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 sales tax rates are the highest in the country.

We'll break down the numbers.

New research is giving hope to women faced with one of the most aggressive types of breast cancer in history.

Hits the streets this carnival season.

How the crew of Bacchus is marking America's 250th anniversary.

For decades, Arthur Hardie's Mardi Gras guide has been the defining playbook for Carnival season.

We'll look back at his decades long career.

Let's get started.

Let's go.

Hi everyone.

I'm Christina Jensen.

And I'm Johnnie Adkins, and much more on those top stories in a moment on this week's edition of Louisiana The State We're In.

But first, from gas to groceries, families are feeling the pinch.

Its checkout counters as Louisiana now has the highest combined sales tax rate in the country.

I spoke to experts to break down how this impacts your wallet, and what possible changes could be in the works.

If you feel like your wallet is taking a hit at the checkout counter, you might be right.

According to the Tax Foundation, Louisiana currently holds the title for the highest combined state and local sales tax.

So every time you step up to a cash register in Louisiana, you're paying the highest sales tax in the country.

That high tax rate used to be comparable to other states, but it was raised to offset the recent cuts to income taxes.

Why would you say the Louisiana sales taxes are so high?

That's the thing legislators could agree upon.

We had some issues, particularly when John Bell came into office.

There was a large deficit or structural deficit, and the easiest way politically to fix it was to raise sales tax.

Stephen Procopio is the president of the Public Affairs Research Council, focused on improving government spending through objective research on public policy issues.

Louisiana's only, I think, 31st, in terms of the sales tax for the state level.

So we're we're middle of the pack, even slightly below middle of the pack.

Although, the if you add in the local taxes, where number one, we have the highest combined state and local sales tax in Louisiana.

Local cities and parishes have a homestead exemption property tax, allowing states to levy taxes on a home's value.

How do you feel about cutting taxes on homes with the homestead exemption?

I mean, it's something I think everyone wants to do.

I mean, I think in general people want to lower taxes on homes in particular.

If you look at it, we've had issues with, property insurance.

So people are paying a lot more.

So if you can find some way to give them relief, the problem is, I mean, that is still revenue, that you need to make up somewhere.

So that will probably either mean you have lower services, more likely to just probably get a higher sales tax.

The homestead tax exemption only applies to the home where a family lives.

It does not apply to rental properties, second homes or business land.

So Louisianans are subject to the highest statewide and local average sales tax in the country.

But analyzes state tax policies for Louisiana.

And he has ideas for improving our tax rates.

The one area for improvement, for sure in the state is on the sales tax, both on the rate and on the base or what is actually taxed.

Is there any good that comes out of having a higher sales tax?

Well, I think the issue with Louisiana is that the statewide sales tax.

What so what's charted at the state level around the state is relatively competitive at 5%.

It's when you layer on top of that, the average local rate, that the combined rate is actually the highest in the country.

In most parishes around the state.

The exemption does not apply to city or municipal taxes.

Local cities and parishes can add their own sales tax on top of the state's tax rate.

The sales taxes do not extend into final services.

So or most services.

So think things like barbers or veterinarians, legal accounting, parking.

These are things that the state can, can revisit and to see if by expanding the base, that overall rate can come down.

There are also many tax exemptions which only certain groups qualify for.

Like for disabled veterans who can receive a tax exemption up to $150,000 of market value for their home.

So there are a lot of property tax exemptions, most of which are aimed at, very specific groups.

So you'll either have people that are over 65 or they have a disability or they're either been injured or injured as part of their, service.

Qualified law enforcement, firefighters and first responders can receive an additional $2,500 in assessed value exemption.

If you are a widow, a widower of someone that died in service, or you were a police officer.

There are also exemptions, for those.

But but broadly, those are the types of exemptions that individuals, will see in their property.

The money collected in sales taxes goes to lots of worthy outlets.

But people in general dislike the sales tax in stores, and they're often surprised when they get to the cash register.

I think is pretty high because I've been to other cities and the sales tax.

Is not as much as.

What we have in Louisiana.

And, you know, looking to our, states on, Texas and other states around us trying to bring that number down so we can put more money back in our own pockets.

I want it to be a little lower.

Everybody wants it to be low, you know, so that we can save a little bit of money.

The sales tax rates in Louisiana are not expected to come down anytime soon.

They are legally mandated until the year 2030.

Individual cities in Louisiana can always add to or lower their sales taxes, but in the end, it is the Louisiana voters who will make the final decision.

Let's take a look at what's going on this week in the world of sports.

Sports correspondent Victor Houle joins us now with more.

Victor, how's it going?

I can tell you one thing that's not happening.

Football.

We finally put that to bed before we have a lot of other things going on in the sports world, for sure.

The Winter Olympics in Italy are not the only games overseas where they are handing out medals for international competition.

Pack your bags.

It's time for game notes to blow out the travel budget.

We're headed from New Orleans to Doha, Qatar for the 14th International Friendship Youth Bowling Championships.

Two two lane bowlers, Valeria Colon and Juan Soya, are representing Puerto Rico at this year's event.

12 countries represented where they bowl singles and doubles for both men and women.

Now on Thursday, Cologne right there on the left of your screen.

She won the bronze medal in doubles competition.

After this weekend, the duo will fly back to New Orleans.

And then at the end of this month, they'll be in Baton Rouge, bowling for the Green Wave in the National Bowling Association's key NBA open.

Talk about racking up some frequent flier miles.

Congratulations to both of them.

It was an emotional weekend last week in Ruston, where one of the best to play basketball for the Bulldogs saw his number go to the rafters Saturday night.

Paul Millsap was back at the tech to have his number 24 jersey retired.

Millsap was a dominant force for three years for the dogs, leading the country in rebounds all three seasons, the only player to ever do that.

And it led to an incredible 16 year NBA career.

Milsap's jersey becomes the fourth to be retired for Louisiana Tech.

Big time.

Congratulations to Paul Millsaps.

Well, Thursday night, the Lady Texters extended their season win streak to 11 straight with a 7149 win over Florida International John Morse and Alexa Weaver led the way with 14 points each despite 24 turnovers.

Tech dominated the score thanks to solid defense.

Last week, I had a chance to catch up with former Lady Texter and current head coach book store, and we talked about how the turnovers or lack of has been a secret to their success so far this season.

The biggest thing is the turnover margin coming out of last season.

We needed to generate more possessions, whether that be defensively for us, forcing turnovers, which we've increased greatly this year.

And I think that speaks to our, you know, depth and athleticism.

And I think it's really, you know, turned into some good basketball for our group.

But I don't think we've put 40 minutes together yet.

And I'm excited about that because we've played some good basketball.

But I don't think we're anywhere near where we can be.

Heading into February, March.

Well, you can hear more from Brooke about the Lady Texters, their season, and the upcoming move to the Sunbelt Conference next week on game notes.

What we will post the entire interview with book on our game notes page at npr.org.

And you can also check it out on our YouTube page and look forward to hearing more with her over in Lake Charles on Monday, the Cowboys basketball team beat Houston Christian, giving head coach Bill Armstrong his 20th win in just his first year as head coach.

That makes him the second coach in McNeese history to ever get to 20 wins in his debut season.

Also with the win, Tayshaun Brown, Javon Garcia and DJ Richards picked up their 78th win in their cowboy careers.

That makes them the winningest players in McNeese history.

Congrats to them.

Their next game is Saturday night at East Texas A&M.

Well, if you want to get away from some team competition and focus more on some individual athleticism, then the indoor tennis complex at LSU should be your destination this weekend.

The complex is hosting the Steve Carr ATP challenger 50 tennis tournament.

Now, the Challenger Tour, if you don't know, is the second highest tier of men's pro tennis.

Just below the main ATP tour, these tournaments are stepping stone for rising players to get experience, earn points and hopefully for them make it to the big tour.

Singles semifinals and final for singles and doubles will be held this weekend and admission is free, so it's your chance to go indoors, especially if the rains come coming to Baton Rouge and go see some really good tennis.

And if the rain does hold off and you want to go back outside and maybe it's opening weekend for baseball, eight of our 12 big schools will be throwing out their first pitch this weekend.

Everybody on Friday.

Number one, LSU at home.

McNeese is at home as well.

Southern hosting Miami of Ohio, Louisiana Tech, Ulm.

There's all sorts of baseball.

So like John and Christina, you've got baseball.

Like when you mention LSU women's basketball against South Carolina, you got baseball, you've got tennis, you got softball.

Mardi Gras.

If you don't have anything to do this weekend, I. Can't help you.

There's so much.

Fun to do.

I might need to go to LSU, see some tennis.

It's going to be some great action for sure.

I mean, thank you because.

You bet.

I will.

Moving on.

Louisiana researchers are making breakthrough in the fight against one of the deadliest forms of breast cancer.

Their work could lead to more effective treatments and better outcomes for patients.

Here's a look at how this research is offering new hope to patients.

Joining me now is Doctor Melee.

Doctor, thank you so much for joining us.

My pleasure.

So you recently released some groundbreaking research with a team of other researchers about triple negative breast cancer, one of the most aggressive forms of breast cancer.

You looked at over 250 black women and white women across the state.

Why did you conduct this study?

So there's several reasons.

Louisiana has, together with the District of Columbia, the highest, incidence of triple negative breast cancer in the nation.

And this this particular subtype of breast cancer is complicated.

It's defined by the absence of certain biomarkers, such as the estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, and amplification of a gene called Her2.

But it is not just one biological type of tumors.

It's made up of many.

We had a number of questions on why are these tumors so lethal?

What we found, was a number of things.

So first of all, when you match patients, well, so you compare two groups of patients that were diagnosed at similar stages of disease.

We didn't see any significant differences in survival between patients self-identifying as black and self-identifying as white.

Second, patients with obesity actually survived longer than patients without obesity.

We saw very minor differences between tumors diagnosed in patients who self-identified as black and patients who self-identified as white, and none of them were actually correlated with survival.

That's a significant result in the study to find.

That it is because there's a lot of debate as to whether the reason for differences in survival is due to biology or other, modifiable factors such as access to care.

Why is this research so important to women in Louisiana?

So Louisiana has a significant disparity in mortality from breast cancer compared to the rest of the country.

Much of this difference is due to triple negative breast cancer, particularly triple negative breast cancer.

Striking young women.

So we need the community to be aware of this.

And also with all the information we have on Earth and about how heterogeneous this type of cancer is, both biologically and genetically.

We need to, understand that each patient needs to be evaluated individually.

We really cannot, stay with the old fashioned one size fits all.

The paradigm now is precision oncology, which means evaluating an individual patient with all of her or his risk factors, whether modifiable or not modifiable.

Diabetes is one.

And we published this in a previous paper, a few years ago.

We showed that diabetes is a modifiable risk factor for triple negative breast cancer in Louisiana patients as well.

Second, just because somebody is younger than 40, it doesn't mean that they're not at risk for this particular type of cancer or group of cancers.

I should say the biggest predictor of survival in breast cancer is stage at diagnosis.

A tumor diagnosed at stage one generally has an excellent survival, like over 95% at five years.

They always say early detection is key, correct.

But tumors in very young women cannot be detected by the standard screening that we have today.

So what this tells us is that we need to be on the hunt for better screening modalities that can be used in younger patients.

Will this help LSU achieve NCI designation?

As of now, we have a complete leadership team.

And all the leaders whom we have recruited over the past year are now responsible for growing their respective sections of the cancer center.

And that's going to give us momentum to grow rapidly.

Is there anything else you would like to say on this topic?

Well, yes.

Stay tuned.

And for additional information, please, look at our website.

Well, congratulations on your research.

And thank you so much for joining me.

You're most.

Welcome.

And this corner, we'll season the crew of Bacchus is merging the traditional purple, green and gold of Mardi Gras with the red, white and blue.

Many of this year's new floats marked key points in US history.

In honor of America's birthday, check it out.

The crew of Bacchus has long been known for its extravagant super floats, but this year they are unveiling a very special theme.

Commemorating the country's 250th anniversary.

This is where the floats are put together for the crew of Bacchus Mardi Gras parade.

Let's go take a look.

These floats show a lot of history.

You have to know some of the history here.

We have American sports over here.

This float over here, we have Henry Ford in the automobile.

The next float is.

Give me your tired, your poor form and the base of the Statue of Liberty.

We have prohibition.

And this float over here.

The float back there with Sandra Day O'Connor is pioneering women.

Their floats also marked times in history like immigration and New Orleans.

Ruby bridges going to school and manifest destiny.

America.

From the Atlantic to the Pacific coast.

Over here, we've got various inventions.

The light bulb, the telephone, the movies.

We've got the space race over here.

And of course, we've got pockets on the landing shuttle right there.

Then we've got, American, aviation.

Everything from the Wright brothers on back to the space shuttle in the rear there.

We've got the robber barons over here.

Carnegie, Rockefeller and so forth like that.

We've got the transcontinental railroad, which tied the East and West Coast together.

These elaborate floats are not simple.

Sculpting of the massive props.

Is done with styrofoam sheets from 4 to 6in thick.

And the sculpted foam is then covered in a paper maché for extra strength.

Floats are then painted fresh to ensure the colors are vibrant.

Now this is the new, Limitation.

For this year.

We're celebrating the 250th anniversary of the United States.

So I have the years there.

You open it on up, and then we have an Uncle Sam, which has got a very Bacchus looking face in here.

And it says, I want you and you open it up further to have a great time.

And here is I want you to attend Bacchus.

So, we've got, of course, the liberty Bell, Independence Hall, the American Eagle, the Declaration of Independence.

And it's all red, white and blue with the stars all around it and so forth like that.

And every year we do a separate one for the theme.

It's not just the floats that will be honoring America.

The riders on board will be throwing out more than just traditional Mardi Gras beads.

They'll also toss out red, white and blue themed throws, many of them designed to be more environmentally friendly.

So it's not just beads anymore.

You got a lot of other stuff.

Beads are a very, very small component of what we do, but ten years ago we really decided to go sustainable.

We wanted people to take it home because what was happening is in New Orleans, as you well know, the beads, the junk was going into the drains, sticking in the trees, staying in trees, clogging up all the city sewers.

And we said, this is not what we're supposed to be doing.

And so this year, we've got over 250 sustainable throws, which these are these are things that if a kid catches us, he's taking it home.

He's not leaving it.

A couple of buckets parades would be throwing all kinds of things out of these floats, including 250,000 pairs of socks.

I really like these.

These are Mardi Gras special socks.

Tell me about these.

So this is one of the 47 different pairs of socks.

And the only float you're going to catch is from is the Kings float right behind us.

No other float will have these.

And of course, they're all thrown as pairs.

Yeah.

So you don't get the whole pack.

You get a pair of them.

And in the official Mardi Gras color, that's right.

This is the scrubby of clean your pots and pans and plates in your kitchen.

And these are purple, green and gold tongs again to use in your kitchen.

And of course we also have your grocery bags that you use in the grocery store.

Everybody wants to go into the grocery store with their own bags.

We're throwing those as well.

Yeah.

And they also they need bags since they're catching all these.

That's right.

And place to put.

I tried the Bacchus parade dates back more than 50 years, and it's one of the most popular parades during the biggest weekend of Mardi Gras.

Barker started in 1968.

Carnival had taken a real nosedive.

The hotels were empty.

The hippies had taken over the French Quarter.

People did not want to come to New Orleans.

Robbie Angelo's has been working with Bacchus for decades, watching them grow to now crowds in the hundreds of thousands.

Carnival is the greatest show on earth.

It's not free at all.

It's very expensive to produce.

It's the riders of the crew of Bacchus.

The pace to make this happen.

The Mardi Gras parade floats will be some of the most beautiful in history.

As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of our country.

Mardi Gras legend Arthur Hardy is the subject of a new documentary airing this weekend here on LPB.

It has Mardi Gras Guide has been the defining playbook for carnival season for decades.

Carol Warner talked to Hardy back in 2024, and here's her story.

The walls of Arthur Hardy's Mid-City New Orleans home are filled with Mardi Gras memorabilia, posters and hand-cut ball invitations from Paris ephemera dating back to 1858.

Author has been archiving, collecting and chronicling all things New Orleans Mardi Gras for nearly 50 years.

As the publisher of the Mardi Gras Guide.

This is where it started, 1976.

We began work and published in 1977.

Too bad we didn't sell, but 1500 of the print.

Some copies were printed.

A labor of love that became essential reading for carnival season.

Anointing an author as a mardi Gras expert.

Tell me why you decided to found the Mardi Gras guide.

You know there was a need for it.

When I was a kid growing up, if you wanted to know about, tonight's parades, you bought this morning's paper.

If you wanted to know what's going to happen next Monday, you had to wait until Monday morning.

Simple concept, but somebody smarter than me should have thought of.

But, they didn't, so my wife and I did.

Starting in 1976.

First issue was 1977, but it was not an overnight success.

It took years.

My wife likes to say we were more stubborn than smart, but we stuck with it.

And eventually it, became a very good business.

The guide list all parades that roll in metro New Orleans with carnival crew and parade route details.

Author is also the author of books about Mardi Gras.

That season begins every year on January 6th, the feast of the epiphany.

And, it's a season of merriment, but it ends on Mardi Gras, which is French for Fat Tuesday.

So the church basically said, okay, y'all can party on for a while.

However, Midnight Fat Tuesday starts lent Ash Wednesday, so that's when we pay for the sins of the past.

So it's really a farewell to flesh.

It's the feast before the fast.

And our version came from France.

Then much later on, when New Orleans was founded and in the mid 1700s, there were parties and, you know, no real parades, but minor celebrations.

Now we have more than 60 in the metro North there, and of course, throughout the state of Louisiana.

So when we talk about parades, we have what's called the so-called old line parades.

And then we have the newcomers.

What's the distinction?

There's something for everybody.

There's old style parades that if your grandfather wasn't a member, you can't get in.

No matter how much money you have or how important you are in the new parades that anybody can join, and even from the spectator standpoint, you can participate in, really, there are no spectators at Mardi Gras parade.

We become participants because the thing that separates operates from those as well.

Or throws.

The idea of free gifts to the crowd.

And, you know, it's a it's a horrible business concept.

Why would an adult person spend the thousand dollars or more dues for the privilege of getting on a float?

Then we make you wear a costume and a mask so nobody knows who you are.

You have to give away gifts to strangers.

You know who does that?

We do that.

We do it every year.

It's a wonderful gift.

Great for our.

So great for our community and great for our economy.

Arthur, are there any little known facts, surprising things that people could discover about Mardi Gras that they don't ask for.

Especially for visitors?

By law and by tradition, Mardi Gras may not be corporately sponsored.

You know, there's hardly an entertainment venue in the world.

It's not brought to you by somebody.

The citizens of New Orleans or the shareholders of Moneygram, all of the crews or nonprofit organizations staffed by volunteers.

Mardi Gras is like Christmas, and Halloween belongs to everyone.

The citizens make this thing happen, and it's called the greatest free show on Earth.

And it's free.

For the spectators, it's not free for the people who put it on.

So let's talk about the throws, because, a lot of the parades have signature throws.

Let's hit the highlights of some of the more interesting.

Well, the.

First of the two throws, the Zulu gilded coconut.

And that's what allows us, you know, 1910.

And they can't be thrown because they're heavy but then handed out.

Muses does a shoe each year a decorated shoe that the members, will work on year round and again hand out to people.

Every organization, most organizations, tries to find something unique to them.

And it's become a really big business.

Let's talk about the economic contribution that Mardi Gras made.

Just this year.

On January 6th, Tulane University professor Tony Weiss released an economic impact study, said Mardi Gras produces almost $900 million each year in the economy for every dollar of the city of New Orleans spends, it gets back $2.68.

And a unique thing about Mardi Gras is we don't have to bid on it like a Super Bowl or Olympics.

We don't have to pay any fees.

It's ours.

And that was what was so special about the first Mardi Gras after Katrina, when the city was still in shambles.

And people.

We did Mardi Gras because we wanted to.

That was an emotional Mardi Gras.

People held up signs, thank you to float riders instead of throwing me something that's the best Mardi Gras ever.

And, it it was a special time, but it showed the world.

We're down, baby.

In and out.

You know, we chose to celebrate rather than surrender.

Arthur Hardy is a mardi Gras personality, one of New Orleans most prolific and passionate cultural ambassadors, a carnival celebrity.

And you can watch Arthur Hardy, our Mardi Gras guy, tonight at 8:00 right here on LPB.

It will re-air again on Sunday at 530, so be sure to tune in.

That's our show for this week.

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

And you can catch LPB News and Public Affairs shows, as well as other Louisiana programs that you've come to enjoy over the years.

And please like us on Facebook and Instagram.

For everyone at Louisiana Public Broadcasting.

I'm Christina Jensen.

And I'm Johnny Atkins.

Until next time.

That's the state we're in.

You.

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 lights.

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.