Louisiana Considered

In December of 1872, Pickney Benton Stewart Pinchback, otherwise known as PBS Pinchback, became governor of Louisiana. He was the first African American to become governor of any US state. To learn more about Pinchback’s life and legacy 150 years after his reign, Louisiana Considered’s Alana Schreiber spoke with Joseph Dawson, Professor Emeritus of History Texas A & M University. He is the edi...

In the 1960s, the construction of New Orleans’ Claiborne Expressway split a prominent Black neighborhood in half. WWNO’s Metro reporter Carly Berlin spoke to business-owners and residents in the neighborhood to hear how they would like to see the highway be redesigned. Then, she gives us a behind-the-scenes look into her reporting. Between the end of many pandemic relief programs and rising costs...

Last week, the Library of Congress announced that the short silent film titled Mardi Gras Carnival has been added to the National Film Registry. The film, which captures about two minutes of the Krewe of Rex rolling through New Orleans in 1898, is this year’s oldest inductee.  But this film was actually long thought to be lost. Until Mackenzie Roberts Beasley, an audiovisual researcher and archivi...

Between a menorah parade and a Southern Fried Chanukah a cappella concert, there’s plenty of ways to celebrate the festival of lights in New Orleans. Louisiana Considered’s Managing Producer Alana Schreiber speaks with Caitrin Gladow, Senior director of marketing and communications for the Jewish Federation of New Orleans, to learn more about this week’s events. And Kwanzaa is just around the corn...

For years, low-income residents of New Orleans have said the Road Home program – a federal rebuilding effort in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina – paid them less to rebuild their homes compared to wealthier residents. Now, there’s new data to back that up. Investigative reporter David Hammer of WWL-TV and Jeff Adelson from The Times Picayune | New Orleans Advocate join us to dig into their inves...

Last night, multiple tornados left a trail of destruction in Louisiana, including in the Lower Ninth Ward and Arabi – communities that already weathered a similar storm back in March. WWNO’s Patrick Madden and The Gulf State’s Newsroom’s Shalina Chatlani report on the damage live from the field. Challenges in the healthcare workforce have grown in recent years. Now, Ochsner Health is working to ad...

Today December 14th, is the ten year anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting, when a gunmen entered an elementary school in Newtown Connecticut and took the lives of 20 young children and 6 staff members.  This year, New Orleans-based photographer Robert X. Fogarty and his storytelling organization, Dear World, traveled to Newtown, Connecticut to speak with survivors about their e...

A few years ago, Alabama's Department of Archives and History found thousands of objects from Native American graves in its collection. It also found over one hundred sets of ancestral remains. Now, the institution is working with tribal nations to give them back. For the Gulf States Newsroom, WBHM’s Kyra Miles reports on this complicated process. LUNA Fête, New Orleans Annual Festival of Light, A...

At the end of November, Louisiana representative Troy Carter was elected to serve as the Congressional Black Caucus’ Second Vice-Chair – the body’s third-most senior position. He joins Louisiana Considered’s Managing Producer Alana Schreiber to discuss taking on this significant role in his sophomore term. The holidays are just around the corner – and so is the potential for another COVID-19 surge...

The runoff election for the District Three Public Service Commissioner will take place tomorrow, where voters will choose between 18-year incumbent Lambert Boissiere III and environmental activist Davante Lewis. The Times-Picayune | New Orleans Advocate’s editorial director and columnist Stephanie Grace and WRKF’s Paul Braun tell voters what they need to know before they hit the polls. The quarter...

Louisiana’s Medical Marijuana Commission continues to face challenges, especially when it comes to securing recommendations from doctors. Representative Joe Marino, who chairs the commission, tells us more about steering the program’s focus towards patients’ needs. Decrying “an epidemic of hate facing our country,” second gentleman Doug Emhoff convened a roundtable with Jewish leaders on Wednesday...

With so much conversation about coastal erosion in Louisiana sediment diversions have come to the forefront as one of the tools to preserve and build up land. But the science behind it is often murky and confusing to the public. Rachel Rhode of the Environmental Defense Fund tells us more about breaking down the science of sediment diversion into something a little more approachable. In September...

Last week, the New Orleans City Council approved a nearly $1.5 billion budget for 2023. New Orleans Metro Reporter Carly Berlin tells us about budget priorities for the new year - especially when it comes to housing and transportation. The New Orleans Museum of Art presents, “Called to the Camera,” an exhibition focusing on Black American studio photographers and their impact on the medium from th...

Homicides spiked across the nation during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Baton Rouge was no exception. But now, it seems like this deadly trend is finally on the decline. Criminal Justice reporter for the Advocate, James Finn, tells us more about covering these crimes.  Most of us know that Louisiana has unique cuisine, culture and traditions – but now, the state’s quirkiness is being celebrated in a...

The 49th annual Bayou Classic, which wrapped last weekend at the SuperDome is more than a football game - it’s a celebration of the history and culture of Historically Black Colleges and Universities. To learn more, WWNO’s Alana Schreiber spoke with Dennis Shields, President Chancellor of Southern University, and Rick Gallot, President of Grambling University, and Dr. Danielle Robinson Head of Com...

The race for Public Service Commissioner in Louisiana’s third district is heading to a runoff, pinning 18-year incumbent Lambert Boissiere III against Baton Rouge environmental activist, Davante Lewis. Both candidates join us independently to discuss the race and what they hope to accomplish in the position. And, Vox Feminae, the New Orleans-based female vocal ensemble that specializes in century-...

Back in October, the Environmental Protection Agency awarded more than $43-million-dollars in funding for electric school buses in Louisiana. The EPA’s Jeffrey Robinson tells us more about how the more than 100 buses will be distributed across the parishes. Standing out from the landscape on LSU’s Baton Rouge campus are two earthen mounds, which, according to recent research, may be the oldest kno...

The Symphony Chorus of New Orleans will ring in the Holiday season with Handel’s masterpiece Messiah, accompanied by members of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra. Music Director Steven Edwards tells us more about this upcoming performance.  Stunning private residences in the New Orleans Garden District are dressed up for the holidays and open to the public as part of the Preservation Resource C...

It’s a little known fact, but more than 75% of youth at the New Orleans Juvenile Justice Intervention Center have experienced two or more violent deaths of loved ones before the age of 5. And experts say that their inability to process this grief can often lead to the very delinquent behaviors that put them in the system. Julie Kaplow, Executive Director of the Trauma and Grief (TAG) Center at Lou...

As families around the country gather together for the Thanksgiving holiday, we are bringing you a diverse collection of stories from all across the country. Today on Louisiana Considered, we travel up to the streets of Alaska’s capital city, down to urban Florida, and out to the Eastern plains of Colorado to bring you a collection of stories on small town heroes. Listen and take a tour of America...

A recently settled lawsuit against the Sun Belt Conference, a college sports conference based in New Orleans, accused officials of using racist and misogynistic slurs and contributed to a hostile work environment. WWNO’s Patrick Madden spoke with Michelle Liu, who covered a recent lawsuit for the new non-profit newsroom, Verite. Last July saw the launch of a new national mental health hotline numb...

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and families around the country are uniting over a love for one another – and a love for food. And from turkey to candied yams to cranberry sauce, Thanksgiving delicacies can seem like their own entity.  Famed New Orleans food writer Ian McNulty actually once said the same thing about the food at Jazz Fest. Back in April, WWNO’s Carly Berlin spent an afterno...

Earlier this month marked 181 years since one of the most successful uprisings in American history. The Creole Rebellion of 1841 saw a mutiny on a slaving brig headed from Virginia to New Orleans, and eventually led to the emancipation of more than 100 formerly enslaved individuals. History Department Research Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin, Clifton Sorrell III tells us more about the...

Today on Louisiana Considered, The Times Picayune | New Orleans Advocate’s editorial page director and columnist, Stephanie Grace, joins us for a breakdown of the week’s top political stories. Plus, we hear from a photographer who has found a connection between Louisiana and Antarctica from behind his lens, and kids give us advice on how to cope with a changing climate. This episode of Louisiana C...

It’s been more than four months since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and Louisiana’s most powerful anti-abortion organization has been shoring up support for the state’s near-total abortion ban. Louisiana Right to Life helped write the ban, and, as public health reporter Rosemary Westwood found, the organization isn’t done fighting. The folk-roots group Rising Appalachia has recent...