systems designed for the moon may need to account for how water moves and interacts with surfaces under reduced gravity. The research was recently published in the journal Microgravity Science and Technology. The findings underscore the importance of understanding fluid behavior when designing systems to grow plants in future lunar habitats, the researchers wrote.

of Grand Isle

vessel’s entire crew escaped inCoast Guard rescues jury. Some of the crew were also transported to shore by good Sa42 aboard maritans.

BY MARCO CARTOLANO and LARA NICHOLSON Staff writers

All 42 passengers escaped unharmed from a research vessel that caught fire while traveling south of Grand Isle on Monday afternoon. Coast Guard crews responded to what early Monday seemed like a possible tragedy — a fire aboard the Rem Andes, an 88-meter seismic research vessel sailing under the Cyprus flag about 100 miles off the Louisiana shore, officials said. Passengers fled the ship on life rafts and were all safely transferred to nearby offshore supply vessels. The fire was extinguished by about 2:50 p.m., according to a Coast Guard statement. The agency said the cause of the fire was not confirmed as of Monday evening. Coast Guard Petty Officer Vincent Moreno confirmed that the

A military transport aircraft from Clearwater, Florida, intercepted the vessel’s mayday call and diverted its flight to assist. The Coast Guard also sent a twinengine turboprop aircraft from Mobile, Alabama, and a Jayhawk helicopter from New Orleans to help. Rem Offshore, a Norwegian shipping company for offshore energy projects, lists the Rem Andes on its website as a seismic survey research vessel built in Poland in 2012. The Coast Guard had called a commercial salvage company — which Moreno described as something similar to a tow-truck service for commercial vessels — to transport the ship back to port. The Coast Guard said it will coordinate with the vessel’s operating company to assess any potential pollution threats and determine next steps. Staff writer Alex Lubben contributed reporting.

Prairieville man wins $2 million Powerball prize Staff report A Prairieville man has claimed a $2 million Powerball prize, the Louisiana Lottery said. Charles Moore purchased the ticket at the Delaunes Supermarket on La. 431 in St. Amant. Moore matched all five numbers and the red Powerball number. He purchased the Power Play option, for an extra $1, doubling his winnings, the lottery said in a news release. The winning numbers for the

ROADMAP

Continued from page 1B Additional recommendations include the immediate suspension of all nonessential travel expenses for parish employees, which has accounted for $146,000 so far this year, as well as a review of all parish-owned vehicles to determine their necessity.

Potential new revenue The parish has accumulated internal debt over several years by transferring dedicated funds to the general fund for other purposes to cover mandatory expenses. It issued bonds in 2024 and 2025 to repay those funds. The parish also faces rising costs for mandatory services, including housing and healthcare for juvenile inmates. Bellard has frequently cited those expenses when discussing the parish’s financial difﬁculties. The auditor’s office recommended that the parish look into whether the costs relating to ju-

Oct. 5 drawing were 16-23-32-3654, and the Powerball number was 9. Moore claimed his prize two days later, on Wednesday. After state and federal tax withholdings, he took home a little over $1.46 million, the lottery said. The Louisiana Lottery encourages all players to sign the back of their tickets immediately after purchasing to protect their claim. Winning tickets for draw-style games must be claimed within 180 days of the drawing date.

venile detention could qualify for a dedicated millage under state law. Louisiana statute allows parish governing authorities to issue millages covering some juvenile detention services, including, “rehabilitative programs within a structured environment for children who enter the juvenile justice system” and “acquiring, constructing, equipping, operating, maintaining, and managing a youth center.” The auditor’s office also encouraged the parish to conduct a comprehensive review of potential funding sources, including federal and state grants that could help pay for juvenile detention services. The recommendations outline possible steps the parish could take to address its financial problems before the debt deadline. The document does not require the parish to implement every recommendation. However, the parish must notify the auditor’s office if it declines to implement a recommendation, explain its reasoning and propose an alternative corrective action.

Holland Ros said she always wanted to be a nurse, but she has always been creative, too. She reasoned that nursing required a degree and creativity didn’t. Lately, she said, she ﬁnds herself “craving to throw myself into creativity like this” and would like to design parties professionally. She should. In “Babette’s Feast,” the cook explains herself: “I was able to make them happy when I gave of my very best.” This week, the suitcases go back to Crowley to her childhood bedroom in her parents’ house, which STAFF PHOTO BY JAN RISHER the family calls the museum. The suitcases will wait there, Heather Holland Ros and Pierre Ros-Barbier go all out in decorating their luggage tags and all, until the hotel Lafayette home for their annual Halloween party. opens again next October. and assists as needed. “He loves to see me just doing creative stuff,” Holland Ros said, “’cause he knows that’s what makes me happiest.” This year, Holland Ros dressed as Beni, the shifty sidekick from 1999 ﬁlm “The Mummy.” She picked him partly for comedy and partly to breathe easier. Last year, she was the Creature from the Black Lagoon, and the headpiece was so heavy that, like

the Creature, she kept having to come up for air. Claire Holland came home from New Zealand, mostly for the party, with her partner, Rob Clark, a New Zealander. I asked him to sum up the night. “Epic,” he said. He added that his favorite Louisiana food so far is gumbo and “the étouffée that your mother made,” he told Claire Holland. Smart fellow.

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

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T U E S D AY, O C T O B E R 13, 2026

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James Madison to leave Sun Belt League can go different directions to replace Dukes Once again, the Sun Belt Conference is right in the middle of the evershifting conference alignment puzzle after James Madison Kevin announced Monday Foote it’s leaving for the American Conference no later than July 1, 2028.

Multiple reports have stated James Madison will pay nearly $23 million to enter the league and a $5 million exit fee to leave the Sun Belt, which is close to voting to increase the required exit fee. So how does the Sun Belt replace the Dukes? “With James Madison’s recent announcement of its planned departure, the conference leader-

ship will examine and evaluate all opportunities as it continues its work to ensure the sustained rise of the Sun Belt Conference — the premier FBS non-autonomy conference in the country,” the league said in a statement. “The Sun Belt Conference is ’Rising’, and our best days are ahead.” The Sun Belt’s blueprint always has been an example of geographi-

cal feasibility. “Through a tumultuous period in collegiate athletics, the Sun Belt has remained steadfast in its commitment to regional rivalries, geographic alignment and broadbased competitive excellence — pillars that have ushered in the most successful era in the conference’s history,” said Kyle Marrero, the Sun Belt board of directors president. Several of the same names that came up when Texas State de-

cided to leave the Sun Belt will be discussed, such as Western Kent u c k y, M i d d l e Tennessee State, Liberty or Jacksonville State from Napier Conference USA. Western Kentucky’s association with the Sun Belt goes all the way back to 1982

ä See SUN BELT, page 3C

Desormeaux addresses frustrations in loss to Tech BY KEVIN FOOTE Staff writer

STAFF PHOTO BY MICHAEL JOHNSON

LSU linebacker Whit Weeks, left, jokes with coach Lane Kiffin on the sideline during the game against Louisiana Tech on Sept. 12 at Tiger Stadium. Weeks was unable to travel to Kentucky for the Tigers’ game on Saturday due to his lower-leg injury.

Weeks’ spot

Kiffin says he knew LSU would endure problems without injured LB BY JON BLAU Staff writer

In the lead-up to Saturday’s kickoff at Kentucky, the phones of LSU defenders lit up. They each received a text message from linebacker Whit Weeks, who didn’t make the trip because doctors feared a plane ﬂight could set back the senior’s recovery from a lower-leg injury suffered in late September. Weeks’ words of encouragement to his teammates — each one of them, one by one — were meaningful in their own way. But their

phones couldn’t come with them onto the field as the Wildcats busted a 77-yard run on their first play from scrimmage. They couldn’t reconnect with Weeks — their “alpha,” as LSU coach Lane Kiffin calls him — as Kentucky quarterback Kenny Minchey lined up for a two-point conversion pass in overtime that he improvised into a game-winning run. “You just don’t replace Whit,” Kiffin said Monday, clarifying he didn’t mean to speak ill of Weeks’ replacement Davhon Keys, who was the SEC’s second-leading tackler last season.

ä Mississippi State at LSU.

11 A.M. SATURDAY, ESPN

LSU had enough spare parts to reconstitute its defense after Weeks and safety Dashawn Spears were lost to injuries in back-to-back weeks, but it was clear in a 35-34 loss to Kentucky that the No. 22 Tigers are missing something intangible. Not only is Weeks a capable blitzer and sideline-to-sideline tackler, but he’s also a charismatic leader who

ä See LSU, page 3C

UL coach Michael Desormeaux knows the pain his players, coaches and fans have felt ever since his Ragin’ Cajuns lost a heartbreaking 32-31 game at Louisiana Tech on Saturday. He felt it as well. “Losing sucks,” said Desormeaux, whose Cajuns will play against Troy at 4 p.m. ä Troy at UL. Saturday at Our Lady of Lourdes 4 P.M. SATURDAY, Stadium. “Losing in the manner we lost makes it even worse. It’s ESPN+ always difficult, but it’s certainly a tough pill to swallow to give up a two-possession lead late in the fourth. You essentially feel like you let one slip.” Much of the conversation was about UL’s offensive philosophy with a two-score lead in the fourth quarter. Desormeaux’s general approach didn’t change. “I know everyone’s got opinions and I get that and that’s fine,” he said. “That’s the world we live in. Got to better run the ball to win — period, end of story. “That’s who we are, and if you don’t, at some point you’ll get beat. That’s what happened, and you know, I can live with that.” Desormeaux, who calls the offensive plays, did relent on one of the six play calls during an unproductive two-drive sequence. It was the first play of the first three-and-out. “On paper, the design, all that stuff is fine, but the way the game was playing, we didn’t have a very good answer to get to the backside linebacker,” Desormeaux said. “When you front-side ‘Mike’ all this stuff like we’re doing ... getting to the back side is really tough the way their linebackers run. “We had to get to where we were able to keep everything in the box where we had an extra hat to work back in. So the first one was not a good call, and I will own that and did in front of the team.” Late offensive issues were not the only reason for the loss. The defense made mistakes down the stretch as well. On Tech’s first of two straight touchdown drives during the comeback, a missed quarterback sack on fourth down was only the beginning. “Even on the sack, like the pressure wasn’t right,” Desormeaux said. “We weren’t lined up right on the pressure. Yes, we missed a sack with one of our players, but we should have another guy in there, too. We were not lined up. One of the guys that’s in the pressure doesn’t go because he’s not in the right spot.

ä See UL, page 3C

Saints are bad across board right now

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.

Times are tough right now for the New Orleans Saints. After their 23-13 loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, they have lost three straight games and plummeted to the bottom of the NFC South standings. Jeff At 1-4, they are Duncan one of the biggest disappointments in the NFL. You don’t need me to tell you this. If you’ve watched the Saints the past three weeks, you know it. You’ve lived it. The Saints are bad in just about every way right now. They’re so bad, even Mr. Glass-Half-Full him-

self, Drew Brees, is being critical of them. It’s not one thing. It’s everything. n Coaching n Game-planning and game management n On-field execution, discipline and attention to detail n Personnel evaluation, development and procurement It hasn’t reached bag-head-level bad, but after watching the Saints commit four penalties in ﬁve snaps during one mind-numbing stretch on Sunday, it’s certainly in the area code. How bad is it? Let us count the ways and try to put this tailspin into context: n On Sunday, opposing fans took over the lower bowl of the Super-

ä Saints at Giants. NOON SUNDAY, FOX dome for the second consecutive week in the fourth quarter. Last week, it was Falcons fans chanting “A-T-L.” This week, Vikings fans celebrated with a round of hearty “SKOL” chants that echoed throughout the mostly empty stadium. Gifting road wins to opponents is not what local tourism ofﬁcials have in mind when they promote New Orleans’ world-class hospitality. “It’s extremely disappointing,” quarterback Tyler Shough said. “We feel the city coming out (and)

ä See DUNCAN, page 3C

2C ● Tuesday, October 13, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

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UL ATHLETICS HALL OF FAME CLASS OF 2026

Game-worn, signed Jordan jersey sells for $14 million

A game-worn, autographed Michael Jordan road jersey from the 1998 NBA Finals has been privately sold for $14 million, an auction house announced Monday, calling it the highest price ever paid for a piece of basketball memorabilia. Pennsylvania-based Hunt Auctions announced the private treaty sale and identiﬁed the buyer as Miami real estate investor Ron Firman. The red jersey is the one Jordan wore in Game 2 of that series on June 5, 1998. The Bulls won the series in six games. The $14 million price would be the second-biggest known cost for a game-worn jersey, behind the $24.12 million paid in 2024 for the jersey worn by Babe Ruth of the New York Yankees when he hit the “called shot” home run.

NFL suspends 49ers LB Greenlaw for headbutt

Former UL track and field standout Lawrence Willis will be inducted into the UL Athletics Hall of Fame on Friday.

PROVIDED PHOTO

Willis soared in multiple events BY DAN MCDONALD Contributing writer

Editor’s note: This is the first in a five-part series on the UL Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2026, which will be honored Friday. Lawrence Willis just had to find his niche. Most high school track and field athletes take part in multiple disciplines and events by necessity. Weight throwers compete with every implement; jumpers run in the hurdles; and flat jumpers run in the sprints and relays. That’s exactly what Willis did when he was a prep track standout at tiny Iota High School. “When coach (Charles) Lancon recruited him, he was a multi-event person because he did all of them pretty well for that time,” UL track and field coach Tommy Badon said. “He ran the 400 in 48, 49, which back then was very good. He triplejumped 47, long-jumped 22, highjumped, ran some relays. “The biggest thing for him was his upside, and you could see that. He was a hugely talented athlete, just at a small school. Back then a lot of kids around here came out of the small country schools and did really well. We had a lot like

that, guys that had a lot of upside, and Lawrence fit that perfectly.” Willis started concentrating on the flat jumps when he joined the Ragin’ Cajuns. By the time he finished his UL career, he had three All-America and nine All-Sun Belt Conference honors. In his senior year, he won the Sun Belt long jump and triple jump titles in both indoors and outdoors, — the only UL athlete ever to win two different events in both indoors and outdoors in the same year. But he wasn’t through specializing. Willis turned his collegiate flatjumping success into an international career once he concentrated on the triple jump. He finished fifth in the 2007 World Championships in the triple jump in Rio de Janeiro, becoming one of only three UL track athletes ever to finish in the world top five. He also took part in the Pan American Games as part of Team USA in 2007. Because of those accomplishments, Willis will be inducted into the UL Athletics Hall of Fame on Friday as part of a weekend of activities that includes the Cajuns’ fourth home football game of the season against Troy on Saturday. He will be inducted along with baseball standout Dylan Moore,

women’s basketball standard-setter Tenna Cooper, record-setting football standout Fred Stamps and former football coach Nelson Stokley. Willis was named to the all-time Sun Belt team, selected after the league’s first 30 years, and went on to win a total of eight Sun Belt titles along with being named the Outstanding Performer at the 2002 indoor championships in his ﬁrst collegiate season when he was scoring points in multiple events. That was before his triple-jump marks started jumping off the page. “Some people have a lot of elastic strength, is what we call it,” Badon said. “The triple and the high jump and the hurdles are probably the hardest on the body because you have to have rebound, you have to be able to hit the ground and rebound up. Not everybody can do that, and it’s not until you work at it before that ability comes out. “Lawrence was a strong guy and you saw that when he jumped. He wasn’t the fastest guy — that’s probably why his triple marks were better than his long jump marks — but he was fast enough, and all the stars aligned when he found an event that met his talent. He found an event that worked

best for him.” More than two decades after his collegiate career, Willis still ranks second in school history in the triple jump outdoors with a 53-111/ 4 mark, behind only previous Hall of Fame inductee Ndaba Mdhlongwa. He’s third at UL for indoors in the same event at 544. He also ranks fifth in the long jump indoors (24-73/ 4). He set those marks while earning All-America honors in the triple jump in 2003, and earning both indoors and outdoors All-America awards in 2004. That year, he finished third in the NCAA outdoors championships, and later that year he began his post-collegiate career with a sixth-place finish at the U.S. Olympic Trials. “Track’s a sport that if you have the talent and you understand the work ethic that’s required to be elite, you can have success,” Badon said. “Lawrence had that. The best jumpers understand when the talent matches the work ethic, you can have great results, and he was an extremely hard worker along with having extremely high goals. We didn’t have that many great things happening for us as a team at that time, but he just stood out.”

Patience, trades lead to Dream season in Atlanta BY DOUG FEINBERG AP basketball writer

Atlanta general manager Dan Padover built the Dream into a title contender through shrewd trades, a little bit of luck and patience from the team’s ownership group. All that has paid off as Atlanta is headed to the WNBA Finals for the first time since 2013 when the Dream play the Golden State Valkyries in the best-of-seven seReese ries that begins Saturday. “I give the ownership group a lot of credit for having the patience to have this thing get where it is today,” Padover said. “A lot of times in sports, teams get broken up too early. Letting them grow together gives a continuity that is a huge competitive advantage. You’re seeing it now.” Putting this team together started soon after Padover came to the franchise in 2021 from Las Vegas. “We never got lottery luck or many free agents really, so we had to do it through trades,” said Padover, who was with the Aces when

they drafted Jackie Young with the No. 1 pick. “That’s definitely the hardest way to build a franchise.” The three-time WNBA Executive of the Year’s ﬁrst big move was acquiring the No. 1 pick from Washington in 2022 to draft Rhyne Howard, then taking Naz Hillmon 15th that year through another traded draft pick. “None of it gets off the ground without Rhyne and Naz,” he said. “They had a belief in each other and that we could try to build something here.” The next season Padover traded for Allisha Gray for two draft picks, giving the Dream a solid foundation with Gray, Howard and Hillmon. “Got to give credit to Lish,” Padover said. “She was on the trade market, but she circled this as a place she wanted to go to. It worked out for all parties involved.” The team was lacking a true point guard, so Padover went out and got Jordin Canada from Los Angeles in 2024. The biggest move came this past offseason. After being upset by Indiana in the first round of the playoffs, Padover knew they needed Angel Reese to contend for a title. A few months later, Pa-

dover made the move. “I think she was looking at a few different places, but given our group, given our organization, our market, we were a natural ﬁt for her,” he said. The final piece to the puzzle involved signing DeWanna Bonner right at the end of the regular season when the Phoenix Mercury let her go. “It happened that Phoenix and her worked out a deal to allow her to make a run in the postseason, and that turned into a mini-free agency with a bunch of teams that went after her,” Padover said. “We were fortunate that we had made a run at her the last few free agencies. She has a great relationship with our players, which helped.” Padover decided after the 2024 season that it was time to move on from coach Tanisha Wright after she had led the team to consecutive playoff appearances. The team hired a search ﬁrm, and the biggest thing that the franchise wanted was a basketball purist who aligned with the core values of the organization. The answer was longtime Florida Gulf Coast coach Karl Smesko. “Karl was born to be a basketball coach. He’s extremely hum-

ble and hard working and just a phenomenal basketball mind,” Padover said. “To be in his second year in this amazing league that is ultra competitive from a player and coaching standpoint. To have 30 wins his ﬁrst two years and then make the WNBA Finals in year two, puts him up there in elite, elite company.” With the condensed free agency period this offseason because of the new collective bargaining agreement, Padover had little time to re-sign Howard, Gray, Canada, Hillmon and the others. In the span of two days, he was able to get them to all want to come back. “To lock up ﬁve players in 48 hours is crazy. Usually you don’t lock up one that quickly,” Padover said. “It’s a twoweek process in a normal year.” Padover said the work began well before he was able to talk to them. “It was so important to have done your work earlier and them knowing who you are and that you care,” he said. “We knew speed was important because people were out there making them good offers. We made them feel whole as quickly as possible and showed them how much we wanted them.”

San Francisco 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw was suspended for one game after headbutting Seattle linebacker Ernest Jones after a late hit on the Seahawks sideline. The NFL issued the suspension Monday, saying the headbutt of a player without a helmet during Sunday’s 32-29 win against Seattle was “contrary to the generally understood principles of sportsmanship.” Greenlaw will miss San Francisco’s game Monday night against Washington pending an appeal on Tuesday. Greenlaw has a history of infractions. He has been ejected two other times in his career. He had a sideline altercation with Philadelphia’s head of security Dom DiSandro in 2023 and was also disqualiﬁed for a helmet-to-helmet hit on the Chargers QB Justin Herbert in 2022.

Niners WR Samuel to miss time with hamstring injury

San Francisco 49ers receiver Deebo Samuel will miss at least a few weeks after injuring his hamstring in a win over the Seattle Seahawks. Coach Kyle Shanahan said Monday that Samuel “got it pretty good” and will miss some time after getting hurt Sunday. The injury to Samuel is the latest to hit the Niners’ depleted receiving room. Samuel re-signed with San Francisco early in training camp. Samuel has 16 catches for 206 yards and three touchdowns, 78 yards rushing on nine carries and was the team’s top kick returner. Projected starter Ricky Pearsall had season-ending knee surgery early in training camp and rookie De’Zhaun Stribling had surgery after injuring his ankle in the season opener.

Receiver Coleman-Williams doubtful Saturday for Tide

No. 6 Alabama is preparing to play without leading wide receiver Ryan Coleman-Williams at 14th-ranked Tennessee on Saturday. Crimson Tide coach Kalen DeBoer said Monday that ColemanWilliams is doubtful for the Southeastern Conference rivalry known as “The Third Saturday in October.” The team captain is dealing with multiple injuries, including a concussion. Coleman-Williams left Alabama’s 20-17 loss to then-No. 2 Georgia twice Saturday night. Already wearing a brace on his right knee, he limped off the ﬁeld just before halftime after landing awkwardly on his opposite leg on a deep pass.

Zverev assured to finish ’26 as men’s tennis No. 1

SHANGHAI — Alexander Zverev clinched the year-end No. 1 ranking on Monday to cap a breakout year in which he won his first two Grand Slam titles. Helped by a season-ending injury to Jannik Sinner, the 29-yearold Zverev will become the oldest player to achieve the year-end honor for the first time, the ATP Tour announced. Zverev is currently No. 2 but will overtake No. 1 Sinner before the season ends next month. The first possible date that Zverev could become No. 1 is Nov. 2, while he is mathematically certain of the top spot by the season’s final rankings Nov. 23. Zverev became assured of finishing No. 1 when No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz was beaten by Zizou Bergs at the Shanghai Masters on Monday.

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Continued from page 1C “We had another one where, ‘I didn’t get the call type thing,’ and that’s bull crap. Everybody else, 10 other people get the call and we give up an explosive on a slant that goes for 25 yards at a key part of the game. Those are things that you can’t, like, it can’t happen at that moment. “You know, it’s stuff that we rep and we work on and it’s, you got to go execute in critical moments. It just happened at the worst times.” The defense was playing for the ﬁrst time without Collin Jacob at safety or Conor McPherson at linebacker. “We’ve got things going on where sometimes you get outmanned, sometimes you get beat, sometimes that happens. That’s football, right?” he said. “There’s a lot of one-on-ones and things that happen, but not being where we’re

supposed to be in critical moments is, you know, it’s inexcusable.” Desormeaux also gave Louisiana Tech credit for the comeback, especially quarterback Blake Baker and the Bulldogs defense. “I told you it was going to be difficult to be efficient with what they do (on defense),” Desormeaux said. “I think their linebackers played really well. They’re really active. We had moments where we were able to create some explosives and did a really good job. Being efficient was going to be the challenge.” The Cajuns had four pass completions of 32 or more yards and collected 22 first downs and 399 total yards. “We had two other games this year where we felt like we had an opportunity to put it away and did not,” Desormeaux said. “We talked about it kind of, ‘Listen, this will come back to bite you at some point if we don’t get this corrected,’ and here we are. It’s a tough lesson to learn.”

The Acadiana Advocate l theadvocate.com l Tuesday, October 13, 2026 l 3C

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO BY TANNER PEARSON

LSU coach Lane Kiffin reacts after a missed field goal by Kentucky on Saturday in Lexington, Ky.

THREE AND OUT: SCOTT RABALAIS’ TAKEAWAYS FROM LSU NEWS CONFERENCE

NUMBERS DON’T TELL THE WHOLE STORY LSU is still No. 1 in the SEC in total offense and total defense. But that’s padded by lopsided wins and belies its struggles in the red zone (10th in SEC on offense, a respectable fourth on defense). “We do really good things and we don’t finish drives,” LSU coach Lane Kiffin said. “We’re just missing plays. That sounds really general, but it’s a guy open in the end zone and you don’t see him or don’t stop the run. It’s a problem.”

SUPER KAMARIO OR INJURED KAMARIO? Mississippi State QB Kamario Taylor is the SEC’s leader in total offense (321.8 yards per game), total touchdowns (18) and passing touchdowns (17). But he left the Alabama game two weeks ago in a walking boot and his status is unknown for Saturday. Asked about having to prepare for him, Kiffin said: “He’s really a problem in both areas (running and passing) … when he’s healthy.” The week’s first SEC availability report will be released Wednesday.

MATTER OF PERSPECTIVE While there are many questions about the Tigers after their 35-34 overtime loss at Kentucky, Kiffin knows how easily the narrative could be different. “We had four chances to win,” he said. “If one of those plays goes right you’re winning and everyone is saying, ‘You guys are really resilient, the hostile crowd, way to overcome.’ I don’t want to overreact either way. If we would have won, people would have said you played amazing.”

Kiffin laments referees’ calls in loss STAFF PHOTO BY BRAD KEMP

UL coach Michael Desormeaux said mistakes were made by the offense and defense during the stretch drive of the Cajuns’ 32-31 road loss to Louisiana Tech on Saturday.

SUN BELT

Continued from page 1C when the Hilltoppers left the Ohio Valley Conference for the Sun Belt, primarily for basketball. WKU was also in the Sun Belt from 2009-13 in all sports, including football. Western Kentucky has an annual athletic budget of approximately $45 million. Middle Tennessee, which left the Sun Belt along with Western in 2014, is similar in the $49 million range. It was an original Sun Belt football school from 2000-13. The argument for Middle Tennessee would be the Nashville market. Liberty would be more of a onefor-one replacement for James Madison with both schools being from Virginia, although Liberty’s athletic budget is more Sun Beltlike around $50 million as opposed to James Madison’s number of close to $78 million, which is driven heavily by mandatory student fees that the majority of schools in the Sun Belt don’t enjoy. Another potential option is exploring the Mid-American Conference, where schools such as Ohio University and/or Miami of Ohio might be interested. Both still would meet the geographical blueprint for the northern part of the Sun Belt. Ohio has a reported athletic budget of around $37 million and Miami of Ohio $40 million. For reference, the UL athletic budget is around $42 million. James Madison’s exit from the Sun Belt makes sense. It does seem like a better ﬁt being with schools such as Memphis with a $73 million budget, as well as Tulane at $66 million and East Caro-

DUNCAN

Continued from page 1C supporting (the team). When we’re in the Dome, we’ve got to play better.” n The loss was the Saints’ third straight at home. They’ve now lost eight of 11 home games under coach Kellen Moore and are a woeful 6-14 there the last three seasons. That’s the worst stretch since the Aints’ bag-head days of the early 1980s. The only other time they’ve been this bad at home was the initial years of the Superdome in the mid-1970s. “You only get so many games at

lina at $70 million. So there are multiple ways to view James Madison’s departure. On one hand, it’s good to have sort of a bell-cow football program in the league to raise expectations and give all the schools in the league something to shoot for. On the other hand, James Madison has been playing a very different game money-wise than every other Sun Belt team for a while now, so this makes more sense competitively. UL football coach Michael Desormeaux certainly wasn’t surprised by the Dukes’ success in football, making the school attractive to the American Conference. “I have a lot of respect from afar, obviously,” Desormeaux said of James Madison. “It’s a program that can sustain success through three different head coaches. Obviously, those three head coaches are pretty, pretty special (Curt Cignetti, Bob Chesney and Billy Napier). That’s evidence of what they’re doing right now. “It means that it’s a program that’s set up for success, and I don’t mean that as a knock to anybody. It means that they’ve got a system and they’ve got a process that they’re committed to. They do a really good job allocating resources to it. I think they’re in a unique footprint as far as the Sun Belt goes, but there’s a lot of really good football up there in Virginia in that area.” James Madison’s departure doesn’t necessarily mean the Sun Belt must invoke a one-for-one replacement plan. Theoretically, the Sun Belt could add three teams from Conference USA and/ or the MAC to get to 16 teams. On the day of James Madison’s announcement, it’s obviously all just speculation. But the wheels have started to turn again.

home in front of this crowd, who consistently shows up,” center Erik McCoy said. “We’ve done nothing but crap the bed with those opportunities.” Maybe it’s a good time for the Saints to embark on an extended road trip to New York and France. Who knows? Maybe this team will ﬁnd itself somewhere along the Hudson or Seine. It certainly — and inexplicably — feels lost at home right now. n The Saints’ 142 yards of total offense marked their most anemic performance in ﬁve years, dating to a paltry 127-yard effort against the Carolina Panthers in 2021. It was the club’s thirdlowest offensive output in a game

BY KOKI RILEY Staff writer

Lane Kiffin was not a happy camper with the referees during Saturday’s matchup between LSU and Kentucky, telling reporters on Monday that he “didn’t think it was a really well-officiated game.” Kiffin took exception to a few calls during the Tigers’ loss to the Wildcats, most notably the controversial decision to award Kentucky a touchdown after LSU had appeared to make a goal-line stand on the final play of the first half. On Sunday, Kiffin said an official told him “there was just too much at stake” to end the goal-line play, allowing Kentucky a second

LSU

Continued from page 1C commands teammates’ attention. “He’s different in-game, him and (defensive coordinator) Blake (Baker) have a really good relationship,” Kifﬁn said. “He’s one of the few players that, if he doesn’t like the calls, he’ll come over and tell you about it. And you just don’t replace that.” LSU (4-2, 1-2 SEC) is doing its best to get by, but the challenge doesn’t get any easier this week if No. 16 Mississippi State has Kamario Taylor healthy. The sophomore quarterback, who is averaging 290 yards passing and another 32 rushing, just rested through a bye week after exiting the Bulldogs’ last game against Alabama with an injury. Minchey, who isn’t quite as dynamic, just threw for 246 yards and exploited a spread-out LSU defense to stroll into the end zone on a two-point conversion. The latter wasn’t the linebackers’ fault, because the Tigers’ front didn’t properly adjust its pass rush. But Kifﬁn remains concerned about that position group, and the LSU defense as a whole, because he knew Weeks’ injury would have ripple effects.

in the last three decades. Likewise, their nine first downs were the fifth-fewest in the last three decades and their fewest in a home game since 1997, Mike Ditka’s first season. I know the club wants to honor Iron Mike, but that’s not the way to do it. “We had a plan; we just weren’t able to execute it,” Moore said. “We just weren’t able to sustain drives. They played better than us. They coached better than us.” n And finally, the Saints’ running woes continued. The Vikings outgained the Saints on the ground 155-53. The Saints’ “long” run covered 9 yards. It marked the 15th time in 22 games that the Saints have lost the rushing battle

chance to push quarterback Kenny Minchey into the end zone and take a 21-17 lead. “(The line judge) said he’d be killed if he would have blown the whistle for the play being stopped,” Kiffin said on Sunday, “even though it appeared to be stopped.” The goal-line play wasn’t the only call Kiffin had an issue with, but it was the referees’ most consequential decision of the night. Kiffin confirmed on Monday that LSU had sent the play to the Southeastern Conference league office for review. “(It wasn’t well-officiated) on our side,” Kiffin said. “There’s other (games) that I think are re-

ally good and they missed on the other side. “So I just think that’s going to happen over the course of time. It was always going to kind of probably even out.” Kiffin didn’t pin LSU’s loss squarely on the referees. The Tigers squandered a fourth-quarter lead and gave up a game-winning two-point conversion in overtime. Penalties and mental mistakes plagued them throughout the night. They even allowed a punt return for a touchdown in the ﬁrst half. “(Bad calls) happen both ways over time,” Kifﬁn said. “It’s just in the game; it’s not always evened out. They have a hard job.”

In the offseason, he looked up the points per game the Tigers allowed last year with and without Weeks, who missed half of the season with a similar ankle injury. LSU surrendered 13 points per game in contests Weeks played in 2025, while the Tigers permitted just over 28 in the games where he was sidelined. “I don’t like that I looked that up and then he got hurt,” Kiffin said with a chuckle. “That’s probably why I felt so much that day (after Texas A&M) about it.” There are personal aspects to those feelings, because Kiffin knows how hard Weeks — a preseason first-team All-SEC pick — worked to put himself in position to shine after multiple injury-curtailed seasons. Weeks also happens to date Kiffin’s daughter, Landry. Kiffin said he talked to Weeks for a half an hour on Monday. “He’s in a hard place,” Kiffin said. “Sometimes we always worry about how it impacts us and what’s going on with us, especially as the head coach. So I sat down just with him about, ‘What about you? Like, how are you doing?’ ” The senior isn’t in a great place, but Kiffin remains hopeful Weeks and tight end Trey’Dez Green will return at some point. Spears, another player Kiffin believes could

have been an All-American, is out for the year with an ACL tear. Green made the trip to Kentucky, on the sideline in sweats, because Kiffin said just having him around affects the team’s mood positively. Weeks is the same way, but he can’t travel yet. “The goal is to still win and get through (the injuries) and then hopefully get two of the three back at some point maybe,” Kiffin said. “If you break the (Kentucky) game down, you’re in a one-play game. You’re really in a 1-yard game.” If the LSU offense scored with a 27-24 lead, a field goal wouldn’t have tied it in regulation. If the Tigers gained 1 more yard on a 9-yard pass from Sam Leavitt to Winston Watkins on third-and-10, the clock keeps running. If LSU stopped Kentucky’s final drive, or held the Wildcats out of the end zone in overtime, the Tigers would have been hailed for their resilience rather than panned for a loss to a lesser football brand. “Even with the injuries, and the punt return where we have them tackled and give them a 55-yard (touchdown), you’re still going to win,” Kiffin said. “That does show you, like I’ve told them all along, you have a chance to be a really good team.”

in a game under Moore. The Saints rank 29th in the league in rushing (81.8 yards a game) and 29th in average yards per carry (3.5). More troubling, they haven’t had a 100-yarder rusher in a game under Moore. They went the entire 2025 season without one, making it the ﬁrst time the Saints have gone without a 100yard rusher in a season since 1992. Their current streak of 27 games without a 100-yarder rusher, which dates to Week 13 of the 2024 season when Alvin Kamara had 124 yards rushing against the Los Angeles Rams, is the club’s longest streak since the early 1970s.

“Our process and our operation has to continue to improve for us to be where we want to go,” guard David Edwards said. “And that starts with us up front and that starts with the players executing and being ready to go. We’ve got work to do.” I think we can all agree with Edwards on that one. However, hard work alone is not the solution. Former Saints special teams coordinator Al Everest used to have a saying about teams that give great effort but lack the instincts, discipline, technique and/ or football IQ to be successful: “A jackass works hard all day, too,” he said. “But at the end of the day, he’s still a jackass.”

4C ● Tuesday, October 13, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

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LSU women picked to ﬁnish 3rd in SEC SEC PRESEASON POLL

BY REED DARCEY

Staff writer

The LSU women’s basketball team is expected to finish third in the Southeastern Conference this season. At least that’s what a group of media members said in the SEC’s 2026-27 preseason poll, the results of which were released Monday ahead of the league’s annual media days in Birmingham, Alabama. This year, LSU had two players pick up preseason All-SEC honors. Mikaylah Williams was one of five players voted onto the AllSEC first team, while MiLaysia Fulwiley was one of five players awarded a spot on the All-SEC second team. Voters predicted LSU to finish behind South Carolina and Texas but ahead of Vanderbilt and Kentucky. They also gave Vanderbilt junior Mikayla Blakes the nod as SEC Preseason Player of the Year. In 2025-26, the Tigers won 12 of their 16 SEC matchups to finish fourth in the conference’s regular-season standings. They landed a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament and reached the Sweet 16, where they lost to No. 3 seed Duke on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer. In the offseason, LSU lost star guard Flau’jae Johnson to the WNBA. Then point guard

1. South Carolina 2. Texas 3. LSU 4. Vanderbilt 5. Kentucky 6. Oklahoma 7. Ole Miss 8. Tennessee 9. Mississippi State 10. Alabama 11. Texas A&M 12. Florida 13. Georgia 14. Missouri 15. Auburn 16. Arkansas

STAFF PHOTO BY PATRICK DENNIS

LSU guard Mikaylah Williams drives for a score as Abbey Schreacke of Missouri defends in the second half of LSU’s 108-55 win over Missouri last season in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

Jada Richard (Ole Miss), guard Bella Hines (TCU) and center Kate Koval (Baylor) entered the transfer portal, leaving Mulkey and her staff with a few holes to ﬁll. Jada Williams, a senior who averaged 15.3 points and 7.7 assists per game last season at Iowa State, was the Tigers’ most high-proﬁle addition. Mulkey also brought in Spanish forward Noa Morro, Florida guard Laila Reynolds, McDonald’s All-America

forward Lola Lampley and Russian center Anna Minaeva. Those newcomers are each expected to play signiﬁcant minutes alongside LSU’s top four returners: Williams, Fulwiley, ZaKiyah Johnson and Grace Knox. Morro isn’t expected to make her LSU debut until at least midto-late November. She recently underwent surgery to address a stress fracture she had developed in her shin. The Tigers are set to begin the season, their sixth under Mulkey, with a game against Southeastern Louisiana on Nov. 2 in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. They’ll play two open exhibitions in the PMAC before the opener: one against UNT Dallas on Oct. 22 and another against Loyola New Orleans on Oct. 29. LSU has been picked to finish third in the league in three consecutive seasons.

Media predict LSU men as SEC’s 14th-best team BY TOYLOY BROWN III Staff writer

Coach Will Wade now knows how some media members feel about his LSU team. The Tigers are expected to finish 14th in the Southeastern Conference, according to the 2026-27 SEC preseason poll released Monday. SEC media days begin Tuesday in Birmingham, Alabama. The Tigers had no players picked for preseason All-SEC honors. The only teams that voters predicted to finish behind LSU were Mississippi State and South Carolina. Wade, who previously led the program from 2017-22, has no returning players and constructed a roster littered with fifth-year transfers, overseas pros and a former college basketball player who didn’t withdraw from the NBA draft. LSU’s preseason ranking is affected by the uncertainty of Wade’s roster with multiple players not yet officially made eligible by the NCAA. While the team traveled with 14 players, only seven competed in LSU’s 63-60 exhibition win over McNeese State on Thursday, including two freshmen who were unranked high school recruits. The only player out of four international commitments to play was 20-year-old Michael Ruzic. The four other scholarship players who played the vast majority of the exhibition were fifthyear point guard Donovan Dent (UCLA), junior combo guard Divine Ugochukwu (Michigan State), senior shooting guard Abdi Bashir (Kansas State) and senior forward Mo Dioubate

SEC PRESEASON POLL

1. Florida 2. Texas 3. Arkansas 4. Tennessee 5. Alabama 6. Vanderbilt 7. Kentucky 8. Missouri 9. Auburn 10. Texas A&M 11. Georgia 12. Oklahoma 13. Ole Miss 14. LSU 15. Mississippi State 16. South Carolina

(Kentucky). The notable players who Wade didn’t play were ﬁfth-year transfer guard Skyy Clark (UCLA), 22-year-old Italian-Senegalese wing Saliou Niang, 23-year-old French center Brice Dessert and 24-year-old Israeli center Gilad Levy. Austin Nunez, a fifth-year Texas-San Antonio transfer, is eligible to play but is recovering from an offseason left foot surgery. The only signee not in attendance was RJ Luis. The former St. John’s star was granted a preliminary injunction after being undrafted in the 2025 NBA Draft and signing an NBA contract. However, there’s a risk that LSU could face consequences from the SEC after it implemented rules to penalize schools that roster players who previously signed NBA deals, including two-way contracts. LSU opens the regular season against LSU-New Orleans on Nov. 3 at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. The Tigers play two more exhibition games before that, facing Central Florida at home on Wednesday and Florida State on the road on Oct. 24.

SCOREBOARD Prep volleyball

at TAMPA BAY

Tuesday’s area volleyball schedule

St. Louis at Lafayette, Southside at New Iberia, Iota at Ascension Episcopal, Vermilion Catholic at Episcopal of Acadiana, Lafayette Renaissance at David Thibodaux, North Vermilion at Leesville, St. Thomas More at Beau Chene, Carencro at Teurlings, Westgate at Cecilia, St. Michael at Westminster, Westminster-Lafayette at Highland Baptist, North Central at Lake Charles Prep, Jennings at St. Edmund.

Odds Sports Betting Line NFL Thursday FAVORITE Seattle

Sunday

OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG 2½ 3 (41½) at DENVER

FAVORITE OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG at JAX 1½ 2½ (42½) Houston at PHILA 6½ 1½ (42) Carolina Pittsburgh 1½ 3 (40½) at TAMPA Baltimore 7 4½ (41½) at CLE New Orlens 2½ 1½ (45½) at GIANTS Chicago 3 3 (48½) at ATL at NE 9½ 7 (43½) NY Jets at IND 3½ 7 (44) Tennessee at RAMS 13½ 12½ (52½) Arizona Buffalo 6½ 5½ (52½) at VEGAS at K.C. 2½ 8½ (42½)LA Chargers at GREEN BAY 3 1½ (52½) Dallas

OFF

Cleveland

OFF

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

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

L 1 2 3 5

T Pct PF PA 0 .750 127 107 0 .600 110 94 0 .400 93 96 0 .000 70 132

Monday

South

W 3 3 2 0

College Football

Jacksonville Indianapolis Houston Tennessee

W 4 2 1 0

L 1 3 4 5

T Pct PF PA 0 .800 123 70 0 .400 124 138 0 .200 110 112 0 .000 58 109

Baltimore Cleveland Pittsburgh Cincinnati

W 4 3 3 3

L 1 2 2 2

T Pct PF PA 0 .800 146 119 0 .600 93 112 0 .600 111 109 0 .600 128 109

Kansas City Denver Las Vegas L.A. Chargers

W 4 3 3 0

L 0 2 2 5

T Pct PF PA 01.000 118 77 0 .600 97 111 0 .600 132 129 0 .000 84 129

FAVORITE OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG at SAN FRN 5½ 7½ (50½) Washington

Tuesday

FAVORITE Delaware at JAX ST

OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG 1½ 1½ (47½) at M. TEN 2½ 3 (43½) Florida Intl

Wednesday

FAVORITE OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG Kennesw St 5½ 3½ (51½)at MISOU ST W. Kentucky 1½ 1½ (53½) at SAM HOU

Thursday

FAVORITE OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG E. Carolina 6½ 4½ (48½) at UAB Ga Southrn 2½ 4 (47½) at OLD DOM at TSU 9½ 14 (69½) Colorado St

Friday

FAVORITE OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG Memphis 6½ 6½ (53½) at TULANE App St 2½ 1½ (52½) at C. CAR at PURDUE 2½ 3 (52½) Wash

Saturday

FAVORITE OPEN TODAY O/U UNDERDOG Ohio State 1½ 3½ (50½) at INDIANA Pittsburgh 6½ 6½ (44½) at B. COLL Northwstrn 7½ 7½ (49½) at MSU at ARMY 3½ 2½ (55½) Florida Atl at KANS ST 8½ 4½ (56½) Kansas at WEST VA 2½ 1½ (63½) Cincinnati at J. MDSN 10½ 12½ (58½) Georgia St at B. GREEN 8½ 6½ (44½) Ball State at LSU 10½ 12½ (59) Miss St at SMU 6½ 8½ (52½) Virginia at TEXAS 9½ 10½ (52½) Florida at MARYLND 4½ 6 (57½) Rutgers at BUFFALO 3½ 6½ (41½) UMass at TEMPLE 23½ 21½ (47½) Charlotte W. Michigan 8½ 6½ (43) at C. MICH at DUKE 4½ 3 (47½) N. Carolina at TX TECH 12½ 15½ (48½) Arizona St at VA TECH 8½ 10 (55½) Ga Tech at GEORGIA 16½ 20½ (49½) Auburn Toledo 6½ 6½ (53½) at E. MICH at MICH 6½ 6½ (42½) Penn State at OLE MISS 7½ 6 (59½) Missouri Alabama 1½ 8½ (53½) at TENN at MIA (OH) 9½ 9½ (47½) Akron at WYOMNG 8½ 7½ (40½) N. Illinois at AIR FORCE 3 1½ (47½) UNLV Tulsa 3 4½ (46½) at RICE at UL 3½ 4½ (49½) Troy at ORGN ST 13½ 17½ (53½) Wash St. at NDSU 14½ 15½ (45½) Nevada at MIA (FL) 16½ 21 (55½)Florida State at S. FLA 18½ 20½ (46½) Kent State at VANDER 6½ 6 (50½) Arkansas at BAYLOR 6½ 5½ (48½) TCU Arkans St 6½ 7 (62½) at S. MISS at UCLA 3 2½ (45) Wisconsin Louisville 12½ 14½ (56½) at SYRACSE at HOUSTN 2½ 3½ (61½) Oklah St Notre Dme 10½ 10 (47½) at BYU at OKLAH 6½ 6½ (43½) Kentucky at UTSA 7 6½ (54½) Navy La Tech 14½ 14½ (56½) at ULM San Jose St 10 7½ (48½) at UTEP Ohio 13½ 14 (49) at SAC ST Utah 13½ 15½ (49½) at COL 8½ 7½ (45½) at SDSU Fresno St Wake Forest 8½ 9½ (53½) at CAL New Mex 17½ 14 (45½) at HAWAII at OREGON 7½ 7½ (52½) Nebraska

MLB

Tuesday

American League FAVORITE LINE

UNDERDOG

LINE

North

West

NATIONAL CONFERENCE East N.Y. Giants Philadelphia Dallas Washington

W 3 2 2 1

L 1 3 3 3

T Pct PF PA 1 .700 109 106 0 .400 92 112 0 .400 138 136 1 .300 115 149

Carolina Atlanta Tampa Bay New Orleans

W 2 2 1 1

L 2 3 4 4

T Pct PF PA 0 .500 121 109 0 .400 119 122 0 .200 100 112 0 .200 118 151

Minnesota Green Bay Detroit Chicago

W 5 3 3 3

L 0 2 2 2

T Pct PF PA 01.000 109 64 0 .600 104 112 0 .600 164 148 0 .600 119 96

San Francisco Seattle L.A. Rams Arizona

W 5 3 2 1

L 0 2 2 4

T Pct PF PA 01.000 154 93 0 .600 134 105 0 .500 85 83 0 .200 108 162

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 30, Atlanta 23, OT Open: Kansas City, Carolina

Monday’s Games

Buffalo at L.A. Rams, n

Late Sunday Baltimore 30, Atlanta 23, OT Baltimore 3 6 6 8 7 — 30 Atlanta 7 7 3 6 0 — 23 First Quarter Bal—FG Loop 21, 10:27. Atl—Bates 36 fumble return (Folk kick), 8:03. Second Quarter Bal—FG Loop 51, 8:04. Atl—Pitts 5 pass from Penix (Folk kick), 2:24. Bal—FG Loop 51, :00. Third Quarter Atl—FG Folk 23, 9:51.

Bal—Henry 18 pass from Huntley (pass failed), 6:53. Fourth Quarter Atl—FG Folk 34, 8:03. Atl—FG Folk 48, 2:31. Bal—D.Walker 7 pass from Huntley (Henry run), :40. First Overtime Bal—Huntley 1 run (Loop kick), 2:57.

A—72,392.

Bal Atl First downs 24 17 Total Net Yards 391 367 Rushes-yards 35-208 26-110 Passing 183 257 Punt Returns 1-11 2-0 Kickoff Returns 5-132 5-124 Interceptions Ret. 1-2 0-0 Comp-Att-Int 24-32-0 21-35-1 Sacked-Yards Lost 4-18 3-17 Punts 4-44.25 4-53.25 Fumbles-Lost 1-1 1-0 Penalties-Yards 5-40 7-67 Time of Possession 35:10 32:45 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING—Baltimore, Henry 24-102, Hill 4-73, Huntley 6-20, Flowers 1-13. Atlanta, Bi.Robinson 17-86, Br.Robinson 7-16, Penix 2-8. PASSING—Baltimore, Huntley 24-32-0-201. Atlanta, Penix 19-32-0-240, Tagovailoa 2-31-34. RECEIVING—Baltimore, Flowers 8-53, Bateman 5-62, Andrews 4-28, Cuevas 2-26, Walker 2-9, Hill 2-5, Henry 1-18. Atlanta, D.London 7-118, Pitts 5-42, Bi.Robinson 4-32, Dotson 2-54, Branch 2-15, Woerner 1-13. MISSED FIELD GOALS—None.

Major League Baseball MLB Postseason Glance LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES (Best-of-7)

American League

Uribe H,1 1 2 0 0 0 2 Ashby H,1 2 0 0 0 1 1 Megill S,1-1 1 0 0 0 2 0 Phillips pitched to 1 batter in the 8th. ABS Challenge_Misiorowski (Ball-Overturned to Strike); Ohtani (Strike-Overturned to Ball); Contreras (Strike-Overturned to Ball); Skubal (Ball-Conﬁrmed); Megill (BallConﬁrmed); Tucker (Strike-Overturned to Ball). Pitch timer violations_Scott (pitcher). Umpires_Home, Edwin Moscoso; First, Mark Wegner; Second, Ryan Additon; Third, Alan Porter; Right, John Tumpane; Left, David Rackley. T_2:55. A_42,617 (41,700).

West Alabama (0-0) at West Florida (3-2), 4 p.m. South Dakota (5-2) at Murray St. (1-5), 4 p.m. Lamar (5-1) at SE Louisiana (3-3), 4 p.m. Morgan St. (5-1) at Tennessee St. (1-5), 5:30 p.m. Arkansas (2-4) at Vanderbilt (3-3), 6 p.m. Florida St. (3-3) at Miami (5-0), 6 p.m. Arkansas St. (2-4) at Southern Miss. (1-4), 6 p.m. Kent St. (2-4) at South Florida (4-2), 6 p.m. Mercer (5-2) at Samford (1-5), 6 p.m. Abilene Christian (3-4) at North Alabama (4-2), 6 p.m. Louisiana Tech (3-2) at Louisiana-Monroe (0-5), 7 p.m.

College football

Kansas (2-3) at Kansas St. (3-2), 11 a.m. Ohio St. (5-1) at Indiana (6-0), 11 a.m. Ball St. (1-5) at Bowling Green (2-4), 11 a.m. Northwestern (4-1) at Michigan St. (2-4), 11 a.m. Dayton (4-1) at Butler (5-1), noon Marist (3-3) at Drake (2-4), noon W. Michigan (4-2) at Cent. Michigan (3-3), 12:30 p.m. S. Dakota St. (5-1) at North Dakota (5-2), 1 p.m. W. Illinois (3-3) at SE Missouri (3-3), 2 p.m. Lindenwood (Mo.) (1-4) at E. Illinois (2-4), 2 p.m. Toledo (4-2) at E. Michigan (4-3), 2:30 p.m. Penn St. (3-3) at Michigan (3-2), 2:30 p.m. Akron (1-5) at Miami (Ohio) (3-3), 2:30 p.m. Illinois St. (4-2) at S. Illinois (3-4), 3 p.m. N. Iowa (3-2) at Youngstown St. (5-2), 5 p.m. Nevada (2-3) at N. Dakota St. (5-1), 6 p.m.

College Football Schedule All Times Central (Subject to change)

Tuesday’s games SOUTH

Delaware (2-3) at Middle Tennessee (2-3), 6 p.m. FIU (3-2) at Jacksonville St. (4-2), 7 p.m. Wednesday, October 14

MIDWEST

Kennesaw St. (1-4) at Missouri St. (1-4), 6:30 p.m.

SOUTHWEST

W. Kentucky (2-4) at Sam Houston St. (1-4), 7 p.m.

Thursday’s games SOUTH

East Carolina (3-2) at UAB (3-3), 6:30 p.m. Georgia Southern (2-4) at Old Dominion (2-4), 6:30 p.m.

SOUTHWEST

Colorado St. (2-3) at Texas State (2-3), 7 p.m.

Friday’s games EAST

(TBS, TruTV, HBO Max)

Columbia (3-1) at Penn (2-2), 6 p.m.

Monday, Oct. 12: Game 1: Cleveland at Tampa Bay, n 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, 5 p.m. (TBS/TruTV/HBO Max) x-Tuesday, Oct. 20: Game 7: Cleveland at Tampa Bay, 7 p.m. (TBS/TruTV/HBO Max)

Memphis (5-1) at Tulane (2-3), 6:30 p.m. Appalachian St. (3-2) at Coastal Carolina (2-4), 7 p.m.

Cleveland vs. Tampa Bay

National League (FOX, FS1)

Milwaukee 2, Los Angeles Dodgers 0

Sunday, Oct. 11: Game: 1 Milwaukee 2, Los Angeles Dodgers 1 Monday, Oct. 12: Game 2: Milwaukee 7, Los Angeles Dodgers 4 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 Sunday Milwaukee 2, L.A. Dodgers 1 Los Angeles

Milwaukee

ab r h bi ab r h bi Betts ss 4 0 1 0 Chourio lf 4 0 2 0 Freeman 1b 4 0 1 0 Turang 2b 2 1 1 1 Smith c 3 0 0 0 Contreras c 3 0 0 0 Ohtani dh 3 1 1 0 Bauers 1b 3 0 1 0 T.Hernndz lf 4 0 2 0 Vaughn dh 3 0 1 0 Muncy 3b 4 0 1 0 Mitchell cf 3 1 0 0 Pages cf 4 0 1 1 Pratt ss 2 0 0 0 Tucker rf 2 0 0 0 Lara rf 3 0 1 1 E.Hrnándz 2b3 0 0 0 Ortiz 3b 3 0 0 0 De Paula ph 0 0 0 0 Edman pr 0 0 0 0 Totals 31 1 7 1 Totals 26 2 6 2 010 000 000 — 1 Los Angeles Milwaukee 000 110 00x — 2 DP_Los Angeles 1, Milwaukee 3. LOB_Los Angeles 9, Milwaukee 7. 2B_Vaughn (1). HR_Turang (1). S_Pratt (1), Turang (1). IP H R ER BB SO Los Angeles Skubal L,0-1 5 5 2 2 2 7 Vesia 1 0 0 0 1 2 Phillips 1 1 0 0 0 3 Scott 1 0 0 0 2 1 Milwaukee 5 1 1 3 5 Misiorowski 4 1⁄3 2 Hall W,1-0 ⁄3 0 0 0 0 0

SOUTH

MIDWEST

Washington (3-3) at Purdue (3-3), 7 p.m.

Saturday’s games EAST

CCSU (2-3) at Mercyhurst (1-5), 11 a.m. Duquesne (1-4) at Stonehill (2-4), 11 a.m. Rhode Island (3-3) at Yale (3-1), 11 a.m. FAU (4-1) at Army (3-2), 11 a.m. Brown (2-2) at Princeton (3-1), 11 a.m. Cincinnati (4-1) at West Virginia (3-3), 11 a.m. New Haven (1-5) at Robert Morris (3-3), 11 a.m. Hampton (1-5) at Sacred Heart (2-4), 11 a.m. Pittsburgh (5-1) at Boston College (2-3), 11 a.m. Rutgers (1-4) at Maryland (2-4), 11:30 a.m. Bryant (4-2) at Maine (1-5), noon Merrimack (2-4) at Dartmouth (1-3), noon Holy Cross (2-4) at Harvard (4-0), noon Monmouth (NJ) (4-2) at New Hampshire (2-5), noon Charlotte (0-6) at Temple (2-4), noon Georgetown (1-4) at Colgate (4-2), noon UMass (4-2) at Buffalo (3-3), noon Lehigh (6-0) at Cornell (2-2), 1 p.m. Albany (NY) (3-3) at Stony Brook (4-2), 1:30 p.m. Lafayette (1-4) at Bucknell (1-5), 2 p.m. Villanova (2-4) at Fordham (2-5), 2:30 p.m. Morehouse (0-1) at Howard (2-4), 2:30 p.m. LIU Brooklyn (2-5) at Wagner (1-5), 4 p.m. Louisville (3-3) at Syracuse (2-3), 6:30 p.m.

SOUTH

Charleston Southern (3-3) at Clemson (3-2), 11 a.m. Mississippi St. (4-1) at LSU (4-2), 11 a.m. Georgia St. (4-1) at James Madison (6-0), 11 a.m. Chicago State (1-5) at NC A&T (2-5), 11 a.m. Morehead St. (1-5) at Davidson (2-5), noon McNeese St. (2-4) at Northwestern St. (0-6), noon VMI (0-6) at Wofford (4-3), 12:30 p.m. Presbyterian (3-3) at Stetson (1-5), 1 p.m. Austin Peay (5-2) at West Georgia (1-5), 1 p.m. E. Kentucky (2-4) at Tennessee Tech (5-1), 1:30 p.m. Bethune-Cookman (3-3) at MVSU (3-4), 2 p.m. Gardner-Webb (2-5) at UT Martin (2-4), 2 p.m. Florida A&M (2-4) at Jackson St. (5-1), 2 p.m. Grambling St. (4-2) at Alabama A&M (5-2), 2 p.m. Georgia Tech (2-3) at Virginia Tech (4-2), 2:30 p.m. Auburn (3-2) at Georgia (6-0), 2:30 p.m. Missouri (5-1) at Mississippi (4-1), 2:30 p.m. Alabama (5-1) at Tennessee (5-1), 2:30 p.m. North Carolina (3-2) at Duke (4-1), 2:30 p.m. Towson (0-7) at Campbell (5-1), 2:30 p.m. Stephen F. Austin (6-0) at Nicholls (2-4), 3 p.m. Troy (3-2) at Louisiana-Lafayette (4-2), 4 p.m.

MIDWEST

SOUTHWEST

Florida (4-2) at Texas (4-1), 11 a.m. Virginia (4-2) at SMU (4-1), 11 a.m. The Citadel (2-4) at Texas A&M (3-3), noon Alabama St. (3-3) at Ark.-Pine Bluff (3-2), 2 p.m. Alcorn St. (4-3) at Prairie View (2-5), 2 p.m. Arizona St. (3-2) at Texas Tech (5-0), 2:30 p.m. Tulsa (3-3) at Rice (1-5), 3:30 p.m. Cent. Arkansas (2-4) at Tarleton St. (6-0), 6 p.m. TCU (2-3) at Baylor (4-1), 6 p.m. UT Rio Grande Valley (3-3) at Incarnate Word (2-4), 6 p.m. East Texas A&M (2-4) at Houston Christian (3-3), 6 p.m. Kentucky (5-1) at Oklahoma (3-2), 6:30 p.m. Oklahoma St. (4-1) at Houston (5-1), 6:30 p.m. Navy (2-3) at UTSA (5-1), 7 p.m. San Jose St. (3-3) at UTEP (1-5), 8 p.m.

FAR WEST

Idaho (1-5) at Montana (5-2), 2 p.m. Idaho St. (4-2) at Weber St. (4-3), 2 p.m. N. Illinois (0-5) at Wyoming (3-3), 2:30 p.m. UNLV (4-2) at Air Force (4-1), 2:30 p.m. Valparaiso (3-3) at San Diego (2-4), 3 p.m. Washington St. (1-5) at Oregon St. (4-2), 5 p.m. Portland St. (2-4) at N. Arizona (5-2), 6 p.m. Montana St. (5-1) at E. Washington (2-5), 6 p.m. Elon (4-3) at Stanford (2-4), 6:30 p.m. Wisconsin (4-1) at UCLA (5-0), 6:30 p.m. Notre Dame (6-0) at BYU (5-0), 6:30 p.m. Cal Poly (4-3) at N. Colorado (2-5), 7 p.m. UC Davis (4-2) at S. Utah (2-4), 7 p.m. Ohio (4-2) at Sacramento St. (1-5), 9 p.m. Utah (5-0) at Colorado (2-3), 9:15 p.m. Fresno St. (4-2) at San Diego St. (2-4), 9:30 p.m. New Mexico (4-1) at Hawaii (1-5), 9:30 p.m. Wake Forest (5-1) at California (3-3), 9:30 p.m. Nebraska (5-1) at Oregon (3-2), 10 p.m.

FCS Top 25 Poll

RANK REC. PTS. PREV. 1. South Dakota St. (23) 5-1 647 1 2.Tarleton St. (3) 6-0 626 2 3. Stephen F. Austin 6-0 588 4 4. Lehigh 6-0 558 5 5. Montana St. 5-1 539 6 6. Youngstown St. 5-2 517 9 7. Montana 5-2 461 3 8. Lamar 5-1 458 10 9. South Dakota 5-2 407 12 10. Northern Arizona 5-2 398 14 11. Austin Peay 5-2 397 8 12. UC Davis 4-2 396 11 13. Illinois St. 4-2 333 13 14. Tennessee Tech 5-1 319 16 15. North Dakota 5-2 293 7 16. Mercer 5-2 253 18 17. Harvard 4-0 242 19 18. Campbell 5-1 227 20 19. Colgate 4-2 153 23 20. Monmouth (N.J.) 4-2 125 24 21. Idaho St. 4-2 106 17 22. Richmond 5-2 96 15 23. Yale 3-1 61 NR 5-2 49 NR 24. East Tennessee St. 25. Northern Iowa 3-2 38 NR Dropped Out: South Carolina St. (21), Jackson St. (22), Southeastern Louisiana (25) Others Receiving Votes: Jackson St., 32; West Florida, 25; Morgan St., 24; South Carolina St., 18; Stony Brook, 18; ACU, 11; Southern Illinois, 11; Cal Poly, 7; Charleston Southern, 4; Delaware St., 4; North Alabama, 4; Southeastern Louisiana, 2; Wofford, 2; Central Connecticut St., 1.

LIVING

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

T U E S D AY, O C T O B E R 13, 2026

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Lantanas bloom, attract pollinators right on through fall It may seem strange that we’re writing about lantana, a decidedly heat-loving plant, in October. Well-known for its profuse flowers, lantana is a longtime favorite of Louisiana gardeners looking for plants that can withstand our intense summers. But it is underappreciated as a fall plant. “They’re one of the longestGARDEN flowering NEWS plants that you’ll see in the warm season,” said Caroline Blanchard, trials coordinator at the LSU AgCenter Hammond Research Station. “So even until first frost, you’ll see these nice, big blooms, colorful blooms, that attract pollinators all the way through fall.” While many other summer bloomers have already faded, lantana is still going strong. As we settle into fall, it continues to provide a much-needed nectar source for pollinators and just enough color to hold us over until it’s time for cool-season bedding plants. As a bonus, lantana blooms — which often include reds, oranges and yellows — are right in line with the autumn color palette, so they look anything but out of place.

LSU AGCENTER PHOTO BY OLIVIA McCLURE

Shamrock Cherry Sunrise lantana’s bicolor blooms feature magenta and yellow.

Typically planted in spring, lantana is generally considered a perennial in our climate. It dies back in winter but usually returns the following spring unless we’ve had a particularly cold or wet winter. Many gardeners prefer to treat it as an annual, removing it before winter. It’s easy to care for, with few maintenance requirements to speak of, and can tolerate drought once established. There is an abundance of modern lantana cultivars — with ﬂowers of practically every color imaginable — on the market. Many offer compact, dense growth habits, allowing them to work in gardens where the larger, more open form of traditional lantana varieties isn’t desired. Blanchard noted that today’s cultivars also tend to be sterile, so they do not spread by seeds — a common criticism of older lantanas. Blanchard evaluates many of those new cultivars at the Hammond trial gardens. As the warm season comes to a close, she’s looking back on how various lantanas did this year. One of her favorites is Cherry Sunrise, a new release from Ball FloraPlant that will be available in garden centers in 2027. “This one performed really well. It has a nice, compact habit that you don’t see in those older varieties,” she said, adding that it reaches a maximum height and spread of about 2 feet. Cherry Sunrise has dense, deep green foliage and bicolor blooms featuring magenta and yellow. “It attracts pollinators all the time,” Blanchard said. Another standout from this year’s trials is Bandito Orange Sunrise, a Syngenta release. Blanketed with bright orange blooms, it is an even more compact cultivar, reaching just 18 inches tall and wide.

HIDDEN

STAFF PHOTO BY JAVIER GALLEGOS

Roger Poplin shows off the lighting repairs he’s made on a client’s chandelier at Secret Underground Laboratory in Baton Rouge.

The Secret Underground Laboratory offers expert repair and salvage services for antique lighting and furniture BY JOY HOLDEN Staff writer

talents

the wire through it, I A few feet from had to drill holes and bustling Government then ﬁll them back in. Street in Baton Rouge, It was nearly every Roger Poplin, 70, and single arm.” his wife, Marsha Rish, Sometimes Poplin 71, wheeled in a sizhas to repair the same able crystal chandepiece twice, which lier from early 1900s was the case with this France into Poplin’s chandelier from In500-square-foot workessa Stewart, a local shop in the back of the antique store. When Secret Underground Laboratory Recovery STAFF PHOTO BY JOY HOLDEN the piece was sold, a hook inside a crate and Salvage. came loose, damaging Poplin leaned over Roger Poplin designed two of the arms. and pointed to two this small ‘rabbit box’ for Back to the Secret small spots on the children to put together Underground Laboornate brass arms at Magnolia Mound where he made tiny public days and summer ratory the chandelier drill holes to get wire went. through to repair the day camps. “After working massive ﬁxture. on cars, everything “I don’t know how French people in life is easy,” said Poplin, who wired stuff,” Poplin said. “It’s like worked in the car repair business they were trying to kill people. for 20 years. “This was a real chalThese wires have to go through lenge the first time around. The these arms, and they’re cast second time, it wasn’t that big.” bronze. On the inside of the arm, ä See LABORATORY, page 6C it’s always very rough, so to get

LOUISIANA UP CLOSE

An afternoon on the lawn of Clinton’s historic courthouse and Lawyers Row BY ROBIN MILLER | Staff writer The East Feliciana Parish Courthouse could be called Clinton’s crown jewel. The peripteral Greek Revival structure was built in 1840 and is the oldest still functioning courthouse in Louisiana. It’s surrounded by 16 Doric columns and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places as a National Historic Landmark in 1973. STAFF PHOTOS BY ROBIN MILLER

A look at the backside of the East Feliciana Parish Courthouse from between the regiment of live oaks surrounding it in the center of Clinton’s town square.

The East Feliciana Parish seat is about a 45-minute drive north on Plank Road from Baton Rouge. Check it out. ä See CLINTON, page 6C

A honeybee rests on a crape myrtle bloom along Lawyers Row in Clinton.

6C l Tuesday, October 13, 2026 l theadvocate.com l The Acadiana Advocate

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TODAY IN HISTORY people crashed in the Andes. In order to stay alive, Today is Tuesday, Oct. 13, survivors resorted to feedthe 286th day of 2026. There ing off the remains of some are 79 days left in the year. of the dead; 16 people were Today in history: rescued more than two On Oct. 13, 2010, 33 men months later. were rescued from a colIn 1999, in Boulder, Colorado, the JonBenet lapsed Chilean mine after Ramsey grand jury was being lifted one by one in capsules 69 days after they dismissed after 13 months were trapped 2,300 feet un- of work with prosecutors saying there wasn’t enough derground. evidence to charge anyone Also on this date: in the 6-year-old beauty In 1792, the cornerstone queen’s killing. of the Executive Mansion, In 2011, Raj Rajaratnam, later known as the White the hedge fund billionaire House, was laid by Presiat the center of one of the dent George Washington biggest insider-trading during a ceremony in the cases in U.S. history, was District of Columbia. sentenced by a federal In 1932, President Herbert Hoover and Chief Jus- judge in New York to 11 tice Charles Evans Hughes years behind bars. He was laid the cornerstone for the released early, in 2019. In 2016, Bob Dylan was U.S. Supreme Court buildnamed winner of the Nobel ing in Washington. In 1960, the Pittsburgh Pi- Prize in literature. In 2021, Hollywood’s rates won the World Series, Captain Kirk, 90-year-old defeating the New York William Shatner, blasted Yankees in Game 7, 10-9, into space aboard a ship on a home run hit by Bill built by Jeff Bezos’ Blue Mazeroski. Origin company; the “Star In 1972, a Uruguayan chartered ﬂight carrying 45 Trek” actor and three felBy The Associated Press

low passengers reached an altitude of 66.5 miles during a flight lasting just over 10 minutes. In 2024, SpaceX completed its boldest test flight yet of its enormous Starship rocket, catching the returning booster back at the Texas launch pad minutes after liftoff. The launch tower’s huge metal arms caught the 232-foot stainless steel booster on its slow descent. Today’s birthdays: Gospel singer Shirley Caesar is 88. Singer-musician Paul Simon is 85. Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is 84. Singermusician Sammy Hagar is 79. Singer/TV personality Marie Osmond is 67. NBA coach Doc Rivers is 65. Football Hall of Famer Jerry Rice is 64. Baseball Hall of Famer Trevor Hoffman is 59. Olympic silver medal figure skater Nancy Kerrigan is 57. Actor Sacha Baron Cohen is 55. Basketball Hall of Famer Paul Pierce is 49. Singer Ashanti is 46. Olympic gold medalist swimmer Ian Thorpe is 44. Actor Caleb McLaughlin is 25.

We have so many questions I invited these friends to Dear Miss Manners: I just dinner so they could relax can’t stop thinking about and have some time alone a couple that my late with just my husband and husband and I were close me. We were having friends with, and a lovely time eatthe time we invited them to dinner at ing our meal, which our house a few I’d gone to a lot of years ago. trouble to make, They have an when there was a adult daughter who knock at the door. Judith is married and who My friends’ daughMartin ter and son-in-law lives in her own MISS home in the same walked in with their MANNERS town — but she’s at dog. her parents’ house While I was getall day, every day. When ting dessert out, they put her husband ﬁnishes work, the dog on the ﬂoor and it he goes to pick her up, and proceeded to poo on my they stay for hours more. rug. Then they sat at the The next day, he drops her dining room table and kept off at her parents’ again at asking my friends, “When 7 in the morning, and it all are you going home?!” repeats. I expected my friends to My friends had told me tell them to go home and on numerous occasions point out how rude they that they’d like some time were acting. Instead, my just to themselves, but friends just got up from their daughter and son-inthe table and said they’d go law just ignored that and home — no “thank you for kept coming to their house dinner,” no apology, nothseven days a week. ing! They walked out my Now this is where I got front door while I was still quite angry, and still am, standing there trying to years later. serve dessert.

Even after all these years, I’m still angry and can’t let it go. Should I bother saying anything? Gentle reader: This happened years ago! Are these people still within your reach? Are you going to leave Miss Manners hanging, wondering what this was all about? What is the daughter doing all day in her parents’ house? Why is the son-inlaw complicit in turning their lives over to them? Why are your friends so frightened? Miss Manners dearly hopes this is merely a report of rudeness, not the setup to a murder mystery. But yes, everyone was mysteriously rude. Send questions to Miss Manners at her website, www.missmanners. com; to her email, dearmissmanners@gmail. com; or through postal mail to Miss Manners, Universal Uclick, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.

Store vitamins upside down

STAFF PHOTO BY JAVIER GALLEGOS

Drawers of labeled equipment help keep the lab meticulously organized to find odds and ends, tools, lamp parts and pieces of wood efficiently.

LABORATORY Continued from page 5C

In 1998, Poplin and Rish opened the vintage and antique store Honeymoon Bungalow in the current Elsie’s Plate & Pie spot at 3145 Government St. Rish said that store was for her, and when the couple sold it in 2016, it was time for Poplin to have his business. They opened Secret Underground Laboratory Recovery & Salvage, focusing on furniture and lighting repair. Rish says she’s proud of her husband’s “lab magic.”

A foundation of fixing As a child, Poplin grew up watching his father, a professor of civil engineering at LSU, fix many items in their house. He remembers when a dryer broke during the summer, and instead of buying the part, his dad engineered and rigged a part to make it last a few more months until they could afford the official part. His grandfather was a carpenter. Poplin honors both of them daily with his electrical repairs on lamps and wood repairs on furniture. “Furniture repair is a whole different world from furniture building, because it’s kind of like surgery. You can’t take the whole piece apart. You’ve got to repair it in place,” he said. At Honeymoon Bungalow, Poplin repaired lamps and furniture for Rish and customers. He enjoyed it, and it was a complementary side business. Now, it’s what he does six days a week. The couple is clear that they have the business simply to pay the rent and utilities on the building. It’s a labor of love — not what pays their other bills. “We ﬁgure everybody has three things that they can’t use, but they don’t want to throw away,” Poplin said. “If you’ve got a rocking chair with a broken rocker, a wobbly chair you’re afraid to sit on, a drawer with the bottom falling out of it, that’s what we do.” The Secret Underground Laboratory’s customers range from the average

homeowner to interior designers to antique store owners like Garrett Kemp, owner of Circa 1857, a Baton Rouge antique store down the street from the laboratory. “We send most of our lighting to them, if not all of it. He’s made plenty repairs on pieces for me,” Kemp said of Poplin. “At Circa, we want our things to be high quality and ready to go. I brought them a light a few years ago, and they did wonderful. We’ve just been using them ever since.” Poplin and Rish receive broken light fixtures and furniture from all over the country, including from a woman in New York who sent them a chandelier for repair. Customers ﬁnd Poplin through his YouTube page, Bron Zeage, where he talks through repairs.

organized for Poplin to find odds and ends, tools, lamp parts and pieces of wood efficiently. “I’m not an organized person by nature,” Poplin said, “so this is a real effort.” Rish agreed and nodded, her black cat ears on her headband swaying along atop her gray hair. The center of the floor in the repair shop is clear for Poplin to do his work and wheel around larger machinery. Hammers and other tools are ordered according to size, and he has labels on every drawer. Every inch of the walls is covered with hanging pieces for all types of “recovery and salvage.” He said that it’s “taken a lifetime” to curate such a lab of tools and machinery. A centerpiece of the lab is a sturdy chest handmade by Poplin that functions as a tool organizer. The phrase, Where the magic happens “The tools are in me, but the Walking into the “under- art is in your soul” in Latin is ground laboratory” is not as inscribed in the chest. mystical as it sounds. It’s a simple storefront at 4401 Continuing the trade Government St. Rish says Poplin says that his type “it’s neither secret or under- of repair is a dying art, but he still likes to teach young ground.” “We rely on word-of- people about woodworking. mouth. For your conve- During the pandemic, he nience, we’re not under- gave hand tool woodworking ground. And with your help, lessons to children in the lab. At Magnolia Mound’s sumwe will not be a secret,” Rish says she tells customers. mer day camp, he teaches The name of the shop kids different levels of comes from Poplin’s old au- woodworking, from nailing a tomotive days when he joked small box together to buildabout car companies that ing a “girlfriend bench.” came up with failed ideas in He designed a simple “rab“secret underground labora- bit box” that kids can put tories.” But when he went to together. He planes the indiregister the LLC, he found vidual pieces and gets them hundreds of places with the ready to fit together, and the same name. He added “Re- children finish the rest. On covery & Salvage” for dis- Magnolia Mound’s public days, he makes about 100 tinction. Upon entry to the shop, a boxes for children to learn Honeymoon Bungalow ban- with. Poplin continues to teach ner hangs on a back wall. To the left, gifts, antiques and the ingenuity and skill that lamp accessories are for his father and grandfather sale. To the right, a black passed down to him. “What I like about the shop cat named Rui lounges across the counter. A collec- business is dealing with the tion of fabric for Rish’s tex- customers,” Rish said, “and making them feel comforttile art is stacked near Rui. The real lab is in the back. able and accepted as they To others, this space would are. No one is above somebe called a repair shop, one else. They’re all equal, but to Poplin and Rish, it’s and so I’ll tell them.” “where rude mechanicals do To learn more, visit Secret magic,” a reference to Wil- Underground Laboratory’s liam Shakespeare’s “A Mid- Facebook page. Hours are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monsummer Night’s Dream.” The lab is meticulously day, Thursday and Saturday.

be doing much better in all Dear Heloise: Do your categories). gummy vitamins, supplePlus, plastic is still a ments and the like stick to petroleum product. the bottom of their While there are valjars? Is it hard to dig them out? Let id uses for it, seektheir stickiness and ing out containers gravity work for that are made of you by storing the glass, metal and pajars upside down! per is still a better Hints from choice. And, yes, — George V., in Ventura, Heloise all of it should be California disposed of responPlastic sound-off sibly! I always enjoy your column. — Susan, via email Dear Heloise: Regarding your reply to Ann about Childproof packaging the use of plastics: Yes, plastics can be recycled, Dear Heloise: My 105-yearbut in reality, only about old mom can’t get the hear5% to 6% of it is recycled ing-aid batteries out of the in the United States. Glass, childproof packages either. metal and paper are reI cut through the plastic with scissors on each side cycled at much higher of the battery, then I pop rates (although we should

the battery out. I hope this is helpful. — Granny’s Daughter, via email

Mini spatula Dear Heloise: After reading a hint about keeping a pair of pliers in the bathroom to unscrew bottles, I thought I’d send in my hint to keep a mini spatula in the bathroom. It’s amazing how much lotion gets left in the bottom of a tube. Just cut open the tube and use a mini spatula to scrape it out. I also use a mini spatula to take greasy medicated lotions out of the jar. — Lynette C., in Austintown, Ohio Send a hint to heloise@ heloise.com.

STAFF PHOTOS BY ROBIN MILLER

The Ligon Law Office is one of five historic buildings along Lawyers Row across from the East Feliciana Parish Courthouse in Clinton.

CLINTON

Continued from page 5C Standing across Woodville Road, behind the courthouse is historic Lawyers Row, a series of five buildings built between 1840 and 1865. The law offices are still in use and represent a unique assemblage of high-quality Greek Revival buildings. Lawyers Row was added to the National Register of Historic Places and declared a National Historic Landmark in 1974. The East Feliciana Parish Courthouse houses the 20th Judicial Court of the State of Louisiana. It’s located at 12220 St. Helena St., Clinton. The building’s lawn is bordered by a collection of live oak trees, and Lawyers Row is fronted by crape myrtle trees that paint the area in fuchsia when in full bloom. The East Feliciana Parish seat is roughly a 45-minute drive up Plank Road from Baton Rouge — perfect for a sunny Sunday afternoon drive. Check it out.

A domed, octogagonal cupola is a signature detail atop the East Feliciana Parish Courthouse in Clinton. The courthouse was built in 1840 and is the oldest still functioning courthouse in Louisiana. A detail shot of the bricked steps leading to the side entrance of the East Feliciana Parish Courthouse in Clinton

The Acadiana Advocate ● theadvocate.com ● Tuesday, October 13, 2026 ● 7C

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FrAnK And erneSt

roSebUdS

zItS

zodIAC LIBRA (sept. 23-oct. 23) Indulge in something that makes you feel grateful and good about who you are, what you represent and what you do to help those less fortunate. Address your concerns through kind and thoughtful gestures. scoRPIo (oct. 24-nov. 22) Taking care of your needs or spending time with someone you deem special will help you put your worries aside and gain perspective on any situation that's causing you grief. sAGIttARIus (nov. 23-Dec. 21) Reorganize your space to fit your needs. Put your energy into handling your investments and finances better. Downsize or decrease your overhead by canceling services you don't use. cAPRIcoRn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Spend more time doing the best job possible and taking care of situations that require your expertise and leadership ability. Steer clear of those eager to lead you astray. AQuARIus (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Getting along, compromising and working to resolve pending issues will help you let go of the past and head in a direction that offers less stress and greater freedom to do as you please. PIscEs (Feb. 20-March 20) Pay attention to how you look, feel and present yourself. Engage in talks that offer insight into what's possible and the changes that will help you reach your objective. ARIEs (March 21-April 19) Let your creativity flow when dealing with financial and physical changes you want to make. Enhance your looks and lifestyle

through learning and finding out how to reach your goals. tAuRus (April 20-May 20) Put your energy into something constructive. If you let anger mount or do things that exhaust you mentally or physically, you'll pay a price. Nurture meaningful relationships. GEMInI (May 21-June 20) A change of plans or direction will turn out better than anticipated. Throw yourself into projects that make you feel grateful. What you do to help others will open doors to new adventures, job prospects or friendships. cAncER (June 21-July 22) You'll get caught in the middle if you interfere in someone else's business. Distance yourself from drama and people likely to blame you for what goes wrong. Look inward. LEo (July 23-Aug. 22) Redirect your energy to ensure you make the most of your day. Learn something new, be a good listener and explore how you can use what you discover to make your life and your relationships better. VIRGo (Aug. 23-sept. 22) You can't monitor changes if you don't have a seat at the table. Having a laid-back attitude and a detailed assessment of the decisions others make will turn you into the go-to person. 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: L EQuALs I

Mother GooSe And GrIMM

SherMAn’S LAGoon FAMILY CIrCUS

dooneSbUrY

8C ● Tuesday, October 13, 2026 ● theadvocate.com ● The Acadiana Advocate

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

BaBY BLueS

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The Acadiana Advocate ● theadvocate.com ● Tuesday, October 13, 2026 ● 9C

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B.C.

Bridge By PHILLIP ALDER This week we are looking at deals in which North and South have to decide which of two suits to choose as trumps. In general, a balanced fit — one where North and South have the same number of cards in the suit — will be preferable to an unbalanced fit — in which one player has more cards than his partner. In this deal, if the balanced diamond suit is trumps, declarer can arrange an extra ruffing trick after drawing trumps and discarding the spade eight from the dummy on his fifth club. In seven diamonds, South takes one spade, five diamonds, six clubs and one spade ruff in the North hand. If the unbalanced suit is trumps, (here the 6-4 club fit), there is an inevitable spade loser. South can win only 12 tricks, not 13. The auction itself was exciting. South opened one club, planning to bid diamonds twice to describe his distribution and strength. If West had immediately overcalled four hearts, it would have made life very tough for North-South. North could have bid five diamonds, but East would have increased the inconvenience by raising to five hearts.

garfield

Pearls Before swiNe

hagar the horriBle

In the actual sequence, once South knew about the double fit, he control-bid (cue-bid) five hearts to suggest a grand slam. And when North was happy to controlbid five spades, South jumped to seven diamonds. © 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 — FuGItIVEs: FYOO-jih-tivs: People who flee or try to escape.

Bizarro

marmaduKe

Average mark 17 words Time limit 30 minutes Can you find 24 or more words in FUGITIVES? yEstERDAy’s WoRD — oRAnGE ogre

anger

gore

organ

argon

groan

rage

near

earn

rang

gear

range

genoa

roan

gnar

aeon

gone

aero

goner

loCKhorNs hidato Yesterday’s Puzzle Answer

today’s thought “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you: not as the world gives, give I to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27 Jesus can give you the peace that you need. — G.E. Dean

10C l Tuesday, October 13, 2026 l theadvocate.com l The Acadiana Advocate

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DOW 51,850.55 195.60 0.38%

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FROM WIRE REPORTS

U.S. stocks hover near their latest record

Wall Street kicked off a busy week on Monday with a mixed ﬁnish for the major U.S. stock indexes, although the market remained near its all-time high. The S&P 500 slipped 0.1% after wavering between small gains and losses. The benchmark index set a record high last Tuesday and is up 14% so far this year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4%, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.4%. Shares in roughly 64% of the companies in the S&P 500 rose, led by communication services stocks. Meta Platforms rose 3.4%, T-Mobile added 2.2%, AT&T gained 1.4% and Verizon Communications rose 2.7%. Energy stocks had some of the biggest gains as oil prices kept rising. Chevron rose 1.4%. Despite those gains, a slide in big technology stocks dragged the market into the red. Micron Technology fell 3.9%, Advanced Micro Devices dropped 2.3%, Broadcom slid 1.9% and Nvidia gave up 1.3%. They are among several companies in the sector with big stock values that tend to have a heavy inﬂuence on the market. They have also been the driving force behind the broader market’s record gains throughout the year.

Jeff Bezos dismisses AI job-loss fears Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is predicting artificial intelligence will lead to soaring productivity, allowing people to back away from the workforce with no loss in their standard of living. Bezos’ comments, made during an interview last week with Fox News, come as others warn that AI could decimate employment across swaths of the economy. In contrast, he said he believes there will be a labor shortage as people deprioritize work. “It’s going to actually be difficult to hire people,” Bezos said during the interview, which took place on a factory floor in Florida for his spaceflight company, Blue Origin. Bezos acknowledged that smart people are prognosticating about widespread worker displacement — but he doesn’t buy it. “I just happen to disagree with those smart people,” he said. Instead, Bezos said, rising productivity will let more people choose to work less. “If you have, let’s say, a twoearner-income household,” he said, “if you want to have it, fine, you’ll have it. But if you don’t want to have it, one of the people might drop out. Some people will also decide, ‘You know what, I can support my family working three days a week.’ ”

EU imposes sanctions on nearly 1,600 BRUSSELS — The European Union imposed sanctions on Monday on almost 1,600 Russian people and companies linked to Russia’s arms industry, notably targeting those suspected of involvement in making parts for drones and missiles. In the biggest single listing of sanctions since the Kremlin launched full-scale war on Ukraine almost ﬁve years ago, the EU also targeted 77 people accused of organizing, working on, or running in “sham elections” in occupied parts of Ukraine. Announcing the sanctions, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said that more than half of them “address the production chain for the ballistic missiles Russia uses to kill Ukrainian civilians every day.” “This is not the time to ease pressure on Moscow but to increase it,” she said. The EU said the companies are on a list established by the Russian government itself “that identiﬁes them as belonging to the Russian military-industrial complex, and they are therefore entitled to receive subsidies.”

S&P 500 7,807.24 -4.30 -0.06%

EURO 1.1155 -0.0048 -0.43%

CRUDE OIL 93.74 1.89 2.06%

GOLD 4,165.80 -25.20 -0.60%

6-MO T-BILLS 4.33 0.0 0.0%

30-YR T-BONDS 5.6 -0.0 -0.02%

Imports of China’s cars on the rise EU caps hybrid vehicle imports at 350,000 a year

BY CHAN HO-HIM and SAM MCNEIL Associated Press

HONG KONG — China’s passenger car exports surged 64% in September from the same month in 2025, an industry association reported Monday, as Chinese automakers increasingly focus on exports to drive growth amid sluggish domestic sales. China exported around 919,000 passenger vehicles in September, lifted by overseas demand for plugin hybrids and pure electric vehicles, data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers

showed. In the ﬁrst nine months of 2026, China exported over 7.1 million passenger cars, up more than 70% from the same period last year. Meanwhile, domestic passenger car sales in China fell for most of the year as automakers faced weaker consumer confidence at home and scaled-back government subsidies. They fell 27% yearon-year in September to over 1.6 million units, according to the association. China is the world’s largest vehicle exporter, but is facing increasing skepticism from trade partners who fear it’s undermining their domestic industries and trade balance. The EU is capping Chinese hybrid vehicle imports at 350,000 a year, ofﬁcials say. In recent months, Chinese auto-

makers have more aggressively targeted rapid growth in overseas markets such as Europe, Latin America, Southeast Asia and Africa. Canada is also opening its doors to Chinese EV exports under a tariff cut deal with China. The industry increasingly relies on overseas markets for sales and proﬁt growth as players seek to offset weakness in the domestic market, analyst Stephen Chan of S&P Global Ratings said. Consultancy AlixPartners and some auto analysts expect Chinese automakers to export nearly or around 10 million vehicles globally in 2026. In Europe, Chinese automakers are increasingly challenging the European auto industry with lower costs and prices. AlixPartners’ analysis found, for example, that a

Chinese-branded EV costs around $20,000 to produce, compared with $31,000 for a European equivalent. The EU has already imposed higher tariffs on pure electric vehicles from China, prompting Chinese carmakers to export more hybrid vehicles. Recent policy discussions have focused on the rapid rise in sales of Chinese hybrids in Europe. Chinese automakers captured around 12% of Europe’s new-car market in August and accounted for one in four hybrid sales in the region, said a research note by Deutsche Bank. Amid growing pressure on the EU to rebalance trade with China, EU trade chief Maroš Šef ovi said Friday that the two sides had reached an interim deal that could halve Chinese hybrid vehicle exports to the bloc.

2 U.S. economists win Nobel Prize Work on managing economic shocks recognized

BY PAUL WISEMAN, STEFANIE DAZIO and KOSTYA MANENKOV Associated Press

STOCKHOLM — American economists Robert E. Hall and Michael Woodford won the Nobel Memorial Prize in economics Monday for their work on models that have helped governments and central banks manage economic shocks, such as energy crises and inflation. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the winners in Stockholm, noting that their work created the theoretical foundation to better understand how consumers decide whether to save or spend, insights that make it easier for policymakers worldwide to stabilize economies after fluctuations. “The laureates’ research has made it possible to manage major macroeconomic crises far more effectively than before,” the Nobel committee wrote in a paper explaining the economists’ work. “It has been hugely beneficial during the pandemic and the energy crises of recent years.” Hall, 83, is affiliated with Stanford University in California. Woodford, who was born in 1955, is affiliated with Columbia University in New York. Woodford spoke to the committee by phone from New York: “It’s a tremendous honor. It’s a surprise.” Hall also said the award was a “wonderful surprise.” “I’ve spent my career trying to understand how the economy works, following interesting questions wherever they led. When I thought I had a new idea, the next step was to find out whether it was actually new, whether it was right, and whether it mattered,” he said in a statement released by Stanford. For decades, governments responded to economic shocks by following the Depression-era prescriptions of the British economist John Maynard Keynes: Intervene in the economy by lowering interest rates and taxes and hiking government spending, thereby encouraging consumers and businesses to spend and invest and help restart growth. “This is the Keynesian recipe and it worked well — until it didn’t,” said Timo Boppart, of the Nobel economics committee. Policymakers had thought economic management involved simple trade-offs — unemployment, for instance, would stay low at a time of high inflation and rise when inflation fell. But the stagflation” of the 1970s — when the world economy experienced simultaneous high inflation and high unemployment —

PROVIDED PHOTO BY ANDERS WIKLUND

Portraits of Robert E. Hall and Michael Woodford are shown as they are announced as the laureates of the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden, on Monday. proved the formula was simplistic. Some economists argued that government attempts to intervene in the economy were doomed to fail. But Hall and Woodford, in separate contributions, set about improving the Keynesian model to take into account how consumers and businesses actually make decisions about whether to invest and spend. “Economic outcomes are the result of millions of decisions made at the microlevel by households and businesses,’’ the Nobel committee wrote. “Using models based upon this approach, rather than simply studying the economy from a macro perspective, like a bird’s eye view,” Hall and Woodford’s research “generated a paradigm shift in the theory of stabilization policy.” Hall studied the way that consumers’ decisions about whether and how much to spend depend on what they expect their future income to be. “If they are optimistic, they will consume more than if they are pessimistic,’’ the committee wrote. But consumer expectations can change unexpectedly as new information about the economy comes in. Hall found that forecasting future consumer spending is virtually impossible. The idea that consumption is mostly unpredictable “is not good news for forecasters, or policymakers,” Olivier Blanchard, who was chief economist at the International Monetary Fund during the 2008 ﬁnancial crisis, said by email. “But it is news they must take into account in thinking about the ef-

fects of policy.” Hall also explored the idea that some households are so strapped ﬁnancially that they can’t borrow or tap savings in response to economic changes. In a 1982 paper with the economist Fredric Mishkin, Hall found that around 80% of households made spending decisions based on their expectations for the future “while the rest lived hand to mouth,” the committee wrote. “The prize is for research that pushes our understanding of macroeconomics from the bottom up, from families and ﬁrms making decisions over time, while looking ahead,” Ivan Werning, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said in an email. Woodford’s research established that businesses make decisions about prices based on where they think interest rates will go in the future. “If the business believes that its competitors’ prices and its own costs will increase, it is best to set a higher price than it would with the opposite expectation,” the Nobel committee wrote. “Businesses’ decisions are thus also governed by their expectations.” Therefore, central banks such as the U.S. Federal Reserve, which set short-term interest rates, should provide “clear and credible communication about how they reason and what they plan to do.” Central banks have responded to this insight by working harder to explain what they are doing.

AI founders cheer Trump’s calls for industry self-policing BY GARANCE BURKE Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO — Tech Week is in full bloom in San Francisco, packing the city’s restaurants this week with venture capitalists and AI founders ebullient about the White House’s stance on regulating artiﬁcial intelligence — namely, don’t do it. And after months of debate about leading AI companies’ unchecked AI agents meddling with everything from U.S. government websites to healthcare data, the nation now finds itself further from governing AI systems than it was a few years ago. President Donald Trump brought tech titans to Washington late last month for a luncheon and ceremo-

nial signing of a voluntary safety pact he described as “almost a constitution” surrounding “Super Intelligence,” the administration’s new preferred term for AI. The 308-word agreement lays out that advanced AI labs should follow safety protocols and set up internal teams to monitor their own progress, but the administration has yet to provide details on how, in OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s words, to keep “bad things” from happening. Safety challenges were not top of mind inside a crowded event space in San Francisco on Wednesday, where founders and funders said the government’s hands-off approach would net higher proﬁts for companies building AI-powered

defense and security systems. Panelists praised the government’s bullish industry support at one meeting aimed at “investing in the forefront,” part of the blitz of pop-up events organized by Andreessen Horowitz, a venture ﬁrm whose head is a Trump science and tech adviser. “I want to start with one ﬁgure that I think really emphasizes the investment opportunity of defense, and that’s $1 trillion. The U.S. government, for the first time, is allocating $1 trillion to its defense spending. And $13.5 billion of that will go to autonomous systems and AI,” said Kyle Stanford, a venture capital research director at PitchBook, a market intelligence platform. “That has

obviously brought a lot of capital into defense tech spending, more than we’ve ever seen.” A day later, three researchers at OpenAI’s headquarters said the ChatGPT maker had ﬁred them, posting that “fear and unclear rules stymie AI safety work.” Separately, David Robinson, a leader on OpenAI’s safety team until he recently resigned, said he was worried about letting the advanced labs police themselves. “This is no substitute for hard law, and it does give a lot of freedom to the companies,” Robinson said. “The time between model generations is measured in weeks … and I think we have some very serious safety challenges in front of us in the nearer term.”