Support for Louisiana.

The state we're in is provided by Entergy.

Louisiana is strengthening our power grid throughout the state.

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

Because together we power life.

Additional support provided by the Fred B and Ruth B Ziegler Foundation and the Ziegler Art Museum, located in Jennings City Hall.

The museum focuses on emerging Louisiana artists and is a historical and cultural center for Southwest Louisiana.

And the Foundation for Excellence in Louisiana public Broadcasting and viewers like you.

Thank you.

Louisiana's solar industry faces setbacks after the Trump administration pulled funding.

And I sat down with Governor Jeff Landry for his vision on rebuilding the state's economy and keeping residents in Louisiana.

Plus, food, faith and family.

We'll take you behind the scenes of a new show featuring the next generation of the iconic Chase family.

If you're ready, let's get started.

Let's do it.

Hello, everyone.

I'm Karen LeBlanc, and I'm Victor.

How?

Much more on those top stories in a moment.

On this week's edition of Louisiana, The State.

We're In.

But first, the Trump administration has canceled a long anticipated solar energy project in Louisiana.

Solar for all promise to bring affordable solar power to thousands of low income families, bolster the state's energy grid during storms, and create new jobs in clean energy.

I'm taking you inside the Louisiana Solar Energy Lab to see what's next for the state's solar industry.

We're going to take a tour today.

But before we do, I need to give you a safety briefing.

This is an electrical power generation station, and we are making power today.

The Louisiana Solar Energy Lab at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette is a national leader in the research and testing of residential, commercial, and utility scale solar products.

Right now, solar energy, even without subsidies, is the cheapest form of new electrical power generation that you can add to the portfolio in Louisiana.

It's cheaper than coal, it's cheaper than natural gas, and it's quicker to deploy.

So if we have a new demand for energy like the meta data center and they want power quickly, solar energy is one inexpensive, rapidly deployable technology to meet that energy demand.

And would you say that solar energy has a role in building energy resilience and energy independence?

Yes, especially when solar is paired with battery storage.

Then you can have essentially backup power.

The six acre site produces energy to power a part of the UL campus, and provides hands on education and workforce training.

And our goal here is to test every different major type of solar technology and report on how well it works in Louisiana.

And we do a lot of that.

But also we have created an entire solar energy curriculum in the College of Engineering and a renewable energy minor in addition, at the workforce development level.

We've created five workforce development type courses that we offered through our continuing education department to train solar professionals to work in the state.

We anticipate that in the next five years, there will be thousands of solar jobs created in Louisiana, and we want those jobs to go to Louisiana.

Workers in April 2024.

Louisiana's Department of Energy and Natural Resources received 156 million in Federal Inflation Reduction Act funding to launch the solar for all initiative.

The program aimed to expand rooftop and community solar in low income and disadvantaged communities, while creating solar powered resilience hubs for hurricane recovery.

But in August 2025, the EPA sent termination letters to all solar for all grant recipients, including Louisiana, effectively pulling the plug on the program.

We received a termination notice in early August from the federal government that said, this is this is not going to be funded.

So did Louisiana have to essentially return the unspent funds?

Well, we didn't have them.

They were set aside, so to speak, but they hadn't been, you know, most of that hadn't been expended.

So we hadn't actually engaged in anything other than, you know, some some of the basic planning, maybe some contractors to help with the mapping out how the rollout would go.

And so that just we pay those bills and it's done.

So none of those projects were actually built or, you know, we never got we never got full clearance to for full implementation.

This application was being processed by the governor's office, and in real time when it was rejected.

This was going to benefit the entire state.

This is $7 billion in solar grants.

It was going to impact our country 156 million of it for the city.

For cities throughout the state of Louisiana.

That was going to benefit the people of Louisiana.

Critics argue that Trump's one big, beautiful bill, a tax and spending law passed in 2025, illegally overrides congressionally appropriated funds by eliminating money previously authorized for the solar for all program.

The executive branch, has in my estimation, created an overstep, encroaching into the authority of the legislative branch, which is to appropriate.

These dollars were duly appropriated.

And we'll continue to fight to make sure that they are recognized as dollars that should go for this program.

When the one big, beautiful bill passed that were 19GW of solar projects in the meso interconnection queue.

Now there are 9.5GW.

So we lost a lot of projects that could have potentially come to the Louisiana.

The Louisiana Solar Energy Lab is a testbed for commercial scale solar projects, including these solar shingles for residential homes and agri voltaic, the planting of crops between solar panels.

Students and staff monitor weather stations and apply climate data to testing and research.

Has this project been impacted by a reduction in any federal funds that support the work you do in solar?

Our funding has been paused for our workforce development program, but we're continuing to do that with other sources of funding.

The center for Planning Excellence worked with the state and stakeholders to design and implement the solar for all program.

This was a big opportunity for Louisiana.

And, you know, renewable energy is it's inevitable.

And so it was just it was very difficult to see that that political maneuvering essentially was taking something away from our communities who who need this resource.

The federal funding clawback for solar projects could slow Louisiana's progress in evolving this renewable energy and impede a push for energy resiliency.

Louisiana is an energy state.

It makes sense for us to lead in this space.

But if we have policies that are creating barriers and obstacles for us to, leverage the resources we already have in the energy space, then then that's a setback.

And that's that's going to cost us.

Last week, we brought you part one of my exclusive interview with the governor, Jeff Landry, to reflect on Hurricane Katrina in part two of my report.

We look at the progress our state has made over the last 20 years, and how the governor hopes to keep up the momentum.

You campaigned on.

Come home.

Louisiana.

You really feel very passionate about stopping the brain drain.

Now, there are some that say Katrina was an accelerator of this brain drain.

And I want you to follow this line of reasoning.

Think about this.

Okay.

Mass migration of a million people displaced.

Not all of them returned home.

Storm, storm, storm.

20 years, a succession of storms.

And so now what the message is to people is they look at Louisiana and they're fearful.

Is this a safe place?

Is it resilient?

Forget the jobs.

Let's talk about resiliency.

Is this state a safe place to relocate or return to?

From a resiliency standpoint, do you factor that at all into your approach of your company, Louisiana.

And stopping the brain drain?

I really don't.

Let me let some packages.

Let me let me answer that question with a question.

Do people take that position in Florida?

I mean, Florida has been hit and devastated by a number of storms.

In fact, Hurricane Andrew, one of the first hurricanes that that that I really dealt with as a sheriff's deputy and was on electricity for two weeks, crossed over Florida before it hit Louisiana, devastating the Miami area.

If I if I remember correctly, Florida has been hit by a number of storms in the last five years or so, and yet it seems to be able to attract a quarter of a million people or more.

On an annual basis coming into Florida rather than leaving.

Look, I can tell you that the way that you fix our coast, the way that you fix our insurance problems, the way that you fix our infrastructure problems, the way that you fix our educational problems, is by ensuring that we diversify our economy and that we bring economic activity into the state.

And right now, we have an opportunity to diversify our economy, the likes of which are happening.

That has never happened before.

And so if we continue on that momentum, then no, I don't I don't believe that that that just because we're on the coast, people are not going to want to come.

I do believe that Katrina was an accelerator.

I do believe that the amount of people that left the state, of Louisiana and even left the city of New Orleans, some of them didn't didn't leave New Orleans and go to another state.

Some of them left New Orleans.

And what the other parts of, of the state of, though too many left the state as well.

But I do believe we have a we have an opportunity that if we diversify our economy in a way that people say, you know what?

Louisiana is a place where I want to go raise my family and I can do so, and I can make a good living.

If we can take the average family income of the state and we can move that up, then.

Yeah.

I believe that we can absolutely get an inward migration of people.

In fact, this year was the first time, the first time in 30 years that Louisiana had 30,000 more people move into this state than out.

So think about it.

On average, 35,000 people have been leaving.

They were leaving before Katrina.

Like Katrina was an accelerator.

We're finally starting to get net positive of people moving in.

We've got 70,000 new job opportunities in this state right now.

So, look, I think that you look back and you look at Katrina as a lesson learned, but I don't think we should mope over it.

I think we should look at it and say, you know, it was certainly horrific, but there's a tremendous amount of lessons learned and there's some silver lining in every disaster that's out there.

And I think if you stay, if you use those, those lessons learned as a brick, as a step, as a cornerstone, then you rebuild better, and, and brighter.

And I think the people of Louisiana certainly have the people who that are here now, a certainly resilient I mean, taking a number of storms that we've encountered since Katrina.

The focus of our conversation has been on Katrina.

But before we go, I'd like to hear what your most pressing challenges are and opportunities currently as governor of Louisiana.

Look, I think that I think that the narrative of what Louisiana of the of a past Louisiana is the thing that haunts a future Louisiana.

I think that right now, Louisiana's future has never been brighter.

I think that over the last 20 years, the federal government, in the natural disasters that we've had have been only cash injections in this state has been blessed with, if you could say it in that way.

But right now we've got over $70 billion worth of private investment projects going on at the same time in all corners of the state.

Certainly Hurricane Katrina, or the storms that have devastated, Louisiana.

Has it deterred global venture from investing over $40 billion?

Our LNG industry, right now, just in the southwest corner where Hurricane Rita came ashore, is now producing a thousand permanent jobs with an average salary of over $200,000.

That's how you lift people out of poverty.

That's how you say, welcome home, Louisiana.

That's how you bring people back to Louisiana.

And so for me, our top priority is trying to make sure that we build an economy that attracts people into this state, rather than in giving them an excuse to leave this state.

Final question.

And that is anything that you would like to share with viewers statewide.

Look, I think that I think that as we look back at on 20 years, that I would challenge them to look back 100 years for 100 years.

Now, this state has struggled, and we've been blessed by so many natural resources.

And sometimes maybe it was those natural resources that didn't give us an excuse to diversify our economy.

And, and there have been poor choices made in Washington, D.C., that have affected Louisiana.

But today, there's a great opportunity for everyone in Louisiana to be smiling.

Whether you lived in north east Louisiana, where you never thought you would see economic opportunity, like the world class data center that's being built up there or down in Plaquemines now, where Hurricane Katrina came ashore.

And the largest construction project in North America is going on.

I think that the place to be in this country right now is in Louisiana.

The Chase family is synonymous with Louisiana cooking, and the family's fourth generation continues that legacy.

Doug Chase, the grandson of food icon Leah Chase, will host a new show on PBS focusing on the state's rich culinary traditions.

In her final report for LPB, Dorothea Wilson talked to doc Chase about the family's legacy.

Well, they're welcome to the set of A Chef's Journey.

This is about celebrating the cultural influences of New Orleans cuisine.

And today, we're talking about Lanier Bakery.

We went visit Chef Caitlin Grier, and now we come and get inspired and do what we need to do in this kitchen.

Yeah.

So one of the things that inspired me was she has a grain of Paradise, bun.

You're thinking of the spices.

You're thinking of ginger.

So the play that I wanted to do on it was a spiced poached pear.

We have a little red wine in here.

Oh, we have some ground ginger.

We have some cloves.

Summer.

Nice.

And then a little bay leaf.

And what you want to do is you want to lightly poach those pears, right?

And I'll pull one up.

As you can see, you soften it up, but you don't get that rich color just yet.

All right, so as these soften up, you'll move them into your bowl here.

And this is real easy.

You can do it at home okay.

You know, you put everything in.

You put a bottle of red wine in, you have a little half a cup of sugar.

Then you start to throw in your spices.

You know, you have your cloves that you go in there, you have your niece, you have your cinnamon stick.

As you poach those for three minutes on each side, pull them out.

And now you have to top it with that liquid.

And this is where we come in, right.

So you can smell those spices.

You sure coming in.

And this is why you get them deftness of that color.

Wow.

And that's actual wine.

Oh, this is actual.

All right.

I love it.

I want you to see this right.

That's the cinnamon stick that's going in those cloves.

A lot of other.

So the next thing you would do there is you covered.

This would wrap.

Okay.

Put it in your refrigerator.

Let it sit for a minimum of six hours.

But I would say go overnight okay.

When you go overnight you see that color that you have on that pair.

But look at this color.

Oh this is what you're looking for here.

So when you bite into that as we celebrate those grains of Paradise you're going to taste the ginger.

You're going to taste the clove.

The sentiment coming through.

And not to talk about how pretty.

Oh, it's pretty.

Yeah it is.

As we get inspired and we go visit many different restaurants, bakeries and the people that really influence why we cook, what we cook can all and we come back and we highlight that.

What influenced you to get into this?

My family, many of you know, our family's flagship restaurant, Dooky Chase restaurant, I'm the fourth generation, but we all grew up in that restaurant where the.

For me, my start was just shining silverware and folding napkins.

And then I got lucky to move on into the back kitchen.

Yeah.

Started as a dishwasher.

And then I would come as a little boy and just hang by my grandmother's stove, just like we're doing right here, and watch and watch.

And I think she got tired of it and say, all right, I'm a teacher.

So yeah.

Yeah.

And that's that's what hooked me.

I have a sense.

But when you grow up in that restaurant, you learn about life, you understand the importance role that Dooky Chase played for its community, certainly during the civil rights era, but many, many more things that we did inside and outside of that restaurant to help shape our community for the good.

Now that's powerful.

That's a powerful statement.

And, you know, for you to carry on that legacy, because I can say for myself, like my mom has beauty salon.

And so I went the complete opposite.

But you chose to keep the legacy going.

What does that mean for you?

It means everything.

I think when you, you know, they teach us coming up why we do what we do.

They tell us hospitality is service to our community.

So when you get that knowledge of the reason why the Chase's operate hospitality, it's motivational.

You have to dive and you have to continue that legacy.

The opportunity that I'm getting right now is from the generations work that came before me, and hopefully the five generations which we have in the restaurant.

Okay, it's growing up the same way, and they appreciate that history, that tradition and why we do it.

So they continue that legacy.

That's the term we use as the fourth generation.

I'll turn you in the legacy.

All right, I love it.

Yeah.

What's next for you?

Where are you taking this legacy?

Well, what's next?

Is this show okay.

This show is going to highlight that influence of the culture influence on new Orleans.

But what it's mostly going to do, it's going to bring people back to the kitchen.

I want you to go back, see these recipes, celebrate them, celebrate show culture, celebrate show tradition, but bring people back to the table.

Now, I understand that you have pieces of your grandmother in this are on the set with us.

Yeah.

Talk to me about that.

What are they?

So anything we do, we're going to have that symbols, you know?

You know about my family.

My grandfather told her as she was going off to school.

Leah, remember three things.

Work hard, pray, have faith and do for others.

Right?

So faith is huge.

Symbols are huge in my family.

Yeah.

So we have this rooster back here.

Okay.

That carries the shrimp.

My grandmother love the rooster because she was a strong woman.

Yeah, she was going to guide us and lead us.

Right.

So the rooster we have chores where we pickled them preserves.

Going back to the Madisonville days of growing up in that pantry.

We have her cookbook over here.

We have the red pots a lot of symbols between my grandmother, my father.

Just family members.

Yeah.

And they always say a witness.

And that's what I mean by faith.

There's always somebody looking out for me.

That's right.

Looking out for.

And then next generation pushing us forward.

And whatever we do, we're going to bring them with us because they're here no matter what.

That's right.

Tell me what we have here and then share with me some of your final thoughts.

Yes.

So here we're highlighting all of what I've learned as a pastry chef at land.

Yeah.

Bakery.

Okay.

Yeah.

And what it's an inspiration of.

Right.

So when you talk about that spiced poached pear that we have, you talk about a seasonal fruit tart with showed people how to make that crust and then a seasonal fruit that you have in that with that filling at the bottom, and then this banana nut bread.

But we're on Louisiana, so we're going to top it with our scallions.

That's right.

Now pecans.

But because that's it.

So each show you're going to see those influences shine through.

And we're going to do three dishes that really inspired me as I had a vision with that chef for that restaurant tour.

So sit down and come back and say, hey, this is the influence of New Orleans.

And this is how a next generation can move it forward and have a little fun with it.

And I want the viewers to know you need to tune in, because it's so important to keep those cultures and those traditions going.

This is the main reason why people fall in love with New Orleans.

It's each one of you celebrating your history, celebrating your culture and celebrating your traditions.

So tune in and enjoy the show and learn.

As I'm learning each and every day, I can't wait to try some of these dishes.

Oh thank you!

It's been a pleasure.

Thank you sir.

Duck Chase A Chef's Journey will debut on public broadcasting stations next year.

While many of you all know, sad moment for all of us here at LPB, Dorothea Wells and our team and our colleague passed away unexpectedly last week.

She was a tremendous journalist, coworker, a mom, and most of all, a friend to us, to everybody behind the scenes here and to you.

We know how much she enjoyed it.

Karen and her coming back home.

And you.

I would sit with her when you were out on assignment doing other things.

We had fun, but I know you all were together each and every week and just how much fun it was being with her.

She was my friend and my talented colleague, and I am actually wearing this little plastic bracelet in her honor.

And it's the little things that you miss about someone, and it's a little things I miss about Dorothea.

She came in one day and she gave me this little bracelet.

I'm like, what am I going to do with this?

And she said, well, it's be kind and it's to remind everyone to be kind.

And that is so who Dorothea was spreading kindness and light and joy.

And I will certainly miss that about her.

Yeah.

It's the glow, the laughter.

When she would come into the room, the things that you don't see on air when we're getting ready for the program or afterwards.

It was the laughter.

And one thing I remember, we were all as a team in Natchitoches for the Sports Hall of Fame.

You and I were on stage doing the interviews, and Dorothy was there and she was on on the dais kind of introducing.

She was so excited to be back in Natchitoches because she was a proud, great, a proud game and she could not wait to get out there and say, I'm back and I'm here with you.

Just it was that energy, the energy.

And speaking of getting ready for this show, I miss being her 20 because we used to always plan out our wardrobes and she had great sense of style.

So we try to color coordinate and it's again those little things that looking back, you're going to miss so much about her.

But a talented colleague, a generous soul and she will be very missed here at LPB.

So our hearts go out to her family and we are sending lots of love.

Now we are going to take a look back at some of the highlights of Dorothea's time here at LPB.

Hi everyone, I'm Dorothea Wilson.

Much more on those top stories in a moment on this weekend's edition of Louisiana The State We're In.

But first.

Well, I'm a Louisiana girl through and through.

I lived in all parts of the state, and the people are just beautiful.

The culture, the heritage.

And it's worth it to share it with the world.

You're able to incorporate, you know, your work with your cooking, and when you you're able to kind of practice on those got out.

Right.

Absolutely.

Let's see if it tastes like a curse.

Yeah.

Give it a try.

This is so good.

How many broadcasts a day and kind of what was going on in here?

So as this medical school unfolds, what can people expect to see here?

And that music was more than entertainment.

It was comfort.

It was a reminder that the soul of this city still played on.

Yeah.

I don't.

Well, good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the home of my alma mater, Northwestern State University, Taylor Swift, you guys.

She has a song called Dorothea.

And I secretly say to myself that, you know what?

She wrote that about me.

Which once it's done, we sprinkle the marshmallows and corn at the top with a little bit of brown sugar.

Love it.

Do anything for Toby.

I think I missed a word somewhere.

Participants get glow, get glammed.

I want to say get to get glammed up.

Okay.

I'm ready.

All right, Dorothy, idea of a favorite throw.

Oh, no, but I think I want a bedazzled one.

All right.

Speaking of notable LSU alumni, Billy Graham.

Now Billy Graham, Billy can't.

I went to church, y'all.

Billy Graham.

Okay.

Our state is so rich in culture and heritage.

They ate that alligator's tail cheese and all of the wonderful things that just make us unique.

And they are worth telling stories about.

Nobody told the bee that it couldn't fly.

So you know what the bee does?

It flies any way.

And sang in the prompter was perfect.

That was 100% me.

Just taking a minute to really breathe deeply and exhale.

So you're breathing in all the goodness and you're releasing all this stress.

Support for Louisiana, the state we're in is provided by Entergy.

Louisiana is strengthening our power grid throughout the state.

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

Because together we power life.

Additional support provided by the Fred B and Ruth B Ziegler Foundation and the Ziegler Art Museum, located in Jennings City Hall.

The museum focuses on emerging Louisiana artists and is a historical and cultural center for Southwest Louisiana.

And by Visit Baton Rouge and the Foundation for Excellence in Louisiana Public Broadcasting.

And viewers like you.

Thank you.