Gulf States Gumbo

On this week’s episode of the Gulf States Gumbo, our reporters gather for an elections debrief. Democrats won big in Tuesday’s midterm, taking back the House and the Senate. The Blue wave reached parts of the country few expected: Kansas, South Carolina, Texas, and to some extent, even the Gulf South. This episode is hosted by Aubri Juhasz, who is also a producer for the show. The podcast is produ...

Happy Halloween! We're back with more Ghoulish Gumbo on this week's episode of the Gulf States Gumbo. We've got three new spooky tales — all involving ghosts — from each state, with a new cast of characters taking off their journalism caps to see who’s the most haunting storyteller — Maya Miller in Mississippi, Nellie Beckett in Alabama and Aubri Juhasz in Louisiana. This episode is hosted by Orla...

This week's episode of the Gulf States Gumbo is all about music. The seventh annual Public Radio Music Day is Wednesday (Oct. 28), and in the wake of massive cuts to public media, this year's celebration is more important than ever.  Public radio stations with music programs — like our partner stations in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi — bolster local musicians and music economies. They bring...

This week's episode of the Gulf States Gumbo marks the show's second anniversary! To celebrate, Regional News Editor Tanya Ott looks back at some of the best episodes of our show's run so far — from the cost of hurricane evacuations and covering major live events to special investigations cooked up by the team. This episode is hosted by Ott, who is also a producer for the show.  The podcast is pro...

In this week's episode of the Gulf States Gumbo, community engagement reporter Elise Catrion Gregg hosts a double feature looking at how Mississippi celebrates Elvis Presley — Tupelo's native son and the King of Rock and Roll.  Joining her is Nick Perkins, an Elvis Tribute Artist and the 2018 champion of the Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Competition at the Tupelo Elvis Festival.  This episode is h...

On this week’s episode of the Gulf States Gumbo, we’re talking about tribal colleges and universities — known as TCUs — and why our region has none. Community engagement reporter Elise Catrion Gregg shares her reporting, and we look at how some TCUs are still reaching students in the South. This episode is hosted by Aubri Juhasz. The podcast is produced by Maya Miller, Elise Catrion Gregg, Drew Ha...

On this week’s episode of the Gulf States Gumbo, senior reporter Drew Hawkins and youth and families reporter Aubri Juhasz talk about one of the strongest selling points for data centers in the Gulf South — jobs. Aubri takes us to Louisiana Delta Community College in Monroe, where students are training to become data center technicians . This episode is hosted by Drew Hawkins. The podcast is produ...

On this week’s episode of the Gulf States Gumbo, sports and culture reporter Joseph King digs into why Birmingham, Alabama, has caught the attention of one of the world's premier extreme sports competitions. The head of location scouting for FISE — Festival International des Sports Extrêmes — says Birmingham has "one of the best skate parks in the U.S. It's unbelievable!" This episode is hosted by...

On this week’s episode of the Gulf States Gumbo, senior reporter Drew Hawkins takes us to Pecan Island — where SpaceX is building the world’s biggest spaceport .  State officials are hyping it up, but residents fear it’ll do irreparable damage to the place they call home.  This episode is hosted by Elise Catrion Gregg. The podcast is produced by Aubri Juhasz, Maya Miller, Drew Hawkins, Tanya Ott,...

Gulf States Newsroom's former economic mobility reporter Stephan Bisaha has written about data centers, Dollar Generals and housing affordability. Now, at NPR, he covers personal finance, capturing stories of economic impacts on southern communities. In this week's episode of the Gulf States Gumbo, Stephan joins government and democracy reporter Maya Miller to talk more about his work. This episod...

Last year, the Gulf States Newsroom examined the 20 years since Hurricane Katrina in a live event at the Prytania Theater. This year, we returned to the Prytania on August 20th, where our development director Marci Schramm convened a panel of scientists, activists and community leaders working to organize and protect New Orleans ahead of future natural disasters. We started with a short documentar...

Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) are becoming a common tool for concealing negotiations over large industrial developments in Louisiana.  Gulf States Newsroom’s senior reporter Drew Hawkins joins us to round up months of reporting on NDAs across Louisiana government — from the 50-plus elected officials and 121 state employees who've signed NDAs with Gov. Jeff Landry's administration, to Landry's o...

School is back in session in the Gulf South. So this week, the Gulf States Gumbo is, too. First, we start in Algiers Point, on the Westbank of New Orleans. Research shows many students don’t read enough and are behind when they return to school. One way to fight this? Book clubs. We visit a middle school book club meeting at the Cita Dennis Hubbell Library to learn more. Also, Youth and Families r...

After the Louisiana v. Callais decision, which says states cannot draw congressional district lines based on race, lawmakers are clamoring to redistrict parts of the region. In this week's episode, we get two dispatches from democracy and government reporter Maya Miller, who visited Southaven, Mississippi, where voting rights organizations have joined forces for the People’s Hearing. The events ar...

This week, we’re doing something a little different by bringing you a preview of a new podcast from our partners at Deep South Today.  “Black Box” is a 5-part series that follows Mississippi Today’s mental health reporter Allen Siegler’s work tracking the state’s opioid settlement funds — and the people it’s supposed to help.  It really drives home the importance of having every available tool for...

More than a million Americans have died of drug overdoses since the year 2000. Despite the staggering loss, one tool for treating opioid addiction has been tangled up in politics, stigma, and money for decades. Medication-assisted treatment, or MAT, has a long and complicated history in the U.S., including a direct connection to the Gulf South.  On this week’s episode, we're joined by Emily Dufton...

It is hot outside. And while historical, state-wide temperature records have not been broken, the Deep South is experiencing persistent summer heat waves with heat indices frequently exceeding 105°F. It’s also been noticeably warmer-than-average in the overnight hours. That adds extra strain to local power grids and affects public health. When GSN senior reporter Drew Hawkins looked into it, he fo...

In 2023, a set of tornadoes wreaked havoc on the South, with the worst damage done in the small Mississippi town of Rolling Fork.  Researchers from the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium spoke with residents shortly after that. This year, they published a paper on how communities can change responses to weather crises. On this week's episode, community engagement reporter Elise Catrion Gregg...

On this week’s episode, we say hello to a new team member and discuss the school choice movement in the Gulf South. WWNO’s and WRKF’s Aubri Juhasz is joining the team as our new Youth and Families Reporter. She jumps into the host chair this week to talk with community engagement reporter Elise Catrion Gregg about a story they co-reported on education savings accounts. They’re similar to school vo...

On this week’s episode, we’re talking climate change and a recent Tulane University study that made waves online. WWNO’s and WRKF’s Aubri Juhasz and Eva Tesfaye join us to talk about The Guardian’s article on the study, titled: ‘‘Point of no return’: New Orleans relocation must start now due to sea level rise, study finds. The two discuss what they found reading through the study it’s based on, th...

On this week’s episode, community engagement producer Nellie Beckett talks with Burgin Mathews, director of the Southern Research Music Center, about the culture and history of music in the Gulf South. The Southern Music Research Center is a public online archive of rescued recordings, rare photos and flyers, oral history interviews, and other artifacts from a deep diversity of musical genres and...

On this week’s episode, community engagement reporter Elise Catrion Gregg talks with Greg LaRose, editor of the Louisiana Illuminator, about the local effects of redrawing electoral maps. Redistricting is playing out across the Gulf South following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais. Most of the redrawing is occurring at the state level, but local representation is just as v...

On this week’s episode, we take a look at how the parish with the most opioid overdoses in Louisiana is spending its opioid settlement money.  Jefferson Parish is receiving the largest share of money from legal settlements with opioid manufacturers, marketers and distributors. But an investigation from senior reporter Drew Hawkins and Verite News senior reporter Katie Jane Fernelius shows, so far,...

On this week’s episode, community engagement producer Nellie Beckett talks with Micah Loewinger about his recent podcast " American Emergency: The Movement to Kill FEMA " — On the Media ’s four-part series on the Federal Emergency Management Administration, the beleaguered federal agency that handles natural disasters, including hurricanes. Loewinger discusses FEMA’s response to Hurricane Katrina,...

On this week’s episode, we learn about an organization that uses hip-hop and a social-emotional learning curriculum to better connect with students. Jamila Sams created We Do It 4 The Culture five years ago. The organization went to New Orleans Charter Science and Mathematics High School for its first-ever School Cypher Summit, and partnered with rising rap star La Reezy — who’s from New Orleans a...