Louisiana Considered

Tribal colleges and universities are higher education institutions chartered by Native American tribes. There are more than 30 of them across the country – but none in the Gulf South. Elise Gregg of the Gulf States Newsroom spoke to indigenous students around the region who don’t have a tribal college of their own. Artificial intelligence is becoming unavoidable. It’s not just data centers, the en...

Most Americans don’t want data centers built near their homes. But jobs can be a selling point, even if they’re temporary. The Gulf States Newsroom’s Aubri Juhasz visited a community college near the Richland Parish Meta data center that’s helping locals get hired. A grocery store dating back to the 1930s sat vacant in the Holy Cross neighborhood of New Orleans Lower Ninth Ward for more than 20 ye...

Air conditioning is a critical tool in the fight against extreme heat, but new research finds many New Orleans residents fear using it due to high energy costs.  The study published in June in the Journal of Urban Health found that even when New Orleans residents had air conditioning units, they struggled to keep the temperature in their homes under 80 degrees overnight.   Public health reporter f...

Throughout the Western history of conservation, protecting nature has often meant removing people. It's what happened during the creation of many of America's national parks. But what if protecting nature didn't have to mean displacing the people who call it home? That's the question that brings us to Culatra, a small fishing island off Portugal's southern coast, and one of the country's seven nat...

Mardi Gras parades will come with a new cost, as the New Orleans City Council unanimously approved a tiered fee system that requires krewes to pay different amounts based on parade size. WWNO Intern Jocelyn Burgess spoke with those involved in Mardi Gras krewes. She joins us with more on the potential impacts  The 16 leaders of the SEC are meeting today to discuss the ongoing controversy surroundi...

Louisiana is offering SpaceX one of the biggest tax incentive packages ever put together for a single development project. The state and local governments are giving the company an estimated $27.5 billion in tax breaks and other incentives to build a massive rocket launch facility in coastal Vermilion Parish. Most of that money — nearly $24 billion — comes from a 25-year property tax exemption. So...

Ursula Newell-Davis , a social worker, has spent two decades helping vulnerable Louisiana families. But when she tried to open a business to provide respite care for families in need, Louisiana’s Facility Need Review prohibited her.  Now, she’s fighting the state to provide in-home respite under Louisiana’s Right to Earn a Living Act.  Newell-Davis and her attorney, Samantha Romero-Drew, join us t...

It’s college football season and LSU returns to the field this weekend to face the other Tigers, Clemson. This will be the first season opener for Lane Kiffin as LSU’s head coach, after he came to the purple and gold last year mid-season, abruptly leaving his post at Ole Miss.  Reporter for the Baton Rouge Advocate, Reed Darcey, joins us to preview the season.  Throughout the Western history of co...

On Wednesday, we discussed Governor Jeff Landry’s NDAs with SpaceX prior to announcing the company planned to build a new, massive facility in Vermilion Parish. Today, we’ll check in with The Times-Picayune/The Advocate’s editorial director and columnist, Stephanie Grace, to discuss the political implications of this partnership.  St. Landry Parish is officially designated as the Horse Capital of...

For the past few weeks we’ve been discussing non-disclosure agreements signed by state lawmakers in regards to state development projects, namely Meta’s data center in Richland Parish. Recently, news broke that more officials signed NDAs about a new SpaceX site in Vermillion Parish.  Gulf States Newsroom Reporter Drew Hawkins joins us with the latest.  The team behind NPR’s student podcast challen...

WWNO’s Culture Collision brings New Orleans’ arts and cultural organizations together for an evening designed to connect audiences with the city’s vibrant creative community. This year’s event takes place Wednesday Sept. 2, and gives people a chance to discover local organizations, learn about upcoming performances and programs and find new ways to engage with the arts.  WWNO’s business manager an...

WWNO’s Culture Collision brings New Orleans’ arts and cultural organizations together for an evening designed to connect audiences with the city’s vibrant creative community. This year’s event takes place Wednesday Sept. 2, and gives people a chance to discover local organizations, learn about upcoming performances and programs and find new ways to engage with the arts.  WWNO’s business manager an...

Legislation to increase the number of years a wrongfully incarcerated person could receive compensation passed unanimously in the legislature this past session. But it was among the handful of bills Gov. Jeff Landry vetoed.  Capitol Access reporter Brooke Thorington talks to an exoneree who would have benefited from the change, and lawmakers who question why it was vetoed. Back in August, a task f...

There was a time back in the 1980s when overfishing had decimated popular fish like red snapper and grouper in the Gulf. But then, there was a dramatic turning point, when both fish and fishermen in the Gulf were kind of saved. Today, we hear the remarkable success story of how unlikely partners joined forces to save an industry and an ecosystem. In this episode, Environmental Defense Fund's Execu...

Kemp's Ridleys are the most endangered sea turtle on the planet... can they lose their nickname of the "heartbreak turtle"? Today, we go on a journey to the remote Chandeleur islands to try to find the mysterious Kemp’s Ridley turtles, who, after 75 years, have been discovered on the shores of Louisiana. It’s a story of loss and restoration, of hope and heartbreak. --- This episode was originally...

The Lemon Tree Mound is a sacred place for the Atakapa/Ishak-Chawasha tribe. And it's disappearing under the rising waters of the Gulf of Mexico. In this episode, we travel out into the bayous of South Louisiana to understand what this one small sacred place means for the Land Back Movement and climate justice, and why efforts to save our coast matter, even if they really mean only buying time. Cl...

Louisiana’s coast is rapidly disappearing into the Gulf, threatening not only the land, but also the people and the culture that make it special. Instead of mourning the coast, a new series from PBS member station WYES is celebrating it.  Eco Trip is the Gulf South's first eco-adventure television series that combines outdoor adventure, authentic travel, rich cultural traditions and environmental...

Last Friday on Louisiana Considered, we brought you the first part of the latest episode of Sea Change, all about the fight against pollution in the Texas Gulf. Today, we bring you part 2.  Neil McQueen learned to surf as a Texas teenager, and it changed his life – eventually pulling him away from a career as a plastics engineer and into the fight to save the very waters that shaped him. Thanks to...

It’s Thursday, and that means it’s time to talk politics with The Times Picayune/New Orleans Advocate’s Stephanie Grace. Today, we learn how Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) is wrapping up his time in Congress by challenging the MAHA agenda with vaccine advocacy.  August marks the birthday of New Orleans jazz legend Louis Armstrong. In 2021, Hurricane Ida destroyed a building in the Central Business Distr...

Louisiana's Public Service Commission (PSC) is overseeing one of the biggest industrial buildouts in state history. They’re considering 10 new gas plants and other infrastructure, like transmission lines, in order to power Meta's data centers in Richland Parish. Last week, the PSC voted to overturn a judge’s ruling that Meta had to turn over information about how it calculated jobs and power usage...

Last November, lawyer and formerly wrongfully incarcerated man Calvin Duncan won the election to serve as Orleans Parish Clerk of Criminal District Court before legislators passed a law that got rid of this position. He has since filed a lawsuit arguing that the law was specifically intended to keep him out of office.  Last week, Duncan’s legal team filed an amended complaint to the U.S. District...

As we’ve been reporting, non-disclosure agreements are becoming common practice around large industrial developments in Louisiana, largely driven by Gov. Jeff Landry. On today’s episode, we're back again with more NDAs — this time involving a sitting member of Congress.  Julia Letlow (R-LA) — who is also the Trump-endorsed Republican candidate for U.S. Senate — signed an NDA with Meta. Then, she b...

Louisiana's coastline is constantly changing, and one of the newest examples is Neptune Pass, a naturally forming channel in the lower Mississippi River that's rapidly building new land in Plaquemines Parish.  Recently, a dozen teachers from across the state got the chance to see that transformation firsthand during a two-day professional development workshop organized by the Mississippi River Del...

It’s Thursday, and that means it’s time to talk politics with The Times Picayune/New Orleans Advocate’s Stephanie Grace. Today we discuss the end of qualifying for the November elections and what races are already drawing attention. In recent years, there’s been a massive uptick in misinformation spread over the internet. In Acadiana, misinformation spread by both internet bots and neighbors derai...

A graffiti-covered shell of a building in Mid-City, New Orleans, is finally under demolition. The Lindy Boggs Medical Center was abandoned after damage from Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Lindy Boggs Medical Center, formerly known as Mercy Hospital, stood for more than 65 years before becoming the blighted eyesore it is today.  WWNO and WRKF’s Morning Edition Producer, Mel Bridges, tells us more about...