Louisiana Considered

Yesterday was Thanksgiving, a time to celebrate family, community and heritage throughout the country. And as all Louisianans know, our state is a hodgepodge of different cultures, which has led to multiple languages that are spoken throughout the state. In Louisiana, there are nearly 200 interpreters registered to translate a total of 22 languages. They do important work in the legal service, hel...

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and to celebrate we are dedicating today’s entire episode to stories about food. Here in Louisiana, we know that food fosters culture and community, and has also been a way in which many chefs of color – and particularly women– were able to find economic success.  Lena Richard was the first Black woman to host her own cooking TV cooking show, which aired on WDSU-TV in New...

The combat sport of jiu-jitsu is a mixed martial art of ground fighting, grappling and submission holds. In recent years, popularity has grown in the United States, but the only professional jiu-jitsu league in the country started in Decatur, Ala. The Gulf States Newsroom’s Joseph King has the story. The Tony Award-winning musical “Wicked” is returning to the Saenger Theatre from Nov. 29 through D...

The results from Louisiana’s general election are in and Republicans swept statewide offices. Politics reporter Molly Ryan breaks down the wins, losses and a somewhat surprising result in the Lafayette mayor-president race. New Orleans not only serves as the setting for many literary classics like “A Streetcar Named Desire” and “A Confederacy of Dunces,” but it has also long been home to many writ...

There are more than a thousand miles of levees and floodgates lining each side of the Mississippi River and its tributaries. Thousands of dams also hold back water and sediment throughout the Mississippi basin. But the thing is, you can’t totally harness a river such as the Mississippi. And, research has shown that our efforts to tame the river have actually made our risk of flooding worse when yo...

Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court balked at the prospect of confronting a lower court about its efforts to delay the redrawing of Louisiana’s congressional maps. Now many are left wondering if Gov. John Bel Edwards will do anything to address the redistricting question during the remainder of his term. Stephanie Grace, columnist and editorial director for The Times-Picayune/The Advocate, joins us...

This summer, the energy company First Solar began construction on a new facility in Iberia Parish in south Louisiana. The $1.1 billion facility marked the beginning of what some say could help turn Louisiana into a robust energy powerhouse rather than just a fossil-fuels economy.  Terrence Chambers, director of the Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Energy Center at the University of Louisiana at L...

Touro Infirmary in New Orleans recently launched a program to offer free postpartum home visits to anyone who gives birth at the hospital. Advocates of this initiative see it as a way to tackle Louisiana’s high rates of maternal and infant mortality.  Josie Abugov, a reporter for Verite News, joins us to talk about what the program has accomplished so far – and what nurses see as the biggest obsta...

When “Roe,” the play, premiered at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 2016, Roe vs. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court case, was the law of the land. A lot has changed since then, especially in the Gulf South. As Aubri Juhasz reports, an updated version of the play is being staged in an unexpected place — the capitol of a state with a near-total abortion ban.  And just a note, this story contains de...

Today on Sea Change, we are bringing you an episode from our friends at KQED. The story you’re about to hear is from the third season of their podcast called Sold Out: Rethinking Housing in America. Climate change is intensifying wet periods across California, untaming waterways humans corralled with dirt and concrete. In this episode, “Searching for Home on Higher Ground,” reporter Ezra David Rom...

Gov.-elect Jeff Landry is preparing to take office, and his appointees and transition team include some familiar – and some surprising – faces. The Time- Picayune/The Advocate’s editorial director and columnist Stephanie Grace joins us to break down who’s who on the  team.  At Catholic Masses across the New Orleans metro area last month, parishioners heard in an announcement from Archbishop Gregor...

More than two months ago, the New Orleans Public Library temporarily closed its Central City branch after a staff member found mold in the building. But the branch has no clear timeline for reopening – and some activists have stationed themselves outside the building, demanding answers and helping patrons with library-like services. Nate Ha has been covering this story for Verite News, and share m...

The state of Georgia recently promised nearly $2 billion in incentives to persuade Hyundai to open an electric vehicle plant there. But Georgia isn’t\ the only Southern state betting that EVs will usher in a manufacturing renaissance in the region. As the Gulf States Newsroom’s Stephan Bisaha reports, many Southern states are also preparing for the EV industry to lead to carloads of good jobs. The...

Louisiana officials have known for decades that the lakes near the Governor’s Mansion in Baton Rouge contain toxic chemicals. Now, the EPA has gotten involved in the cleanup efforts.  Mark Schleifstein is an environmental reporter who has been covering the story for The Advocate in Baton Rouge. He joins us for more on the companies the EPA has deemed responsible for decontaminating the lakes – and...

If you didn’t know the name Mike Johnson a few weeks ago, chances are you do now. The Louisiana representative from Shreveport was recently elected speaker of the House after a 22-day deadlock that saw multiple candidates try and fail to attract enough support.  While we wait to see what Johnson might do as speaker, we wanted to take a moment to look back at his history, including his politics and...

A new report from the Prison Policy Initiative found a steep drop across the country in the number of people who were granted parole and early release from prison over the last few years. Louisiana’s numbers were some of the starkest.  Richard Webster covered the report for Verite News in New Orleans. He joins us to explain the causes and consequences of fewer paroles being granted in Louisiana.  ...

Our region is dotted with ghost towns - places that were once full of culture and community and now barely inhabited. Sometimes the change comes from environmental shifts, but sometimes the causes are man-made.  In the next part of the series “Place, Erased,” the Gulf States Newsroom’s Drew Hawkins brings us to a Louisiana town where Black residents are feeling as though they must leave, because o...

Drive throughout the South and you’ll encounter towns that were once full of culture and community, and now appear nearly abandoned. Sometimes the change comes from environmental shifts, but sometimes the causes are man-made.  Throughout this week, the Gulf States Newsroom is bringing you three stories about ghost towns in our region, called “Place, Erased.” Today, reporters Drew Hawkins and Danny...

Wrestling season is on at Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Alabama, and this season is one for the history books. That’s because Huntingdon is now home to the first and only collegiate women’s team in the region. The Gulf States Newsroom’s Joseph King traveled to Montgomery to hear how the Hawks’ were preparing for their historic season.  East Baton Rouge Parish School System officials are under...

As natural disasters worsen and extreme weather grows more frequent, it’s led to more people being displaced across the planet. Sometimes, we call those people climate migrants. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that in the last year alone, around 3 million Americans were displaced by natural disasters. But for some climate migrants, displacement isn’t always so immediate or apparent -- it is often...

After a 22-day standstill in which three Republican candidates were nominated – and then either dropped out or were defeated on the House floor – Republican Mike Johnson of Louisiana was elected the next Speaker of the House on Wednesday.  The Times-Picayune/The Advocate’s editorial director and columnist Stephanie Grace joins us for more on what we need to know about the House’s new leader, a Rep...

Rice is one of the most valuable crops grown in Louisiana. It regularly makes the list of our top five crops grown and exported each year, but some are concerned a warming climate may have an adverse effect on yields. Prasanta Subudhi , professor at LSU’s School of Plant, Environmental and Soil Sciences, tells us about research into the potential impacts of climate change on rice, and ways to make...

If you stepped outside in New Orleans yesterday morning, you likely noticed a thick fog cascading over the city. But in addition to being unpleasant and foul-smelling, the fog is also dangerous, and led to a multi-car pileup on I-55 that killed at least 7 people and injured at least 25.  Alex Lubben, a reporter for The Times-Picayune/The Advocate, joins us to talk about what caused the fog – and i...

Turnout in Louisiana’s primary was historically low — so low that Republican gubernatorial candidate Jeff Landry was able to win the race for governor outright with less than 20% of all registered voters voting for him. State politics reporter Molly Ryan talked to some voters at the polls, and at an LSU tailgate, to better understand the causes and consequences of low voter turnout. A group of org...

As natural disasters worsen and extreme weather grows more frequent, it’s led to more people being displaced across the planet. Sometimes, we call those people climate migrants. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that in the last year alone, around 3 million Americans were displaced by natural disasters. But for some climate migrants, displacement isn’t always so immediate or apparent, but it is oft...