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 lights.

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 an historical and cultural center for Southwest Louisiana.

And the Foundation for Excellence in Louisiana Public Broadcasting.

With support from viewers like you.

It's now legal in Louisiana to carry a gun without any training, but state police still encourage people to get certified.

Lafayette is the world epicenter of Olympic trampolining.

We'll introduce you to a couple of athletes going for the gold in Paris and the state of wait.

Doctor Ronnie Whitfield looks at the pros and cons of those popular weight loss drugs.

Plus, a walk through time.

I'll take you to the oldest cemetery in the Louisiana Purchase.

Let's get started.

Hey, everyone, I'm Karen LeBlanc.

Much more on those top stories in a moment.

On this week's edition of Louisiana, the State we're in.

But first, former President Donald Trump appears to be recovering well after an attempted assassination.

He spoke Thursday night at the Republican National Convention, where he formally accepted his party's nomination.

As expected, all 47 of Louisiana's GOP delegates cast their vote for the former president.

Trump speech came days after he suffered an injury to his ear when a gunman opened fire at a campaign rally.

A man in the crowd was killed before Secret Service took out the shooter.

The shooting raises concerns here in Louisiana, where a newly enacted law allows people to carry guns without any training or permitting from the state.

I spoke with the bill's author and the Louisiana State Police to discuss whether the measure makes us safer, or could lead to even more gun violence.

We are announcing that the eighth district station will soon fit the definition of a vocational technical school, as described in Louisiana Art as 1490 5.6, and thus the area within 1000ft of this district station will be a firearm free zone for the New Orleans police station in the French Quarter found a workaround to the Louisiana constitutional carry law, keeping concealed weapons away from the eighth district station and out of most of the French Quarter.

State Senator Blake Mayaguez authored the constitutional carry legislation, which passed in the January crime session.

He says the law empowers citizens with the ability to defend themselves and their loved ones.

Why did you personally see the need for this legislation?

We already have the ability to carry a concealed weapon with a permit.

Well, we join all of our neighboring states.

If you look at Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, as well as 28 other states and having constitutional carry legislation.

Well, I think it's a time where we decided to align our law here in Louisiana with our constitu, our Second Amendment rights.

That that right shall not be infringed is our right to defend ourselves and our loved ones.

Remember, Louisiana has been an open carry state for some time, which means you can walk outside with no requirements, put a gun on your side and be perfectly legal.

A background check is still required to purchase a handgun.

And the new law does have restrictions on where and under what circumstances.

An individual can carry a concealed weapon without a permit.

If a constitutional carry does not allow just free carry of a handgun, anywhere you go.

So, you know, you still can't carry firearms in school zones.

courthouses.

You still can't have them.

you can't have them in police departments, you can't carry them at churches.

bars are another place.

You can't have them.

And in addition to that, you know, you cannot be under the influence of alcohol or drugs and be in possession of a concealed handgun.

Law enforcement warns that you cannot cross state lines with a permit less concealed weapon.

37 other states do have reciprocity for concealed handguns with permits.

Critics of the law claims it sets the scene for the wild, wild West, where anyone can get and use a gun without proper screening and training.

I'd say that's just, fear mongering.

It's not the truth.

You look at we have 28 other states that have constitutional carry.

We haven't seen the wild, wild West in any other states.

I think that's just fear of the new law going into place.

And the legislature was very, empathetic about when we passed this legislation.

It didn't go into effect in January when we passed a law.

It went into effect on July 4th, on our Independence Day, because it allowed us to go into a regular session and make sure that we got the law correct.

I brought probably a half dozen bills that tweaked the legislation to try to perfect it by the time it came into law.

How does a Louisiana constitutional carry law impact traffic stops?

So usually in a traffic stop, you begin that traffic stop inside your vehicle, and everyone knows that your vehicle is an extension of your home.

So in those circumstances, while it is not required, we do encourage the public to notify the officer, the trooper, that you are in possession of a firearm because it just makes it say for yourself.

And then that trooper as well.

Now, once you exit that vehicle and you come out, you are required to notify that that officer that you are in possession of a firearm.

A companion bill that also became law July 4th.

The statutory civil immunity law incentivizes individuals to voluntarily undergo firearms training for a permit at Sb2 is just as important because it gives permit holders the ability to have a civil immunity, in self-defense shootings, under the law.

The Louisiana State Police Headquarters offers training with state certified instructors for a concealed handgun permit.

Do you see challenges to doing your job?

Protecting the public?

So we're trained properly again.

whether the public has a firearm, doesn't have one on them.

We just want to ensure that the public, you know, is trained to handle a firearm.

Next week, the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics get underway with several Louisiana athletes representing team USA in various games.

In the sport of trampoline gymnastics, Lafayette is a world class training ground for Olympic hopefuls.

They come from around the world to train at Trampoline and Tumbling Express.

I met up with two trampoline gymnasts representing team USA with high hopes for the Paris Games.

Alexi show starts athletic career is soaring as an Olympic bound trampoline gymnast.

The 2024 Paris Olympics will be his second attempt at going for the gold.

I really do feel like I'm part of something bigger than just me.

And so the medal that you know, we're all going after.

For me personally, it's for the future of USA trampoline.

Alexi is from Belarus and moved to Lafayette to train at Trampoline and Tumbling Express, known worldwide as the Training Ground for Olympians.

His coach, Dimitri LaRouche, is also from Belarus.

The two time Olympian competed with Alexis father, also a trampoline gymnast, in the 1996 Atlanta Games and the 2000 Sydney, Australia Games.

I'm very even happy to send like this gym here for the most Olympians in the world.

On in the trampoline world, of course.

Alexi trained alongside Paris Olympics bound trampoline gymnast Nicole Eisinger.

She moved to Lafayette from California at the age of 16 to also train with coach Dmitri.

I'm really excited to be back, for my third Olympic team, but in a different role.

I'm the alternate, so it should be an exciting role to cheer on team USA.

Nicole competed in the 2016 Olympics at the age of 18, and again in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

There, she was the only gymnast who represented team USA in the women's trampoline competition.

She made history by placing sixth overall.

That's the highest placement any American or I guess it tied it for the highest placement for an American.

in trampoline.

And I was like, oh my gosh, I'm on this high.

Like, it's only three more years.

I might as well try for it.

And unfortunately, my body hurt a lot.

so I ended up getting a whole body scan, and I tore everything in my ankle and tore everything in my shoulder.

Nicole underwent surgery and rehab, working her way back to a regular training schedule for the 2024 Paris Games.

Both Olympians are looking forward to a do over after competing under Covid restrictions in the 2020 Tokyo Games.

I was grateful that I was able to fulfill my dream, but I knew like the day after, I was like, I want to go to Paris and I actually even made an Instagram post and I never really show this to anyone yet.

But on my Instagram post in 2021, I wrote I will compete at the 24 Paris Games.

It's definitely a crazy experience and I feel like I've had this like wild ride of a little girl that my dream was to go to the Olympic Games and now here I am making history, going to a third Olympics as an Olympic team member.

No other woman has done that.

in trampoline.

So it's just it's just crazy to even think about it.

How did Lafayette leap onto the world stage as an Olympic training ground for trampoline gymnast?

Lafayette is like a set of trampoline in the world.

Mr. Jeff Hennessy, who was a professor at UL.

he also was the president of International Trampoline Federation Technical Committee.

And he's the one who actually one of the pioneers of trampoline in the United States.

Jeff Hennessy was an associate professor of physical education at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and director of the university's gymnastics and trampling program from 1959 to 1986.

His coaching helped earn the university's trampoline gymnastics team 26 World Championships.

Trampoline even made its first Olympic appearance at the 2000 Games in Sydney with men's and women's competitions.

So what happened to 16 men and 16 women competing?

So it's like it is hard, like, to like out the whole world.

Only 16 spots available to watch Olympic Games, but selection is quite hard.

yeah, you have to be in the top.

And plus the trampoline, that kind of sport.

Like a little miss.

They can destroy you completely and you will be out of that loop on August 2nd.

The men and women's teams compete in qualifying rounds, with eight from each team advancing to compete in the final round for the Olympic gold.

Those routines are actually judged off of, multiple elements.

One of them being is execution, which everyone's familiar with.

It's, how the routine looks, how pretty it is.

The other one is, how far you deviate from the center of the trampoline.

the third one would be how high you jump.

So, you know, the high jump, higher scores.

And then the fourth one would be the difficulty of your routine.

Every single day I get to fly in the air.

It's all power.

It's technique, it's elegance.

How you float in the air.

It consists of ten skills, and it's the most difficult skills that you can put in a routine inside the gym.

Trophy lined walls and banners on the ceiling chronicle the storied careers of many Olympians who trained at this gym.

Outside, a sign congratulates the next generation of top trampoline athletes, continuing Lafayette's legacy as a world class trampoline training ground.

Today's segment of our month long series, Life Pulse, examines the state of weight in Louisiana, from celebrities to consumers.

Many people are turning to type two diabetes drugs like Ozempic and Munjal to shed some pounds.

Now, originally, the drugs required a doctor's prescription.

Now they are readily available as compounded versions, creating regulatory and quality control challenges.

Doctor Ronnie Whitfield shares his medical insight on the benefits and consumer beware is tied to the weight loss medicines.

In this episode of Life Pulse, we are focusing on the state of weight and in particular, all of the weight loss medication out there that is changing lives.

Joining me right now is Doctor Ronnie Whitfield, aka the hip hop doc social media sensation.

I love saying that right to share with us his medical expertise on this very, very timely topic.

I mean, look, if you don't know someone on one of these prescription weight loss drugs, you've certainly seen the commercials, right?

Tell me, first of all, what are the the top weight loss drugs right now that people are taking and seeing results with?

There's nothing out there, by the way, for our listeners that actually burns or cut fat, all these things either prevent fat absorption or they suppress appetite and then now there's the GLP ones, glucagon like peptide one, which is produced in the the stomach when we eat these hormones or peptides are normally produced and they suppress appetite.

Well now we've created a way to inject this into your body.

And it lasts for one week.

And they have become very, very popular.

These were initially drugs designed to treat diabetes with the side effect of appetite suppression.

And so when you're seeing somebody losing 15 to 20% of their body weight and over a year that can truly impact the diabetes and actually is the closest thing to bariatric surgery that we've ever seen.

So as a medical doctor, are you encouraged by these medical weight loss drugs and are they suitable for certain patients?

But do you have concerns at the consumer level?

So for the young lady who's BMI, which is body mass index, and I'll define it in a minute.

is 25 and she's got a wedding in a couple of weeks and wants to go on, semaglutide to lose 7 or 8 pounds.

Not excited about that at all.

But for my morbidly obese, patient live with obesity that's got a BMI of 40, with hypertension, diabetes, disease, drugs that have been life saving.

I think a lot of people want to know, is this drug a temporary fix?

In other words, once you quit taking the shot, does the hunger come back and the weight gain return 70 for 70% of patients who stopped taking the drug will regain the majority of that weight back.

but what you're hoping when I'm talking this individualized treatment plan, when I'm talking to my patients, that you are motivated to lose weight, we're going to talk about behavioral modifications, lifestyle changes, not just taking this drug.

One of the fears of taking drugs like semaglutide is muscle wasting.

So some people will lose 10% of their body fat, but they also lose 10% of their protein or muscle mass.

And so they're still not very healthy by definition.

They're still considered fat.

They may be thinner, but they're not healthier.

And so you have to individualize that treatment.

Just like with bariatric surgery, you just don't go to the doctor and say, I need weight loss and need to surgery.

The drug is now become available at the consumer level as a compounded version right.

There have been some concerns about regulation of these compounding pharmacies.

A drug is available at medical spas and and walking clinics.

And, you know, do you as a doctor, have some concerns about the availability of this compounded version of these weight loss drugs that came about?

There was a shortage of the prescription drug at some point.

And so the FDA allowed compounding pharmacies to make the drug.

And so when you have legitimate compound finance pharmacies that know what they're doing, I have a cake recipe, I give it a cake recipe, you can make that same cake recipe.

They were allowed to do it when the shortage was over.

compound pharmacies were just supposed to stop making it, but the Board of pharmacies find it very, very hard to regulate and control it.

So some of these weight loss clinics walk in clinics are getting medicines from out of the state.

They don't know actually what they're getting.

So there could be contamination in the product.

So there's definitely some concern there.

Don't get me wrong.

There's some legitimate compound pharmacies definitely right here in the state Louisiana.

But again, some of these clinics are not following the rules and the standards.

And there are some risks when patients visit these places, especially not without consultation with their physician.

What can consumers do to protect themselves if they're interested in taking this drug?

First, let's talk about this BMI or the definition of obesity.

Normal way to BMI, which is just taking your height and weight.

if your BMI is 18 to 24, 19 to 24, you consider normal weight.

Anything greater than 30 is obese.

Anything greater than 40 is severely obese.

So when somebody comes into my office for these medications, I'm looking at their BMI, but also their other comorbid illnesses.

If they have hypertension, diabetes, had a heart attack or stroke before.

If your BMI is 27 or less and you have hypertension, diabetes, you may actually qualify for that drug in my opinion.

But this is all individualized.

And we also should point out at the consumer level, if you walk into one of these clinics, you know you're not getting the same powerful dosage that a diabetic patient is getting with a prescription.

You don't actually know what you're getting.

And so you need to be very, very careful.

Do your research.

Make sure you research those claims before you go into them.

There are some great legitimate clinics out there doing it the right way, but there are some there.

And so at least you know, when I prescribe that penny with a pharmacy, pick it up.

You're getting what I prescribe you and you're supposed to treat these drugs.

by definition, monthly you increase until a patient reaches maximum benefit.

but again, that's also individualized as well.

Any concerns about long term effects of this weight of these weight loss?

It's a relatively new drug.

So it's being researched, just like the other 70 plus anti-obesity drugs that are currently being researched.

Ozempic slash will go over there.

The same similar stat promises 15% of body weight loss in a year towards appetite or my general, I think 20%.

And then there's one coming out I think pretty soon called triple G. That's 30% weight loss.

We shall see.

but I think, we will soon probably have an affordable pill formulation.

There's actually a pill formulation of one of the semaglutide.

It's called right below this, but it doesn't seem to cause as much weight loss as the injectables.

But it does the same thing that mimics sensation.

Satiety makes you feel full for about a week, and people tend to lose weight on it.

Doctor Ronnie, final thoughts on the state of weight in Louisiana?

All I can say is that in 1970, 15% of our country was overweight or obese, and now we're at 42%.

Louisiana, I think, is somewhere close to 47%.

This is a serious health issue.

It's a public health crisis.

It's a growing population of people in our country that we don't want to see.

And so we have to get serious about our health and I recommend everyone to see their physicians and talk to them about options for weight loss.

Doctor Ronnie Whitfield, thank you so much for joining us on this edition of Light Pulse.

The state of weights and valuable information.

Thank you.

The oldest cemetery and the Louisiana Purchase resides in Natchitoches as a memory keeper of the state's origins.

Today, the American Cemetery welcomes the public for walking tours of the gravesites and a walk back in time.

Upkeep is a labor of love by a volunteer organization that has maintained the city owned grounds for more than a century.

I'm taking you on a stroll through the past and present of life in Louisiana.

The American Cemetery sits on the former site of a French colonial fort in Natchitoches.

Today, a wrought iron arch greets visitors from its Second Street entrance, where people of all creeds, colors and social statuses share common ground in death.

Hi.

Hi.

You must be pain.

I am pain, Williams.

Nice to meet you.

I am well, thank you for taking a break.

Sure.

I know you're out here doing maintenance on the grave and working up a sweat.

We are a little bit today.

But you are a historian that actually wrote a book about the American cemetery.

So you are the perfect person to talk to and give us a tour.

Payne Williams grew up in Natchitoches and continues his family legacy of caring for the American cemetery.

His great grandmother, Eliza Payne Williams, was president of the American Cemetery Association, a group of volunteers who formed in 1904 to maintain the city owned graveyard.

How old is the American cemetery?

Well, the oldest grave that we have marked is 1797.

So when we think there's gravestones that are that would have been or burials that would have been well before that.

So they say this is the oldest cemetery in the Louisiana.

It is the oldest European cemetery.

Yeah.

So it's this is where the French, the initial French residents and so forth were buried in these grounds.

We stop at the gravesite of Doctor John Sibley, who donated the land for the American cemetery.

He was a Revolutionary War soldier.

He was sent by President Jefferson to this area to work as an Indian agent.

And so he was writing letters back to, President Jefferson before the Louisiana Purchase.

And they weren't he was explaining about the area, the various Indian tribes, the cultures, the food.

And when he died, he donated the property to the city.

Some people find cemeteries creepy.

I find them fascinating as time capsules of history.

And the American cemetery tells Louisiana's story from the start.

The cemetery has people buried here that were in every war, from the Revolutionary War, through the Civil War, through the Korean War, through Vietnam.

all the way up until just recently.

And so this is the, Russell family.

And they were members of the of the Confederates Confederacy, and they are buried here.

The cemetery is open to the public for walking tours with a self-guided map.

This plaque marks a popular spot to stop and look around.

It was the scene of a funeral from the 1989 movie Steel Magnolias, which was filmed in Natchitoches all the way to Texas and back.

But I don't.

As we walked the property, I noticed several fenced in area surrounded by clusters of family graves, all tied to tragic tales of untimely death.

And so this.

You have four members just in this area here of the Tucker family, who all died at, before the age of two.

And then over here, you see several more right here.

And so I think we counted at one point, maybe up to 8 or 9 of the family members, that red dot at a young age.

Most of these that we see here were in the late 1800s.

And it just shows you how, tough life was back in the day.

Wow.

Many of Nacogdoches notables were also laid to rest here, including former Mayor Theodore Edward Pullman, who was assassinated in 1922 by a disgruntled landowner.

He found Mr. Pullman on, I think it was Saint in East Street and shot him.

From humble headstones to the chiseled tree stump designs on grave markers of Modern Woodmen of America members, to the large stone monuments, people from all walks of life found their final resting place here.

The initial grave that really caught my attention was the one we're going to see next, which is John Gideon Lewis.

He was born in Toronto in 1851 and then eventually made his way to Natchitoches, and he started the Prince Hall Masons, which is a group that has, significant amount of members.

and so he had their newspaper started here.

this is the only mausoleum we have in the American cemetery.

He died in 1931.

And so for this gentleman who was black to have the only mausoleum in the cemetery, obviously, it shows the respect that he had from the entire community and throughout the state to the American cemetery, with its modern day homages to deceased loved ones and historic relics of iron crosses and weathered headstones, Chronicles early life in Louisiana and continues to serve as the final resting place for the community.

Any idea how many bodies are buried in the American cemetery?

a couple thousand for sure.

We have a map that shows where every marked and unmarked grave is.

Can bodies still be buried in the cemetery?

Where is it?

Closed for business.

It's, It's gotten to the point where if it's not close, it's very close to being closed.

And so what we're going to have to do is inspect some of the areas where we're in the what we call the old section and look and see if we have any area that we think may be available.

But at this point, it's pretty much sold out.

Sold out, if that's the right.

No more real estate in the American cemetery where everything's negotiable.

So it might help with those preservation dollars.

Yeah, exactly.

That's our show for this week.

Remember, you can watch anything LPB, any time, wherever you are with our LPB app.

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 that Louisiana Public Broadcasting.

I'm Karen LeBlanc.

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 lights.

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 an historical and cultural center for Southwest Louisiana and by Visit Baton Rouge.

And the Foundation for Excellence in Louisiana Public Broadcasting.

And viewers like you.

Thank you.