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 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.

Time is running out for lawmakers to pass key pieces of legislation.

We'll look at what's past and what's in limbo.

She's known as Louisiana's first lady of France.

I'll introduce you to Mavis Arnaud Frechet, a French language advocate.

And the 2024 hurricane season could be a tough one.

I sit down with the director of Go SAP for a look at how they're preparing.

And an LSU librarian wins a national award for community building.

Are you ready?

I'm ready.

Let's get started.

Hello, everyone.

I'm Karen Le block.

And I'm Karen Saints here.

Much more on those top stories in a moment on this week's edition of Louisiana, the State we're In.

But first, Democrats in the House and Senate have introduced resolutions that could bar the use of highly controversial videos in Louisiana classrooms.

Education Superintendent Cade Brumley and Governor Jeff Landry endorsed the Prager U videos earlier this week, and authorized teachers to use them to supplement lessons.

The videos have been criticized for highly misleading and inaccurate comments about slavery and other historical topics.

Democrats say the videos amount to right wing indoctrination that has no place in the classrooms.

Governor Landry praised the videos as a push to keep what he calls American values and schools.

Lawmakers only have a few more days to consider those resolutions, as well as a load of other legislation still up for debate.

After a marathon of legal wrangling, lawmakers have tried to tackle a number of issues, from the insurance crisis to social hot topics.

Here's a look at some of the key pieces of legislation that passed, and what else could still be in play.

After a monthslong effort, the 2024 legislative session is coming to a close, with major wins for Louisiana's GOP.

Governor Jeff Landry outlined his goals in his opening address at the beginning of session, pushing the issues of education, insurance and a potential constitutional convention to the forefront.

Those plans do a lot of criticism from the left.

Right wing Republicans largely supported his agenda.

We want to be more like competitive states.

The states with these insurance companies are looking to deploy their capital.

Homeowner's insurance was one of the largest issues that lawmakers tackled early on in the session.

Louisiana's newest insurance commissioner, Tim Temple, backed a slew of business friendly legislation that, according to him, would increase competition in Louisiana's dwindling insurance landscape.

Temple's package had four main bills Senate Bill 322, House Bill 611, Senate Bill 484, and House Bill 120.

There are several additional ideas and proposals before you this session to address this insurance crisis.

I would urge you to listen carefully to this debate, these debates, read the bills and arrive at solutions that are fair to the consumer.

The bills drew lots of controversy from Democratic lawmakers, who argued that they didn't see how bills loosening restrictions would solve the insurance crisis, or benefit consumers.

It still is a of a real concern to me that that everything is done to favor the insurance industry, with no guarantees that it's going to lead to a reduction in rates.

And I'm just I'm looking for that assurance from someone that or somewhere that can give us that assurance.

The bills advance through the House and the Senate before heading straight for the governor's desk, where he signed them into law.

Seemed like support for it kind of fluctuated as we progressed.

What were the main concerns of lawmakers, whatever they were thinking about passing this bill?

So the main concerns, I think one of the major concerns was cost.

I think it had a lot of promise in terms of what it might be able to do and get people out of failing schools or schools that just don't even fit.

But how much was this going to cost?

At one point, experts who studied the bill said it could cost the state up to $500 million.

It's still unclear exactly how much the program will ultimately cost at this time.

So what they did, essentially, was punt the question over to, the K-12 board, Betsy, to try and figure out how are we going to roll this out?

What are the rules going to be?

Go establish a process.

Let us know who's going to come in at what time and how much it's going to cost.

Another amendment that would have required private schools receiving ESR funds to be assigned letter grades based on test scores was rejected.

How long would that process take?

That's a great question.

I think a lot of people have those questions.

How long that takes?

I don't know.

Another amendment that would have required private schools receiving ESR funds to be a signed letter.

Grades based on test scores was rejected.

But perhaps the biggest conversation this session was the governor's attempt to shift the balance of power to Louisiana's executive branch.

Governor Landry backed bills that called for a constitutional convention, a shield on public records, and gave him the ability to appoint members to Louisiana's Board of Ethics.

You have this board that's supposed to be independent, that is there to serve as a check and enforce the ethics rule on a state that has a history of corruption.

and I think that's going to get undermined.

Lawmakers supported the ethics bill to give Landrieu the power to make those appointments, despite him being the center of an ethics violation case brought on by the same board.

In addition to the big ticket items, there were a number of measures mirroring Republican pushes on a national scale that includes a series of proposals dealing with women's health, Lgbtq+ issues, and other classroom related topics.

One of the most prominent bills Landrieu signed will restrict access to two abortion pills mifepristone and misoprostol.

Doctors warn that restricting access adds red tape that would complicate care for pregnant women.

The bill still passed both chambers with overwhelming support, despite pushback.

Republican lawmakers also pushed through a series of bills targeting the LGBTQ plus community, some of which were vetoed by former Governor John Bel Edwards.

The bills expected to become law would bar teachers from using students preferred pronouns limited, which bathrooms and locker rooms they're allowed to use, and would broadly prohibit discussions about gender or sexuality in classrooms.

By law, the session is set to wrap up on Monday at 6 p.m..

Governor Landry has already vetoed nine pieces of legislation.

Those include two bills aimed to help bring access to healthy foods to underserved areas.

At this point, he signed 14 bills into law.

From hashtags to headlines.

By far the biggest story trending online this week is the criminal conviction of former President Donald Trump.

Huge news now Trump was found guilty of 34 charges connected to efforts to influence the 2016 election through a hush money payment to an adult actress on social media.

Governor Jeff Landry called the verdict, quote, a dark day for our country.

And there were other, Republican leaning Republican who are responding.

Basically, they're saying that the conviction is politically motivated.

Now, President Joe Biden's administration has largely stayed quiet about the verdict.

It will be interesting to see how all of this plays out, given that this will be the first presidential candidate campaigning for the office in the midst of a criminal conviction.

Right.

So it'll definitely be a historical election year.

Indeed.

And speaking of history, we're switching gears now.

Veterans from around the world will gather next week to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy, France.

And that's why they will be joined by members of the New Orleans Saint Augustine Marching 100.

Man, this is so great.

So these high schoolers are traveling to Normandy to perform at several ceremonies, and they're also going to tour.

And I just love this idea of the younger generation honoring America's greatest generation.

Yes.

So everybody's excited for Saint all during Mardi Gras time, so I can't wait to see what they're going to play now in Saint Albans did not go into this blind.

They went to the World War Two museum.

They study the time, teach music.

So it's going to be exciting to see what they put together.

We look forward to it.

Well, nearly 19 years after Hurricane Katrina, retired Lieutenant General Russel Honoré, he helped save twin babies from the chaos of Hurricane Katrina.

And guess what?

Recently, he was reunited with the twins Amari and Jamari Reynolds, just before their high school graduation.

In this beautiful full circle moment.

Yeah, apparently he's had a really big influence on the Reynolds Twins lives.

Amari says Andre inspired him to join the United States Marine Corps, and Jamari is going to college for an automotive engineering focus, and he wants to focus on consumer safety.

So I think that this is a really big deal and just a touching story.

Absolutely.

All right, you parents, to be listened up if you're trying to figure out baby names, we've got some resources for you.

According to the Social Security's latest database information on the top Louisiana names for boys and girls and Louisiana boy Liam, girl Amelia.

And let me tell you something.

As a parent, picking your baby name is research intensive and very strategic, and a name says a lot.

Kind of about the time that you were born.

Karen was very popular in a certain decade.

My daughter Alexis, very popular in her decade.

Well, I mean, I wish I could say that my name was popular in my decade.

I was one of the kids that could never find their name on a keychain, so whatever.

But, you know, it's surprising that, it's Amelia is surprising to me.

Liam not so much.

I feel like that's been number one for a while.

And other states.

Beautiful names.

And speaking of beautiful, I've got a beautiful story for you.

In good news, Louisiana LSU librarian Nicolette Davis has been recognized as a 2024 mover and shaker by Library Journal that is one of the oldest and most prestigious American trade publications for librarians.

Nicolette accolades come from her contributions to advancing diversity and inclusion in library sciences.

Here's more she will a few, maybe.

Nicolette.

When people think of a library, this is what they think of books.

Lots and lots of books.

But today's library is so much more than that.

Yeah, libraries are they are books, but they're also community spaces, spaces to engage and exchange ideas.

So there are a lot of books, but also there's a lot of space for learning and also building community.

LSU librarian Nicolette Davis believes books build bridges and libraries can be catalysts for positive change.

The assistant librarian for kinesiology, social work and Health Sciences earned a national award for her work to advance diversity and inclusion in library sciences.

What I do here, you know, on a day to day basis, I'm also involved in different organizations, professional organizations.

I do a lot of my community service work and committee work.

So, I'm involved in, like the Black Caucus of the American Library Association and a group called We Here, which is for, libraries, librarians and archivists of color.

And so providing, you know, a supportive space for those communities.

The Library Journal, a respected trade publication for librarians, selected Nicolette as a 2024 mover and shaker.

I loved how she brought together all the pieces of her work.

she has the week here work, her natural hair support group, the Ala Black Caucus, and her academic research.

And she pulled those together to make a really wonderful whole form of advocacy and positivity.

Nicolette joins the ranks of library workers, expanding the institution's relevance and reach, including TikToker librarian Michael three.

I am so happy I cannot wait.

PBS yes, so Michael and I, we were in the advocacy category, and I watched Michael on TikTok all the time and engage with, his content.

I was I was proud to be a part of that same list, but it's like, wow, this is a celebrity.

This is a library celebrity.

And not just in the library world.

Social media has helped dust off the library's image, but it's also a source of misinformation and polarize nation.

With recent calls for book banning and feeds full of fake news, Nicolette has made it her mission to help people decode the noise with critical thinking.

We are all creators of information, right?

And so sometimes people give factual information, sometimes people get fabricated information, and the fabricated stuff tends to spread more easily than the factual things.

So, so there's a lot of just different things online that are you need to use our critical thinking skills in order to, you know, engage with the materials and really just assess what's out there instead of believing everything that's out there.

Nicolette believes in the transformative power of libraries, and she leads by example.

In 2023, she was named an emerging Leader by the American Library Association.

That's the oldest and largest library association in the world.

Her vision is for everyone to see the library as an open door to conversation, collaboration and community empowerment.

There's been a lot of, like, tense things within libraries over the past couple years.

And, you know, I'm really thankful to be in a position where I can, you know, support other librarians and, you know, just invite different ideas and different things like that.

For.

You time is ticking for Louisiana residents to get a game plan before hurricane season starts.

The NOAA is predicting an especially active year, which means preparation is even more crucial.

The head of Gazette came to our studio to give us some tips on how to get ready.

This hurricane season is expected to be more severe than previous years, and some climatologists are even predicting that the systems may be so violent that it could necessitate another hurricane category, which is pretty scary to think about.

Do these predictions alter how Louisiana should prepare for the season?

No.

We prepare the same way every year, no matter whether we're going to get a active season or not.

An active season.

We start every February and we have about six events that we run through between February and May, and it culminates with a statewide exercise of all state agencies in all 64 parishes.

And then we finalize it with the Louisiana Emergency Management Conference, which happens in mid-May.

And we bring all the emergency management officials together in a conference.

And we talk about actual hurricane prep and all hazards prep.

So for us, we've been preparing since February.

And now for the next two months as we open hurricane season next week, we will prepare with all the parishes, all 64 parishes and all 330 municipalities.

What about the people in Louisiana?

Just regular residents here.

Should they prepare differently?

Well, the first thing that I tell everyone is to listen to your local officials.

We have a website called Get a Game Plan Talk, and it's designed to help you get through the process.

But really, the root of everything of hurricane preparation, all hazard preparation is with that local officials.

So when when local officials are going through the process and they're going through their preparation and they're telling you now prepare for hurricane season, you need to you need to take these next two months of June and July and prepare yourself.

So a lot of people ask me, well, what does that mean?

Like what is a plan?

How do I develop a plan?

If you go to get a game plan.org, it shows you first thing you want to do is you want to prepare an emergency kit, then you want to have not only an evacuation plan, but a shelter in place plan.

So, you know, maybe if you can't get out, you have the ability to prepare.

And then your plan needs to concern your businesses, your family, and of course, your pets.

And then you need to stay informed and make sure you're prepared and ready for hurricane season.

And part of the preparation is understanding what your evacuation routes are.

And, you know, that's another concern this season in particular, because, you know, some climatologists are using studies that are showing that hurricanes are developing faster.

So will that impact Louisiana's evacuation routes?

Absolutely it does.

And what we've seen over the last 5 or 10 years, it's extreme concern for us as emergency managers because it compresses your timeline where we used to have five days to prepare, you now have only three days to prepare with a decision to stay the same.

It just means you have to make the decisions more in a rapid fashion and more deliberately for the people that what we tell everyone is, listen to what those local officials say.

The first thing you're going to hear is you're going to hear a local officials say there's a voluntary evacuation of your area that's significant, that means they're telling you to get out.

In most cases, you'll get a voluntary evacuation and about three days before a storm.

So that local official who is in in combine would go step in the National Weather Service and National Hurricane Center will come up with, a voluntary evacuation, then it may progress to a mandatory evacuation.

And then the worst case scenario for southeast is if you have a contraflow evacuation.

Now, what we try to tell everyone, a lot of individuals try to go east or west, and you don't know if you go east or west.

You don't know if you're going in the appropriate area because a storm track may change.

We recommend everyone to go north and use the I-49 and highway 61 corridors in the I-55 corridors to go north.

If you try to go east or west, you could very likely go right directly into the path of the storm.

Has that happened in past years with Laura or Ida?

It had it has happened because what will occur is particularly with Hurricane Ida, that was three days before a storm was a tropical storm and was not really on a path.

And it shifted more towards a populated area.

Hurricane Laura was in the west side of the state and was on a on a track.

But if you would have gone for Hurricane Laura to the west, you would have been impacted in in western Louisiana and eastern Texas.

All right.

So the recommendation is go north, go north.

Yes, ma'am.

So we've been talking a lot about of course, these hurricanes are going to be more severe and they're developing faster.

But are we at the point where hurricanes are similar to tornadoes, where they're just going to be coming quickly and we don't really know when the next one will hit the the interesting thing about it is we just had around the tornadoes and, we we're not as experienced with tornadoes as we are with hurricanes.

I think you have to look at it from the standpoint of it's an all hazards plan.

what worries me the most in Louisiana is water more than wind.

Now, tornadoes are very bad and very difficult, and they're very intense in small portions.

What you will see with a hurricane is a larger area, but you have more time to predict and obviously than about four hours for a tornado.

But the water is what concerns us the most wind damage, straight-line wind damage and that aspect.

But storm surge and flooding and water surge actually is the most dangerous is where we've had most of the fatalities in the last 20 years.

All right.

So everybody knows the motto.

It's get a game plan and that it only takes one storm to create a disaster.

But what do people need to know about going into this hurricane season specifically?

Well, specifically, when you listen to the National Weather Service and they talk about, one of the most active hurricane seasons we've had in the last 20 years, I have a saying that I used it kind of puts it in perspective.

You can never win against Mother Nature.

the best you can do is fight to a draw.

And from our standpoint in emergency management, if we have an event and we have no nobody get hurt and no fatalities, it's been a good day.

so we we gauge our response and our preparation in getting the message out to people.

Please heed the warning of your local officials.

And if you have the opportunity to leave, please leave.

Evacuate.

It's always going to be safer somewhere the further inland you get.

All right.

Well, we are out of time.

Thank you so much for joining us.

Thank you very much for the opportunity.

I know Phil native Mavis Arnold Frazier is known as Louisiana's first lady of French language.

The 85 year old has been knighted twice by the French government for her efforts to revive French and Louisiana.

Once a month, Mavis invites the community to gather around the table to chat in French.

Her French tables are beloved events and part of the city's cultural identity.

This sign says Saint Luke campus MF Official of Roxy Ghetto coming soon.

I want to see French immersion happening on this campus.

I want heritage crafts being taught on this campus.

It could so happen.

We've got all the space in this little building.

It's not so little.

It's 33,000ft² on five acres of land in the middle of Oroville.

If Mavis are known for she has her way.

Saint Luke's, a French immersion school, will open its doors in Arnaud Ville as the first of its kind in Louisiana.

She gives me a tour of the former hospital building to show its potential already taking shape with community classes like this is what we use for all of our classrooms.

In here we've had spinning.

You see our spinning wheels, we've had spinning lessons.

Of course, we have French classes too, and quilting basket making.

We want to revive heritage crafts.

That's why we are doing chair painting and this wonderful little basket tanning, which is almost a lost art.

Mavis is a descendant of the founder of Arnold, Ville Heron.

This is my ancestors, y'all all know.

Who are he?

And his two brothers came from Albert Joseph France in the 1800s early 1800s and he settled here in order to build and married and Acadian woman.

Mavis grew up in a French speaking household and watched as her community slowly lost the language.

After a 1921 Louisiana law forbade spoken French in public schools.

I was never punished for speaking French at school, but some kids were and some were so humiliated, you know, where they couldn't ask even to go to the bathroom and would wet their clothes because they needed to go and we couldn't speak it at school, but we lived it otherwise.

The local priest gave his homilies in French after her husband, a Vietnam veteran, passed away at age 66, Mavis went to Nova Scotia to reconnect with her roots and the French language.

I don't call it Cajun French or Creole French.

I call it Louisiana French.

And, it's still here.

We don't speak it as much.

French spoken here is not textbook French.

It's not the formal French taught in schools, but nevertheless, it's French.

It indeed is an old French.

And, it's our French with all its imperfections.

In 2006, Mavis came up with the idea to invite people to the table to speak French.

She held her first French table event along the banks of Bayou Tash and Fried Up bingo was on site to entice people to attend.

A 125 people turned out that day for the first French table, and as word spread, attendance grew.

Always the last Saturday of the month.

Once a month.

It's a free event.

We, don't charge anything.

We always send donuts and coffee and, people bring, you know, we have door prizes, and we have a little form that Mavis held her French table events at the town Market, an art gallery that evolved to become present day new new arts and culture collective.

In time, the French table outgrew its original venue and took up residence at the Arnaud Ville Community Center.

Mavis quest to revive the French language in Louisiana caught the attention of filmmakers who produced a docu film, Mavis One Simple Sentence, airing on LPB.

A recent premiere of the film at New New Arts and Culture Collective brought the community out to honor Mavis and encourage local French speakers to understand the importance of their talents, the importance of French Louisiana, the importance of saying, I know I can be somewhere else, but I choose to be here.

Give us a culture is worth more.

It is more important than anything else.

And so I celebrate.

We, I celebrate with our neighbors, and I thank you to the filmmakers for allowing us to giving us.

It was an emotional evening for Mavis, who was moved to tears over the bond forged, speaking and sharing a common language and a commitment to preserving Louisiana's French heritage.

The broadcast premiere of Mavis One Simple Sentence airs on LPB Thursday, June 6th at 7 p.m..

The Bill Rodman production shot produced the half hour documentary.

That's our show for this week.

Remember, you can watch anything LPB anytime, wherever you are with our LPB app, 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 that Louisiana Public Broadcasting.

I'm Karen LeBlanc and I'm Kara Sincere.

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 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.