Entergy is proud to support programing on LP and Greener practices that preserve Louisiana.

The goal of our environmental and sustainability initiatives really is to ensure that our kids and future generations can be left with a cleaner planet.

Additional support provided by the Fred B and Ruth B, Zeigler 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 and learning about the history and the politics of it as something of the passion of mine.

Passionate Statehouse reporters learn on the job.

We just just trying to get just trying to get everything back together again.

Hurricanes threatening the future of Louisiana's seafood industry.

We have screened over 100,000 individuals for five different types of cancer.

An essential health check interrupted by COVID.

This is definitely improved since we last spoke.

Our local economy on the verge of recovery.

Hi, everyone.

I'm Kara St. Cyr And I'm Andre Moreau.

Lawmakers are now taking the Ronald Greene case into their own hands.

House Speaker Clay Snyder is moving ahead, launching an investigation into the state's handling of the case.

This comes on the heels of last month's Associated Press report revealing that the governor learned about the controversial details of the case just hours after it happened.

An investigative committee of four Democrats and four Republicans will hold public hearings in the near future.

Governor Edwards will likely be included as a witness in a statement released yesterday.

The governor said he welcomes all legislative oversight.

He wrote that he hopes the investigation will be a productive, nonpartisan discussion about reforming the state police.

Meantime, a series of bills that would give the state a second congressional district with a majority of black residents were rejected in committee.

The votes were along party lines.

And now let's check on other news headlines from around our state.

The governor appointed Dr. Kim Hunter Reed as the new chair of the state's Cyber Security Commission.

Reed is the state's commissioner of higher education and is a nationally recognized student advocate with extensive higher education and government experience.

Dr. Chris Bowen is retiring after four years of service.

Louisiana Bishop who has led efforts against racism, is now the archbishop for the Archdiocese of Louisville, Kentucky.

The most, Reverend Shelton Jaafar, has served as bishop of Homa Tebogo since 2013.

Pope Francis announced the appointment a corroded Collins Company pipeline that ruptured and spilled 350,000 gallons of diesel fuel into a New Orleans area wetland.

Did not have a fully functioning leak detection system, according to federal records.

Two of the three components of the leak detection system did not issue alarms as they were supposed to.

The third part of the system issued an alarm in the spill two days after Christmas.

Monroe will have a ribbon cutting this weekend to open more than a mile and a quarter of walking and bicycle trails around wetlands of a former golf course.

Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser is scheduled to be there for the festivities.

The project is part of a plan to link trails from Karoly Park to downtown.

The Saints didn't have to look far to name their next head coach.

The team named defensive coordinator Dennis Allen is the man to replace the retiring Sean Payton.

Allen made his mark with a defense that developed into a team strength.

They ranked fourth in the NFL in both yards, allowed and points allowed the past three seasons.

A storm surge of layoffs has radically changed the face of media But students from LSU's Manship School of Mass Communication are helping fill the void.

They're learning fast and they're producing big.

Keeping the state up to date with news from the state capital already struggling with much leaner staffs and less ad revenue.

COVID struck the newspaper industry a major blow in 2020.

More than 300 U.S. newspapers closed, leaving even more journalists out of work.

State House reporters are among those newsroom casualties.

There are fewer and fewer state capital journalists to keep the public in the know about state government actions and issues.

It's here that the statehouse bureau and last year's Manship School of Mass Communication is helping fill some of those gaps in coverage.

Despite the negative newspaper circulation trends.

73% of Americans say they have faith in their local newspaper.

Small dailies are seen as the most significant, trustworthy sources of information in their communities.

They provide more reporting than local TV.

The Statehouse program is taught by Christopher Drew.

He's a 40 year veteran reporter and editor, formerly of The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Times-Picayune and four years under Drew, Statehouse has grown from delivering legislative coverage from 13 outlets to more than 80, including The Advocate.

No Laycon, The Times-Picayune.

Shreveport Times.

WGN TV in New Orleans and AFB and WBEZ in Baton Rouge.

There are six Manship students covering the Capitol.

And Piper Hutchinson is one of those one of the star pupils, as a matter of fact.

I am told that you zoom your classes from the Capitol, so you're down there all the time.

Oh yeah.

I just ran out of committee room to take my Zoom classes and pop right back in.

That is total dedication that you find yourself in an interesting situation.

You're in the middle of the three week redistricting situation that Louisiana finds itself in.

And pits by Democrats and Republicans.

But there's a lot of emotion in all of this, isn't there?

Oh, yeah.

Emotions run high every day.

Earlier this week, State Representative Kenny Cox, he came into the redistricting committee.

He's not a member, so he had to fill out a card like every other member of the public.

But when he testified, he gave a very emotional plea to save his historic majority black district, which under the Stefanski Snyder plan, would be divided and absorbed into surrounding districts.

Now he is in Massachusetts, Democrat, a war hero.

And that played into that.

The drama of that, as a matter of fact.

You wrote that he was the first casualty of war in the special session because what he wanted didn't didn't happen.

Right.

And Chairman Stefanski said it was the hardest decision he had to make in redistricting.

But ultimately, it looks like his district will be effectively deleted.

Okay.

Wow.

So you've seen Sharon Hewitt and Cleo Fields go at each other and try to convince each other that what they're saying is for the good.

How is it to cover that as a student?

Well, it's very interesting.

To watch unfold.

Of course, Cleo Fields, he's been a very strong advocate for drawing to majority black districts.

And it's personal for him.

He at one point held Louisiana's second black majority district back in the nineties that was thrown out by the Supreme Court So he's got a personal stake in it.

You know so much, you know the background information.

You're from Louisiana, but you said you were a military brat.

You said you lived all over.

Well, I just recently moved to Louisiana myself.

I grew up in Texas and Georgia.

But I have always spent time here in Louisiana.

And I love it here and learning about the history and the politics of it as something of the passion of mine.

Politics it sounds like it's a passion of yours.

Okay.

With that in mind, the Ronald Green case, which, you know, you wouldn't necessarily think would have anything to do with the maps, but could it play a factor in how these maps are drawn?

Unfortunately, yes.

Anything that gets national attention is is going to force people to start thinking about what happens next.

And with this happening at such a sensitive time, especially between the the push from black lawmakers convincing Republican lawmakers to draw more majority minority districts.

Adding in another aspect of racial tension would affect redistricting.

It has the potential to drive a wedge between Governor Edwards and the Black Caucus It's coming at a time when the Edwards veto is more important than ever.

Well, we're going to follow you.

And we may have to bring you back here and give us a wrap on this thing.

By far, so great to meet you.

Thanks so much for joining us here.

Well, thank you.

Thank you for having me.

Good to talk to you.

Yes, sir.

Between 20, 20 and 20, 21, Louisiana was thrashed with five hurricanes.

Two of them grew into dangerous category fours just before landfall.

And as Hurricane Laura and Hurricane Ida, fishermen and coastal communities still face the aftermath from these back to back hurricanes, many with defunct boats and infrastructural damage beyond repair and Terrebonne Parish, one fisherman is finally opening his doors after five months of closures.

Louisiana has been plagued with overactive hurricane seasons for at least two years now.

Millions along the Gulf Coast are bracing for Laura, which is now officially a hurricane.

This is one of the most dangerous storms that we have seen in modern history.

And Ida, at this hour, still a dangerous Category four hurricane.

150 mile per hour winds pelting our state are destroying the wetlands and the businesses who make their living on the water.

Luke Seafood is one of the fisheries in Dulac, Louisiana, trying to recover.

As you can see right here as black cat.

It is pieces that we change because the bones are the wind was so strong and I had bent them over to the other side of the boat.

You know, as far as that go, the boat broke loose, went across the bayou.

This is, to me, Luke's first week back to work in over five months.

His business, Luke Seafood, catches and ships, oysters, crabs and shrimp or at least it used to be until it was hit hard by Hurricane Ida.

Those strong winds push masses off his shrimp boat and pulled wood off the docks.

The damage was so severe that his business was closed between August and February.

That's 80% of his income just gone.

We're just just trying to get just trying to get everything back together again to be back normal, which will take a while.

The infrastructure damage here is massive.

Repairing the boat alone will cost Luke $15,000, and that's not including damage to the docks or his offices.

He's also in serious need of staff of the 25 fishermen he usually contracts.

Only four can work right now.

The rest are battling the same infrastructure battles.

This is his catch for today.

Some of the biggest being crabbing gear.

Some of the fishermen didn't have enough time to pick up the traps because what would they do?

It's like they not don't really notify you when they close the floodgates.

And then when they close it, you can't go in or out, in or out because it's shut down.

So we have had to leave the traps out on the water.

Lucan is fishermen lost about 500 crab traps during the hurricane.

Unlike other gear he has to replace, the traps are scarce right now, and the places that carry them are expensive.

Normally, one trap will cost around $42, but now there are about 54.

This means increased prices for consumers when they're looking to buy crab this year.

That's the only way fishermen like Luke can recoup the costs.

I think crabs.

Yes, in particular, we're going to see some short term shortages.

Rex Caffey is the lead author on the damage assessment released by the LSU Sea Grant and the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.

He says these past hurricanes have made it extremely difficult for fishermen to rebound.

The report revealed that the state suffered $305 million worth of infrastructure loss.

We think that equates to about a 20% 22% reduction in the appraised value of fisheries infrastructure And that's a pretty big reduction.

The numbers are even larger when you add in natural resources and revenue loss from businesses.

That comes out to $580 million.

It's all wrapped up on the road to recovery is years in the making.

And it depends on Mother Nature.

But Luke says he knows it's possible.

Every fisherman that I know can bounce back is just going to take time.

You know, it just is just it's just one of those deals we've got to deal with.

Kathy says that hurricanes are to be expected in south Louisiana, but if fishermen don't have the support of local and federal governments, to fix infrastructure damage, the problem is only exacerbated.

He says lawmakers need to allocate grants to help fishermen make the necessary repairs The White House recorded 6.4 million new jobs since this time last year.

It's a record breaking number of job gains since data was first recorded in 1939.

Here in Louisiana, our job market is slightly below the national average.

But according to economists Andrew Fitzgerald, we're on the right track.

Despite the Delta and all the Crown outbreak.

Last time I spoke to you, there was a pretty bleak outlook on Louisiana's economic future.

Has anything changed?

Yeah, things have definitely improved since we last spoke.

You know, unemployment is near an all time low for both the state and the capital region, which is great news.

The tough the problem we're seeing now is there are just more job openings.

There are people looking for work.

So what makes it so different from September?

The last time I spoke to you.

So since September, we've been through the Delta waves.

We've not been through the current waves.

And it's got to a point where people have accepted that the virus is likely just endemic at this point.

So the kind of fear of going out and getting sick, the closures, the decreased traffic at food and beverage places, we've really seen a kind of return to normality since then in the last few months.

Are we showing any signs of that changing anytime soon?

I think in order to change that the number one thing we can do is focus really heavily on talent retention.

Right now there are 28,000 open jobs in the capital region and fewer than 14,000 people looking for work.

So we have two openings for every one person out there.

So even if there is 100% employment, there would still be a massive amount of job openings.

But we have 55,000 students at higher ed institutions here in the Capital Reason.

That's a gigantic pool of talent that we are training.

And we're really subsidizing that training through our tax dollars.

So focusing on retaining all that top when they graduate, don't necessarily let them move to Nashville or Austin, but entice them to stay here and focus on proving that this is a great place for a young professional to be.

Do you have any comparisons for maybe 20, 21 to 2022?

Well, right now, when it comes to employment, we're doing much, much better.

We're just around 400,000 jobs, which is for me kind of in the beginning of the pandemic, I thought one for above 400,000.

We're getting to be really back where we were.

We're about 10,000 right before the pandemic, but we were kind of languishing in 380,000 jobs around there.

For most of 20, 21.

So we added about 20,000 jobs really since, since around the vaccine date.

I would say it's kind of a good, a good metric, a good marker The last time we spoke I was trying to get a prediction of when we'll be back to normal.

And you gave me around, I think it was two to three years and our economic outlook that we put out in December, we looked at several different projections by different varying economists in really 20, 23 I think you can kind of safely say that we're going to be back to about that, hopefully back to the quarter and 10,000 jobs are at pre-pandemic.

So the remainder of this year now we've seen huge jumps in recent months.

One month had like a 5000 plus job jump at the end of last year.

So it could happen much more quickly.

Then again if we don't do a good job retaining this talent in our labor force stays small like where it is right now, contracted from the pre-pandemic level.

It's going to be hard to hit that approximately four or 10,000 job metric that I put out there.

Is there anything else that you'd like to say that you feel I didn't ask are just something else you want to add?

I think we hit it all.

I mean, I want to emphasize is just in the state of Louisiana.

There are one and a half job openings for every person looking for a job.

And in Baton Rouge, they're Baton Rouge Capital Region.

There are more than two job openings.

So really just pushing out.

There it is now.

It was hurting out there for the employees back in 2021.

Now the hurt is on the employers because the labor shortage is just only getting bigger.

Louisiana's job market is continuing to grow along with the rest of the country.

The jobs hiring the most right now are trucking, retail and tech.

The gaming industry is also bringing in more employees February is National Cancer Prevention Month, and there is some concern about what people may find as they resume screenings.

It's because we've covered a lot of those health checks were pushed aside.

Rene Duffin is vice president of Cancer Support with Mary Byrd Perkins Cancer Center and joins us now.

How has COVID impacted cancer screenings throughout the country and in Louisiana?

Just as with everything else, COVID has had a significant impact on cancer screenings in March of 2020 when the United States shut down pretty much everything, all of our cancer screenings that we perform in the community through our prevention on the Go program were halted that happened all over the country with non elective procedures.

And so when things gradually began to open back up and we got back out, we did continue to see a reluctance on the part of the community to come out and get screened because of the messaging around being safe and not being in large crowds.

So the National Cancer Institute estimates that there will be about a 1% increase in mortality over the next decade as a result of the halt that COVID 19 brought to cancer screenings in our country.

Right.

So some definite sad news and heartache could be awaiting people right over the long term.

Yes.

But we are beginning to see a gradual increase in people returning to our prevention on the go screenings that Mary Perkins Cancer Center offers in the community and I wanted to ask you about that.

Prevention on the go.

Tell me about that.

So Prevention on the go is our cancer screening program that we have been providing in the community since 2002.

We have screened over 100,000 individuals for five different types of cancer breast skin, prostate, colorectal and oral cavity.

And these are all done at no cost to the individuals being screened.

We take our mobile medical clinics of which we have to and we have a third currently being built right now that we're going to put on the road as well.

And we go out into the community.

So as opposed to an individual having to come to a brick and mortar facility where there may be some fear and anxiety, we go into their local community, set up our mobile clinic, and they come and get their cancer screenings well, so you're speaking about rural communities largely here, and sometimes we're talking about underserved people.

They've got to get the help also.

So that's what this on the Go program does, correct?

Our program initiated to serve primarily the uninsured and the under-insured As you know, in Louisiana, we have a large uninsured population.

We have a large underinsured population.

And so this program was designed to reach those individuals.

However, we have a large population of people with health insurance that actually participate in our screening programs because it's convenient, because we're at locations and at times that are convenient for the individual by going into their local community.

We serve 18 parishes here in southeast Louisiana, as well as 12 parishes up in the Delta region of the state, northeast Louisiana, and five counties in southwest Mississippi as well.

Wow.

And so we take our mobile clinic.

We'll set it up in a Walmart parking lot or a large box store, pretty much anywhere that can accommodate it because of COVID.

We now have to make appointments for everyone coming to be screened.

We can take a handful of walk ups, but we no longer allow more than three individuals at a time on our mobile clinics.

Because of COVID.

We clean and sanitize the unit between each patient visit to ensure their safety as well as the safety of our staff.

So a lot of care goes into it.

What if someone finds something?

This is not their doctor, it's somebody else.

But what kind of follow up is there?

Follow up is absolutely necessary.

We have a full time nurse navigator.

That sole purpose is to ensure that anyone that has an abnormal finding reached resolution of that finding.

Is that immediate?

That is immediate.

She will work with them from the moment our nurse practitioner or our physician tells an individual, we have found something that is abnormal.

She is there to answer questions for them.

She is there to help them schedule appointments as well as overcome any barriers those individuals may have and going to a facility to get a resolution of that finding.

This is all done at no cost.

So philanthropy is huge.

It is huge.

We have a very generous community and we have been able to provide this program since 2002 because of the generosity of the community as well as grants that we are able to secure.

But the philanthropy of the community has helped to sustain this program.

And so we're able to pour all of those funds into the program to cover the cost of all of these cancer screenings so that individuals do not have to worry about any, any cost to themselves.

Sounds great.

And for more information, just go to Mary Bird Dawg or simply call 225215.

One, two, three, four.

Simple number.

Remember that?

Yes.

And thanks so much for being here.

Thank you for having us.

I have a very special surprise for you.

I have two brand new Green Book episodes airing as part of our Safe Haven series.

The new episodes take you back to 1955 and 1947 when Hotel Lincoln in Baton Rouge was just being constructed and black owned taxicabs were one of the safest modes of travel in New Orleans.

The new episodes will premiere on LP's YouTube channel and at LPV Dawgs and Green Book on Tuesday, February 15th and on Tuesday, February 22nd.

Both episodes will also air right here on the state we're in on Friday, February 18th and Friday, February 25th.

Got it.

It is Super Bowl weekend and in advance of the big game, a huge honor for former LSU Tiger and LA Rams tackle Andrew Whitworth.

Friends say he is one of the nicest fellows you'll ever meet.

And now the all pro from Monroe is awarded the Walter Payton Man of the Year award.

It recognizes his philanthropy and also football achievement.

Big honor for him, of course.

Whitworth and Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow lead a parade of ten players with Louisiana ties in the big game.

Those two, of course from LSU playing.

There are six LSU Tigers playing in this.

And also, we wanted to end this broadcast with an official map of Bengal fans we've developed here at LPV, Ohio, of course.

But you can color most of Louisiana black and orange.

Yeah, it's spread.

You know, people watching Joe Burrow all season long.

And there's the map right there.

Oh, look at that.

You can see where the Bengals base of fans is located.

I have two sisters who just go crazy for Joe Burrow every time he's on.

I Do to Everybody.

That is our show for this week.

Remember, you can watch anything else, TV, anytime, wherever you are.

With our live PBS app, you can catch LPD News and Public Affairs shows, as well as other Louisiana programs you've come to enjoy over the years and please, likes on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and Instagram for everyone.

Here at Louisiana Public Broadcasting, I'm Andre Moreau and I'm Kara St. Cyr.

Until next time, that's the state we're in.

Entergy is proud to support programing on LPB and Greener practices that preserve Louisiana.

The goal of our environmental and sustainability initiatives really is to ensure that our kids and future generations can be left with a cleaner planet.

Additional support provided by the Fred B and Ruthie Zigler Foundation and the Zigler 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