Support for Louisiana.

The state we're in is provided by Entergy.

Louisiana is strengthening our power grid throughout the state.

We're reinforcing infrastructure to prepare for stronger storms, reduce outages, and respond quicker when you do need us.

Because together, we power life.

Additional support provided by the Fred B and Ruth B Ziegler Foundation and the Ziegler Art Museum, located in Jennings City Hall.

The museum focuses on emerging Louisiana artists and is a historical and cultural center for Southwest Louisiana.

And the Foundation for Excellence in Louisiana Public Broadcasting and viewers like you.

Thank you.

Many college graduates are leaving Louisiana for better opportunities.

We'll dig into the brain drain and efforts to reverse it.

Charlene Rashad was just 12 years old when her faith captured hearts across Louisiana.

We'll take you to a mass honoring the little Cajun saint and a new program at LSU will help train the next generation of meteorologists to focus on Louisiana's unique weather.

And from Mardi Gras gowns to bridal dreams.

Yvonne.

The floor has drenched in New Orleans for decades.

We will meet the city's first lady of fashion.

So, are you ready?

Yeah.

Let's get started.

Let's do it.

Hello, everyone.

I'm Karen LeBlanc, and I'm Dorothea Wilson.

Much more on those top stories in a moment.

On this week's edition of Louisiana, the state we're In.

But first, recent data shows that Louisiana is losing its best and brightest.

Tens of thousands of residents have left the state for better jobs and opportunities in other areas.

Here's a look at how brain drain is putting the state's future at risk, and how leaders hope to reverse the trend.

This is Main Street right here.

Main Street have two businesses in waterproof, and that's the town hall and the post office.

And when?

When I was a kid, people what migrated, traveled to waterproof and park on one end.

And the shopping.

You could find clothes and shoes.

You can find eating parlors.

You could find a grocery store.

You could find it meat market, anything on Main Street.

And now the only thing you come up here to do is pay your bills and go check it out.

That's it.

So, And it became a village from from a town.

It became a village, maybe.

Ten years ago.

Louisiana is experiencing a brain drain and a declining population as many young, educated residents leave in search of better opportunities.

The 2020 census indicated slow overall population growth for the state, falling well below the national average.

So we're going downhill.

We're going downhill.

Rural areas in northern Louisiana suffered notable declines, while the only significant population increase occurred mainly in the southern urban regions of the state.

Mayor Lee of waterproof, Louisiana, believes this trend is leading to a decline in the overall population and could impact not only the economy and waterproof, but the entire state's economic and social stability.

So churches are closing just like our schools are collapsing.

That was six schools in the parish.

We're down to two.

It's continuing everywhere.

Not just rural, but metropolitan.

It's hitting everybody.

Data experts like Allison Plier say much of the declining population is due to a lack of job opportunity in this state.

The number one reason Americans move out of state or out of metro areas is because of, job opportunities.

And, Louisiana has grown jobs only 2% since the year 2000.

While the nation has grown jobs 20%.

So this is a major difference.

Our economy is near the bottom in terms of job growth of all states.

And, this makes a big difference in terms of whether people can stay, if there just aren't the job opportunities available to them.

So over the last many years, probably ten or so, Louisiana has been experiencing population loss.

And that's probably going to continue largely because of, the very weak economic opportunities in the state.

Louisiana leaders and education officials are looking for ways to retain educated youth, emphasizing higher education's role in their decisions.

LSU professor Doctor Steve Cammarata mentions a new program at LSU aiming to keep students in the state by offering more educational choices.

So one of the key things is we want to keep our bright young minds here in Louisiana.

We have so many exceptional students coming up through our schools, and a lot of times they end up going to college here and then they move away.

Or they may want to study something and they have to go out of state to learn about whatever field they're interested in, and they never come back.

So we really want to do our best to keep young, bright minds here in Louisiana.

No player considers this a positive advancement, noting that a large part of the problem comes from a lack of diversity in industry opportunities.

She emphasizes that although these sectors are still vital, the state should diversify and focus on high growth areas such as health care, biotechnology, and advanced manufacturing to attract and keep skilled workers.

State continues to be dominated by older industries like oil and gas, tourism, shipping and logistics all of these industries are, of course, maximizing profits by automating more and more.

And the more that we as a state invest in industries that are automating, they're actually not producing jobs.

So oil and gas has been drilling more and more, but hiring less and less.

So economic development really needs to be focused on industries that grow jobs.

And the state seems up for the challenge.

It has initiated programs like the High Impact Job Programs, which provides grants to businesses that create full time, benefit eligible jobs in key sectors like energy, advanced manufacturing and technology.

Ongoing investment in these initiatives can aid in attracting and retaining more skilled workers, and keeping our best and brightest in this state.

From hashtags to headlines, here's what's trending this week.

The 2025 hurricane season is ramping up as we get deeper into August.

Yeah, that's right.

And Tropical Storm Aaron is swirling in the southeastern Atlantic and is expected to strengthen into a major hurricane.

Yeah.

Well, so far it appears to be staying out to sea.

But forecasters are warning people along the east coast to keep a close eye on its path.

Right now, people in Louisiana don't have to worry.

But this time of year, you always want to keep an eye on the forecast, just in case.

Well, for once, we don't have to worry.

This is just a nice reprieve for us.

Let's hope it.

Lets hope it stays.

Absolutely.

All right.

Starting next week, travelers can catch a ride on the new Amtrak Mardi Gras line.

Yeah.

The new service travels between New Orleans and Mobile, Alabama, with several stops in Mississippi.

Amtrak is also partnering with Greyhound busses to offer a new bus route from Baton Rouge to the Union Passenger Train Terminal in New Orleans.

Yep.

And both services are will begin Monday the 18th.

This is going to be great for the smaller towns that are stops along the way, like a great in mobile, Alabama.

They think they're the first what Mardi Gras.

Yeah right.

Come and see the real thing.

That's right.

And the train is named in our honor, not theirs.

That's right.

Well, that's what we're going to get with.

Yeah.

Well, a Lafayette native is headed to the finale, and the PBS Great American Recipe cooking competition.

Captain Coby Bailey made it to the final, showcasing his Cajun home cooking skills.

He stopped by our studios ahead of the final show.

A big hello to all of you LPB viewers and probably a finalist on this season.

The Great American Recipe and the season finale airs tonight at 8 p.m. on LPB.

I wanted to thank all of you for watching the show and supporting me.

I can't wait for the finale tonight, and I'm excited for all of you to watch.

Bailey was immersed in Louisiana's culinary traditions from a young age, and credits his mother and grandmother for passing down their skills.

Well, you know, he's got to be a good cook.

That.

That's right.

Watching Coby, we are sure you are going to make Louisiana proud.

In the heart of Cajun country, a young girl's legacy continues to inspire decades after her death.

Charlene Rishard, known as the Little Cajun Saint, died at just 12 years old.

But her faith and compassion touched people around the world.

This week, Charlene was honored at a memorial mass where her family members reflected on her life, faith and journey to sainthood.

It was standing room only at Saint Edward Church in Church Pointe for the annual mass honoring Charlene Richard, known affectionately as the Little Cajun Saint for her deep roots in Richard, Louisiana.

Today, the 66th anniversary of the birth until Eternal Life and Charlene Rishard is a wonderful day.

Charlene died of leukemia in 1959 at just 12 years old.

Only 13 days after her diagnosis.

In those final days, the devout Catholic offered her suffering up for the intentions of others.

A legacy of faith that continues to inspire thousands more than six decades later, she said, I'm going home soon.

Very soon.

So I thought it was time.

I'll miss you so much.

But at eight years old, I didn't have to understand.

Up going and coming.

She was telling me she was going to heaven, you know, and I thought she was coming home.

Among the family members in attendance was Charlene's younger sister and the Lolo.

She was just eight years old when the family lost Charlene, but still remembers her as a devoted Catholic who made sure they pray the Rosary together every night before bed.

A simple act of faith that is stayed with her all her life.

How do you feel about all of this love and support for your sister to be named as Saint?

I feel very, very honored.

And I feel, you know, when she passed, she was just a young girl.

That was extraordinary and she loved me so much.

I mean, she, on me a lot and was always protective of me, you know, and she was like that with just about everybody.

If she saw someone was sad or something, she would always go keep driving, you know, make them happy.

But, yes, I'm very honored.

I got to go to Rome.

And, that was an experience.

It's awesome.

In the congregation was Sophie Stansbury holding her baby girl, named after Charlene.

In 2024, while living in New York and expecting her second child, Sophie made a pilgrimage to Charlene's gravesite in the Saint Edward Catholic Church cemetery.

She prayed for Charlene's intercession after doctors diagnosed her unborn daughter with life limiting and severe brain abnormalities.

Sophie believes those prayers were answered with the birth of a healthy baby.

Her cerebellum was totally, totally normal.

For many.

Charlene is a powerful intercessor, someone they believe carries their prayers and petitions directly to God.

So many of them that feel she answered their prayers and that miracles happen because of her, her intercession to, you know, to God.

And, you know, some of them, the miracles that people believe happened or not, some they can use in Rome.

But if you ask everybody around here that have prayed to her and have had their prayers answered, she is a saint already.

As the church filled with the faithful, many traveling from out of town, some worshipers stopped to venerate a holy relic containing one of Charlene's finger bones.

The Charlene Richard Foundation says it has distributed more than 265,000 blessed prayer cards around the world, spreading her story and devotion far beyond her small Cajun hometown.

A brother was happy to know he was the one sitting next to her in the classroom.

So you're here today for the rosary in the mass.

Why she's so important to you?

I think she's a saint.

I think so, yeah.

Why?

Because she does miracles.

She does miracles to me.

So you pray to Charlene?

Yes.

Yes.

For a long life.

Yes, I sure did.

And I know ever since she died, it always come.

And we pray to her.

Yes.

In 1991, the Diocese of Lafayette began gathering testimony around reported miracles attributed to Charlene Richard.

The Vatican has since accepted and approved the investigation into her life, and is now reviewing the evidence to determine whether those miracles meet the church's requirements for sainthood.

We could have somebody right here in our backyards that would be a saint, because when you think of saint, you think Rome, Italy, you know, never around here.

And he or she is, you know, every Sunday we come to the church where she's buried.

I just feel that she's been always there for so many people.

And I know she's in heaven because I can feel her.

And that's why I ask you if she's deserving.

It's time for Acadiana, a region deeply rooted in Catholic tradition.

The prospect of claiming one of their own as a saint is a source of both civic and cultural pride.

Many at the mass say they hope the nickname the Little Cajun Saint will one day become a Vatican bestowed title in their lifetime.

Now, as we said earlier, we're in peak hurricane season and LSU is launching a new program to train the next generation of forecasters.

The Coastal Meteorology program focuses on the state's unique weather patterns.

I spoke with meteorologist and professor Doctor Steve Cammarata to see why this program is so vital.

Doctor Colorado, thank you so much for joining us today.

I'm so excited to talk to you.

Yeah, thanks for having me in.

Yeah.

So down to business.

We're talking about LSU's new pro gram meteorology.

Coastal meteorology.

Talk to me about that.

Yeah.

Look, as a kid that grew up in south Louisiana, I wish this existed when I was ready to go to college.

But it's a big deal.

So now this is going to be an offering for all the high school students that are interested in weather and meteorology.

They don't have to go elsewhere if they're, you know, around here.

And not to say there won't be kids coming from other places.

But it's great.

You know, meteorology, you think about Louisiana.

One thing you think about food, but weather too, right?

Absolutely.

Weather.

Such a part of everything that we do.

So it's going to be great to have a program at LSU.

We got hurricanes.

We just had a historic snowstorm earlier this year.

The heat we get it.

All right.

So now we'll have that covered.

I love that.

Now I understand that it is the first of its kind in the country.

So why is it important for a place like Louisiana to have that type of meteorology program?

Yeah.

So it makes it unique is the coastal focus?

Yeah.

That's what doesn't exist anywhere else.

And so what's more important in Louisiana than what's going on with our coast right now.

There's so many issues.

We've got significant coastal erosion.

Every time a storm comes along, we deal with big time flooding.

So now you've got this meteorology program that's going to focus on the coast, but it also resides within the College of the Coast and Environment at LSU.

So not only will students that come into the program have access to faculty that have incredible backgrounds in weather and meteorology, they're going to have access to faculty at LSU that are really doing some groundbreaking research on so many different elements related to our coast, and it'll be a really uniquely integrated program to be able to take what we learned about weather and the atmosphere and how that interacts with our coast here in Louisiana.

Nice.

Now, did this come as an answer to you?

Because I saw that we have a little bit of a shortage of meteorologists here in the state.

So did this program come as an answer to that?

I'm not sure that was necessarily.

And I think there's long been a desire, given that, again, that it's the college of the coastal environment.

Yeah.

There was kind of a missing element there.

There's a lot of great programs within the College of the Coastal Environment, LSU, but it felt like weather and meteorology was missing, and it felt like a natural fit.

And so there two professors that really led the charge on getting this going and make it happen.

Doctor Bob Rolly, doctor Paul Miller.

They're they're great guys, great professors, great researchers.

And so they said, we got to make this happen.

Yeah.

Here we are.

All right, I love it.

Here we are.

So what's your role in the program?

Yeah.

So I'm a part time instructor.

The degree is now officially being offered as a fall 2025.

So students enrolling that one a bachelor's degree in coastal meteorology that will now be available.

There has been what's called a concentration though already in coastal meteorology available not quite a degree.

And so I've been teaching some of the courses for one of them called mesoscale meteorology.

Big names like, you know, we talk about tornadoes, we talk about the sea breeze, all these things in meteorology.

This fall, I'll be teaching a new course for the first time.

Atmospheric science for the coast.

Okay.

And the way, describe this to some of the students I've talked to is and say, what is what does that mean?

Is that.

Think of it as kind of an intro to weather class.

Okay.

This is going to set the, the groundwork and the framework for everything they do going forward.

We're going to get some of those basic concepts, done and get them ready for the program.

Awesome.

Well, I love that.

So what do you as an instructor in the program in this groundbreaking program, first in the country, what do you hope to see as a result?

Well, what I hope is we can keep some of our young, great talent here in Louisiana, right?

Yeah.

You and I, we were talking.

We're both south Louisiana.

Yeah.

We are.

And I think we've seen there's we get a lot of talent that maybe goes to college, and then they move elsewhere.

So hopefully with a program like this first off we get to keep them in Louisiana at LSU now for college.

And with that maybe we can keep them here in Louisiana longer.

And keep some of those great minds here around us.

I love that.

So before we go, this was a great interview so far.

Final thoughts?

Any final thoughts?

I would just say, you know, for the kids out there that are thinking about weather and meteorology, certainly give this a look right.

One of the big advantages you're going to find with this the class size is going to be small.

You're going to get a lot of one on one attention and then that coastal focus.

So some advantage is if you come check us out.

I love that will doctor cooperative.

First of all congratulations on the new program at LSU.

I know it's going to be phenomenal, and I'm hoping that the future students get a lot out of it and they stay here in Louisiana.

But again, thank you so much.

Thank you so much for having me.

Awesome.

Social media superstar Eve on the floor blends old world glamor with personal service.

Her boutique offers everything from custom hat making to bridal wear and even her signature fragrance.

Here is a look inside the beloved shop that draws visitors from around the country.

Ready for the day?

We're in New Orleans.

Fashion designer Yvonne Muffler Spritz is her signature scent.

It's one of her latest Instagram post.

The social media sensation has captured the hearts and attention of more than 500,000 followers, including Katie Hardiman.

She traveled from her hometown of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to meet her social media hero.

My entire office where I work, we all love her.

We love to watch her.

We love to share her videos back and forth between us.

So we were coming.

I graduated last weekend and that was what I thought I had been wanting to do.

I wanted to come down and come to be part of the course.

What is it about Yvonne McClure that is so compelling to you?

I think watching her videos and she's so just her she's so calming to watch.

She's so elegant.

It feels like watching a friend or like your grandmother or someone you just.

You really enjoy it.

Yvonne opened her store in 1969 on Hampton Street in New Orleans with an investment of $10,000.

The mother of seven expanded her boutique over the years, absorbing neighboring businesses and do one large, as she calls it, closet.

Or here?

This is the original store.

The thousand square feet that I opened with in back of me is was a men's store.

Also 1000ft².

And so this is where it started.

And we started selling jeans of all things, because jeans were not available in ladies stores back in the 60s, you had to buy them in the boys or men's department.

Well, let's have a seat at this gorgeous vanity and chat for a minute, because we were surrounded by hats.

One of the things that you also are known for are your custom hats.

Yes.

So, we sell about 2000 hats a year.

People come from all over for the summer hats for wedding hats for winter hats.

So the trims are from all over, from France, from Switzerland, all over the rest.

Yvonne designs most of the clothing and all the hats sold in her store.

She's built a reputation as a tastemaker and arbiter of European style and elegance, sharing fashion tips, social etiquette advice and even styling secrets for her signature hairdo.

Easy little not.

To shake the sides.

Yvonne works six days a week in her store and she doesn't drive.

Instead, her husband does the daily drop off and pickup.

She does all of the merchandizing displays.

80% of our merchandise is made in the US.

We have many one of a kind gowns.

So that way if you go to an event, you're not going to see your same dress on someone.

But the one thing we are really true to is setting the garment perfectly free of charge.

Yvonne has filled her shop with European antiques collected over the years, including this case in the hat department formerly on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

She calls her costume jewelry display the dessert counter, an antique piece from Scotland filled with affordable bling.

Several of her designs have become bestsellers, including the Magic Pants.

The fabric is from Italy, but again made in the US in a four way stretch.

And they come in a skinny leg as well as, a flare.

Now, why are these called magic pants?

Because they just fit beautifully.

For decades, Yvonne has been outfitting the New Orleans social scene and first ladies.

She's the ball gown.

Go to source for Mardi Gras debutante and graduation events.

And the custom hat maker for all occasions, including the Kentucky Derby retro show.

Project your power with creativity.

What makes you feel good?

You're sort of like a lifestyle expert now.

Well, I just kind of went to the store to come alive.

I wasn't getting life out of the newspaper, which was my advertisment.

Are you surprised, guys at the fan base, the growing fan base that you're getting from social media?

I absolutely am.

I just had no idea the outreach it would create to bring business to me.

Yvonne isn't the typical selfie taking social media influencer.

From analog advertising to multimedia branding.

You could say Yvonne endures as the sartorial doyenne of the Deep South, reaching a new generation of fashionistas with her stage advice and unique catchphrases.

Thank best and be best.

I always wanted to have the best store that I could create, the best story that New Orleans has seen.

That's our show for this week.

Remember, you can watch anything LPB any time, wherever you are with our LPB app and you can catch LPB news and public affairs shows, as well as other Louisiana programs you've come to enjoy over the years.

And please like us on Facebook and Instagram for everyone at Louisiana Public Broadcasting.

I'm Karen LeBlanc.

And I'm Dorothea Wilson.

Until next time.

That's the state we're in.

Support for Louisiana.

The state we're in is provided by Entergy.

Louisiana is strengthening our power grid throughout the state.

We're reinforcing infrastructure to prepare for stronger storms, reduce outages, and respond quicker when you do need us.

Because together, we power life.

Additional support provided by the Fred B and Ruth B Ziegler Foundation and the Ziegler Art Museum, located in Jennings City Hall.

The museum focuses on emerging Louisiana artists and is a historical and cultural center for Southwest Louisiana and by Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center.

Visit Baton Rouge and the Foundation for Excellence in Louisiana Public Broadcasting and viewers like you.

Thank you.