Louisiana Considered

On today’s Louisiana Considered, we get an update on a series of attempts to amend Louisiana’s near-total abortion ban. Also, we hear from two investigative journalists who examined the Internal Affairs Division at the Baton Rouge Police Department and cataloged misconduct, complaints, and community mistrust of law enforcement. Finally, we learn about a group of musicians bringing live performance...

Over a decade ago, FEMA gave the city $1.8 billion to rebuild schools that were damaged from Hurricane Katrina. Now 13 years later, the rebuilding project is finally complete.  Marie Fazio, reporter for The Times-Picayune, tells us more.  Carlos Miguel Prieto, who has served as the music director of the Louisiana Philharmonic since 2005, is gearing up for his last performance. Today he tells us mo...

Cooks from around Louisiana and beyond will be showing off their culinary skills this weekend at the 6th Annual Baton Rouge Soul Food Festival at the Riverfront Plaza. Henry Turner Jr., festival founder, musician and recording artist, tells us more about this event and the history of soul food. Starting next school year, high school students in Ascension Parish public schools will be banned from w...

Today on Louisiana Considered, we are bringing you the fourth episode of our new climate podcast, Sea Change.  Food connects us to our past, to our memories, to each other, and to the world around us. It’s powerful. But food systems–from how we grow or catch things to how we transport them –are also incredibly complex. As climate change increasingly impacts the world, we are seeing some of the fir...

Next weekend on May 20th and 21, the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana will host their first Pow Wow since the COVID 19 pandemic. And tribal leadership, tribal citizens, neighboring tribes and community members are all invited to celebrate this weekend-long cultural event. Ryan Lopez, Pow Wow committee member, tells us what it means to finally reunite in this celebration for the first time in years...

The Deep South Center for Environmental Justice recently released new maps that show petrochemical plants in Louisiana are disproportionately located near Black communities. This report builds on research from the 1990s, and argues that little has changed in the last 30 years.  The coastal desk’s Halle Parker joins us for more on these maps and what they reveal about the health and safety of resid...

The Louisiana governor’s race is well underway. Nine candidates have already thrown their hats in the ring. Just yesterday, former President Donald Trump chimed in with his endorsement of Attorney General Jeff Landry.  Tyler Bridges, Pulitzer-prize winning author and chief political reporter for The Times-Picayune | The Advocate tells us about the potential upsides and downsides of this endorsemen...

This Thursday, the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities will present the Bright Lights Awards to honor some of the state’s top leaders in humanitarian efforts. This is the first time the event will be held in person since the COVID-19 pandemic, and will be presented by Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser. For more we are joined by three of the honorees, Humanist of the Year: chef John Folse, Cha...

Proposals for carbon capture and sequestration projects have been popping up across Louisiana for years. Officials have welcomed these projects, but residents have recently expressed their concerns of the plans to store carbon dioxide underground — especially in the area surrounding Lake Maurepas.  Residents’ concerns of this new industry have led state lawmakers to propose a string of bills aimed...

For weeks, Adam Mahoney, climate reporter for the nonprofit news organization Capital B, traveled across Louisiana investigating why Black communities are still struggling to recover from hurricanes years after they swept through their towns. Although storms like Laura, Delta, Zeta, and Ida happened two to three years ago, thousands of the state’s Black residents remain living in damaged homes, tr...

The state Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority board has approved the final version of Louisiana’s latest Coastal Master Plan. It’s a massive 50-year, $50 billion plan meant to protect the state’s eroding coastline. WWNO coastal desk reporter Halle Parker tells us more. A new climate study published in the Science Advances journal has found that more severe hurricanes are likely to travel...

While women were granted the right to vote in 1920 with the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, that right was not easily protected for Black women. Now, the stories of these suffragists are on display at a new exhibit at the Historic New Orleans Collection, “Yet She is Advancing: New Orleans Women and the Right to Vote, 1878-1970.” Exhibit curator Elizabeth Neidenbach joins us for more on the pio...

Last Thursday, the Louisiana House Education Committee approved House Bills 466 and 81, which would ban discussions of gender and sexual identities in Louisiana schools and force teachers to use the names and pronouns on their students’ birth certificates. Modeled after the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” legislation in Florida, this bill was passed with a 7-5 vote and will now be sent to the full House...

Today on Louisiana Considered, we bring you part 2 of our third episode Sea Change, our new podcast about climate change and environmental issues across the Gulf Coast. Yesterday, the Coastal Desk's Halle Parker brought us to Reserve, Louisiana, a town along the Mississippi River where some residents say toxic pollution from a neighboring chemical plant is impacting their lives and health. Today w...

Today on Louisiana Considered, we bring you part 1 of our third episode Sea Change, our new podcast about climate change and environmental issues across the Gulf Coast. The Coastal Desk's Halle Parker takes us to Reserve, Louisiana, a town where some residents say toxic pollution from a neighboring chemical plant is impacting their lives and health. We learn why issues of environmental racism have...

Today on Louisiana Considered, we hear about an upcoming cook-off event in Lafayette to benefit Team Gleason, an organization dedicated to improving life and providing technologies for ALS patients. Plus, we hear about an upcoming art exhibit that celebrates the life of a Baton Rouge native.   This Thursday, the Blackham Coliseum in Lafayette will host the second annual Fin Feather Fur Food Festiv...

‘The Dooky Chase Kitchen: Leah’s Legacy,’ is a new TV show celebrating the New Orleans cooking icon. The PBS series on WYES-TV will feature dishes prepared by younger generations of the Chase family who have led the restaurant since Leah’s passing in 2019.  Leah’s grandson Dook Chase and granddaughter Eve Marie Haydel, join us with the details. The 2023 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival prese...

On April 13 1837, a mob of armed white men attacked the courthouse in Colfax, Louisiana, where a group of Black men had gathered to protect their right to vote, killing 80 or more people. This story was largely lost to history, but recently, the Colfax Memorial Organization unveiled a new memorial that recognizes the truth of this event.  Rev. Avery Hamilton, the great-great-great grandson of Jess...

Dollar stores have taken over. The big brands have more stores in the U.S. than Starbucks, Walmart, and McDonald’s combined. And they’re especially huge in Louisiana, where there are more than twice as many dollar stores per person compared to the national average.  Stephan Bisaha of the Gulf States Newsroom recently brought us four stories on dollar stores, exploring what’s behind the growth and...

“FIRE ON THE LEVEE: The Murder of Henry Glover and the Search for Justice after Hurricane Katrina” is a new book by Jared Fishman, former federal prosecutor and executive director of the Justice Innovation Lab. Co-written with Joseph Hooper, this book tells the behind-the-scenes story of Fishman’s battle to unravel the cover-up of the murder of a Black man by a notoriously corrupt police departmen...

Sunday marked the annual “blessing of the fleet” in the small fishing village of Chauvin, Louisiana. The town was hit hard by Hurricane Ida, and this year’s blessing coincided with the grand reopening of a local symbol of Cajun culture and perseverance: the Chauvin Sculpture Garden. Coastal Desk reporter Kezia Setyawan has more. It’s no secret the South is home to colorful traditions. Everything f...

Parts of the South Mississippi Delta have suffered from chronic flooding for generations, but coming up with a solution has been controversial. The pumps that could prevent flooding could also damage the wetlands there. In recent months, the Environmental Protection Agency started pursuing a fix once again, and The Vicksburg Post has been covering how all of this impacts residents. Anna Guizerix i...

Today on Louisiana Considered, we learn about trash cleanup efforts in Baton Rouge and statewide litter abatement efforts. Plus, we hear why environmental groups are suing the EPA over water contamination.    It’s Love the Boot Week in Louisiana, the state’s largest litter cleanup and beautification initiative. It’s one of several new efforts to ensure the sportsman’s paradise is known for its bea...

Musicians have been writing songs and singing about environmental issues for a long time. Today on Sea Change, we explore what can happen when culture and the environment collide: how artists from Rihanna and Beyonce to The Lost Bayou Ramblers are using their music to talk about climate change. First we meet up with Louis Michot of the Lost Bayou Ramblers in his houseboat studio outside of the sma...

Last week, the Jefferson Parish School Board approved a plan to shut down six schools, relocate two others, and build two new ones. This would send thousands of students to different buildings by the start of the next school year, which is just five months away.  Blake Paterson has been reporting this story for the The Times-Picayune | New Orleans Advocate. He joins us for more on how students, pa...