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 a historical and cultural center for Southwest Louisiana.

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

Thank you.

Immigrants in Louisiana are on edge as the Trump administration begins mass deportations, nearly five years after hurricanes battered Lake Charles.

The city is building back bigger and stronger, and Ziggy's aunt's adventure is out with a new season and expanding beyond Louisiana.

I'll sit down with the show's creator, and Louisiana's old state Capitol is celebrating its 175th anniversary.

We'll look back at the building's history.

You ready?

Let's get started.

Let's do it.

Hello, everyone.

I'm Karen LeBlanc, and I'm Dorothea Wilson.

Much more on those top stories in a moment.

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

But first, as President Donald Trump begins his second term in office, his immigration policies are once again at the forefront of national debate.

The president has promised sweeping deportations and has ordered a massive new detention center to house thousands of immigrants at Guantanamo Bay.

I spoke with immigration advocates for their perspective.

During his initial week in office.

President Trump issued multiple executive orders impacting various sectors, such as immigration, climate policy, oil drilling, health care, medical research, and abolishing federal diversity programs and gender definitions.

Some of those orders will have an immediate effect, especially those pertaining to immigration.

The first set of immigration executive actions strengthens initiatives for mass deportation, substantially increasing risk for individuals lacking legal status within the United States.

Being that Louisiana is an immigrant heavy state with many cities labeled as sanctuary cities, some argue that this can be detrimental to the communities.

You know, in our state.

I mean, as you know, like, for the last probably 20, 30 years, New Orleans as a whole has always had a huge Honduran community as well as immigrant community.

You know, we're built on immigrants.

But throughout the state of Louisiana, especially post-Katrina, there's been a number of immigrants that moved into our community to help rebuild.

You know, the city in New Orleans and the city of Baton Rouge, as well as Lake Charles.

David Rosas is an immigration and criminal attorney in the state of Louisiana.

He sat down with me to discuss the impact this can have on our state.

And David says, not only is this impactful to the state and the communities within it, but also the state's economy.

I'm not an economist, but I can tell you it's interesting.

Like I was a lawyer, I've been I've been doing immigration for about 21 years.

And so I was here when Katrina hit, and a lot of people had poured in from Texas and California and the border and, and South America in Central America to help rebuild our community.

Well, these people ended up becoming part of our community over the last 20 years.

And so they, we I would think that having a mass deportation would be a huge impact on the labor force.

We already have a shortage in labor in the United States.

What rights do these immigrants have, folks?

Both documented and undocumented.

If they are ever approached by law enforcement.

So, number one, it's our position as immigration attorneys and criminal defense attorneys and anybody who's, really studied the Constitution is that, you know, human beings have a fundamental right to due process.

And when we found our our country on that, you know, there was no taxation without representation, right?

And so, although we've had a struggle as a country to be able to provide rights to anyone who wasn't your average, you know, white American, I think, in this context, all people who are here have a fundamental right to due process.

Now, recently, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Mural released a statement stating that the president's priority in the immigration process is to remove violent criminals and those that may be on the known terrorist watch list.

But some experts say that won't be an easy task.

The president has made it very clear in his executive orders, and that there while the first priority for deportation will be people with criminal records, either in their home countries or here, it's not limited to that.

And literally anyone who is undocumented in the United States, is subject to the enforcement and removal process because, I mean, that is the president's prerogative is to set the priorities and the priorities right now are clear.

I mean, while they say, you know, we're going after the criminals, on paper, it says everybody.

Federal judges are already taking action, as one federal judge has moved to block parts of the order that redefines birthright citizenship.

And 22 states have already filed five lawsuits.

The first move has been made on the chessboard.

There will be responses.

The federal courts have already responded to some of those efforts.

I asked King Mayo, an immigration attorney for the past 17 years in the state of Louisiana who's experienced waves of immigration controversy dating back to the George W Bush administration.

What he hopes to see in the future Donald Trump was elected by a clear majority of of Americans who are not satisfied with our immigration system like it is, and I think there's many on the Democratic side who would agree that it is.

It's not working.

And we need a solution that really, honestly serves our country.

And the needs of, of our economy and also the human interest involved.

You know, the holy grail of a comprehensive immigration reform.

Okay, that would secure the borders, provide for, a reasonable, asylum process, and also meet the needs of our economy for, for workers that are that are needed.

In the meantime, President Trump intends to direct the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security to build a facility capable of housing as many as 30,000 migrants at Guantanamo Bay.

From hashtags to headlines, here's what's trending this week.

Governor Jeff Landry says he's confident next week's Super Bowl in New Orleans will be safe.

That's right.

And several security changes will be in effect in parts of the city leading up to the big game.

Plans include an enhanced security zone around Bourbon Street.

And checkpoints will be set up at entry points to the French Quarter.

Ice chests and coolers will be banned.

Police will also search any bags or containers larger than four and a half by 6.5in.

That sounds intense.

Well, people are definitely going to have to change their party packing plan.

That's right.

But it's all good.

It's for, you know, more safety owing to some good news.

NFL rookie and former LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels is giving back to the community in a very personal way.

He's giving a decorated Marine Corps veteran a surprise trip Karen, to the Super Bowl.

Now, Jonathan North has served for 30 years and is a lifelong NFL fan.

He'll get to meet and greet Daniels and other NFL stars before the game.

What a what a great gesture of humanity.

Oh my gosh, he's going to be so popular this Super Bowl tickets are pricey.

Oh yeah they are.

Now here's another beautiful story.

The U.S.

Postal Service is honoring the late New Orleans musician icon Allen Toussaint with a unique forever stamp.

Now, it's the 48th stamp in the Postal Service's Black Heritage Series.

Toussaint, who died in 2015, played a pivotal role in shaping New Orleans music's iconic sound and introducing it to a global audience.

The stamp is available through the U.S.

Postal Service and sheets of 20.

I always think it's so interesting to see what postal stamps honor.

Who?

What?

It's it's just such a great tribute.

It is on to some more good news.

Nearly five years after Hurricane Laura devastated Lake Charles, this city is seeing a renaissance from rebuilding homes to withstand future storms to revitalizing the city's iconic lakefront.

Officials are finding new hope in the face of adversity.

Take a look.

The implosion of the Capital One Tower erased one more scar on Lake Charles, left by the devastation of Hurricane Laura in 2020.

In place of the 22 story skyscraper, a new amphitheater is going up.

One of several projects to revitalize the city.

It really is amazing.

I feel like a couple of years ago we were in the tunnel.

We couldn't quite see the light.

And today I feel like we are in the light.

And, and we're at the end of that tunnel.

There's still a lot of strides to make with what we went through in 2020 and 2021, but to be here, walking with you today and seeing what we're seeing, is almost miraculous.

The Lake Charles lakefront is undergoing a transformation with amenities and improvements, all anchored by Port Wonder.

This is a project that started, pre Hurricane Laura pre 2020.

And, Port Wonder is basically the, the mothership here.

Port Wonder is something that we wanted to be iconic.

We wanted the architecture to be iconic, and, we didn't want it to just be another blasé municipal building.

And so as we stand here, this is the west side of the building.

This wing is the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Science and Nature Center shared lobby area.

And then the east wing is a brand new children's museum, for the city of Lake Charles.

And, bringing these two together, we just think is going to be a wonderful quality of life for citizens, a boost for tourism.

But also this stretch, when you drove into Lake Charles, this stretch looked really drab over the last couple decades.

And so we are completely transforming people's first impression when they drive in Lake Charles with this and other projects, Lake Charles is rebuilding with resiliency, guided by the fortified gold building standards with federal grant funding assistance.

The Joyce Neighborhood Initiative, funded by a HUD grant, is redeveloping a 40 acre tract of land for housing.

Other new housing developments include Calcasieu Heights, Woodring Downtown, and capstone at The Oaks.

In about four months, the City of Lake Charles will have more housing units online in this city than we had pre Hurricane Laura.

And, it's just those housing wins combined with quality of life wins like this really give me a sense of optimism, a sense of excitement thanks to fortified gold building standards, we can actually say that the city of Lake Charles, per capita, is the most resilient city in the state, Louisiana from a housing perspective.

And I want you to think about that statement versus four years ago, when this city was absolutely decimated from natural disasters.

Fast forward four years later, we've had over 750 single family homes rebuilt or repaired, and multiple multifamily units come online, all built to fortify gold standards, meaning they will withstand another Hurricane Laura type of event.

New public safety facilities, including the Lake Charles Police Department investigations Building, Police Department Annex and the Lake Charles Fire Department campus are also in the works.

I'm excited about the $600 million worth of public and private investment that's happening right now throughout the city.

We end our walking tour along the lakefront at the Cypress Gator Pond, a 30 year old attraction that got a makeover, and new caregivers from the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries employees next door, local ecology, the economy, cultural venues and housing stock all making a comeback in Lake Charles.

The recovery and where we are today.

It's just a miraculous turnaround from where we were four years ago.

Another interstellar season of Ziggy's arts adventure is underway.

Season three has even more creativity and fun as the little green alien dives into new art forms, inspiring young artists along the way.

I sat down with Ziggy's creator to talk about all of the fun and to see how they're expanding beyond Louisiana.

Hi, it's me, Ziggy, here, learning about the arts and making it.

Well, I am here with Clay ash.

He's the director and creator of Ziggy's Arts Advent year.

Clay, how are you?

I'm good.

Thanks for having me.

Good.

Thanks for being here.

Now, season three of Ziggy is being released as we speak.

First off, how does that feel?

It feels really good.

Yeah, I feel great.

Yeah.

No, we're.

We releasing episodes every week now.

And we're, we're not quite halfway through the season, but we're so excited about this season, that, you know, we were just.

I couldn't wait to get them out to people.

And so it feels great.

I mean, we're really excited.

Yeah, I'm excited to now.

Why is this season so special?

Well, you know, I think we get better every time we do it.

First of all.

But this season, we got to do more things and we had more days to shoot.

And so, you know, we got to expand art stage be set that we're in now.

Okay.

But we also got to go outside a lot and see the junkyard.

And we have a wonderful park in Baton Rouge that we're using, sort of, all the different parts of now.

Whereas before we had a little corner of, so we've really expanded our world and we've expanded characters.

We've got a new character called Junk Bot.

We get to see a lot more of thimble, which is a character we added last season.

And there's lots of good surprises that I'll leave surprises, but also, well, we love surprises.

Absolutely.

All right.

So now from season one to season three, Clay, tell me, how has this show evolved?

You've already kind of given me some explanation.

Sure.

But I mean, overall we've we've we've gotten to expand our schedule in the amount of time we get to spend on it.

We've got to expand the wonderful crew that we have.

We have an almost entirely Louisiana based crew.

Love that.

And, you know, we, it started with a very small, you know, bad, the skeleton crew.

And, you know, this season felt very like a very professional, well-oiled machine.

Yeah.

You know, so, we, we we've really enjoyed just being able to expand behind the scenes as well.

Our, you know, our art department was particularly wonderful this, this year, and we got new people that made that happen, you know.

Good.

Now, you said something that I really want to dig into a little bit.

Now, I've got a ton of things to ask you, but you talked about the Louisiana based crew.

How was that important for the film industry here?

Well, sure.

And I mean, I don't want to my horn, but like the the idea of two new TV shows are great, right?

So a movie comes in and they stay and they have jobs, and then that crew will just simply move on to the next movie that comes in.

But that movie will leave.

Yes.

Whereas TV shows have a chance to hire the same crew again and again and again, for years.

And I'll give a different example.

But CSI New Orleans has been sitting in New Orleans for years, and I know people have worked on it for over a decade now.

Yeah.

And that's great.

And that's unusually, good, consistent work for the film industry.

Which people are used to getting hired on different jobs, which we want those two because, you know, those are not the movies that come in.

They come in and they drop a bunch of money on the state.

Yeah.

You know, so they have to go buy wardrobe and rent hotels and get meals and all of that just kind of dispenses us out to us.

Right.

So we want those movies as well.

But a TV show is really special because it can stay and continue to hire people.

Awesome, I love that.

And speaking of special Clay, now, I understand that public broadcasting gave us a grant to expand viewership to other states.

Talk about it.

Yeah.

No, I'm really excited.

So this is the first season that will be shown outside of the state of Louisiana.

And we were going to Memphis and South Carolina.

And so not only, are the PBS affiliates, they're, picking up the show and showing it, but also that, you know, we're working programs to get it through the state levels and into arts education classrooms.

Wow.

So students will be able to see it in other places as well.

And, we're, you know, we're very excited, that, you know, to share Louisiana with the rest of the country.

Awesome.

And what types of events do you have in the running right now for the folks right here in Louisiana?

Well, for Louisiana ends tonight, we're going to have, a premiere event at Manship Theater where we're going to premiere two episodes that we have, season three that we haven't put out yet.

And we're gonna have a Lumiere show, and the Baton Rouge High Step team are going to be there to perform.

So we're going to have a very that'll be our, our first, like, social event out.

With Ziggy.

And, it's going to be a really good time.

Yeah.

Awesome.

Now tell me what is in the future, clay.

Well, you know, we we don't know of ever what's in the future.

Unfortunately, what our hopes are, though, is, you know, we want to continue to do Ziggy here in Louisiana.

And we want Ziggy to continue to go out to more places.

Yeah.

So we, you know, we're working on making this a national show, and we're really excited that it's got a chance to do that.

I love that.

Now, before you go, I've got to ask you a little bit of the secret sauce there.

Can you talk about how production works for me?

Oh, just a little.

Just a little bit.

Because there's so much.

Right?

Too much.

No.

Well, I think one of the interesting things, just because we're a puppet show is just sort of all of the extra challenges that come with the puppets.

But like, just in here, you can see, you know, we have a very real floor and then we have a very fake floor.

And that fake floor is for our human actors, and the real floor is for our puppeteers, because those puppets have to be much higher up.

So everything that's built in the set is built just a little higher than you want it to be.

Yeah.

And, so that we can hide puppeteers underneath.

And we have all sorts of neat tricks and ways we try to do it to make everything feel as alive as possible.

But, but just raising the floor is the bait, you know, that's you got to start there, and then you can start hiding people.

Yes, I love that.

So before we go play, one final question.

In all three seasons so far, tell me in one minute your favorite part.

Oh, that's, that's so hard in all three seasons.

Yeah.

Oh, there was no.

You know what?

I have a great memory.

Okay.

There was a day where we had to sort of absurd idea where we were going to sort of show the moment that Cajun music, added the accordion through Germanic immigration.

And we had people in period dress, leader hosen accordion, and Louis Michaud playing the fiddle as a Cajun fiddle or and we it was just a big day with a lot of moving pieces where we were trying to create a kind of important part of our culture.

Yeah.

And we worked and we did great.

And it's just a really quick little joke in season three.

Dynamics episode that I love because it was it was a moment where we saw our culture sort of like dancing before our eyes.

So we a lot of hard work behind it.

Yeah, well, I love that play.

Again, congratulations on season three.

And thank you so much for being here with me today.

Thank you so much for having me.

This year marks a milestone for Louisiana's rich history as the old state Capitol in Baton Rouge celebrates its 100th and 75th anniversary.

That's right.

And once the sight of political upheaval and landmark moments, the historic building is now a museum preserving the stories of the past while looking toward the future.

I'm taking you inside for a look at how the old State Capitol has stood the test of time.

Louisiana's old state Capitol is celebrating its 175th anniversary this year, and it's still standing strong.

It's amazing, considering all that this building has been through war, fire, scandal, fistfights, you name it, we have had it.

And we're still here.

The old State Capitol was Louisiana's capital from 1882 until Governor Huey Long inaugurated the new capitol in May of 1932.

Mary Durso, who has directed the old State Capitol for 20 years, holds a special affection for it and calls the building iconic due to its rich history and distinctive architecture.

It's different than other capitals that you see, and that was intentional.

The original architect is James Dakin, and Louisiana is a different kind of state.

We're not one of the states that where people banded together and applied for statehood.

Louisiana was purchased from France by the United States.

And then we become a state.

And we're different.

We're Spanish and French and is.

And the gumbo of people that make up south Louisiana.

And so the architect said Louisiana is a different kind of state.

We need a different kind of capital, because so many of the capitals that you see around the country mirror, the national Capitol, the dome in the wings, you see that a lot.

And he said, that's not who we are.

So he drew out a sketch of what looks like a castle and the legislature said, yes, and we will take that.

Mary showed me around the medieval style fortress that overlooks the Mississippi River.

Inside, it features elegant marble and rich wood paneling, highlighted by a stunning cast iron spiral staircase and a magnificent display of stained glass illuminated by an overhead skylight in the main gallery.

Architects try to convey ideas and meanings without words.

And so when you walk into the House chamber or the Senate chamber, you have a sense that this is some place where important things happened or where important things could happen.

And so that was the point of the elegance and the beauty that James Dakin and then William Freda both tried to convey in this building.

Mary emphasized the building's strength, asserting that not even a fire could topple it.

It nearly faced destruction during the Civil War, yet its walls remained intact in the early 1880s.

The structure underwent reconstruction, but was ultimately left abandoned when the government relocated to the new capitol.

Over the years, various groups occupied the building, but struggled with repair expenses, leading to significant deterioration of the old State Capitol.

Nevertheless, despite these challenges, the historic Louisiana Capitol continued to stand strong.

We say that this building embodies resilience.

In 1976, the building received National Historic Landmark designation and was allocated $2.5 million for a significant restoration.

However, the most extensive renovation started in 1991 under the direction of Secretary of State W Fox McKeithen.

The Old State Capitol reopened in 1994 as Louisiana's Center for Political and Governmental History.

A permanent exhibit was also created to showcase the building's history, along with an award winning multimedia presentation titled The Ghost of the Castle.

And a gift shop featuring exclusive Louisiana items including handcrafted jewelry from mimosa.

Handcrafted like Louisiana.

The Old State Capitol has faced numerous tests and challenges, yet it's still stands proudly.

After 175 years.

That's our show for this week.

Remember, you can watch anything LPB anytime, wherever you are with our LPB app, and 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 Caron LeBlanc.

And I'm Dorothea Wilson.

Until next time.

That's the state.

We're it.

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 a historical and cultural center for Southwest Louisiana and by Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center.

Visit Baton Rouge and the Foundation for Excellence in Louisiana Public Broadcasting, and viewers like you.

Thank you.