Support for Louisiana.

The state we're in is provided by.

Every day I go to work for Entergy.

I know customers are counting on me.

So Entergy.

Is investing millions of.

Dollars to keep the lights on.

And installing new technology to prevent outages before they happen.

Together, together, together.

We power life.

Additional support provided by the Fred Bea and Ruth Ziegler Foundation and the Zeigler 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.

And we're not going to have that debate.

And I think that's unfortunate.

And I think it's disappointing to us.

Expect quiet ahead of the Senate race.

Look, we're behind literacy.

Every second counts.

Well, our youngest get a reading revival.

Yes, there's a number of different factors that are risk factors for Alzheimer's disease.

The last week in Alzheimer's Awareness Month, what you should know about the disease.

President Joe Biden is warning oil companies not to use Hurricane Ian as an excuse to gouge consumers with soaring prices at the pump.

Ian made a second U.S. landfall today on the South Carolina coast as a Cat one hurricane after ravaging Florida's south west coast and much of the peninsula just shy of a Cat five, Ian made its first landfall with 150 mile an hour winds and a 12 foot storm surge.

And now to some other news making headlines across the state.

Louisiana is sending help to Florida in the aftermath of Ian.

Some personnel from children and family services and an all hazards management team headed by the state fire marshal have been approved to assist the needs in Florida.

Drought upriver has left the Mississippi so low and slow moving that saltwater is creeping farther than usual along the bottom towards New Orleans.

The Army Corps of Engineers says it is threatening drinking water, so they're planning to build an underwater levee called a cell to block the encroachment.

The Corps has been dredging and deepening the river so extra large ships can move freely upriver to Baton Rouge.

Governor John Bel Edwards traveled to London on an economic development trip this week to meet with a handful of energy companies to discuss expanding clean energy investments.

The governor also met with a leading insurance underwriter to discuss a troubling home insurance crisis in south Louisiana with nine insurance companies and counting leaving the state.

He's also going to be at the Saints game in London this weekend.

Part of the NFL's annual international series.

Orleans Parish Civil District Judge Colonel Reese ruled that Mayor Latoya Cantrell must halt all money being given to the Wisner Land Trust.

That's in response to the city council's lawsuit for control of the money.

And does an incumbent candidate for a major office owe it to the people he represents to debate challengers?

That's a question we're asking tonight, and we're asking it to council for a better Louisiana cable president, Barry Irwin.

Barry, your thoughts on this?

Yeah, I think so.

I mean, we have candidates who run for office.

We elect them, we put them into office.

They have a record that they build.

And I think it's only fair for them to be able to come back to the public in a big venue, kind of public venue where people can see them and have engagement with reporters and others about what they have done during the term that they've been in office.

Yeah, the cable has had debates and hosted debates for years and we have a recent example of this.

Yeah.

I mean, we've, we've partnered for more than 25 years, almost 30 years, I think, with ELP on these debates.

Now we issued an invitation to Senator Kennedy and the other candidates who are running the major candidates for a debate on October 20th that we would work with y'all and televised statewide.

We found out just recently that Senator Kennedy could not confirm his ability to participate in that debate.

So we're not going to have that debate.

And I think that's unfortunate and I think it's disappointing to us.

I do think that there may be opportunities still before the election that they would participate in another debate.

But I do think it's important to the public.

Yeah.

And from our perspective, we broadcast these debates statewide, every major market.

So on free television, it's an opportunity for everybody to get a chance to see the candidates.

In this case, Senator Kennedy is an overwhelming favorite over the next two challengers look mix and and Gary Chambers were both Democrats and that seemingly would play a role into the fact that he may not feel like he needs to debate.

Is he such a huge favorite?

And they may very well.

And I think, you know, that's part of the calculation that people make politically and whatever.

But I do think there is somewhat of a responsibility that our elected officials have to come stand before voters in a way that's a little bit more unfiltered, like a debate is it's live.

It's it's interaction with people and candidates and reporters and whatever.

It's not social media.

It's not, you know, just paid political advertising.

It's a way for them to make their case directly why they should be reelected or to explain, you know, what they have done with their record.

Good point.

That is not social media, which it definitely isn't.

But what is the role that social media has come to play in elections?

And it's not always a truthful role?

Well, I think it's kind of usurped some of the more personal interaction that used to have with candidates.

If you go back to the way things were, people had to campaign.

They would go out, there would be rallies.

That would be little town hall meetings, you know, even before social media emerged in its big way.

You saw the, you know, kind of erosion of that in terms of a lot of these town halls were done by telephone and they weren't even in front of real voters.

But now with social media, I mean, it's really the candidate totally controls the message.

They put things out.

They it's hard to challenge people on social media.

It's hard to get follow up answers.

And so it's really just kind of a one sided voice that goes out there when I think the public deserves to have a little interaction.

Does that ask the question or move to the point that maybe we're seeing a trend of fewer debates happening because of the outlets that are available to go to now?

Well, I think that's what we're seeing around the country.

I was just doing some research on it myself.

And part of the thing that's come up is during these midterm elections, you're seeing fewer and fewer debates, not just in Senate races and congressional races, but even in gubernatorial races.

And I think that's part of it.

Some of it, I think, has to do with people not wanting to put attention on a can, a candidate or an opponent that maybe has views that are outside the mainstream or trying to do things like that.

But I will say what we're seeing nationally is a tendency to move in the opposite direction, and I think that's unfortunate.

Now, a candidate like Senator Kennedy might say, well, I've been doing this for six years now.

Six years is a long time.

But people know where I stand.

So what's the point of debating?

However, it has been six years.

Think how much has transpired in that time?

Well, there has been a lot and certainly six years is a longer period than you have from most other elected offices.

And again, not pointing to Senator Kennedy in one way or the other.

I just think in the broad sense, it's very good debate to do something that's different from everything else.

Like I said, they're live.

They are interactions with the candidate, with their opponents.

But also, you know, tough questions sometimes from journalists who are saying, you know, why did you vote this way?

Can you kind of defend your position on this?

Thank you for doing that, whatever it might be.

And, you know, I think those live interactions, you know, you see a little bit more of the real person than you do in kind of the stage, certainly the paid media and also the social media where you don't really get much of anything.

Yeah, well, we hope that there can be in some form a debate.

This is the really major race that Louisiana is looking at for the midterms.

But we just don't know the answer to that yet.

Not yet.

But, you know, there is still time.

And I do think hopefully part of the message of all of this is that still, no matter where we are with social media and all of those types of things, that our candidates feel like they do have a responsibility to voters to kind of come stand before them and kind of explain their record and, you know, make the case for why they should be reelected.

All right.

Sounds good to me very early.

And thanks so much for joining us.

Glad to be here.

And Louisiana's education system is in trouble.

Concerns about truancy, literacy and test scores are reemerging as a state navigates post-pandemic deficits.

Joseph Wattie is at the center of this crisis, working to help students and teachers tackle these challenges.

I got to sit down with him and talk about the future of education.

All right.

So you're pretty familiar with schools and teachers right now.

It seems like we're in the middle of a big teaching crisis because there aren't enough teachers to fill these really important roles.

Why is that happening?

And it seems like it's happening more so with women.

Yeah, I think, you know, there's a lot of factors that go into teacher retention, finding new individuals that enter the teaching force.

I think what what has been consistent across both of those groups is that this is a really, really difficult job.

It's a really difficult job in ideal circumstances.

And then also, when we're considering all the changes of the last few years, the interruptions due to the pandemic, I think a lot of people that had great reasons for coming into the field are feeling this stress more than anything else, the stress of feeling overworked, under, supported, underpaid.

I think those are all issues that are very much on the forefront right now.

And I think it's I think it's potentially discouraging large group of people from entering the field or even considering entering the field in the first place.

I without any of the data in front of me, I don't know.

But, you know, it is it is evident that we're that we're losing quality candidates across the board.

Yeah, I think it's interesting that you said it's discouraging people from even entering the field.

How do they know how difficult it is if they've not even entered?

I think it's I think it's one of those things where individuals that are in education have really found a voice for what it is they're struggling with and what it is they're challenged by.

I also think it's impossible to to not see the challenges that educators are having in the local news and the national news.

There definitely does seem to be a sentiment about questioning our teachers in public schools.

And so I think it's just they're just kind of like going into to it not being potentially as rewarding as some individuals might have thought it was in the past.

So it's really just a product of the environment.

Yeah, I think there's there's a there's so many different factors that go into it.

But at the end of the day, it's, it's, it's only going to impact the kids negatively.

And I think we, we, we need to do better at recruiting, but also at retaining the strong people that we have in our buildings.

Yeah.

So like you just said, that's only going to affect the children negatively.

But I mean, are there any solutions to kind of keep them up to speed?

I mean, some people have recommended that kids go to summer school to get their reading scores up.

What do you make of that?

Yeah, I think there's there's a lot of proposals, legislation right now.

I think what you're referencing is potentially something that could pass with the state of Louisiana, where if students in certain grade levels are required to attend summer school based on reading scores in order to prevent being being retained, you know, we're we're we're up against a huge battle right now.

You know, standard senior data that we have shows that students lost about 22 academic weeks or 22 learning learning weeks from school during the pandemic.

So no matter what, we're we're having to remediate a lot of lost learning time.

I think any solution is positive, but I think any solution definitely needs to come with the funding and support for the teachers in the individuals that are expected to roll those plans out.

So you just said that students lost a ton of productive time where they could have been learning and raising those literacy rates.

But wasn't this an issue before the pandemic?

Absolutely.

Yeah.

This is this is this is this is nothing new to to education is nothing new to schools in Louisiana.

I think what is new and what is unique about it is that along with the academic loss that we saw, we also have a lot of social time lost.

We have a lot of authentic experiences that kids at every developmental level would have gotten that they did.

And I think it's it's something that we do have to view holistically and we do have to address the reading and math scores.

But there is a lot else that was also lost during this time.

So a lot of that was lost during this time.

So I just want to know, as a teacher, as somebody that's worked with children, what else has changed for them besides, you know, the social time and the literacy rates?

What's it like to be a student going to school in 2022?

It's different, I think.

I think it's definitely different because you can't you I don't know.

You can just look at it as being a student in 2022.

I think you have to look at it as I am a student that was a student during the COVID 19 pandemic, or I was someone that was a student before and after the COVID 19 pandemic.

And so I think having to look at things from from both levels, both in the ways that we would have been remediating and looking to make up lost learning in the past.

But then also, what are the unique factors that have been presented because of the pandemic?

But then also, are there things that we are blaming on the pandemic that were always an issue in the first place that we just haven't addressed?

So if you could think up a perfect society, a perfect place for children to learn and actually be able to progress, what does that look like?

Yeah, you know, I think it it starts with, with basic, um, I think we've, we've identified a lot of different areas that students need support academically, socially.

I think it really does start with the students coming into the building, coming to us with their basic needs met.

That is what allows the opportunity for teachers to dove in and do remedial work in reading and math.

When you have a student that is able to come to school that wasn't worried about getting themselves ready that morning, wasn't worried about helping a sibling get ready, wasn't worried about where their next meal was coming from, or if I'm too late, the school day, what do I do?

I get breakfast and I think there are so many barriers that our students are specifically facing that even get in the way of me trying to plan for what that perfect education system would look like.

And so I think, unfortunately, right now we are in a place where in order to imagine what that perfect system would look like, I need to see what it would look like for all of the students coming into the building, being supported and having those basic needs met.

All right.

So it's not just one thing.

It's everything.

It's going to be everything.

Well, thank you so much for coming back and talking to us.

Absolutely.

Losing on literacy is the topic the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana PA puts together a monthly webinar series.

This was the one for this month, and PA President Steven Procopio is here to discuss and share the highlights of something.

Steven, that is not a highlight and that is literacy in Louisiana.

Public education, it's.

True, are less than half of our third graders can read on level what they're expected to do.

It's a serious problem.

We haven't made a whole lot of gains over the past decade.

Yeah, the past decade.

No gains at all.

Right.

Flatline, I think, is what Riley Kay Bromley called it.

That's right.

Schools.

And he also calls it lost on literacy.

And yet, even though he says that there are some positive happening, he's.

Saying there's a mean a lot of activity in the past legislative session.

And then he actually has a proposal as well that lines up in many ways with it.

This is all coming from Mississippi.

Mississippi in 2013, put together a literacy package that had a lot of things in it.

But the probably the one that got the most attention is that you couldn't get promoted to the fourth grade unless you were reading on level.

So the the grades we're looking at are K through.

33/3 grade.

I didn't get promoted into the fourth grade.

Okay.

And not beyond that, though.

Or no, I think that that's really the big thrust of what got it.

Beyond that, it's harder and harder to make gains.

So what is the what has to be accomplished at the third grade level to move on to fourth?

So you have to be able to.

Well, again, depends on exactly what we end up.

These proposals haven't been adopted yet, but you have to be able to read on grade level in the third grade to move over to the fourth grade.

So you have to have a screening that goes on so you're not just catching you at the end.

You have to have teachers that are trained to teach the science of literacy in Louisiana.

We're also required for certification for New certification that you also have to pass a test that you know how to train.

And so we've done a lot of work.

That's sort of the only component that's not real.

There's this promotion aspect.

And then moving people forward.

So would it be if you if you're not promoted, you haven't learned what you need to learn, then you've got to go into some sort of extra session of school.

Well, yeah, it's you can't move forward to next grade, but so the superintendent superintend Bromley he likes to put more like a summer camp rather than summer school so you to be other electives that you could take and he was proposing 30 hours of remediation you would take during the summer and maybe other electives as well to help bring you up to reading level if you're not doing what you're supposed to do at that point.

And so where is the funding coming from for the summer school, for the teachers who will be there to be paid?

Well, this is the and this is the big point of contention between what the people are proposing, either Richard Nelson or Richard Nelson or the superintendent and some of the local superintendents are like, now we have to implement this.

How are we going to pay for it?

So supporters of having these extra literacy programs and holding people back their money is supposed to come from really as in the short term, this extra COVID money we have, we have a lot of extra money from the federal government to help us bounce back from COVID, including some of the losses that we had because we had to go hybrid and we couldn't.

Do we want do all the superintendents say that?

Well, that money's already accounted for.

We have in some places in our budget.

So that could be difficult if they've already budgeted someplace else.

And you're wanting them to use that for the extra expenses that are going to be incur.

Not to mention you're going to have to have extra teachers.

And even if you had the money, you got to find them.

As we know, there's sort of a teacher shortage that we're trying to find qualified teachers, much less teachers that will be able to teach literacy.

All right.

So this hasn't been adopted.

What has to happen for it to be adopted?

And and is that just another period of time where this is not being accomplished?

So there's really two proposals and they overlap.

But there is the superintendents proposal which would go to Bessey, I believe in October is what he's looking to bring it to where that would be something that was adopted by Bessey.

There's also there was a proposal in last or last sessions, legislative proposal.

That was Richard Nelson, right.

Who said we're going to make it a law.

So in he has been clear that he intends to bring that law back.

So there's a second proposal and they both overlap some.

They're not exactly the same thing, but they both have this promotion based upon literacy.

But the details vary on terms of how many grades do you look at and what would be the response if you don't write?

It's something that needs to happen right now.

There's a lag of time before it could happen.

Well, yes.

I mean, and so the one side is like, look, we're behind literacy.

Every second counts, on the other hand, is that this will be a giant proposal.

So the the the local school systems also want to know, well, how are we going to do this?

We can't we can't do this immediately.

We're going to have to gear up as well and find funding sources for it.

So while it does need to get done, we have to make sure it's done properly.

So I do understand both sides.

Tell me about the monthly webinar series briefly.

That part does.

Sure.

This is a monthly webinar series where we take a different topic, usually something that's in important wheelhouse.

We usually focus on funding.

We cover the state legislature, we look at coastal erosion, we do lots of education topics.

So we're doing this one on literacy.

But we've also looked at the teacher shortage as one.

So we have a different topic every month that we're going to be looking at.

And because you're doing that, we will cover.

It like that.

That's great to hear.

Thank you so much.

Thank you so much.

Alzheimer's is typically considered a disease of aging and it's also one of the leading causes of death in the United States, with Louisiana ranking fourth with the highest number of fatalities.

Here today to talk to me about this disease is Dr. Robert L Newton Jr.

Thank you so much for joining us.

Thank you for having me.

So it's the end of Alzheimer's Awareness Month.

Can you tell me a little bit about the nature of this disease?

So Alzheimer's disease is a disease of the brain.

So essentially what happens is that there are dysfunction that's going on within the brain that causes a range of symptoms for people, memory problems and problems and processing information and learning.

And so that's really what the nature of Alzheimer's disease is.

It's a very insidious disease.

Currently, there's no cure and it's progressive.

So it usually well, it always progresses and worsens over time.

Always, always.

So there's no way around it?

No.

As of right now, there is no cure for Alzheimer's disease.

Is there any type of prevention method, anything you can do to maybe slow the process?

So we're investigating many different ways to try to prevent and slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease.

One of the major factors that people are investigating right now are lifestyle interventions.

And what I mean by lifestyle interventions are interventions in which we try to change people's behavior in order to reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.

So increasing physical activity, changing your diet, getting more sleep, increasing your social interaction, so and using your brain in new and creative ways.

And so there's a lot of trials right now, large trials across the world that are going on to try to see if any of these kinds of lifestyle behavior change interventions will result in decreased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease or cognitive decline.

And those, again, are going on around the world.

There's also research in drugs and pharmaceuticals in order to try to reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.

And so one of the major ones that was released in 2021 was, as you can MAB and that drug showed that there is a decrease in plaques that form in the brain for Alzheimer's disease.

But it didn't really show that there were any changes in symptoms of Alzheimer's disease.

And so it was kind of controversial.

And there are more drugs that are being developed every day to try to prevent this condition.

So you mentioned diet and lifestyle changes.

How can diet and anything that you're doing in your daily life affect your brain?

So the way that lifestyle behavior typically works is that when you're doing physical activity or when you are increasing or improving your diet, it makes changes in the brain.

So there are neurotrophic factors in the brain, things that are healthy for the brain, that physical activity increases, that diet can affect.

And those things improving the health of the brain may potentially slow Alzheimer's, the development of Alzheimer's disease, or actually prevent it.

And that's what we're investigating.

Okay.

So I heard blood pressure, sugars, all of those things can be factors.

Is that true?

I mean, does that tie into what you just said?

Yes, there's a number of different factors that are risk factors for Alzheimer's disease.

So we know that high blood pressure is a risk factor for developing Alzheimer's disease.

We know that diabetes as well is a risk factor and lifestyle behaviors.

So people who exercise more have lower risk of developing Alzheimer's disease that doesn't mean it prevents it.

It just means that you have a lower risk.

We also know that there's environmental factors that play a role as well.

So lack of access to health care increases your risk for Alzheimer's disease.

So there's a number of different factors that contribute.

And we're trying to figure out which combination of these factors we can intervene on, which ones of these are modifiable.

To decrease the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.

In America, is there a more vulnerable group?

Yes, there are different, vulnerable groups.

So age is one of the major risk factors for Alzheimer's disease.

So as you age, you increase your risk.

So people who are over 80 have a much greater risk of Alzheimer's disease compared to people who are less than 70.

Okay.

There are other groups such as African-Americans.

African-Americans actually have two times the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease compared to non-Hispanic white Americans.

And Hispanic Americans actually have 1.5 times the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.

So and people with lower education also have greater risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.

So there's different groups of people who are more at risk.

So from what you've said, it seems like there's no one thing that makes you more likely to get Alzheimer's.

It's just a combination.

Yes.

And it can be a different combination of factors for different people.

So, yes, there's not one thing that causes Alzheimer's disease.

It's a combination of things that put people at risk for developing Alzheimer's disease.

Well, here at Pennington, I know that there is an institute that's dedicated to studying this type of disease.

Are there any developments here specifically that we should be looking out for?

So there's a number of different studies that we have going on to try to see if by making alterations to people's lifestyle, does it reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.

So there's the rate studies that we're conducting.

These are exercise interventions in which we're trying to increase people's exercise to see if it will reduce risk factors for Alzheimer's disease.

And we also have an institute, as you mentioned, and those studies, they're looking at physical activity interventions.

They're longitudinal studies that they're conducting to see which factors put people more at risk here in Louisiana.

So there's a number of different studies that we have going on here investigating this this disease.

Well, thank you so much, Dr. Newton, for telling us all about this disease.

And like I said, this is the last week of Alzheimer's Awareness Month.

So hopefully you guys have been able to learn something from us.

I'm excited to announce an upcoming mini series I had the pleasure of working on.

Join me as I explore the ins and outs of black fraternities and sororities.

The series Crossing Over Black Greek Life will premiere on S.W.A.T.

starting Friday, October 7th, and our last episode will air on the 28th.

Look forward to seeing you.

I hope everybody likes it and everyone.

That is our show for this week.

Remember, you can watch anything LP be any time wherever you are with our Lpv PBS app.

You can catch LP 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, Twitter, Tik-Tok, and on Instagram.

For everyone here at Louisiana Public Broadcasting, I'm Andre Moore.

And I'm crossing.

Until next time.

That's the state.

Support for Louisiana.

The state we're in is provided by.

Every day I go to work for Entergy.

I know customers.

Are counting on me.

So Entergy is investing millions of dollars to keep the lights on.

And installing new technology to prevent outages before they happen together.

Together, 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 an historical and cultural center for Southwest Louisiana and the foundation for Excellence in Louisiana Public Broadcasting.

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