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.

Governor Jeff Landry is repurposing part of Angola prison to house immigrant detainees.

We'll take a look at how two Louisiana groups hope to help people push past their politics to find common ground.

Plus, I sit down with Louisiana Attorney General Liz Merrill to talk about her lawsuit against roadblocks and the proposal to send federal troops to New Orleans.

And we'll take you back to the 80s for a vintage look at the Golden Band from Tiger Land.

Let's get started.

Let's do it.

Hello, everyone.

I'm Karen LeBlanc.

And I'm Victor Hall.

Welcome to the 49th season of Louisiana, the State.

We're in the longest running news magazine show in the state, and we are thrilled that we're also celebrating LP's golden anniversary.

50 years as Louisiana storyteller.

And now we are going to go on into the news.

Louisiana is ramping up its role in federal immigration enforcement.

Governor Jeff Landry, alongside officials from the Trump administration, announced that up to 400 detainees will be housed at Angola Prison.

The move is already drawing strong criticism from human rights groups.

Here's more.

Today, I'm proud to stand alongside Secretary Nome, General Bondi, deputy director.

She.

And as we announced the opening of the Louisiana lockup, which will house the worst of the worst illegal criminal aliens.

Governor Jeff Landry, joined by top Trump administration officials, has announced the opening of another U.S. immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Louisiana.

The new facility, established through a state and federal partnership, is located at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola and will house male detainees from across the country in the state's highest security prison.

This facility is fulfilling the president's promise of making America safe again.

How?

By giving Ice a facility to consolidate the most violent offenders into a single deportation and holding facility.

This camp was originally built here at Angola to house the most disruptive of prisoners.

It was called Camp Jail.

Over the years, it was neglected and fell into disrepair.

We decided to repair it and put it back into service to help fulfill the mission of removing criminal illegal aliens that have been causing havoc in our communities.

The Louisiana lockup brings the total number of Ice detention facilities in the state to ten.

Ranking Louisiana as second in the nation for the largest number of Ice facilities.

This facility is designed to hold criminal illegal aliens.

The worst of the worst.

If you don't think that they belong in somewhere like this, you got a problem.

Angola is the largest maximum security prison in the country, with 18,000 acres bordered by the Mississippi River.

Swamps filled with alligators and forest filled with bears.

Nobody really wants to leave the place.

Critics say Louisiana's federal use of Angola sets a dangerous precedent of using public resources to advance President Trump's immigration agenda.

Some compare Louisiana lockup to the Florida Everglades Detention Center, known as alligator Alcatraz, which came under fire for its inhumane conditions.

Immigration detention is not criminal.

And the specter of Angola is intended to suggest the very opposite.

And that is very harmful to the American public and to the people of Louisiana.

Angola has a dark history.

It isn't just a prison.

It was once a plantation of enslaved people and later called the bloodiest prison in America.

Using it for immigration detention is no accident.

This is designed to scare people, and it's designed to turn our civil immigration detention system into a brutal system of punishment.

The Trump administration called on Governor Landry to create the Ice detention center, which has a capacity to house 400 detainees.

Today, we're here at this legendary Angola prison to announce an agreement between the United States of America and the great state of Louisiana.

There has never been an agreement like this one before.

And it is here today at this place, because President Trump has selected and built relationships with leaders across this country that don't complain about things.

They fix them.

Governor Landry, aligning with the Trump administration, faults the Democrats for an open border policy.

He says threatens Louisiana's safety.

His new initiative, Operation Go, empowers state law enforcement to intensify immigration enforcement in coordination with federal authorities.

According to officials, the facility will meet Ice standards, including attorney access, immigration judges, meeting rooms and an on site law library.

Detainees will be kept separate from Angola's inmate population, managed by the Department of Corrections.

Louisiana lockup will process detainees through immigration hearings with the aim of swift repatriation.

This facility is going to be available to take and hold people safely.

You know, humanely.

There are standards for this.

It'll be constitutionally managed by the federal government, to detain the ones, the people who are our most difficult population, in ice custody until they are removed.

From hashtag show headlines.

Here's what's trending this week.

Country music superstar and the Louisiana native Lainey Wilson is in the spotlight again.

Yeah, Wilson picked up six nominations from the Country Music Association, including one for the highly coveted entertainer of the year.

He is having quite a run, so last year, Lainey Wilson took home two CMA Awards for Best Female Vocalist and Best Music Video.

Yeah, she's a basket native.

She's back in her home state this weekend.

Two sold out rock shows played in Baton Rouge.

She's also going to go rock a house up in Bossier City.

She currently lives in Nashville, but says she gets back to South Louisiana every chance she gets.

Are you a fan?

I am, I am a huge, big fan of great performances, and you can find out if she wins any or all of those awards.

With the 59th Annual Country Music Awards that will be held later this year, November 19th.

All right.

Yeah, another big one here.

The world famous Harlem Globetrotters are celebrating their 100 years tour.

And it includes several shows right here in Louisiana.

They'll bring their slam dunks and their trick shots back to Baton Rouge, Alexandria, Lafayette, Lake Charles and Monroe in January and February of next year.

I remember this my parents used to take me to their shows as a child.

Yes, like I go back.

I go back to Meadowlark Lemon.

Curly Neal, they're such great shows, and the kids have so much fun over the years.

Several Louisiana greats, whether you know this or not, they've actually worn the Globetrotters uniform, including southeastern, Big Easy Lofton, LSU's Alexis Morris, who played with the Lady Tigers just a few years ago, and Louisiana native Sweet Lou Dunbar.

Look, it's a great way to win over non basketball fans.

I count myself on that count.

Now, tickets for the Louisiana shows go on sale later this month.

Yeah, that's always, always a good time indeed.

While Louisiana drivers are showing their love of sports and the great outdoors, so the Office of Motor Vehicles released a list of the ten most popular specialty license plate sports.

Right on up there.

Three of the top ten highlight the LSU Tigers national championship victories and the New Orleans Saints.

The other seven showcase Louisiana's natural beauty from black bears, dolphins to the honeybee.

All right.

I'm going to take an issue with this list because I have the art plate and it should be on there.

But actually the most popular specialty plate features a pelican overlooking Louisiana's coastline.

Not a bad one at all, I know for sure.

Now, we also have other news to talk about making national headlines this week.

A suspect has now been arrested in the death of right wing influencer Charlie Kirk.

Authorities announced the arrest of 22 year old Tyler Robinson early Friday.

They have not commented on a possible motive.

Kirk was speaking at an outdoor debate Wednesday at Utah Valley University, and he was shot and killed.

House speaker Mike Johnson and other Louisiana Republicans condemned the shooting, saying political violence goes way against America's core beliefs.

Now, Kirk was scheduled to speak at a similar event at LSU next month.

Charlie Kirk was a polarizing figure in politics and even in his death.

It led to a lot of conflicts and arguments online, a lot of divisiveness out there.

Those online interactions and echo chambers can widen the rift between people of different political beliefs.

Recently, LSU's Riley Center for Media and Public Affairs launched a new partnership aimed at reducing political polarization.

They're working on a project with the Public Affairs Research Council, or Pas.

Organizers hope that by getting people of opposing views to sit down and talk face to face, they'll find some common ground.

Here's more at LSU's Manship School.

The Riley Center for Media and Public Affairs has joined forces with the nonpartisan Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana, or Pas.

Together, they're launching a new initiative to better understand and ultimately reduce political polarization in the state.

This is a very exciting partnership.

You know, we're kind of combining the strengths.

You know, PA has that public policy research and issue area expertise.

And at the Riley Center, we have the academic muscle and access to a survey center, that when we combine it, we really think it'll give us a chance to explore issues of polarization.

But more importantly, those common ground beliefs that Louisianans have so that we can talk, walk, and work with one another, in a more civil way.

The project will kick off with a statewide survey conducted by LSU's Public Policy Research Lab.

That poll, set for release later this year, will measure polarization and identify areas of agreement.

We're really you know, looking to, handle polarization.

I don't think we're going to defeat polarization.

That's not something that you do.

But to see if people can communicate with each other productively.

I think that's what really one of our big goals and what we're trying to do.

The Common Ground project isn't just about research.

It also includes community events like pizza and Public Affairs, a student lunch series launching in September, and civic sips informal discussions for citizens in downtown Baton Rouge.

One of the things we're excited about is we will have a discussion series that's focused on the students, bringing in, mass communication students, public affairs students, political communications, public administration, whatever student wants to come, we're going to bribe them with some free pizza.

But what we really want to do is, to model for them.

So we'll bring in public officials, civic leaders, public affairs practitioners, and talk about ways that in their experiences, they've achieved success by building coalitions, by working collaboratively and by using communication that bridges divides rather than being divisive, which we think is really going to be crucial, because we're educating the next leaders and whether or not they're going to be reporters, whether or not they're going to be a mayor of Baton Rouge down the road.

That's the kind of thing we want them to see.

And the other thing that's important for young people and for all of us, is that a lot of what you've read in the research about polarization has to do with perceptions and caricatures of, you know, the other side thinks like this, acts like this, lives like this.

And the literature and the research shows just how important it is to get people together.

And they discover, oh, you're not so much of a monster that I thought you were.

Organizers say these conversations will cover everything from coalition building and civic responsibility to media literacy and problem solving across political lines.

No one agrees with each other.

100% of the time.

You can have two of the most conservative people ever in a tweet or two.

Most liberal people, either they're going to disagree with each other, so there's always some overlap in what people like about each other or agree with.

So we want to find those things.

And emphasize that.

But more importantly, we want people to get together and talk about it and discover it themselves.

Because I think that's even more powerful with LSU is academic research and policy expertise.

The Common Ground Project hopes to spark conversations that bring people back together one survey, one slice of pizza, and one community dialog at a time.

The first public events are set to begin this September.

The survey results will be released later this year.

In this week's Louisiana Speech, I sat down with Attorney General Liz Merle.

Her office has made headlines recently with a lawsuit against the popular video game Roblox, and they're launching several new initiatives to help victims of crime.

Here's what's coming out of her office.

Let's take a look.

I am joined by Louisiana State Attorney General Liz Merrill, who is here to update us on her latest work.

Some of the latest legal challenges coming out of the office of the state top prosecutor, and also recent headlines about your work.

So thank you so much for joining us today.

Lots going on at the Louisiana Attorney General's office.

There is there's always a lot going on.

And, that's what makes it such an interesting and challenging place to work.

So let's start off with some of the latest headlines which talk about the lawsuit you filed against roadblocks.

Now, for those that do not know, Roblox is an online gaming platform that is popular with children.

What do you see as the threat to Louisiana youth?

I don't think I'll be the only attorney general to sue Roblox.

And, and it's it's dangerous because it invites kids in with almost no protections whatsoever from the predators who want to find them and groom them.

And, and exploit them.

What brought this to your attention?

I had seen some briefings on Roblox and how these experiences operate.

And the the kind of the extraordinary number of them.

So, for example, there's an experience on Roblox called a public bathroom simulator.

They invite anybody in their bedroom experiences where the avatars are naked.

Children as young as seven are are allowed into those spaces.

We've seen through our AI unit, which is the unit that investigates and arrest child predators, that they use this app frequently, that they are very, very prevalently using this app to identify children, to isolate them, to groom them and to talk to them, because there there are no restrictions on adults talking to children through this app.

What do you want to see happen with Roblox?

I want them to fix it or shut it down.

I mean, it's real simple.

You either take the steps that are necessary.

If you've produced a product, and that product is marketed toward children and 60% of your users, or are, and you're making a ton of money off of this product, then you need to make sure that you are addressing the the, the population that uses your product.

And in this case, 60% of these, this population is under the age of 16 or under.

And 40% are under the age of 13.

So we're going to we're going to switch subjects.

Now, one of the latest news headlines to come out is that President Donald Trump is considering sending, National Guard to the city of New Orleans to take control of what he perceives as an out of control crime situation as the state's top prosecutor.

How do you feel about that?

Do you welcome that federal intervention?

Does that help you do your job?

Well, it does.

I think that it helps, at all, you know, having more boots on the ground helps.

We saw that in New Orleans after January 1st.

We had a lot of federal assistance.

We we also surged additional state assistance, for that period of time between January and Mardi Gras.

Extraordinary results.

So, you know, when you target a place to bring crime down, it does make a difference.

And and when he talks about sending in troops, what I've assumed he means is that he's going to federalize some of our National Guard.

I mean, we we have them here that can be federalized for purposes of, receiving pay and other things under under federal supervision.

You know, being able to surge additional people to, to bring down crime in the areas of our state where crime is the highest would be helpful.

We've had three cities on the top ten most dangerous cities in the country.

You know, yes, I think that help is is welcome.

You have a new initiative coming out of your office.

That advocates for victims.

Tell me about this new program.

So I'm setting up an Office of Victims Rights and Advocacy in my office through my outreach.

Kind of department, which is a big part of what we do.

So I saw a need to kind of set up a more centralized office in my office since we prosecute cases all over the state, and I assist the district attorneys in cases all over the state.

We also have an investigations unit that works statewide and partners with sheriffs and law enforcement all over the state, and I can provide direct support to victims on how to navigate the criminal justice system.

And so I just want to formalize that something that we do already, but I want to formalize it and make sure that victims have a central place to go for resources where they can find resources all over the state, and through the state.

And, and as part of that, I would like to expand the same nurse program, which is, you know, at this point, we just have far too few sane certified nurses.

That's the sexual assault nurse examiner program.

And that nurse assists someone who has been a victim of rape or sexual assault and collecting the kit and interacts directly with the victims so that we can preserve the evidence and potentially prosecute that person later before we go.

Any other news that you would like to share with our viewers statewide?

We have outreach programs for kids about how to be safe with your cell phone anti vaping campaigns.

We go out in the schools and we talk to kids directly, and interact with them.

And, we also do use a lot of student athletes to, to deliver our anti vaping message.

So happy to come back and talk about those things any time.

All right.

State Attorney General Liz Merrill thank you for all you do for the state of Louisiana.

And thank you for joining us here at LPB to share your latest efforts.

Well, thank you.

It's a privilege.

This year marks LPB 50th anniversary.

And to celebrate, we are digging into our archives.

Now to kick things off.

Hey, we're in football season, so we're going to take you back to the 80s for a look at the Golden Band from Tiger Land.

Now, as we pick up the story, as they say, LSU was coming out of a slump and anticipating the first major bowl game in several years, and the team said that the band was a key factor in their successful season.

Here is a report from Robin Atkins from 1982.

Doing that field and you play pre-game.

The very first note, it's bam bam fired up and that's all you hear.

And the crowd is shaking your whole body.

You know, it's a thrill that you can never get tired of.

Never, ever.

As sure as the leaves will turn.

Each autumn, as sure as wistful LSU fans will gather to retrace every step of Billy Cannon's famed Halloween night 89 yard run, LSU's pride and joy will return to Death Valley to tackle another season this year.

The annual rites of fall in Louisiana have had a pleasant payoff, with a surprising eight, two and one record.

The Tigers are Orange Bowl bound.

Well, fans will come and fans will go, but there are always those who return rain or shine.

The Golden Band from Tiger Land has certainly been an enjoyment.

It inspires the team, it inspires a crowd, and I think it's one of the most important factors in our winning.

I came up here deciding not to join and I've been in band for about 11 years, and when I saw the freshman band and that orientation, I couldn't stand it.

I just had to get back in.

Nearly as long as there's been a football team at LSU, there's been a marching band as a student.

Former Governor Ruffin Pleasant organized the first in 1893.

The cadet band was a showpiece for LSU, growing steadily from its original size of nine members.

Former Governor Huey Long used the band as his own personal showpiece, often leading it in parade to football games.

Although Long's best known musical achievement was his collaboration with bandleader Castro Corazon, composing the populist fight song Every Man a King.

He and carousel also penned one of the band's best known fight songs, Touchdown!

Co-wrote touchdown with Huey Long, who collaborated with him on The Words and also Mr. Grasso was responsible at that time for writing fight, which is the fight song that we played for the team when they ran on the field.

Not only has the band dressed up the act, the football team since the days of Huey Long, but it's also added some complicated flourishes to its own performance, directing an estimated 270 band members and complicated formations in pregame and especially halftime shows is no small feat.

Each band member gets his own marching roadmap.

What's more important is that the marching or is it the music?

Is is the precision and the snap kind of more important, or is it the actual notes and the actual tunes of the band playing?

Well, the band has to play well before it does any movie, but the TV coverage that we get for our maneuvers makes everybody sort of hear with their eyes.

So when we are out on the field, we try to do the maneuvering, as carefully as possible.

One person not playing will not be noticed, but one person very far out of line will be picked up by everybody and stayed quite easily.

While one wrong step can embarrass the band, most fans are more concerned about other missteps on the field, like dropped passes and fumbles.

They're also, for the most part, more interested in who's putting the points on the board.

Some band members say they wish they could get more recognition.

Others say they feel a part of the team.

As many times this year we played pre-game stadium salute, like in Alabama, when the players on the sidelines just jumped up and down, we felt really appreciated.

Athletic director Bob Broadhead agrees.

I'll tell you how we sense it.

When we have our Tiger vision shows when we get complaints about not showing enough of the band, there seems to be a lot of interest in the band and a lot of people out there that watch, watch, particularly the band during the halftime shows and actually watch them the entire game.

Band director Frank Wicks says his group has plenty to be thankful for, like a special trip to Miami to play in the upcoming Orange Bowl.

Wicks, a former band director at the University of Florida, says he likes to think of the band as the 12th man on the football team, a position he says holds a special place in the hearts of Louisianans.

The long standing support that the people of Louisiana give this band, reflected in, in and walk down the street going to the stadium and the response to the band when it plays in the stadium, in response to the band when it goes on a trip.

The people of this state love the tiger Band, and it's one of the reasons that I wanted to have the opportunity to be teacher.

To.

To to never get hired with the heat and the costume sometimes.

Oh, of course it gets hard, but you have to think, you know, think to yourself, you know, what is it all about to you?

I mean, why are you here on the field?

And, and when you think back to, you know, to the reason why you are, I mean, it makes things one hell of a lot easier.

And you go out there and you do the job that you have to do, you know?

So it's what's all about.

You can put a Karen.

It's the best four notes in college football.

When the Tiger Band hit that Golden Band hits those first four notes for the salute.

It's the best in college.

Hey, you guys, exactly that march down memory lane, right?

No doubt about always some fun times.

And look, LPB has been Louisiana's storyteller for 50 years.

You can look back at our past content in the Louisiana Digital Media Archives at Le Digital media.org.

That's right.

Check it all out.

So that is our show for this week.

Remember you can watch anything LPB anytime wherever you are with our LPB app.

You can also catch LPB news and public affairs shows, as well as other Louisiana programs you've come to enjoy over the years.

And please take a moment and like us on Facebook, on X and on Instagram for everyone that Louisiana Public Broadcasting.

I'm Karen Loblaw and I'm Victor Hall.

Until next time.

That's the state we're at.

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 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.