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 Ruth B, 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 so I think mostly individual voters will probably see it through their own lens.

An emotional vote makes history.

Since last summer, I would say there has been a definite darkening of the national mood.

A new poll and where Louisiana stands right now, we're in a staff shortage, and it's a critical shortage.

Why?

Investigations of child abuse are put on hold.

Alison has a personality that pushes forward.

Introducing you to our next young hero.

Hi, everyone.

I'm Kara St.Cyr.

And I'm Andre Moreau.

Severe weather has people from plane dealing to Grand Isle on edge for a second week in a row.

Tornado warnings gripped north Louisiana Wednesday with the advance of that cold front.

A number of tornadoes were reported, but no major damage or injuries.

The National Weather Service confirmed an EF one tornado did damage property near Roseland and Tangible Parish.

80 mile an hour winds.

Nothing like we saw last week, though.

And for the second time in eight days, officials confirmed a tornado near Lake home in Saint Tammany Parish.

They say it was an EF zero, which is the lowest on the tornado scale.

One person reported tree damage.

Cleanup continues from last week's tornadoes in Saint Bernard and Orleans parishes.

Anyone with damage can file a report at damage on LA.

Dot gov.

It's still not clear how much assistance can be given at this time after the legislature voted to overturn Louisiana's new congressional map.

Civil rights activist groups are suing they argue the boundaries drawn violate the Voting Rights Act.

More on that story in 2 minutes.

But first, let's check on other news headlines from around our state.

A day in southwest Louisiana is launching a program to expunge criminal records.

Steven Dwight, the Calcasieu Parish district attorney, says that a new day program is meant to help community members get back into the job market, receive loans and engage in everyday successes.

When the project is up and running, people can apply online Violent crime and sex crimes are not eligible for the program.

Applicants will be accepted through May 2nd.

Also in southwest Louisiana, a new face for the Jeff Davis district attorney's office.

The parish just elected its first female D.A.. Lauren Heinen took 58% of the vote.

She'll be taking the seat following the death of D.A.

Kevin Milligan, who died last July.

She'll be sworn in on April 5th.

Her term ends in 2026.

Adult children may soon be able to obtain birth certificates without a court date.

A bill in the legislature wants to adjust a current law that bars adoptees from receiving their birth certificates with information about their biological parents without convincing a judge.

The State House voted 72 21 Tuesday to allow adoptees access at the age of 24.

The bill heads to the Senate chamber next.

Better remedial classes are on the way for Louisiana public colleges.

Students who aren't prepared for college level English or math can now access longer sessions with make up material.

They can also put these classes toward college credit if they pass.

The revamped courses are intended to keep more students in school and remove barriers to higher education.

This new approach is called code requisite, and it's also expected to lower college costs Well, this made history.

This week, the legislature overturned the governor's veto on congressional maps.

The vote went along party lines, which you might expect.

But it's the first time in about 30 years that legislators refused to accept a gubernatorial refusal of a bill that they had passed.

And here to talk about it is Melinda, the Public Affairs Research Council research director, and also Barry Erwin, president of Council for Better Louisiana.

Let me just ask you guys, first off, your reaction to this.

And you were there on the floor as it's happened.

I was I was in the House and the Senate for the for the two votes.

You know, it just felt like you wanted to see it in person.

It was a historic moment.

It's the first time they've ever overridden a veto in a veto session.

It's only the second time they've ever had a veto session.

And it's only the third time they've ever overridden a veto since the current constitution was enacted in 50 years.

So it just it felt like you wanted to see what happened.

So your reaction, one of history and your reaction, Barry?

Yeah.

Well, I think the history that you mentioned, of course, and I guess the other question was, were they going to do it or not?

You know, we had a veto session last year and they weren't able to do it.

And so kind of with the speculation which way was going to go, I mean, honestly, I think it was close all the way.

I would have been surprised personally if they not done it.

But you couldn't say it was a slam dunk that they were going to do it, but either way, we had it.

Well, the governor said this was not our finest day.

And Republican Alan Ball from Shreveport said we broke down the door and referring to the governor, he better be careful.

What is your reaction to that?

Well, the way I took it is this was the first time they've successfully overridden Governor John Bel Edwards, and quite frankly, the first time in a long time they've successfully overridden any governor So I took it as a suggestion that Republicans were sort of sending a warning signal.

If we were able to override you on this, if you vetoed bills that we send to your desk, we will try to override you again.

And they think they could be successful.

We're emboldened.

It can happen again.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

And they've kind of signal that a little bit in the past last year when they had that first veto session really ever.

There was some little discussion about maybe this needs to be more the norm as opposed to just the odd, unique thing.

And that's just, you know, a couple of comments.

But I do think they feel like they have pretty solid numbers, you know, in both houses, even though it's not totally a supermajority in the house and that anything can happen if they have another veto session.

So what does this mean right now?

Well, in terms of so what they vetoed, what they what veto they overrode was the governor's rejection of a congressional map.

And at that congressional map passed by the legislature in the redistricting special session in February maintains largely the the configuration of the six districts the way they are currently with one majority minority district.

The governor wanted a second majority minority district drawn, as did civil rights organization.

And most of the Democrats in the legislature.

So the next steps are the overriding of the veto doesn't end anything.

It just moves everything to court.

Now, a federal court is going to decide whether the map meets the requirements in state and federal law or actually in federal law or if they need to try it again.

So that's where it moves to next.

And so I guess the conjecture goes to, so what will the courts decide?

Well, that's always difficult to say.

I mean, I think you can certainly say, well, one, it was going to go to the courts anyway no matter what.

I mean, my observation during the special session itself was that the Democrats and the Black Caucus were doing a job of basically laying down a case that would eventually become a court case because they put a lot of things on the record.

They had a lot of statements that kind of went along those lines.

I almost felt like Republicans were also kind of defending themselves in a court case as a prelude to a court case.

So now the courts will have that opportunity.

And you could tell that everyone assumed that it was going to court because both sides were getting legal advice.

The legislative leadership had lawyers, outside lawyers that they hired to help advise them on this issue.

So everybody knew that this is just one more step in a process.

And this is a national issue.

So where does it rank or put Louisiana in terms of other states dealing with this same thing?

I guess sort of in the queue with other states that have done it, because there have been obviously a number of states where maps have been challenged in the courts, have kind of weighed in, mostly kind of showing deference in a lot of cases to what the states did.

Not in every case, but hard to speculate what that would do.

I mean, what the Supreme Court would do ultimately if it gets there.

But you know, so far, I think they have shown some deference to states and what they have done.

And we'll see some people ask the question, was it fair?

But I've been told that that opens up a whole other kind of world.

Stephen ask, is it fair?

Is it fair in which respect?

Right.

Fairness is in the eye of the beholder a lot of times with with these kind of things.

And look, redistricting is a very political and personal issue for legislators.

They're drawing maps that affect them, their friends and allies and possibly their future political career.

So fairness gets real murky real quickly because there are different state and federal laws that govern redistricting.

But there are also all these legal precedents that govern it.

So so exactly how this fits in to everything else, I think, is that's why a judge is going to decide this for the voters and for the right to vote.

And that argument, that question.

Well, again, I think it is sort of in the eye of the beholder.

I think obviously folks on the Democratic side in the Black Caucus felt like the the numbers in terms of census numbers were in their favor to get another minority district.

Obviously, that didn't happen because the numbers were certainly on the Republican side within the legislature to kind of maintain the status quo.

So I think mostly individual voters will probably see it through their own lens.

All right, Barrett Molina, thanks so much for coming in here.

And talking about this.

Thank you, sir.

A privately commissioned poll is out.

It is certainly getting a lot of attention this week.

John Cuvier of GMC Analytics is one who conducted the poll.

And John is here with us right now.

Well, let me ask you first, is the political climate and where that is right now, is that sort of the thing that jumps out the most about this?

Yes.

Well, first of all, thanks for having you on show.

And what I think it's important to understand when you're looking at the overall numbers from this poll, is understanding the context cast against the poll was conducted, which was since last summer.

I would say there has been a definite darkening of the national mood in terms of we had a botched Afghanistan withdrawal.

We've had the situation in Ukraine.

We've had a couple more waves of the coronavirus, and we've also had the reemergence of inflation and high gas prices to the extent not seen in decades.

So against that backdrop, you have to appreciate why the polls show different numbers for the different statewide elected officials who were tested.

But it was what I would say, more of a decidedly negative mood.

Well, let's start off with on a national scale.

The President Biden and where that stands, right.

Those numbers did not come out in a positive way for him at all.

They were not good.

And one of the things that caught my attention, first off, was the fact that even though Joe Biden only received 40% of the popular vote here in Louisiana in 2020, his numbers have actually decreased some relative to what he got then.

So in other words, you have people turning against him even relative to the already low numbers he received in 2020.

Equally bad for him in my opinion, was he got slightly worse margins in terms of his handling of the coronavirus pandemic which strongly suggests to me that a lot of that is what's driving people's opinions of federal and or state executives.

What surprised you the most about the that in mind?

The COVID numbers and the favorability.

So the thing you're like, right.

And, you know, think about this.

Interesting is technically here in Louisiana, we're having very, very good COVID numbers as we have less than 100 and the hospital and we've have several days in a row of less than 1% positive cases.

But even considering that as well as the fact that Governor Edwards did not reimpose any restrictions during the Omicron wave, his numbers were basically breaking even.

Whereas if there were polls done back at the beginning of the pandemic, he received very high numbers.

So what I think that speaks to is there's a lot of COVID fatigue going on out there that is definitely boomeranging in a negative way against those in power if they favored more restrictions.

But you look at where we are right now and where the US is right now, and you would think, well, things look pretty good in terms of how this has been handled.

Right.

And you think theoretically that would lead to an era of good feelings.

But I think that is being more than offset in my opinion, by the fact that you have a nasty reemergence of inflation that we haven't seen in 40 years, gas prices that we've not seen since 2008.

And I think a lack of confidence in our country's leadership, that's creating a negative pall that is impacting those in power, particularly so Democrats.

Now Governor John Bel Edwards is Term-limited so we know that he will not be governor again or running.

That means someone brand new.

And what does this poll saying about the governor's race.

So the interesting about the governor's race is of course the fact that even though it is one and a half years away, I do think you have to have a starting point in terms of which candidate we want to test pull.

And so with the people that are ballot tested, the first important takeaway is, number one, an absolute majority of respondents would prefer generically a Republican over a Democratic candidate.

And number two, when the specific candidates I had protested, Senator Kennedy, if he were interested in running, would come out in top.

Senator Cassidy, who the rumor is, is interested in running a governor.

He would be about in the middle of the pack.

And then a lot of other people are sitting in single digits.

There have been a lot of articles lately that have said that he would be actually a runaway winner in a runoff.

But this poll is not showing that Senator Cassidy citric acid.

Right.

And I think that's important thing to appreciate is looking at this question in isolation versus this question juxtaposed against Senator Cassidy's popularity.

If you look at the poll in isolation, you see the senator cast.

He's in the middle of the pack.

Everything's all well and good.

But I think it's also important to appreciate that when you look at his popularity, he has more unfavorables than favorables and his name recognition.

So that suggests to me that there's a very narrow path that would be available for him at the present time.

If he were to run for governor and it's not clear to me that all of the necessary steps would occur for that path to be successful.

Okay.

So that's that's interesting.

Just in terms of who's popular as Louisiana Senator, right now.

So Senator Kennedy is the most popular relative splits, relatively speaking.

He has an absolute majority who approves of him, about 40% who disapprove, which is basically along the standard partizan lines here in Louisiana.

Senator Cassidy is about ten points underwater.

And in his case, he's looking at about 40% approval.

50% disapprove And then, of course, Governor John Bel Edwards has a plurality approval right now.

Is there an overall takeaway that you're going with right now?

The overall takeaway is each one of those three situations has to be considered against the national mood, which is right now people are disenchanted with the party in power.

That benefits Senator Kennedy, Senator Cassidy, even those two Republican.

He's hurt, in my opinion, by his impeachment vote.

Okay.

Governor Edwards, as he's going along in his second term, people are starting to view him through the standard Democratic versus Republican partizan lens.

That was not the case in his first term.

So it goes back to 50 50 and also goes back to the overall mood of the country.

Correct.

Which is not a happy one right now.

Right.

I talk to you.

Thanks so much.

Our pleasure.

Interesting numbers.

Yes.

Following the pandemic, employees of the Department of Child and Family Services quit in droves.

The agency now has hundreds of vacant positions and an ever growing caseload.

Now the most vulnerable of Louisiana's population are left in what some lawmakers are calling a bureaucratic loop.

Marquita Garner Walters, the DCFS secretary, says the staff shortages issue is a layered one as we continue year two of the pandemic.

Government agencies are beginning to feel more of the pressure.

Marquita Garner Walters, the secretary of the Department of Family and Child Services, says they're struggling to complete daily tasks.

We're in a staff shortage and it's a critical shortage.

We have a thing in government called the vacancy rate.

How many people are not in the seats of the job on any given day?

And our normal vacancy rate is about 200.

Right now it's about 400.

So we are literally double the number of staff that we do not have working.

Then we meet.

Walter says the shortage is affecting the agency across the board.

DCF first functions in several capacities.

One is child welfare and another is family support.

Both sides are missing about 200 workers each, which means a backlog of child abuse investigations and families in need of food stamps It is frightening to think about what could happen.

We you know, we don't have data that says you work here and this happened, therefore something is bad or something is wrong because there's no way to collect that kind of data.

What we have is anecdotal information that police have to pick up the slack.

The majority of the employment gap is with entry level positions, which usually cover frontline work or child abuse investigations.

These are the people that visit homes and talk with families in person.

They're also the employees that are paid the least.

On average, they make about $40,000 a year for 20 47 job.

If they're just starting out, it's likely they'll make an average of 30,000 a year.

The next round of vacancies is the next level up, which is a group with a little more experience.

Well, it's overburdening the staff that we do have.

So case loads are growing and that puts a greater demand, which means our response time is slower.

So you may have to wait longer to get someone to answer the phone to take your application.

And when you're hungry, that's scary.

You need somebody to talk to right away.

You need somebody that's going to help you.

You know, people don't call us unless they're in crisis.

Most of the empty positions are in New Orleans, Covington and the Baton Rouge area where the caseload is growing daily.

When the work is too much police have to pick up the slack before a DCFS investigator can get to it.

We know that the police are taking more calls that would normally come to us So we have anecdotal information of where the gaps are on the family welfare side of things.

Families have to wait for support on things like food stamps, Walter says the root of the problem isn't just one thing.

It's multiple and it's been building since she started in 2016 case loads are high and demanding it diminishes the work life balance and the pay scales have not been fair or adequate for many, many decades.

I would say we just implemented a pay raise for these frontline workers and the child welfare side right at the beginning of 20, 22.

So we haven't really had the higher salary in place long enough to see a trend line that says we're doing better.

The pandemic only exacerbated the employment issue during COVID domestic abuse and hunger skyrocketed, increasing the DCFS caseload.

But the agency is working toward a solution.

They've launched a resource initiative meant to make employees feel better and hopefully reduce the turnover rate.

DCFS is working with state civil services to investigate low salaries, and the agency is also undergoing a study of resources available to lift morale.

In the meantime, if you're struggling with food insecurity and can't access food stamps through DCFS because of the delay, Walters recommends finding a local food bank or reaching out to organizations like the Salvation Army until a caseworker can get to you.

Our young hero spotlight this week shines on Alyson Calendar Alyson is from Pleasant Hill in Sabine Parish and is a junior at Nacogdoches Central High School.

This top tier student loves dads, especially clogging and she paired with her sister to win a national competition.

She's involved in clubs.

Her church is manager and trainer of her soccer team, and she volunteers She also survived cancer before first grade.

We talked with Alyson and her mom this week.

Now, 16 Alyson Calendar does not remember much about the 18 months she spent at St Jude Children's Hospital in Memphis.

She was four when doctors diagnosed her with neuroblastoma, a rare cancer that affects children mostly under the age of five.

It develops from immature nerve cells.

They gave her a 30% chance of surviving it.

I remember a few things.

I don't remember all of the details.

I remember being poked and take that.

But I mean, it wasn't terrible.

It was just it was a lot, especially being born.

There are plenty of reminders of her time there and how she came through it.

The chemotherapy and radiation being cancer free ever since cancer free does not mean unaffected.

Her treatment contributed to a partial hearing loss.

How would you cope with learning in regular school and living a regular life and singing and dancing with a hearing loss?

I know that at school with my hearing loss, I used to have a microphone.

My teachers would wear that would connect their voice to my hearing aids.

I could hear them better.

But now I've kind of gotten to where I can read their lips if I can't hear them And most of the time I put in the front in a class, and that helps me hear even better.

And I've just kind of learned to read their lips.

And if I miss hear something or don't hear them, I can ask a classmate.

I actually had the privilege to teach Alison and really get that one on one experience with her as a hearing impaired child in my classroom.

Makes me just very more aware of my students.

Like I said, that just need that little extra help.

And it was it was such a privilege to teach her and for her to really She taught me.

Alison's life experience has set the table for what she looks forward to.

She hopes to attend you, Lafayette, and she wants to become a nurse.

That's always what I wanted to do.

Ever since I've been to St Jude, I've seen, like, where my privileges are.

And I feel like that's where the Lord is leading me.

And I've learned a lot from being there and just being in the hospital all those years.

That's really what I want to do.

Alison remains an active volunteer with St Jude.

I love to do the pantry drive for the Ronald McDonald House, which is a house through St Jude and I just like to do it because when we were at St Jude, I know that I stayed at the Ronald McDonald House a lot and my family, like they lived there as their housing and they always gave us so much.

And the pantry, like you're free to go in that pantry anytime you want.

There's food in there like you don't have to pay for any of that.

And I just like to give back and just make sure that if there's a family there and they need like something to eat, that they have that food and they have that opportunity to go in there and have that.

Alison has a personality that pushes forward.

When she gets something in her mind, she's going to push forward to that, and it's always for somebody else.

I have a niece who has a learning disability, and of all of us, there are six grandkids and all of our family.

Alison just she cleaves to this, you know, her cousin, and they have such a beautiful relationship So any time there's a child who is in need or someone whether they be, you know, an adult or young adult, Alison just has a beautiful spirit about her that plugs into people with other disabilities, are learning deficits.

And I think that's the thing that I just love about her so much is that she she is quiet.

And if you first meet her, you might think she's a little introverted, but she's checking out the situation like she's reading the Rand eight and she's picking out the people who need the most love, who need the most support, who need the most words of affirmation.

And she's going to give them to them help.

These Louisiana Young Heroes program is presented this year with the generous support of America health Caritas Louisiana East Baton Rouge Parish Library, Community Coffee, the US Army Baton Rouge recruiting battalion Demco and Hotel Indigo.

And we thank them so much.

And everyone, that is our show for this week.

Remember, you can watch anything you leave any time, wherever you are with our LPV PBS app, you can catch LP 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, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok for everyone here in Louisiana Public Broadcasting, I'm Andre Moreau and I'm Kara St.Cyr.

That's so next time.

That's the State Where 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