Louisiana Considered

Last Friday was Holocaust Remembrance Day. And even though these days, the term “never forget” seems to be part of public discourse, it wasn’t that long ago that discussions of the Holocaust were often repressed or even discouraged.  But in 1961, many survivors were caught in the crosshairs when a neo-Nazi “hate-bus” came to New Orleans. This led to a confrontation between survivors and neo-Nazis,...

In the last few years New Orleans has seen an explosion in the variety of King Cakes one can buy. From Dong Phuong’s Vietnamese style of the desert, to Norma’s Sweets Bakery’s Cuban approach with a guava filling, King Cakes are increasingly taking on new cultural identities. Last weekend, Louisiana Considered’s Alana Schreiber visited The Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience and spoke with New...

Following Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans became one of the most deforested cities in the country. Recently, the environmental group Sustaining Our Our Landscape (SOUL) released a new agenda to plant 100,000 trees in the city by 2040.  The Coastal Desk's Halle Parker sat down with SOUL's executive director and founder Susannah Burley to learn more. Last year, the Louisiana Office of Juvenile Justic...

The Southern University Laboratory Virtual School in Baton Rouge will be recognized next week by the State Department of Education for its progress and development despite extraordinary obstacles. During the ongoing pandemic, the school managed to go from an F rating to a C in just a few years.  Nadia Seals, director of virtual school at Southern University Laboratory Virtual School, tells us abou...

Coming in the summer of 2023, New Orleans' own Big Freedia will bring us the brand-new series, Big Freedia Means Business. This new show documents the Queen of Bounce’s new music and entrepreneurial endeavors that have occurred since her last docu-series, “Big Freedia Bounces Back.” Big Freedia joins us for more on her musical journey and this exciting new series.  Carol Bebelle, co-founder of Ash...

Last month, Disney Plus premiered National Treasure: Edge of History. This TV Show brings the national treasure story back to life after a 15-year hiatus and was written and produced by the same team behind the original franchise. But unlike the original two movies, this series was filmed and takes place in Baton Rouge.  Cormac and Marianne Wibberly, the husband and wife screenwriting duo behind t...

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Bogalusa Heart Study. Started in 1973, this study looks at the impact of vascular and metabolic changes on health throughout the lifespan. And, it's one of the longest on-going health studies of a biracial, semi-rural southern community.  Director of the Tulane Center for Lifespan Epidemiology Research, Dr. Lydia Bazzano tells us about the profound impac...

Mobile, Alabama has long claimed to be the site of the first American Mardi Gras, but what’s the story behind this historic carnival – and what does a Mobile Mardi Gras look like today? Cart Blackwell, curator at the Mobile Carnival Museum, give us some insight into Mobile Mardi Gras history. Yesterday, we brought you two conversations about so-called “book bans,” in Louisiana. We heard from a lib...

Librarians in multiple south Louisiana parishes are responding to what they are seeing as efforts to censor the materials that they can offer in their libraries, particularly books that refer to sexuality and acknowledge LGBTQ identities. However, those who speak out against these so-called “book bans,” often have a price to pay. In July, Louisiana school librarian Amanda Jones spoke up in support...

Today is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Day, a time to remember the life and legacy of the civil rights icon. While King is largely remembered for his role in multiple de-segregation movements, what many don’t know is that many of his ideas and frameworks were largely inspired by the Baton Rouge Bus Boycott of 1953.  Back in 2010, the LSU Libraries’ T. Harry Williams Center created an oral history podc...

New Orleans is once again gearing up to overhaul its laws governing short-term rentals, like those listed on platforms like Airbnb. And City Hall is under a fast-approaching deadline to pass new rules, set by a federal court. WWNO’s New Orleans reporter Carly Berlin tells us what changes might be in store for the city’s short-term-rental industry. This Saturday, New Orleans will host the 2023 Miss...

Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America One Step at a Time is a bestselling book on urban planning from the last decade. Author Jeff Speck joins us for a look at what Louisiana can learn from other cities about improving roads and pedestrian safety. For 40 years, coastal researchers and advocates have called for the use of the muddy Mississippi River to combat land loss in south Louisiana. In...

The Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge turns 50 this year, and they’re holding a gala this Thursday to celebrate that milestone. President and CEO Renee Chatelain tells about the organization’s 50 years of creative programming and community growth.  When Robert Carriker first moved to Louisiana, he spent his weekends exploring the backcountry for the state’s tastiest boudin. That soon turned into...

In the aftermath of Hurricane Ida, multidimensional artist José Torres-Tama photographed laborers repairing homes. He joins us for more on his new photo exhibition, ‘Latin American Roofers Post-Ida.’ Nearly two decades ago, gallerist Jonathan Ferrera began collaborating with Cuban artists – and their joint projects haven’t stopped. Ferrera, along with artist Elio Jesus, tell us about exploring the...

NASA's new multibillion-dollar spacecraft Artemis 1 successfully returned from the moon December 11th, taking the agency one step closer to getting U.S. astronauts back on the moon. This mission came after several delays due to engine problems and inclement weather. Much of that rocket was built here in Louisiana at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. Director Lonnie Dutreix joins us for...

A push from Republican state officials could specifically dilute the voting power of Black people by changing who counts as Black in voting maps. This would further gut the increasingly fragile Voting Rights Act. Hansi Lo Wang covers voting for NPR and he reported this story for the podcast, Code Switch. He joins us for more on the impacts of tightening legal definitions of race. Across the countr...

Back In July, famed American political consultant and strategist James Carville joined us to discuss his letter to The Advocate | The Times Picayune titled, “No more denying it – New Orleans isn’t working.”  Today, while the US House of Representatives remains at a stalemate in electing a Speaker of the House, we are revisiting our conversation with Carville on what is and isn’t working in governm...

On Monday, Tulane University amazed the nation when the school’s football team won the 2023 Cotton Bowl, beating football powerhouse USC 46-45. The historic game is the Green Wave’s first major bowl win since the Sugar Bowl in 1935.  For more on the game, Louisiana Considered’s Managing Producer Alana Schreiber spoke with Tulane wide receiver Jha’Quan Jackson about the historic win and what this m...

Back in December, we brought you a series of stories from the Gulf States Newsroom’s justice, race, and equity reporter, Bobbi-Jeanne Misick. For over a year, she’s been following the journeys of Cameroonian asylum seekers in the United States, many of whom were fleeing a brutal conflict that erupted in 2017. But many of these asylum seekers were sent to a part of the Deep South where detention ce...

As we approach the new year, we are looking back on some of our favorite stories from 2022. Today on Louisiana Considered, we encore a conversation with Jay Isch, executive director of Deaf Focus, about problems faced by the Louisiana School for the Deaf. And, with the 2022 World Cup freshly in our rearview mirror, we hear about two new soccer teams coming to the Crescent City Today’s episode of L...

As we approach the new year, we are looking back on some of our favorite stories from 2022. Today on Louisiana Considered, we revisit a conversation on the launch of a new New Orleans nonprofit newsroom, Verite, and hear about its mission to cover historically overlooked communities. And, we look back on a conversation about the HBO documentary, Katrina Babies.  Today’s episode of Louisiana Consid...

As we approach the new year, we are looking back on some of our favorite stories from 2022. Today on Louisiana Considered, we encore a conversation with historian Dr. Laura D. Kelley. She walks us through the history of immigration in Louisiana and tells us how different communities have helped shape our state today.  Today’s episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Karl Lengel. Our managing...

As we approach the new year, we are looking back on some of our favorite stories from 2022. Today on Louisiana Considered, we give a second listen to a conversation between WRKF’s Adam Vos and former New York Times Executive Editor – and New Orleans native – Dean Baquet. Today’s episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Adam Vos. Our managing producer is Alana Schreiber and our digital editor...

As we approach the new year, we are looking back on some of our favorite stories from 2022. Today on Louisiana Considered, we hear about the new season of Queer Eye taking place in New Orleans. And, we revisit two stories that celebrate the life and legacies of Civil Rights icons, Norman C. Francis and Moon Landrieu. Today’s episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Diane Mack. Our managing pr...

As we approach the new year, we are looking back on some of our favorite stories from 2022. Today on Louisiana Considered, we learn what the Richardson Funeral Home in Amite is unearthing about the town’s Black history. And, we look back on a conversation about the new PBS docuseries, Making Black America Today’s episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Karen Henderson. Our managing producer...