Latest from American Press
American Press
4 hours ago
- Entertainment
- American Press
Passion for preserving: Bell City man gives new life to old furniture, one piece at a time
1/5 Swipe or click to see more Corey Chauvin is recreating an antique pair of bathroom vanities for a Nacogdoches, Texas, homeowner complete with 12-inch barley-twist legs that are being custom-made in Pennsylvania. (Crystal Stevenson / American Press) 2/5 Swipe or click to see more Corey Chauvin is restoring this mid-1800 bar that was created in Lebanon. Only 50 were made and few are left. Inside the cabinet is a built-in turntable and radio. (Crystal Stevenson / American Press) 3/5 Swipe or click to see more Corey Chauvin said his stepfather used this exact model of a Sears Craftsman saw table for his remodeling projects. Chauvin said when he saw this table online for sale, he had to have it. 'I showed my stepdad, and he said, 'Yep, that's the same one.' (Crystal Stevenson / American Press) 4/5 Swipe or click to see more The left section of this three-piece bookshelf built in 1890 once belonged to famed Blue Dog artist George Rodrigue. Corey Chauvin is restoring it for its new owner, who lives in Sunset. (Crystal Stevenson / American Press) 5/5 Swipe or click to see more Corey Chauvin said he's constantly learning and teaching himself new ways of restoring historical pieces. He keeps a copy of 'The Furniture Bible' handy for reference. (Crystal Stevenson / American Press) Corey Chauvin has made a career out of reviving vintage wares and breathing life into sometimes forgotten pieces of history. It's a labor of love, and is something Chauvin does not foresee ever growing tired of. 'I have a background in carpentry and remodeling,' he said. 'Growing up my stepdad did remodeling so all my life I was always around it. I started laying flooring when I was 14 or 15 years old and I always puttered around with woodworking and furniture and building.' His business — Father and Son Creation — came about by accident just over two years ago. 'We started building little knick knack stuff like shelves, planter boxes, cooler stands and then someone I built something for asked me if I repaired furniture. I said, 'Yeah, sure.' ' The customer said his wife inherited an old dresser that had been her aunt's. Made in the 1930s, the wife couldn't bear to part with it, but it wasn't exactly usable either. 'Still to this day, that was my favorite piece I've restored,' Chauvin said. 'I brought it back to him and he said, 'I have several more pieces for you.' That's how this all started. It just fell into place.' Word got out about Chauvin's skills and now his shop is filled with furniture in need of repairing and scraps of wood for carpentry projects he is building from scratch. Alongside his 15-year-old son, the pair diligently scrap away broken veneer and recreate missing or broken pieces of furniture to give new life to historic pieces. 'I'm kind of a history guru and I love the challenge of restoring pieces that were made with tools we don't have anymore,' he said. 'Back then they didn't have stains. They used teas, coffee grounds and the sun to stain wood. Phillips headscrews weren't invented until the 1940s so pieces made before that mostly used flathead screws. And before that, they used hand-cut nails. That's when you get into the 1700s and 1800s. The stuff they did with what they had is astonishing.' Chauvin is in the process of restoring part one of a three-piece bookshelf built in 1890. The owner said the bookshelf had belonged to famed Blue Dog artist George Rodrigue, who kept it in his New Orleans studio. 'They didn't have power tools, saws, nothing,' he said. 'Yet the piece is covered in inlays — which are incredibly hard to do even today. It was all carved by hand.' Chauvin — who does not use chemicals or paint strippers — said he is scraping the original finish from the shelves using sanders and wooden blocks. The new owner wants a natural finish on all three pieces. Chauvin said he's always learning and developing his craft. 'With antiques, if you mess up you mess up bad,' he said. 'If you ruin the finish, ruin the wood you can't just go find another one. I do a lot of research before I start a project and develop a plan of what the customer wants and what's possible.' Chauvin said the process of restoring antique pieces is becoming a lost art. 'There's people who do woodworking, there's people who do furniture but there's not a lot who do antiques anymore,' he said. 'Part of the reason I wanted to start this business is to teach my kids how to do it, and keep them away from too much time with technology and apps.' He said his son is getting the hang of it, but is fearful of making mistakes. ''You're going to,' I tell him. People ask me if I mess up. I say, 'absolutely.' It's part of learning. What do you do when you mess up? Learn how to fix it. I've never destroyed a piece, but I've messed up, I've broken things, I've had to remake things. It happens. But each time I learn how to fix it.' Chauvin's favorite wood to work with is red oak. 'You can do a lot with regular plywood, too. You can use red oak or maple, both of which you can get locally,' he said. 'I'm big on local. I'll pay more for local over ordering. I'm a local business so I want to buy all I can from local businesses, too.' Another piece Chauvin is restoring is a bar built in the mid-1800s in Lebanon. It belonged to the father of a local family who brought the piece with him when he moved to America. Inside the bar's top lid is where bottles and shot glasses are kept. It is lined with glass and the lid has a mirror. Inside the bar's lower cabinet is a turntable and radio — both of which are powered by light bulb electricity. The piece survived a hurricane but has some water damage to the outside doors. It also has sun damage from when it was left outside to dry while the storm-damaged home was being repaired. 'This was the father's prized possession. Every weekend, if they had company over, he would put on his records. They were all in Lebanese so nobody could understand them. He would serve liquor out of this cabinet. The family wants to keep it as original as possible. They only want to replace what we have to.' Chavin said this furniture is one of his 'research pieces.' 'I have to replace the veneer top so I'm trying to find the exact match. Yes, we could totally strip it, add a new finish and make it look like the day it was made but all the character and charm would be gone.' When an antique piece is restored, there is no better feeling, Chauvin said. 'When you spend days, weeks, even months working on it and then it's done, I hate to see them leave sometimes. If I could keep everything, I would keep everything.'
American Press
13 hours ago
- Sport
- American Press
Anderson, LSU shut out Coastal Carolina in opener (with notebook, Sunday's pitching matchup)
LSU's Kade Anderson threw the Tigers first complete-game shutout in the CWS since 1993. / Special to the American Press / Mitchell Scaglione CWS FINALS GAME 1 —LSU 1, Coastal Carolina 0 GAME 2 — Sunday, 1:30 (ABC) By Scooter Hobbs American Press OMAHA, Neb. — LSU broke the nation's longest winning streak Saturday night. Now the Tigers are just one win away from their eighth national championship. They might need more than one run to finish the job but … Lefthander Kade Anderson threw a complete-game shutout and the Tigers nursed home the only run of the game for eight innings to take a 1-0 victory over Coastal Carolina in the opening game of the College World Series championship round. 'Everybody got to see what we've seen and known for an entire season,' LSU coach Jay Johnson said after Anderson allowed just three hits and struck out 10 against the pesky Chanticleers, who had won 26 in a row coming and hadn't lost since April 22. 'That's been on the regular. 'Good all-around effort by our team. We'll get ready to go for tomorrow.' It could be more the same Sunday at 1:30 p.m. (ABC) as Coastal Carolina will pitch first-team All-American Jacob Morrison (12-0, 2.08) against the Tigers' co-ace Anthony Eyanson (11-2, 2.92). 'Any two-out-of-three, they're not over until you win two and there's not anybody in that locker room that doesn't understand that,' Johnson said. 'But we have a different way of looking at things. Caution is not really a word this group would really use.' LSU got its only run in the first inning, scratching out the eventual game-winner early with antics the small-ball specialists from Coastal would appreciate. Derek Curiel had an 0-2 count before working a walk out of it and reached second on Ethan Frey's chopping ground out. Steven Milam then faced a 1-2 count before slapping an RBI single up the middle. And that was it for scoring as Anderson locked up in a duel with Coastal's Cameron Flukey, who allowed just the one run and four of LSU's six hits in his six innings of work. 'Hats off to him,' Johnson said of Flukey. 'He was better than his reputation and his reputation was really good.' Anderson was just a hair better. 'We just weren't able to get that big hit,' Coastal Carolina head coach Kevin Schnall said. 'Tip your hat to him. There's a reason he's so successful. He has multiple pitches he can go to at any time … He made critical pitches when he needed to.' Yet with just three hits, Coastal had some chances as Anderson walked a season-high five walks dealing with a tight strike zone and hit two others. 'They do a great job of finding their way on base,' Johnson said. 'And they did a few times tonight.' But Anderson held the Chanticleers to 1-for-15 with runners on base, 0-for-9 with them in scoring position. 'We just weren't able to get the big hit,' Schnall said. Johnson went to the mound for a chat in the third inning after Coastal put its first two runners on in the third. 'I just went to say a little something to him and he's like, 'I'll settle down.' I was, like, nobody knows that better than me.' Anderson's glove work thwarted a bunt attempt when he got the lead runner at third, then got a strike out and a caught stealing. There was more noise in the fourth with Blage Pado's leadoff double for the Chants. No problem — Anderson struck out the next three, one of the five Coastal innings that ended with a strike outs. 'He's the best pitcher in college baseball,' Johnson said. 'I mean, we had the best pitcher on the planet two years ago (Paul Skenes) in a similar situation. I felt like Kade's had a very similar season.' Schnall didn't seem overly concerned. 'We'd won 26 in a row,' he said. 'Let's just call it is what it is: the odds were not in our favor to go 28-0 and win this national championship.' In fact, he said, it was 'eerily similar' to 2016 when he was an assistant coach on the Chants national championship team in its only other Omaha appearance. 'We lost Game 1, 3-0, a left-handed pitcher threw a complete-game shutout.' They took the next two to beat Arizona that year — then coached by Johnson. 'Again, we've got to respond, rebound, regroup,' Schnall said. 'We're in a good space, we're in a good place,' Schnall said. 'We lost to a really good team today, to a really good pitcher.' NOTEBOOK REALLY? It was 97 degrees when pregame player introductions were made. If that wasn't hot enough, when each player was introduced, he ran from the dugout to the baseline between two posts that had a giant blow-torch flame blasting upward. WIND TUNNEL: LSU is used to the heat and all agreed that with just 44 percent humidity it was nothing like the Baton Rouge super regional games against West Virginia. 'It wasn't even comparable, honestly,' said Kade Anderson threw 130 pitched in a complete-game shutout. But the howling winds, which were steady in the high 20s and gusted into the 40s were a concern, Johnson said. There were no plays obviously affected by it, but it was on Johnson's mind. 'I would say aware (more than concerned),' he said. 'I think when we showed up for BP, it was obviously going to play into the game. It was odd. It switched directions during batting practice … a swirling wind. 'It's just part of the deal. Sounds like It's going to be part of the deal tomorrow as well.' GLOVE WORK: LSU third baseman Michael Braswell was 0-for 3 and his season average dropped to .185, but he showed Saturday why he's the lineup. He had four assists, none of them routine in a tight game, and also made alert play to tag Sebastian Alexander who over-slid the bag on a steal attempt. 'His defense was a difference maker in the game tonight,' Johnson said. 'There's a lot of ways to impact your team's ability to win the game. 'You give them (Coastal) an inch they'll take a mile. His defense stopped some potential momentum for them.' SMALL BALL, BIG DEFENSE: LSU had early answers to Coastal's small-ball antics. In the third inning the Chants had runners on first and second with no outs, but in a bunt attempt pitcher Kade Anderson was able to throw out the lead runner at third. Moments later, Alexander looked to have stolen third, but slid over the bag and was tagged out. BAD LUCK: Nobody's fault, but the umpires did cost LSU a run in the sixth inning. Steven Millam was on first when a pick-off throw was wild past first baseman Colby Thorndyke. But the errant throw hit first umpire Jeff Head (who was trying to get out of the way), preventing Milam from taking second. Next batter Luis Hernandez singled to left center, which would easily scored Milam. BAD CALL: The most controversial call came when Daniel Dickinson was awarded first base when hit on a 3-2 pitch — but after review it was ruled that he intentionally let the ball hit him. Thus, by rule, it didn't matter that it would have been ball four — it's ruled a strike, strike three in this case. 'The ball was clearly in the batter's box. I'm not sure what he was supposed to do,' Johnson said. 'It's a tough rule where you're rewarding the pitcher for throwing a ball in (the batter's box). I thought he did make an attempt to roll out.' Johnson said he might have argued more but it's understood — similar to arguing balls and strikes – that coaches aren't supposed to go back out after umpires after video reviews. BLANKING: Anderson's performance was LSU's first complete game shutout since Brett Laxton did it in the 1993 national championship game. STREAK BUSTER: Breaking the Chants 26-game winning streak, the Tigers have now broken the two longest win streaks in CWS history. They also broke Oregon State's 23-game run in 2017. PLATOON: Sulphur's Jake Brown was back in the starting lineup Saturday for the second time in LSU's four games. He pinch-hit in the two Arkansas games. Brown went 1-for-4 and is now 5-for-10 in the CWS. SUNDAY'S MATCHUP PITCHER W-L ERA IP SO bb OBA LSU RH Anthony Eyanson 11-2 2.92 101.2 143 35 0.215 Coastal RH Jacob Morrison 12-0 2.08 104 102 22 0.194
American Press
16 hours ago
- Politics
- American Press
US strikes 3 Iranian sites, joining Israeli air campaign against nuclear program
President Donald Trump speaks at the National Prayer breakfast in Washington, D.C., on Thursday. (The Center Square) The U.S. military struck three sites in Iran early Sunday, directly joining Israel 's war aimed at decapitating the country's nuclear program in a risky gambit to weaken a longtime foe amid Tehran's threat of reprisals that could spark a wider regional conflict. Addressing the nation from the White House, President Donald Trump said Iran's key nuclear sites were 'completely and fully obliterated.' He also warned Tehran against carrying out retaliatory attacks against the U.S., saying Iran has a choice between 'peace or tragedy.' Iran's nuclear agency confirmed that attacks hit its Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz atomic sites, but insisted that its work will not be stopped. The decision to directly involve the U.S. in the war comes after more than a week of strikes by Israel on Iran that aimed to systematically eradicate the country's air defenses and offensive missile capabilities, while damaging its nuclear enrichment facilities. But U.S. and Israeli officials have said that American stealth bombers and the 30,000-pound bunker buster bomb they alone can carry offered the best chance of destroying heavily fortified sites connected to the Iranian nuclear program buried deep underground. 'We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan,' Trump said in a post on social media. 'All planes are now outside of Iran air space. A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow. All planes are safely on their way home.'
American Press
16 hours ago
- Politics
- American Press
Johnson: US response shows President Trump means what he says
(Special to the American Press) U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson today released the following statement: 'The military operations in Iran should serve as a clear reminder to our adversaries and allies that President Trump means what he says. 'The President gave Iran's leader every opportunity to make a deal, but Iran refused to commit to a nuclear disarmament agreement. 'President Trump has been consistent and clear that a nuclear-armed Iran will not be tolerated. That posture has now been enforced with strength, precision, and clarity. 'The President's decisive action prevents the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism, which chants 'Death to America,' from obtaining the most lethal weapon on the planet. This is America First policy in action. 'God bless our brave men and women in uniform — the most lethal fighting force on the planet — as we pray for their safe return home. May God bless America.'
American Press
a day ago
- Climate
- American Press
College World Series notebook: Heatwave engulfs Omaha
OMAHA, Neb. — OmaHot? It could be shades of 2009 when the College World Series championship round between LSU and Coastal Carolina begins tonight. Which means it might be best to stay in the shade. A heat wave started rolling into Omaha Friday, with temperatures possibly touching 100 degrees over the weekend. That's reminiscent of LSU's 2009 national championship series against Texas, when the unseasonable weather here was hotter those days than in Louisiana. 'I didn't hear you say anything about lightning, huh?' LSU head coach Jay Johnson asked at his Friday news conference, referring to LSU's Monday game with UCLA which interrupted by storms and had to be finished Tuesday. 'I'm good with everything else.' They should be good at least until Monday's if-neces- sary game. And LSU is used to the heat. 'Super regional against West Virginia (was) no question the hottest baseball game I've ever been part of,' said Johnson, who coached at Arizona before going to LSU. Of more concern for the Tigers may be the winds, which weren't really gusting Friday so much as howling, up to 40 mph. Suffice it to say, if a game had been played Friday, there would have been no home runs. That could hurt the Tigers, who rely far more on the long ball than Coastal Carolina and its small-ball style. 'It's just something you kind of expect this time of year,' Johnson said. 'Here in 2023 (when LSU won it all) we had wind blowing inn for the majority of the tournament.' D PAYBACK? Forget about LSU being better known in college baseball's circles. The Tigers might have the revenge factor against the Chanticleers. Coastal is 2-0 all-time against LSU, both games coming in the 2016 super regional in Baton Rouge that propelled the Chants to Omaha and the national title. Right fielder Jake Brown of Sulphur was 9 years old then, but already a big fan and remembers it well. 'A little bit of heartbreak,' he remembered. 'That was a great (LSU) team I think could have made a good run in the championship. Things didn't go our way. 'Look forward to turning it around and making something good happen this time.' Brown doesn't lack for confidence. He knew LSU would get this chance. 'This isn't something that caught us by surprise,' he said. 'We knew were meant to be here.' DO IT AGAIN: Johnson is trying to win his second national championship in four years at LSU. No other coach in NCAA history has multiple titles in less than eight years at a school. STAND THEIR GROUND: Coastal Carolina set an NCAA record by getting hit by pitches 176 times. The Chan- ticleers have been hit pitches six times in Omaha. 'They don't eat if they get out of the way,' Coastal head coach Kevin Schnall said. 'No, it's just something our guys have bought into. Our guys are obsessed with getting on base.' LSU gets hit more than most teams, but has 91. FIRST ON THE FIELD: LSU will be the home team in the first game.
