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 the Foundation for Excellence in Louisiana.

Public Broadcasting.

With support from viewers like you.

Who pays and how much will be on the minds of lawmakers as they tackle tax reform?

And the largest chimpanzee sanctuary in the U.S. wants to extend the lives of chimps using new tech.

Students in Vermilion Parish Public schools connect with their Cajun Creole heritage and the first of its kind curriculum.

All right.

All this coming up.

Let's do it.

Hi, everyone.

I'm crossings here and I'm here on the blog.

More on these stories in just a moment.

But first, we headed into the week with Governor Jeff Landry calling for a crime focused special session and presenting the first executive budget of his term.

Now, budget work begins for lawmakers and that question of who pays and how much is going to drive decisions about several proposed tax reforms up for discussion.

Here's an overview of the impending tax reform debate.

It's official.

Louisiana has the highest average combined state and local sales tax in the nation.

That's according to the Tax Foundation.

The state's sales tax registering at 9.56%.

Paying your fair share of taxes is up for debate and a possible remake with a new administration.

We have one of the most complicated tax structures in the country.

We have one of about 15 states with the corporate franchise tax or one of about 12 states with an inventory tax.

We have the highest combined sales tax rate in the country just above Tennessee now.

Governor Jeff Landry is targeting tax reform as a policy priority in the legislative session.

He's calling for the elimination that Louisiana's personal income tax.

Are we going to shift all of that to low and middle income households through egregiously high sales tax rates and ask them to give up huge portions of their paycheck to fund the services that ensure that all of us have the ability to thrive in Louisiana, including the wealthiest among us now.

We are balanced by the fact that we have some of the lowest property taxes in the country.

The Pelican Institute, a policy organization, supports phasing out Louisiana's personal income tax.

Two sides of the equation as lawmakers tackle tax reform in 2024.

Our models show we can phase out the income tax in the next 8 to 10 years with no cuts to government, only less growth.

Governor Jeff Landry's economic development and Fiscal Policy Council, part of his transition team, points to Louisiana's poor, ranking by the Tax Foundation as proof that tax reform is needed.

You have a punishing tax code where one of only a handful of states that has a personal income tax, a corporate income tax and a franchise tax.

It's a it's a cover charge.

You're charged the franchise tax whether you make money or not.

That's just for the for the pleasure of doing business in the state of Louisiana.

According to the Tax Foundation, Louisiana ranks 40th out of 50 states on the 2024 state business Tax Climate Index, when businesses are trying to figure out where they want to invest their capital.

And they see this as one of the worst place to do it, not necessarily because the burden is so high, but it's so complicated to navigate all the various tax structures.

The goal is to simplify that.

Landry's proposed business tax reforms also include eliminating a requirement that companies create new jobs to receive property tax exemptions through the industrial tax exemption program known as ITEP.

One of the added layers that the previous administration put on was a proof of jobs requirement.

And that's something that traditionally has not been there.

It's kind of a guessing game.

The Itep program was never meant to be a jobs program.

It was meant to attract investment to Louisiana.

A big challenge to tax reform, compensating for the loss of revenue in the state budget.

One issue in 2025, the temporary point for $0.05 state sales tax expires coinciding with the re implementation of a number of special sales tax breaks.

Louisiana was the first state to be sued, declaring our sales tax administration system unconstitutional, according to the US Supreme Court.

And so we need to fix that.

The general consensus is that Louisiana's tax code is complicated and in some cases counterproductive for businesses and households.

How to fix it falls to lawmakers in the year ahead.

What would you like to see come out of this new administration in terms of tax reform in Louisiana?

Yeah.

Focusing on equity and adequacy.

We cannot get rid of half of our state general fund and act like we can run our government on it.

It's not going to work.

States that are in the process of or phasing out the personal income tax, you see more in-migration than outmigration, and it's competitive now when Mississippi, our neighbor, is looking to eliminate the personal income tax, we're competing with that with that talent in where it may locate or ultimately go.

It deserves all points of view being made.

It deserves a grand debate in our legislature and across the state.

And I think that's what we're going to get.

The governor's special legislative session dealing with crime issues.

It starts February 19th and from hash tags to headlines.

News coming out of the state capital was trending this week.

Crime being a major point of discussion.

In fact, on Friday, Governor Jeff Landry issued a state of emergency declaring a police shortage.

The Louisiana Sheriffs Association estimates that they're down about 1800 deputies statewide.

They say that's a record low.

Obviously, you know, if they're down this many deputies that means that response times are going to be a lot longer, which means that it could take longer time for somebody to get to you if you're in the middle of an emergency, which is potentially very dangerous.

And I think the governor is sending a strong message as we go into his special session dealing with crime.

Underscoring how important this issue is.

Now, you will be following the crime session reporting here for slide.

Yes.

So the governor beforehand, whenever he was just running during his campaign, he mentioned how important crime was going to be to him.

And we knew that this crime session was coming for a long time.

And we know that reducing crime, especially in the New Orleans area, is definitely going to be a priority.

And in the other news coming out of the state capital, it was controversial and now the deal is off.

The state's largest health insurer, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana, pulled its plans to sell to elements help one of the nation's largest for profit health care providers.

This is big news because it's been so controversial.

There's been a lot of concern in the public about the quality of care and the cost of care.

Should the sale of that go through?

Blue Cross Blue Shield announced its plans on the eve before what was to be two days of public hearings on the matter.

Right.

And if this deal had gone through, this would have affected nearly half of the state's 4.6 million people that live here.

And of course, like you said, it was very controversial and the deal had been on the table.

There was a lot of back and forth for a little over a year now.

And I believe the governor, he issued a public response and he said from the very beginning, we recognize that any transaction such as this would be disruptive to the health care landscape of the state.

So there you have it.

It's definitely a controversial one.

So we had Mardi Gras on the minds of many and also this Super Bowl, this week.

And as we wrap up, Super Bowl 58 now, excitement builds for hosting this Super Bowl on our home turf.

That's right.

The Super Bowl heads to the New Orleans Superdome next year.

And Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser was there at an official handing over ceremony.

So excitement for this.

Yes.

And hopefully we'll be able to see the Saints play.

I will say this every single time we talk about it, I am excited.

I cannot wait.

I cannot wait to see if we're going to be there.

So so Valentine's Day also on the minds of many and Google tracks a lot of interesting factoids, including the most Googled date activities in Louisiana.

It happened to be cooking classes.

Interesting Texans.

It was.

It was coffee.

And in Mississippi, it was bowling.

Okay.

Well, I turned my nose up at the cooking classes, but bowling is definitely worse.

Please do better, Mississippi.

All right.

Well, on to some good news.

Cardiovascular disease is incredibly common.

And our genetic cousin, the chimpanzee.

Though it's unclear why primates fall victim to sudden cardiac arrest.

Scientists pinpointed a way to detect these abnormalities before they become fatal using the echocardiogram.

I traveled to chimp Pavitt and Keith Bill, which is a primate sanctuary, To learn more about the echocardiogram and the precious lives it promises to protect.

Take a look.

Every 33 seconds, a person dies from cardiovascular disease.

It's the leading cause of death for Americans and is responsible for a fifth of all deaths annually.

We think of this disease as a distinctly human malady, but it's actually exceedingly common in our evolutionary cousin.

The chimpanzee.

Scientists are looking to human technology to extend the lives of chimps, but the practice is relatively new in.

Keith Bill, Louisiana.

The world's largest chimpanzee sanctuary is breaking barriers to bring life saving tech to our primate relatives.

So a lot of these guys are actually related, which in terms can also kind of complicate their relationships because obviously you want to have your family's back.

Chimp Haven is a sanctuary for more than 300 geriatric chimpanzees who've retired from biomedical research facilities where they were test subjects for things like HIV, hepatitis and vaccines.

Most are somewhat healthy, and between ages 20 and 60, they live out the rest of their days here in relative bliss, surrounded by 200 acres of land where they're free to roam.

And they have regular snack times filled with popcorn.

So that's not only clapping at us for more popcorn.

She's like, Let's go.

Come on.

It's cold out here.

Though these chimps have a longer life span here than they would in the wild, each are still very likely to develop some sort of cardiovascular disease and affects almost a third of all captive chimps.

And it's estimated that 20 to 30% of the chimps here have some sort of heart abnormality.

Chimpanzees are prone to what's known as cardiac fibrosis.

And because of that, we see changes to the heart that impact their overall length of life.

Can you explain that to me?

Sure.

So it's a you know, it's one of the leading causes.

And we talked about cardiac fibrosis.

And so what happens is that the body tries to heal itself and it will create what's known as fibrotic tissue.

And so that musculature of the heart thickens.

And as it thickens, it doesn't.

The heart, right.

We know that it pumps and it provides blood to the rest of the body.

Well, as it thickens, it doesn't allow that blood flow to do exactly what it needs to do.

Humans typically develop cardiovascular diseases because of poor diet.

But for chimps, it's stress.

Males, specifically alpha males, are disproportionately affected.

So when you think about what the alpha male does in his social grouping, it's he keeps everything in order.

He's watching the perimeters and making sure that their environments are always safe.

And that just comes with somewhat added stressors in just what they do, the political aspect of their job.

Chimp Haven started using cardio mobile devices to survey chimp heart health back in 2019.

Staff uses positive reinforcement training to get the chimps to place their hands on the EKG pads a few times a year before their annual physical.

Those were originally created for humans monitoring their heart health.

So it's just a very small square device with two metal pads and you have to maintain contact with it.

With in humans, it's two fingers.

But in the chimps we can get on with one for 30 seconds and that can provide a diagnostic EKG, reading.

These physicals provide good diagnostics, but it isn't a perfect system.

The staff at Chimp Haven needed something more in-depth, something like the echocardiogram.

The echocardiogram is an ultrasound machine that humans use to monitor all four chambers of the heart.

It can display heart muscles and valves in great detail.

And it works the exact same way on chimps.

Chimp Haven partnered with the great Apes Heart Project to teach their staff how to use the machine.

So far, seven chimps have been monitored.

So give me that added information that I'm usually going to pick up on that it just gives me that added information to determine the quality of heart health.

The echocardiogram is already showing promise at Chimp Haven.

The training for the machine is going well, but to the staff here, it was long overdue.

I think they've given so much to us that we really want to give back to them and any way we can help them participate in their care and their well-being.

And we want to do that.

Tank ball of the Grammy nominated band Tank in the Bangas says her first love isn't music.

It's actually poetry.

Her love of words on a page butted into a musical career that fully encapsulates the distinct experience of blackness in New Orleans.

In honor of Black History Month, I sat down with Tank herself to discuss the inspiration behind her craft and the future of her music.

So you were definitely a culture bearer for the city of New Orleans and honestly, for the South as a whole.

Yeah, you are.

You are.

You are able to take your credit.

Take your credit.

Take your credit.

But I really want to start with some background information on you for our viewers.

So tell me a little bit about where you're from and what inspired you to make music.

I am from New Orleans, the Eighth Ward and New Orleans East.

I feel like I grew up in both of these areas and I'm so happy.

I grew up in both of these areas because one side is like super horrible streets, but a lot of culture fighting, fun neighborhood block, party type vibe.

And then I go to the East Way is a little bit more suburban and I was able to, I don't know, be introduced to Selena, Sicily.

Yeah, I have friends there, like interviews with Selena, so that was cool.

Selena the singer?

Yeah.

I don't think I would have heard about the war over my particular friends.

Yeah, but the Eighth Ward in particular, they've had a lot of musicians come out of the Eighth Ward.

Do you think that's where a little bit of your inspiration came from to be an artist?

Just more of a person than an artist, I think.

I think living in the Eighth Ward, living in the city period, just makes you a little bit more observant to what's around you.

Explain that.

I mean, the streets, the people, the language, the buildings.

When you're in the suburbs, you're a little more isolated.

You know, you just you just looking at all this around you and it's just really mostly just pretty.

Is there a person, a family member, I guess, that influence do whatever you were trying to develop your art?

I think it was my big sister.

I read her diary a lot.

I had no business.

I'm saying you read her diary now.

But her diary was mostly poetry.

Okay, So I was able to just read our poetry, and it just was inspiring.

I learned all the by heart, and she just was.

She was a she was a good footnote.

Where do you think that black culture is most influential in Louisiana culture?

Because when people think of Louisiana culture, they're usually thinking about the music.

They're thinking about things like Mardi Gras, the Mardi Gras Indians.

And I want to know, in your particular opinion, where do you think that our community's culture and impact is the strongest?

I mean, is it the size, the music, obviously, and the style and just the way we just are naturally?

I think we're the heart of the South and they need us like really like we we black culture is just like you go ten miles Perry and soft spot you know that the the the roots are the gumbo you're going to need that you're going to need that for this place to survive and to be hospitable and to keep it moving forward.

But while also sticking to its roots, I feel that we especially about not just black people, but Southern people, especially the way we just speak to people that we don't even much know.

And it's a kind of, Hello, you need that here, you need us here.

You know, I just think I've noticed about New Orleans and black culture specifically is this aspect of joy.

And it's infused in pretty much everything that the culture does here.

Even whenever people mourn, there's still a sense of excitement and celebration.

It's never become a low income level.

You'll go, be quiet down there.

My funeral about that, you know, fair.

But at the repave and the moment that they put their dress with macaroni and cheese, the official about the sit down, you want to talk to your cousins and we're about to celebrate her life.

And it's about their food and getting together and talking.

And in New Orleans, particularly the way that we about the you know, have that second line.

Every funeral doesn't have it They they they make it seem like every funeral does it everything does it does it right.

It doesn't do it.

But when they do, it is beautiful.

You know that they about to really celebrate their person's life.

So I listen to Green Balloon in Red Balloon and I loved them.

They're energetic.

They're very, very, very, very fun.

The beginning of that one, it sounds fun.

It makes me think of happy feelings.

And by Frankie Beverly and I could definitely hear it in the beginning because that's the first thing I thought of was also the music.

But up there.

Okay.

That she got it now.

Yes, but.

But, but.

Okay.

Yeah.

yeah.

That's what I heard the first time I heard it.

But I was thinking about especially with spaceships and that song on On Green Balloon.

It's happy, it's fun.

And then you kind of switch over to your EP and that's it seems like it gets a little bit more serious and it turns to concern, especially with the poem that you wrote that's called There Goes the Neighborhood, and I just wanted you to explain that shift in your tone with this poetry.

You really have to be honest.

And that was just something that I happened to see, you know, and I want to talk about.

I even love the way that at the time our only like white member in the band, we even let him sit very uncomfortably in the neighborhood.

He knew that he had to sit uncomfortably in the neighborhood, and we made the camera zoom in on him as we left him alone.

You know, just talking about things that are really happening, things that are not always comfortable to sit with.

So moving on to a lighter note, I know that there's probably not a lot that you can tell us, but what's in the future for taking the banks?

I'm turning over a leaf and I want to get back to my roots and something that I that I love.

What I love about poetry so much is that it loved me back way before Music Day.

So I just want to I want to I want to dive into that a little bit more.

All right.

It's going to be it's going to be fun going for that Grammy again.

Yes.

And I'm excited to see what you all are going to do.

Louisiana is cultivating future culture bearers with a new Louisiana French heritage curriculum.

It's part of the lesson plan and several Vermilion Parish Schools.

The program is known as Los PAs, meaning don't let go, as it's affectionately called.

It connects students with Louisiana artist, folklorist and musicians to learn about Cajun Creole culture, history and language.

I traveled to Abbeville, where students put on a show of their hands on learning with news of the program's efforts to expand statewide.

Sixth grader Andrew Noel is weaving a blanket using the techniques of his Acadian ancestors.

It's a skill he's learning is part of the Louisiana Heritage Connections Curriculum and Vermilion Parish Schools.

I just thought that was awesome how my ancestors did the same thing that I'm standing here doing right here.

Andrew is demonstrating his newfound skills at a showcase of the Louisiana Heritage Connections curriculum.

He's joined by students from several participating schools in Vermilion Parish, teaching the curriculum known as Lost Path.

I find artists who want to share their passion for the arts with young children but not necessarily have an education background.

So I help the work with the kids and in this case it's people who are culture bearers.

They have these things and this knowledge that we don't want to lose, and that's why it's called lost, right?

Don't let go.

We can't let go of these traditions.

Louisa Anna Heritage Connections is an afterschool elective, offering seven different subjects music, art, dance history, the French language, traditions and customs.

It's funded by $1,000,000 federal grant through the Louisiana Department of Education to teach children Louisiana French heritage people.

The music has always been part you know, we've kept the traditions of staging music, but now they're learning the art.

You got to talk to the kids.

I can tell you they love the art, they love their art, they love the music.

But your kids just don't get that opportunity to use their hands.

Now they know how to text and like, you know, Snapchat.

But.

But do they really know how to make pottery and paint?

It exists currently as an after school program, but our school board wants it so badly that we want to embedded in the school day.

So it could be an elective that students can take in the instructional day.

This year, Flash PAs launched its own textbook unveiled at the event Ready.

In the past, students learned new music from their ancestors or their old aunts and uncles on the front porch.

As an oral tradition.

We took that oral tradition.

We converted it to a musical notation system, and we put that in.

In a book, Lashkar invites local artist into the schools to share their crafts, techniques and traditions with participating students.

So this piece right here is called The Three Musicians.

And what we did is we talked about Pablo Picasso and his piece, the three musicians, and we transform them into Cajun musicians.

So we talked about what type of instruments Cajun musicians use and what they might look like compared to Pablo Picasso's piece.

I've taught them this about the Native Americans, how they used to make the pottery from, you know, dig in the clay, yep.

And hand built in them then to use for drinking or cooking or whatever.

It's opening doors to kids that would maybe never take a pottery class or art class before.

It's a wonderful program and the kids will really enjoy hanging down and expressing their self through art.

Lush Cash builds on Lessons from the past.

Years ago, Louisiana lost its Cajun French language.

That's what gave birth to hope, to fail to revive the language they lost us curriculum like completes the circle teaching, arts, crafts, music, folklore, all the other aspects of Cajun culture.

In 1968, after years of discouraging spoken Cajun French in public schools, the Louisiana legislature passed bills to preserve and perpetuate the French language and Cajun heritage.

This gave birth to Coatesville, the Council for the Development of French in Louisiana.

A supporter, a large PA, which has plans on providing instruction to approximately 150 students and six schools for the 2024 2025 school year and expansion plans statewide.

It's long overdue and this is going to live on four years ago and hopefully we can duplicate it across Louisiana because this is just it's incredible.

I'm just so proud of Louisiana, proud of these students and proud of what's been done here tonight.

Makes me feel as though that I'm getting that I'm getting to know them by doing the same thing that they used to do.

That's our show for this week.

But before we say goodbye, we have a programing note to share with you.

Antiques Roadshow premieres Monday, February 19th at 7 p.m. on Louisiana Public Broadcasting and features the LSU Rural Life Museum in its first three episodes for season 28.

Also, it's that time of year again.

We want to remind viewers that Lpx is accepting nominations for high school students to be recognized as Louisiana Young Heroes.

Visit LPD Dawgs Heroes, Learn more and to submit a nomination online.

As we wrap up our show, remember, you can watch anything anytime, 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 everyone at Louisiana Public Broadcasting, I'm Karyn Lichtblau, and I'm kerosene cheer.

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 and Ruth 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.