Two tornadoes touched down in the city of Slidell, north of New Orleans, earlier this month. The severe weather damaged hundreds of buildings in the area. Thankfully, nobody was killed.  But recovery efforts are expected to be ongoing for the next several months. Gov. Jeff Landry issued an emergency declaration after visiting the area last week.  Greg Cromer, Slidel’s mayor, joins the show to share more on the city’s ongoing recovery efforts.  Louisiana loses teachers every year. Some go to neighboring states. While others leave teaching completely. And a big part of the problem ..read more

There’s a lot of uncertainty around whether a popular food assistance program will serve Louisiana families this summer. Gov. Jeff Landry rejected $71 million in federal aid earlier this year to help feed children when schools are closed. Khalil Gillon, a reporter at Verite News, has been covering the fallout from Landry’s decision to decline federal funding and shares the latest.  The Gulf South is getting hundreds of millions of dollars from settlements with some of the nation’s largest opioid manufacturers and distributors. It’s part of a plan to help mitigate damage caused by the opio ..read more

Today, we bring you the conclusion of part two of Sea Change’s special series All Gassed Up.  Hosts Carlyle Calhoun and Halle Parker head to Germany, one of the world’s leaders in green energy. But they discover the country is also playing a huge role in the expansion of Liquefied Natural Gas on the Gulf Coast. ___ Today’s episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Ryan Vasquez. Our managing producer is Alana Schreiber; our contributing producers are Matt Bloom and Adam Vos; we receive production and technical support from Garrett Pittman and our assistant producer, Aubry Procell. You ..read more

It’s Thursday, and that means it’s time to catch up on politics with Stephanie Grace, The Times-Picayune/The Advocate’s editorial director and columnist. We’ll get the latest on efforts to hold a constitutional convention in Baton Rouge this summer. Plus, a new leader takes top role in the state’s Democratic Party.  A former New Orleans police chief is calling on President Biden to support changing how marijuana is classified in the United States. Ronal Serpas is one of 32 law-enforcement leaders who signed a letter to the president in support of moving marijuana to a less serious categor ..read more

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in New Orleans, is widely seen as the most conservative federal appeals court in the nation. It handles cases from Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana. As voting rights legislation meanders through the courts, the 5th Circuit has had a lot to say about the constitutionality of voting rights law. Madeleine Greenberg is a senior case coordinator with Democracy Docket, a progressive-leaning platform examining voting rights and elections in the courts; she wrote an article examining a rise in voting rights cases before the 5th Circuit and joins us for more ..read more

Sanctuary cities have become targets of Republican lawmakers across the country. Now Louisiana’s legislature is considering a measure that would ban parishes and cities from adopting their own policies.  Bobbi-Jeanne Misick, reporter at Verite News, has been tracking the proposal since it was introduced and joins us for more. Edward “Kidd” Jordan, NOLA jazz saxophonist, and Alvin Batiste, jazz clarinetist, are being remembered in a special tribute concert on April 20 at the University of New Orleans Performance Recital Hall.  Stephanie Jordan, vocalist, and Rachel Jordan, violinist ..read more

Students in the Baton Rouge area are missing school — and a lot of it.  More than 50,000 students across the area’s school districts had more than five unexcused absences last school year. That’s according to the latest research from the Baton Rouge Area Chamber, which analyzed local attendance rates. Jake Polansky, the chamber’s manager of economic and policy research, joins the show to share takeaways and potential solutions.  A new report from the Louisiana Department of Health shows Black women who are pregnant continue to die at much higher rates than white pregnant women in the ..read more

Today we bring you the first part of “All Gassed Up, Part 2: The German Connection,” from Sea Change. Why is the U.S. exporting liquefied natural gas to Europe? Hosts Halle Parker and Carlyle Calhoun head to Germany to find out and learn what that means for the future of our climate. This crawfish season has been a rough one. Farmers and fishermen are catching a tiny percentage of what they normally would, while consumers are paying high prices. WWNO and WRKF reporter Eva Tesfaye and Maya Miller, of the Gulf States Newsroom, talked to crawfish farmers and fisherman about how they’re navigating ..read more

The University of Connecticut took home the NCAA Division 1 men’s basketball tournament this week. South Carolina won the women’s championship. This year, twelve teams from the Gulf South made it to the so-called Big Dance, including the Grambling State men’s team and LSU’s women’s team.   Smaller schools in the region were eliminated right away, but getting a shot at the championship can still make a huge difference beyond the basketball court. Joseph King, reporter with the Gulf States Newsroom, explains why.   Festival season is upon New Orleans. That means music, food and lots of ..read more

It’s Thursday, and that means it’s time to catch up on politics with Stephanie Grace, The Times-Picayune/The Advocate’s editorial director and columnist. This week, we cover lawmakers’ efforts to reform home insurance industry regulations.  One big proposal would eliminate the 3-year rule, a Katrina era law that stops insurance companies generally from raising deductibles or not renewing homeowner policies that have been in effect for more than 3 years. It’s part of the “free market” changes Tim Temple, Louisiana Insurance Commissioner,  wants to make to stabilize the state’s underwr ..read more