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.

Meet the new Louisiana Surgeon General and hear how he plans to move the state's healthcare system forward.

Former Saints player Steve Gleason is giving a voice to those battling ALS.

And find out why Louisiana has some of the sweetest watermelons in the nation.

Let's get started.

Hello everyone, I'm Karen Lichtblau.

Much more on those top stories in a moment on this week's edition of Louisiana, The State We're In.

But first, Louisiana will pay up to $11 million to a contractor to manage the state's new education savings accounts.

The law offers some parents grant money to send their children to private schools and to cover other education related expenses.

New York based Odyssey will set up an application website, ensure families spend the money properly and provide other services related to the Essa program.

The company oversees similar programs in other states, but has faced complaints about delayed payments and allegations it approved and eligible expenses.

State officials say they're confident that the rollout of Louisiana's program will go smoothly.

Many people in Louisiana have probably been shocked to see their power bills go up over the summer months.

Public Service Commissioner Eric Cremata recently bragged at the Republican National Convention that Louisiana has some of the lowest energy rates in the country.

Jessica Hendrix with the Alliance for Affordable Energy, says Cremata is technically correct, but that he didn't factor in all the added fees.

People don't necessarily pay the rate they paid the bill.

So even if you're only being charged $0.09 a kilowatt hour for energy, if you're forced to use 2000 kilowatt hours a month to keep your house relatively comfortable, and then you have all of the riders for resiliency, your bill adds up.

So we've got some of the lowest rates.

He is not incorrect, but we have some of the highest bills.

Hendrix also said Louisiana residents have some of the highest energy burdens in the country, meaning they pay between 25 to 30% of their monthly income on utilities.

The group did praise the Public Service Commission for recently reaching a deal to lower a proposed Entergy rate hike, and to reduce some of the fees for late payments.

A Baton Rouge woman took to the stage this week at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Caitlin Joshua spoke about her experience of being denied care during a miscarriage in 2022.

No woman should experience what I endured, but too many have.

They write to me saying, what happened to you happened to me.

Sometimes they're miscarrying.

Scared to tell anyone?

Even their doctors.

Joshua was 11 weeks pregnant with her second child when she began to experience severe pain and bleeding.

She says she was refused care at two emergency rooms because of Louisiana's abortion ban, which only allows abortions if the mother's life is at risk or if there's risk to vital organs.

In response to her speech, Attorney General Liz Merrill released a statement claiming Louisiana law does not prohibit care for someone having a miscarriage.

Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris has vowed to restore the right of abortion care if she's elected.

Well, from hashtags to headlines.

Here's what's trending this week.

Sticking with the Democratic National Convention, Louisiana's Democratic Party pledged delegates to Vice President Harris and Louisiana.

It's about family.

And I'm surrounded by my family of the delegates of Louisiana.

Actor and Louisiana legend Wendell Pierce announced the delegates votes with DJ College.

All I do is win.

Playing in the background.

That's how it is for New Orleans.

But a lot of people said that that wasn't good enough.

They wanted a more iconic Louisiana song instead.

Louisiana officials say they initially picked Professor Longhair as Song Big Chief, but they got overruled.

Now, the Harris Walch campaign said, all I Do Is Win embodies the energy and enthusiasm of their campaign.

Well, it may be scorching hot outside, but for all of you Starbucks fans, this week was the unofficial start of the fall coffee chain.

Seasonal favorite pumpkin spice latte?

Drumroll, please.

It was launched on Thursday.

People went wild when they saw the announcement on the Starbucks app.

Now, incidentally, this is the earliest pumpkin spice latte launch ever.

It's going to be interesting to see.

This is one of Starbucks best sellers, and it seems like they're banking on a boost from the seasonal products.

The company says about 10% of its overall sales come from seasonal favorites like the Pumpkin Spice Latte.

So I am watching and waiting to see when they launch their holiday peppermint specialty drinks.

I don't know if that's going to happen in a few weeks.

Now moving on as Zachary Woman is getting big attention for her gardening skills, Jeannie Buell harvested acres colossal watermelon that way.

Get this 111 pounds.

It took about three months to grow.

Now, she says she plans to share the watermelon with students at her granddaughter's school.

I, for one, am curious about this secret sauce.

She used to grow those watermelons.

Well, speaking of watermelons, Louisiana is known to produce some of the sweetest in the nation.

You'll often see Stan selling them on the side of the road during the summer months.

And this week's harvest of the month report, our digital team takes us to Washington Parish to see how Louisiana farmers grow and harvest the summertime sensation.

Hi, friends.

I'm Krystal Bessey with the Louisiana Farm to School program.

This month's Louisiana Harvest of the month was so loved by American writer Mark Twain that he declared, when you taste it, you know what the angels eat.

And it is a heavenly treat on a hot summer day.

It's watermelon.

Louisiana is known to grow some of the sweetest varieties of watermelon.

So today we're in Washington Parish at Perry Talley's Farm.

To learn a little bit more about this angelic fruit.

Watermelons are members of the Q cabbage, a family of gourds that include other culinary vegetables like cucumbers, squash, and pumpkin.

And they're even considered a fruit and a vegetable.

There are more than 300 varieties of watermelon with certain favorites in Louisiana, such as Jubilee or Charleston Gray.

But more than variety, the region where watermelon grow and soil quality play a huge role in creating the most perfect, sweetest watermelon.

I'm here today with Perry Talley and his daughter Vivian, and he is a Washington Parish watermelon farmer.

He's going to tell us about what makes watermelon so delicious.

Nice to meet you.

Thank you so much for having me.

Glad you could come out today.

Yeah.

Can you tell me a little bit about your farm and how you got into farming?

Well, we're a wholesale operation.

we it has evolved over decades.

I can remember, my grandfather going out with a hoe and a nail apron to plant seed by hand.

thank goodness we've come a long way since then.

For years, we have grown watermelons here in Washington Parish.

we are Washington Parish natives.

Part of what makes a Washington parish melon so great is the soil, the climate.

The varieties have a lot to do with it.

And I believe the people have a lot to do with it, too.

So.

That's right.

Got to have that love for grown watermelons.

yeah.

Hi, I'm Julie, my hand from LSU, and I'm here soaking up the sun at the Talley farm with Vivian.

Hi.

Watermelons.

A delicious, healthy fruit.

It's soaked with nutrients.

A watermelon is approximately 92% water, so it's great to eat on a summer day to stay hydrated.

Each juicy bite has plenty of vitamins, but it also has a pigment called lycopene.

It helps your heart stay healthy, so the more watermelon you eat, the healthier your heart will be.

Did you know you can eat all the parts of the watermelon?

No.

You can eat the seeds.

You can eat the rind.

And we're going to talk a little bit more about that later.

I like to combine that sweet flesh, especially when watermelons are in season like this.

And I cut open a watermelon and have a lot of watermelon left over and make a salad, I add it to a salad.

This salad has cucumber and watermelon and red bell peppers and a little fresh basil from my garden.

You can also eat the rind and I like it pickled and it's easy to do so after you've eaten all the delicious flesh from the watermelon, you take some rind like this and get most of the red part of the rind off.

Peel the green part of the rind, and we're going to use a vegetable peeler to do that, and then cut it into some small pickle shaped pieces.

And pack them into this jar that has the pickling liquid in it.

It's got some salt and some vinegar and sugar.

Sometimes I put some spices like star anise or some cloves, black peppercorns.

Sometimes people like to put a little hollow pino in it to make it hot.

The reason you have to pack it is, as you notice, the watermelon is floating right now, and we want to get it down into that juice and then let it sit overnight.

If you can wait.

And it's delicious.

When it's done.

Today we're going to maximize our lycopene intake with a cool smoothie.

So these are some frozen strawberries.

We're just going to fill this about halfway full.

We're going to top it with about the same amount.

Pick out some that don't have a lot of seeds in them.

I mean you can do it with the seeds, but they get in the way a little bit.

I'm going to put just a little bit of water to get this watermelon water to get started.

Let's cook.

All right.

So we've blended it together.

It's smooth.

And now we're going to enjoy it.

The watermelon so sweet that you don't need to add any sugar to it.

And it's really warm here this morning.

Would you like to try this.

Yeah.

Okay.

Great.

If it tastes.

Oh, this is really good.

Is it?

Oh, very good and cool and refreshing.

Those frozen strawberries gave it another little tang.

Gets it.

Yeah.

So now that I have all this watermelon, how should I store it in the.

Should I store it in the refrigerator?

Yes.

Once it's cut from the run, you should start in the refrigerator.

Okay, so how about before it's cut?

Before it's cut, you should store it in a warm, dry place, but not too hot, or it will spoil.

Oh, okay.

That's good to know.

All of the recipes that we've created today and that we've shown you on this table are going to be available on the Seeds to Success website.

You can check out extended versions of harvest of the month at LPB, Morgan Harvest.

And while you're there, take a look at our digital first programs like Ritual and Safe Haven.

Again, that's all@lp.org.

Louisiana has joined a growing number of states, creating the position of Surgeon General.

Governor Jeff Landry appointed Doctor Ralph Abraham to the role earlier this year.

Now, in this week's Louisiana speech, I sat down with Doctor Abraham to talk about his new title and how he hopes to improve Louisiana's poor health rankings.

I am joined by Louisiana's newly appointed surgeon general, Doctor Ralph Abraham.

Thank you so much for joining us here in sad to be Here.

So, viewers here, this is a new role that it was created.

And I think the first question that viewers want to know is what exactly does, Louisiana Surgeon General do?

When Governor Landry got elected, he envisioned this role, teamed up with the legislature to create the role of Surgeon General LDH.

The Louisiana Department of Health is a large organization.

Medicaid, water, public health.

We encompass many entities.

The governor's vision, along with mine, was that we needed a surgeon general to bring all agencies together across the state, whether that be hospitals, boards, physicians, communities, to pool resources for all of Louisiana to make their health better, to improve our health outcomes.

Unfortunately, right now, Louisiana is not doing well in national rankings, and we intend to improve that.

So let's talk about some tangible ways that you're going to come in and do that right.

We need our people healthier.

My job as surgeon General is to find the means to make that happen.

We just came from a huge meeting of Louisiana doctors, met with them, got their input.

We've had many meetings with our hospital systems.

What are their best practices now?

They all have areas that they are expert in, and we want to pull those, connect those dots and move in the direction that we know we need to move it.

So what can Louisiana do at the policy level to improve health outcomes?

Policy is where the rubber meets the road.

Literally.

We can blame a lot of things as to why we're not doing well, but health policy to your point, is the key.

We've got to have put policy where we are looking at the causes of why are chronic diseases, about why are maternal mortality and morbidity is not well, why our infant mortality and morbidity is not well.

We have had conversations from the national level to the state level to the local level as to what we need to do, what exactly it is that can move that needle.

And we're learning very quickly that it's going to take resources, it's going to take commitment, and it's going to take community by in which we've got.

So in order for Louisiana to improve its health outcomes, clearly at the policy level, and there needs to be, a component of social services support for people that are economically challenged, that don't have the resources to good food, good health care.

do you see that as a challenge in your position to push for social policy to improve outcomes?

Well, it's a challenge, but we're meeting the challenge at LDH.

We've got those people in place.

We've got those experts, that know how to address those issues.

We are asking that if they need help, call us, call me.

And the resources are there.

They are there.

Yes.

And they have been there.

unfortunately, I think we've been lack in history of the LDH to advertise all that we have available.

And we are making light speed changes to ensure that people know how to reach us and how to reach out.

What is your personal priority?

What is what is the most important thing that you would like to tackle in this position?

There there's not just one, but you know, the thing that comes to the top, I think, is mental health.

We struggle every day in America, not just in Louisiana with this mental health crisis.

The governor in the legislature just came off a very successful crime session.

I know as a physician they knew legislatures and certainly the governor.

And I've had this discussion more than once that many people that are arrested have a mental issue.

And if we can intervene before they commit that crime, we've not only help that person, but we save the state a lot of money, too.

So it's a win win.

So mental health for sure.

Children, of course, are near and dear to all of us, and I see them and families that are struggling just to meet educational needs.

A child cannot learn if they're hungry or if they're unhealthy.

And again, that's my job as surgeon general to find those agencies.

If we don't do it, they don't need to provide those resources for those children, for those families.

So the requirement for this position is that the individual is a medical doctor or a physician.

Right.

Tell us a little bit about your background.

Well, I grew up in rural Louisiana.

It's still where I live.

I grew up as a boy there where I practice medicine.

First, I went to veterinary medical school in Baton Rouge, right here, practice veterinary medicine for ten years, saw that there was a huge need for access in the rural community just to see a doctor.

I said, well, maybe I can do that.

So as a mid 30s, gentleman, I went back to medical school, was fortunate enough to get in.

I came back to the community that I live in, and that's where I practice medicine.

All right.

Well, thank you so much for joining us and introducing yourself to our viewers.

And welcome to your new position.

I'm going to look forward to it.

Groundbreaking new technology is giving hope to people facing the struggle of neurodegenerative diseases like ALS.

The mission is personal to former New Orleans Saints Steve Gleason and members of his nonprofit foundation.

I sat down with the experts to learn about the speech Accessibility Project, aimed at training voice recognition software to better understand all speech patterns.

You're a great guy.

Joe Redman is capturing his donors, his way of speaking, his signature sayings.

The recordings will speak for Joe after he can no longer speak.

The former disc jockey and record promoter began losing his speech after he was diagnosed with ALS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

I have a very slow progressing, but they sound like those in 2012 and you get the lowest rate now.

But I was in the red light waiting years and the promotion that national for up to and five.

So it during my whole world with my speaking with Joe is banking his voice and recording phrases for the Speech Accessibility Project.

Working with the Team Gleason Foundation.

It's a nonprofit organization founded by former New Orleans Saint Steve Gleason, who is battling ALS.

You're very tight.

The Speech Accessibility Project trains voice assisted technology to better understand nontraditional speech.

Team Gleason is recruiting individuals diagnosed with ALS to read and record sets of phrases to feed into the database.

The goal of this project is to improve voice recognition software, so that individuals, as their voice may change over time, are still able to have access to your voice assistance, your your, voice command features and other things of that nature.

So the way this project works.

So Team Gleason is partnered with, the Beckman Institute of Advanced Sciences and Technology, with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

We're working with individuals living with ALS.

So I tropic lateral sclerosis and as well as plus so primarily lateral sclerosis.

The voice samples help train voice recognition tools such as Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant.

Participants make 600 voice recordings, which takes anywhere from 3 to 5 hours to complete.

The goal is to evolve voice command technology so that it is equal opportunity for all speech patterns.

Amazon, Apple, Google, and Microsoft are all helping fund the Speech Accessibility Project.

As of June 2024, we've collected over 235,000 voice samples.

And, the tool that they're developing for this project initially was, able to recognize about 80% of the speech, but 20% of that was not being processed.

So, as your voice may change, it might be frustrating, to, to not have access to those alexas and your series that you've grown to love.

And so since we've started, we've got that number down from 20%, down to 12%.

So now essentially 88% is being able to be recognized.

Whenever you hear the like.

That means that you selected a letter.

Emily Kaufmann is a speech pathologist with Team Gleason.

She's been working with Joe to bank his voice and to learn skills such as eye tracking, to operate smart devices.

Voice preservation is the best place to start working with someone, because you have the opportunity to develop that relationship and get to know them and, save their voice for those who can hear it later on.

We see local patients from the very beginning of their diagnosis throughout.

So such as Joe was talking about, they'll come in and do voice banking, message banking.

But if things change and you know, he loses the ability to use his hands, we'll find a way for him to continue texting, making phone calls, using his computer.

or if things change and he loses his voice, we'll find a way for him to continue communicating.

Team Gleason provides local clinical services, a nationwide.

The organization loans equipment such as communication devices, and it repairs and loans portable powered wheelchairs to individuals with ALS, ALS, or persons living with ALS.

So when a spouse comes into our clinic at Team Gleason, we're able to help them from the start.

Without insurance, without any of these other stipulations.

So we're able to really give them what they need.

We believe here technology is secure until they find a cure.

So we're able to give them back what this disease has taken away through technology.

Gleason's inspiration is palpable at Team Gleason's New Orleans headquarters in the Vincent Tower.

His strength and struggle, expressed in a recent autobiography.

And at the 2024 SBA Awards, where he received the 2024 Arthur Ashe Courage Award.

Moving many to tears.

If we can listen, understand and help alleviate each other's suffering, then truly all things are possible.

Thank you again for this incredible honor.

I love you all.

Gleason continues to motivate on and off the field.

New Orleans Saint Thomas Morstead is pledging to donate $1,000 to Team Gleason for every punt.

He lands inside the 20 yard line this season.

It seems like the diagnosis of ALS is on the rise.

It definitely is on the rise as more neurologists know how to diagnose it and diagnose it earlier.

It's on the rise, and that's also why we see a rise in our services at Team Gleason.

When I first started, we were getting maybe 30 requests per month, and now we're getting 700.

Steve Gleason was diagnosed with ALS in 2011.

A year later, Joe received the same diagnosis, uniting the two in a common fight to make life better for those struggling with neurodegenerative diseases.

Sharing model.

And to be able to get back and people with their nontraditional speaking is very for them and voice breaking because by voice in church in lent or go or the my I, I know I definitely it can be.

So I want to encourage others to make their voices heard that they, you know, they feel that they they give me they gave.

That's our show for this week.

Remember, you can watch anything LPB anytime, 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 at 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 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 by Visit Baton Rouge.

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

Thank you.