Support for Louisiana.

The state we're in is provided by... Entergy Louisiana is strengtheni 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 Zigler Foundation and the Zigler 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.

Louisiana leads the nation in closing the digital divide.

We'll see how that can open up new possibilities for students across the state.

The small town of Abbeville is making big changes aimed at making the area a destination for tourists.

We'll check it out.

And election season isn't over in Louisiana.

We'll look at four statewide amendments on this weekend's ballot.

And artist Jorge Rodriguez, known for his Blue Dog paintings.

But his earlier works focused on Louisiana's Cajun country.

We're taking you on a tour of an exhibit showing the artist's evolution.

So if you're ready, we're ready.

Let's get started.

Let's do it.

Governor Landry and Senator Bill Cassidy proudly announced Louisiana as the first state in the country to award federal broadband equity access and deployment funding through the state's gumbo 2.0 program.

Gumbo 2.0 will expand fiber optic connectivity over 140,000 sites across the state, supporting 100,000 homes, 35,000 small businesses and 4000 community organizations like public safety offices, schools, and hospitals.

Senator Cassidy played a key role in getting the bill passed and securing the $1.35 billion in funding that I have had of how do we help our state achieve its fullest potential?

Gumbo 2.0 will drive major economic growth in the state and create nearly 10,000 new jobs and close to 3 billion in new revenue for Louisiana companies.

Bringing this high speed, affordable internet to every community is part of that.

The potential the genius of people in our state, no matter where they live, can be realized because they have this.

One group is hoping to benefit from this new broadband expansion is Louisiana students.

He says getting students connected online will present them with new and endless possibilities.

Students.

There is so much online that someone can learn.

And so think about the student in a rural area who wants to learn Mandarin or Russian or physics, and the local college, or the local high school doesn't have someone skilled in them.

They can go online and then get any lesson they want.

If they can go online.

That was music to Louisiana's Teacher of the year.

Sheru grows ears who's been working to increase the use of technology in the classroom since 2012.

I'm super excited about this.

Broadband connectivity because we are going to conquer.

One of the greatest challenges of education in Louisiana is the digital divide.

You might have heard this word before.

The digital divide is like, some of our, students don't have that access to internet connectivity where they're living.

Maybe it's a community issue.

May be their circumstances, whatever they're going through, whatever their circumstances are, they were not able to utilize this facility.

But now providing this, it just helps us to close that, you know, the digital divide and and close that achievement gaps and help students be successful.

Shirish has helped lead Louisiana in its efforts to modernize the use of technology in school and improve digital literacy.

He says it motivates students whose life conditions otherwise would cause them to give up.

If there is a in just a few of them, a struggle with that motivation, at least they know that they have a little more time and extend it at home and leisurely they can complete it.

And another thing is this.

And sometimes the students have, you know, a lot of issues.

They go through trauma or whatever the challenges they're going through.

They may school.

So we post, assignments on the platform like I use canvas.

And so there's a canvas.

Platform is an online learning, platform.

So when we post the assignments over there and the students and once they recover and whenever they get a time, they complete the assignments and just post it.

Both Senator Cassidy and Chirag believe this is a game changing initiative for Louisiana that will not only impact current residents, but future residents for generations to come.

This is, I think, one of my proudest achievements.

Time now to talk about some of the things trending once again.

And there's been another big week on social media for things trending in the state of Louisiana.

And we start with football and a linebacker for LSU that has family ties to Baton Rouge.

Yeah, that's right.

In the Georgia native, like you said, already has close ties in Louisiana now Zach Weeks, he signed on with the Tigers on National Signing Day.

And if everything goes as planned, he will join his brothers Witten West on the LSU roster next year.

Yeah, there were a lot of teams that wanted to get Zach to sign.

Of course, he's from the state of Georgia.

You've got Georgia, you had Tennessee.

Even Michigan wanted to get him.

But look, when you have two brothers already playing in Baton Rouge, already wearing the purple and gold, you could see why that trend will go.

He said he loves the atmosphere of Tiger Stadium and is excited to get to play alongside his brothers, which is a great family story to have all three of them dressed out on the purple and grass, right, I love it.

Yeah, that was fun to see all of them play.

Let's stick with the purple and gold.

And how about yet another accolade for head coach Kim Mulkey and the LSU Lady Tigers?

She's done so much already, but had another accomplishment because last week she picked up her 100th win with the Tigers.

It was last Sunday and a win over North Carolina Central.

It made her the quickest to 100 wins.

It took her 114 games to win 100 at LSU.

Talk about getting a job done.

Well, that's right, Victor, we are definitely rooting for her and I'm excited to see what she does.

Absolutely.

Okay, well, moving on to the super Bowl 59 in the city of New Orleans.

Now, a lot of people online were heated when they announced that Kendrick Lamar will be doing the Super Bowl instead of native New Orleanians.

Little Wayne and I was one of those people.

But Louisiana will still be well representative represented.

Now they'll have Grammy winner Jon Batiste, Christian artist Lauren Daigle, and jazz musician Trombone Shorty And the R&B powerhouse Let Us See will perform during the pre-game.

And the Super Bowl 59 is on February 9th in the Superdome.

Yes.

And looking for now, how about this.

Some special news and big congratulations go out to a teacher from central who got a huge honor this week, Ashley Davis was the 3,000th recipient of the Milken Educator Award.

That's known as, like, the Oscars of teaching, right?

Oh, yeah.

The award goes to teachers who raise academic achievement and inspire students to have a passion for learning and the confidence to move on to the next stage of life.

Davis.

She teaches at Central Intermediate School.

You ready for this?

Got a check for $25,000.

Congratulations.

And in addition to the money, she'll get a trip to a national award ceremony.

That is some good news.

Absolutely.

And speaking of good news, many communities across Louisiana struggled to balance economic growth with historic preservation.

Well, Abbeville is one success story.

The city recently took ownership of a state highway running through town and partnered with Louisiana's Main Street program to make Abbeville a tourist destination.

Karen Lichtblau takes us on a stroll through the city's historic heart.

Bobbie Jo Scully can serve up coffee and a haircut at Archambault Salon and coffee bar.

I saw the future in it.

You know, for our our our kids, our grandkids, forthcoming.

So, I mean, it it's growing.

And hopefully we, you know, we keep growing Bobbie Joe's business and downtown Abbeville is one of several new locally owned shops and cafes bringing people back to the city's historic heart.

City of Abbeville was actually founded in 1850 and was founded by a French priest, Father Pierre McCray.

He was from the French village of Abbeville, France, and came to Abbeville and purchased the original ordinance of land from the landlords who were living here, and that the original six block radius of what became the city of Abbeville.

He laid out the village, as, according to what a French village was like, like his home town of Abbeville, France.

As Abbeville became a mid-sized city.

Traffic picked up through town along a state owned roadway.

The state highways cutting through our downtown led to, faster traffic, larger trucks, which did not lend itself well to our historic downtown.

In November of 2023, Abbeville took ownership of the state highway through town and worked with the center for Planning Excellence to make pedestrian friendly changes, including crosswalks and curb loss parking.

All of it is aimed at encouraging people to stop and stay a while.

It was very important that in the finished design that it feels like it could have always been here.

Abbeville streets were actually originally paved with oysters.

But we took the brick work that has been incorporated over the years and tried to mimic the color patterns.

And so this whole area was asphalt only for traffic.

And we built these bulb outs for pedestrian safety.

We added bollards so that when someone's standing here, because turning the corner stays within its radius.

And keeps you safe, and the most important feature is that if someone is mobile, a challenge, a mother with a stroller, or someone confined to a wheelchair, they no longer have to step off of a high curb, cross the street and step back up.

We were able to build it flush, curb to curb.

Downtown Abbeville consist of three squares lined with historic buildings, many renovated with funds from the Louisiana main Street program.

A stroll around town feels as if stepping into a storybook.

The Main Street program, which has been in existence in Abbeville for 30 years, comprises of a ten block area in that area.

We still have a lot of the historic buildings.

We're very fortunate for that.

And so when somebody comes here, they don't really see any new modern buildings like strip malls.

And so you get a good feeling of authenticity when you're in downtown Abbeville.

Public art, including crosswalks painted as piano keys and murals on buildings, plus hanging plants and signage, all contribute to Abbeville sense of place.

We walk past newly restored buildings, some funded with historic tax credits or facade grants from the Louisiana main Street program.

The Louisiana main Street program, which is our director.

We have been able to get funding to give to businesses so that they can either repaint their building or fix, some historic piece to the building.

So over the years, we've received like $117,000 worth of reinvestment money from the government.

And, we make that available to the buildings in the downtown area.

And with that, they've probably spent over maybe close to $1 million in improvements.

The combination of infrastructure improvements and Main Street Program grants is bringing business back to the city.

I was looking for a spot just near town, and this popped up, and I remember they did the, the festival right there I thought would be awesome to be right here.

Turned out to be the right space.

At its peak, Abbeville population was 13,000 residents.

Today, 11,000 people live in and around the city, where the economy is evolving from agriculture and oil based work.

I think our next market is tourism because, you know, we offer very unique tourists experiences here in Abbeville.

And so right now we're kind of in the evolution of our economy.

The rooftop of city government offices, housed in a historic building, reveals sweeping views of Abbeville oak canopies, public squares and colorful buildings, all setting the scene for more economic growth.

Mayor, as we look out over the charming city of Abbeville, what's your vision for the future?

My vision for the future is a more lively city and a place where you come and you feel like you're live in a hallmark movie every day.

Election season never truly ends in Louisiana.

We just wrapped up the big November elections, and voters will head to the polls Saturday to weigh in on four constitutional amendments.

The wording on those can be a little tricky.

So I sat down with Stephen Procopio from the Public Affairs Research Council to break them all down.

Well, thank you so much, Stephen, for being here.

It's always a pleasure to have you.

Well thank you.

I always enjoy being here.

Good, good.

Now, Stephen, we have just gone through the biggest election, you know, I'd say in a long time, but it's not over for us here in Louisiana.

We have something up coming on December 7th, actually, this Saturday.

And it's for constitutional amendments or for proposed amendments for.

Well, I guess there are four proposed constitutional amendments.

Yeah, absolutely.

Okay.

So now with everything and all of the legal talk in the language not many people really understand so well, let's talk about it now.

Amendment one, it would increase the size of Louisiana's Judiciary Commission and give Louisiana Supreme Court authority to direct the commission to investigate judicial misconduct allegations.

Now what does that mean?

So the Judiciary Commission is a constitutional body.

They investigate judges for misconduct, and then they make a recommendation.

Supreme court.

And the Supreme Court is the one that actually makes a decision on what any sanction will be.

But they can't act unless the Judiciary Commission does the investigation first.

So that's still in place.

But what this does is it increases the numbers of other members of the Judiciary Commission from nine.

And it's basically it's three judges, three attorneys, and then three citizens that are neither judges or attorneys.

And it's going to add five more members.

So it's going to go to 14.

You're going to get to appointments from the House, two appointments from the Senate and one from the governor.

And it's trying to increase the number of people that maybe have access to where this is a little too much inside baseball.

The concern is also, it takes too long to go through this process, and a couple other little things.

It does it it allows the Supreme Court to ask for an investigation because they don't have that formal power.

Now.

And it also will allow the Supreme Court to temporarily suspend a judge, but with pay.

So it's like, leave without pay while there's an investigation going on or no leave with pay.

Okay, good.

So the Second Amendment, it would require state legislature or legislators to make more time, at least 48 hours, to review proposed amendments to budget bills before a final vote can be taken.

By the end of the session, it was kind of chaos.

They were given a budget bill with amendments with hours left to go in the session, a lot of legislators complained they didn't have time to really read what was going on.

So this requires 48 hours, that after both the amendments and a summary report, before they can vote on the final passage of a budget bill, and it only applies to budget bills and only sort of the last vote before it would go to the governor.

And the idea is it gives them time to actually read what's in the bill.

The other side is that, well, you know, this is really something doesn't need to be in the Constitution.

It's something that the legislature ought to be able to manage the time themselves.

Okay.

Now, how does it relate to the Third Amendment?

Okay.

So these are philosophically bound.

It's the same author.

But it is not legally bound.

So someone, amendment two can pass and three can fail and vice versa.

But the idea behind it is you have the additional 48 hours that you need time.

The number three would allow the legislature, to take an additional six days of the session at two days at a time to pass any remaining budget bill.

So you can't use it for anything else except the budget bill.

And that would be, as opposed to going into a special session if they can't pass a budget bill because they need a budget, in in a special session, you have to come back, and start the whole process again.

And so that's sort of what they're trying to avert there.

Let's talk about number four amendment for, this is probably one of the most difficult ones for us to try and explain, because you have a current the current system is very complex and difficult to understand, and we're moving to a different system.

That's not to say that the amendment isn't a good idea or a bad idea.

Just it's complicated.

Yes.

And a nutshell, essentially, if someone owes property tax on their, property, the original owner, the government can force a sale and say, okay, look, you owe us property tax that you haven't paid.

And so now we're going to put your, property up for sale, and then people can go and buy that property.

And now it's a complex process.

You know, depending on how much someone bids, they can own a portion of the property.

Oh, and then that original owner has three years to kind of redeem the property, but essentially, you're putting up property for sale.

And that's what gets done.

And there's some problems with that.

There's problem with trying to get out, letting all the heirs know, because maybe it's not one person.

It could be grandma had this house and no one's been in it for a while trying to notify everyone.

The other issue is there was a case in Minnesota.

It had the Tyler case that says, look, you can't really take a house, from someone over it.

A debt that's worth less than the house.

They should get some of that money back.

And that can be an issue in Louisiana in some cases.

Not not not in all of them.

So the proposed solution was to move from a process where you take someone's house and sell it as opposed to someone can auction off and buy the debt.

And so now you owe me the debt.

And you have, you know, and I'll, I can charge interest and penalties for that, but essentially, you can come back at some point and buy the debt from me.

Thank you so much, Stephen.

I think that you've given us a really great summary of what we can think about prior to going in there this Saturday and voting.

Thank you so much for having me and always a pleasure to be on.

Thank you.

A new exhibit at the Cavallino in New Orleans highlights works from famed Louisiana artist George Rodrigue.

It opens alongside the debut of a documentary of the blue Dog artist's life and art.

Karen toured the exhibit alongside Rodrigues son, shark, who shares memories of his father.

Here we are in the Cabildo, and I'm excited to show you dad's exhibit.

Rodrigue, before the Blue Dog.

So it's a great chance to learn more about dad's history as an artist.

And this show really focuses on his early Cajun works, starting, of course, with the Louisiana oak tree.

Dad grew up in New Iberia, but went to art school in Los Angeles, and when he came back from school in the late 1960s, he viewed the oak tree as the symbol of South Louisiana.

And he was in LA when Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup can hit.

And so he thought, in those pop art principles of this oak tree as his Campbell's soup cans.

The Cabildo Museum in New Orleans chronicles George Rodriguez evolution as a world renowned painter, exploring his signature style of depicting Louisiana landscapes and Cajun culture.

For dad, when he walked and saw the swamps and the bayous, the sky was always underneath the oak tree, with the oak tree cut off at the top.

And there was that glow behind the horizon line that he really wanted to capture.

And he purposely cut off the oak tree.

Right.

You never see the full oak tree canopy.

Over time, Rodriguez oak tree scenes included people, luminescent Acadians in contrast to the dark, moody Louisiana landscapes.

In 1971, he had to come up with the idea of what would a person look like if they walked out from behind one of the oak trees, because he wanted to visually interpret his history on canvas.

And so in paintings like this, you see these figures that glow white as if they're cut out and pasted on the landscape.

They have the pride of their history and their culture and their food and their music all coming from within, even though they're under trees.

And there's two lights in every Rodrigue painting that that light from within, but also the light beyond the horizon, which represented the hope of the Cajun people.

The 1984 World's Fair in New Orleans gets credit for introducing Louisiana's Cajun culture globally through Rodriguez paintings.

And chef Paul Prudence, cooking.

The two were best friends, and they did lots of exhibitions and cooking demonstrations together.

And so we're so excited to have this painting here, which actually hung at Cape Hall's for many, many years.

The exhibit also acknowledges Rodriguez global success with The Blue Dog, showcasing his first painting of the icon inspired by the family dog, Tiffany.

It was painted for the World's Fair, which was in New Orleans in 1984, and there was a book of ghost stories in this book and that illustrated the story of this luga roo haunting this red house.

And so he used an old picture of his dog Tiffany, as the model and painted this piece.

And you can see from the fur, from everything.

It wasn't the pop art image that we knew of it today.

He was painting this Luger as if it was one of his Cajuns.

And so it's a really rare opportunity to come and see the first ever Blue Dog.

Jack says Tiffany died before he was born, but you can learn more about the famous family dog in the documentary when he was painting Tiffany, as you know, the Luna roo.

It was kind of frightening to me because it looked so different from like, her actual fur color.

He painted the eyes like, you know, intentionally to be frightening.

And it worked on me as we were doing the film.

Everyone around the world seems to know Blue Dog.

Not a lot of people are aware of the story.

Before Blue Dog or the vast talent that George has.

Even beyond what a lot of the public has seen.

You know, we got to go into the art troves and see behind the scenes and pull out art that no one's ever seen.

There is a lot of thought and a lot of real existential ethos in his work that people aren't aware of.

Evangeline, the character and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's famous poem of two Cajun lovers separated during the expulsion of Acadians, was one of Rodrigues earliest muses.

We would come out here and take maybe 100 or 200 pictures, and I'd go to his house and he'd say, oh, look, I just painted you another Rodrigue muse.

Jolie blunt, the character in a traditional Cajun waltz.

The film introduces viewers to Rodriguez original Jolie Blau model.

Here's the Jolie blond model.

Oh, yeah.

She was, you know, maybe 100 paintings of her.

So, Wendy, we are sitting in front of your husband's painting, Jolie Brown, a favorite subject of his, and some say you were his real life.

Jolie.

Well, what do you say to that?

Georges first painting of Jolie Blond is from 1974.

So this particular one, which is so lovely and romantic, is her 1982.

But the first one that he made is his most famous from 1974, and he made her up in the middle of the night.

He, like, dreamed her up.

And when we became us, which was in the early to mid 1990s, he said the most romantic thing to me.

He said, Wendy and you at last I have found my Jolie blank.

The exhibit paints a complete picture of George Rodrigue, the man and his art beyond his fame, Blue Dog and his palpable passion for Louisiana's Cajun roots and culture rendered on canvas.

That's what frustrates me the most is that the dog is stronger than Rodriguez.

Now that is the wife in me, the person who loves him saying that.

Because ultimately, if I twist that and look at a little different.

The dog brings people to Rodrigue.

So people know Rodrigue and come to know him because of the Blue Dog.

And it is that doorway that brings him to beautiful works like you see here.

There's several ways to look at it.

But to walk in here and see him and see him jump out of the canvas at you, because it's not just a painting you can see in their faces the expressions and the feeling of the people of that time.

So I encourage everyone to come out and see this.

This is a very special opportunity to see his early work ins and, and what they meant to the community and the people who painted.

You can see the premiere of Blue The Life and Art of Jorge Rodriguez.

Sunday night at seven, right here on LPB.

The exhibit at the Cabildo in New Orleans runs through September of 2025.

And there's nothing more unique to Jorge Rodriguez, that blue dog.

I'm sure the exhibit is outstanding to visit and can't wait to see the special.

That's right, me there Victor.

Looking forward to it.

Now that's our show for this week.

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

That's where you can catch LPB news and Public Affairs shows, as well as other Louisiana programs you've come to enjoy over the years.

And when you're on social media platforms, please like us on Facebook and Instagram.

All right.

For everyone at Louisiana Public Broadcasting, I'm Dorothea Wilson, and I'm Victor Howell.

Until next time.

That's the state we're in.

Support for Louisiana.

The state we're in is provided by Entergy.

Louisiana is strengthening our power grid throughout the state.

We're reinforcing infrastructure to prepare for stronger storms, reduce outages, and respond quicker when you do need us.

Because together we power life.

Additional support provided by the Fred B and Ruth B Zigler Foundation and the Zigler 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.