Entergy is proud to support programing on LPB and Greener practices that preserve Louisiana.

The goal of our environmental and sustainability initiatives really is to ensure that our kids and future generations can be left with a cleaner planet.

Additional support provided by the Fred Bea and Ruth Zigler Foundation and the Zigler Art Museum located in Jennings City Hall.

The museum focuses on emerging Louisiana artists and is an historical and cultural center for Southwest Louisiana and the Foundation for Excellence in Louisiana Public Broadcasting.

With support from viewers like you.

We have three major factors all in hand that is just causing a widespread deficiency in.

Formula Navigating the Baby Formula Shortage.

If I were to be governor coming up after this, I would be a little bit worried about what the court is saying.

What a Supreme Court ruling could mean down the road.

Clearly, this is a very physical representation of how much demand there is.

A new wave of recycling hits Louisiana.

This larger than life role that she had was completely unknown before the discovery of the tomb and the narratives that were included in the tomb.

History and culture at our doorstep.

Hi, everyone.

I'm Andre Moreau.

Kara is off tonight at the Capitol.

Lawmakers gave final approval to the state's $39 billion budget, with big money being spent to help with one time investments for highways, bridges, higher education, teacher pay raises, and more money was allocated for a new bridge in Lake Charles in Baton Rouge.

And to finish.

49 from Lafayette to New Orleans.

This vote comes two weeks before session adjourns, which would give legislators time to override any vetoes the governor might make.

And now some of the other top headlines of the week with the dire shortage of baby formula has come several DIY recipes floating around the Internet.

But a warning some could be dangerous for newborns.

Kerosene Seer talked with Dr. Stephanie Coleman Lawrence, who practices family medicine at Baton Rouge General Hospital.

You've likely seen these images on a loop for the past week.

Shelves and grocery baskets empty.

Missing baby formula.

Dr. Stephanie Coleman Lawrence with Baton Rouge General Hospital says there's no one cause.

So we have three major factors all in hand that is just causing a widespread deficiency in formula.

Over 40% of baby formula is out of stock nationwide.

The shortage is fueled primarily by supply chain issues.

Inflation and a major formula manufacturer recalling contaminated products.

The Biden administration is working with retailers and manufacturers to find a solution.

With regard to the issue of formula.

We've done three things.

The Biden administration relaxed the women and infant program requirements, allowing more access for mothers buying formula.

Secondly, the FDA is working with manufacturers overseas to import more products from other countries.

And lastly, the White House set up an online database with resources to find the retailers and non-profits who have it.

This is a process.

We're working out very, very hard.

There's nothing more urgent.

We're working on than that right now.

And I think we're going to be making some significant.

Progress very shortly.

While the White House finds a bureaucratic solution, moms at home may be looking for a more hands on fix like making baby formula out of evaporated milk or sirups.

But Carmen Lawrence says DIY baby formula isn't the best idea.

You see all these recipes of people, you know, back in the sixties and the fifties where you just Nixon care sirup and some evaporated milk and there's some baby formula that's not going to meet your baby's needs.

And it can actually cause some very dangerous deficiencies in vitamins, minerals that can cause very dangerous dehydration that has actually led to hospitalized and many children.

Baby formula is modeled after breast milk, which means it has key ingredients like iron and proteins necessary for the baby's diet.

In the earliest months of life.

Without it, babies can suffer from malnutrition and lower brain function in the future.

Plus, there isn't a guarantee that the products are sterile if moms opt to make a formula from scratch, Carmen Lawrence says there are other options you can use before attempting to make formula yourself.

If you are unable to get access to breast milk or formula for your baby, for children who are six months and up, the American Academy of Pediatrics recently said it's OK to give children six months and older cows milk whole cows milk up to 24 ounces in a day, along with solid foods to help take the place of that formula.

Now, if you are able to get formula, we want you to restart that.

This is not meant to be a permanent change.

But for the time being, whole cows milk is better than making your own formula.

At home.

Also, for children who are closer to one year of age, it is OK to use the toddler formula alternatives.

But overall, breast milk is the best alternative Sharon Boockvar, the lactation consultant at Women's Hospital, says she's seen an influx of women asking about breastfeeding.

We have seen quite a few people who are interested in wanting to lactate, even though they may not have considered doing that during their pregnancy.

But because of the times that we're in right now, people are more motivated to consider breastfeeding.

Lucas says re lactation is also coming up.

You know, a mom has to be very committed to this and she has to pump between eight and 12 times a day for about 15 to 20 minutes on each breast.

Or they have really nice pumps out there where you can successfully empty both breasts simultaneously with double pumps, and it's doable.

But if that's not an alternative for you.

Carmen Lawrence says reaching out to a hospital may help Some of the hospitals have a stockpile of formula which they can give to new and expectant mothers, but it's really site dependent You know, of course, we always recommend breastfeeding if possible, but for some people, that's just not an option.

And every single site right now is different as far as the resources that they have available to them.

The Department of Health is suggesting to check food pantries and smaller stores if you can't find any formula.

They also recommend switching to available brands temporarily.

And they warn against watering down or mixing the formula with milk It has been a week since the Louisiana Supreme Court threw out charges against a pastor who ignored public health restrictions on gatherings early in the coronavirus pandemic, ruling that the governor's executive orders violated freedom of religion.

Reverend Toni Spell, who pastors a church in Central, said This is a tremendous win for religious civil liberties.

Joining me right now is Evan Badran.

He's a New Orleans lawyer with a broad spectrum of expertize, including First Amendment, law, media, law, and civil rights laws.

So, Evan, great to have you.

Thank you for being here.

The Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling, citing the fundamental importance of religious liberty.

Why do they say that?

So the Supreme Court found essentially that there were too many exceptions to the governor's executive order.

What the Supreme Court did was it analyzed whether this was what's called a neutral law of general applicability, neutral meaning it doesn't target religion and generally applicable, meaning that it's applied to everybody equally.

What the opinion rested on was essentially the fact that there were too many non-religious exceptions, too much activity was allowed to go on.

And so it found that it was actually hostile towards religion and therefore that it required the highest level of constitutional scrutiny to be employed.

And then when it employed that scrutiny, it essentially found that this was not the least restrictive way of accomplishing the government's means Now.

The dissenting chief justice thought this actually should go back to the lower court.

Why?

So this was a very interesting case procedurally in that no evidence was taken in the trial court.

No evidence.

Not at all.

In fact, that's what the chief justice said in his dissent, was that, look, you need to go back and you need to take some evidence to, first of all, establish that this was actually a substantial burden on religion.

The Supreme Court seems to have just assumed without deciding that this was a substantial burden on religion.

And that's particularly interesting because we all know at the beginning of the pandemic, a lot of churches were forced outside Sure.

Forced online.

This particular church didn't do that, but there was no requirement in this decision to have this church demonstrate affirmatively that this was a substantial burden on their exercise of religion.

And think about when this was this was really early on.

There was no vaccine.

There was no masking that people were doing.

People were scrambling around at this point in time.

Did the court have the benefit of hindsight in part of this decision, do you think?

It appears that that's what the court sort of based its decision on, because, again, getting back to the absence of evidence in the record, what the court could have done was what's called remand or send the case back to the trial court to make out this record, to have the government come in and say, this is what we based our decision, our decision on.

This is the public health information we had at the time.

This is what we knew about the virus, but it didn't do any of that.

It appears also that the court didn't give any deference to the government's decision making process, even though and the chief justice mentioned this as well, this happened at the beginning of the pandemic.

There was so much that we didn't know.

And so I really do think that having the benefit of hindsight was really the basis of one of the main bases of the court's opinion.

Now, I noticed on your website it says, if you think your right to speak, practice your religion gather and report news, assemble or live and function in a society free from religion has been violated.

I want to be your partner in getting justice.

So you seem like the perfect person to talk to.

They exercised that, didn't they, because they felt that they had been violated.

They absolutely did.

And everybody has the right to do that.

What I think, however, was missing here was, like I said, the demonstration that their fundamental right to exercise their religion was, in fact, burdened.

And I think that was the one thing that's missing here, the one aspect of this analysis that that is missing.

So where do we go from here?

With this ruling?

How does that change things going forward?

So it appears that this court is not really willing to give deference to government decision makers when it comes to things like public health emergencies.

This kind of thing is going to plague future governors, future administrations when trying to make rules and regulations for public health and for public safety in situations where we don't know a lot about what a particular threat might bring.

If I were to be governor coming up after this, I would be a little bit worried about what the court is saying.

Yeah.

And, you know, one thing we know that a public health emergency shouldn't be as political, though.

This does have political overtones again.

I agree.

And unfortunately, I think regardless of the side that you're on, the fact that the pandemic has become so political is a detriment.

I mean, we've seen so many people who have died over the course of these past two years, and a lot of it is because we've politicized the pandemic.

Right.

Exactly.

17,000 in Louisiana.

Thank you so much for your expertize your time.

I appreciate you being here.

Louisiana ranks second to last when it comes to recycling and 2018.

The EPA found our state's recycling rate at just over 12%.

But some people in Baton Rouge and New Orleans are being creative to bolster those numbers.

Franziska Trautman, the co-owner of Glass Half Full, gave Cera a tour of her growing nonprofit.

65% of the waste we generate will end up in a landfill or an incinerator Glass makes up about 5% of that waste, which may seem small, but that equals about 110 million glass bottles going into a landfill every day.

Louisiana only recycles about 12% of its waste, but there's a movement slowly brewing.

One that aims to change that So how long have you guys been doing this?

So we started in February of 20.

20, right before the pandemic in a backyard.

And now we're in this 40,000 square foot facility.

There's a lot of progress in a short time.

Yeah, I think it it speaks to how much demand there is for glass recycling in this region and how people have waited for a long time to be able to recycle and know what's happening to their recycling.

Francisca Trotman is the co-founder of Glass Half Full, the only glass recycling facility in Louisiana.

We recycle glass in New Orleans into sand and gravel in order to use up sand and gravel for disaster relief.

Construction landscaping and ultimately coastal restoration.

In New Orleans, there isn't a way to reliably recycle glass.

Curbside pickup only takes plastics paper, cardboard and aluminum.

So this is our glass mountain we like to call it.

So once the glass reaches our warehouse, we'll dump it into this mountain.

So none of this has to be crushed.

Ahead of time?

No.

We'll take full bottles.

It's OK if it's broken.

A lot of people ask if they can drop off broken glass.

It's totally fine because it will be broken eventually.

But yeah, we just scoop up the full bottles and then put it right into our machine.

The glass will be dumped into this hopper.

The hopper will send it out.

It'll go up the conveyor belt where it will need a hammer mill so it'll be crushed up with hammers and then screened for size.

So this machine is actually capable of separating out the non glass pieces.

Glass half full creates different sizes of gravel depending on the client.

This is the finest size that we make.

It's like a powder.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, it's really soft.

Yeah.

This feels like baby powder.

It's sparkling.

It is.

It's sparkly.

Is there a specific thing that you use?

The green sand for?

No.

Again, it's just really pretty.

So we like to separate the green out.

Some artists like to buy the colored sand, or people use it for their gardens.

Right now, the bulk of it is being used in Point Ocean to preserve the coast.

For coastal restoration, we've been doing over a year of research with Tulane University as well.

As some other partners to determine the safety and the feasibility of using the sand for coastal restoration.

And the research in the lab went so well that we're now transitioning to research in the environment.

So we've already done a pilot project with the Point Ocean Indian Tribe, where we put out Blast Sand, and now we'll be able to monitor how the plants grow in it, how it behaves if there's a storm or just rain.

So far, they sent out 15 tons of glass to point a ship with plans of sending 15 more.

But even with the efforts to repurpose glass, Louisiana still falls second to last and recycling.

So this is going to be where we do all of our LCD monitors.

So we have a technician back here.

This is Alicia.

She does monitor testing.

Shannon Fertitta, the executive director of the Capital Area Corporate Recycling Council, says electronics are another area where recycling falls flat.

The last estimate from EPA was something around 30 to 40% of electronics is actually being recycled.

I think that that is a pretty generous statistic, especially in Louisiana.

I think that we'd probably be 30% or less actually being recycled.

But I do think that having a certified recycler here in Baton Rouge is such a valuable resource for Louisiana.

CCRC is a nonprofit that recycles computers and restores them They're the only certified electronic recycler in the entire state.

In 20, 20 we recycle 660 tons and then in 20, 21 it was 770 times.

So nearly £3 million we've saved from the landfill in two years.

For Titus says, the main struggle with recycling electronics is that people don't know you can 1 million recycle phones can repurpose over £30,000 of copper and over £700 of silver.

Oh my goodness.

Look at that childhood.

Look at that.

OK, saving it from the landfill.

OK, we're going to take out those hard drives and we're going to properly recycle it all.

The hard drive data is wiped before being recycled then the staff here take what's left and built laptops to sell to underprivileged households.

This would be an example of one that we have sort of cleaned and repurpose this laptop will be around $100.

Windows ten professional one year warranty.

I mean, it's going to be just a great option for people on a budget.

For has given nearly 1400 laptops to families.

Louisiana has taken some strides to up its recycling rate in 2021 the state adopted SB 97 to advance plastic recycling, though critics worry it could lead to more pollution.

But people like Trautman and Fertitta say this isn't enough to make a sustainable future.

We really thought it would be a small thing.

We didn't think that many people were really interested or passionate about recycling here and clearly this is a very physical representation of how much demand there is.

Both glass half full and CAC RC take waste from all over the state.

You can drop off your clean glass bottles to glass half full on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.

That's in Gentilly.

And there's also drop off in Baton Rouge and curbside pickup for businesses across the state this week we are highlighting two outstanding venues where you can stay fairly close to home and be enriched in art, culture and history.

In Shreveport, the R.W.

Norton Art Gallery and Gardens.

Beautiful Place, two separate exhibitions debuting on June 3rd.

There's Dance, a song of the body.

The art form is explored through public domain images and pieces from the Norton Gallery's permanent collection.

Also until June 3rd, debuting the writing on the Wall A Tribute to European Street Art.

This exhibition is proof that graffiti has come into its own, from canvas to concrete.

Both of those exhibitions run through July 24th.

And now to New Orleans and the last chance to see the 3000 year old tomb and artifacts of Egyptian queen never tarry.

Susan Taylor is the director of the New Orleans Museum of Art.

Susan, let me ask you first, why is this the last chance to see Queen Not for Terri, one of the most powerful women in ancient civilization?

It's the last chance because after this venue that closes on July 17th, the objects will be returned to the Egyptian Museum in Turin, where they will remain permanently on display there.

The museum in Turin was founded by an Italian archeologist who actually discovered the tomb of Nefertiti in Egypt in 1904 it was never before realized that such an ambitious tomb for a woman would be part of the complex and rich history of Egypt.

What do these artifacts say about the power of women in ancient Egypt?

Well, I think the artifacts show the role that Jefferts Schori had in the court.

She was not only the wife of King Ramsey's the second, but she was his royal consort.

She was the mother of his children.

She was a politician and a diplomat.

So this larger than life role that she had was completely unknown before the discovery of the tomb and the narratives that were included in the tomb.

Larger than life, that's that's perfect because we are so fascinated by her history and her culture.

Why do we find this queen so fascinating, so interesting?

Well, I think because we know more about her than we know about other queens because of the discovery of the tomb.

We have objects from her tomb.

That point to the role she played and the as well as the everyday life of non royal women.

So we're able to place her into a broader context of everyday life in Egypt and to show how she stood apart from them.

The tomb itself is about 6000 square feet, which is enormous.

Mass.

It's the largest tomb that was ever found in the valley of the Queen.

So we have a good sense of what her role was and how important she was to this moment in time in ancient Egyptian history.

And what are some of the other things that the people will see when they go and check out this exhibit?

One of the most compelling or monumental for me is the sarcophagus lid itself, her the cover of her tomb, which is in this beautiful pink granite just massive, monumental form.

In addition to that, we have several mummy coffins which talk about the road to the afterlife.

So you're able to see the narratives, the stories of their pasts and their their journey into the afterlife, which is also told by several books of death, which are papyrus scrolls that tell Queen, Avatar and others how to make their way successfully into the afterlife, which is, after all, a journey.

A journey, yes.

And also a journey to New Orleans to see this how much longer will this be available for people to see?

It'll be on it'll be on view till July.

17th.

And it's a quick drive from anywhere in Louisiana.

And there's so many other things to see here as well.

Remember, there are 1400 restaurants in New Orleans and other new offerings.

So we've just opened the Southern Jewish Museum.

There is jam.

No, there are new restaurants.

The Four Seasons Hotel is a new hotel that's just opened.

And of course, New Orleans wouldn't be New Orleans without festivals.

So Essence Fest is coming up.

Satchmo Fest and if you can't make it in time for Nefertiti, there's museum month in August, which is a shared opportunity by the museum in New Orleans to visit each and one of them with one membership only.

It sounds terrific.

Susan Taylor, thank you so much for all the information.

We appreciate it.

And everyone, that's our show for this week.

Remember, you can watch anything.

LBB Any time, wherever you are with our LPB, the PBS app, you can catch LPB News and Public Affairs shows as well as other Louisiana programs that you've come to enjoy over the years.

And please be sure to like us on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and Instagram for everyone here at Louisiana Public Broadcasting, I'm Andre Moreau Until next time.

That's the state we're in.

Entergy is proud to support programing on LPB and greener practices that preserve Louisiana.

The.

Goal of our environmental and sustainability initiatives really is to ensure that our kids and future generations can be left with a cleaner planet.

Additional support provided by the Fred Bea and Ruth Zigler Foundation and the Zigler Art Museum located in Jennings City Hall.

The museum focuses on emerging Louisiana artists and is an historical and cultural center for Southwest Louisiana and the Foundation for Excellence in Louisiana Public Broadcasting.

With support from viewers like you.