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 always and is different than most other states, we don't run as a ticket.

The race for Louisiana's next lieutenant governor.

A look at the responsibilities of this public servant in command.

The point of this bill is to stop saltwater from progressing upstream efforts to combat saltwater intrusion.

I always like to think of early voting as a quote unquote, distant, early warning as to what will happen on Election Day.

Early voting has started.

Here are the trends.

This is a Louisiana museum and it celebrates Louisiana greatness.

And it's from Lake Providence to Lake Charles.

It's from out of the Grand Isle.

The Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and Northwest Louisiana History Museum celebrates its 10th anniversary.

Hi, everyone.

I'm CARE Saints here.

And I'm Karen LeBlanc.

We start with some good news.

Economist Dr. Lawrence Scott is predicting that Louisiana will add more than 80,000 jobs over the next two years.

That's right.

Currently, the state is experiencing the lowest unemployment rate in its history with manufacturer ing jobs at a seven year high.

And the mighty Mississippi is weakening as dry conditions dramatically lower the water levels at the river's base.

The weakened water flow was allowing salty gulf water to travel upstream toward the drinking supply in Louisiana southern parishes.

This is creating mass anxiety and concern from business owners and farmers.

I spoke with a concerned small community gardener whose produce supplies an entire neighborhood and the Mississippi River is slowly saturating with salt.

Salt from the Gulf of Mexico, specifically.

Normally the flow of the river is strong enough to keep salty gulf water from seeping in, But this year the fresh water levels are so low that it's difficult to keep the salt out from this shack.

I work for Sprout and the Community food Manager.

I've been with the organization since January of last year.

Sprout is a nonprofit organization that specializes in supporting farmers and community accessibility to produce success with their county street garden that feeds surrounding neighborhoods, making progress to get help from people who rely on that program.

As long as you know, we believe in no barriers to food access, you don't have to do anything to get us.

But she's worried the saltwater intrusion could reduce the amount of produce for the people who rely on it.

The big issue is that you don't want to have a buildup of salt in your bedroom.

So that's where we're going to have to use a lot more water.

SEC says too much salt buildup can overwhelm her produce.

It'll cause the plants to yellow wilt and eventually die.

That's a huge problem for us because the food, the issues facing sprout are echoed by farmers around the state, especially those who plant their seeds in the fall.

High salinity levels in the soil will make it difficult to yield a healthy crop.

It'll also be more expensive to maintain proper irrigation.

We are ordering like big tech to be able to store water at this point when those would be helpful and useful for gardens and home gardeners.

But despite the changes Sprout is making, SEQ is looking for more solutions.

Obviously the most important thing to do is to ensure that we have enough safe drinking water for the people in the area of concern.

We are monitoring the situation.

We're being proactive.

Governor John Bel Edwards says the saltwater intrusion is a state of emergency.

Three cities in Plaquemines Parish are under boil water advisories because a salt wedge seeped into their drinking supply.

We don't believe that there's sufficient precipitation in the near term anywhere along the Mississippi River to to materially change the conditions for the better.

Salt will continue to travel further upstream, possibly seeping into the water supply in different parishes if the weather conditions don't change.

Rain is the only way to stop the intrusion, but there is a way to delay it.

So we are augmenting a already existing underwater cell that we built start building over the summer.

On the point of the sill is to stop saltwater from progressing upstream and threatening some of the freshwater intakes that are upstream.

Think of a sill like an underwater levee.

It's built low to the ground to block the ocean water from moving further upstream.

Salt is denser than freshwater, so it sinks to the bottom of the river in a wedge like shape.

But because we're in a drought, the salt wedge has started to build up and it's seeped over the sill and that's what's causing the problem.

So what we're doing today and for the next two weeks is adding more material on top of the soil to hopefully slow down the salt water progression.

We're adding on the sides towards the bank.

So in the middle where these white barrels are, there's a ship channel.

And so we have critical navigation going up and down.

So we're adding on the sides, putting in that ship channel, keeping it low so that ship traffic can come up and down the Mississippi River.

Still, this is far from a permanent fix.

The sill expansion will bias about 10 to 15 days of delay before the salt tops the sill and continues upstream.

The Army Corps predicts that the salt intrusion will reach New Orleans and surrounding parishes by October.

At that point, other arrangements will be made to ensure that the water is safe to drink.

Where, combined with the state's efforts in the parishes efforts.

We're going to do things like barge water.

So that's really taking water from upstream, filling a barge and then bringing it to the parish for them to treat that water or mix it with their existing salty water to mix it.

The Biden administration is sending federal relief to Louisiana.

That means that the Department of Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management will now coordinate disaster relief plans.

It also means federal money and resources will be available if it comes to that.

In the meantime, drinking water is readily available for other parishes outside of Plaquemines Parish.

In the event that more water is needed, the governor says there are systems in place to ensure that residents will always have access to bottled water.

Another good news update for you.

The saltwater wedge is slowing its progression, meaning Orleans Parish drinking supply may be spared until November.

We'll keep you updated on those changes.

Early voting is in progress for statewide offices, including the Louisiana lieutenant governor.

With six candidates campaigning for the job.

Although this elected position ranks second in command after the Louisiana governor most recognized the lieutenant governor for his public facing role as the state's tourism ambassador.

But there is much more than meets the eye to the state office.

Here's what you need to know about the roles and responsibilities of Louisiana's lieutenant governor as you head to the polls.

Here's a little light of mine.

Louisiana's lieutenant governor appears in commercial spots for the state's anti littering campaigns.

He or she is often a VIP at ribbon cuttings, the guest of honor at festivals and the featured speaker at many cultural events.

Louisiana's lieutenant governor is one of the most visible statewide post traveling around Louisiana as the tourism ambassador.

But behind the scenes in the halls of government, the lieutenant governor holds rank as the second in command of Louisiana Lieutenant Governor becomes governor.

If the governor is unable to serve, if the governor dies in office or leaves office for whatever reason.

Louisiana Commissioner of Administration Jay Darden served as the 53rd lieutenant governor of Louisiana from 2010 to 2016.

Technically, when the governor is out of the out of the state, the lieutenant governor is the acting governor.

Now, that really, as a practical matter, doesn't have any effect, because if a lieutenant governor comes in during that brief absence and does something, the governor, when he gets back, can undo it.

But the lieutenant governor is like the vice president in line to take over if something happens to the chief executive.

Voters head to the polls to elect a new lieutenant governor with six candidates vying for the job, including the incumbent lieutenant governor, Billy Nungesser.

He's finishing up his second term and campaigning for a third because the lieutenant governor isn't subject to term limits.

Give term limits in the legislature and you have term limits for the governor.

But all the other statewide elected officials do not have term limits.

And attempts to impose term limits on those positions have not been successful in the legislature.

Unlike candidates for the U.S. president and vice president, Louisiana's governor and lieutenant governor run independently, not as a package.

So sharing the same political philosophy is not a prerequisite to run for office.

Louisiana is different than most other states.

We don't run as a ticket.

That used to be the case in Louisiana in the early mid-part of the 1900s, a governor and lieutenant governor ran as a ticket.

That no longer is the case.

And so the lieutenant governor runs independent of the governor and serves independent of the governor.

Anyway and can sign up to run for Louisiana lieutenant governor.

Now, unlike the state attorney general, where only a lawyer can run for the position, the requirements of the lieutenant governor cast a wide net, which explains the current roster of six candidates.

They include in alphabetical order, Albert Guillory, a Republican from Opelousas, Tammy Jo Tarde, a Republican from Madisonville, Willie Jones, a Democrat from New Orleans.

Billy Nungesser, the current lieutenant governor from Mary Bruce Payton, an independent from Bush.

And Gary Rispoli.

No, a party affiliation.

From Greenwell Springs.

You have to have a be a certain age and you have to be a citizen of Louisiana and have lived here for a year.

But otherwise there are no specific requirements to be a lieutenant governor and lieutenant governor in the past several years has come from a variety of different backgrounds.

So here's a brief history lesson of the post.

The Office of Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana was created with the Constitution of 1845.

The lieutenant governor presided over the state Senate until the Constitution of 1974.

In 1986, the lieutenant governor also became the commissioner of the Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism.

Have there been instances, as in Louisiana's history, where the lieutenant governor has served as the governor?

Yes.

In fact, the only African-American to serve as governor of Louisiana.

PBS's Pinch Back moved up from lieutenant governor's office to serve as governor for only about 34 days, while the then governor had been impeached by the House of Representatives when he was not convicted by the Senate in the charges were dropped while he resumed office as the governor.

And so PBS's Pinch Back was only served for about a month or so.

But he is the only African-American governor of Louisiana or along moved up from lieutenant governor to the governor's office.

The mid to late 1930 saw a lot of shuffling between the two top officers.

After the 1935 assassination of Governor Huey P Long, Lieutenant Governor Oscar de Allen became governor until he passed in 1936.

And Lieutenant Governor Jimeno assumed the duties of the governorship for five months in 1939.

Governor Richard Lasch resigned from office, and Lieutenant Governor Earl Kay, Long, brother of Huey Long, assumed the duties of the governorship.

Today, the lieutenant governor manages 38 state parks, historic sites and preservation areas, ten state museums, the state library and the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board.

So in your opinion, do you think that this is one of the most underestimated statewide positions?

Oh, I do a lot of a lot of the other statewide positions don't get the attention that the top of the ballot issue does.

The governor.

But all of them have importance, relative importance.

But the lieutenant governor certainly is the, as I say, a heartbeat away from being governor when there's very little attention, usually, frankly, given to a lieutenant governor's race.

It can be a very expensive race.

It can be a hotly contested race, as I had a couple of different times.

And or it can be one that's very quiet and like this one that we're in right now has been an extremely quiet race.

Well, that brings me to my last question.

And it's sort of a personal question.

Why would you or anyone want the job?

You are in the shadow of the governor.

Why would you want that job?

Because it's probably the best job in Louisiana government.

You're marketing the state, You're selling the state.

You're responsible for a cabinet level department.

You run state parks in the state museum system.

Anybody who's interested in Louisiana history and culture and what makes a special ought to be interested in lieutenant governor, which is one of the reasons I certainly enjoyed it very much.

For more in-depth conversations about issues important to voters in this election season, be sure and watch Louisiana spotlight on Tuesday night at 7 p.m., where I talk with a political analyst and thought leaders with the Council for a Better Louisiana and the Public Affairs Research Council about politics, policies and programs to move the state forward.

Like Karen said, the first of Louisiana's electorate headed for the polls on September 30th for early voting on everything from our next governor to the next attorney General John Couey.

On.

A pollster with James Analytics explains the recent voter trends and what we may be able to expect on election Day.

All right, Mr. Giuliani.

So first, I want to talk about early voting.

So early voting began not too long ago, and now we're starting to see a little bit of the trends and where people are putting their votes.

What have you learned as a pollster?

So what I've seen is this.

I had suspected for several months that this is not a high wattage election cycle.

And that feeling is being borne out by actual statistics I'm seeing from the daily early voting that's coming in.

More specifically, at this point in time, we're talking about 165,000 people have early voted in the 2019 primary.

It's 152,000 right now.

So we're talking about a 10% decrease in early voting, despite the fact that mail in volume doubled relative to 2019.

However, the way I look at mail and volley volume, rather, the world changed after the pandemic in terms of creating a new constituency of mail in voters, particularly since Louisiana allows you to get on a permanent mail in voting list.

Less early voting than in the 2019 primary.

The early voting also tilts more Republican.

So Louisiana still has, despite what people think otherwise, a Democratic voter registration plurality.

So when I see more Republicans early vote, the Democrat, yes, that is newsworthy to me because, number one, the first time I saw that happen was that the 2022 Senate race.

So you mentioned that the volume is down for early voting.

Does early voting at all?

Is it like a foreshadowing of what's to come for later voting trends?

It is.

It unlike other states, the early voting electorate is fairly similar to what you're going to see in the end.

So I always like to think of early voting as a quote unquote distant, early warning as to what will happen on Election Day.

Were there any other, I guess, demographic trends that you noticed?

Was there maybe another age group that was voting more?

Was there a location that voted more than others?

I know I don't typically get that granular, but one thing that has changed those since 2019, there are a couple of larger parishes that have opened up additional early voting sites, and I'm specifically thinking about Lafayette and Caddo.

These are parishes with about a quarter million people.

That for years and years had one early voting site.

And that changed.

And I remember last year when I did an analysis of early voting turnout, I did see a noticeable increase in early voting.

When you provide more access, as in more early voting sites and by the way, a similar phenomenon occurred in the 2020 presidential election when we added days of early voting.

In other words, typically we just have one week allowed.

We added extra days because of the pandemic and lo and behold, nearly a million Louisianians chose to early vote that year, which is a record.

Wow.

All of that is very, very, very interesting.

Is there anything else that you wanted to add that I didn't ask?

So right now you're going through a period of Republican dominance.

I certainly did not expect them to dominate the way they did.

In other words, on Monday and Tuesday are both saw 13 point Republican leads in terms of the the net change on a day to day basis.

I expect to see something similar for Wednesday, for Thursday and Friday.

For Saturday, Democrats will have a good day.

But the question is, can the good day overcome what I would say are five bad days out of seven?

So that's what I'm looking for as we go throughout early voting week.

All right.

Well, thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to talk with us.

I really appreciate it.

My pleasure.

This is the last weekend of early voting.

The polls close on Sunday, October 8th.

The primaries start October 14th.

If you're looking for more information on the candidates and the issues, LBB has done extensive gubernatorial coverage with our special series The Way Forward Election 2023 and Coffee with the Candidates.

We also hosted the very last gubernatorial debate before early voting began.

You can find those stories on our website at npr.org.

And voters search only have their work cut out for them, I mean, with the statewide offices and local offices and then, of course, the constitutional amendments.

Lots to read about.

And of course, we provided those resources to help you out.

So make sure you check them out.

Absolutely.

Louisiana's Sports Hall of Fame and Northwest Louisiana History Museum is celebrating its 10th anniversary with new exhibits attracting sports fans and history buffs from around the state.

The iconic museum in historic downtown Natchitoches serves as both an architectural attraction and a chronicler of the state's world class athletes and culture bearers.

Let's take a tour along the banks of the Cane River Lake in downtown historic Natchitoches.

You'll encounter an eye catching structure that looks out of sorts with all of these historic buildings.

It's a museum.

And inside, you'll discover that Louisiana's rich culture and history shares the spotlight with the state's world class athletes.

Yeah, it's been ten years since the museum opened.

And look, it was a labor of love, not only for the residents of Natchitoches local officials, but also for the Louisiana Sportswriters Association.

The real reason this is here was that for the first 14 years of the Hall of Fame's existence from 1958 forward, it was nomadic in nature.

It was there were inductions done at halftime of LSU basketball games, at sports banquets all around the state.

There was a small collection of artwork that went on display in certain places, but it didn't have a home.

And in 1972, Northwestern University offered a home and built a permanent display case that expanded it to the expanded of three.

And so Natchitoches is truly a very hospitable town and always has been.

So all of that blends together to make the Hall of Fame's home in Natchitoches just as natural fit as you can get.

The architecture of the museum serves as its own attraction.

You can see that the structure kind of curves around.

It's made of bent steel and clad in cap stone fitted together much like a jigsaw puzzle.

It's decidedly futuristic and there's a story behind it.

Some symbolism, because when it was built in 2003, we won the top architectural award in the world by Xavier magazine.

And it's all individual of about 1030 pieces of individual capstone, all different sizes.

And if you look down this hallway, a lot of people guess, oh, it's a tunnel for the sports was actually supposed to be the cut of a river, as we have Kane River Lake right outside the smoothness of the stones, the natural light that comes in, even the pebbles up in the light fixtures.

Even outside, we have the copper and they have the louvered look of the copper, which is supposed to be the louvered look of plantation shutters.

So that's really sort of the the inspiration for the design of the building.

To museums in one.

The ground floor showcases sports memorabilia, including a rotating exhibit featuring personal items from the annual inductees in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, an event held in Natchitoches in July.

Upstairs, the sports exhibits continue with Louisiana's notable athletes and memorable sports moments, including recent updates in honor of the museum's 10th anniversary.

So as part of the updates, we try to do a little bit for each case.

And here in our LSU case, we got to add two of Nick Saban's championship rings when he was at LSU.

And then we actually, after Kim Mulkey won the 2023 championship with that boy, wouldn't it be wonderful to have something from her?

And she graciously lent us one of her outfits from that championship season.

And that sash was she she was a commencement speaker at the LSU vet school.

And she says what they gave her when she was the commencement speaker.

And we have several other pieces of LSU memorabilia from that championship season.

So we're really proud of this.

Another side of the museum chronicles 3000 years of the region's history and Louisiana is way of life, from hunting and fishing to the timber industry and the arts.

We stand here in Louisiana's oldest city, in fact, the oldest city in the Louisiana Purchase.

All of the New Orleans founded in 1714.

So this is certainly the cradle of history in our state and really west, the Mississippi River.

So we're in the midst of the Cane River National Heritage area and the museum sort of can serve as a primer, I guess, to help people understand the area.

It really does.

We said a lot of the sites that we talk about are also sites that are open to the public.

And you can tour.

So, I mean, like I said, we're a great sort of beginning and then you can pick and choose where you want to go to see the rest of the sites in the area.

One of the most celebrated artist here in the region is Clementine Hunter.

She is a folk artist and she painted Plantation life in the region.

She worked at Melrose Plantation.

Now the museum has a substantial collection of Clementine Hunter works.

This is the realization of a dream, and it's much bigger and greater than we ever dreamed it could be.

And that credit goes to governors, lieutenant governor's legislators who understood this is not a Natchitoches thing.

This is a Louisiana museum.

And it celebrates Louisiana greatness.

And it's from Lake Providence to Lake Charles.

It's from out of the Grand Isle.

And anybody who walks in here can quickly find something or somebody that speaks to their home in Louisiana.

Yeah, well, first class is probably the first reaction.

I mean, if you recognize some of the NFL greats that have played Doug Williams and Bradshaw and Shaq, here's Mel Blunt.

They've done a great job capturing the great history of sports in Louisiana.

Our state has so much to be proud of, and our museum is second to none.

It is indeed riveting to go around.

Just look through all the years, the athletes, outdoorsmen, hunters, fishermen.

The biggest problem we've got is building a building big enough to hold all the towns in Louisiana.

You know, other states may have a museum and they have trouble finding people to put in it.

There's no shortage of talent here in Louisiana.

That was pretty interesting.

Karen.

And I know nothing about sports.

Oh, that says a lot.

Thank you.

Unfortunately, we are going to end on a somber note on behalf of Louisiana Public Broadcasting.

We'd like to extend our deepest sympathies to my former colleague, Andre Morrow.

He lost his brother, Al Morel junior, and Al was the founder of Moral Fiscal Therapy Clinics.

They have 22 locations.

Yes, our hearts go out to you, Andre, and the entire Morrow family.

That's our show for this week.

Remember, you can watch anything, be any time, wherever you are with our APB 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 and Instagram for every one that Louisiana Public Broadcasting.

I'm Karen LeBlanc and I'm care sinks here.

Until next time.

That's the state we're at.

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 B 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, this program is made possible in part by Frank's Restaurant, a place known for the gathering of friends, family and colleagues where deals are signed over a handshake and a biscuit.

For information on catering menus and locations, go to Frank's restaurant L.A. dot com.